Some Stuff: A Hell of a Ride – My Second Visit to Kodaikanal!

Sunday (Sep 16) 8:00 am: My sleep was disturbed when Balaji came and started shouting my name to wake me up. When I woke up, Bala himself was shocked to see my eyes. He claimed that they are completely red! He did not realize that it was the devil inside me who wants to bang him against the wall for waking me up so early!
Having no choice I got out of the bed after 15 minutes swearing at Bala and Naveed! Now time for the bath and to get refreshed. Believing the words of the manager, I went inside for a hot bath only to be greeted by ice-cold water! Left with no options, I had to complete my chores and come out cursing and swearing on top of my tone. When Bala enquired, he was told that the geyser is having some problem today! (Oh Really!! Just today!!).

Now we three focused on waking up the Kumbakarna of the troupe, Jude! We kept on screaming, shouting and disturbing Jude but he was happily sleeping without any effect. Time was running short as we had decided to head back to trichy in the night itself. Finally after all the drama, he woke up at around 9:15 and went inside bathroom to comeback within a minute. He cannot do anything without hot water. The poor manager was forced to heat the water and bring it to Mr. Tomlinson who went inside to complete his chores by 10:00! Finally we left the room by 10:30 am.

While deciding where to have breakfast, we went near the roundana which I specified earlier (dominos). Boys purchased a pack of imported cigarette there and we decided to fill our tummies in a veg hotel which we saw at the corner of the road entering to meet the bus stand. While walking back, we noticed a group from North India (our guess is Delhi). The girls particularly were no doubt beautiful, hot and sexy but what made us stare ware the clothes that they were wearing. Nope we were not dripping water from our clothes on their short clothes.. Believe me nothing pervert here even though those girls were just in shorts and sleeveless tops. We were amazed that, how on earth can they repel the cold with that kind of clothes! Nevertheless staring at them means, we will fall into pervert category so we moved on to fill our now grumbling stomachs. We entered the restaurant which was packed with tourists that included gangs like us, honeymoon couples and families. After few minutes wait, we had our tummies filled with yummy pooris, idlis and dosas. To top it up, we had the coffee and finally the staggering bill of around 500 rupees! For 2 set of pooris, 3 dosas, 2 idlis, 2 pongals and 4 coffee the bill was way to high. Nevertheless we paid and moved on.

Sunday (Sep 16) 11:30 am: We hit the first destination, the Croaker’s walk! After me and Jude parked the bikes at little distance away from the entrance, we entered this beautiful serene walk. With clouds floating down below us and the valley hidden behind them, the walk was very refreshing. Then it began, the photoshoot. Jude and Naveed giving all kind of poses and clicking each other in their mobiles while me and Bala were enjoying the beautiful nature. In between we both too joined the party of photo kings. While walking across, I received 2-3 calls from my wife who wanted to ensure that I am not straying away looking at the nature and the beauty around (Ahem..)! As usual, we noticed few beautiful couples lost in each other, few packs of families and people trying to eeke out their leaving. There were few observatory’s but due to the cloud playing hide and seek with us, we did not want to pay for the lens and we just enjoyed the valley below whenever it was visible. Soon we saw another spectacle! Two ladies (I guess European from their dialect) were having ice-creams and to top it up, they were also not wearing any jackets or sweaters! Maybe the climate back at their home has made them prone to the cold. We noticed the Delhi troupe back below the valley walking across a narrow path. After the continuous photo sessions from our two heroes, we came out of the walk from the other end.

While exiting out of the croakers walk, we noticed few shops and I decided to bite my teeth in a pineapple which was looking very tasty. Well never the less it was tasty but not ripe. Our boys now Bala inclusive were busy in photo sessions while we walked our way back to the entrance (from outside the park in the main road) where we had parked the bikes. Few girls from Northeast origin were walking behind us giggling among themselves. Obviously, it looked like they were giggling on our heroes who were taking every opportunity to click themselves for a facebook post.

After few more minutes, we reached near the bikes and Bala burst out at me and Jude. Reason: We had parked exactly next to a huge garbage bin smelling like rotten fish! Anyhow, we continued our onward journey with Naved behind me in passion and Bala behind Jude on Pulsar. The road was narrow and congested and we were going on the elevated stretch. In a flash I lost sight of Jude and then there was a ‘Y’ shape road ahead of me. I had to decide whether to continue on the elevated road leading to the exit of the croakers walk or to take the downward road heading to a region unknown. My gut feeling was to take the downward road and Naved felt the same. We started moving on. The road at best can be described as a road of tiled bricks at places, at places a haven of craters filled with water. I travelled around a kilometer when we got a call from Pulsar enquiring about our location. They asked us to come back to the ‘Y’ junction and come near the pineapple shop as they were waiting for us there. Well Mr. Tomlinson was our guide for the day as he had been to Kodai more than once so we took a U turn. A jeep overtook us with some foreigners and we were following them with no option to Overtake them. The ride back was little annoying as whenever I was trying to overtake the Jeep either he was blocking me or there was big crater on the road or some other vehicle was passing over. Just before we hit the Y junction, I managed to overtake him and took the U turn to the elevated road reaching the Pulsar shortly. Instantly we started moving and Mr. Tomlinson took us through a shortcut. A series of bends with steep drops and raises! The road was very narrow, a max of two bikes can pass. A car was out of question. Few sharp bends and we reached the main road. This was funny as we were on the same road when the Pulsar asked us to return back to the Y junction for a shortcut. Actually we had crossed this intersection and had pulsar just moved on, they could have caught us right ahead of them.

