To a new beginning

So I quit TESCO HSC after 8 amazing years, and joined another company which promises to be as good if not better. You can check the details out here:

Linkedin

The access to internet here is much more open - would that help increase blogging frequency? The intention is that, but as always the commitment is to be tested.

KK Expedition - Day 2 - Sun, Rain and some Pain.

Read Prologue, Planning 1, Planning 2, Day 1 for prequels

It was a fairly cool day. Drizzle outside, people stirring and tossing around trying to wake up to face the day’s challenge.

Thenappan was already ready by 6:30 AM as he had to go back to Bangalore. He bid his goodbyes to everyone, and was on his way into the drizzle and the cold breeze.

Start of a new day - Raring to go

VK, Shasti, Me, Ram, Sanath

Our first concern that morning was the Scorpio. The concerns were burnt when the mighty Scorpio came in blistering at 8:30 AM. It was Go for us, and we lined up to take the day on. The bags were readied to be loaded into the beast later, and we had best wishes from other residents in the serviced apartment. With love from strangers accounted for, all we now needed was breakfast :)

Roll to Namakkal

After a hearty filling within the city, we decided to roll on to Namakkal for the next big break. The morning was serene, with no winds whatsoever. Ram was steaming on with renewed energy and after his show the previous evening, we were happy playing catch up.

Sanath decided to carry on at his own pace, and Shasti and I rolled on with VK and Ram just behind us. The first 25 km were done in just under an hour. It was around 10:30 AM, and the sun wasn’t still fully awake. I had a status check with the car boys, who were just starting after their breakfast. We had a juice break 11 km from Namakkal, just after which the Scorpio caught up with us. 

Fresh fruits awaited us, and Kannan was loving enough to even peel oranges for us. With tears of happiness in my eyes, which probably had something to do with the orange juice that was sprayed, I stuffed the fruits in. It was difficult as usual to stop Ram and drag him on to continue, but after some energy spent on this alone, we were off towards Karur.

Fruitman Kannan

Banana, Orange - Colours represented on Ram's T Shirt as well!

Testing Times

The roads from here on were ‘rolling’, with the climbs longer than the drops. The sun was on its duty earnestly, and was beginning to slow us down. We kept trudging on – it was around 12.30 PM, Shasti had raged on while I was pacing VK and Ram. VK had developed discomforts and he couldn’t point it but was slowing down. His otherwise handsome face was clearly showing the discomfort, and Ram was beginning to tire. I decided to stay ahead of them a little so they can try catching up with me. In a few minutes, I had lost them.

I moved on a couple of kilometres to find Shasti resting in a shelter that made up a bus stand. Anything that could offer a bit of shade and rest was a glorious sight, and I joined Shasti in stretching the limbs. It was the day after Ramzan and a group of Muslim boys were enjoying the holiday. They stopped to satisfy their curiosity about two seemingly lost souls, they were quickly on their way though after wishing us well. Amidst these interruptions I slowly realized it was more than 20 minutes now and I couldn’t see the two guys who were just about a couple of kilometres behind me.

Rupture Ram and Vigorous VK

We found out Ram had the first puncture of the day, and his second in the journey yet. While he was on to it along with the support crew, VK had another type of pressure building up threatening to burst into a puncture. He finally realized he had indigestion that was causing him problems and the urge had built up to an unbearable degree. Shasti and I were blissfully unaware of these developments and once I called in to get the updates, I decided to go back to check on them.

Puncture #2, Day #2, Sunil and Kannan helping out Ram

Whose hand the dirtiest?

I caught Ram just a kilometre behind, and on the way forward again we found VK and the Scorpions at a petrol bunk. VK had a look of relief and was ready to roll again – we figured not all the noises one heard at the bunk then was of flowing petrol alone. At this point, we had already had a break of about an hour in all.

Crawling till Karur

We were about 30 km from Karur, and about 110 km from Dindigul which was our planned stop for the day. There was growing anxiety about reaching the destination for the day, but we chose to ignore these for the time being.

First concern was lunch. We were told of a place about 5 km from where we were, and we rolled on. The Scorpions located the restaurant for us, which was more of a modest dhaba. We weren’t very keen on variety and ordered some meals and curd rice. It was about 3 PM and we decided to rest here for a while.

VK was fully drained, and needed some catch up time. We gorged on some Kulfis after the lunch, and lazed around till 4:00 PM. Sunil had a false alarm about the Scorpio’s clutch again, however it helped that the ‘restaudhaba’ was strategically located just next to a Mahindra service centre! Sheer luck or divine coincidence!

