Celebration of Freedom !!

A post which has been pending for a really long time. The 3 musketeers are back again. Once again, I present to you Manjunath, Mohit and Ashwin (Yours truly)..

It was 15th August 2009. and this is the way the three of us decided to celebrate our freedom on Independence day. Apparently this date marks the third anniversary of our first ever biking trip to Gopal Swamy Betta.. So We decided, no matter what we will go on a road trip once again!

The rain gods were out with their full fury this time forcing us to rethink our plans for touching Agumbe – Known as the Chirapunji of the south, It rains like crazy there. So we decided to go to Mysore, spend some time there and get back. So as usual on the day of our trip I reached B’lore on a Friday morning (yeah, unfortunately I am still in Chennai). After reaching B’lore the three of us were just discussing about how wonderful Agumbe would be during the Monsoon season. Suddenly Mohit snapped – Guys, let’s head for Agumbe itself. Screw the rains.. It would be fun to ride in the rains…. Manja quickly agreed to the fun part. Both the guys were looking with great expectations at me. I was like – Wad da heck.. Agumbe it is.. Screw the rains…

Over the years loads of things had changed. Manja had exploded to a level where he actually justifies the Spice girls’ song – “ Two Become One” .. Trust me, the guy has actually doubled his size. I had also bloated up from the puny little college guy to a lazy fat IT professional. The only guy who was fit and unchanged was Mohit. If the riders had changed so much, how can the rides remain the same, ryt? Manjunath had graduated from a Unicorn to a Royal Enfield Machismo 500, (may be he actually realized only a beast can carry someone like him). Mohit had graduated from a 100 cc to a 150 cc Pulsar.. And I had undergraduated from a Rocking CBZ to a pillion rider this time.. Sob sob !!

Manja, quickly turned on the GPS on his mobile to come out with a route from B’lore to Agumbe. And the riute was finalized. Bangalore – Chikmanglore Via Hassan. Hassan to Agumbe via Sringeri. Agumbe to Kudremukh. Once the route was finalized we were off..

We were definitely not ready for the Fury of the Rain Gods this time.. We were spared till the time we were out of B’lore city.. We had a lovely lunch and we headed for our first overnight halt, Hassan. On our way to Hassan it started raining. All we could see was just a shade of white and grey in front of us. Every drop was hitting us so hard as if we were being pricked by needles on our faces. It was extremely difficult to ride. The wonderful cruising speeds of 110 + kms had been reduced to 50s and 60s. Even the loud thumping of Manja’s bullet could not be heard in the midst of the showers. We realized that there was no point in halting, so we kept on riding. It was an amazing experience. Finally we reached our first destination- Hassan, all drenched and wet and finally checked into a hotel. We had to hit Agumbe the next day morning.

We started off the next day morning at 7.00 AM sharp and we headed off to the top most point in Agumbe.

We expected the worst in terms of rains, but we were lucky enough that mother nature showed her mercy on us puny little riders. It didn’t rain at all. And we finally reached our destination all high and dry. The view from Agumbe was just breathtaking. The Hills covered with dense dark clouds and the sun struggling its way through the thick dark covering in front of it. The tree leaves where shining with the moisture of the early morning rains.. It was just amazing !

Our next destination was Kudremukh. It was another couple of hours ride from Agumbe to Kudremukh. The ride was again awesome. We had to cross the Kudremukh wild life sanctuary. It was just an awesome feeling. Dense forests on both sides, lovely roads in the centre and an awesome cloud cover to top it all. We had a long ride to the top. Once we reached there, we just could not believe ourselves. It was an view which can blow anyone off their feet ! We just spend as much time as we could to take in the view, Enjoy the weather, take as many pictures as possible etc.

We also had our own share of little adventures in between. The Monsoon had brought out all the leaches and two of them had found their comfortable spots, one on Mohit’s Neck and one on under my leg.

After the lovely experience we headed our way back to B’lore . Three days of complete cut off from the hustle bustle of the city, no tensions, just the rides, nature and a fantastic feeling of independence. I guess the best way to celebrate our Independence. Just hope that in my life get a chance to go on many more such rides again and again…

Cheers
Kash !