Sunday (Sep 16) 12:30 pm: We reached a view point from where we could see the calm lake of Kodai down below. We did not stop here for long. Few quick snaps and a call from my beloved wife and we moved on. At this spot I made a decision that I am not gonna ride till we reach back Trichy, as we had just passed another set of cops who were checking the vehicles. Luckily they did not stop us. With Naved riding, we reached our next spot. This was a secluded area with lot of trees around. Few tourists had ventured deeper inside this forest. The clouds, the mist was giving us an enchanting view of the forest and the slopes ahead and we moved in. The land was wet and covered with lot of tree produce like seeds, branches, leaves etc., We found a fallen tree against which again the Photo session began. I had an eerie feeling again of a carnivore lurking around as this part was looking more like a forest area than a tourist area. Soon couple of forest rangers came in and asked everyone to clear the area. They were claiming that this area could be dangerous as wild animals frequent this part. So much for my haunch!! They ensured that everyone vacated the area and leave the place. We did not wait to see what will happen to the people who have ventured deep inside and we moved on. The next stop was pine forest which was close by. As with the previous stop, we did not venture down the valley enjoying pine trees. We just stopped closed by to the entrance and our boys started the photo shoot again. Occasionally me and Bala joined the troupe. There were lots of monkeys around. Note that I am not referring to the modern humans who behave like monkeys but you can find both varieties in abundance here. I was referring to the real little buggers moving around snapping any food item they could find in the hands of their counterparts wearing dresses. There was lot of litter around! Guess the warning and requests by government has no effect on the tourists. After spending some time, we decided to move on to the next destination.

The clock was showing around 1:20 pm now and Pulsar zoomed ahead of us. Our next destination was either Guna Caves or Pillar Rocks. The road was going down with lot of zig zags and I don’t know why I took the cap of Naved which I was holding and I wore it only to lose it due to the air. I asked Naved to stop immediately and told him that his cap has fallen. My guess is that we were touching nearly 50 KMPH when Naved applied the breaks hardly. The bike would have stopped with a screetching sound if the road was straight or ascending. However the road was wet, sloping down, and curvy. To add to this, we had stone gravels lying on the side of the road and my champion rider Mr. Naved suddenly went over that gravel. From the screetching sound, the bike started shaking violently!! I don’t know what Naved was thinking when he moved the bike over the gravel lying on the left side of the road instead of the clean road in the middle and right side of the road. Maybe he wanted to be on the left side as hill was raising on the left and receding on the right. Even thought the decision of Naved sounded sensible, it was deadly as we were heading straight towards a sharp branch protruding on the road and the point staring right ahead of us. The tip of the 3 inch or so branch was facing towards us like a spear and it was no less a scene from the movie “Final Destination” where the condemned gets pierced right through the face! All this while, I had maintained my composure and looked straight ahead on where we were heading. I know if the bike didn’t stop, we will be making contact with that branch. I could sense that the bike was slowing down and so was the time. Then it happened! With the few breath taking seconds passing by, The Bike Stopped!!

When I turned back, I noticed that the bike has dragged for 10-15 meters (not precise but it had dragged considerably). The cap was looking like a dot on the road. When I turned back to look at Naved, he was laughing and said few words which I hardly remember but I remember his face which looked relieved that we skipped a disaster. I realized that I was holding the branch in my left hand very securely when the bike stopped. It missed Naved’s pretty face by an inch or two. We both were really thankful that nothing ontoward happened and I ran to pick up the cap. Now holding securely in my hand, we started back when we noticed Pulsar parked on the left side. Well our experienced guide Mr. Jude George Tomlinson was confused if we are going in the right direction as the hill was descending pretty fast and there was no indication. He took a U-turn and we followed and soon another U-turn in the road when he realized that we were headed in the right direction at first. Again a quick photo session stop and we moved on after we updated about the exciting event that had passed by. With a warning to ride carefully Pulsar vanished and me and Naved started again. We were delayed by few seconds as few tourists were asking us about the direction to the Pillar rocks!!

Sunday (Sep 16) 1:45 pm: We had descended considerably and we could see a small stream on water on the right with a Hair-Pin Bend ahead. The road was not descending much but in this curve, there was a check post. All the vehicles had to be stopped for checking. The TamilNadu Government had installed this checkpost to ensure that the revelers are not carrying any liquor bottles or cigarettes. This was real funny for me as Pulsar was waiting in the long queue of cars for checking. By the time the officers reached the Pulsar, we were standing next to them. The officers asked us if we are carrying any liquor or cigarette. This, me and Naved declined quite honestly! Taking this opportunity, Balaji gave the cigarette packet to Jude for hiding. They forgot that nothing is hidden from the Law! The officer caught them and got furious. However he did not shout, He checked the pockets of Balaji and asked Jude to step forward for checking. Knowing that he is caught, he removed the cigarette packet and handed over to the officer. Without saying a word, the officer took out the cigarettes broke them into two pieces and threw it into the trash of empty liquor bottles and cigarette packets and asked us to leave with anger still on his face. Without saying anything we started from there and as soon as we crossed the hairpin bend, we burst out into laughter which we were holding back. The reason: Jude actually sacrificed 2 kings cigarettes to save nearly full packet of imported cigarette which Balaji gave him. We had successfully saved them. The officer thought that we had only one packet but actually we had two packets. We crossed the next tourist spot with lot of traffic. Naved glided through the traffic smoothly while Pulsar got stuck. We crossed the entrance but decided to skip Guna caves / Devil’s Kitchen and stopped after the long line of parked vehicles. We spent few minutes here clicking some of the amazing pictures taken so far. Especially the one where Naved jumped from a parapet wall. Here a lady approached Jude. She was in a Maruti Car on the other side of the driver. The car was driven by a man who might be her husband. Initially we thought that she is asking for a direction until she handed over her visiting card to Jude. They run a Kerala Massage Parlour and she asked us to visit them once before we left Kodai. No doubt the boys were excited but in the most gentleman behavior accepted the card and acknowledge the invitation and but politely declined the lady informing her that we will visit when we have a chance.

