Nut and Bolt on the Roll

Chandra taal Trek

2011-10-27T14:56:00.000+05:30

Day 1 : Deja Vu

I am sitting in the car along with Harsha and Anil, all bags stored in the boot behind. We are running late, our flight is at 11:40 AM and its close to 9:40 AM and we are still 30 odd km from the airport. This trip to the himalayas has been pending since July and after re-scheduling our tickets from Aug to Sep because of bad weather I am really tensed to make it to the trip and not miss the flight ! Ajith Arundathi and Beena are in another car and taking another route to reach the airport ( we parted immediately after we decided to follow each other ! the drivers sticking to their preffered routes being the reason.) Harsha is at ease enjoying the music and counting the number of things he missed packing. I am distracted by the buzz of my phone . Its a message from Indigo saying that the flight is delayed by 30 minutes. when Harsha is around and late the universe seems to conspire in order to aid him. My announcement is met with the ususal know it all smile of Harsha and his proclamation of how we started at the right time !

BLR-DEL 6E114

The half empty flight of indigo somehow did not seem to justify the cost of the airticket we had paid. As soon as the flight took off, out came the "Nipput" from Beena.'s bag Our coversations were punctuated by the regular munching of Nipput and other bakery stuff. The empty flight also ment that people on flight had the option of upgrading their modest low fare economy class tickets to a luxurious fully reclinable seat see the picture below to know how.

By the time Ajith made up his mind to upgrade the flight ahd landed in delhi at 3:00 PM. We got up leaving an unmistakable trail of the stuff we had consumed during the flight.

Hotel Ranjith Baara Gyara Dhobi Ghat.

Our Bus to Manali was scheduled to leave by 5:30 PM. We had around 2 hours to finish our lunch and head to the bus stand. The plan was to dump our luggage at the transport office and head out for lunch. Harsha got into the act of calling the transport office and getting the address. The bus stand was conveyed to be behind a hotel called Ranjith. The two prepaid taxis arrived, the drivers looked lost reading the address, Harsha tried to help them out throwing out a few clues, "Fly over ke Neechay" which he recollected from his earlier conversation with the bus office. The drivers seem to be satisfied with the direction and we got into our respective cars and adjusted the non-functioning seat belt ( The driver made sure that the seat belt "looked" tightly fastened on me from the other side of the windshield) !. No sooner had we left the airport we lost sight of the other car ( after specific instruction to stick together ). We traveled for 40 minutes passed Cannought place and saw a flyover , fly over ke Neechay is where the driver went and stopped infornt of a hotel, the board did not read Ranjith. I told the driver that this is not the place, he got off and tried to ask for direction. From our seat within we see a hand pointing in the direction which we had just taken and the arm rising skywards indicated that we were not close to hotel Ranjith. The driver took a reverse and retraced the route which we came and again passed the flyover and this time continued going straight. Our driver got off again asked for direction this time the hand went in the direction which we intended to travel. We crossed a light signal and a huge building on our left was hotel Ranjith. It was no longer a hotel and there was no board which said what it was. The driver was happy he found the place. We told him that we had to reach the bus stand which was behind the hotel ! The driver did not seem happy. I called up Anil and asked them about the transport office. They have no clue either ! they were in gandhi market but were closing in fast. The driver was furious when we told him that the new destination was gandhi market which was a left at the light signal we had just crosseed and would need a him to go all the way down the road and take a U turn . He reluctantly drove down the road and made the U turn while the signal was still red and in the process knocked down a scooterist ! The driver slowed down but never stopped the car , checked in his rear view mirror and once the scooterist was on his feet stepped on the Gas. We were at the light signal again but this time going in the opposite direction. The driver seemed to be rather amused, I looked around to find the same scooterist who was knocked down arguing with another taxi driver. The case of the mistaken identity was the reason for our drivers jolly mood ! By this time Harsha and Anil had zeroed down on the place. A right at the light signal and we were at gandhi market and at the circle we saw Anil who guided us to the final point. Ghobi ghat gyara Bara ! There was a very small board which said its was a dhobi Ghat.

Dhobi Ghat

Once we reached the place we found to our surprise that there was no office as such there. This ment our plans to go out for lunch vapourized . No sooner had we kept our bags down we had at least 4 people walking to us and ask us if it were the bus stand for the Manali bus. The time was 4:30 PM by the time we reached the bus stand. The only option left was to split our group.

The elusive bus stand

One group would stay with the bags while the other would go fetch something to eat. Ajith Arundathi and Beena were sent to scout for food while Anil myself and Harsha waited patiently amongst the rickshaw drivers for their return and spent the time trying to warm up my camera by taking a few pictures. At 5:20 PM a autorickshaw arrived and a crash of plastics cups on the asphalt made our head turn towards it. Ajith got out having spilled the drink of the McD happy meal from its flimsy holder. We relished the french fries and burger and by the time we finished. A Volvo bus from Swagatham tourist arrived at the bus stand.

Delhi-Manali

The bus left for Manali at 6:00 PM, after innumerable stops and weaving through the traffic for an hour we finally hit the highway. A smartly dressed well built man got in to the bus and took the drivers seat, the very first thing he did after taking the drivers seat was to turn on the music player, the sounds of wahe guru permeated the bus cabin. As we got adjusted to the surroundings it was hard not to notice a LCD screen infront of every seat. Our apprehensions about this being a personalized entertainment were dismissed by a red glow which surround the ON button on the console. Inquisite fingers pounced on the button like moths to a light and lo behold the screen came alive ! The next 30 minutes were spent in getting to know how to navigate the screens and the discovery that each of us had seperate set of movies to watch. The headphones was all that was remaining to complete the show and out they came distributed by our road-host ( like an airhostess long time back used to do before low cost carriers arrieved) . I watched the movie "Shor -in - the city" and it was good to see a Tushar kapoor movie where he actually talks. It was around 10:00 PM by then and the bus stopped for dinner at Hotel Arman in Ambala. After eating through an overpriced buffet spread under dimly lit lights we settled back in our seats. The non-stop ever looping wahe guru put us to sleep in no time. I woke up at around 7:00 AM in the morning, the ubiquitous waterfalls and tall mountains confirmed our entry in Himachal. It took us 1 hour 45 minutes more to reach Manali but the time was well spent watching our bus driver finish hundreds of his errands which also included buying loaves of bread and feeding it to the monkeys sitting on the road side !

Day 2 : Manail 8:45 AM

As we reached the bus stand we were received by kapilji our good friend and our trek organizer. We exchanged hugs and made our way to the hotel which was reserved for freshening up. By the time we had shower and freshened up it was already 12:00 pm. we made our way for brunch at hotel blue elephant which was overlooking our hotel. Harsha had specified a continental menu for us which meant we had pasta, Spaghetti along with the regular rotis for our brunch. By the time we finished our lunch, our supplies for the trek along with the tents were loaded onto a tempo traveler. we packed our bags loaded them into the tempo traveler and settled in our seats and started our journey towards Dadar Phu, which would be our first camp site.

Rohtang Pass

The state of the road deteriorated as we gained altitude. From fully asphalted we were now staring hard to find patches of road. It had rained heavily the previous night and the roads were turned into slush fields with the vehicles sliding and coming dangerously close to the edge of the road. It was our driver Kishans extreme control over the vehicle which took us through the rohtang pass amongst slush and a few frantic screams from us as the vehicle neared the edge of the road to negotiate pot holes. Once we reached Rohtang we had a well deserved tea. It was getting cold and the drizzle added to the inconvenience.

Dadar Phu

We reached Dadar Phu at around 5:45 PM. Our vehicle parked adjacent to a stream running along the highway and this marked our camp site. By the time we came back from a short walk around the area the tents were all ready. After an hour of cards and chatting we relished the dinner cooked by Karmaji our cook for the trek. As we were finishing our dinner, babluji our guide came in and updated us on the next days plan. For the next 5 days this protocol would be followed as we waited for the desert after dinner Babluji friendly face would pop into the tent and he would brief us about the next days plan. Under the stary sky wrapped uncomfortably in the fleece and tucked inside the sleeping bag we ended our second day.

Day 3 ChandraTaal

After a night spent intermittently trying to sleep and adjusting our sleeping bags we woke up to clear and bright day. Ajith and I ventured out around our camping site. The birds eye view of our camp site from the top of a nearby hill is shown below.


View of our camp site.

After we got back to the camp, breakfast awaited us. Spread over a small trunk covered with a table cloth ! We enjoyed the Parotha's , Porridge,toast along with the apricot jam. It was 8:45 AM and we decided to start walking in the direction Babluji had pointed while the vehicle along with the support staff would start after finishing packing our lunch for the afternoon.

Our breakfast table

Tea being prepared at a Tea stall in Batal

Making telephone calls from Batal

We had covered 3 kms along the route in about an hours time when our vehicle picked us up and we headed towards Chandra Taal. The next stop was Baatal, which was the last point from where we could make telephone calls, after this for the next 4 days we would be cut-off from the rest of the world. All of us made calls back home and had a refreshing cup of tea.

The horse man "Mamu" was met and he set out in search of the horses and would come to Chandra Taal, where the road would end , the vehicle would turn back and the horses would carry our luggage for the next 4 days.

From Batal, Chandra Taal was around 16 kms. The land scape had already begin to change The green grass was getting scarcer and the landscape was begining to be enveloped with all possible shades of brown. The road was now reduced to a single lane muddy patch as we weaved our way through mountains.

Route from Batal to Chandra Taal

We reached the end of the road by 2:00 PM and started towards Chandra Taal lake on foot, leaving our supplies in the vehicles for the horses to carry them to our camp site. After a few meters walk the magnificient Chandra Taal came into view. The blue skies along with the turquoise coloured water seemed like a canvas left to dry. We walked for 3 Kms along the side of the river to reach our camp side and had our packed lunch staring at the magnificent view of the lake .

First view of Chandra Taal

We had now reached an altitude of 4270 m and it was windy and cold. Our plans to take a dip in the lake was progressively getting weak as the temperature dipped further. Out came the woolens and we thought the best way to keep warm was to keep walking and avoid sitting in one place.We explored the area around the lake. Each view was better than the previous one. We climbed the surrounding hill to find the valley carved out by the gushing Chandra river with the ridges on the side formed by melting glacier.The other side offered a majestic view of the Chandra Taal lake from up above.

View of the Chandra river

We spent nearly an hour exploring the area and finally decided to head back to base. As we walked down we could see the donkeys and horses carrying our supplies and arriving at the camping spot.

Chandra Taal from the adjoining hill

The horses arrived with our supplies at the camp site

By the time we had reached down the tents were set up. Harsha as usual braved the wind and chill and took a dip in Chandra Taal and said his prayers while the rest of us huddled together in a single tent and chatted. Ajith had a splitting headache and lay still in the tent, while the rest of us had small amounts of it, the very first sign of altitude sickness.As the sun went down the temperature took a steep plunge and the wind blew hard down on the tents. As the night set in the stars and moon were out and so did our tripod and camera. It took great amount of dedicated efforts to withstand the cold, set-up the camera and wait for the long exposure shots to finish and realising the mistakes looking at the image and then again trying out a new setting. The final results looked worth all the effort. Sleeping within the tents was an impossible task, we were wearing layer upon layer of clothes but still could not keep the cold at bay. Each one of us tried different things to fall asleep, sleep came in short intervals interspersed with long duration of simply staring at the tent ceiling waiting for the night to end. Even Harsha who has a unique distinction of falling asleep while driving his car,bike and also while walking could not fall asleep, this should put things in perspective.

A 30 sec exposure shot

6 minute exposure shot capturing the star trails.

Day 4 Trek to Topo Gongma -1 Altitude 4300 m

Mute spectator of the cold night

We got out of our tents by 6:30 AM, the wind had reduced but the cold was still biting. Ice formed on the tents and on footwear left outside bearing proof of the cold night. The sun came out giving some relief from the cold. The landscape looked even better with the the clear blue skies. Chandra Taal stood completely still in the absence of any wind and formed a mirror reflecting the surrounding mountains.

The Chandra Taal lake in the morning

We had a hearty breakfast of Parotha along with the Onion chutney carried by Beena all the way from Bangalore. Harsha and I tried to shake off the cold by going for a run but the higher altitude meant that we were out of breath in a matter of minutes.

At the breakfast table

After packing our bags we started our trek towards Topo Gongma ( which meant lower canal ). The view all along was scenic, streams running down from the hills formed constant source to refill our water bottles and relish the cold mineral water.The bright sun got out our sunscreen and goggles and we slowly made our way forward. We took innumerable breaks, catching our breath and getting lost in the beauty of the surroundings.