Karur was around 25 km from here. The sun was on its retreat, and the clouds were looming in. VK was completely dehydrated and we decided to give him a 10 km break. He was bonking with low sugar levels as well, and needed some sugar shots. Kannan offered to take on the handlebar till Karur and quickly took the opportunity to flaunt his lycra.

River Full! Water Water everywhere!

Trudging along....

Kannan ‘Nayakkar’ Sundaram

We stopped 10km from Karur for a small break and were met at the bus shelter by highway patrol. They were curious about the bikes and asked us the routine questions. Kannan was on form today and silenced them in one sentence. For the uninitiated, the sentence sounds very familiar to one of the most famous lines in Tamil Cinema.

Watch from 4:45 to 5:00 for Kannan's Inspiration

Kannan’s now world famous sentence came out most naturally - “Naalu peru kasthapatta dhaan, ezhai kozhandaingalukku sappadu kedaikkum na, andha naalu peru naangala irukkom” (if four people need to slog it for poor children to be fed, then let us be the four people) – It is worthy to note that the policeman didn’t have any further questions to ask.

Another one asked us though – about the costs of the bikes. We usually undervalue the bikes so the conservative onlookers don’t conclude we are overly crazy. However Shasti was in his elements, and only the truth would flow out of his mouth – so he said “Sir, that is 28,000, this is 35,000 and that is 25,000”. The policeman almost asked us why we would ride all the way to Kanyakumari to collect money, when we could have as well pooled what we spent on the bikes for charity and taken the days off to sleep at home. However, he turned out to be a dumbstruck gentleman, and all he could manage was a wide-eyed expression of incredulity. We left them to digest some facts, and carried on towards Karur.

Skies beating down

It had by now started to drizzle, and we upped the ante to cover the next 10 km in 25 minutes. We reached the diversion to Karur town, and stopped for refreshments. Ram joined us soon, and while we were chit-chatting, we noticed the Scorpions rush past. We called them to turn back and join us.

By now the drizzle was heavier, and we decided to play it safe by putting all our frills into the car and it was just us and the bikes now. We started at around 5:30 PM and we’d just covered a couple of kilometres when it started beating down from the skies.

Heavy cross winds played along and in a matter of minutes the most conducive settings had deteriorated to the most challenging. I was pretty pumped up though and all of us were actually relishing the challenge.

The Scorpions were parked a little ahead and they provided the flip side of the coin. They tried putting some sense in us about the dangers of riding on the highway just after dusk, with visibility that let us see till the outer limits of our paunches. We decided to take a break till the rains abated, and found shelter in a workshop.

Skies opened up

In search of shelter...Notice Kannan in his lycra??

While we were waiting for the rains, our plans needed to be revised as it was amply clear that we weren’t going to make it to Dindigul on time. Though riding in the dark was an option as we were equipped material-wise, it wasn’t still the sanest thing to do. We decided to ride till Aravakurichi, the next big village 30 km from Karur and about 45 km from Dindigul. Our Man Friday in TamilNadu, Shasti came to our rescue in quickly planning our stay in this remote village. We cancelled our bookings in Dindigul, blocked a modest place in Aravakurichi, and we also ordered our food already. We weren’t going to reach the place before 9 PM and since there were no McDonald’s or Subways here, we had to order well before 9 PM for our food to be arranged for. We didn’t care where it came from, as long as there was something nice and hot to eat when we reached.

The rains showed no signs of abating soon, and after a good one hour it mellowed down to a drizzle again. Ram had left us for a ride alone and had already covered around 6 km before we started. We reached the diversion to Aravakurichi on the highway, at around 8:30 PM. We still had 7 km to go to reach the village, and we had to traverse through what looked like a mini forest. At this hour and the drenched state we were in, we had no adrenaline left to explore our way into the unlit interior roads and decided to take a mini-van ride offered by Shasti’s friend.

We loaded the bikes, and had an eerie ride to reach the village. We were given three rooms in a lodge that had around six, and we were the only patrons for the night. Our food had already arrived with big bottles of Fanta and Coke.

Geyser – means what?!

The people around were extremely accommodating and appreciative of the fact that we were embarking on this journey. We got the warmest of welcomes, however the same couldn’t be said about the water that we were to bathe in.

Having spent almost 4 hours in torrential rain, which at its most tender was a continuous drizzle enough to fill a bucket in an hour, we had imagined Jacuzzis with foaming steamy water, with aromatic candles lit all around as the most fitting end to the day. What we had to settle for – was cold tap water.

