Lakshadweep : A Paradise On Earth

Sun kissed beaches lined up with white sand, turquoise shaded transparent sea water, minimal human interference and activity.... if this doesnt qualify for my version of a paradise then I dont know what does. The only thing missing are the female species for us to admire at and that is one point where Goa scores over Lakshadweep, but other than that these group of islands are far ahead from any competition. (Havnt been to Andaman yet :) ).

Lakshadweep islands are a group of 36 coral islands. These islands have recently been opened for travel and also requires permission if travelling on our own. We had gone through "Coral Reef Package" offered by SPORTS (http://www.lakshadweeptourism.com/) which is a 5 day cruise package including 3 days on 3 different islands. There were totally 7 guys for this trip (Shashi, Vineeth, Harish M , Jenny, Shantu, PPR and myself)


Day 1 (25/11/2010)
Departure From Home Port

We landed in Ernakulam junction at around 5 am after taking the overnight Kochuveli Express. With nearly 3.5 hrs more to kill and slight drizzle outside we decided to spend some time in the station some catching up with sleep, some with current affairs and some catching up with nothing :). This light drizzle was a grim reminder of the weather prediction giving an "occassional thunderstorm"  filled rains in Lakshadweep for all the 5 days :(. After having our breakfast we decided to move towards Lakshadweep office in Willingdon Island, which is just 30 minutes drive away from the station. After bargaining with a lot of autos one autowaala agreed to take 7 of us in one single auto + luggage :P.... packed to the brim :D. As we entered this port island it was more or less desolate with strict security and CISF personnel guarding all the entrances. Landed in front of Lakshadweep office at around 7.30 am with no one in sight. Finally one person came and told us to wait till 9 am when the officials will arrive.

A Warehouse At the harbour

So in order to kill time we decided to roam around. And roam around we did ,  to such an extent that we even got confused with the route back to the office. At 8.45,  we again tried our luck and officials had already arrived. These officials were very courteous and friendly unlike one would expect of a Govt babu. Were provided with our tickets and complementary "Lakshadweep" t-shirts and caps. Were led into another location where our bags were x-rayed for anything illegal (drinking in strictly prohibited in the islands).

Our Ride

Vineeth chatted with Tom a Lithuvanian who was travelling alone across India. For the next 2 days he was more or less a part of our group until he reached his destination of 6 days at Kadamath.These westerners don't have a policy of saving for the future. In his own words "I travel as soon as I have enough money and make it poof " :P... cool :).

Chinese Fishing Nets

After this were taken to the docks in a bus, dont know why they take people to 3 different places. Its like in airport where ticket counters, security check and boarding are 1km apart. As soon as we entered the docks we could see the gleaming white beauty "M.V Lakshadweep Sea", a brand new(25 days old)  medium sized cruise ship and our home for the next 5 days. We were led into the ship and to our bunkers. The bunkers  The interiors were clean and the facilities were awesome. Dont know whether the same applies for much older ships or not. The total number of tourists in our ship came around to 30 with the majority of  them mumbaikar's working for Voltas.

Double Exhausts

Even though many of us boarded the ship at around 10.30 am , the ship only started the journey at around 4 pm. This left as nearly 5 hrs to roam the ship entering into crew only zone , getting scolded by the captain (only shashi got in this case :P). We explored every nook and corner of the ship we could find and not that we did that intentionally. The passageways were so confusing that within no time we would be lost and roaming aimlessly here and there :P. A perfect maze in the middle of the sea :P.

Sunset In the Open Sea

Were served lunch at around 1 pm. As a matter of fact the same ship is used by both the tourists and the localites and they even share the same bunk spaces and canteen. The only difference is that the canteens have different timings for both the tourists and the passengers. Finally at around 4 pm the ship started. We had a lot of dolphin sightings at the mouth of the port and unfortunately couldn't capture any(was able to capture while returning :) ). Spent time either by watching the endless seas from our hangout spot (a spot below the control room) or by playing games such as dumb-charades, UNO etc. Matter of fact is there is no other entertainment provided on board. Everyone is left to fend for their own.

