BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part III)

DAY 5 - 18th December (Bhuj-Rajwadi Resort, Kalo Dungar and India Bridge)

This was to be a relaxing day. Not a lot of riding and we, for the first and last time in the ride, had a place booked for the night - the Rajwadi Rann Resort. We try and start rides with confirmed stays, but usually end up figuring out things on the fly. For a 11-day ride, it is quite a feat to have only night's stay booked and manage a different hotel every day. However, that is the advantage of riding in small groups, you can manage such things. I assumed the HOG contingent had places of stay, restaurants, chai stalls, everything booked for their entire journey!

The Rajwadi Resort is on the road that leads towards the Rann Utsav and the 'main' White Desert. Now, if you have been following the other parts of the blog, you'd have realized that we have already seen parts of the White Desert. But what we saw is never marketed as such. It is only in conjunction to the Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City that the White Desert is referred to. If someone is looking forward to a nice, touristy trip, this is where they will land up!

Close to the Rajwadi Resort is the BSF Checkpost, where you have to obtain passes to enter the White Desert. They charge per person and per vehicle also; you can thus assume that they will allow you to enter the area with your bikes, but fate had something else in store for us. More on this later though. For now, we checked into the resort. The resort is like a Gujarati version of Choki Dhani. We had a fantastic lunch with multiple cups of chai and set off towards Kalo Dungar (the Black Hill).

This place was a tad disappointing,. The views were OK'ish from the top but we were now inching closer to the touristy areas and it showed - the hill was full of people. Also, we didn't really get where the 'black' came from. The hills were brown and red. Perhaps viewed from a distance, they contrasted with the white salt and gave the impression of being black hills. We also caught a glimpse of our next stop for the day - India Bridge.

One can cross the India Bridge without any issue, but only till the BSF post. To go beyond that, closer to the border, you need a special permit that you can get only in Bhuj. The issue is that you rarely find such information at one place anywhere. We'd keep hearing such things the next day too, of getting permits from some other place. While it is a little disappointing, I completely understand the security concerns and respect their need to have multiple levels of checking before permitting people so close to the border. Taking photos at the India Bridge is not allowed so we just chilled around for a bit, chatting with the BSF jawans.

We rode back to the resort while the sun was setting. Given the location, there was no chance of procuring any extra supplies today. We asked for more chai. He had very less left, but instead of refusing, he got us half a cup each, that we referred to as 'chai shots'. That was the closest we'd get to alcohol this night. We finished dinner and then went out for a short walk to the BSF post nearby. Point to be noted - the Milky Way wasn't visible here, even if we were in the desert. We spoke the policeman there about the possibility of camping. By now, we weren't very hopeful of camping, but we thought we could manage something near the Tent City. There, however, you have to stay in their tents only, so the chances of camping somewhere were dimming with each day.

We turned in early for the night. I switched on the fan and slept without the blanket, much to Dips' consternation.

DAY 6 - 19th December (Dhordo Tent City and Lakhpat)

We were finally going to the famous Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City! Well, we weren't as excited as I sound here. We'd gotten an inkling of how things were there and they turned out to be worse, actually. We packed up and left for the place. It was a short ride. At the Rann Utsav, we had to purchase tickets to get inside, so we just got a few pics clicked there and went on towards the White Desert.

A few kilometers before, we were stopped by the BSF. Due to an impending VIP visit, no private vehicles weren't allowed beyond this point! This is what the permits were actually for, but within a day, the rules had somehow changed. This irritated all of us. We could clearly see that we couldn't get down into the salt here, it was still too wet. But we were determined to make it inside somehow on bikes. So we went back to the Utsav area, where we had lunch at the stalls while Ankit tried his best to get us through with the help of his contacts. All to no avail though. We went back, parked our bikes and got into the bus that would drop us until the edge of the White Desert. From that point, you have to walk or take the camel cart or tonga till viewing point.

The only thing of note here was the viewing point. It was built to resemble the atomic structure of the salt crystal. It stood out against the white background of the salt desert. You could walk through the waterlogged salt desert for a short distance, but there was nothing much else here. We decided to ride to Lakhpat for the night.

I loved the ride to Lakhpat. We were moving away from the desert and into greener areas. Bushes and trees crowded close to the narrow road. None of us noticed that we were straying off the route and we ended up with a 15 kms misnavigation. Ankit's geographical sixth sense kicked in and we asked around and got onto the right path. I wouldn't have minded riding further on those roads though! It was on this stretch that we discussed Rajaji's penchant for following and how he avoided leading! On BoP rides, there is no strict formation, but we generally slot into our most comfortable positions - Ankit leading, followed by Rajaji, me and Dips. Everyone would shift once in a while. If you lead, you are expected to pause at junctions, confirm the route if required, flag down others for a pitstop, etc. Rajaji, however, would actively avoid leading, so we decided to test this the next day.

Lakhpat is a small fort-town. There are no hotels or resorts here, just the Gurudwara. We've had 2 dry nights in a row, and looks like we'd make a hattrick! Still, the surroundings were peaceful and we settled for a simple and delicious dinner at langar time. Rajaji was showing off his linguistic prowess by conversing in Punjabi everywhere. He'd continue doing this the next day too, albeit in Gujarati. We hit the sack, hoping tomorrow would be a more eventful day.

Link to Part IV

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part II)

DAY 3 - 16th December (Santalpur to Dholavira)

I was now finally riding with a 'big' group after a long time. Yes, any number more than 2 constitutes a 'big' group for me, as I have been riding solo or with 1-2 people for the past few years. On the topic of groups, something that never escaped me till the last day of my ride was news of a bunch of Harleys. Numerous Harley groups had crossed me by now and I heard of them from everyone on the roads - dhaba people, chai stall owners, city dwellers, etc. A 750-strong contingent of Harley Owners Group (HOG) was featuring in the Rann Utsav and consequently, we kept getting confused for being part of the same group throughout the ride. Indeed, at one point, someone actually tried to tell me that I had missed the group by over a day and I might want to ride faster! Guess the stories of my slow riding have spread far and wide.

