Raghav Kempanna Thammaiah (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} raghav) wrote,@ 2006-05-03 18:53:00 |
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Its 2:30 in the afternoon day one, it is still 190 kms to Pondicerry, I see blurred image of Modhu astride his “Goddess” in the distance, it is all that keeps me going. The seething heat rising from the tarmac is distorting my vision and my senses. The heat is so severe, that the metallic frame of the shades and the hot acrid air off the road actually hurts as it brushes/blows against my face. Is that part of the world a hellhole or what? Things however started out much better that I make it sound to be.
6:00 in the morning, day one, I’ve been looking forward to this trip since ages, and it finally happened. I’m so excited I can’t seem to stand still for a minute. I’m up at around 5:30 thanks to mom, I gear up my bike and head to out rendezvous point at Silk Board Junction, Hosur Road. Modhu and his bike are already there. This is the first time I’m meeting Modhu’s bike and boy is she a beauty. Decked in an almost black shade of green, complete with a generous helping of gleaming chrome and a splash of silver on the tank, she looks an image of a “Goddess”. I can't help feeling awed by her. So do passersby who’re wondering what we two up to, with our gorgeous bikes, complete with saddlebags ‘et al.
Naveen and Ganesh Rao or Ganrao for short soon join us. Ganrao is astride his black P150. My all black P180 draws a few appreciative remarks; this line of conversation leads to us, christening our bikes for the trip, the “Goddess” Modhu’s Royal Enfield Bullet, “Temptress” my pure evil all black Pulsar 180, for the record mine’s already called “Virgil”. And Ganrao’s Black Pulsar 150, “Adulteress” (please don’t ask me why). We wait for the guys in the car to join us, for reasons ranging from valid to down right silly the others are now in a car. The traffic on Hosur road is steadily increasing, it is now 7:15, we’re wondering where these old blokes are. The guys finally arrive; we greet each other and finally head off at around 7:30. Harsha joins Modhu as pillion. Harsha for the record couldn’t join us on his bike as his insurance couldn’t be sorted out in time.
So it’s eight guys Modhu, Harsha, Ganesh Rao, Naveen, Kishore, Chandresha, Prasad and myself. Modhu, Harsha, Ganesh Rao and myself on three bikes and the others are in a car. We navigate our way through the sea of traffic and make it past Hosur to be greeted by the gorgeous NH7, boy what a sight this road is. Ganrao and Modhu open up the throttle and head off into the distance, I think it’s too early to pushing my beauty and do a steady 70-80 kmph. I soon lose sight of the Goddess and Adulteress and am riding by myself on this lovely stretch of road.
The faster I go, the more life around me becomes a blur. Images shoot past me, of the memories of a distant past, the happenings of a recent past, of dark clouds, the tormenting rain and of course the present and the now. For most part of the trip I’m riding alone, and for its most part I’m drawn into this kaleidoscopic alternate thought plane that is disturbing, involving and exhilarating. All the same time. It’s an experience that is unlike anything before. I love this high.
My subconscious is disturbed by the vibrating alert of my cell phone. Harsha is calling. I was so drawn into my parallel universe I’ve shot past Modhu, Harsha and Ganrao, who’ve stopped for breakfast and headed far beyond them. I mumble a few expletives for my own doing and turn around and ride back. I see Harsha on my side of the road waving me down, I acknowledge him and make my way to the restaurant. The guys in the car haven’t arrived. Not being the last one to arrive brings me a strange sense of relief. 8:45, this is the first of our many pit stops to follow.
After the last incident we decide to keep each other in sight and head off towards Krishangiri, Kempi (Prasad) has joined me as pillion. We’re both appreciative of the NH7, who wouldn’t. The traffic is sparse and we’re doing decent pace. We shoot past each other a couple of time; I’m bringing up the back of the pack most of the time. Kempi takes a few shots of us on the road. The sun grows stronger, I stop to dab on more sunscreen (which didn’t really help, if it did, I shudder to imagine what it would’ve been like without it). We experienced the wrath of the Indian summer, the whole nine yards of it.