We quickly scrambled from this place and moved on to our next destination “The Pillar Rocks”. Last time when I had visited this place, I had hardly seen the Pillar Rocks due to the mist that had descended. But today luck was with me and the rocks were clearly visible. We stopped opposite to the entrance and ordered some lip smacking bread omlette and hot lemon tea. While we were munching on this, we saw the troupe of girls in shorts again entering the gate. Soon Naved swung into action and entered the gate behind them and we followed them. Even though the boys did not attempt to talk to them, they were enjoying the scenic beauty enhanced by the girls. Jude has changed his vision to another group of girls who seemed to be very much interested in our Guide Mr. Jude George Tomlinson. After few minutes, we decided to move on to the next destination “The Suicide Point”. As we were passing through the beautiful road with a residential school on the right and a Golf Course on the road, we started feeling rain droplets on us. In the gulf course, 2-3 wild bisons were standing on the edge of the forest entering the golf course and grazing. We just stopped for a moment and then we moved on and in next few minutes we were in the destination. The rain was catching up with intensity and we hurriedly moved inside the suicide point. Nope, none of us wanted to jump to our deaths! The entrance walk is covered with Petty shops selling bags, purses, key chains, food items, Tea and natural herbs etc., The rain started lashing very heavily and we were stuck. Even with the tarpaulins and plastic covers hanging over us, the water was entering the small walkway.

It was nearly 3:00 pm now and the rain had pinned us down. I noticed that there was a set of jacket (tiger pattern) which Tanisha wanted. So I called Jude to ask and negotiate the price. A big Mistake! He hardly negotiated anything. Anyhow, the price was much less than what I had expected, it was just 300 rupees and we got a deal for 250 INR (the quality was so crap that the fur started coming out soon after Tanisha wore it for the first time. Anyway, she was extremely happy when I gave it to her in Mysore). After my shopping was done, Jude wanted to buy a ladies handbag for someone! Who that someone was, I don’t know! He wouldn’t tell that and requested me to tell the boys that I purchased it for my wife! (I am breaking this secret here as later the boys discovered the secret in Trichy). All this while Naved and Balaji were busy at the suicide point clicking photos even in the rain. We waited for them for a while in the alley itself under the safety of the roof of the shop where we purchased the purse. Then when the rains finally decided to subside, we started to hit the road once again. Now our tummies were growling for food and we were kinda tired with all the travel and lack of sleep. Even though there were few drops of rain, we hit the road after a quick stop for the Tea near the entrance of Suicide Point. The traffic was heavy and the road was filled with slush but nevertheless the hills and the view was excellent. We crossed few kilometers and were leading the traffic when a no-good-arrogant-asshole taxi driver started honking at us. There were deep puddles of water right all over the road and everyone was having a difficult time conversing them but this shitty-smelly-asshole who wanted to get his ass fucked by god knows who suddenly took a very dangerous turn and zoomed passed us. He splashed all the muddy water over us (well on our legs) wetting our already drenched clothes in that chilly weather. I believe his gay friend was waiting for him to fuck his ass!! The taxi was an Maruti Omni and the number was TN 55-___99. I had remembered the number and would have specified here. However due to the time gap of our trip and my writings, I forgot the number. But whoever that asshole was, I hope he made it to his destination safe and sound.

Sunday (Sep 16) 3:30 pm: We reached a stop where there were lot of shops and restaurants. This place I remember as the small stream opposite to these shops created a very small waterfall which was a pleasant view to watch with the hills rising just opposite to its banks. This place also had those little 4x4 vehicles used for dirt track racing. No sooner than we entered these shops, the rain started pouring again, this time with extra vigor. Again we were pinned down to the shop we were standing in and finally ended up giving a business of nearly 2500 bucks to the shop owner where we had taken refuge. It was so cold now that I ended up smoking two cigarettes back to back!! This had never happened in my life and guess this is what is known as heights! While we were there a family came in two cars, stood right opposite to us and without getting down left the place after few minutes. One funny incident that I remember in this shop was that we asked the shop owner for a sample of home-made chocolate and he opened a 250 grams packet asking us to taste it. I bet he was expecting us to take one piece each, however driven by hunger and cold we ended up eating the whole box and leaving him aghast. Nevertheless his loss was covered with the business that we gave him and he was left happy.

After the rains stopped, we left the place with all the bags (Mind it that there were no plastic bags allowed, hence all the packaging was done in the paper bags). Since still rain droplets were testing us, I stuffed as many packets inside my jacket as possible. Atleast for once, I would have appeared stouty!! After this, while traversing the road I asked Jude where we are headed and if we are planning to have food. He just said we are going near lake and went ahead of us. Naved in full josh overtook him and we came near a curve (from where we had earlier taken a U turn after croakers walk). In whatever tamil I knew of, I asked one passing bike the direction towards the lake. The man informed us that we can go straight in the road that we are following or take a left road (which was a steep descend) which is a shortcut and should save us nearly 2-3 kilometers. We decided for the steep descend and within no time Jude passed us again and we screamed at him to follow us. He was hesitant at first as he was not aware of the road but at the end he was pulled with us. Here I dropped Mr. Jude’s gift and had to pick it up from the wet mud, while doing so I dropped Tanisha’s jacket too. Luckily the gifts did not get dirty and they were back in safely inside my jacket.