This day's destination was Rapar. We started out from Santalpur and stopped at the Forest Department guesthouse to get more details on the Wild Ass Sanctuary. We wanted to camp there. Dips, Rajaji and Ankit went to talk inside while I lounged under a tree. Once again, I caught the curiosity of a bunch of village kids, all thanks to my gear. Frankly, I have gotten more attention due to my gear during this ride that I ever have in my lifetime!

The others returned and filled me in - at the next village, Piprali, we can enter the Rann! This was really exciting and I was looking forward to some tough off-roading, even if it scared me a bit. Localites in Piprali tried to warn us away from the Rann but we were very confident we could manage. You have to cross a lot of slush, vegetation and sand to get to the hard-packed soil of the desert. We were all up for the challenge. There were a series of narrow, sandy embankments we had to negotiate. Ankit decided to cut the Gordian knot and rode down a steep, dangerous slope to reach a convenient spot. We chose to bypass that slope. In the process, I got stuck in deep sand and had a minor fall. While the fall itself was harmless, I was now stuck - here was a Bullet on its side, fully loaded with luggage. I honked a few times but the rest had gone ahead and I wasn't sure if anyone heard me. I took a deep breath and lifted the entire monster in one go. I suffered a minor muscle pull in my bicep due to this though.

Soon, we reached the desert and now there was no stopping us. Ankit tried his best to rally us together for a video but we were in no mood to listen. We city kids are used to paths. There always is a path, visible or partially visible. A road, a track, a 'kaccha rasta', something which has a form and direction. In the desert though, there actually isn't any path. You can ride anywhere with no restrictions! We zig-zagged our way to a random spot and established 'camp'. We maneuvered the four bikes to serve as 'pillars' and spread the tarpaulin over them. Our picnic consisted of carrots, Parle-G biscuits and water. Rajaji was convinced that there was water at the horizon and left with Ankit to explore. The vast, empty desert was, to me, as terrifying and humbling as the ocean or the hills. I went into musing mode for a bit here.

Once the others returned, we packed up and started for Rapar. Barring a 10-kms misnavigation by Ankit the Leader, we had a smooth, albeit hot ride till Rapar. It was past lunch time though and we had to make do with some snacks in the town. There were also no decent places to stay here, so we rode on towards Dholavira. We then reached the Kutch Lake, a dried lake bed that covers both sides of the road. All you see is an endless expanse of white salt in both directions - this was our first and best view (as we would later realize) of the famed White Desert. We reached this spot just in time for the sunset, a truly magnificent sight.

Riding further, we chanced upon the Flamingo Resort. It seemed to be newly constructed. As we rode inside and parked, I was approached by a Kannadiga family who saw my KA number-plate. What followed was a very typical conversation, that would repeat itself throughout the ride and has repeated itself for many years for me. Because I have stayed in different places all my life, I attract such conversations. They go thus -

"Ah, you are all riding from Karnataka?"
"No, from Pune. They are coming from Delhi"
"Oh, so you're Marathi?"
"No, I grew up in Delhi."
"Then the KA bike....?"
"I was in Bangalore for sometime, so I bought the bike there"
"OK, so Delhiite"
"No, I'm actually an Andhraite, I was born and brought up in Delhi..."
"But you're now in...?"
"Pune"
"......"

In the past 5-6 years, I have been part of umpteen variations of this conversation. I realized that mono-syllabic answers do not turn away anyone. So if I'm in a hurry, I just list out the entire lot in one go - "Originally Andhraite, in Delhi all my life, in Bangalore for 5 years, now presently in Pune". It is usually a lot of fun for me and everyone around though!

The night's stay was fixed in Flamingo Resort. Once again, we managed to procure the essentials from a localite. Ankit and I went to get it this time. On the way back, we witnessed the magnificent spectacle that I have only seen in photos till now - a sky clear enough for the Milky Way to be visible. Once we returned, we started our BBB in earnest. The last highlight of this very eventful day was witnessing the almost-full moon reflecting on the White Desert. We rode the short distance to the spot we had chanced up earlier in the evening and soaked in the cold air and sheer whiteness of the environment. It is a different matter that my shoes were simultaneously soaking in the muck-encrusted-with-salt.....

DAY 4 - 17th December (Dholavira, Rapar and Bhuj)

The first task of the morning was to pull out my Swiss knife and clean my shoes. Apparently, the salt-mud mixture can eat away into your shoe lining. After a good 20 minute scraping session, I had gotten rid of the worst of the muck. After freshening up, we had a breakfast of poha and chai at the resort, while chatting with the caretakers. One of them started assigning names of politicians to us based on his impression of us (I was Manmohan Singh, because I talked less).

We then set off towards the ancient Harappan site of Dholavira. The place is beautifully maintained, albeit quite empty. It reminded me of Hampi, actually, even if they are both from completely different eras. We hired a guide who took us around, explaining the sites. These ancient city-builders can teach a thing or two to us nowadays. Along with the guide's comments, I actually learnt quite a bit from Ankit (an architect by profession) about the ingenuity of their construction methods. All those pics in history books now came to life. We next went to museum which housed the artifacts unearthed from these sites. This is something I love about BoP. Visiting museums on fun trips is usually frowned upon and I have been made fun of for my 'nerdy' inclinations by other friends' groups. Here, however, walking into the museum is as natural as walking into a seedy bar!