This is when the simplest differences in lifestyles give us the most profound perspectives in our lives. Kannan asked one of the lodge-keepers if they had a geyser. And the reply he got was something I will remember for a long time – “Geyser – appadina?” (Geyser – means what?) This was August 2013, just a month before Apple would release its most dramatic product in plastic casing that can be afforded by even the modest BMW owner, and here was a man who didn’t know what a geyser was and still was pretty satisfied with his life. Ignorance is bliss they say.

It just hit us pretty hard. Without another word, we just went about freshening up.

I took the initiative of cleaning the bikes while the other folks cleaned themselves – Kannan and I went down, washed the bikes quickly, and sprayed the bikes with degreaser and left it to work its magic through the night.

After a good stretching session with Srini, I joined the folks for a really hearty dinner. A couple of drinks later, I was ready to hit the sack at 11.30 PM.

The longest day yet was just around the corner. We had to start very early to cover our deficit in the plan, and reach Dindigul as fast as we could. Sleep wasn’t something I had to wait for, and before my head hit the pillow, I was deep in sleep-world.

KK Expedition - Day 1

Read previous posts for the build up to the ride

Aug 09th - In the darkest hours of the night, when the world around me was deep asleep, the long relaxing weekend already begun for them, some of us were up and about. For in these darkest hours, shone the brightest spark in us...

We all had different reasons to embark on this journey. And none of them was to prove anything to anyone else but to ourselves. That life still holds some excitement for us, and we can indeed skip the monotony if we chose to. And do something no one, least of all us expected ourselves to do. And hence to prove we were still alive, we were still kicking and we will rock our worlds anyday!

At 3:00 AM I woke up before the alarm did, and put it back to sleep. Dressed up, accepted wife's good wishes, said a silent bye to the kiddo and got to the bus stand by 3:45 AM; Sanath was a little late. Thenappan called me from his loo (yep), to tell me he was going to be a little late too - because of what is anybody's guess! Thenappan was going to ride till Krishnagiri and back, as of 3:45 AM.

Ram had already reached the HAL police station - I am sure they were now pretty used to seeing this figure so early outside their premises at such wee hours so frequently, they were probably already following Ram everywhere to check him out.

All of us except VK gathered at the Marathalli bridge. VK was a little ahead and waiting for us at Kundanhalli gate. Sunil and Srini had come to see us off. Ashish Jha had also woken up in the wee hours to wave us off.

The Kick off

It was 4:20 AM now, we were all getting ready to kick off. Just then a Qualis stopped next to us. And the driver was pretty excited to see us - a few moments of staring later I realized it was the same guy we met in our training ride the previous weekend at Shoolagiri.

So he asked us "Where to this time?" and I said "Kanyakumari". And he said "No really, where to this time?". And when I said "God Promise man, Kanyakumari" (the best way to impress upon Indians that you are being truthful) he was pretty incredulous still. He and his customers all wished us well and waited for us to kick off.

After the customary clicks, we were off at around 4:45 AM. VK joined us along the way, and we were now off as a bunch. The plan was to meet the support crew at Adyar Anand Bhavan at Shoolagiri, at 7:30 AM.

At the start line, L to R: Shasti, Thenappan, Yours Truly, Sanath, Ram

We rode at a comfortable pace to warm up, reaching Attibele at 6:20 AM covering 32km in 1.5 hours. This was our first break, taking in bananas, a hot cup of tea, some homemade chikkis that VK got. After a bit of stretches, we were off towards A2B. Ram had already started ranting about his craving for Pongal and vada at A2B. We all had a theory about Gastric Levitation, but thats for another time when we need to be more technical.

We had a status check with the support guys, who hadnt even got off the bed at this time. We had our doubts already about seeing them at A2B at 7.30 AM. This was the start of a long festive weekend, and it showed! The tollbooth at Attibele had such a long queue in every booth, it went right over the Attibele flyover! We wound our way past all the stuck cars and eased through the tollbooth, much to everyone else's chagrin :)

Food Food everywhere, but not a bit to eat

The weather was something to savor! The perfect temperature, with a little bit of cross breeze. We attacked all the small climbs and took all the flyovers from here. After Hosur, it was all downhill, and we were clocking a good pace. Reaching A2B at 7:50 AM we had the most depressing sight, pushing Ram to tears nearly.