One of the many breaks

As the trek continued the uphills got tougher. We stuck together as a team encouraging each other and pushed our selves further. By this time all of us had a faint head ache, the first signs of altitude sickness. We tried to drink as much water, a know remedial for altitude sickness but in vain. The terrain was getting more challenging while the headache increased. We stopped for lunch by a stream. We hoped that the lunch would rejuvenate us but on the contrary the altitude sickness reached its zenith after lunch and now along with headache there was nausea also to deal with. Our guides did their best to motivate us and tell us that the camp was not far and we were almost there. We had trekked for more than 6 hours and had to go on for 2 more hours. The sun was already in the western horizon and was going down fast. We did not want to be still trekking in the cold which sets in soon after the sun sets.

On our way

We carried on forward, the route had now reduced to a very narrow path, the ground under the foot would constantly slide putting us off balance. The guides with their expertise held hand and took us through one of the most challenging terrain of our trek. Finally after an hour we could see our camp site. After seeing the camp site our speed increased and finally after 8 hours of trekking we finally made it to our camp before the sun went down.

Finally we see our camp site

Some hot tea with biscuits, sitting huddled together in the kitchen tent beside the stove as it flared to cook our dinner helped us to rejuvenate from the tiring day. Ajith had a splitting head ache and crashed into his tent as soon as it was laid. Arundathi's nausea did not subside and she had to pop a few pills and retire to bed skipping dinner. Harsha, Anil , Beena and myself spent a few hours in the dining tent. Playing a few rounds of cards and waiting for the dinner to be served. As we were having our sumptuous dinner which also included bread pudding and fried garlic to counter altitude sickness Babluji came in and briefed us about the next days trek. It would be easier than today's trek he assured us.There was a slight apprehension about how Ajith and Arundathi would cope the next day. Would the altitude sickness subside ?

Day 5 Trek to Topo Gongma -2 Altitude 4400 m

The horses getting down the slope

As it had been for the past few days, we were waiting for the the clock to strike 6:30 AM to get out of our tents as sleep again was just a fleeting visitor. The cold continued and we waited for the sun to peep across the mountains. As the sun rays flood in and hugged us in warmth we enjoyed the view of the glacier clad mountains which surrounded the camp site. It was interesting to see how the horses were guided by the horse-man back to the camp site , the steep descent towards the camp which took us a lot of time to negotiate the previous day was covered at ease by the horses.It was a huge relief to see Arundathi and Ajith pop out of their tents refreshed and ready to take on the days trek. The medicines had worked and out they were along with us around the breakfast table which was laid amidst the towering mountains.

Its breakfast time

By 8:45 AM we started on our trek with a steep climb up the hill . After this climb the landscape changed. It was rocky but flat land with a constant view of the big glacier along our side. Babluji pointed towards what appeared to be two strips of white snow on the top of a distant mountain and said that our camp site would be just underneath it. We made our way past terrain which had all shades of brown taking breaks at will encouraging Ajith and Arundathi who kept good pace along with us.

The long winding route

The path forward could be clearly seen for miles cutting across the mountains and the stone pyramids confirmed the right way at every juncture where there was a doubt. The streams from the melting glaciers cut across our path on course to join the main river. The streams were smaller and we could jump on the rocks and get past them . The streams got bigger and finally we had to stop as a big stream cut across our path. Babluji quickly accessed the situation and like a monkey on steroids deftly jumped from one rock to the other, walked across the path of least resistance across the stream and reached the other side. He had a rope tied to his waste which he fastened to a rock as we watched from the other side of the bank.

Babluji marks the way across the river

After the path was identified and the rope was laid we made our way one at a time holding the rope which swayed along with us as the out feet were turned numb by the ice cold flow of water. The rocks on the bed ensured that we could never get a strong footing. One after the other we reached on the other side and watched others go through the same experience. It took us a while for our legs to turn normal from being numb. The horses had no problem and within the blink of an eye they were across the river and on their way to the campsite. It was 12:00 PM by the time the river crossing was accomplished and all that remained now was a 2 hour trek towards the campsite. We decided to finish the trek and have lunch at the campsite rather than breaking again for lunch. We let Babluji along with Ajith and Arundathi and started along the path following the stone markings and made our way.

Leaving a mark behind

We even tried our hand at laying down the stone markings ! Finally after another 2 hours of trek we could see the now familiar orange colour top of our dining tent down below. We decided to break there and wait for Ajith and Arundathi. As we saw Ajith and Arundathi coming along at a distance and I made my way towards them and conveyed the camp site was close at hand. Arundathi had developed a blister and was finding it hard to walk . Ajith looked weary with concern seeing his partner in pain. After another break, the grit of Arundathi once again stood tall and overcoming pain tagged along with us towards the camp site.

Made it

In another 45 minutes we were made our way down to the campsite and it was now time to rejoice. Another day of trek was completed by all of us. Arundathi's blister needed attention and it was the resourceful Babluji who was up against the task of blister bursting. Aided with some dettol he skillfully bursted the blister while Arundathi gave intermediate shrieks of pain and relief. After the successful blister bursting, we had a heartly lunch with Pasta being the main menu.

The camp site

The camp site was exceptionally beautiful with a stream running across and surrounded by a thick "carpet" of lush green grass. We strolled along the grass on barefoot and enjoyed the walk. By the time we had explored the surrounding area the sun set in and it was time to group together in the dining tent.Ajith was back in the tent after a nap. The evening started off with a game of memory with Beena wiping the board clean while Harsha and I struggled to pick a couple of cards.After one more round in which Arundathi and Ajith also proved that they had sharper memory we decided to stop this humiliation and switched gears to Dumb Charades. The team of Ajay Harsha and Ajith managed to get the toughest of the tough ones. Italian job shouted Harsha as I made gestures indicating a piece of a pizza. We then re-organized the team and it got more competitive. The "constipated" look which Ajith bore to convey the movie Constantine would for ever be etched in our memory. Spirits were high and the rounds continued well past our dinner time and when Beena came up with Arachnophobia we knew that we were running out of movie names. Since Arachnophobia was unplayable it was dubbed to be the "fear of dumb charades". Finally on the request of Babluji we stopped our games and retired to bed coming up with a new strategy as always on to how best the fleece and sleeping bag arrangement would give us a good nights sleep.

Day 6 Trek to Topo Yoma 4700 m

6:30 AM we were out of our tents and basking in the sunlight. The previous night had again been a struggle to sleep within the sleeping bags and we were all glad to be outside our tents. It was a relief to see that Arundathi was out of her tent with a smile on her face confirming the success of the blister bursting operation by Babluji. After a hearty breakfast with porriade, parathas we were ready for the days trek. The trek started off with a steep uphill climb which took the breath out of us !After the uphill the terrain was flat but rocky. A group photo was long due and we got together behind the towering glacier to pose for one.

Group pic

The landscape was similar to the previous day with deeper shades of brown.The wind had carved out minarets like structure on the hills. The rocky terrain and the brownish tinge along with the wind carved minarets gave an impression of martian land scape.

The martian landscape

Another hours trek and we were infront of a stream which was cutting across. Another river crossing was due. The stream was smaller than the one which we had encountered the previous day. We were all wondering which route we would take to cross the river. There were rocks jutting out from the stream, the challenge was to find a path of rocks which were not too far inter-spaced. As we were wondering how to do the crossing, the horses arrived with our supply.Our guide Toshi who was with the horses effortlessly without waiting to analyze walked across the stream with complete disregard to the stream and was in a few seconds on the other side ! The horses followed him and continued on their journey. Our support staff then jumped on to the rocks and guided each one of us across the stream. In a few minutes we were across the stream and continued on our trek.

River crossing (easy one )

In another hours time we were again cut off from the route by a stream, this was no ordinary stream it was a wide river. The force could be seen by the eddies swirling in the flow. The water was ice cold and would be waist deep !! Toshi our guide along with Babluji were contemplating if this was the best route when they were interrupted by Mamuji the horseman. He pointed out further upwards of the stream where the depth was less. We made our way to that spot and found that the river was wider but was less turbulent here. The river at this point had a bed of rocks in the middle. We quickly changed into floaters, the action plan was to form a human chain and wade our way past the river. Babluji was our Anchor he tied a rope around his waist and passed on the rope, all of us were fastened to the rope around our waist and held the rope in front of us as support. The Human chain was now Babluji, Anil , Beena, Ajay and Harsha. Toshi was guiding the route from the other bank. We stepped into the river with our trousers folded high and felt the shock of the ice-cold water biting the skin and bones. But our groans and moans were drowned in the gush of the river and it made its way. After what seemed to be a very long time we reached mid way all was fine till now. The next stage was a short distance but deeper water. The first step and the water was now knee high. The bed of the river was full of stones and rocks of all sizes . Babluji was maintaining a speed which none of us could match. We would feel the tug of the rope pulling us in front and throwing us off balance. It was Beena at first who lost balanced and fell into the river. She managed to get up and few more steps and I stepped on a slippery rock and at the same time felt the tug of the rope and down I went . Finally after a few more strides we were on dry land. All of us were shivering the with wet clothes clinging tight to the skin. The legs were uncomfortably numb with a million pin pricks being felt. It took us 15 minutes to recover from the numbness. By this time Toshi and Babluji went back again to get Ajith and Arundathi. We watched as mute spectators as the Arundathi and Ajith made their way past. Tashi had to stop several times to calm down Arundathi who's screams were too loud even for the river to drown ! Ajith was following behind at ease which he later attributed to his "aero(hydro)-dynamic" legs. Finally all of them made it and the look on the faces bore the testimonial of a hellish experience.

We took a steep climb up the hill and rested on the rocks basking in the sun to dry our clothes. It took Ajith and Arundathi another 45 minutes to join us. We celebrated the succesful river crossing by downing a tetra pack of Tropicana !

The river which took our breath away

uphill climb after the river crossing is done.

We continued our trek on flat land and now the green tinge returned on to the land scape along with the brown. The surrounding looked surreal with snow capped mountains, river and clouds in the sky.

Awesome landscape

A few more hours of trek and we were again able to spot the now familiar set of tents pitched in a beautiful setting. Off went the shoes and the back packs from our feet and back. We relaxed with a refreshing view of the mountains along with tea and pakodas. We were now at Topo Gongma 4700 m above sea level.

Tired set of shoes and a tea kettle which rejuvenated us

The hours passed chatting, talking over and over about the river crossing. There was just one more day of trekking left. We retired to bed after having a sumptuous dinner which also included a fruit basket with the basket carved out of a water melon ! That's enviable luxury at 4700 m !

Day 7 Trek to Bara La Chala 5000 m

As usual we woke up at 6:30 in the morning. The night had been exceptionally cold and as we got out of our tents we could see that it had snowed in the mountains surrounding us. The weather was overcast with a thick blanket of clouds floating, threatening to burst open.

Fresh snow on mountain tops

By 8:45 AM we had our breakfast and started the trek. There was one river crossing to be done and we had to reach NH 21 , where our vehicle would be waiting for us. It was as we had been accustomed to by now a uphill terrain to start which was followed by flat land. On the left we had the view of the large glacier basin which we had been looking at for days.

In front of the big glacier

Babluji was coming along with Ajith and Arundathi so four of us trekked along following the stone pyramids to find our way towards NH 21. After about 2 hours of trekking we came across a cliff and right below it we could see the river which we had to cross. We got down the cliff and thought of waiting for the rest of the team to come to guide us over the stream but then decided to do it on our own. We found the shortest path across and mentally calculated where we would need to step to get across. Harsha stood at the start and with his help I could reach the other end. Now with 2 ends secure the others had to just hold hands to get across. Beena crossed next followed by Anil. As Anil was crossing, Harsha reached out to support him and out fell Anil's gloves from his hand into the river. With in minutes the gloves was been pulled and pushed by the turbulent water. Harsha ran along the side and luckily the river decided to spit out the gloves towards the side which Harsha was running. Finally all of us got across and decided to climb up and take rest. We waited for some time till we could see Baluji on the other side of the cliff. We visually confirmed with him the direction where we should head and continued on the trek. We were now expecting to see NH 21 but all we could see was miles and miles of flat land. The weather was steadily changing and we could see the dark clouds accumulating in the direction we were heading. Another hours of trek and then we came to a dead end. There were no more stone markings what was ahead of us was land filled with pebbles with water streams forming a serpentine path. By this time it had started to drizzle and out came our rain coats. We started going straight ahead jumping over the tiny streams but then as we went further the streams became larger and larger . We retraced our path , our shoes were all wet and we did not know which way to go. And then the skies opened up. Tiny ice particles bombarded us and it felt like pins falling from the skies. There was no cover around just flat land, at this moment Harsha shouted "this way" and pointed to our left. I had no clue how he could be so sure. We made our way following Harsha. By this time the horses had arrived behind us. The cold and the rain was so fierce that we could not stand and wait for them. In what took 45 minutes we shivered from the cold got drenched in the rain and made our way steadily with NH 21 in sight and our vehicle in sight. The rain eased on us as we neared the highway and with hands held together we finally crossed over on to the highway and finished the trek.