We were waved past at the tollgate at Krishnagiri, which is huge and orderly, guess these lover bikers, no toll for us. Just beyond the tollgate, we found Modhu had stopped his bike; the Goddess had developed a weird clunking noise in the engine. The engine note didn’t sound too comforting but we’ve heard it on many an Enfield so we carried on. The roads beyond the Krishnagiri tollgate forks, we took the bypass to Thiruvannamalai. This road goes through many small villages and townships. The tarmac is very patchy with cavernous potholes appearing out of nowhere. I had some sense knocked into my head when I was taking a sharp right turn at around 80kmph at a point where the whole road seemed to be sucked into a giant crater. Kempi’s heart must have skipped a beat or two. Mine skipped many. Deciding not to brake I increased the throttle and flew over a few of ‘em, but I caught one huge one that knocked into my silencer. Following that I decided there is no point in risking it just to keep pace with the Goddess who was flying despite her clunking engine.
Riding on, I caught up with Ganrao who had stopped at a shady spot to take a few shots of the green fields. We rested there, I did a cursory check on my bike, and she seemed to have come off okay from that potentially disastrous incident. Ganrao and I decided to take it easy from then on and cruised along at 60-70 kmph. This stretch of road has a lot of tree cover and is quite pleasant to ride on, discounting ofcourse it patchy nature. Going further we found Modhu who had stopped at a roadside to savor some “Thatininngu”. I have no clue what it’s called in English. These are soft fleshy coconut like with a sweetish liquid inside their soft bodies; they are the size of a kiwi fruit, three of them in a hard purple shell. Damn, I should have taken a picture of it. It was refreshing to say the least. The sun by now was hitting down on us hard.
We moved on to surprisingly catch up with the car gang, the car had suffered a puncture and its tire was being changed. We were glad for this pitstop after that sweltering heat, got some “high-energy” fluids from the car gang, dabbed on more debatable sunscreen lotion and headed on toward Thiruvannamalai. I was running low on fuel and refueled on this stretch. We reached Thiruvannamalai at around 1:30. Thiruvannamalai greets you with this mammoth temple, the whole town seems to be built around it . This is a rather popular temple of some deity, sorry I've no clue. We had no intention of visiting it and it seemed to be closed too, so, well that settles it.
Lunch done with we were off again towards “Thindivanam”. This stretch of road at this time of the day is a road in hell. There is absolutely no tree cover and the sun was being very cruel on us, it was feeling very baked and sweaty. The heat rising from the road and the hot air blowing against my face is distorting all my senses. This feeling is sickening esp., after a meal and the drowsy effect it so sucks.
Modhu got pulled over by the Highway Patrol. Me and Ganarao thankfully “escaped” this unsavory character. Modhu soon shot past us and pulled over at a shady spot. We rested our machines and cooled our over baked bodies. Modhu napped on a haystack in an adjoining field, while I tried to quench my thirst with some hot water. This is feeling very awful.
Elections were on in the state so we had to take a few to detours to reach Pondicherry, one of these detours us led to NH22 another huge lovely stretch of road. I maxed out at 127 kmph on this road… I can’t help thinking the best way to slow life down is to go fast.
Ponidcherry is still 80km away, and the sinking sun is now behind us. And the weather is pleasant again; there is a golden hue to evening which has a balmy effect on the sun burnt world it shines on.
5:15 in the evening, Day One - Pondicherry. We spent a good amount of time in locating the hotel. The first thing that struck me about Pondicherry aside from humidity is the lack for order on the streets. There seems to be virtually no traffic rules in Pondicherry, its really chaotic, there is more chance of ramming into someone in Pondicherry than getting there.
We navigated our way through the chaotic traffic and the meandering weekend masses that have engulfed the entire road. The hotel, Ram Guest on MG Road, is a welcome sight, it has nice rustic feel to it. You are greeted by the warm wooden pillar of the porch and the cool red ochre interiors. The blokes in the car had already reached the hotel. The AC in the room is on full blast. We showered, felt good and headed out to explore the town.