Next destination was the Fossil Park. This was not part of our original itinerary, but the Flamingo Resort owner told us about it. The Fossil Park consists of petrified wood (as in 'fossilized', not as in 'scared') that is enclosed in fences to prevent people from spoiling it. Here, we found a naturally carved ass-stone, as identified by Rajaji. We also tried our hand at

archaeology by picking up random stones and trying to identify if it was petrified wood or a simple stone.

This Fossil Park is at the edge of one end of the White Desert. We lounged around on the salt for sometime, getting pics clicked. The salt was firmer here, but it might have been because it was afternoon. We then went back past the Harappan site and stopped at a small resort for a delicious lunch. This entire ride was a vegetarian's delight. I was actually having fun at the behest of my fellow riders, because during the WCR ride, I was the only vegetarian in the entire gang and we were riding through a predominantly fish-and-beef-obsessed region (Kerala). Here in Gujarat, I was completely at home and was enjoying the culinary delights to the fullest.

Post lunch, we went back to Flamingo, packed up and left for Rapar. Now our previous touch-n-go experience in Rapar was pretty sad and the experience continued this time too. We wanted to ride towards Bhuj, but stop somewhere in the middle. After a short distance, we stopped for a discussion - whether to continue the next 120-odd kms to Bhuj or stop somewhere else. Ankit and Dips were keen on riding to Bhuj, Zaheer didn't seem too keen and I was dead against it. I have instinctively avoided night riding for a long time. After some cajoling however, I realized that I wasn't sleepy and could easily ride the entire distance, albeit with a dinner break. A deal was struck - we stop for dinner on the way and we ride till Bhuj for the night.

We soon turned off the main highway and the next 30-35 kms were hell for me. When you have spectacles on, riding in the night on an unlit, single-lane highway with high-beamed oncoming traffic becomes doubly difficult. If you randomly drop me on those roads today, I wouldn't be able to recognize anything because I was riding blind for the most part. The dinner dhaba was a welcome break for me.  Soon, though, the roads became better and we reached Bhuj late in the night. It took us quite some roaming around to find a hotel, but we found a decent one inside the city. The agenda was simple - finish the remaining 'supplies' and go to sleep!

Link to Part III

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part I)

Once again, I'm back to blogging after almost a year. Around this time last year, I was pondering over my professional life, whether to move to a new city or stay put, etc. I chose to move; my new job in Pune exposed me to exciting opportunities and fantastic people. However, motorcycling took a backseat for a long time. The working week tired me out much more than ever and I was simply unable to manage my time for the first few months. Slowly though, I got a grip over my schedule and pushed myself to free up my weekends. I went on a few short rides with fellow BoPian Ajit and Sanjeev, a biker I met at my new workplace.

However, early on, Satish, Dips and I had scratched out a rough plan for the 2016 Anniversary ride and I diligently saved up my few leaves throughout the year. The destination was always Rann of Kutch, but concerns about rain and slush in November made us reconsider and we started exploring alternate plans. Lower 'lip' of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, East Coast - all were considered at one point of time. Finally though, more riders joined in (while Satish backed out) and by shifting the dates to December, we managed to stick to the original plan - Rann of Kutch Anniversary ride.

Dates: 14-25th December, 2016

Route taken/Places visited:
Pune-Mumbai-Surat-Baroda-Santalpur-Dholavira-Bhuj-Kalo Dungar-India Bridge-White Desert-Lakhpat-Narayan Sarovar-Mandvi-Ahmedabad-Baroda-Mumbai-Pune

Riders:

1. Ankit Gupta - Silver RE Classic 350 - The Leader
2. Diptinder Singh Chhabra - Black RE Electra 4S - The Hairstyle-changer
3. Krishnatreya Brindavanam - Silver RE Electra TS 350 - The Warrior
4. Zaheer Saifi - Black RE Electra 4S - The Follower 

Total distance traversed: 3,081 kms

The ride preparations had started at least a month in advance. I'd purchased a new ViaTerra tank-bag. Much before that, I'd shopped for new arm-guards, knee-guards and gloves. These turned out to be a great topic of conversation with my co-riders and strangers alike, as they have outer plates of steel which lent a 'warrior' look to me. A kind friend also lent me her tent and sleeping bag as we planned to camp somewhere.

DAY 1 - 14th December (Pune to Surat)

The day's destination was Surat, 420 kms from Pune. Day 1 and most of Day 2 were to be solo stretches. I was now completely comfortable with solo rides, but what caused some trepidation was the distance. I hadn't covered anything more than 120 kms a day in the past 9 months, though 420 a day is well within my comfort zone. I started off sharp at 6 AM and made my way towards Mumbai via the old highway. The ride till Mumbai was uneventful, except for hunger pangs; I hadn't stopped at my usual breakfast place in Lonavala and post that, I surprisingly didn't find any place to eat. Somewhere on the outskirts of Mumbai, I stopped and had a samosa with chai and decided to break for an early lunch afterwards.

One thing continually preying on my mind was the cash crunch. Demonetization was in full force and ATMs dried out faster than a drop of water on a hot tawa. I was carrying around Rs 1200 in cash and wanted to avoid as many cash transactions as I could, because on rides, emergency situations almost always require hard cash. So 85 kms before Surat, I stopped for lunch at what seemed to be a highway plaza with multiple restaurants under the same roof. Somehow, the mood for continental food caught me and I ordered a Cheese Macaroni and Lemon Tea. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of my cash woes for that day because their card machine wasn't working and I ended up parting with some of my precious cash.