It was cold and windy at Bara La Chala. The horses arrived in another few minutes with our supplies. The packed lunch was ready and we quickly finished our lunch. The cycles were also ready and were parked by the side of the highway. The weather was still overcast. Out came the caps sweater and jacket. We wore all the woolen, donned the helmets and were ready for the downhill ride. The horseman was in demand and as there was another trekking group which was heading to Chandra Taal and they hired him to retrace the same path we had just traveled !! We were happy to get on to our bikes and start the downhill ride. To say that the ride was awesome is an understatement. The highway from Bara La Chala was in good shape and we had to just hold on to the cycle and the breaks. The wind was strong and the fingers had gone numb even with the gloves on..

At Suraj Taal

We crossed Suraj Taal a small lake along the route. The next stop was after around 18 kms at Zin Zin bar. Traffic was sparse and we made our way along the winding roads. We were riding on the famous Manali Leh highway which is the ultimate challenge for bikers from around the world and we saw plenty of them along the way.

The Bullet Gang

The road in itself is a miracle with a mountainous landscape, the road which winds down is maintained to perfection by BRO.

The road from Bara La Chala to Darcha

We crossed several bridges. These are typically covered by metal sheets. The first bridge had a gap at the start, big enough to scare us. We were at high speed and there was no time to react. I would never know how the cycles managed to ride acoss !! Anil and Harsha also bore the same expression of surprise and fear as I met them after crossing the bridge. The rest of the bridges however were in good shape and we rattled the metal as we rode across. It took us 3 hours riding 42 kms before we reached Darcha.

The cycling route taken by us,

At Darcha we met the rest of the team in the vehicle. We parked our cycles and had a cup of overly sweet lemon tea. Akshay who was in charge of the cycle quickly dismantled them and by the time we had finished our tea had loaded them on top of our vehicle. We started towards Keylong a distance of 35 Kms which was covered in 11/2 hours. On our way to Keylong we passed the beautiful town of Jispa. The same place where we had stayed overnight during our 2008 trip to Leh. By 6 PM we were in the town of Keylong (3350 m) and checked into the hotel Tashi Deleg.

The Hotel Tashi Deleg

The first thing was to find a phone booth to call home. It had been 5 days since our last contact. We found a phone booth finally which was working along the one street market of Keylong. As we all completed our calls the cellphone signal picked up. We made our way to the hotel and as a few refreshed having a shower the others kept the cell phone towers at Keylong busy ! The power was turning ON and OFF at will and it was strange at first to notice that the power turning off corresponded to the cell phones not functioning which was confirmed by the each of us coming out of our rooms with phones close to our ears and the persistent hello with no answers from the other end. The cell phone towers did not have a back up. After a refreshing and well deserved shower ( after 5 days !!) we made our way to the restaurant at the same hotel. The interiors were made up of wood and had a cozy feel. The ever looping mantras of Avalokiteshvara gave a mystic feel to the ambiance.

At Tashi Deleg

Masala papads were devoured along with the soup. Harsha and I tried the veg Thukpa and loved it ( highly recommended). We finished our wonderful dinner while the never ending CD still churned out the same lines and retired to bed at 10:00 PM.

Day 8 Manali

We got up at 6:30 AM and by 8:00 AM we had all our bags packed and were sitting in front of the break fast table. Each one of us had contented amount of sleep a welcome relief from sleeping bags. By 8:45 AM we were heading towards Manali 115 kms away. The road was in good shape till we neared the Rohtang Pass and had the same experience which we had while passing it 5 days ago. It was slush filled and was impossible to go without maneuvering the steering vigorously in both directions ! Kishan our experienced driver ( I would recommend him to join Force India team) had a USB drive full of songs which none of us had ever heard . It was brought imaged of Jitendra ( in his white shoes) and Sridevi singing or dancing to these tunes. The songs seem to be a combination of "bewafa, Sanam, Zindagi,Sajan,Naseeb . Shazam would have crashed if I had tried it on ! here are a few samples !

We managed to finally reach the top of Rohtang (3980 m) . It was drizzling cold and foggy. We got down and enjoyed our cup of tea.

Tea at Rohtang

Outside the tea shop at Rohtang

We thought that the worst was over and continued but the worst was yet to come. Just ahead of us coming in the opposite direction a Delhi registration bus got caught in the slush and would not budge. The traffic with in minutes piled up and it was a complete chock a block The engine was turned off and we waited patiently while the JCB vehicle of BRO came around. In 30 minutes it had taken the mud , covered the slush and widened the rode. It took another hour for the traffic to be go past the stuck bus.

The road an hour after Rohtang was much better and the view offered was magnificent. We finally reached Manali at 3:00 PM in the afternoon. We all headed to Kapilji's office and shared our experience over a cup of tea. It had been Kapil who had urged us to re-schedule our dates for the trek and the weather had held up till now. Our bus to Delhi was scheduled to leave at 5:00 PM . We hurried to the club house based on Kapilji's recommendation and it was literally last minute shopping. Thapar was the store which got lucky as all of us picked of sweaters shall caps from the same store and hurried on to the bus station. The bus was on time and we settled into our seats. We had made plans to watch at least 2 movies on the way back but to our surprise there was no personal screens on the bus. On our way we bought boxes of apples at the Kulu market where the bus had stopped. The next stop was at Sachin Dhabba for dinner at around 9:00 PM. After dinner the tiredness sunk in and we sank deep into our seats and slept through the night.

Day 9 Delhi

Woke up in the morning to find that we were 20more kms from Delhi. The bus driver for unknow reasons had dropped his speed to bare minimal on a 4 lane highway and it took us another hour to reach the bus stand. A taxi and a car was arranged by Anil's dad to pick us up from the bus stand and we headed straight for the guest house. After refreshing there and having a hearty breakfast thanks to Daya Ram we headed to the airport. Checked in 3 boxes of apples along with a plenty of over-sized backpacks much to the surprise of lady who was checking us in and waited for our flight after again a last minutes shopping binge at Halidirams. The flight was on time and by 3:30 PM we had landed in bangalore. Got our baggage and haggled over the price of a taxi and finally by 5:30 PM we were in the comfort of our homes.

Ending Note

Trekking is a great humbling experience a great leveler to say. As we battle it out going away from our comfort zone and comprehending the massive mountains and harsh climate. Inspirations are derived from rather mundane things like the streams that relentlessly make their way past huge mountains , calm and peace with which the mountains stand tall and of course the people who are around you. The grit and determination of Arundathi to brave all odds which she was not used to, Ajith sticking along with his partners during highs and lows (he had even tried to convince the horse man to accommodate Arundathi on one of the horses). Harsha not missing a single days bath and prayer, taking dip in ice cold streams while the local looked with there jaws dropped . To quote Babluji on seeing Harsha roam around wrapped in just a scanty towel to take his bath " Aap ko Dekhkay Hamay Garme Lag Rahee hai "!. Anil with his high energy levels and inspiring the team to go further. Beena for keeping her cool and bearing with Harsha's antics and not complaining about a thing ! Kishan the driver for his high spirits, exceptional driving and entertainment. Kapilji for his organizing skills which left no room for complaint. Karma and Kaku for cooking day after day great food unperturbed by where the camp was and how cold it was. Tashi and Babluji for their patience. The camaraderie between all the support staff as they stuck together always with a smile in the back seat of the vehicle or while cooking dinner at the tent or while having dinner was truly inspiring.

Pictures from the trek

Aroma of the Nilgiris Cycling Ride

2011-03-21T19:06:00.098+05:30

The RED pill or the BLUE pill.

The scene : Morpheus sitting in front of Neo in a dimly lit apartment says "This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcJksDgCOU&feature=related

10:40 PM March 11

The scene : A red Tata vista is parked on 1st E main road, with a Rockrider and Merida MTB bikes sitting tight on the affixed cycle stand. Inside the car I play Morpheus, and give the other 3 occupants the same choice. Blue pill we go back home and probably join the next month cycling ride as its too late already. It would take us at least 4 hours to reach Gundlupet where we break for the night and it wont be fun getting up early again and start cycling. Red Pill lets just start driving and take things as they come. Harsha's head says blue, heart says red. SK is silent. Anil jumps for the red pill and seeing that all of us go for the red pill. The trip is ON.

FLASHBACK

8:00 PM , March 11.

"Picking you guys in 10 minutes", says Harsha over the phone. I find my cycling gear from the nook and corners of my wardrobe (having been used only once before) and pack them in my kit bag. Dinner done, I settle in front of the TV watching Bangladesh staring in front of defeat against England. SK is on his way to Anil's place and by 8:30 PM we should be off towards Mysore. 8:30 turns to 9:30, Bangladesh have turned the tables around and seem to have a chance , frantic calls from Anil asking where Harsha is, start coming. I put my patience to test by not seeing the big wall clock and concentrating on Bangladesh's batting instead. 10:15 PM, Bangladesh have finished beating up England, now I have nothing to keep my attention off the clock. Finally at 10:30 PM the sound of horn outside confirms the presence of Harsha. A glitch at getting the cycle stand onto the car took Harsha all this time. The universe conspires to make sure that Harsha lives upto his reputation !

Bangalore-Mysore-Gundlupet.

There was very little traffic on the road and Harsha after getting a gauge of how wide his car was considering the two cycles on the stand behind was driving at ease. In 2 hrs 30 minutes we had crossed Madur, Mandya and had reached Mysore. We had managed to jump across each and every speed breaker that the road had thrown at us. Spotting speed breakers at night devoid of any boards/signs requires 6th sense which all of us in car seriously lacked. On reaching the Nanjingud road, Anil took to the wheels, the road from Mysore to Nanjingud turned out to better than expected and in an hours time we were sitting at a coffee day, Gudlupet having hot chocolate and some sandwiches.

Hotel Pathan International

At 1:30 AM we arrived at the gates of Pathan international. The ambiance around did not do much justice to the name international glowing on the board. The manager who was woken up from a deep sleep quickly acknowledges the prior booking and even though being half sleepy conversed with us only in English even though we were talking to him in Kannada (he was talking to his subordinates in Kannada though) ! We were given two rooms , while a dorm waited for the people who made the journey by bus. We occupied our rooms and quickly went to bed with a liberal use of odomus the mosquito repellant. The good part was that the mosquitoes did not bother us but the bad part was that the bed bugs were not bothered by the odomus !
We woke up at 5:15 AM. A phone call from Yathish at 5:20 AM confirmed the arrival of the bus load of 33 riders. By 6:30 AM we were driving towards Bandipur, the start point of our ride.

Flight re-scheduling 101

Harsha had a flight to reschedule and on the previous night, attempts to do so while driving towards Mysore in the middle of the night had not quiet worked out. We already knew half the Kingfisher airline customer care personals by their first names. As we started towards Bandipur from Gundlupet the decreasing cellular signal strength meant that Harsha had very little time to finish re-scheduling his flight. The main cause for the delay was getting password for authorizing credit card transaction over the phone. After another 10 minutes of frantic calling Harsha finally had the password, by this time however we had entered Bandipur forest area and the signal strength of the mobile was all but a single short bar at one corner of the mobile. Harsha came close to re-scheduling a couple of times but during the crucial password entry part the call would drop off. Anil finally brought the the car to a dead halt where the signal strength was a little better and the midst of chattering monkeys and chirping of birds Harsha placed the call and finally all things worked out, the cellular signal held on and the re-scheduling was done. we all let out a sigh of relief once the operator blaring from the speaker of Harsha's mobile confirmed the re-scheduling ! Check out the audio below !

DAY 1 RIDE

After a quick breakfast, close to Karnataka -Tamilnadu border we had our bike assigned to us by Yathish, I had the pleasure of riding Yathish's Trek 3700. Anil and SK quickly learnt the gear operation and by 8:15 AM we crossed into Tamilnadu and started pedaling across the Mudumalai forest towards Ooty. The Ride was a comfortable one to start off, with flat stretches along with a few slopes and drops. Myself, Anil, Harsha and SK stuck together as we pedaled across the Madumalai forest.

We pedaled across the forest filled with chirping birds. The deers held their head high to watch with curiosity as 30 + riders rode across. We did see a couple of tamed elephants being led by the mahout across the forest. The day was getting hotter but the cool breeze as we rode across provided relief. The canter was always hovering around us and provided water whenever needed.