Pondicherry – the birth and – the death place for the French aspirations of an Indian Colony. The French influence is obvious in the architecture and the names for most roads. The amalgam of the two cultures vying for a comfortable harmony is evident. Promenade Road is a 1.5 km long the beach front road. There is no virtually shore on this stretch, but the sight of the ocean crashing into the rocks and the salty breeze is refreshing. We walked along this stretch of road had some ice cream. The Gandhi stature surrounded by six exquisitely carved pillars is a sight, marred by all the kids and local folk clambering up on it. There is also the French Governor Dupleix, a war memorial erected by the French and you can also spot the lighthouse from here. Dinner was at quaint French Restaurant called the Le Club. This brought to end day one, now for some well deserved rest.
9:00 morning day two. Bonjour, rise and shine. Modhu and Ganrao we already up and went to consult an Enfield mechanic about Modhu’s clunky engine. It turns out the piston rings on the Goddess were broken. The mechanic assured Modhu’s that this wasn’t a cause for concern and he could get back to Bangalore, just top her up with some more engine oil. Modhu’s being a new bike was still under warranty.
We headed out to get some breakfast, it turns out there is just one decent restaurant on the entire stretch of MG Road, Pondicherry. And that too turned out to be a ramshackle place. We then went to Dominius Dei, a church. The Manakula Vinayaka temple which was awfully crowded and we didn’t go inside; Aurobindo Ashram and followed it up with Auroville which is about 10 km from Pondicherry. We only reached Auroville by 1:00 pm and the MatriMandir noted for its unique meditation hall was closed to public by 12:30 pm so it was all for nothing. But it was really peaceful at Auroville , we walked around and rested there. We brought a few things from the souvenir shop and headed back.
As we headed back from Pondicherry we stopped at another Auroville souvenir shop while we were there I lost my bike key and scourged for it only find it tucked away safely in my wallet. Duh!!! That was that, we then headed out for some lunch at a beach side restaurant. I had developed a bad headache for all the riding in the sun with no protection for my head. I napped here while we waited for food to arrive. Lunch was downed with a couple of beers and fresh lime soda for me. I still can't to get accustomed to the taste of beer, everyone around me seems to love it, ugh... that stuff so sucks. Lunch took us till about 4:30 pm. We then headed to the beach behind the restaurant and crashed into the waves. The beach wasn’t very crowded and the water was great esp., after a day like this one. We had fun at the beach. Enjoyed the sunset which always is a really nice soothing sight.
We got back to the hotel after taking a couple of wrong turns and getting separated in the hopeless and order less Pondi Traffic at around 7:30. Showered to get all the sand off and headed out for dinner. Most guys wanted to get back the next day. I was off till Wednesday but the majority was in favor of getting back and Modhu’s Goddess had a clunky engine so in this light we decided to head home the next day. Dinner was at Le Terreca. The walk in the nice evening breeze and a couple of aspirins helped rid me of the terrible headache.
5:30 morning day three, Modhu arrives all ready and set to while we’re still in bed. We scamper and get our stuff together and get ready as fast we could. And we are finally set to go at 6:30 am. The aim here is to beat the sun and make it to Thiruvannamalai as fast as possible. Enroute we stopped at Gingee, which has collection of forts built amdist three hills and other monuments of historic significance. These forts have been built and expanded over a period of three decades. As with most historic monuments in our country this too is suffering from neglect. There is no guide or tourist information of any kind, except for signboard. The fort itself lies neglected, some occupied by drifters and “sages”. Tis a pity that the government has turned a blind eye to a monument of such splendor and significance. This place has every potential of being a great tourist spot. Anyways, we spent some time at Gingee Fort and marveled at the effort that has gone into its making. The sun was growing stronger, as we left Gingee, I wished we had more time to explore the forts more thoroughly, I hope to return to do that someday.
