July 2014 – John Mathew

Someone with brains once said that life is all about ups and downs and you can’t call it life if it is smooth like a straight line. Obviously this is a thought to ponder upon and I am trying to relate this to a few things that came to my mind. There won’t be even a single kid who learnt to walk without falling down and scraping their skin and I do think that it is a law of nature. And obviously we may not find a parent who wouldn’t let their kids to try walking on their own for the fear that they might fall down. They know that the fall is inevitable and they let it happen because they have seen a lot more people doing it, they have seen people practicing a practice and that practice becoming quite common among general society. And in my perception that is the problem with our community.

We are, unfortunately, capable of doing only those things which others do or the things which we are allowed to do or others show us to do. We take up engineering or medicine or some other main stream degree because we have seen thousands doing it before us. We do things because our society asked us to do it. We don’t do things for the fear what the society might think. We let others see the world through our eyes or, to put it in a different way, we see what the society wants us to see. We are afraid of pursuing a degree or career that we were passionate about, we are afraid of being with the people whom we love, we don’t have the confidence to point at someone and declare that he/she is mine for the fear of what society might say, we wear dress that society approves of and we live a life that they are happy about. But, in the end, what have we got? What did we live for? What was our purpose?

To join the crowd is always easy but it takes courage to stand out. It does make a difference. It is not about whether you should join the crowd or stand out; it is just about doing the things you love in your life. Living a life that others ask you to live is just like taking photos using automatic and manual mode. Automatic is always easy to manage and satisfactory photos are always guaranteed. No one will ever complain about the lighting or color but it also means that no one will ever say a ‘wow’ looking at the picture you took. On the other hand taking pictures in manual mode is always adventurous as you have to take care of all settings to get the picture proper. Sometimes you might be left with useless pictures that will make you a laughing stock in front of others but once you get the hang of it, you will be making spectacular pictures with your machine.

Life is very similar to this. You can live your life with predefined default settings and live a life that was quite satisfactory without inviting any negative attention from anyone. But, how about a choice that will let you take the steps that you planned, for your happiness, and let you live the life you wanted? Obviously you will hear lot of criticisms and murmurs from all sides but once you make it to the other end of the road, you have done everything you wanted with your life. If death comes and knocks at your door then, you will welcome it with a smile.

I had my first official accident in our last trip 😉 , which was to Kanva reservoir and Sholay hills near Ramanagara, and if the above written blah blah sounds like a justification for that crash I just want to let you know that I am not trying to do it. Of course it is not a glorious thing to fall from your bike at 75+ Kmph and to feel proud about it. Also nobody should be riding to say hello to tragedies. All I am saying is that the crash wasn’t unexpected and all of us were just extra cautious to keep our rides on track at 80s and 90s through the loosely packed off road mud track of the reservoir bed. But we were not ready to sacrifice our fun for the sake of safety (this will sound absurd but it doesn’t mean we were trying to put ourselves in danger. We were extra cautious and I fell down only because my front tire got trapped in a loose mud pit which seemed like a plane surface from distance and caved in as I rode inside) and the result was indeed sweet (except for the gone indicator and scratches on my fairing :p ). We just added one more memory to our best riding experiences and the jerks and vibrations from the uneven trails of reservoir bed is nothing that can be compensated by anything else.

Kanva reservoir

We were a little confused when we saw the reservoir because all we saw was cows grazing inside reservoir bed instead of water :p. We kept our hope and went to the other side of the reservoir expecting to find water but disappointment was the result. On further research on internet, I understood that the reservoir is an artificial lake fed by the Kanva River and there won’t be water all time of the year. So in case if you are coming here to enjoy the waters, better make sure that it is the right time to find water. We went in a rainy season only but we don’t know the apparent reason for why the lake was dry.

However, this is a very good picnic spot and a great place for off road adventures. There are numerous trails inside the bed with very good visibility even for Kilometers but these roads are best suited for cars than bikes because of the loosely packed earth. Or else you should come here with proper bikes that can do offroading (it wasn’t a great idea to do that shit on an R15 here :p ).

· How to get here

– Kanva is around 60Kms from Bangalore and there is only one right turn to take from the Mysore express way

– Travel around 8 or 10 more Kilometers from Ramanagara Kamath ( or 6 or 7 Kms fromTaj biriyani paradise) and you will find a temple with a banyan tree and a small ground in front on the right side of the road.

– Next to the temple is a narrow road that goes inside towards Kanva reservoir. Just stick to the road and you will reach the reservoir straight

Sholay hills

Mesmerizing is the only word to explain Sholay hills where the epic movie was shot. The hills are simply as interesting as the movie and the best part is that you can reach the top most point without taking much of trouble (except getting tired as shit) because proper steps are made till the top (tourism department did a good job here J). You will be climbing nearly 400 steps ( yeah we counted :p I counted 386 and Vasu counted 389) till you reach the temple and then again you have to climb further up to reach the top. Climbing up the vertical steep just by trusting the rocking hand rail was little scary though. However, we realized that our effort got paid once we reached on top. The wind and the view were just mind-blowing. There is a small pond on the top of the rocky hill but it is not very clean to look at.

· How to get here

– While coming back from Ramnagara, you will reach a small town before Bidadi and there is an exit to the left from Mysore road ( There is an arch at the beginning of the exit road)

– Just go straight until you reach the checkpoint. Park your vehicle here, pay the fee and start climbing. ( better carry water with you because the climb up and down will take a few hours

PHOTOS

IF YOU WANT TO TORTURE THIS GUY, LEAVE HIM WHERE THERE IS NO NETWORK..