It was then a smooth ride to Surat where I got caught in the evening traffic. I hadn't paid attention to the signboards and ended up going 14-15 kms into the main city; the next morning, I'd be coming back to the highway to go to Baroda and there was a big hotel right at the turning that I could have taken. Anyway, I was dead tired and found a hotel somewhere in the city. All thoughts of sleep came down crashing when I was told that they accept ONLY cash payments. It was a decent-sized establishment who could have easily transacted with card or net banking. All my pleas fell on deaf ears though. I wasn't in any mood to pack my luggage again and ride through the horrendous traffic to find another hotel, so I decided to freshen up and find an ATM. A hotel staff guy accompanied me and we tried 4 ATMs nearby, all to no avail. I then asked him to guide me to the nearest restaurant that would accept card payments. There, while getting my dinner packed, I got hold of some cash by paying 5% extra on my card. Cash issues resolved, I went back to the hotel. Here, however, I decided to push the hotel staff further (matter of principle - what if I hadn't gotten cash?). I kept asking them to give me their account details so that I could transfer the money. One guy tried to intimidate me by telling me that I can't leave the hotel premises without paying cash. I stuck to my ground for quite sometime. In the end though, I was too sleepy to argue further and promised to pay them cash in the morning, which I duly did before leaving.

This part of me may surprise a few readers - why get into trouble unnecessarily in a new city when I had cash in hand? But to me, it was matter of principle. It isn't anything to be proud of, this trait of mine, but it is how I am. I knew where to stop though, so no harm done.

DAY 2 - 15th December (Surat to Baroda)

This was to be a reunion day on 2 fronts. Firstly, I was to go to my friend AR's place in Baroda for breakfast. I was meeting her after a year and coincidentally, she had come back home from the US only a few days before. The ride from Surat to Baroda was short and sweet - 150 kms. Using Google Maps, I found my way to AR's place where we had an excellent breakfast and spent some time chatting about our college days.

The second reunion of the day was, of course, with my co-riders. We had planned to meet up in Radhanpur, around 280 kms from Baroda. Previous night, Dips had called me to ask if I could ride till Rapar that day. I refused, because both the distance (540+ kms from Surat) and my stopover at Baroda would have made it a tough ride for me. So we met up at Radhanpur as planned. After some bantering about my gear, we shifted to more serious topics - that of the unmentionable in a dry state. We obtained some information from a bunch of curious people, procured the necessary supplies and rode the next 40-odd kms to Santalpur to our night's stay.

This place was attached to a regular highway dhaba. At a very affordable price, we had a massive room with 7 beds for ourselves. We started our BBB session with a huge packet of chakhna that Ankit had procured, a fuck-load of onions and lemons and some "Impact". We filled in each other on our respective adventures. Rajaji commenced his dialogue of the ride - "sooji hai?" Dinner was at the 24/7 dhaba downstairs, after which we passed out for the night.

Link to Part II

The Migration Ride

  After spending 5 years in Bangalore, I embarked on a final motorcycle trip out of the city on 1^st April. Well, “final” for the near future at least. I completed the ride today, on 2^nd April and reached Pune, my new home. For those who don’t know, I got a new job here and decided to bring along my bike and some luggage for the first few days until I find a place to live in.

  Bangalore was love at first sight for me and grew on me since that first day when I stepped out of the train in 2011. The city has also grown me as a person by giving me a taste of life as a bachelor. I became very comfortable, finished post-graduation, found a job and stayed there for 3 years. Every stage has been filled with lovely people and awesome experiences. I have no regrets on any front – professional or personal. I made full use of my time there to travel around too.

  Time came to shift though, and I was torn between a desire to stick around and a craving to get out of yet another comfort zone.  The latter won out and here I am, 840 kms away in a completely new city and I look forward to all the fun and challenges it throws at me with some optimism and a bit more trepidation (cynic that I am).

  My mother had described this ride as “not a regular ride, but a migration ride”. In all senses, I agree with her. The objective of the ride was not fun, but actually to migrate. I carried more luggage than I ever did. And I treated it as a migration ride too, which might explain the relatively-short length of this blog and the lack of pictures.

  The day before the ride was unique, yet traditional. I had farewell drinks with my friends. But I had to prepare my entire luggage for the eventual shift, so it wasn’t a regular “throw stuff in a bag and start riding” kinda deal that is the norm for me. In between all this and an early start at 5, I just managed to get a few hours of sleep. The day’s riding was till Belgaum, 500 kms away. I have done such distances before so I wasn’t too concerned. The heat, however, made things very different for me.  I was consistently drowsy and no amount of singing or shouting helped. I took a few power naps along the way, and managed to reach Hubli by lunch time. There were 100 kms more to go and I needed a beer and lunch before I could I even think of riding further. I searched for a resto-bar for some time and didn’t find any. I gave up on the idea of beer and zeroed in on a restaurant tucked into a corner on the main highway itself. Surprisingly, they served beer. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t accept cards. Once again, I got back into the town of Hubli to search for an ATM. Quite a bit of exploration was required before I found one. After all this riding around in the beastly afternoon heat, the first sip of a chilled Tuborg gives an unparalleled feeling of joy and satisfaction. I chatted for a while with a Ninja 600 rider who was heading to Goa and remarked on the large numbers of Harley riders we observed heading towards Bangalore all through the day. Probably an event of some sort.

  After lunch, it was just hardcore riding till Belgaum where I stayed in the same hotel we had stayed in during the Belgaum-Amboli Ghat ride. The sheer contrast of the landscapes never escaped me. The predominant colours during that ride were green (of the land) and grey (of the sky). This time, they were brown and blue, respectively. Nevertheless, I lounged around in the AC room for a while before heading to Ajanta Café which had provided us with an excellent breakfast during the earlier ride. I polished off a misal paav and a masala dosa and headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved sleep.

  Day 2 riding was marked by a slightly late start at 7, similar landscapes and weather and a juice break on the way where the shop owner said that riders like me seemed a little mad to him, as we seemed to be unaware of more effective means of transportation. I explained about passion and priorities to him and may have convinced him that we were way worse than ‘a little mad’. Important point to be noted: when I mentioned ‘psychology’ as my field of work, his confused face cleared up.