We rode on towards Thiruvannamalai and made it in good time; we had breakfast there and rode on. At the first rest stop for this stretch Modhu generously offered me his bike, now who in their sane senses would say no to a “Goddess”. The Royal Enfield is considered to epitomize stability, reliability and comfort. This trip is only testimonial to that fact the Goddess got us to Pondi and back despite a broken set of piston rings, at a pretty nippy pace too. She is rock solid on the road and around the corners, sounds fabulous and draws a lot of look at that beatuy looks. This silhouette of the goddess is evidence to that fact.
Enroute to Krishnagiri this brilliant blast of colour greeted me...
Krishnagiri Toll Gate, another pit stop, where we swapped back to our own bikes. No offence to my bike but the “Goddess” is one amazing bike. Enfield - ride one and you’ll want one. We contemplated as to whether we should ride on to Bangalore or stop for lunch and decided for the latter. Being back on NH7 again, was exhilarating, and that we were homeward bound made it even better. A one point on NH7, I was doing about a 110 and engine just died on me, thankfully Modhu was just ahead of me and me pulled over too. I checked fuel, oil etc., everything seemed in order but she still wouldn’t start. 80 km from Bangalore and this, I shook the bike around a bit, hoping to free any deposits in the tank. And tried firing her again and there you go, she came alive first kick. I’m still not sure what the issue, but she sure didn’t let me down. I really love my bike(s) and now Virgil has all my trust too. We had lunch at a Reliance Petrol Station and it was surprisingly pretty decent. We could do with more of these kind. This was to be our last pitstop for the trip.
Back on to NH7 and towards Bangalore, I maxed a couple of times but never too long to hurt my bike. And before you knew it Hosur was jus 10 km away, and soon it was more traffic and Bangalore. Bangalore wasn’t any cooler that the stretch we were on, but boy was I glad to be back.
So here we were 720 km in three days, a hot and humid Pondicherry, a bad tan that’ll take me months to get off. You would be inclined to ask so was it worth it, what did you gain from it all. I’d say you bet it was, the reward of this trip lies not in the destination, which was only an excuse, it lies in the doing of it. The reward for me is just in getting to Pondicherry and back, a ride along these long roads, time off from time itself. Would I do it again, you I would but I really cannot afford another tan so this summer. And cheerio you guys thanks for a great time esp., to the fellow bikers.
More pics on my flickr page
6:00 in the morning, day one, I’ve been looking forward to this trip since ages, and it finally happened. I’m so excited I can’t seem to stand still for a minute. I’m up at around 5:30 thanks to mom, I gear up my bike and head to out rendezvous point at Silk Board Junction, Hosur Road. Modhu and his bike are already there. This is the first time I’m meeting Modhu’s bike and boy is she a beauty. Decked in an almost black shade of green, complete with a generous helping of gleaming chrome and a splash of silver on the tank, she looks an image of a “Goddess”. I can't help feeling awed by her. So do passersby who’re wondering what we two up to, with our gorgeous bikes, complete with saddlebags ‘et al.
Naveen and Ganesh Rao or Ganrao for short soon join us. Ganrao is astride his black P150. My all black P180 draws a few appreciative remarks; this line of conversation leads to us, christening our bikes for the trip, the “Goddess” Modhu’s Royal Enfield Bullet, “Temptress” my pure evil all black Pulsar 180, for the record mine’s already called “Virgil”. And Ganrao’s Black Pulsar 150, “Adulteress” (please don’t ask me why). We wait for the guys in the car to join us, for reasons ranging from valid to down right silly the others are now in a car. The traffic on Hosur road is steadily increasing, it is now 7:15, we’re wondering where these old blokes are. The guys finally arrive; we greet each other and finally head off at around 7:30. Harsha joins Modhu as pillion. Harsha for the record couldn’t join us on his bike as his insurance couldn’t be sorted out in time.