Night On the Deck

Day 2 (26/11/2010)
Port Of Call : Kadamat

First Rays Of The Sun

Got up very early nearly at 5.45 am to catch the sunset. The same process is repeated in the quest of a perfect sunrise and sunset in the middle of the ocean and we were disappointed with this regard for the entire duration of the cruise.  When we came to deck it was total darkness .. but in that darkness we could see the lighthouse of Kadamat giving a friendly invitation that our first stopover was just few moments away

After having our breakfast and other stuff (morning ablutions in a rocking ship :P ) we were ready for the island. The ship had stopped at a very far distance from the shore and we had to rely on smaller fishing boats to transport us to the islands.The reason for this is the islands are surrounded by very shallow lagoons. But sadly it had started to rain :(. So we were made to wait for the an hour or so. After some time the rain subsidized becoz it knew that rain or no rain we were going to enjoy in the islands , but the only hindrance was boats which didnt operate in bad weather.

Soon all of us boarded a fishing boat and off we moved towards Kadamat island. As we moved closer towards the island the shade of the water slowly started to change to emerald green and became more and more transparent.Transparency to such an extent that we could see the ocean floor. Sea water of this shade and that too almost transparent is a phenomenon most of us had never witnessed before. So naturally we were excited.

Reached the island and we were welcomed by coconut water. It was still drizzling a bit , but not paying much heed we hit the beach. The beach was totally desolate and pristine. White colored pure sand, untouched. Was simply beautiful.... 2 eyes were not enough to grasp the beauty of this place place. Also since the lagoons were isolated from the main ocean the water was calm and waveless and was teaming with aquatic live forms.

The Docking Point

Colourful Inhabitant

Initially we were given life jackets and spent time playing water volleyball and some illegal games like chasing each other in water and hitting with the same ball :P.... After this the instructors came and took us to snorkeling sessions. By this time the sun was out and shinning with full glory, After giving the initial introduction the instructor led guys handheld one by one into the waters. When my turn came donned the glasses and the breathing apparatus. Even though i know swimming to some extent , snorkelling in these clear water is an awesome experience. Visibility is never an issue. Got to see various number of fishes and one very colourful fish (having some 15 different shades :) ). But this session lasted only for about 15 mins and we were not satisfied with it.

Once snorkelling was done there was an urge in me to do my favourite pastime in beaches......i.e. running along the beaches.... and how could I miss the oppurtunity in such beautiful settings and also convinced others to do the same so as to not to look like a sole lunatic :P.

After this we went for kayaking. This was very relaxing and fun at the same time. Kayaked to our hearts content and returned back. At this time some people were readying themselves for a scuba dive. So we too had an urge to do it. So we went to the "Laccadive Dive Centre". Were greated by 2 good looking women. They informed that for beginners there was only a lagoon dive for depth upto 2 m , lasts for 20 mins and costing 2.5 k and we would be handheld by dive experts. Somehow we didnt feel this was worth it... 2 m depth is not scuba diving in our dictionary :P. (Best option would be to do a 4 day open water scuba diving course and be certified)

North Point

Returned back , had lunch followed by a game of volleyball. This was one game in which I didnt have much exposure so initially the ball moved in random directions which no one could predict :P. After this we were taken to sight seeing. This sight seeing to various factories in the island was something very boring and least looked forward during the next 3 days. We were taken to a coir factory, coconut packaging factory and finally to the north tip of the island, which offered good views. After spending some time we returned back to the resort to have our evening tea and return back to the ship.

While deboarding the ship in the morning we were told to leave all our luggage in the bunkers which didnt have any sort of locks. So when we returned back noticed that my brand new sandals was missing :(. Not just me others baggage too seemed to have roughened up and we had missing things like chargers, deodarants and even some laddoos :P. When we complained to the ship crew they were clueless and they told us to keep our luggage in their compartments from the next day. If at all there has to be a low point in this trip this does qualify.  After this freshened up and went to our favourite hangout spot and started singing like drunk maniacs. Also learned a new game "Poker", which we played using cards as fake currency. Even then had so much fun. Gambling is surely addicting :P.