  Hopefully, Pune will bring more awesome rides and thus allow me to write better blogs in the coming few months! 

Cheers!

BoP Bangalore Chronicles: Monsoon Ride - Belgaum and Amboli Ghat

  With the last two rides - Hampi Humpers in December'14 and Gandikota Gargoyles in March - being to arid regions, my eyes were starved of the fresh greenery of the hills. I thought of Wellington as a destination initially, but I chanced upon a blog on monsoon drives in Western Ghats (Link: http://traveltwosome.com/blog/12-road-trips-to-experience-monsoon-in/) and decided to postpone Wellington to some other time and enjoy the rains in Western Ghats for the July ride.

  Satish and I were torn between Charmadi Ghat and Amboli Ghat. Eventually, we decided to go with the latter since both of us had a rare chance to do a 4-day ride and Charmadi can be covered in a 3-day ride. Amboli Ghat is a good 570+ kms from Bangalore, so a stopover at Belgaum was decided upon. A few date changes happened and Sandeep (who had joined us for the Bylakuppe ride in July 2013) confirmed for the ride too. I think Satish and I were happier than Sandeep, as we finally had a 3rd rider alongside.

  When it comes to rains during a ride, the chances increase greatly if it is a BoP ride. These chances increase exponentially if someone is riding during monsoons. And these exponentially-high chances convert to absolute sureties if it is a BoP ride in the monsoons. When it is a BoP ride to Western Ghats in the monsoons, it crosses the "100% sure" mark; the logical impossibility of 200% is the best descriptor.

Dates: 25-28 July, 2015

Place(s) covered: Belgaum, Amboli Ghat and Chitradurga

Route taken:

Bangalore-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Hubballi-Belgaum-Amboli Ghat (while going)

Belgaum-Hubballli-Chitradurga-Tumkur-Bangalore (on the way back)

Riders:

1. Satish Palleti: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 - The Storymaster
2. Krishnatreya Brindavanam: Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark - The Drinker
3. Sandeep Modey: Yamaha FZ - The Cameraman
4. Varun Doegar: Royal Enfield Thunderbird - The Escort


Total distance traversed: 1260 kms

DAY 1

  Doegar had confirmed a couple of days earlier that he would, like in the Sakleshpur Sledgehammers ride, come with us till the city outskirts and turn back. I had a team outing the day before the ride and I was careful not to tire myself out too much. We planned to start at 5.30 AM the next day. Satish usually turns up for rides on time, but he seems to have a running feud with Doegar and has always come late whenever the latter rides with us. He didn't miss a chance this time either to infuriate Doegar and arrived at 6 AM. Sandeep was dot on time and though Doegar had spotted him, he didn't think he was a long-distance rider, given that he was carrying all his stuff in a poly-bag (which was to be put into Satish's new saddle-bags).

  We set off immediately towards Yeshwantpur, after which we had to take the highway towards Tumkur. Around 65 kms later, we stopped for breakfast at Kamat Upachar. We caught up with each other and what happened in the past few rides. Satish dropped a navigational gem here, as he claimed that a branch of the NICE Road actually extended all the way till Chitradurga. He and Doegar debated about this mythical route for quite sometime before Satish acquiesced. Once again, I have found Satish's sense of navigation to be better than mine but he seems to come out with absolute gems like this only when Doegar is around. 

  We had a small photography session afterwards. Satish was clueless about the Timer function of his bandook, so Doegar took over and got some nice pics clicked. We stopped some distance ahead to click some more line-up pics and then bade our farewells to Doegar who took the next U-turn back towards Bangalore. We now had around 440 kms to cover. The skies were cloudy with the sun peeping through sometimes. We knew rain was around the corner, so we stuck to breaks after every 100 kms. The inevitable happened somewhere before Hubli - the heavens opened up. At the end of our ride, I realized that this stretch of 200 kms was the longest continuous dry stretch we rode in those 4 days. 

  We had lunch at a place called Green Palace, while we waited for Sandeep to catch up - he had stopped for petrol, the card machine wasn't working there so he was searching for an ATM in the vicinity. The rain stopped for a bit while we finished lunch but we stuck to our rain-gear wisely, because a few kilometers later, it again started pouring.

  In this manner, we reached Belgaum at around 7 PM, partly drenched, slightly saddle-sore but still fresh. We found a hotel called Durga Residency near the main bus stand. The room was clean and well-kept but small. The latter proved to be a challenge as we had to creatively lay out all our rain-drenched gear somewhere to dry. What more, Durga Residency was located on top of a local bar. 

  On the advice of a friend, we went for dinner to a place called Sun and Sand. The 1st floor is meant for families, so we were led upstairs. Both Satish and Sandeep had turned vegetarian temporarily (being a Saturday) and I wasn't really keen on drinking since neither of them drank. So we had a saatvik bhojan, absolutely delicious and filling. We returned to the hotel and went into a deep sleep. 

DAY 2

The first stop this day, again a recommendation from my friend, was Ajanta Cafe for breakfast. I had one of the best breakfasts ever over here. Belgaum's location on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border meant you could have a delicious combo of masala dosa or idli-vada with a plate of misal-pav. I tried the latter for the first time and it was fantastic! Satish finally got around to fixing his Go-Pro camera to Sandeep's helmet.

  Once again, we got into our rain-gear and made our way through Belgaum towards Amboli Ghat. While the place itself just has a waterfall, it is the ride that is more enjoyable. Another first for me was riding in Maharashtra. It is also a bit of a sudden linguistic jump, as I noticed that people didn't speak Kannada at all. Usually, people living on state borders are fluent in two languages. Of course, I admit that I am basing this conclusion on very limited interactions. 