COW’S GONNA POOP FACE FOR DUCK FACES ARE TOO MAINSTREAM 😀

COOL GUY SANDEEP B)

YOU CLICKIN ME BRAHHH??? I DON’T GIVE A RATS F*****G ASS BRAHH… B| …. BADASS SHREYAS (chumma kidding 😉 .. he is another cool guy i met in my life 🙂 )

IT’S KINDA AWKWARD TO HAVE SOME CUTENESS IN THE PICTURE 😛

LOOK AT THE TRAILS… IT IS SERIOUSLY SO LONG

I DIDN’T SAY MESMERIZING FOR NO REASON B|

FABID AND REUBEN ‘BROMANCNG’ 😛

Read more trip stories here 🙂

PICTURE COURTESY: KIRAN VASUDEV, WickedFrames
CHUMMA COURTESY: ANSHU ROY (For ‘God only knows what’ reason….. just kidding… thanks moti for the unending bak bak 😉 :p ….)

You can die either with a contended heart and a smiling face or with regrets. The choice is yours. As we all know, it is always the things that we didn’t do that haunts us more than the things we did in our lives. None of us can deny the fact that we all have stood clueless at some point of time, looking back at the path through which we came, thinking about the things we didn’t do and flooding our mind with regrets. Most of the times, we were denying ourselves the minute pleasures with the motive of satisfying people around us( so called loved ones ). Even I have done way too many sacrifices like that and it took me some time to realize that the people who loves you truly would not want you to sacrifice anything that you love, for them. I am not trying to get philosophical here but the recent trip to Kodaikanal has got immense significance in my life.

This might be one of those trips where I have made compromises for the love of my friendship but it eventually turned out as of the best decisions I have made in my life. When I created this blog, I had the thought of dedicating it solely to bike rides but I can’t help but to write about the Kodai trip we made on two cars recently. I had bunked a full day class just to get my bike serviced for riding to Kodai the next day ( I would be left out as the lone rider with everyone else coming in car) only to change my mind and find myself a room in one of the cars next day. The change of decision happened overnight and it was definitely an outcome of various thoughts and considerations. I just wanted to enjoy every single seconds of the trip with these idiots even though I knew I would miss my bike so badly.

Normally people would have thought about the losing hours and declining attendance percentages ( especially when you are a Christite ) and about the huge sum of money that you have to spend when you are already broke before thinking about a sudden trip plan. One might call us stupid but that was a unanimous yes to the trip from everyone and all other thoughts came only afterwards. That was one trip where I was totally myself once more and the trip gave me back the things and fun I thought i had lost for ever. This trip proved to me that life is simpler than it looks like. Maybe it is because of the perspective through which we look at life. Maybe there will be a smoother and swifter path waiting for our attention only if we change our angle of view.

All I got to tell you after the trip is that, do everything that you are passionate about in your life. Never give room for regrets. Become what you wished to become in your life. Chase your dreams. Just make sure that you have got your own reasons behind the things you do because once you have chosen a road, you will definitely reach a point where there is no turning back. You should be obliged only to those people who deserve it. Your life is yours.

To speak about Kodai, this is one among the coolest hill stations in South India and the meaning of ‘Kodai’ in my mother tongue means fog and yes the name suits the charming hills perfectly. One must go to Kodai for its cool climate and that is something you won’t get to enjoy anywhere else. There are not many remarkable places that are worth to be added in a travelogue but the places to chill out are way too many. We were on a quick drive that included two days and one night and that time window was obviously too small for sight seeing. So we just had maximum fun in and around Kodai town and the lake.

The lake is indeed a magnificent one with a circumference of around 9kms and very spic and span environment. You won’t find any trace of thrash in the Kodai municipality and all the places are well maintained ( except for congestion). You can go for bicycle, tonga or horse rides around the lake at pretty reasonable rates and try some great falls like Anshu did :p ( you should learn to ride bicycles moti :p ). There are numerous shops around the lake that sell everything from handicrafts to home made chocolates. The Kodai home made chocolates are a must try and they are very cheap too unlike the Ooty ones. The Tibetan bazaar run by Tibetan refugees sell items like blankets and sweaters and you can find a good deal here also.

The streets of Kodai echoes the chants ‘Mushroom.. mushroom’ and it is totally up to you to decide on what to do with the tempting calls. By the time we finished roaming around the lake, it was late night and we had to settle a few things about the rooms and shrooms :p, so we had to head back. To be frank, fooding in Kodai is not so cheap unless you find some good places at moderate prices. The Royal Tibet restaurant at the end of the vegetable market is one good option for great food at reasonable prices. Astoria Veg is a good breakfast place but bit pricey.

We had breakfast from Astoria Veg and headed to the park and played stupid games and clicked pictures till afternoon. All you can say when 20 year olds run around, falling and getting mud on their clothes, in the middle of a crowded park that is meant for kids, there is this freaking inner happiness that nothing else can buy you. We concluded the trip with a visit to he Bear falls where we couldn’t find water but homo sapean feces :p.

To remember

– 90 percentage of the road to Kodai is express way ( only around 80Kms two lane and curves), and therefore you should think twice about taking your bike there. You will get bored unless riding is there in your blood.

– Climbing up to Kodai is through narrow curved roads and you have to be very careful about oncoming vehicles.

– Plan your trip for a few days at least so that you can enjoy Kodaikanal to the fullest, peacefully.

– Carry enough clothes that can keep you warm ( it is really very cold :p ).