Slowly and steadily we made our way past Mudumalai forest. A ride of 25 kms took us into the town of Gudlur. We had covered this distance in approximately 2 hours. The map below shows the route that was taken by us.

After a quick T-break at Gudlur we braced ourselves for the all uphill climb to Ooty.

We climbed the initial few uphills with a lot of vigor, meticulously changing gears going to lower gears to take on the uphills. The sun was now in all its glory shining down at us as we rounded off one uphill after the other. 30 minutes into the ride and now we did not bother to change gears anymore, we tried to peddle harder and leave the uphills behind. But one uphill lead to another, our eyes would expectantly look out for the downhill round the corner only to be met by another uphill. 45 minutes into the ride we felt we had been riding all day and broke our journey for rest. We continued after a 10 minute break only to stop riding after another 20 minutes.

We were fast running out of our water supply and after an hours ride we were now pushing our bikes across the uphill terrain and riding intermittently ! Another few breaks and we were out of water. The afternoon sun along with the uphill terrain had us now looking for the canter to sweep us off the road. A small girl from a tea estate who was waving at us as we pushed the cycles along when asked for water took us into the estate where we could fill our bottles. Water along with the peppermint found in Yateesh cycles front case gave us a new vigor to take on the climb. The canter with many riders stopped to inquire if we wanted to join. We waved the canter away and continued to pedal. After another 15 minutes we found ourselves in another break trying to overcome the fatigue. Yateesh came along in the car and told us that the spot where they had stopped for lunch was 2.5 km away. We resisted the temptation of putting the cycle on to the car and riding with Yateesh. Instead we pedaled along. It took us 30 minutes to ride the distance and the sight of all the riders having lunch was a welcome relief.

Lunch

It was 1:20 PM by the time we reached Naduvattam, the designated spot for lunch. The vessels with the food soon were all empty bearing testimonial of the calories expended by the riders during the climb. From Gudlur we had climbed approximately 2000 ft in 14 kms and had taken 3.5 hours.

After lunch we relaxed under the shade of a bus stand, this was followed by a cup of tea. There was another 5 km of uphill after which the terrain was less punishing with a few uphill and downhill. Most of the riders after lunch started towards Ooty. We as a group decided that we had done enough for the day and based on previous rides experience knew our limitations. The cycles were strapped to the car. Yateesh got his cycle in exchange to the car key and off we went towards Ooty. We doubled up as support vehicle provided water to other riders, helped folks who were facing problems with the bike and also those who were suffering from cramps. We took multiple breaks to enjoy the lush green scenery and of course the famed Ooty carrots.

By 5 PM we had reached Ooty and made our way to YWCA where the lodging was arranged. We were pleasantly surprised to see a few riders had made it all the way to YWCA before we had arrived not even getting off the saddle but taking on the steep uphill that went all the way from the gates of YWCA to the reception.

At the YWCA reception there were room numbers against our names and within a few minutes of reaching YWCA we had our room keys. The room turned out to be a huge bungalow with interiors spic and span. The temperature had dropped to around 9 deg C now and had us get our jackets outs. After fixing up the air-lock in one of the taps the hot water flowed freely and we freshened up and slipped in our caps and sweaters to keep ourselves warm. We settled in front of the TV to watch India take on South Africa in a world cup tie sipping tea.
The option of having dinner at hotel Durga did not win the vote of confidence among the riders and all decided to care for themselves. We got into the car at around 7:30 PM and as we drove downtown, Google and some online reviews lead us to Sidewalk cafe famous for its oven baked pizza. And as we entered the restaurant we were greeted by familiar faces, 3/4 of the CAM riders were right there !! All had done their homework well to find the right place to eat. We had a sumptuous dinner with Pasta, soup and Pizza, the bill was taken care by Yateesh as a treat for his birthday which had just passed. The good food had taken away half the weariness of the ride. We got back to our room watched India loose to South Africa in the last over and tucked ourselves warm for a good nights sleep.

Day 2

By 7:30 in the morning we were ready and were getting our cycles out from the canter. The "expert riders" along with Yateesh had already started towards Doddabetta at 6:30 AM. Harsha fixed most of the issues brought up by the riders by the twist of the Allen key. With new break pads and vigor all the riders started towards hotel Durga for breakfast. Necessity they say is the mother of inventions and previous days "hard" ride had given enough motivation for people to be innovative, the picture below says it all !

As the last of the riders left we got into the car and drove towards Hotel Durga. After having Pongal/Vada in the Jam-packed hotel and settling the bills we decided to hop into the car and catch up with the other riders who had left an hour earlier. After about 30 minutes ride in the car and seeing other riders we stopped on NH-67 waited for the canter, got our bikes out and were all set to start the days ride at 10:30 AM.

The Roller-Coaster ride

A kilometer into the ride and we were greeted with downhills, the legs rested on the pedal and it was left to the hands to do the controlling and breaking as we took sharp plunges one after the other. It took us just over 35 minutes to cross the first 10 kms of the ride, a few uphills were encountered but were always followed up by downhill rides. The downhill meant that we had more energy to stop by and take pictures at each and every scenic location !

In 1 hour and 15 minutes we had reached the previous days lunch point. We knew from the previous days ride that it was downhill all the way till Gudlur from here. The frequency of downhills increased and we were now traveling at an average speed of 30 km/hr. Cars were no match to us as we overtook them rounding the corners ! We hit a peak speed of 58 km/hr during one of these downhill plunges. In 2 hours we had covered a distance of 36 kms and reached hotel Archies in Gudlur for lunch. We could feel the change in climate as soon as we reached the flat lands of Gudlur the chill in the air had given way for the blazing sun. After lunch and sufficient rest we continued our journey towards Bandipur. We stopped more often for water breaks and steadily made our way. The terrain had changed from tea gardens to the dry forest land. The video shot through my mobile shows us ride across the Madumalai forest.

Another hours ride in the Madumalai forest and shooing off the canter once again from sweeping us we finally reached the Karnataka-Tamilnadu border. The waiting SRS bus marked the end of the ride. The map below shows our day 2 ride.

We rejoiced after completing the ride. All the water bottles were emptied by the 33 riders and now had to depend on the well nearby for drinking and freshening up.

Harsha and Yatish were back in business to sort out the cycles and to set them off in the appropriate canters. Another 45 minutes and we were all ready to head back to Bangalore. By 5:00 PM we had started back towards Bangalore and Anil on wheels took us back to Bangalore after a brief stop over at Madur Tiffany by 8:00 PM.

Once again a heartfelt thanks to the CAMS team for organizing this trip which would stay in our memories for a long time. Hope to join for more rides as the summer ends. Photos from the ride can be found here.

Auroville Half-Marathon Feb 13th 2011

2011-02-19T12:22:00.070+05:30

A crazy idea to run 2 half marathons in 2 months, to re-visit Auroville the place where we did our first half marathon last year prompted us to register for this years run as well. The usual suspects Spot, Anil, Harsha jumped in. From work along with Sandeep we had 2 new runners Rajesh and Vasanth wanting to run the 10 K run. Anils colleague Satish joined in and in no time we were around 12 of us registered for the Auroville run !

The traveling runners problem.

This is akin to the traveling salesman problem ! Another classic optimization problem. You have " n " number of runners and you would want to optimize the number of cars you want to go in. Sounds simple ? remember there is a variable called Harsha in the equation ! The problem is stated as follows : There are two cars Car A (5 Seater) : FFW: Friends from work Car B (8-seater) : LF ( local-friends). In car A ( 5-seater) Sandeep and Ranjana want to stay back a day after the run to see around Pondicherry while Vasanth and Rajesh want to head back to Bangalore after the run. In Car B Harsha and Beena want to stay back after the run to visit friends and relative in Pondicherry and return the next day. Ajay is the common link between Car A and Car B. Whats the most optimal solution ? yes of course the best solution is that we swap Harsha-Beena on the return journey with Vasanth-Rajesh. I propose this solution and all is well.

A week before the run as we are having Pasta over dinner at a restaurant I overhear Harsha saying that he would just return back with us and wont stay back in Pondicheery. So now we have 8 seats and 9 people while returning ! I enjoy the remaining pasta and hope that somehow this problem will get solved. Solved it did in two days as Rajesh had to go to Nellore straight from Pondicherry !

Friday Feb 11th 2011

I woke up with a soar throat in the morning a sure sign of much horrible things to proceed as the day progresses. I tried the saline gargle, the relief lasted for a few hours ! By the end of the day I had mild fever and no respite from my sour throat. When in pain/trouble like always I called up my sister Akhila and went to her place for dinner. After dinner Anil gave me the tried and tested Alrid cold and promised relief. I headed back home saying that I would decide on joining the run only if I wake up the next day feeling better.

Saturday Feb 12

5 AM I got up and the sour throat felt a little better. 3 rounds of Saline gargle later I convinced myself that I could make the 6 hour long journey to Pondicherry and would decide there if I could run the next day. Armed with a flask of warm water, shades and my running kit-bag I got into Anils Innova and off we went to pick up the rest of the gang. Harsha was waiting for us on the road not with his packed bags but with Gulab Jamoons and he forced us to have them. As usual he was at his casual best, dismissing any thoughts that tried to suggest that we were running late ! By 8:30 AM we had Satish, Vinay and Spot all picked and packed in the spacious Innova and having missed a U turn we found ourselves traveling back in the direction of Bangalore ! The next U turn finally arrived and now we finally started traveling east. At 9 AM We stopped for breakfast at Kamat and after the customary Idli -Vada combo and filling up the car with fuel we continued our journey towards Pondicherry.

The WAR of the DJ's

The stage was set for the two Dj's on board to show off their song collections. Spot started off with his Kannada classics which slowly turned into Tamil classics. The slow numbers did not go well with the people on board and Harsha was quick to to seize the opportunity to stream a few latest numbers from Bollywood before his mobile ran out of juice and we were back to listening to Kishore on the CD.

The Road that was not there !

From Krishnagiri all the way to Thiruvannamalai a distance of the 120 kms was studded with potholes of all sizes ! The Innova made the ride less bumpy but time and again a thud is what greeted it from the potholes on the road. It took us 2 hours 30 minutes to cover this distance thanks to Anils driving skills and Innovas superior suspensions. From Thiruvannamalai to Puducherry the road appeared to be in a good state and the distance of 88 kms was chewed up in an hours time. This meant we were in Pondicherry at around 3:00 PM.

Hotel Jayaram fiasco

We walked into the reception of hotel Jayaram with spot leading the way who like last year had taken the responsibility to book hotel rooms for our stay. We tried all possible names under which the rooms could have been booked by spots friend but could not find any reservation. A marriage party which was happening inside the hotel assured us that the hotel was running full. Spot flicked his mobile and with a touch and a slide he had the email confirmation staring at the front desk receptionist, who looked perplexed. Spot with his rapid fire Tamil convinced the receptionist that the booking was done well in advance and we had to have the rooms. The receptionist obliged and gave us 2 rooms and promised the third room in an hours time. We rushed to our rooms freshened up and headed for lunch at 4:00 PM. Half an hour later we were back in Innova heading towards Auroville to collect our bibs. Spot meanwhile got the call from his friend who had booked our stay saying that we were at the wrong hotel the booking was done at another hotel !! The fact that we had walked into a hotel which was running full and managed to get three rooms thanks to spots superior negotiation skills had us in splits. No wonder professionally spot has offers from far and wide (south-east Asia to be precise) for his pre-sales skills !

Auroville here we come !

By 4:45 PM we found ourselves in Que to collect our running numbers along with familiar faces from Nike run club Bangalore. Balaji, one of the members from the organizing committee seemed to be in a less volatile mood than what we saw of him last year, dismissing off people without photos id's and with folly registrations. The setting sun created the perfect lighting and we jumped in along with others to take multiple photos at the location. After the photo session we had coffee and as usual found multiple things to buy at the Auroville store for folks back home. The shopping came in handy as it was valentines day the very next day.

Beach walk and Dinner

After collecting our bib numbers we got back to the hotel parked our car and headed towards the beach in an auto to avoid hunting for parking spot. The beach side MG road is closed to traffic in the evening and is filled with people enjoying the sea-breeze and the sight of the waves crashing on to the the rocky beach. We took a long walk along the beach and spot with his tripod and new camera meant that we could get a non-shaky group photos with everyone in the picture. It also served as an eye-opener to the non-remote support of the D3100 ! After the walk we headed to hotel Ajantha for dinner based on our previous years experience. We did not get sea facing seats and the food was not worth all the wait. The spaghetti arrived an hour after it was ordered and looked more like Maggi noddles gone completely wrong. The hot chocolate at the ice cream parlor below compensated a little for the horrible dinner. We were back at the hotel by 10:30 pm and headed straight to bed.