So it’s eight guys Modhu, Harsha, Ganesh Rao, Naveen, Kishore, Chandresha, Prasad and myself. Modhu, Harsha, Ganesh Rao and myself on three bikes and the others are in a car. We navigate our way through the sea of traffic and make it past Hosur to be greeted by the gorgeous NH7, boy what a sight this road is. Ganrao and Modhu open up the throttle and head off into the distance, I think it’s too early to pushing my beauty and do a steady 70-80 kmph. I soon lose sight of the Goddess and Adulteress and am riding by myself on this lovely stretch of road.
The faster I go, the more life around me becomes a blur. Images shoot past me, of the memories of a distant past, the happenings of a recent past, of dark clouds, the tormenting rain and of course the present and the now. For most part of the trip I’m riding alone, and for its most part I’m drawn into this kaleidoscopic alternate thought plane that is disturbing, involving and exhilarating. All the same time. It’s an experience that is unlike anything before. I love this high.
My subconscious is disturbed by the vibrating alert of my cell phone. Harsha is calling. I was so drawn into my parallel universe I’ve shot past Modhu, Harsha and Ganrao, who’ve stopped for breakfast and headed far beyond them. I mumble a few expletives for my own doing and turn around and ride back. I see Harsha on my side of the road waving me down, I acknowledge him and make my way to the restaurant. The guys in the car haven’t arrived. Not being the last one to arrive brings me a strange sense of relief. 8:45, this is the first of our many pit stops to follow.
After the last incident we decide to keep each other in sight and head off towards Krishangiri, Kempi (Prasad) has joined me as pillion. We’re both appreciative of the NH7, who wouldn’t. The traffic is sparse and we’re doing decent pace. We shoot past each other a couple of time; I’m bringing up the back of the pack most of the time. Kempi takes a few shots of us on the road. The sun grows stronger, I stop to dab on more sunscreen (which didn’t really help, if it did, I shudder to imagine what it would’ve been like without it). We experienced the wrath of the Indian summer, the whole nine yards of it.
We were waved past at the tollgate at Krishnagiri, which is huge and orderly, guess these lover bikers, no toll for us. Just beyond the tollgate, we found Modhu had stopped his bike; the Goddess had developed a weird clunking noise in the engine. The engine note didn’t sound too comforting but we’ve heard it on many an Enfield so we carried on. The roads beyond the Krishnagiri tollgate forks, we took the bypass to Thiruvannamalai. This road goes through many small villages and townships. The tarmac is very patchy with cavernous potholes appearing out of nowhere. I had some sense knocked into my head when I was taking a sharp right turn at around 80kmph at a point where the whole road seemed to be sucked into a giant crater. Kempi’s heart must have skipped a beat or two. Mine skipped many. Deciding not to brake I increased the throttle and flew over a few of ‘em, but I caught one huge one that knocked into my silencer. Following that I decided there is no point in risking it just to keep pace with the Goddess who was flying despite her clunking engine.
Riding on, I caught up with Ganrao who had stopped at a shady spot to take a few shots of the green fields. We rested there, I did a cursory check on my bike, and she seemed to have come off okay from that potentially disastrous incident. Ganrao and I decided to take it easy from then on and cruised along at 60-70 kmph. This stretch of road has a lot of tree cover and is quite pleasant to ride on, discounting ofcourse it patchy nature. Going further we found Modhu who had stopped at a roadside to savor some “Thatininngu”. I have no clue what it’s called in English. These are soft fleshy coconut like with a sweetish liquid inside their soft bodies; they are the size of a kiwi fruit, three of them in a hard purple shell. Damn, I should have taken a picture of it. It was refreshing to say the least. The sun by now was hitting down on us hard.
We moved on to surprisingly catch up with the car gang, the car had suffered a puncture and its tire was being changed. We were glad for this pitstop after that sweltering heat, got some “high-energy” fluids from the car gang, dabbed on more debatable sunscreen lotion and headed on toward Thiruvannamalai. I was running low on fuel and refueled on this stretch. We reached Thiruvannamalai at around 1:30. Thiruvannamalai greets you with this mammoth temple, the whole town seems to be built around it . This is a rather popular temple of some deity, sorry I've no clue. We had no intention of visiting it and it seemed to be closed too, so, well that settles it.