Sunset

Day 3 (27/11/2010)
Port Of Call : Kalpeni 

As with the previous day,  today too we were greated with rains in the morning. But today we were quite optimistic since the previous day the clouds had clreared up as soon as we landed in the islands. As we landed on hard ground we were taken in pickup trucks to the SPORTS resort. As promised the views in Kalpeni is quite different from those in Kadamat. So many small islands filled with coconut trees dotting our line of sight. This greatly reminds me of the famous default wallpaper provided in windows xp :P.

Gurgleeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!

After having the compulsary welcome drink we were taken to one such desolate island. Here the activities offered were snorkeling and kayaking. Since we were  itching for more snorkeling action, within no time we doned the snorkelling gear and were into water. This time we were left unassisted and we could explore on our own and in any direction we wanted in this shallow lagoon. There were so many lively fishes in these waters.. blue , green, black, yellow, grey, zebra strips, etc etc and swimming along with these fishes was an awesome experience. The corals were not that colorful as I had expected, but they were compensated by the fishes residing within them.

As we approached near the fishes they would run helter-skelter to find the nearest shelter and if we swam over these corals we could see nearly 10-15 fishes poking their head to check whether the coast is clear.... this scene was simply memorable. Other than fishes I came across eels, water snakes (dint linger around them much) and finally a clam locally known as Kaaka. It had dark and light blue stripes on it and it was around 15 cm radius. Initially didnt know what it was and only one localite was near to me. So asked him what it was , he just told that it was known as Kaaka locally and took one small stone and kept on the clam ...... and to my shock and surprise the clam closed its mouth... simply felt whoahhhhh..... the high point of the Lakshadweep trip :P. But later when we searched for it couldnt locate it much to others disappointment. Looked like these images.... clam1image and clam2image. After snorkeling to our hearts content we were called back to the coast and taken to the resort in the main island.

Folk Dance

Kalpeni Lighthouse

Had another session of  beach volleyball. Lunch was followed by a folk dance by locals. These group of locals comprised of men right from teens to late 70's ..... 3 generations of localites :). The folk dance was quite interesting , even though it had its highs and lows and some other unnamed people where having their afternoon snoozes :P.

View From The Top

Spiral Staircase

Folk dance was followed by local sight seeing ...yawn... some more factories... this time khadi and baniyan factory...but after that we were taken to the Kalpeni light house... which offers some breathtaking views of the islands from the top. Every inch of the island is covered by coconut grooves..... From this lighthouse were taken to the northmost point. The shores here is dotted with dead corals for a long long distance. A different view altogether.




Again returned back to the resort and took a boat back to the our waiting mother ship. Overall we enjoyed this island the most. Strikes a balance between views and activities available to tourists. Again night was spent playing cards. Since day 1 we had started using a place near a stair case for our playing purpose. After seeing us use this place there was huge demand to use it and constant competition between us and the voltas guys to reserve this place :P.

Northern Point

Day 4 (28/11/2010)
Port Of Call : Kavaratti 

Today we had a stopover at Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep. As expected this island was much bigger in dimension and the population density to match it. Not as desolate as the previous 2 islands. As usual were greeted by morning rains. Landed in the capital island. Were joined by some 10 tourists of  M V Arabian Sea which was also anchored in this island. Some good looking girls were also present among them. So we were positioning ourserlves to get good views.... a group of despo guys :P.

The Flying Ganiga

The initial part of the day everyone was just relaxing we decided to do some stunts and entertain the others :D. Everyone did their best to look awesome in a capture... but the major accolades was garnered by shashi.. the "flying ganiga" doing a somersault . After this we played some football until our feet were paining and some other games. By this time the organizers had started to take people for glass bottom boat rides in batches which lasted for nearly an hour or so for each batch. 