Race Day

At 4:00 AM I was woken up by the alarm as well as Anil cranking up the tea. By 5:15 am we were ready with our bib numbers in place, packed in the Innova and were heading towards Auroville. Inside Auroville we were greeted by loud music and calls for the runners to assemble near the holding area, the warm up was about to start. Volunteers took us through stretching routines from the toe to the Gluteus Maximus. At 5:55 AM we all assembled near the start line and at 6:00 AM sharp with the sky still dark, dotted with stars and the air crisp and fresh the run started.

143 minutes !

The first kilometer I had spot and Vinay running along with me with a herd of runners trying to squeeze past along the narrow path. Another kilometer and the road widened with enough room for runners. Anil was a distant spot somewhere in front and Harsha was not to be seen. Vinay and me slowly built up pace and caught up with Harsha around the 5 km mark. As we neared the 6 Km mark Vinay was itching to go full throttle and said good bye to me and Harsha and sped out on 5th gear to catch up with Anil. The organizers had announced that there would be water stops every 3 Kms and as soon as we saw one we knew we had crossed 6 Km. We did not stop for water, the strategy like always was to run the first 10 km without any interruption as we are used to this distance from our weekend runs. The path had now turned from the asphalted road to a narrow trail and could accommodate just 2 runners running side by side, this is where we heard a loud booming voice shout out "Hot stuff coming, make way" followed by a patter of footsteps carrying a well-built gentleman past us ! The trail weaved its way through the vast expanses of Auroville and it was a pleasure running amongst trees, chirping birds and the air filled with the scent of eucalyptus. After the 8 km mark I felt drained and found it hard to run but thanks to Harsha's company, who was running at the same pace as me, I could carry on. And company it was, we spoke about all things from running, swimming, SCUBA, cycling to Harsha's simulation game from his MBA strategy class. All this talking took us past the 9 KM mark. A faint sound of drummers going on a rampage gave a hint to what was in store for us a kilometer ahead, and soon the faint sound turned into a roar of drums with that catchy beat which made the adrenalin pump and the rhythm locked in our heads carried us through smoothly for the next few kilometers. we knew that the next water stop would be seen around the 12 KM and this would mean we would have completed half of the half marathon. Harsha as usual was bumping into known acquaintance all along the way and by the time he explained how he knew the person he had just waved to it was already the 12 KM mark. Hands outstretched we both reached out for the water-cups that were being handed out by the volunteers and continued our run taking little sips of water. The terrain now had completely changed to a sandy patch and it felt like running on a beach. We both maintained a steady pace, while countless people made way past us ! running is a great leveler it brings one to ground zero as you see old/young, thin/fat, men/women run past you while you helplessly watch ! It is also inspirational as we aspire to be at par with folks running past us. The heard of full marathon runners made their way in the opposite direction and we clapped and cheered for them. The 15 Km mark approached and we grabbed some more water and continued our run. Hari krishna from Nike run club Bangalore was as spot put it galloping past us. He turned and waved at us and told us he was doing a full marathon, he finished the whole run in 3 hrs 09 minutes !! a truly awesome performance from him. The real test of the half-marathon starts after the 16 KM as we venture into distance which we usually do not encounter in our practice sessions. The water stops seems non-existent and it seemed a long way from the finish line. Harsha and me were encouraging each other and maintained our pace, after what seemed like a long time we reached the 18 Km mark and were back on to the asphalted road. I saw Pameet Singh, a GE colleague run past us and shouted words of encouragement at him. All fellow runners had now more or less settled into a rhythm of foot fall which suited them best and made their way towards the finish line. The circuit was dotted with volunteers clapping cheering us all along. The route now lead us back on to the trail path and the last kilometer was all that remained to be chewed, a few more minutes and we could hear the shouts, cheers as runners poured past the finish line. Harsha and me after 2 + hours of running were still next to each other ! and as we approached the finish line, hands held high and clasped we crossed the finish line taking 143 minutes ( 2 hrs 23 minutes) for the run ! What seemed like an impossible task a few hours ago was done even though I was 10 minutes slower than last year !. We had Anil and Vinay waiting for us right at the finish line. Anil and Vinay just like me and Harsha ran together all along and finished in 1 hr 59 minutes !

We helped ourselves with the ample breakfast that was served and T shirt which was provided to us by the organizers as more and more runners poured in past the finish line . A 3 year old kid finishing a 2 Km run as her dad rode a cycle behind her was truly a jaw-dropping moment. Spot came in 20 minutes later improving on his previous best run time. We met up with Sandeep/ Vasanth and Rajesh near the visitor center and co-ordinated on our return trip. It was a pleasure to see Sandeep donning his new white canvas shoes reminiscent from our school days in which he completed his run. The white canvas shoes was what he had managed to buy the previous evening after realizing that he had packed everything except his running shoes for his trip to Pondicherry! We made our way to the parked car and headed straight to hotel Jayaram for that well deserved shower.

12:00 PM with all the bills settled and Vasanth joining in, the 7 of us headed for lunch at hotel Jayaram and by 1:00 PM after deliberating which route to head back we decided to take the Vellore route, longer but much better road back home. We took NH66 towards Tindivanam and then NH45 towards Chengalpattu and the state-highway 58 towards kanchipuram. We had Vasanth jumping out from the seat and sticking his neck out (quiet literally) for us at all junctions to confirm the direction for us. After a few attempts in perfect co-ordination he could could jump off his seat, roll down the window and ask for direction all in one fluid motion.
On reaching kanchipuram, right from the comfort of the car seats we offered our prayers as we passed the huge temple complex. Beena could not be coaxed to buy kanchi sarees for herself and so off we went towards Vellore without stopping. Spot had a splitting headache and had switched himself off, Vinay went through quick nap sessions while Vasanth stuck in the middle was the backseat navigator. The front seat had Satish as navigator and Anil was at the driver seat keeping a steady speed of 110 kms/hr. The last seat was shared by Beena Harsha and me. Since Vasanth was new to the group I took the privilege of introducing the multi-faceted personality to others. From his (long lost) taekwondo skills to his oil paintings all were discussed, He had pointers for Vinay and spot with examples from how he had impressed his now wife during their first meet up. By 4:00 PM we were in Vellore and the road was perfect for the 2.5 Liter engine under the hood to show its prowess. By 6:30 PM we were close to Krishnagiri and we made our first stop at Adyar Anand Bhavan for a quick cup of coffee, plum cake and savories.

Mission accomplished

In another hour we weaved our way through traffic on Hosur road, which included a huge truck carrying a wind-turbine blade and gave Vasanth a good opportunity to educate the rest of us on wind turbines. We arrived at the entrance of NICE road, Satishs car was waiting and we said goodbye to Vinay Satish and Vasanth, took the NICE road yes paid more toll and were finally back where we started at 7:30 PM. The next few weeks went in discussing about our run with friends, family and colleagues and exchanging stories from other participants, Kumar from work completing the full marathon running barefoot in ~ 4 hours was again jaw-dropping and inspiring. Hope to do the Auroville again next year with a bigger set of friends and family !

Mumbai Half-Marathon Jan 16th 2011

2011-01-17T20:59:00.078+05:30

Aisa to aadmi life mein doich time bhaagta hain. Olympic ka race ho, ya police ka case ho. Tum kisliye bhaagta hain bhai?" If AB would have asked this question I would have answered Mumbai Marathon bhai. The confirmation mail that I had a running spot for the 8th edition of the Mumbai marathon came in on Aug 28th 2010 ( 4 months in advance ). At that point in time I was recovering from the knee injury I had, after completing the Pondicherry half marathon in Feb. So I knew I had my task cut out, to recover completely and then start my training for the famed Mumbai run.

The closure of NICE road to pedestrians was the biggest blow to those of us who used this as our training ground ! September saw a couple of runs in Lalbagh, my logbook shows a dismal 36 Kms as entry against the month of September, my average speed was at 8.75 km/hr and the knee did cry for attention ! . October was the month when myself and spot (Prasad) started being regular at the NIKE run club on Saturday mornings thanks to Harsha's MBA classes on Saturdays, we no more had to wait for him to show up and were now able to make to the runs dot on time ! It was towards the end of the month we embarked on a cycling adventure on which a lot has been already said. The long cycle ride helped and my knee pain decided to move out after 6 months of presence ! I had done around 60 Kms of running in October and my average speed was hovering between 8.2 and 8.5 Km/hr. November was the month when we got a little more serious about our training after we booked our air-tickets to Mumbai and ran a total of 116 Kms during that month. Average speed was inching towards 9 Km/hr. We carried forward the momentum in the month of December and ran a total of 106 Km. Except for breaking my wrist due to my over enthusiasm during a stretching exercise things were pretty much on track.

Vinay Kaushik ("the sherpa") fresh from his mountaineering training from Uttaranchal was our coach during our runs in Cubbon park. He included a lot of variety in our runs and made them interesting and a lot tiring. January was to be the month of long runs, the longest I ran was 16 Km and after that we made sure that we stayed injury free as we approached the event date. Training was fun, we did not follow any particular schedule, Saturdays after the run it used to be tender coconut/lime juice and many times Dosa/Poha ;-). we have made several discoveries during our eating/ drinking binge. The out of the world lime juice near DVG road (I still dont understand his reluctance to serve us just because we are there as soon as the shutters are up ! ) Tender coconut with lemons squeezed into it ( the rising cost of lemons soon saw an end to this ritual). Sunday runs were followed by guzzling tender coconut, we had consciously made efforts to limit it to 2 per head from the earlier 3. This still gave Harsha enough specimens to try out his various theories on judging the sweetness of the tender coconut based on colour ( His latest tip is go for the ones which have a shade of brown but not too brown on the outside! )

One more week to go and Harsha realizes that he has an exam on Saturday, the day we have booked our tickets to Mumbai, being accustomed to the shock,awe,surprise,curve balls thrown at me by my good friend I just managed to say "Oh" in response! He comes up with this crazy idea that he would take the 10:00 PM flight instead of the 11:45 AM flight which the rest of us would take, we would collect his bib number along with ours and he would arrive in Mumbai at 12:00 AM, sleep over at the airport, wake up the next day morning come straight to the run where he would meet us to get his bib number. Harsha went ahead and re-scheduled his flight to 10:00 PM. Thursday evening the phone rings and its Harsha, now what I wonder would he directly land from a chopper as the run starts ? I am greeted by a weak and a frail voice which resembles Harsha's . Harsha boy is down with fever and it was disheartening to hear that he would have to cancel his trip.

January 15th Saturday its Shakranthi and we would leave for Mumbai today. I would surely miss the home made pongal * sigh *. Bags packed and checked for the nth time that the shoes are there, the registration form is there, me and Anil head for the airport picking up Spot and SK (Patil) on the way. We check in at the airport and the flight is on time.

We arrived in Mumbai at 1:30 PM. As we got out from the airport we were pleasantly surprised by the weather, it was perfect, bright but not hot and humidity was non-existent. The waiting taxi whisked us to the World trade center near Cuffe parade where the Mumbai marathon expo was going on. We collected our running bibs and the goody bag and were out of the place by 3:30 PM. The next stop was Kamat restaurant at cuffe parade and we had a great tasting "Thali" for lunch. We headed straight to the place where Anil had arranged for our accommodation in Bandra. We settled in our respective rooms, quick refreshing and a cup of tea later we were heading along the next days run route. We drove on the famed Bandra-Worli sea link, caught glimpse of Mukesh ambani's Antilla ( the worlds most expensive house), Haji-Ali dargah, the daunting Peddar road incline which we would have to scale next morning. We exchanged glances when Anil who now had turned into a tourist guide said we have covered 75 % of the route. An hour in the car and we were still left with 25 % of the route ?! We crossed chowpatty, Marine drive and finally reached close to CST which would be the end point of our run.

It was time to give the celebrities their share of attention and we headed straight to the Band stand to get our share of Bollywood. We took a long walk across the house of the rich and the famous. The small gathered crowd clicking away photos of Sharukh Khans house assured us that we were not the only ones who were awestruck by the blatant display of money power. We returned back to guest house at 8:30 PM. After wine & dine and a short walk topped with a paan we were all set to end our day.

Sunday Jan 16th, 3:41 AM I wake up, beating the alarm set for 4:00 AM. By 5:15 all 4 of us are ready in our gear, timing chip and bib in place. we walked down to the waiting taxi and headed straight towards the ground near the fire station where the start was schedules. 5:45 am we are part of the crowd which is rearing to go. Anil ambani along with his body guards arrives and walks past us towards the start line. The huge digital clock silently ticked towards the scheduled time of 6:15 am. The gun popped and off we were in the wee hours of sunday morning 21.097 Kms to cover.