The descend began! It was so freaking steep that even after applying brakes the vehicle was catching up speed. Within 30 seconds we reached the bottom of the hill and finally we stopped the bike. Naved took a good look at the hill we just descended. It was dead straight drop at an angle of 45-50 degrees. Jude passed us and took the opposite direction of the drop and started ascending on the opposite hill. Even though the lake was just on the left hand side he did not stop and we followed him. We passed few shops and the steep ascend began. Pulsar somehow managed to climb the hill and meet the road that we just left for this shortcut. It was just near the entrance of the croakers walk. However, Passion began to fail halfway up the hill. Even at first gear the bike was struggling. I advised Naved to do a zig-zag climb rather than straight up, which he followed. The bike gained momentum for few more meters and came to a standstill about 10 meters from the main road. I got down of the bike and started pushing it forward. Naved was also pushing the bike while on it and trying all the tricks with the clutch to get it moving. The bike started moving very slowly. Jude and Balaji got down and finally pulled us up!

From here, we went straight to the circle (coffee day) where a petrol bunk was there. In this part of Tamil Nadu, petrol costs was little more (about 2 rupees more per liter). After struggling behind the long queue and a big truck that was trying to squeeze itself in into the bunk we filled both the bikes with petrol and left for the restaurant to fill our stomach. Rain started again by the time we entered the place. We ordered Fish Meals and Bala ordered veg meals. After filling ourselves we finally left for the room at around 5:00 pm. Here Bala suggested that it was not wise to travel back tonight, instead of travelling we will stay tonight in the room and start early morning next day. Except Naved everyone accepted this proposal. Since we had taken the room for 24 hours, we were not to pay an extra penny for staying overnight. It sounded like a sane plan but Naved was worried as he had to reach office by 10 next morning or take leave whereas the others can reach office by afternoon.

Sunday (Sep 16) 5:15 pm: As soon as we entered the room, Jude hit the bed. Bala was also tired and so was I. However the non-human being of the troupe Naved wanted to go out and started calling us girlies etc., to entice us to move out. Our Balaji in his typical mode said, “I don’t have any issues coming out.. I can come out but it is raining and I have headache”. He gave a solid reason to stay in the room. Jude was now a sleeping beauty! Naved looked at me! Trying to be a “Oh I am a traveller man”, I said let me change and I will join you. He said OK and went out of the room telling me that he will wait outside. Soon, I left the room locking it from behind. Bala took medicine and went to sleep.

Naved was talking to the manager of the lodge when I went out and soon we were outside the lodge. The road was very narrow, descending steeply towards our left and we had to take the right. I could see the hills clearly now on my left side. The peak was looking absolutely stunning making me click some pictures. Naved pulled out the passion and I hoped on and we started towards the Lake. This journey made me accustomed to the exit road from Kodai (as the road from our lodge was a One way from the restaurant where we had our breakfast). Within few minutes, we were back near the petrol bunk where we had just visited. Many roads here were marked with “No Entry” to ease the traffic. We found the road going straight and turning left, leading us straight to the lake.

If you want to break away from the pressure of the city life, this is the type of place you want to be in. The lake was very calm. There was a rule against motor boats in the lake, hence all the boats were either rowing type or cycling type. The road and the lake was divided by the footpath and a barricade made up of iron grills which could not be more than 2.5 feet of height each and gap between each grill maybe around 5 inches. Few roadside vendors were selling toys, boiled corn, chickpeas, peanuts, ice cream and all the other goodies that one can find in such place. We noticed many cute couples lost within each other rowing/cycling the boats in the middle of the lake. Of course most of the rowing/cycling was done by the poor hubby’s while the wifey’s enjoyed the cool and calm green water and the magnificent sun set over the hill. There were also couple of boys trying to show-off there biking skills by zooming past and wheeling or just drawing circle on that tiny road. Even though this sound and the rashness was irritating, the hills, the lake and the surrounding beauty made it appear very small. One more good thing about this lake is that, one can take horses for a ride around the lake and also we can hire bicycles as per your need (the one with two people cycling is also available).

After clicking some stunning shots of the sunset and enjoying the sunlight and the warmth that it was providing in that cold/rainy day, I decided to call Bala and Jude as they were missing this heaven on earth experience. After long time Bala picked up the phone tried waking up Jude and finally he gave up telling us that he want to take rest, he hung up. We moved towards the entrance of the boat house. I remembered the time I had last visited, we were trying to catch little fishes that was on the steps of the floating walkway to climb on the boat (me, my sis and my niece). This was kinda emotional for me as I remembered my mom sitting there watching us with a smile. I could still feel her there. I was driven back to the current time when Naved decided to buy one of the tasteless coffee that we had till date. It was just a boiling cup of hot water with a pinch of sugar, few drops of milk and a light essence of coffee giving a dull muddy taste! I decided to buy some boiled corn and again a disaster. It was the hardest corn that I ever had and finally decided to throw both coffee and corn in the dustbin.

Cursing them when I turned towards Naved, he was curiously watching a girl standing just few feet away from us. The girl was wearing a black top and a tight black jeans and was looking good from the angle that we were looking at her. She was actually speaking with a guy who was trying to convince/threaten/fight with her. She was also talking with a fighting attitude and few guys were watching them from the other side. This couple was looking at them constantly and it was clear that those guys and the guy speaking with the lady are friends. Naved was quick to judge and said may be they are negotiating the price!! I was taken aback by the blunt comment and calling the lady a prostitute. But soon the other 3-4 guys joined them and the lady started walking in the opposite direction. The guys relentless started following her in the bi-cycles that they had hired after watching her walk away for few minutes. I am sure it was the case of love affair but surely the scene was looking totally different as Naved Judged.