Kayaking

Also we went inquiring about scuba diving , but the Dolphin Dive Centre guys told that the compressor was not working.... which was the final nail in the scuba diving chapter. And were also informed that there was some malfunction in the glass bottom boat which had gone out and that it would take some time for our turn... so we decided to do some mind calming kayaking in the open sea. This time I got a solo kayak unlike the previous time and this was way too unstable..... one small wave and it almost tips to one side :P....We rowed and rowed towards the deep sea and occasionally stopping to enjoy the calmness

Found Nemo: Clown Fish.. Sadly they didn tell us a joke :D

By this time the glass bottom boat returned and it was our turn in it... all of us got into it..... slowly the marine life became alive from this boat... so many colorful fishes.... the advantage of this ride over snorkeling is that u can actually take pictures from a normal camera. (had searched like hell for single use underwater camera in Bangalore and had even called Kodak head-office :P ). Also finally got my wish of seeing orange colored clown fishes... ala Nemo :P.... Also the boat took us to the boundary where the shallow lagoon ended and the deep sea started..... at this point there was blue everywhere... and so many schools of fishes had made their home right here. Another highlight of this boat ride are turtles... i could manage to see only one while others managed to see as many as 3.

 

Lunch followed this and after this relaxed an hour or so in the beaches. Where again taken to island sight seeing... this time it was desalination plant, an aquarium and a ride through the island. The fossil section of the aquarium was quite interesting..... it was here I came to know the clam was called as clam :P. Were taken to a part of the island where a huge cargo ship had drifted too near to the island and had got stuck in the corals beds. After this we returned back to our resort and there was another folk dance presentation by local kids.

A dotting mother checking out her daughters performance

After the folk dance we were told to return back we decided to get Shantu all wet... but in the process we too decided to have one last adios dip in the Lakshadweep sea. Dripping water we returned back to ship with many people staring at us for the entire length :P. Thus we were leaving these beautiful islands far behind. The only thing remaining for this trip was the return journey back home.

Day 5 (29/11/2010)
Back To Base 

Were woken up in the morning for a spectacular sunrise... but sadly missed the perfect thing by a few seconds. Nevertheless the sunrise was pretty spectacular. Today was the last day of the trip... so everyone was feeling a bit down. The ship finally reached the Kochi port at around 10 am and this time was able to capture some dolphins in action.

Dolphins

We were earlier informed that after docking it takes nearly an hour or so to exit the ship... hence we started playing card in our bunks.... but after some time it occurred to us that the entire ship was deserted... :P.... so quickly we came out and saw that everyone had already left we were the last people leaving the ship... thank god they didnt lock up the ship :D.

As I landed on the ground started to get wobbly feeling. This phenomenon I had never heard of... Heard about sea sickness but never land sickness....but this does occur usually in first time cruise passengers and I was the only one affected in our group. This sickness lasted for some 3 days with the first 2 days being the worst. The reason for this was the inner ear was accustomed to the rocking of the ship... but after landing on firm ground it has a hard time reverting back to older setting.

St Francis Church

Vasca Da Gama's Temporary Resting Place

In Kochi we still had some 6 hrs to kill so we decided to do some sight seeing. We directly went to Fort Kochi from the Willingdon island and our first stop was the St. Francis Church built in the 16 th century. Also Vasco Da Gama's body was kept in this church before being moved to Portugal. Some 300 m away is the Santa Cruz Basilica, which is a lot more colorful in the interiors. Had our lunch in an nearby restaurant which lasted for a good 2 hrs. With some more time we decided to visit the Jewish Synagogue which is some 4 kms from this place. Finally it was time to take the bus back to Bangalore. Went to the KSRTC bus stand and took the 5.45 pm bus. But to our bad luck it had a puncture even before leaving the stand and hence the departure was delayed to 6.30 pm resulting in half day leave in office the next day :(.

Santa Cruz Basilica

This cruise was in short a totally different experience. Surrounded by seas in all the directions, our bunkers, the islands it was a good relaxing trip. But one thing dawned on me... India is so big and so diverse it surely requires a lifetime to be able to say that one has really visited the entire country. Got to explore our country more before I start thinking anything out of it :P.