It was still dark when we started, I ran along with Spot and SK at the start, Anil had hit the accelerator (floored it) from the word go. I wanted to run slow the first few kms. We passed the 1 km mark, the weather was perfect. After passing the 2 Km mark, the entrance to the sea-link was visible now. The view was picture perfect across the Mahim bay, the high rise buildings hugging the shore across the pinkish sky. At the 5 Km mark and we were right at the center of the sea-link, the huge suspensions cables running heaven-wards all around us. There were people encouraging each other "just 2 more km's and we are off the bridge its all easy from there" shouted one, "Power gel anyone" shouted another. I was enjoying the run, legs felt strong and breathing was easy. Km 7 marked the end of the sea-link we were on the Worli-sea face road, we went straight, took a U turn and came back. I saw the 8 km mark and also Spot running in the crowd, we both outstretched our arms and exchanged high-fives as we crossed each other. A few more meters ahead and I started seeing the full marathon runners making their way towards the sea-link, the admiration for then showed up as claps and cheers from folks running the half marathon. I saw Pani running along and shouted out his name and we exchanged waves. Bobby also from the Nike run club Bangalore and running the full marathon was right behind Pani and we again exchange words of encouragement. The 10 Km mark came up and I reached out for water at the water stop. There was a sigh of relief within as the half way mark was crossed. People from the houses lined along the running path were out in the open shouting words of encouragement, offering water,fruits as we ran past, a definite energy booster seeing these folks cheering us. I crossed the actress Gul Panag (who was running her 13th half marathon), photographers going on a clicking spree confirming her identity.

We crossed the landmarks which we had seen the previous day, the Ducati showroom, the Porsche showroom, Mukesh Ambani's Antilla. After the 14 Km Mark the Peddar road uphill showsed up, it seemed invincible but slowly and steadily I made my way past it. We are out running in the open but the tall building threw the blanket of their shadow covering us from the sun. After crossing the 15 Km mark the mind games start, how long ? why don't I see the next kilometer sign board ? want to stop ? take a break . I shooed away all these thoughts and continued running. The 16 Km mark was next crossed, the crowd cheered "just 5 more". 17 Km mark and we were in Chowpatty, a group of drummers were playing this amazing loop of beats, we moved on energized by the rhythm. The 18 Km mark seems to come after eternity, its a group of Bhangra dancers this time doing their jig and wooing us to go on. This was followed by a live band from a radio channel singing songs from "wake up sid ", 19 km mark is crossed. I picked up speed and cruised along, I could sense the end close by. We crossed the Taj mahal hotel and I knew the end was near. The cheering, the music, the beats were all getting louder now, I made the right turn along with other runners, and there it was the standard charted arch 200 m in front marking the finish line. Speed picked up automatically and I crossed the finish line, broke into a slow jog before finally stopping to look back as runners kept pouring in.

I checked my mobile and Anil had left a message that he had finished the run and was inside the holding area after the finish line. I made my way into the open ground got my share of refreshment and the finisher medal. Met Anil there and found out that he had a great run completing the run in 1hour 49 minutes !! A sub 2 hour time is what separates a good runner from just another runner. We are all proud of Anils exploits. Three cheers to him. We shall get there along with him sometime soon. After some stretching and relaxing inside Azad Maidan, We met spot and SK who had completed their run. It was photo time now. We posed against the half marathon route map got a few snaps and had to go through a sea of people to get out of the grounds towards our parked taxi. It was awesome to see the enthusiasm among the participants. The young and the old alike participated in large numbers and made this event a great success.

We headed straight to Kamat hotel had a hearty breakfast exchanging our experiences during the course of the run, the funniest turned out to be when Anil got confused noticing the crowd shouting out loud his name and urging him to go on, how do they know my name wondered Anil, turning around to find Anil Ambani close at his heels ! We reached our guest house by 11:30 AM. After freshening up we headed towards the airport. To complete the "Mumbai experience" we had the Vada Paav at the airport along with khichidi for lunch. Checked into the airport tried to relax over a cup of coffee while the legs pleaded for mercy !

At 5:40 PM we walk out of the airport terminal to find Harsha dot on time waiting with his car to pick us up. Things like these happen once in a blue moon, should have clicked a snap, my bad. Overall it was a great experience, the big city, the atmosphere, the crowd, the "Mumbai spirit", the near flawless organization of the run. We would be back stronger, faster with friends and family to "feel the spirit" as the Mumbai marathon tag line goes. Special thanks to Anil for making this trip such a pleasurable one, to SK and Spot who were great company before, during and after the run !

2010-10-27T13:20:00.128+05:30

Nature Nirvana Cycling trip around Madekeri :- A first timers account of the experience !

As I opened Prasad email which read "want to try this ?" with the link to cycling and more I had no idea what I would be getting into in the coming weeks. The link was passed among a few of my colleagues at work and by that day evening we were a team of 4 who wanted to venture into the Nature nirvana ride, a promised ride through the beautiful paths of Coorg, across coffee plantations and water falls. The next week surprisingly did not see the enthusiasm drop amongst us, we went ahead with the registration and booked our seats. Cycling had always been a mode of transport while at school and the thought of this as a mode of adventure prompted me to consult Yatheesh /Viki/Harsha to understand what was needed to embark into this adventure on 2 wheels. They all had one answer to my question "Decathlon" (A huge sports mall). We made our pilgrimage on a rainy Saturday afternoon. What was supposed to be a 2 hour affair to get the cycling shorts ended up as a 5 hour expedition exploring all sport equipment. End of it we had our shorts, gloves and Vasanth had a fairly good idea as to what qualifies as a change room!

Friday October 22 nd

After dragging Harsha ("the latest one") ( he was still searching for his slippers) and picking Prasad (spot) we reached the hockey stadium at 9:20 PM. Pleasantries were exchanged between known and unknown faces and we settled down into our assigned seats and the bus started towards Mysore road at around 10:00 PM.

Friday Oct 22nd 9:45 pm inside our bus.( Photo : Sree Ram)

First stop was around 1:30 AM at a small private bus stand with blaring Malayalam songs confirming that we were heading west. The parked PK travel buses did not fail to inspire Yateesh to churn out yet another Pj ( "Which is the most dangerous travels ?")

Saturday October 23rd

4:30 AM:Crisp fresh air welcomed us at a resort close to Madekeri town. This was supposed to be our pit stop. After freshening up and getting our rear into gear it was time to find our cycles. Outside we were met by bike owners who with a few twist and turns of the spanner and Allen key were getting their bikes ready. First timers like us huddled around Harsha to help us setup and assign bikes. By 7am we were rearing to go on the bikes. After a few trial rides & briefing by Yateesh and Sree Ram we were all set to start.

Harsha fixing up the bikes. At the start of the ride. ( Photo : Sree Ram)

Destination Madekeri (Photo: Sree Ram )

The warm up lap of 6 kms took us to Madekeri where we had our breakfast. Spot made a mistake by calling me for direction. The crucial left turn was communicated over cellular network as right and down went spot to unknown territory. A few more frantic call and with the help of Harsha and Sandeep. Spot arrived with a mouth full of curse. All the bikers left towards the long ride towards Virajpet ~60 Kms. Vasanth and me stayed back to fix Aditya's punctured tire. Yateesh was at his usual best tackling all cycle related technical issues single-handedly, the confidence and poise with which he deals with them is worth the mention (The Allen key in his hand is synonymous to the cigarette in Rajini sir's hand ! ).

Waiting for Spot ! (Photo : Sree Ram)

Towards Virajpet

At 10:00 AM myself, Aditya and Vasanth headed towards Virajpet, armed with maps and now getting a hang of the gears on the cycle. We crossed several small waterfalls as we rode,each better than the previous one ! The waterfalls gave us good opportunity to refresh and continue our ride. The ride took us through coffee estates on either side of the road, traffic was minimum and the air crisp. The cloud cover over the head with occasional downpour made the ride a very relaxing one.

Till Sidapura the route was down the slope, we enjoyed the shear drops and the wind rushing past us. The route tracked on my phone reveals the change in altitude and that we sped downhill at an average speed of 20 Km/hr. Check it out here http://goo.gl/hTOr

Part of the Day 1 Route tracked on my phone

After countless tea/ water breaks, photography experiment stops (Harsha remembering the Ladakh experience was not to be seen anywhere close during the first days ride, he had to ride at least 20 times past me before I got the shot right during our Ladakh trip !) .

Harsha panned in Ladakh. Vasanth zooms past

we finally reached Sidapura. After another break we started towards Virajpet, the downhills had now given way to planes or uphills.The cycle seat suddenly seemed rock hard. But we three continued on our way. We braved short bursts of heavy showers, sought shelter when it started pouring hard. As I prepared to start once again I noticed Yateesh ride past me he slowed down to tell me that the canter was on its way and I had the choice to stop. I stopped tracking on my phone as I was running out of charge, wanted to save the last bit of juice in it for the SOS call ! Next 90 minutes saw me ride along with Yateesh who slowed down at times keeping me in his radar and like a master Shepard led me along to the place where lunch was waiting for us.

Chelavara Falls

After a quick lunch which was served to us by Ashok and Harsha we got into the bus which took us to a point close to Chelavara falls. It was a 3 km route to the falls. The sound of the water gushing but nothing coming to sight made way for the "false fall" pun ! Slowly we made our way to the falls and it took us more than 45 minutes to find the place. The sight which greeted us was nothing short of being magical. The roar of the water as it dropped down from the skies and the force with which it was gushing out made up for the long walk to reach the place. A few fellow riders did get into the cold waters of the falls.Words fail to describe the beauty of the falls, the pictures might do semi justice.

Chelavara Falls

Gonikoppal

After experiencing Chelavara falls we were saved from the return walk as the canter had come to gather cycles from the "expert riders:" who had completed the ride till the base of the falls. Like cattle we got into the canter. 26 tired souls reached Gonikoppal at around 9:00 PM and made it straight for the dinner.After which Harsha allocated rooms at Nandanavana.

I (dont) Like the way it Hurts.

The Eminem feat Rihanna song has the lines "I like the way it hurts" I wanted my mind to say the same and soothe the pain the body was is in but mind and body teamed up and said it hurts like crazy !. With muscle becoming rigid, the back, the thigh and the shoulders muscles ached and pulled. The posterior had taken the maximum beating and the thought of sitting on the seat the next morning gave nightmares! Communicating the same to folks at home had them in splits !

Sunday October 23rd

As per schedule we were out of the lodge by 6:30AM and headed for the nearby restaurant for breakfast. We had to wait for a considerable time to have breakfast served and this gave us ample opportunity to think about cycling more or Cycling no more (Photo: Sree Ram). Spot judiciously waved the white flag saying he was done with cycling and would be happy to follow us in the bus. Aditya went for the wait and watch strategy. The morning shower had eased bit of the pain and seeing rest of the riders get their bikes ready for the ride made me want to start the ride too. I said lets go ...with a promise to stop at the slightest change in gradient, push the cycles up and then ride down the slopes. Vasanth agreed , Sandeep nodded (while on the phone) and we took that for a yes. So off started day 2.The route map showed that we had to do 40 + Km's and reach Baylakuppe and the terrain looked flat with occasional uphill slopes. I had Harsha for company and that meant some more experimental photography with Harsha making multiple passes across the camera lens!We took it easy stuck to our plan enjoyed the ride with lot of breaks to refresh ourselves this included

one in which we had tender coconut (Photo : Sandeep), which was cut open by a guy who had never done it before ! ( Harsha strongly believed that he used the same "macchu" to cut chicken as well ! and refused to have the tender coconut). Aditya/Sandeep/Vasanth showed off their Tarzan skills as well during one of our breaks. The ride took us cutting across Rajiv Gandhi national park towards Periyapatna. At Periyapatna we took a left hit the highway had tender coconut and continued towards Bylakupe. We had Harsha riding with us along with the Hubli trio. A huge hoarding welcomed us Bylakuppe (Tibetan settlement). The At 12:40 PM we finally reached the parked canter at Bylakupe and ended our second day of cycling. The route tracked on my mobile revealed that we had done close to 45 kms of cycling in 4 hours , check out http://goo.gl/4SZA. After a quick break we loaded the cycles on to the canter and headed to the golden temple (A 4 km ride in the canter)

Golden temple

Sree ram , Vasanth , Adithya , Harsha and me trod towards the monastery. We did a a quick 45 minute tour of the monastery. The golden temple is magnificent , the huge Buddha statue within is splendid.