Then another drama took our attention away when a couple started romancing right on the tarmac near the ticket counter. They had just gotten out of the boat and were coming out. The funny thing about this couple was that, they had come in a full family group. There were other people from their home and these guys were in romance mood i.e., hugging/kissing and getting intimate in front of family members!! I said funny cas they both looked atleast 35+ year of age, stouty and well from my eyes bit different! (Readers discretion advised!!) After few more minutes of Nirvana at the edge of the lake, we decided to move on. Naved started and asked if we can travel across the lake rather than going back the road we came. This I readily agreed and we started in the direction the girl went. Well nevertheless, the girl was talking on mobile and another guy from the same group approached to talk. Now I was pretty sure that the girl was a girlfriend of one of those guys!

Naved was driving slowly, the lake was on our left side and hills raising on the right side. There were many people either on cycles or horses but the road was not filled with them. This ride was as calm and at its best. When we finally circumnavigated the whole lake, we calculated the distance. It was no less than 5 kilometers roundabout. We came near the petrol bunk again and saw a shop selling tea and vada’s and decided to spend some time there. Opposite to this shop, a very old but very very beautiful villa was there. The security of this villa was very high as I could see some security guards, cameras etc., Who stays in that villa is unknown but no doubt it should be some bigshot. Similarly other villas in this line were very beautiful and by the look of the architecture, atleast 30-50 years old. After having the tea and bajji’s at the shop we decided to move on. I was feeling very sleepy now and thought that it would be a good idea to catch some sleep before dinner.

Sunday (Sep 16) 6:30 pm: We reached the lodge and I straight away went to the room while Naved spent few more minutes at the lobby. As soon as I entered the room, I took the spare bed, pillow and blanket, threw it on the cold floor and wrapped myself inside. Within minutes Naved came. Around 15 minutes after this, a new guy came and started shouting at us asking us to vacate the room. He was claiming that the person who gave us room was just a manager while he is the owner of the lodge and the manager has taken the money without entering it in register and left. The owner was of the impression that we will be leaving in the evening so he kept quite. This totally pissed us off, me and Bala were furious while Jude was in negotiation mode. Naved was trying to put gasoline on the fire that me and Bala had but somehow he was landing into suspicion mode. Suddenly Naved started arguing with the owner that this is not right and to return our money back and blah blah and the owner was also using high tone while talking to us. Lucky for Naved that the owner could speak and understand Hindi so communication was not at all a problem. Finally we had to give up when the owner said that it was our mistake to tell the manager that we will be leaving in the evening and he is going to lock the lodge as no other rooms are occupied and he will go home! With no choice left, we decided to pack our things and start back.

Cursing the lodge owner with whatever curses we could think of, we packed our things left the room. Jude’s backpack had become very heavy now my guess was around 25-30 kg’s. My backpack was also stuffed with all the shopping items and it was also very heavy. When we reached the lobby, the owner was still fuming but somehow it was not looking right. However we got the advance money of 200 rs which we had given (200 rs extra with 1000 for full day rent). While coming out someone from the troupe jokingly said that it could be Naved’s game! There was a funny smile on Naved and the owner’s face indicating that the fight was fabricated. We had a strong case against Naved as he was the only one who wanted to start back that night itself as he wanted to reach office before 10 next morning. However Naved plainly declined any wrongdoing. Till date he has not accepted that it was he who ensured that we will be leaving the very same night.

Sunday (Sep 16) 7:15 pm: We left the lodge making a mental note never ever to visit that lodge again or repeat the mistake of listening to stranger agents lurking to make some commission by pointing to shitty lodges like this. Naved instantly started the bike and I hoped on behind him. While we started pulsar was still stagnant. Naved without waiting moved on. Due to the one way, Naved took a left turn near the bus stand but at the end of the road got confused that we have to take one more left. However, I stopped him and asked him to take right but wait for the pulsar. After few minutes they joined us and we were on our way back to Trichy.

Here I was updated that the lodge owner and few other people had asked the boys to cross the ghat section as early as possible as one or two leopards were spotted few days back. They had also given a word of caution regarding not to stop at places acknowledging my fear of carnivore lurking in the forests. Anyways, me and Naved got engrossed in the discussion regarding how the people staying at hills build their homes without strong foundations. We actually saw few houses at the edge of the slope. This discussion, we had to stop pretty soon as the road had become treacherous with lot of potholes spread all across the road. Due to the rain, it had become slippery and all the potholes was filled with water making it extremely difficult to judge. Wherever the road was intact, had lot of gravel of stones spread across. I knew I am not gonna like this ride.

We had few close shaves and this is when I realized that the road ahead was visible only because of the street lights or lights from the houses. The hills were covered with dense clouds blocking any moonlight or light from stars. It was a dead night and Passion’s headlight was as good as nothing. I was now pretty sure that it was the worst idea to start at night and I was literally praying that it should not rain again. As we were nearing the Silver Cascade my fears were turning into nightmare. I recalled all the incidents and close shaves we had from yesterday night and I was really scared now. Naved’s riding was nothing short of jumping from 10000 feet with a parachute full of holes in it. He occasionally gets distracted and to top it up, his bike!! There were few drops of rain that I could feel and I was literally scared to death when complete darkness descended upon us. At few places the road was completely dark and I could hardly see anything. With no idea where we are heading, my only comfort was the tiny miny hope that Naved knows his bike and so far I was safe with him. Finally we reached the Silver Cascade and thanks to the single Tea shop that was open, we stopped. Pulsar joined us immediately and Naved vanished near the falls to get a closer look and click some of his selfies from the side bridge. The last I saw him was the smokey form vanishing on that bridge as he walked towards the falls. There are two bridges parallel to each other. One is the main motorable bridge which is the main road leading through and fro Kodai and the next one is the narrow walkway for tourists to get a better view of the falls. If we are exiting Kodai, this falls comes on the left hand side and so as the narrow bridge with a gap of few feet from the main bridge.