Total Cost (Per Head including cruise, food, activities, transport etc) ------ > 14K (13K for the cruise including the tax and the agent commission)

Cruise Package Details ----->
 http://www.lakshadweeptourism.com/tourpackages.html
Agent List --->
http://www.lakshadweeptourism.com/agents.html

Snaps ->

http://picasaweb.google.com/unithinbhat/LakshadweepCruise#

http://picasaweb.google.com/ppr.bms/Lakshadweep

http://picasaweb.google.com/shashidharvg/Lakshadweep

A Road Less Travelled

 I shall be telling this with a sigh

 Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

That is a part of the poem written by Robert Frost and totally appropriate for so many day to day scenarios happening in my life. Why is that people including me always want to travel via the well threaded path, not taking a path in life which is not even minutely uncomfortable. Is it the fear of complete failure that drives people not to take risk with these paths or because of sheer laziness.

Human mind is one of those medical marvels and we are still clueless as how it works, but there is one thing I understood. Challenges keeps the mind fresh and in top shape. Even if the mind opposes any challenges (as with the majority of the human population.. :P ) , having a goal in life is very important, else the mind becomes dormant and in the end what we get is a completely disgruntled personality who complains about everything in his life. Hence the problem lies within, not in the world around us, we have to take charge of our life instead of "going with the flow" attitude.

After working nearly 3+ years in the software industry when I look back I dont feel I did anything worthwhile. Which was not the case before that. When in school my aim (at least subconsciously :) )was to get good percentage and a good education. After that came PU education where the goal was to  secure a seat in a good college and with my preferred branch. In engineering college the goal was to get placed in an awesome tech company. Everything was fine until then. Even though it was hard, I was satisfied.  But when the professional career began the illusion which I had in my childhood regarding a working person shattered. All the goals went down the drain. I used to think that working people are so cool, no worries, just work maadi and get money in tons. Its true that life becomes a lot more comfortable with money and time. But I couldnt figure out the frustration and irritation one is made to undergo during the professional career. Now I have come to the conclusion that the days back then were much better than the soup we are in right now.

Some time back I came across an article about "Quarter Life Crisis". And if you compare with what I have told above with the symptoms of the crisis there is as striking similarity. With all probability I might be suffering from that, but not to a serious extent. And not just me, there is lot of  frustration in this age group. Some live with it, some focus their attention away from it (like how I was doing so far) and some face it head on.

Finally after nearly 1 year of scratching my head I have come to the conclusion to have goals at any point of my life. The goals might be with respect to professional career or on the personal front. Can be either long termed or short termed. "Travel frequently on the less threaded path , if not always" will henceforth be my  motto.Goals which I will be proud to achieve and make me feel that my life on this planet was not totally worthless :).

Ondhu Masala Movie

Recently me and my brother gave a drama performance at our sisters wedding. Script written jointly by us.... Ondhu Masala Movie... it had all the elements of a masala movie... fights, dance , dialogues and twists :P.... It was so much fun practicing and giving a performance in front of live audience, in spite of blunders in dancing and forgetting the dialogue :P.

Dedicated to Megha and Guru , Wishing you guys a great married life :)

P.S. -> Dialogues in Kannada

The Bangs & The Booms Of Deepavali

Bang Bang Bang
Bang Bang Zamaana Bole
Boom Boom Boom
Boom Boom Deewaana Bole

This is a song from a Salman Khan movie and during the Deepavali festival I was humming it every time there was an ear splitting explosion , and no need to further specify the intensity with which these things happen during the festival. It has been nearly 11 years since I renounced firing crackers and promote for a safe and green Deepavali. Not that I was thinking about the environment back then and it was more of my lack of interest in firing the same stuff year after year.. again and again. But whenever anyone asks I always tell its for the environment and it appears so much elegant :P.


You really have to be a bystander to actually absorb the intensity with which these crackers explode. Really gives a big headache. And these things didnt figure out in my list of things when I was playing with them long back. Just overlooking their imperfections. The day after deepavali is usually a sorry state to witness.... million bits of papers strewn across the roads, the tinge of gun powder smell in the air. Usually during the Deepavali night a thick layer of smoke engulfs the city during the night, the pollution levels goes for a toss. Also the stuff of child labour being used for the manufacture of the firecrackers makes one sad.