The queue at the counter extended beyond the entry door, winding up even outside of the hotel. We had to search for space to park our bikes among all the cars!!! It was the same at the McDonald's and other restaurants at the previous petrol bunk. There was no way we would waste our time in the queue to oblige Ram. So we quickly found a tea vendor nearby, had some snacks and tea and off we were again. Krishnagiri was just 30km from there, and given its all downhill, it would take us around 45 mins to an hour.

We rolled on, reached Krishnagiri by 9:15 AM. The support crew were wiping out plates of pongal and vadas at A2B at this time, having had the luxury of spending some time in the queue. Ram was wild, so we got him to a restaurant in Krishnagiri near the Anjaneya temple - we were filling ourselves up when the Scorpio arrived.

After Breakfast, Ready to roll

Ram getting some help from Srini

Stretchhhhh

A little bit of goofing around later, we were on our way by 10:00 AM. We had covered 94 km in around 4.5 hours, which was pretty fast by our standards. This was the crucial moment for Thens, who thought over it for a looong time, which was around half a second, and made up his mind that he was going to continue riding till Salem with us and not return from Krishnagiri. He was enjoying the ride and our company so much that he decided it was worth taking his wife's wrath on.

The sun was peeking out from behind the gloomy clouds, making up its mind. It decided to be benign for sometime. We planned  to stop every 45 mins from now on, have a small break, recover ourselves a bit and continue. Sanath however started falling behind keeping his lower gear combination and spinning like crazy. To each his own, so we kept treading along at a good pace.

While Shasti and I borrowed dupattas, Ram was the most ingenious of the lot. He used his old lungi as head gear. Many jokes did the rounds about his creativity, but as this is a public forum I am bound not to reveal.

Anyway, this wasnt a brevet or a race, so we did take some time out to enjoy the scenery, to play around a little bit, generally just have a good time.

For a little streching...

Itching to get on the bike...but, not for now we said..

I had burning hot lemon tea in the middle of the day, thanks to Mr Kannan

We hit Dharmapuri (the Hogenekkal cross roads) exactly at 1 PM. Exactly and precisely and accurately. The temperature was rising, and we planned to get some lunch down our systems now. The support crew *chilled out* for a while before joining us for lunch.

After a longish break that involved stuffing quite some curd rice in us and some stretching, we hit the road at 2:00 PM. The sun clearly decided not to be friendly anymore. The 10 km from here to get out of the town to join the highway was consistently brutal, with a mild upward incline all the way. But having replenished, this wasnt really backbreaking, and the much anticipated Thoppur drop was yet to come.

We reached to Thoppur toll, to find the car guys parked after the toll. Apparently Ram had a flat around 6km before the toll, just next to a puncture shop. Sheer luck, or shady coincidence. After drawing flak from the puncture guy for removing the wheel himself (doesnt go well with professionals who dont like the know-it-all attitude that riders display), Ram got it fixed and was trudging ahead.

We continued ahead, and reached the Thoppur drop. One of the sweetest descents - long winding roads, mostly kept away from the headwinds by the hills, we were careful not to overdo and kept the speeds just below 50 kmph. This place is famous for its monkeys, and this day 8 more joined them for the fun. After this descent, we took a smallish break downing some juice and chikkis.

We were now 35 km from Salem. Our destination for the day. VK had some newfound energy and sprinted for a while along with Shasti. Thens and I took it easy rolling on nicely. About 25km before Salem, we decided to wait for the guys to catchup, so we can enter Salem together. We found a small temple on the other side of the road, and settled for a small nap. Which ofcourse didnt happen as we were chatting away all the time. It was around 4:20 PM and the sun was settling down.

We waited till 5 PM, called up Kannan and decided to move on as they were still around 8km away trying to match pace with Ram, which was proving to be quite a task! :P The break didnt do VK any good as his muscles started to seize. We moved along at an easy pace till around 10km from Salem city. I hit the accelerator then, as I was tiring a bit. I didnt want to lose focus so made called upon whatever "reserve energy" that might have been in me reaching the '5 road' junction at 5:30 PM. Once VK, Shasti, Thens and I regrouped, we made our way through the traffic towards the Collector's Bungalow, near which was the service apartment we booked for the day.

Rocket Ram

VK at this point had a bit of a scare with cramps and exhaustion, but he pulled through. We found the apartment, and when we were just entering the gate, Ram called me asking for directions. He was at the Salem toll, around 14km behind. I asked him to come till 5 roads and then give me a call.