After the visit it was time to pack the bikes and head for lunch. By 3:00 PM we were done with the lunch at Baylakuppe and headed straight to Bangalore.

Ajab Harsha ki Ghazab Taste.

As we headed back to Bangalore the movie Ajab prem ki ghazab khanee was played mainly due to Harsha's persistence and he thoroughly enjoyed watching it for the 3rd time ! As i dozed of I could intermittently hear him laugh away wtih praises for the film " Sakath Film" , "Sooper" and also could faintly hear the clinking of bottles from the other end of the bus announcing the start of the celebrations.

Let the Party begin

After a much needed break for coffee and snacks at a hotel in Mandya we were back on road towards Bangalore. Sandeep started off the proceedings with the Harmonica. This built up party spirits and made way for Sushruta and Venkat to hit the make shift dance floor ( the aisle of the bus).

Venkat the Master.

The next 2 hours went in a blur as Venkat donned the dance floor and pulled one by his "students"( aided by Sushruta, who kept a close watch on the dance floor attendance ) first for the audition and then teaching them the moves to groove. There was

1) Brake dance ( applying hypothetical cycle break to the beat of the songs)
2) Brake dance -2 ( This time it was the 4 wheeler break ! )
3) Tap dance
4) Bulb dance
5) Kite dance
5) Harmonica/Keyboard/Guitar dance
6) Vada dance

Like all good things have to come to an end the dance school wrapped up amidst burst of laughter and claps as we had reached the outskirts of Bangalore. Goodbye's were exchanged and thus our weekend adventure was successfully completed.

Vote of thanks

It was a wonderful experience to get back pedaling (seeking thrills) after a gap of so many years and I whole heatedly thank CAM Cyclingandmore.com for providing the opportunity. Thanks goes to Yateesh, Harsha and Manohar from CAM who did a great job in managing things and made this experience more enjoyable. Venkat for rejuvenating us during our bus ride back home! and all the fellow riders who gave awesome company. See you all sometime soon !

PS:- Photos of the ride can be found here
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/roopa.pandit/CAMSNatureNirvanaMadkeriCycleTrip#

2007-08-29T20:53:00.000+05:30

Trip to BR Hills

( Aug 11 and 12th 2007 )

Getting up at 5:30 AM in the morning on a Saturday after a weeks work is always a challenge! But the thought of going out of Bangalore was a good enough reason to have us up and ready to go by 6:30 AM !
My cousin Jayaraj and family who often travel out into the wild had invited us this time to tag along with them . We were picked up from in front of Mantri paradise on Bannerghatta road and we set out to BR hills for spending a weekend in the Wild. We hit the NICE road from Bannerghatta, joined Kanakapura road and zipped along in the Turbo charged Scorpio.The Road is not all that good which in a way is a blessing as you tend to see more of the nature around you than have your eyes glued to the road.

This year the rain gods had blessed Karnataka with ample of rain and it was all over the papers and TV that across the state all the dams were full and had their gates open and it was a sight to see the water gushing down . On our way to BR Hills we stopped by Gagana Chukki to take a look at the falls and found it to be breath taking.

A few details on Gagana Chukki Falls ( from www.cauvery.com )

At Shivasamudram, the river branches into two, creating the second largest island in its course.Each branch of the river at Shivasamudram has a separate falls - the western falls known as Gagana Chukki and the eastern falls, Bhara Chukki.The 90-meter falls on the river rushing through the huge boulders attract the tourists during July-August when the river Kabini also floods along with Cauvery. Shivasamudram is also famous for its hydro power station which was started in 1902 by Sheshadri Ayyar, a dewan of Mysore. This is said to be the first hydro power station in Asia and from here power was supplied to Bangalore -- the first city to get power in India - in 1906 and then to Kolar Gold Fields and Mysore.

We had reached Gagana Chukki at 11 and since we had not yet had our breakfast so we treated ourself to some local bhel puri and also Cut cucumbers.

The Drive from Gagana Chukki to K Gudi was around 2 hours with a few T breaks . Finally we reached Jungle Lodges K Gudi at 2:00 PM . We checked into the Tent house freshened and were ready for Lunch . The lunch was simple yet delicious . After lunch we had a quick round of nap and got ready by 4:30 PM to go on to the safari.We got into Jeep along with our Guide and Driver Mr. Thapa and off we went into the wild . We could spot the Barking Deer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Muntjac),

Indian Gaur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaur) Lots of Cheetal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetal) , Mongoose which darted across , as the jeep made its way into the forest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose)
Sambar Deer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_Deer) but the Leopard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard ) was elusive as ever ! The leopard was spotted by another group which started off with us but ventured into another part of the forest.

It was almost 7:00 PM by the time we got back to the Jungle Lodge. The camp fire was ready and we assembled around the fire . After warming ourself around the fire and listening to some flute recital from a localite we made our way to dinner and once again had a hearty meal and retired to bed.

August 12th

Sunday Morning at 6:00 AM we got a wake up call along with a cup of Coffee. we had a good nights sleep in the peaceful surrounding , no blaring horns , no noisy auto's just total silence.

We had registered for an early morning trek into the woods with one of the guides and at 6:30 AM we along with two more walked into the forest . The trek was a 5 Km trek and it took us 2 hours to complete it. We spotted the barking Deer during the trek and that was pretty much it , but the fresh crisp air , the greenery along the path, bird calls especially the Malabar whistling Thrush made it a good trek. Roopa managed to pick a quill of a dead porcupine ! It was amazing to see how beautiful these quills are and feel how strong and pointed they are .

Jungle Mein Mangle :- After returning from the trek , Roopa quickly using the ready to use Bheemana amavasya Kit prepared by her MIL , laid out everything neatly and did the Pooja , Prathima and Lakshmi visited our tent and offered their prayers too. Hey the kit also had prasada in the form of "Kadabu" which we all relished .

We finished breakfast and then headed on for the elephant ride, which took us a short distance into the forest . We got back packed our bags and left K Gudi at 11:00 AM.On the way back we went slowly along the curvaceous roads and enjoyed the greenery around us. We did stop by a stream and as per Lakshmi's instruction drank the fresh water from the stream. On her second attempt to drink the fresh water Lakshmi fell head first into the cold stream ! A few tears were shed and then after she got into warm set of clothes we continued our journey.

The next stop was BR hills , we stopped there and visited Billigiriranganatha , some interesting facts on BR Hills I found on the net ( http://www.outlooktraveller.com/destination.aspx?id=24)

It is a region so wild that the milestones are painted yellow and green for fear of marauding elephants. It has been noticed that wild elephants pull out white milestones. The Forest Department, incidentally, recently pulled one of them (the milestones) out of a tree. Welcome to BR Hills, short and sweet for Biligiri Rangana Betta. This was once a temple on a hillock with a rarely visited wildlife sanctuary nearby. That's until Jungle Lodges transformed it into the most amazing vacationing spot in Karnataka. The range stretches from north to south for about 16 km and takes its name from the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple, which stands atop its highest point. Though Biligiri in Kannada means `white mountain' (the granite cliffs here have turned white due to erosion), the name is clearly a misnomer. The entire area is a thick forest of green dotted by deciduous trees and patches of shola rainforest. In Lord Rangaswamy's temple , he is the patron deity of these forests , is a pair of outsized sandals measuring one foot and nine inches! Local legend contends that the deity uses these sandals to roam the adjoining forests. Almost as if by logical extension, the sandals wear out and are replaced by the villagers who say they are alerted about it in their dreams. The Soliga tribes are the oldest inhabitants of these forests. And then there is the odd signboard that warns you of the most elusive creature of the jungle , Veerappan! ( Now since he is gone , don't think the board is still around , I did not notice it )

The drive from BR Hills to Kollegal was very scenic .We did spot a variety of birds on our way back ...Kingfishers were spotted in a plenty ...scarlet minivet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Minivet) ..Kites,
Malabar whistling Thrush (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_Whistling_Thrush)
Robins , Bee Catcher, Spotted Munia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaly-breasted_Munia). I am sure Lakshmi would remember a dozen more !

Our next stop was in kollegal and all of us were hungry , it was past 3:00 PM by the time we could find a place to eat . After having lunch we headed straight to Bangalore . We decided to take the Mysore road on the way back then the back crusher of a road along Kanakapura. After a stop for coconut water and Iced T we finally reached home at 9:00 PM.

2006-10-02T16:13:00.000+05:30

JAPAN TRIP June 9th - 22nd

What hits you as soon as you enter JAPAN is the sheer pace at which life moves on . People are always on their toes , silently moving around you like a whiff of wind , one moment here next moment there and * Puff * they disappear . What hits you next is the amount of automation that has to be juggled in everyday life. From getting a bus / train ticket to turning the light on in the room the Japs have found the most convinient way of doing things.

KOBE

A View of Downtown Kobe

For two weeks we stayed in this city. One of the commercial hubs of JP. This city has a huge population density . The land is sandwiched between the Rokko mountains and the sea. So, once they ran out of land they simply floated an artificial island and continued to expand !

Some of My Memorable moments in Kobe.

1) Spotting Swift on the roads of Kobe.

2) Enjoying the Road side rock band .

3) Trip for the tastebuds (Tasted :- Italian , Japanese , Turkish , Thai food).

4) Walk along the shopping streets of Kobe

5) Kawasaki Museum Visit

KOBE photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/ajaykrao/Kobe

NARA

Nara Summarized

* Ancient Japanese temples now world heritage sites.

* Serene Zen gardens with a wide variety of flora ,

* Multi storied Pagoda's

* Huge Buddha Statues

Check out the Pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/ajaykrao/Nara

KYOTO

2006-05-18T07:56:00.000+05:30

ANDAMAN ESCAPADE !

"Where are you taking me for our first wedding anniversary ?", asked Roopa all of a sudden. Taken by surprise I told the first thing that came to my mind .."well how about the Andamans".
A few weeks later I got a series of mails from Roopa sending me details of all the various resort on the Andaman. She went ahead and picked the one she liked the best, it was called the barefoot jungle resort. Roopa dint stop there, she started emailing the folks at barefoot and got all the details on the pricing. This was all done during the last week of December. I still hadn't given a serious thought about planning for the whole trip , we still had 4 months to go but Roopa had just her bags to pack !

AIR DECCAN TO THE RESCUE

Januvary was when I sprang into action after I was reminded of the dire consequence of jeopardizing this momentous trip. The first thing on my mind was to get air tickets from chennai, the andamans can be reached via air/sea . The sea route takes 3 days and via the air takes 2 hours . I was in for a huge disappointment when I checked the fares for andamans , jet and Indian airlines had exorbitant fare ( The one way fare looked like two and fro fare in business class !). Disappointed I went to the Air deccan site to check for the fares and I found that they did not operate on that sector ! I was about to close the browser when I noticed a ticker message saying " Starting chennai - Port blair flights from MARCH 1 ", what a stroke of luck I thought and decided that it would be Air deccan that we would take.

Freezing on the itenary

The toughest part of planning a trip is to freeze on the dates and this has to be done at least a month in advance to beat the air fares. One has to look ahead to make sure that the holidays don't impact work schedule , get a thumbs up from the spouse and of course make sure that the right season is still prevailing at the planned destination ! Taking all this into consideration and after checking the Air deccan fares for the nth time we froze upon April 16th - April 24 th .

GEARING UP

Gearing up as would be the experience with anyone, happens only on the previous day of travel. instead of carrying one heavy suitcase we decided to go for two light ones. Having heard about the disastrous effect the sun/sea water can have on the skin Roopa packed a lot of different skin creams . " This is SPF 50 sun block cream , this is the best you can get ", I remember her say. She was more on the defensive as a months stay in uncle sams backyard had made her quiet fair !.

GETTING THERE ( DAY 1 )

On the 16th of April we boarded the early morning Shatabdi express to Chennai and reached chennai at around 11:00 AM. Took an auto and reached the New Woodlands Hotel in Mylapore. Since our Flight to Port blair was on the next day at 7:20 am ,we had to spend the night in chennai.
We made the best use of our time in Chennai , soon after we checked in to the New woodlands hotel, we took an auto and reached the Satyam theater. Rang de basanti was the picture on my mind as I stood in Q to get the tickets but after a minute I was out of the Q with no tickets , the movie was running houseful even after 3 months of its release ! Disappointed we made our way to the Spencer shopping complex and had our lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Roopa shopped for some clothers and this peped her mood up ! In the evening we made it to the Gandhi beech and had snacks at the famous saravanas restaurant.

DAY 2

Next day morning we got to the airport, the Air Deccan flight was on time ! And we boarded the flight to the Andamans. Two days of waking up before 5 am took its toll on us and we had a quick nap on the flight.