But coming to good side of this festival beautiful fireworks in the night sky, decorating ones house beautifully with traditional oil lamps and last but not the least, the food , the sweets and the festive atmosphere. Hence reinforcing the concept that everything has a good side as well as an ugly side to it. The only thing that matters is how a balance is maintained between them and never letting the bad overtake the good. But the so called tagline of Deepavali is nothing but  "Triumph of the good over evil" ,which in my opinion can never be achieved. But as mentioned Balance is what matters :)

Clicked some snaps on the deepavali night from the terrace . To click them timing is the most important factor, one fraction of a second delay and you miss the shot...... hence didnt get anything spectacular. ;(

Road To Kasaragod

Off late our bike rides are finding very few takers , and considering the number of disastors happening in the last few months one wouldnt blame them. More or less this has not been a good year for biking, with only 3 successful bike trips(including this one) against 7 last year. For this ride to Kasargod too we had a hard time getting the number of bikers to a respectable number, not that the guys are less enthuiastic about biking, various circumstances like being out of the country , not getting the necessary permission from home etc etc. In the end we had 4 guys ready for the bike trip (Manju, Santhosh, Nagesh and Myself) on 3 bikes.

The plan was to go to Kasaragod via Bhagamandala and come back via Hassan completing a circle at reaching Bangalore. I had been to most of the sight seeing places we had planned , since my moms hometown is very close to Kasargod town on the Karnataka-Kerala border, but I had never biked to this place so this was a trip down memory lane for me. An unadulterated biking experience :).

Day 1
29th Oct 2010
Bangalore -> Mysore (130 kms) 

Kengeri

Old habits die hard, and having no further comments we left Bangalore only at around 9 pm a good 3 hours behind schedule. Even after doing this stretch 'n' number of times , riding again in the same conditions and same time of the day doesnt make it less exciting. Met the others at Kengeri and started towards Mysore. The weather was very pleasant, just on the verge of a full fledged winter.  

Had our dinner at the completely desolate Kaadu Mane.... I presume that this hotel is not popular compared to other hotels enroute(Kamats, MTR etc) and the food was ok, nothing much to write about. After taking breaks at regular intervals we finally managed to reach Mysore at 1 am and went directly to Govardhan Hotel (our usual bunking place in Mysore :P ) since we didnt have the patience to search for hotels in this graveyard shift. Got a dormitory type room and we snoozed the night off.

Day 2 

30th Oct 2010

Mysore->Bylakuppe->Madikeri->Bhagamandala->Kasaragod (270kms)

 

Having slept pretty late the previous night we had no chance of leaving early, so taking our own time at getting ready we managed to leave Mysore only at around 9 am. The sun was up in the sky and at regular intervals there was cloudy periods the entire day which is really a blessing when riding in a bright sun. 

The ride from Mysore  was smooth... Roads perfect. With a double road accompanying us some 30 kms from the city and after that a normal 2 lane road, winding left and right smoothly. By around 11.30 am we reached Bylakuppe. Here we need to take a diversion to the right for some 7 kms for the famous Golden Temple. This Tibetan monastery is very famous in this part of the world and I was wondering why have these refugees settled so far away from their home town. But on a serious note it must be really frustrating to flee ones own land and live in other country where I dont think they feel at home.

 

Golden Temple-Bylakuppe

As we parked our vehicles and went inside the temple premises , we got to witness the beauty of this place. The entire premises was soothing to ones soul.Also it was interesting to witness the buddhist culture so near to ours but still far apart. Went inside the main temple where there are huge statues (20 feet tall) of Buddha and his various avathara's. Spent nearly 2 hours exploring the premises, explored the gifts shops opposite to the temple and had our first taste of tibetan food. We tasted Veg Momo's, I would say a bit blunt for Indian tastes. Further had  various types of noodles/soup.

 

 

Stone Reflection

 

At around 2.30 pm we left this place towards Madikeri. The roads on this sides of the ghats were wide , winding and awesome. We rode at a good pace and reached Madikeri and without any stop at this place moved towards Talakaveri , the birth place of river Cauvery which is a good 45 kms from this town. The roads after Madikeri goes to dogs and there are huge craters on the entire path. Took a diversion towards Bhagamandala some 2 kms after Madikeri and the roads become very narrow. The road conditions were decent. Just then the clouds open up and we were caught up in a downpour. We stopped at Bhagamandala and were mulling our options whether to continue towards Talacauvery and further towards Kasaragod the same night. The tea stall guy nearby informed us that the road to Kasaragod is via a dense jungle and it might not be a good idea to ride after dark in such heavy rains.