Lunch done with we were off again towards “Thindivanam”. This stretch of road at this time of the day is a road in hell. There is absolutely no tree cover and the sun was being very cruel on us, it was feeling very baked and sweaty. The heat rising from the road and the hot air blowing against my face is distorting all my senses. This feeling is sickening esp., after a meal and the drowsy effect it so sucks.
Modhu got pulled over by the Highway Patrol. Me and Ganarao thankfully “escaped” this unsavory character. Modhu soon shot past us and pulled over at a shady spot. We rested our machines and cooled our over baked bodies. Modhu napped on a haystack in an adjoining field, while I tried to quench my thirst with some hot water. This is feeling very awful.
Elections were on in the state so we had to take a few to detours to reach Pondicherry, one of these detours us led to NH22 another huge lovely stretch of road. I maxed out at 127 kmph on this road… I can’t help thinking the best way to slow life down is to go fast.
Ponidcherry is still 80km away, and the sinking sun is now behind us. And the weather is pleasant again; there is a golden hue to evening which has a balmy effect on the sun burnt world it shines on.
5:15 in the evening, Day One - Pondicherry. We spent a good amount of time in locating the hotel. The first thing that struck me about Pondicherry aside from humidity is the lack for order on the streets. There seems to be virtually no traffic rules in Pondicherry, its really chaotic, there is more chance of ramming into someone in Pondicherry than getting there.
We navigated our way through the chaotic traffic and the meandering weekend masses that have engulfed the entire road. The hotel, Ram Guest on MG Road, is a welcome sight, it has nice rustic feel to it. You are greeted by the warm wooden pillar of the porch and the cool red ochre interiors. The blokes in the car had already reached the hotel. The AC in the room is on full blast. We showered, felt good and headed out to explore the town.
Pondicherry – the birth and – the death place for the French aspirations of an Indian Colony. The French influence is obvious in the architecture and the names for most roads. The amalgam of the two cultures vying for a comfortable harmony is evident. Promenade Road is a 1.5 km long the beach front road. There is no virtually shore on this stretch, but the sight of the ocean crashing into the rocks and the salty breeze is refreshing. We walked along this stretch of road had some ice cream. The Gandhi stature surrounded by six exquisitely carved pillars is a sight, marred by all the kids and local folk clambering up on it. There is also the French Governor Dupleix, a war memorial erected by the French and you can also spot the lighthouse from here. Dinner was at quaint French Restaurant called the Le Club. This brought to end day one, now for some well deserved rest.
9:00 morning day two. Bonjour, rise and shine. Modhu and Ganrao we already up and went to consult an Enfield mechanic about Modhu’s clunky engine. It turns out the piston rings on the Goddess were broken. The mechanic assured Modhu’s that this wasn’t a cause for concern and he could get back to Bangalore, just top her up with some more engine oil. Modhu’s being a new bike was still under warranty.
We headed out to get some breakfast, it turns out there is just one decent restaurant on the entire stretch of MG Road, Pondicherry. And that too turned out to be a ramshackle place. We then went to Dominius Dei, a church. The Manakula Vinayaka temple which was awfully crowded and we didn’t go inside; Aurobindo Ashram and followed it up with Auroville which is about 10 km from Pondicherry. We only reached Auroville by 1:00 pm and the MatriMandir noted for its unique meditation hall was closed to public by 12:30 pm so it was all for nothing. But it was really peaceful at Auroville , we walked around and rested there. We brought a few things from the souvenir shop and headed back.
As we headed back from Pondicherry we stopped at another Auroville souvenir shop while we were there I lost my bike key and scourged for it only find it tucked away safely in my wallet. Duh!!! That was that, we then headed out for some lunch at a beach side restaurant. I had developed a bad headache for all the riding in the sun with no protection for my head. I napped here while we waited for food to arrive. Lunch was downed with a couple of beers and fresh lime soda for me. I still can't to get accustomed to the taste of beer, everyone around me seems to love it, ugh... that stuff so sucks. Lunch took us till about 4:30 pm. We then headed to the beach behind the restaurant and crashed into the waves. The beach wasn’t very crowded and the water was great esp., after a day like this one. We had fun at the beach. Enjoyed the sunset which always is a really nice soothing sight.