Here while we were having our tea, Bala got a call from his dad and he got busy. Me and Jude crossed over the road to see the water from the falls flowing down the gorge into the valley and vanishing as a stream between two mountains. Here I raised my concern to Jude about Passion’s headlight which I met with a vane smile much to my frustration. When we walked back, I immediately raised my concerns once again to Bala and Jude. This time with much seriousness on my face. Bala and Jude laughed at me for a second but stopped maybe because I was serious or maybe they were thinking something else. Bala agreed with my point that they will be right behind us with high beam of light so that the road is visible to us. They too acknowledged the fact that it could be dangerous. Soon Naved joined us, again from a shadowy figure walking towards us. I raised my concerns to him and we all agreed. With renewed courage I hopped on the passion and we started.

Sunday (Sep 16) 8:00 pm: The start was smooth, we crossed the toll gate immediately and when I turned back there was a indica car that was on the verge of overtaking us. Pulsar suddenly stopped, I noticed that Bala was taking his mobile again. Naved with renewed josh and singing songs, overtook the Indica and started zooming ahead. I started to raise my voice to slow down and started patting on Naved’s back without any effect on him. Surrendering to my fate, I sat still. I knew I will be in trouble if I disturb him even if it is to warn him to slow down. By now I had realized how easily Naved will get distracted. The road was brightly lit by now, thanks to the Indica and two or three more cars that were following us. I could see a wall of mountain dead straight ahead of us about 100 meters, the road was suddenly turning right (looked like a U turn), since the road was wet, filled with gravel all along with road going downwards plus the speed and josh with which Naved was riding, my sixth sense indicated me that we are in trouble and I grabbed whatever I could on that bike to get a firm hold. Then there it came, another of Naved’s not-so-famous brakings for no apparent reason. He could have just released the throttle and slowly applied the breaks to take the turn but ‘NO’ I don’t know what he was thinking!! He applied the breaks so hard on that gravel that the bike started shaking violently, more violently than what had happened earlier in the day!! We were all over the road and the bike was turning left and right bending dangerously low. I knew that the time has come and if lucky we will survive with few broken bones! I don’t know what Naved was doing but I knew even his legs were flying like mine trying to control the fall with whatever strength we had in our legs. Somehow we both managed to stick on to the bike and not letting it go. If the bike had gone towards the right, we would have hit the barricade and could have flew downwards into the gorge like flying monkeys and if lucky our fall would have been broken with numerous trees that filled the gorge and if again lucky some humans will reach us before any god-foresaken carnivore which the locals at Kodai warned us about. If the bike had gone towards left, well we would not have died perhaps i.e., If we had not hit our heads hard enough on the rocky walls of the mountain. Nevertheless if we fall on road itself, we ran the risk of the Indica and other vehicles running over us! Again perhaps killing us on the spot or injuring us. I don’t know how long that deathly seconds lasted, but the bike did stop!! It was as if the God heard our inner hearts prayers, He stopped the bike smoothly just ahead of the wall. My left leg was on the road and I had almost slid towards my left, I guess few more seconds, I would have fallen on my left. More or less, Naved was leaning over the headlight of the passion but his legs were touching the ground over his bike. We did not fall, nor hit the wall!! Yay.. we survived another of Naved’s braking skills!! No doubt this was the most dangerous skid we had in this trip or any of trip in my recent memory. I was totally shaken by now and I came to my senses when the indica stopped by us and the occupants of the car looking at us and scolding us. We adjusted overselves as if nothing happened and started laughing hysterically further frustrating those guys who simply sweared at us and moved on, so as the other vehicles behind them. It was a considerable drag and we had stopped just short of the wall ahead of us. Somewhere when the excitement buried, I asked Naved to cool down and ride slowly. Even though I felt again that I should be riding, I did not want to be the cause of Naved’s death so I kept calm and sat behind.

Naved was also shocked and shaken. He did not expect that it will be so bad. He slowed down the speed and we were behind the cars soon following them for the lights. Then there was a pileup thanks to the busses that were going ahead slowly. This gave us the opportunity to overtake them and go ahead. Even though it was the bad idea, we were in no mood to slow down. There was more or less another 40 kms of mountain ride that was left for us and I wanted to remain as calm as possible. After few minutes, I realized that Pulsar was not behind us and when I turned back, I could see nothing but the deathly darkness that surrounded us. Not even any headlight ahead of us or behind us. I started to have an eerie feeling that we might have taken a wrong turn. I asked Naved to stop so that we can wait for the Pulsar to join us. Naved not wanting to stop at the narrow roads, started looking at a suitable place and we soon found a place on the curve turning right after little straight road. The place where we were standing was turning right and the gorge was on the left. After the right, there was a U-turn towards left connecting to the other hill right ahead of us. Hence if any headlight coming from opposite direction, we can see it and similarly from behind. We waited here for few moments anxiously waiting for the boys to join us. Few vehicles passed by but Pulsar did not come, giving me a thought that even they might have encountered an incident like we had. However after few more agonizing moments, they joined us and after a quick update we started moving ahead. Soon enough we lost them again. I don’t know if Bala was deliberately riding slow due to cold he was facing (lack of warm clothes) or the darkness or the treacherous road ahead but he was very slow. We moved ahead and I made a point to watch the road for Naved and keep on warning him with whatever my eyes could see.