After a bit the rains subsidized and decided to continue on. We first moved towards Talacauvery , but were stopped at the base by cops saying vehicle moment is banned after 6 pm and it was very close to that. Disappointed we moved on since the views from the top of Talacauvery was simply awesome for both the times I had visited this place.

 

 

From Bhagamandala we entered the Talacauvery Reserve forest. This forest is as dense as one could possibly be in the western ghats. There is 6 ft wide single lane road running the entire distance to Panathur. The road condition is decent with few potholes here and there. Soon enough the rains started again and we were riding through the dense forest and by this time the the sun light had completely faded out. Given the small road, absense of sunlight and the dense jungle surrounding us we were getting a feelling of riding through a tunnel, a tunnel made of trees. This ride of around 35 kms to Panathur was simply awesome and the high point of the ride. The vehicular traffic on this road is very minimum and could be counted with ones fingers.  

We reached Panathur which signifies the end of the forest and beginning of Kerala state. From here onwards we were back to civilization. Totally drenched in rain we moved further. But by this time one of the guys received a call of an emergency at home. So he decided to return back to Bangalore by taking some bus or taxi from Kasargod the same day. The road till Kanhangad is good, but after that it was so damn hopeless and added to that vehicular traffic was at its peak making it a forgetable ride. At around 11.30 pm we reached Kasaragod, but the last bus to Bangalore had long departed at 9.30 pm. So having no other option we decided to cut short the trip and return to Bangalore the next day in bikes.

Divine Light

Day 3:

31st Oct 2010

Kasaragod->Jalsoor->Sullia->Madikeri->Mysore->Bangalore (360 kms)

Road To My Moms Place

One of the most popular places to visit is the Bekal Fort some 15 kms from the Kasargod city. I had been to this place some 2 years back and this place is perched right at the coast giving a awesome strategic view of the sea, beaches and the rocks below. An awesome sunset at this place is surely guarenteed. One can explore this place in some couple of hours. The song "Tu Hi Re" from the film Bombay was shot at this place only.

Kasargod-Jalsoor Road

 

We got up at around 7.30 am and got ready to leave directly to Bangalore without any pit stops enroute. Left Kasargod at around 8.30 am and decided to take the better and shorter route to Bangalore via Jalsoor. Drove on the NH-17 till Cherkala and here we took a left and we were on the awesome road to Jalsoor. I had been on this road so many times, but never on my bike. Again this route is surrounded by dense jungles and small hamlets enroute. After Jalsoor we entered the Mangalore - Madikeri route and this was disappointing. Our pace slowed down a lot negotiating the potholes and the fact that we were climbing up the ghats didnt make matters better. The views at ghats were beautiful as always. After Madikeri the roads become good and from here onwards we had a non-stop ride to Bangalore with pit stops at Kushalnagar for lunch and snacks at Maddur (the famous Maddur vade).

Moon Craters -Sullia to Madikeri Route

 

The total ride distance on this day was close to 360 kms the longest I have driven in a single day. Even though the others kept swapping, I rode the entire distance since I am more or less scared sitting pillion in a bike when riding at speeds of 70+ :P. And to be frank I was not tired at all, apart from the horrible pain in the bottom due to hopeless pulsar seats offering very little cushioning. We reached Bangalore at around 6.30 in the evening, completing the journey in around 10 hrs.

 

In the end our biking urges were satisfied. It had been a long time since we had a pretty successful ride and not sure when will we again go on such a long ride. Would like to end this post with a funky quote so appropriate to biking :P

"Riding a bike is like watching a 3-D movie, you get all those special effects which is absent while driving a 4-wheeler"

 

Trip 'O' Meter -> 760 kms

Total Cost Per Head -> Around 1.8 k

Pics Link->

http://picasaweb.google.com/unithinbhat/KasargodRide#

Route Map