  As we neared Amboli, I actually saw a huge cloud of rain slowly move towards us and engulf us completely in a matter of minutes, It is a magical experience for a city-dweller like me to witness such natural beauty. This was short-lived though, as we rode closer to the main waterfalls. It was, to put it delicately, quite busy over there. In other words, it was chock-a-blocked with people of all shapes and sizes. The waterfalls are on the side of the road and flow over a set of stone steps, so you can actually climb up towards the falls. Climb up if you can find some space, that is. I contented myself by lounging on a few rocks at the base. The rain never really stopped, so we didn't even remove our helmets. Satish wanted to take a video with his DSLR and was running around to people asking for an umbrella. He finally succeeded though.

We munched on some bhutta there, while a bunch of ladies of various ages took turns posing on my bike for pictures. Afterwards, we stopped at a small stall for vada-pav and egg bhurji. This kept us running till our return to Belgaum, where we ordered a more substantial lunch of rotis and curry to be delivered to our room. It is here that Sandeep and I started making fun of Satish's penchant to come up with outrageous stories which he would then contradict in a matter of minutes. He was thus labeled the "Storymaster" for the rest of the ride, and probably, all his life. One thing new to me was bakchodi in Telugu. It is an important distinction for me, something which might be lost out on people who speak the same language inside and outside their homes. While growing up, I spoke Telugu at home and Hindi with friends outside. So I am completely comfortable with informal conversations in Hindi, but I am confronted with my inadequacies in Telugu in situations like this. I haven't been exposed to the local slang, dialect, vocabulary and all those other little things that make communication smooth and enriching. My Telugu is like the proverbial frog in the well, nurtured and developed within the confines of my home in Noida, outside of which I barely had a chance or reason to flex my linguistic muscles. 

  We took a short nap and then set off to explore Belgaum. We knew that a fort existed somewhere here, but the first few auto-guys had no idea about it. Eventually, we realized that the fort was there, but resembled no other fort we had ever seen. It houses Indian Army's 5 Mahar Regiment presently and consists of a large number of houses and 2 temples. We walked around but there wasn't a lot to see. Outside the Jain temple, we talked to a jogger about other places to see. Instead, he launched into a short lecture on the history of the temple, the architectural features and what they represent, etc. Satish was the focal point of this lecture, and Sandeep and I could barely control our laughter. Finally, the Storymaster had met his match!

  For dinner, we once again went to Sun and Sand. This time I was in a mood to drink, so I had a few pegs of Old Monk while the others gave me company with mocktails. The Storymaster told us about how he actually drinks sometimes and how he once downed 3 neat shots of Old Monk and didn't even get buzzed. Over the course of the evening, this changed to 3 pegs, then 1 shot, then back to 3 pegs + some other drink and so on.

  The day's riding had been absolutely fabulous. We returned to the hotel and to our delight, we discovered most of our clothes had dried up, even though they probably would get drenched again the next day!

DAY 3

  The plan for this day was to ride to Chitradurga. We could see the famous fort there and also have a short and relaxing 200 kms to ride on Day 4.  

  Goes without saying, we donned our rain gear as the ride began. We wanted to go to Ajanta Cafe one more time, but it was a little late and we were keen on avoiding the Monday morning traffic. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any breakfast place on the highway either. Eventually, we stopped at a place called Mullah Dhaba. As the name suggests, it was run by Muslims and had the colour theme of green. It gave a very eerie and dingy look to the place. The food was decent though and we had some nice kheer at the end.

  One aspect worthy of note is the chai. In this part of Karnataka, the regular chai is overdosed with milk. Consequently, it is very thick and with barely any traces of the taste of tea. Almost always, we had to send it back and ask them to make a stronger tea. I have tasted various types of tea from all over India - from the almost sugarless tea of South India to the very sweet, syrupy chai of the hills in the North. This milky tea was a new experience for me though.

  We reached Chitradurga in the afternoon and stopped at the first hotel we saw. The rooms weren't great but we were actually quite tired as it was our 3rd day of riding. Satish wasn't keen on lunch and wanted to take a nap. Sandeep and I stepped out but there were no good places to eat nearby so we rode a little bit ahead. I spotted a bar and decided to have a beer first. Sandeep ordered his lunch there, while I sipped on a cold beer. A gentleman on a nearby table started chatting with us. He was quite drunk and was bossing around the waiters a lot to impress us. It looked like he was a regular and they seemed to be used to his antics. He even showed us a pic of his two sons, one of whom is apparently a DJ in a big club in Bangalore. 

  The fort shuts down at 5, so we decided to wrap this up quickly. I was too full of 'child bear' and 'snakes' and skipped lunch. Our drunk friend here started insisting that we take a bottle of water from the bar, for God knows what reason. He grabbed a waiter and forced him to go and fill a bottle. We stepped out, tipped the waiter and gestured to him silently not to bother with the water. The man there seemed to be on the verge of creating an unnecessary scene.
  

Back to the hotel, we met Satish and rode the short distance to the fort through the town of Chitradurga. The Chitradurga Fort is maintained excellently, though not a lot survives. It was occupied by a series of dynasties and kings including the Vijaynagara Empire and Tipu Sultan. We climbed to the top of the fort, from where you get an excellent view of Chitradurga and the surrounding areas. We were a bit surprised to find that Chitradurga was actually quite a huge town. Satish and Sandeep tried their hand at trick photography here while I just enjoyed the cool, peaceful breeze. 