With every passing second, I was getting more uncomfortable sitting back. I was constantly nagging Naved to watch the road for the turns, potholes or even slightest disturbance that I could see ahead that dark night. Very soon there was a jolt for us when we landed the bike on the crater. It was a huge crater right in the middle of the road during a turn towards right. If it is a normal day, anyone could have seen it but it was so smoothly hidden from us and the bike wheels slammed and banged while entering and exiting out. For a flash second the memory of recent incident crossed over my mind but Naved managed to keep the bike straight, even though he was swearing on it. We moved on and our focus was more on the road now. I noticed that the faint light from passion’s headlight was hitting on the top of the trees on the right side of the road. Atleast this would indicate that there is a wall or a gorge on the right hand side, so I was occasionally checking it out. Naved confessed to me that he was having difficulty during turns, especially when there is a dead left turn. He was not able to judge if the road was going left, straight or right scaring me again. Nevertheless we kept on moving with my constant warnings to turn left, right, slow down etc., We encountered another set of vehicles trying to overtake each other creating a Jam. Naved navigated through it smoothly and after sometime which appeared to me as an infinity, we reached the spot where we had Tea stall (where we saw the prostitute on our way to Kodai). We decided to wait here for the Pulsar to join us back. After 5-10 minutes, they joined us. Bala asked us to slow down telling us that he was constantly travelling at 50 kmph whereas we were traveling at far more speed. This was not at all true as I was constantly keeping a tab on the speedometer of passion and as far as I know it was functioning properly and the indicator never crossed 50 except for 1-2 occassions where Naved touched 60 kmph for few seconds. However Bala was in no mood to agree that he was travelling very slow. Nevertheless I begged them again to be right behind us so that we can see the road clearly. There was another 30-40 minutes of ghats travel left. While we were discussing this, the previous traffic which we had overtaken crossed us. Naved got busy with his search for Kadle mithai and he was happily munching on it while the rest of us enjoyed the tea. Even though this night was much colder than the previous night, I did not feel it much! Thanks to the thoughts running behind my head.

After this break, Pulsar started with a zoom. Whatever I told them, they completely forgot and started zooming ahead. I remember using all kind of words at Bala for not listening to me. I gave a word of caution to Naved and again hoped on with a prayer in my heart. Naved completely forgot what kind of scenario we were in few minutes back and again he was touching around 60 kmph. However the road was much more visible now so I kept my calm allowing Naved to glide smoothly. Nevertheless I was warning him occasionally and I was sitting in such a position that my head was right over Naved’s shoulder. I was hardly blinking my eyes and my complete concentration was on the road. While we were travelling this way, a truck overtook us. No doubt Naved had slowed down to allow the truck overtake us. This I was happy because, the lights from the truck ahead of us giving us advance warning of where we were headed. This comfort was broken when I noticed that the bike was touching 60 kmph and Naved stretching his legs to adjust while turnings. Another lone biker (on Honda Unicorn) overtook us and was in between the truck and us. The truck driver had amazing control and we were just gaining confidence looking at the way he was driving. Now the foothills were clearly visible and I was glad that the horror ride was coming to an end. After few more chilling and thrilling minutes, we finally crossed the checkpost where last night we had to stop due to my yelling.

When we reached the tea-spot at the foothills, Pulsar was waiting for us. I did yell at them however it was more of a sarcastic yelling so the boys did not take it seriously. They started teasing me and Naved. I offered Jude to switch over which he blatantly refused while pulling my legs. Not wanting to offend Naved, I did praise his riding. Honestly speaking with that kind of bike, if anyone can touch that speed and control it.. we have to acknowledge that he is one hell of a rider!! Here I want to confess that even though I was scared to the core while we were getting down the mountains, it was one of the best rides of my entire life. The thrill and the adrenaline rush was awesome and all credits go to Naved. Even though I loved the ride, I am not a fool to repeat that again J. I will not mind sitting behind Naved provided his whole concentration is on the road and his bike is actually in good condition!!

Well it was still a long way to go and I knew that the thrill was over and it would be plain vanilla ride back to Trichy via Dindigul. However I was again proven wrong shortly. The boys decided that we will have dinner in Dindigul and we had to hurry back. The first few kilometers were normal and I felt like taking a nap till we reached next stop. I told Naved and rested my head on his back when the thoughts of the near death miss came back to haunt me and I was back in my vigilante mode. Even though Naved asked me to get a nap but to hold him lest I may fall down, I just said that I am fine and was staring at the road ahead. The thrill began again when we joined the Theni road. As soon as we took the left, there were few buses ahead of us and the way Naved overtook them triggered all my senses and the alarm bells began ringing in my head. He overtook the bus from the left side and second one he had to pull back after half way through. Soon we cleared this; now with less nagging I was watching where Pulsar was. To my surprise they were behind us but soon overtook us and went ahead. This we were playing with each other. At times, Naved was ahead and then Bala. Jude was just sitting behind Bala texting someone!!

After sometime, I noticed that there was a dim light ahead of us. Initially I thought that it was a TVS excel super bike by the size of the tail lamp but I was not sure. Soon I identified that it should be a bigger vehicle and only one side of the tail lamp i.e., left side was working. He was about 200 meters ahead of us and the distance was getting reduced considerably fast indicating that the vehicle was not travelling at greater speeds. We were nearly at 80 kmph when I warned Naved to watch out for that vehicle. Another jolt for me when he asked, where? I mean the vehicle is straight ahead and even though the type was not clearly visible, the taillamp was visible clearly and it could be made out from that distance however Naved was not able to see that!! I watched the light for few more seconds and realized that it was not a bike but an Ape Auto and I warned him again. By this time the auto had come very close to us when the driver of the auto applied the brakes. When we were nearly 10-15 meters away, Naved suddenly realized that he is right on Ape’s ass and applied the breaks and took a sudden left turn since the auto was on the middle of the road. He totally got pissed off and started using all bad words in hindi to the auto driver. I am sure the auto driver understood nothing but I was glad that Naved got pissed off finally and he was back on his senses. Atleast Naved tasted his own dish that he was feeding me right from the time we left Kodai. I was relaxed to know that Naved got scared. However, my smile vanished again when I realized that Naved had not seen this vehicle until we were dangerously close to it at high speed. This re-enforced my theory to keep my alerts while sitting behind Naved.