We went to the second floor, surveyed the room, decided on the order of loo-usage, and began the wait for the Scorpio inside which was all our stuff. Ram called again to tell me he was at the 5 roads junction! Hardly 25 minutes and he had covered around 8 km!!! I was dumbstruck literally, and slowly managed to tell him we were only another 6km away. I had hardly put the phone down, and I get another call from Ram now telling me he was at the turn towards Yercaud. It must have been 30 seconds for all I know, and I was now in shock. He was only 2km away from us now. At this point, we theorized that Ram must be in the Scorpio and trying to fool us. To cross check, I called Kannan up, and they were now nearing the toll booth following Sanath!

I didnt quite believe any of them, and I had just put the phone down again and Ram was entering the apartment, sweating and panting like a greyhound. I decided I must be delirious and hallucinating now after the 210 km ride. We all were quite literally short of words because braving the traffic, exhaustion and every other thing thrown his way, Ram had literally rocketed the last 25km in an hour, best part of which was inside the city in the dark.

Ram was capable of some miracles and we were just given chapter 1 of this lesson.

Mighty Scorpio comes down

We settled on a wait for Sanath and the Scorpio guys who were pulling him along, while gulping down a few coffees each. Around 30 minutes later, we were told the guys are less than a kilometer away. I went down to greet them, and was waiting for the car to turn into our lane. It did, but it was so painfully slow that I thought they were pedaling inside it for fun. It was a few moments later that I realized it was being pushed!!!

Apparently the guys were driving so slow for so long, they'd blown a pipe inside and the clutch oil was leaking and hence was jammed. We all gathered and gave them a hand in pushing the car till the apartment. If I have to recollect every emotion on Sunil's face so far during our acquaintance and point out the troughs and peaks, this moment was the saddest I've seen him. He'd bought this car from someone just a month back, and was so in love with it - his face was just like a thin layer of packing foil covering a volcano - such a futile attempt to contain his grief.

We started reacting well after a few moments of dwelling on our misfortune. The guys found a 24x7 workshop, had the mechanic come over. This guy told us they had to take it back to the garage and the car would be back at 3 PM the next day latest. There was no time to mull over the repercussions on our schedule at this moment. It was going to cost a bomb as well. Kannan, Srini and Sunil went with the mech to the workshop to drop the car and check out the place and in the meanwhile we were freshening up.

Morality Vs Practicality

We had all assembled in the hall after freshening up and ordering dinner. Sanath pulled Thens along for some late night shopping, for God knows what.

And then the inevitable discussion opened - What do we do now?!

I am wired in a way that when I have planned out something very passionately, it has to work that way and I wouldnt take alterations so easily. My family has a love-hate opinion about this aspect of mine, and I was deeply aware of this side of me. So in my mind, we were still leaving at 4 AM next morning as planned, and the support guys would stay back and get the car when its done with.

VK took a strong objection to this, and wasnt going to leave the guys behind - it wasnt right morally.

Ram felt this way too, and Shasti was open - he would take it anyway it turned out because he wasnt being so rigid about it. Such flexibility was missing in me, and this discussion went on for a while, where we covered the entire range of possibilities and our responses to them.

I did see reason in VK and Ram's point, but a part of me wouldnt accept it. I wouldnt delve into the details of my reasoning and long story short - I gave in finally to starting late. I had a long face for a few minutes while I mulled over this turn of events - this was the right thing to do anyday, and I had to bring myself around and reset my mind to the new plan. The guys were understanding of my conflict and allowed it me those moments of introspection. This is precisely the reason I was going on this trip with these guys - we had bonded pretty well and these moments of unrest quickly melted.

The guys returned leaving the car at the garage and Ram conveyed the new plan. We all settled down for a few drinks and slowly the knot in my head was beginning to unravel. I was now perfectly alright with the new plan - when the best call of the evening came for Srini. The mechanic called to inform that the car will be available by 9 AM latest and he is pulling all stops to get it ready. Literally overjoyed with this development, we ate, drank and made merry. I was back in command of my head, we regrouped and decided we will start at 8 AM.

Relaxed after sorting things out

I had a big lesson for life, and I was seeing how the agenda is not everything. People are. We called them support staff for ourselves and when the turn came for us to show some support, I couldnt back myself. In many ways, how this situation was handled was a big step for me - and reinforces that when you do the right thing, circumstances turn around to be right for you!!

I went to sleep with a light head - the sort of deep sleep at the end of which you dont remember where you are and why you are there!

Day 1 - done.