I and nidhi reached the vijaynagar bus stand for yet another trek/ bike ride. We met shaggy and got into the sleeper bus. After a two hour discussion on our exploits in Montreal and
Sunday morning 7.00 AM
We entered my birth city Mangalore. The bus was delayed by an hour and a half and we met harris at kottari chowk. Harris told us that monsoon had started on Saturday and it was raining the whole yesterday. He also told us that it might not rain today. The next moment there was a roar from the sky and it poured cats and dogs for the next 15 minutes. By the time we got ready it had stopped raining. Harris told us the next bad news – the guy who was supposed to get the car couldn’t arrange for it and there would be only bikes (six of them).
8.30 AM – 9.15 AM
We reached the meeting point Infy campus or building and after everyone came we had our breakfast and started the GREAT BIKE RIDE.
9.15 AM - 11.00 AM
All the six bikes were fuelled and their tyre pressures were checked. Harris and I were on a bike, Nidhi and shaggy on another. Harris had got an amazing piece of bike. No Rear view mirror (So I had to give live commentary) and the back brake was not good. We drove on and on the way I saw the hospital I was born in- Bolurs Nursing home(this was the first time I was seeing this hospital)
We drove till Bantwal cross road were we got our lunch parceled. I stupidly put my food into my bag(you will know the reason why I am scolding myself) As we started we heard a sound – nidhi’s tyre had a puncture(indicative about the things to come). We did timepass for another 45 minutes till his bike was ready.
11.00 AM
We started the bike ride again. Stopping sometimes for rain break or for pee break. We stopped at a place where there was a beautiful view of the nethravati river and its pristine surroundings.
We traveled another 20-30 Kms when it started raining. Initially it was a normal rain but suddenly the intensity increased. I have point to tell over here. Shaggy and myself weren’t wearing helmets. The rain gave us a Acupuncture or in better words a facial massage. It was like small needles pricking us all over the face. We traveled another 15 Kms till we could bear no more. I had enough of the needle pricking business when luckily we saw the whole gang had stopped under trees.
12.15 PM The Accident.
When the rains had reduced in intensity we decided to move on. After another 10 Kms it again started drizzling. The winding roads of the ghat had started. The traffic was - less around a vehicle every 2 minutes. Two Bikes went ahead of us. Harris was right in the middle of the road. At that point of time a car came in from nowhere. The two bikes moved away in time. Harris applied the back brake, which didn’t work. So he was forced to apply the front brake. The car zoomed by and at the same our vehicle skidded. Harris went down with the vehicle. I had harris’s and my bag with me. I landed right in the middle of the road (Like a jumbo jet). I had dislocated my shoulder but luckily it came back in place. A Lorry which was coming in the Opposite direction, but was coming towards us very slowly and we could move out of the road. Harris got some minor injuries on his hand and leg. The bikes indicator had gone for a toss. Other than that the bike was still in a usable condition.
We reached a place called GUNDIYA where he had some snacks. At Gundiya we took a diversion towards Subramanya. There was another hours drive to a point where he had to take another diversion to BISELE GHAT. By the time we reached here it was 2.35PM. We decide to drive till 3.00PM and then turn back. There was another 15KM drive to be covered. Luckily it had not rained from Gundiya village. Ours was the slowest bike and we couldn’t go beyond 40KM/Hr. The BISELE GHAT section started and we were totally isolated. There was no sign of any traffic any side. Here I began to relax and enjoy the scenery, the pristine hills, the forest ,the Fog in Bisele. At 3.15PM there was no sign of anybody. We started wondering if we had taken the right route. After another 5 minutes we found Shaggy and nidhi taking pictures. After a small break. We started again. After negotiating two hairpin curves and another 20 minutes we finally reached the place where everyone had stopped for a break. After a few snaps we deicded to turn back (at this pt of time we didn’t know we were just 2KMs from BISELE Point.)
4.00PM
We started climbing down the GHAT section. We saw a beautiful waterfall and decided to have a break. I walked to the vicinity of the falls wearing my Woodland Shoes (I was to lazy to pull them out) I saw Shaggy coming near the falls and decided to show off. I told him to remove his shoes since it is very slippery. The next moment I fell down. Today was surely not my day. I decided to climb the water falls. As I started the climbing I made a mistake of climbing from the side. At one point of time I was in a soup. The place was very slippery. I couldnt climb up, nor climb down. I was slowly slipping down. I had to move side wards right into the falls. I finally managed to climb up. After a few Photo sessions and discovering some more areas we started the climb down. Fully drenched and tired from yet another fall finally climbed the bike and we started the journey back.
4.30 PM
We decided to have our Lunch in some wilderness. I opened my bag to find that my food packet had opened and the Veg Biriyani had opened had got mixed with my last set of clothes. Anyways as we were having what was remaining of our food, we realized lot of animal bones were scattered around us. This really freaked us out. We soon started on our way back.
We were ripping on our bikes at 70 km/ hr when the rain began. First everything was quiet. Then suddenly it was like “Somebody threw a bucket of water on us”. It poured and poured and poured from then on. We got drenched like … The rain droplets were like pricking needles. It pricked me on all over my face, neck. It pricked me so much that I realized that there was a internal connection between ear, nose and eyes. We were still another 110 kms away from our place. With no choice we drove the bikes for another hour in the rain till we reached some town. There was an experienced biker cum trekker in our group. He decided to swap with our bike. Then on, we just drove and drove through the rain. Once we reached the highway, the traffic increased and so did the risk of getting knocked over. There were lots of errant lorry drivers in the opposite side who would nearly drive us off the road. One pair of trekkers met with an accident on the highway. To avoid the oncoming Lorry, they had to jump into the nearby drain. They were lucky that they escaped with cuts and bruises.
We halted at a place fully drenched, where a villager asked “ Yennu Saar Malle barutha ittha?” We did not have the energy to give reply. Anyways we finally reached Harris’s house at 9.00 PM to know that the bus was 2 hours late. Thank god!!
Stumble It!
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