After the auto incident, nothing much happened till we stopped near the place where previous night me and Naved stopped to ask the cops about the direction. Pulsar also stopped with us. Now these buggers were right with us either slightly ahead or behind providing us with ample light. Even the rain clouds had vanished so the road had become visible now. Since the traffic was more, atleast one problem had been solved. I silently sweared at Bala for not being there in the ghats. I believe Bala was now feeling very sleepy as he washed his face with the water that we were carrying and we started after an tempo traveler which we had seen in Kodai overtook us. A sleeper bus also overtook us at dangerous speed but we did not bother. Soon we were ahead of these vehicles and reached the bridge in the outskirts of Dindigul. We stopped again to decide what to do about dinner as it was nearly 10:30 now. To take risk going inside the city or taking the bypass road which we had taken previous night and all agreed for the bypass road. We came across a cross junction where few hotels were still open and quickly stopped at once. After setting down at the hotel and ordering dosa’s and uthapa’s which was available, I decided to go relieve myself. While crossing the road I saw a KSRTC bus here picking up the passengers on the service road below the actual main road (a flyover). Also couple of trucks parked in the openspace and I could see a lot of bushes around. I went behind one of these trucks and made sure that no one was watching me when I was attending Nature’s call. After everything was upto my satisfaction, I started the call when from nowhere a god-forbidden dog started barking at me so viciously that I was not sure if it will attack me or not. It was just 5-6 feet away from me and was inside a heap of garbage which was thrown there. The dog had made it a home and I believe it did not like someone peeing on the door step. Few times it growled and came threateningly close to me. However as soon as I finished my business I started walking back and waving it a good bye joined the boys to have my dinner. By this time the police had started cracking down at these hotels asking them to shutdown as it was eleven at the night. After filling our tummies we started back on the remaining 100 kilometers.

Like earlier, pulsar was behind and Naved was back in jolly mood. He suddenly remembered one song which he wanted to hear but was not remembering which one. He flicked out his mobile while the bike was moving ahead and started searching the song. Meanwhile, I was controlling the throttle from behind him as he had left both the hands from the handle and was staring at his mobile at 50 kmph. Well this was not new for me as I have done this in the past, I was totally fine with this. We were still in the service road and before the end, he found his song and took back the control of the bike and we joined the highway. Pulsar also joined us and after few zig zags through the traffic we reached the trichy highway and started cruising through it smoothly as there was virtually no traffic on the road.

Just after 2-3 kilometers, I noticed that Pulsar stopped behind us and something was not right with it. I asked Naved to slow down and take a U-turn. When we reached there, to our horror Bala was getting chocked due to the muffler he had around his neck. Due to the speed after we touched the highway, the muffler around his neck became like a noose and had tightened. Thanks to Bala’s quick thinking, he stopped the bike immediately and Jude loosened the muffler. However by this time, Bala had started feeling dizzy and his eyes were filled with tears. He was not able to balance himself when he got down of the bike. After 5 minutes, when he felt good we started back again. Even though we asked Jude to ride, Bala insisted that he was fine and he wanted to ride all the way back to Trichy. Not having any energy for argument, we all agreed and started back. Now the ride was at constant 90 kmph which was the top speed of Passion. Bala was also not crossing beyond 90 kmph (the top most speed for this trip was 105 kmph by Bala on Pulsar on the way to Kodai i.e, on Trichy to Dindigul). I was still attentive and my posture of watching the road over Naved’s shoulder and keep on warning him was picked up by Pulsar and they were continuously teasing us when we stopped nearly 50 kms away from trichy. We had taken just 40 minutes to cross 50 kms. Time was now 12:30 am of Monday September 17, 2014 and we had another 50 kilometers to go. Boys decided to maintain the similar speed and we all actually and whole heartedly appreciated Naved’s keeping up with Pulsar for last 50 kms. We decided to maintain the same speed and started again. There was no other incidents apart from occasional warnings from my end when I saw any shadow or light on the road till we reached Trichy outskirts. There was only one incident when a Lorry driver got pissed off and honked at us while overtaking us very dangerously after the police checkpost near Trichy while honking at the loudest. It was like Deja Wu, a similar experience when we were leaving Trichy previous night . We brushed off this and we moved on and nearly 1:30 am we reached Annai Mansion safe and sound. Even though the last 80 kilometers were pure riding, I had kept my alarm bells on and because of which my eyes had become very dry and started itching like hell. Every second of the ride, I was praying that somehow Trichy appear immediately and this ride ends here and there was no moment when I have not cursed the accident due to which I was not able to bring my bike today. I relaxed only when I opened the door of my room, threw the bag removed the stuff I had to give to the boys and went to the other room where they were staying. After quickly exchanging the good byes and giving back their stuff, I came back to my room at around 2:00 am, I just fell on the bed for a very long sleep filled with lot tiredness and bodypain. When I woke up at 10:00 am I was left with wonderful memories of the trip filled with excitement and fun. Nevertheless it was one of the best bike rides of my life and I want to thank whole heartedly to the pack i.e, Jude, Balaji and Naved without whom the ride would not have been so fun filled. Thank you boys and looking forward for another adventure!!

Memories