  Hunger pangs hit us soon and we made our way down to the entrance of the fort. We passed through the entire town without finding a single snacks stall. Right near our hotel, there was a small place called Coffee Day. The logo was very similar to Cafe Coffee Day. In this small town, so far away from any major metropolitan city, you wouldn't really expect great fast food like sandwiches and burgers. Coffee Day, however, blew away our minds with their fantastic cheese sandwiches and various types of burgers. Satish and I, starved because we had skipped lunch, dove into the food like there was no tomorrow. It started as a small, filler-meal to keep us till dinner but soon, it turned into a fest of gluttony at the end of which, neither of us could even dare to think of dinner.

  The tiring day plus the heavy meal can only be followed by one thing - blissful sleep. 

DAY 4

  The final day of an amazing ride! For a change, there were no dark clouds as we started off. We managed to cover almost 70-80 kms before we had to stop and don our rain gear.

  Once again, no decent places to eat on the highway. Somewhere near Tumkur, we stopped at a hotel. Sandeep was once again nowhere to be seen and because of the same reason as earlier - petrol stop and no cash. We were almost finishing our breakfast when he joined us.

  Satish came up with his best story so far about a group of KTM riders on the other side of the road (point to be noted: neither Sandeep nor I spotted any such group), at least one of whom was a girl. Next, we learn that the girl has brown hair. By the time Sandeep finished his breakfast, Satish was no longer sure whether it was a guy or a girl. It was getting harder to distinguish between Satish's truths and stories!

  We took the NICE Road to avoid the heavy traffic through the center of the city and reached home by afternoon.

  The continuous rain riding meant the underside of my bike and all the chrome was splashed with red mud. Sure, it wasn't clean and pretty, but it was beautiful in its own way! The Bullet is completely at home on the highway, not inside the garage and the same goes for me - I am at my happiest on a ride like this!

Until next time!

Cheers and Jai BoP!

BoP Bangalore Chronicles: The Gandikota Gargoyles ride

  The month of January passed by, and BoP Bangalore hadn't yet started riding. Satish and I had separately ridden to Tirupati, but it wasn't a BoP ride. I decided February had to be the ride month and chose a location I chanced upon while searching for something else - Gandikota in Andhra Pradesh.

  Few people know of it so all the more reason for BoP to go there. There is a fort overlooking an awesome gorge over the Penna river, the pics looked damn cool and we could also cover Belum caves. I really wanted to ride in the starting of Feb to avoid the beastly heat of the Rayalseema region of A.P. Fate had something else in store for us and we were forced to postpone it to the end of February.

Dates: 28 Feb-2 March, 2015

Place(s) covered: Gandikota, Belum Caves, Yaganti

Route taken:

Bangalore-Chikkaballapur-Gorantla-Kadiri-Jammalamadugu-Gandikota-Belum caves-Yaganti (while going)

Yaganti-Peapully-Gooty-Anantpur-Chikkballapur-Bangalore (on the way back)

Riders:

1. Satish Palleti: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 
2. Krishnatreya Brindavanam: Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark

Total distance traversed: 817 kms

DAY 1

  Navigator of the ride was Satish; I had barely looked at the route myself. He informed me that it is 340 kms to Gandikota, another 60 odd kms to Belum Caves from there and then 380 kms back to Bangalore. He even wanted to cover a place called Yaganti. I was mentally prepared for a longish ride to and from the destination.

  We started at around 6.15 AM. We had to take the same route that we took for the Hampi Humpers ride, skipping a left towards Lepakshi and taking a right further ahead for Gandikota. On the way, we came across a bunch of bikers, all on the new Thunderbirds. We stopped for breakfast at the Kamat-that-resembles-an-A2B and the Thunderbird group met us here. They were a bunch of middle-aged men, new to Bullets and riding, going towards Lepakshi. We introduced each other and invited them to join BoP for future rides; they seemed enthusiastic, but Satish and I had our doubts on their capacity and tolerance for bakchodi. Later in the ride, Satish pointed out that they would likely get offended if they hear me, Nishant Jha and a lot of other BoPians speak (thanks to our penchant for attaching an expletive to every phrase). 

  We finished our breakfast, bade farewell to the bikers and hit the highway again. After taking a right at Gorantla, the road narrows to 2 lanes. We were now riding in the Rayalseema region. The landscape is primarily arid, brown in colour, with rocky, solitary hills. It was getting hotter too, so we took less breaks. The road would narrow down to a single lane sometimes, completely covered by a truck. Unlike what I experienced in Kerala, most truck drivers here would actually go off-road to let bikers pass (there were a few exceptions though).
 
  After crossing a turning into the town of Jammalamadugu, we had to ride up a small hill to reach the Haritha guesthouse (APSTDC's string of guesthouses all across tourist destinations in AP). The Gandikota Fort is just a short distance away from the guesthouse, so we decided to have lunch, rest for a bit and then go to the fort. The place is quite big, spread over a lot of land with multiple buildings, each of which had a couple of rooms. Unfortunately, the manager informed us that there were no rooms available. Online booking was started 15 days ago and there was no on-the-spot booking available. We talked to him for a bit and were told that there is a 8-bed dormitory room booked by 5 guys, we could talk to them. Turned out they were a bunch of North Indians who had rented a car from Bangalore and were OK with us sharing the room with them. So we had some average lunch at the guesthouse, moved in our luggage and took a short nap.

  By the time we got up at 4, the weather had completely changed. We could hear thunder rumbling in the distance, with dark clouds bearing down towards us. We immediately rode the short distance to the fort and started exploring. In sharp contrast to Hampi, the entire fort was in shambles. It is not maintained at all. Thorny bushes and rocks created impromptu dead-ends everywhere, so we had to rely on our virtually non-existent trekking skills.

  While the fort itself isn't any great, what is spectacular is the view of the gorge. Gandikota is known as the Grand Canyon of India and justifiably so. The Penna river cuts through the rocky mountain to open up into a huge lake, all of which can be viewed from various points. The light drizzle made the views even better and I was having the time of my life. Our roommates had found an awesome point, but I was unable to find a path towards the same. Satish had a near-fall into a deep hole as he slipped while trying to climb and decided to call it a day. I monkeyed around for a while before turning back. It was getting dark and the next order of the day was beer. We did witness an amazing sunset though.