We got back to the hotel after taking a couple of wrong turns and getting separated in the hopeless and order less Pondi Traffic at around 7:30. Showered to get all the sand off and headed out for dinner. Most guys wanted to get back the next day. I was off till Wednesday but the majority was in favor of getting back and Modhu’s Goddess had a clunky engine so in this light we decided to head home the next day. Dinner was at Le Terreca. The walk in the nice evening breeze and a couple of aspirins helped rid me of the terrible headache.
5:30 morning day three, Modhu arrives all ready and set to while we’re still in bed. We scamper and get our stuff together and get ready as fast we could. And we are finally set to go at 6:30 am. The aim here is to beat the sun and make it to Thiruvannamalai as fast as possible. Enroute we stopped at Gingee, which has collection of forts built amdist three hills and other monuments of historic significance. These forts have been built and expanded over a period of three decades. As with most historic monuments in our country this too is suffering from neglect. There is no guide or tourist information of any kind, except for signboard. The fort itself lies neglected, some occupied by drifters and “sages”. Tis a pity that the government has turned a blind eye to a monument of such splendor and significance. This place has every potential of being a great tourist spot. Anyways, we spent some time at Gingee Fort and marveled at the effort that has gone into its making. The sun was growing stronger, as we left Gingee, I wished we had more time to explore the forts more thoroughly, I hope to return to do that someday.
We rode on towards Thiruvannamalai and made it in good time; we had breakfast there and rode on. At the first rest stop for this stretch Modhu generously offered me his bike, now who in their sane senses would say no to a “Goddess”. The Royal Enfield is considered to epitomize stability, reliability and comfort. This trip is only testimonial to that fact the Goddess got us to Pondi and back despite a broken set of piston rings, at a pretty nippy pace too. She is rock solid on the road and around the corners, sounds fabulous and draws a lot of look at that beatuy looks. This silhouette of the goddess is evidence to that fact.
Enroute to Krishnagiri this brilliant blast of colour greeted me...
Krishnagiri Toll Gate, another pit stop, where we swapped back to our own bikes. No offence to my bike but the “Goddess” is one amazing bike. Enfield - ride one and you’ll want one. We contemplated as to whether we should ride on to Bangalore or stop for lunch and decided for the latter. Being back on NH7 again, was exhilarating, and that we were homeward bound made it even better. A one point on NH7, I was doing about a 110 and engine just died on me, thankfully Modhu was just ahead of me and me pulled over too. I checked fuel, oil etc., everything seemed in order but she still wouldn’t start. 80 km from Bangalore and this, I shook the bike around a bit, hoping to free any deposits in the tank. And tried firing her again and there you go, she came alive first kick. I’m still not sure what the issue, but she sure didn’t let me down. I really love my bike(s) and now Virgil has all my trust too. We had lunch at a Reliance Petrol Station and it was surprisingly pretty decent. We could do with more of these kind. This was to be our last pitstop for the trip.
Back on to NH7 and towards Bangalore, I maxed a couple of times but never too long to hurt my bike. And before you knew it Hosur was jus 10 km away, and soon it was more traffic and Bangalore. Bangalore wasn’t any cooler that the stretch we were on, but boy was I glad to be back.
So here we were 720 km in three days, a hot and humid Pondicherry, a bad tan that’ll take me months to get off. You would be inclined to ask so was it worth it, what did you gain from it all. I’d say you bet it was, the reward of this trip lies not in the destination, which was only an excuse, it lies in the doing of it. The reward for me is just in getting to Pondicherry and back, a ride along these long roads, time off from time itself. Would I do it again, you I would but I really cannot afford another tan so this summer. And cheerio you guys thanks for a great time esp., to the fellow bikers.
More pics on my flickr page
