Sunday, August 12, 2007

Bike trip !

Had made a plan for bike trip from Bangalore to Chennai a week back with roomie Kaushik. Hunted down some sites on net to get the details about route and experiences of people who have already done it....after a longer than usual search got hold of an interesting site. Chose Route 2 path from the same for the journey.
Last Friday left for Bangalore again with my room mate Kaushik, this time to meet one of my friend Sandeep and on a bike journey with roomie on way back. We packed just a single bag so that my back won’t have to take much load while returning on bike. The starting wasn’t that exciting as we had only one berth as our ticket was RAC and our train was an hour late. We were wondering if the same bad luck would continue. Ours was a side lower seat 55.Anyways once we got on, I drifted to dreamland in no time, Kaushik was fortunate to get a seat as the kiddo around 6-7 yrs old on Seat 53 was feeling scared of sleeping alone and went to sleep with her mom. On reaching the Bangalore Station, we parted, me leaving to meet up with my old friend and Kaushik went to meet up with his IIM-K friends. Oh ya ! Dad was also in Bangalore, he had some official work and was staying at same place as my friends dad happens to be one of Dad’s very good friend…so in a way it was friends reunion. I was meeting Sandeep almost after 2 years. Met all at Sandeep’s residence which happens to be a damn good house, pictures will tell you by themselves, I don’t need to speak more. Had a heavy breakfast and slept like a log again as train journey sleep wasn’t that sound and kept breaking. Oh ya, happened to watch a Sardarji in the same coach …who was strolling while speaking on phone through the complete coach….as if he was strolling in his home ;), Kaushik asked me if Sardarji is trying to prove something , I just told he might have a habit of strolling around while talking on mobile. Strangely in the morning around 4.45 am when I woke……I couldn’t believe for some time…the Sardaji was just strolling around same way without mobile.....may be he got addiction of just strolling around in train… ..In the evening went to meet up with Sandeep’s friends Siddharth and Chicko on Bajaj Avenger. Siddharth happened to be an acquaintance while he was staying with Sandeep while working in Delhi……Siddharth has recently moved to Bangalore with his new job….spent some time chatting around drinking (both hard and soft ;)) and eating first at Siddharth place and then at nearby Cafe Coffee Day. Returned back to Sandeep’s place around 11.30pm to have good food cooked by Sandeep’s mom. By the time I slept it was almost 1 am and I was wondering if I get up on time , so put an alarm on mobile and kept mobile at a distance.

Next morning woke at 5.35 am and got to the meeting point by 6.45 am. Kaushik was waiting on his Bajaj Discover which he got from his younger brother. We kicked off at 7 am…..half an hour late from our planned time. The weather was good, I had as usual my camera to capture the event and Kaushik had task of riding the bike all along. At starting the average speed was around 60 Km/hr which slowly moved to 90 Km/hr as the road on National Highway NH-7 and NH-4 was excellent and traffic wasn’t much. We halted first at Krishnagiri for breakfast at around 8.15 am and then at Vellore for some snacks at around 10.55 am …from time to time we stopped to give our a** some rest. The bag wasn’t much of a problem as I could loosen it up and rest in on the back of bike so I don’t need to carry much weight. Clicking pictures while bike is running at 90 km/hr is a bit difficult as it felt as if camera would just fly off if I held it a little loose. Had a tough time with helmet as well, my hair had become like dry grass and helmet would go in fine …but now wearing specs was a hassle as there was no room …so had to push up helmet and try to fix in spectacles…the hairs would just act as barriers for specs temple part to fit in..anyways managed somehow. The temperature was 24-27 degree Celsius through most of the trip, as a result there was less tiring because of heat……only around 12.30pm we felt little heat but that also wasn’t much. The sight all the way till Vellore was exciting and full of mountain regions……. and ride along the Golden Quadrilateral was smooth and comfortable…...reached home around 2 pm covering a distance of about 375KM in all.

(Chennai Central Railway Station)
(front view of Sandeep's house)
(...)

(garden on 1st floor balcony)

(home grown vegetables...includes...spinach, coriander, chillies, tomato, onions...etc)

(stairs view at night)

( from Left with Siddharth, Chiko and Sandeep...at Siddharth's place)

(Sandeep with his newly purchased Bajaj Avenger)

(start of trip from Bangalore...Time ard 6.55 am)

(having idli and dosa for breakfast at Krishnagiri)





(at Vellore....snacks break )






(racing at 90 Km/hr)

(near toll gate.....seen ard 7-8 along the way)








(amazing roads and cool weather)
(..... Train along the way)




(....coconut seller along the highway...)
(..paddy fields)
(....)
(industrial area near Sriperumbudur)

( Rajiv Gandhi assassination place near Sriperumbudur)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you both went to blore by train. how the heck did the bike reach blore from chennai!?!?
i went to this place called nagarjunasagar from hyderabad on a bike trip with my friend. peak summer. both our @sses were fried...to say the least. i concluded that its a design flaw - a monetary lapse of concentration from god...which has made our butts not good enough to sit on bikes for hours together
-baLu

Anonymous said...

god had a momentary lapse of concentration when Parsh was designed too! Remember how strange gases move in his body .. hehe. Balu, dint u take pictures of the akki roti u made?

Parsh said...

The bike roomie got from his brother who lives in bangalore, ours would have been a similar case of fried @sses but the weather was thankfully cool almost to 3/4 of the trip....and not too hot for the rest of journey so we were saved....though the @ss pained for sometime for sitting almost 6-7 hrs but became ok the very next day after taking rest.

Mr.Sachin Asoka-- u better start putting your name when you comment on blog....always in habit of putting anonymous comment.