"This is your captain speaking, we would be landing in port Blair in another 20 minutes " said the speaker on the plane , and we curiously peered out of the window to get the first glimpse of the Andaman Islands.

Tree covered Islands , Turquoise , greenish coloured water is what greeted our eyes.

PORT BLAIR ( DAY 2 )

We got off from the comfort of the inflight AC and faced the warth of the Tropical sun , it was 9 AM but it felt like 1 PM, the reason being Andamans Geographical location . The Island is so far out east that it should have had its own time zone , but it follows the Delhi time zone and this explains the morning heat. Port Blair is a small city , the auto fare is 10 or 20 where ever you go. Since we were to spend only a night in Port Blair and head towards the Havelock Island , I had booked a "budget motel" ( using the terminology from Lonely Planet Guide). When the taxi driver gave us a puzzled look when I told him Jaganath Guest house , I got a sense of what was about to come. When the taxi parked outside Jagannath guest house it took us a whole minute to digest the fact that this is where we were to spend the night. The place bore a deserted look , no paint on the walls, a bare 3 storied building with a board reading out Jaganth guest house. After I regained my composure , it took me another minute to persuade Roopa to get off the taxi. We checked in and looked at the room and spent the rest 5 minutes swearing at the author of the Lonely planet who had recommended this as a ok place to stay in. We dint have much choice but to trust lonely planet once again for further advice on to how we could get out of the place, another 5 minutes and we had a plan laid out ......rent a bike and go around Port Blair was what it was.

Adventure on the Roads of Port Blair.

All the kinetic Honda's at Govindam, the place where they rent out bikes were taken and we were left with just yamaha bikes. I never owned a bike and have no experience driving one. The choice in hand was to give up and go back to jaganath Guest House or somehow manage to ride the bike, I chose the latter . " Iska Gear pattern kya hai", I asked the guy at the stores. "one up, all down" was his short reply. Took the keys and after 5 minutes of test driving I was ready to take on the roads of Port Blair. The Roads were not at all congested and we were both happy with this newly discovered source of Freedom.

The Lonely Planet book had a very detailed Map of Port Blair, marking clearly the various restaurants and sight seeing places . Roopa sitting behind became an expert at navigation and we found all the place we set out for . Corbyn Cove , cellular jail ( was closed on that day) were the places we saw.

To make up for the lousy place that we were staying at, I offered to take Roopa out for dinner at the Fortune Bay Resort, which is one of the best hotels in Port Blair. We liked the food , the ambiance and the Sea facing view there . The way to and fro to this hotel turned out to be the most adventurous bike ride of the trip. The bike devoid of a head light , Indicator and horn posed a serious problem of making us invisible on the streets at night ! People blinded me with their high beam , honked incessantly to remind to turn on the lights but little did they know about the condition of the bike.

DAY 3

Next day , we packed our bags and again left Jaganath Guest house as ealy as we could, the bike was still with us and off we went again to Fortune bay resort to indulge ourselves in the breakfast buffet. The view in the morning was even more breathtaking than the previous night. I made the best use of the opportunity pulled out my camera and took a couple of pictures. I told Roopa that these were the photos I would show her dad and brag about the beautiful place I had booked at Port Blair for our Stay !

So after breakfast we went to the Cellular Jail to pay a visit , the previous days visit had gone futile as it was closed on Mondays.

CELLULAR JAIL

The Cellular Jail is a National Memorial and it is definitely worth going to. Part of the jail complex has been turned into a large Museum with a descriptive narration of the life of the prisoners in the Cellular Jail . There is a separate room dedicated to Netaji, which has photographs that span his entire life.

The Gallows and the prison cells were the other attractions here . The prison cells are accessible to the public and I took this opportunity to lock up Roopa in one of the cells !

After seeing Roopa flash a big smile from within the jail gate I had to walk up to her and remind her that people don't look so happy locked up. She got my point and posed aptly for the next picture !

At the Gallows Roopa , again flashing a smile

reminded me of one of the "third kind"

that Mr McKenzie met (Remember Rang de basanti ! ? )

My "Role play" photography continued as we left the cellular jail , this time it was the year 1945 and kaidee Roopa serving the "kala pani saza" makes a daring escape from the jail and before giving a slip poses for a photograph !

We returned the bike, packed our bags and left for the Phoneix bay Jetty to catch the speed boat to havelock. Hut Bay was the name of the boat that was to take us 54 miles from Port blair to the havelock Island. We reached havelock in 2 1/2 hours time. A person holding a board bearing my name was waiting for us and a 30 minute jeep ride brought us to the Havelock Island # 5 and this where the barefoot jungle lodge was located. We checked in and were shown into our room. I was crossing my fingers and hoping that the room would be no way close to Jaganath Guest House !

The Andaman Villa that we had booked was worth every penny that we had paid for, it had a huge bathroom a porch and AC , enough to make us feel good . Here are a few pictures of where we stayed.

It was 6:30 PM when we reached the resort and by the time we had settled into our villa it was 7:30 PM. The resort is situated in the middle of a jungle and the sea shore is a minutes walk, after 7:00 PM the place gets so dark that it is impossible to navigate your way out of your room ! for this reason the resort provides each of the occupants with a torch. we made our way with the torch to a nearby hut which served as a restaurant. This is where we met the rest of the occupants of the other villas, to our surprise there were no other Indians ! , most of the people were chattering away in French ! We both settled on a table and after we ordered food we were looking around to see what kind of people were out here . I recollect the following pairs

1) The Caribbean guy with long hair cigarette in his mouth and beer on his table , always in a saffron dhoti ! with a old French woman. The French woman looked like his disciple she would be silent where as this sadhoo baba used to go on and on . He looked Indian but when I spoke to him he told me he was from the Caribbeans.

2) The French families , 2 couples with 5 kids . They would come to the restaurant , the couples would take up a table and have the kids take up another table. The kids would play with the cat which they had named "Teety", this cat would always be there during lunch /dinner and breakfast time.

3) The elderly couple 1 - Uncle with a lot of white hair all over his head and face,aunt with a pony tail, and with a pretty smile on her face. They were from Switzerland

4) Elderly couple 2 :- also from Switzerland, aunt oversized with red hair, uncle thin with glasses and French beard .

5) The cheerful and happy looking English couple .

6) I don't know who couple :- The wierdest of the lot , the guy looked 40 ish had a look of an escaped convict always use to wrap a shawl around him while coming to the restaurant . The lady of south east asian origin used to stick around with this guy. They always used to find one secluded spot in the restaurant and never mixed with any one.

DAY 4

We were woken up in the morning by a thud on the door . The "thud" was a wake up call to remind us that Rajan the elephant was going out to take a bath in the sea and if we were interested we could go watch it. We made our way to the beach and witnessed Rajan enjoying his bath in the sea.

The rest of the day was spent on the beach. The barefoot jungle resort where we stayed nurtures a lot of flora and fauna , from dogs , cats and elephants to beautiful birds.

Roopa along with "Teety" and this is the Golden Oriole which I spotted at the resort.

A plum headed Parakeet and a kingfisher were also spotted.

Day 5

On this day we had planned for a snorkeling trip but as we got up in the morning we were greeted by showers that never gave hint of stopping hence the snorkeling trip got postponed to the next day.

During lunch on that day, Roopa picked up one of the board games lying in the restaurant called Yahtzee and we spent the whole of the afternoon trying to understand it, and at the end of it we had become yahtzee addicts. I did beat up Roopa 5 games to 1 I think ( Roopa correct me if I am wrong was it 5 games to 0 ? ;-) ).

By the time we had got fed up with Yahtzee , the sky had cleared up and we went to the beach to spend our time. The Radhanagar beach on havelock #5 is rated as the best beach in Asia!
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/boa/boa_soul_andaman.html . Turquoise blue clear water , white sand , hardly few people on the beach and absolutely clean beach is what you can find here , no doubt it is rated as the best beach. The water here is so clean and transparent that you can see the sand being pulled by the waves as they hit the shore , here are the pictures of the Radhanagar beach

DAY 6 ( Snorkeling Trip )

The skies were clear in the morning and the snorkeling trip was on. I was very excited about the snorkeling trip , Roopa was aprehensive , jumping into the sea with fins attached to your feet and a contraption stuffed into your mouth to help you breathe dint make her feel comfortable.

After choosing our gear we had our breakfast and were ready to leave , we made our way to the jetty in a jeep and this is where we met Kapil and Mili , they were on their honeymoon and had just arrived last night . We were happy to see another Indian couple arrive at the resort and we enjoyed their company during the rest of our stay. We all arrived at the jetty and got on to a boat that carried 10 people along with 3 others ( 2 guides and a cook ) from the resort. We first reached a small Island where we learnt how to snorkel thanks to the friendly guide that had come along. The next island where we stopped was where we actually snorkeled. The island itself was magnificent no big crashing waves ,everything was calm and clear. Here are a few pictures

If the view on the shore was magnificent the view inside the sea when we went snorkeling was nothing short of being breath taking with vast coral formations and thousands of fishes, each fish vibrant in colour , Bright red , blue , Yellow and rainbow coloured . The view inside was mind blowing . This was no doubt one of the most enjoyable moments of the whole trip. As we were looking around a school of blue fishes hundreds of them in a fixed formation darted right below us . On our second round we spotted a huge turtle relaxing down below , as soon as it heard the splashing of our fins it pushed its limbs out and swam away with amazing speed. After three rounds of snorkeling we came out hungry and tired and had lunch which was cooked by our boat crew , the "Khichdee" with the tomato chutney was awesome. After lunch we set out back to havelock , we had one more place where we could snorkel.

The place was the Eagle Islands , it looked more like a big boulder suspended in the middle of the sea. Roopa was shocked when the guide asked us to adorn our snorkeling gear and take a dive into the middle of the sea, after convincing her that it was ok and that I would jump in right after her she finally took the plunge . The picture below shows Roopa jumping into the sea and I following right behind.

The view down below was even more magnificent than before , we spotted a big lobster here along with lot of beautiful fishes and coral formations. After about 20 minutes of snorkeling we got back into the boat and we were ready to head back to havelock.

A whole day of snorkeling in the sun had taken its toll on us, a bad tan ( it was so bad that our skin was burning) aching limbs is what we had. You can make out the state we were in looking at this photo !

On our way back the boat was silent except for the hum of the motor as all of us were tired , the clouds opened up and sent down a light shower , everyone was enjoying the cool breeze and the drizzling rain. The rain stopped as we got close to havelock the sun was setting down and the view called for more pictures.

It was almost 8 PM by the time we reached the resort and after having a quick dinner , had a good nights sleep.

DAY 7

Our skins were burning badly even after applying the special cream the resort had provided. Roopa looked into the mirror for the nth time and swore never again to have a holiday by the beach! We stayed indoors most of the time and only in the evening went out to the beach took a few pictures on the beach.

Day 8

It was time for us to pack up and head back to Port Blair , we reached Port Blair by the speed boat at around 7:00 PM Our flight was in the morning at 9:00 Am . We had to spend the night in Port Blair . Ajay put on his thinking cap and came to a logical conclusion that spending another night at Jaganath Guest house was ok and monitarily benefitial !

Hell Hath no Furry Like a Women Scorned

We checked into to the Jaganath Hotel at 7:30 PM , we took an auto to get a print out of the Airticket for the next day sinceI had misplaced it ! From here on everything went downhill ...we started out and the rain picked up and started raining heavily at the browsing center I could not get the print out as the printer was out of order but the owner of the browsing center was himself an Air Deccan agent and assured me that having a PNR number is enough and there was no need to have a printed ticket. So back we came drenched in the rain to jaganath Guest house to find the place drowned in darkness , slowly we made our way to the office and the guy told us that the power was out as the transformer had burst !! I asked him for a torch he said he dint have asked him for a candle he dint have he added that there would be no power for the whole night and there would be no water in the taps too ! A foreigner who also had stepped out had a spare candle and he lent us that with this we could make our way into our room. The room was hot, we were sweating badly , the mosquito's had a field day . Roopa had completely lost her patience and what went on is summarized in this paras heading ! but it lasted only for the first 30 minutes and she was back joining me laughing at the horrible mess we had ended up in !

We tried to sleep but could not catch a minutes of sleep , this was one of the longest nights that I have ever spent , restless and looking at my watch now and then waiting for it to break dawn. As soon as it was dawn we got up packed and left for fortune bay for breakfast and went straight to the Airport and were back in bangalore in the evening .

THE END

Like all good things our holiday seem to come to an end too soon ! But the memories of the sinful combination of sand , sea and adventure are still fresh and would love to go back to the Andamans for Snorkeling and SCUBA !!