  The errand boy at the guesthouse had earlier asked for my bike to get the beer from Jammalamadugu (10 kms away). I prefer not to give my bike to people I don't know, so I decided to get it myself. Satish wanted to rest for a bit, so off I went. The rain had cooled down the weather considerably and I enjoyed the short, solitary ride on a dark and empty road to Jammalamadugu and back. Back at the guesthouse, we had a short BBB session with the 'child bear' and 'snakes'. We spotted a trio of riders from IBR who stuck to Thums-Up and professional conversations. Soon, a big group of riders roared in on their Bullets. We would learn later that they were from the Hyderabad Royals. It reminded us of the need to expand the Bangalore BoP chapter furthermore.

DAY 2

  We started off towards Belum Caves at 6.30 in the morning. It was still cloudy, but there was no rain. We had to ride just 60 kms, so we took it easy this time. On the way, we stopped at a small stall for a breakfast of poori-baji. We weren't sure of the accommodation arrangements in Belum Caves, but we were told that a Haritha dormitory existed there.

  We reached Belum Caves at 9 AM. Just like in Gandikota, the guesthouse is very close to the spot. However, the dormitory was already occupied and we were informed that there was no power or water supply, so we had to make other arrangements. The caves opened at 10.30, so we decided to ride to Yaganti afterwards. While Satish took a nap on the bike, I buried myself into a book until opening time.


   Belum Caves are a set of underground caves, apparently the second largest in India. They are maintained excellently, and even though free guides are available, you either need to have a big group or wait for a group to build up for the guide to tag along. We didn't have the patience to wait, so decided to explore on our own. The caves are lit up with halogen lamps and there are 'blow-holes' for ventilation. Since they are underground, you start sweating within minutes. We leisurely walked through various alleys and gullies. Around 3.5 kms of the caves are explored, but only 1.5 kms are open to public. The stalactites and stalagmites in one chamber are known as "Kotilingalu" (1 crore Shiv lingas). Personally, I don't care much for religion and I was wondering why simple, natural formations cannot be appreciated for what they are without any religious connotations. But then, probably calling them "Shiv lingas" was the reason why people didn't damage them, so who am I to argue. Call it a "stalagmite", people will try to break it; call it a "Shiva linga" and people won't even touch it!

  We had a little scare deep in the caves when the power went off. It made me appreciate the challenges of spelunking. You need guts to go so deep into a cave, not really knowing how to make it back. The power came back on though, and we started making our way back. We again bumped into our roommates from Gandikota here. Fancy meeting them all the way inside a cave!

                                  

  We cooled off for a bit in the breeze outside with some soft drinks, before making our way out towards Yaganti. It was mostly a smooth ride, except for a village crossing where a large group of women had blocked the road with tree branches and were demanding money. Satish reached the spot before me and when I saw the crowd around him, I thought it was an accident. But as soon as I reached, one bunch of ladies surrounded me, wailing, singing and coaxing me to pay them. I twisted, turned and got out of it, while Satish had to cough up Rs 20.

  We reached Yaganti just in time for lunch. Accommodation was easy to find, but food wasn't. The village is at the dead end of a road, blocked by a rocky hill. So there is one very unappealing hotel and one place where they give free food to everyone. The other option is to ride back 10-15 kms to the nearest town. We were in no mood to ride in the afternoon heat, so we settled down in the free-food place. The 'pappu' (dal) was quite good and we donated Rs 100 in lieu of the lunch. We again came across the Hyderabad Royals here. 

  After a short nap, we set off to explore Yaganti. There is one little temple here, along with 2 sets of small caves. Once again, they forced religion into the place by installing Shiva lingas and planting a bunch of sadhus and priests here. Altogether, an average place with not a lot to do. We then rode towards a little 'fort' like structure we had passed by earlier. Known as the Nawab's Palace, it looks newly constructed and a superhit Telugu movie called 'Arundathi' was shot here. All the inner chambers and rooms are shuttered, so there wasn't anything to do here either. We decided to go back to the room and then ride to the nearest town for dinner.

  Dinner was at a place called 'Malabar Hotel'. The day's breakfast and lunch were mostly average fare. The last meal of the day, however, made up for it. I had an excellent egg-curry, probably the best I have tasted till date. Satish's chicken biryani was good too. Once the food-high got over, I was in no mood to drink, so we rode back to the hotel and slept off.

DAY 3

  Satish's estimate of 340 kms to Gandikota from Bangalore had fallen short by around 40 kms. Now, he said it would be 380 kms back to Bangalore, but I had my doubts. We started off in the morning at 6 sharp. Winding through the narrow village roads till Jaladurgam, we then got onto the NH7 that connects Bangalore and Hyderabad.

  As expected, the first signboard announced that Bangalore would be less than 380 that Satish had claimed. NH7 is a super-smooth highway, and after riding around 250 kms on narrow village roads, it was exhilarating to ride on this 6-laned slab of butter.

  As soon as we entered the outskirts of Bangalore, I was greeted by a bunch of cops who challaned me Rs 300 for over-speeding; I was going at 80 in a 50-60 zone. Except for this, it was an uneventful ride back home. We didn't encounter a whole lot of the weekday traffic either, fortunately. 

  The first BoP ride of 2015 was thus completed. This ride, along with the Hampi Humpers ride, was to a similar dry area and I am starting to miss the beauty of the hills now. The next ride will definitely be to the hills. Also, Satish and I resolved to try and expand the Bangalore chapter, so as to get more riders. 

Until next time! Cheers and Jai BoP!