A New Wrap

The time was around 13.30 hours and I stopped for a water break somewhere near Chitraduraga , I was on my way to Kollur. Someone on his bike stopped by and asked was I the “Online Guy” , I could not understand , I asked him “sorry , Online guy?” then he pointed at my saddle bag and said “online saar!” , oh I got it , “no sir” I said , I am not an amazon delivery boy.

I had not visualised the route I was supposed to take, it was when I reached Nagara town I decided to visit Nilskal Backwaters that I have missed the last time around. Beautiful it was , the Nilskal Backwaters , a perfect place for camping and after spending some time and witnessing a gorgeous sunset I headed towards Kollur.

The road to Kollur temple seemed like a never ending loop , curve after curve , and the night had made it even more challenging , it demanded a hell a lot of concentration as one miss you could be running into opposite traffic or even worse a trench or a tree.

After Kollur I headed to Udupi which is around 72kms from Kollur , it was the 14^th January , the Sankranthi Festive day. It’s the day for Brahmarathotsava “Chariot Festival” at the Sri Udupi Krishna Mutt , three chariots carrying the chariot idols of Sri Anantheshwara , Sri Chandramoulishwara and Sri Krishna. The festival is held post dusk and till then the reason I went on this road trip awaited, meeting my grandparents, being a parent myself my heart sought for some pampering and who else than grandparents do that, my 88year old grandfather and 83 year old grandmother showed all the love , put food on the table sat beside and spoke and I too spoke for hours as I had not met them for a year and a half now owing to Corona.

Evening was customary beach time, I remembered the days I as a kid spend on the sands of Malpe Beach , back then it almost looked like a private beach with hardly any visitors , now! The scene is complete contrast, I decided to ride a little further and then walked a little further to find a quite corner , a nice place to sit and read my E Book , I was reading this interesting booked called “An Indian spy in Pakistan” . The sunset as usual was mesmerizing , I then went to the chariot festival , headed to Hotel Diana for a Gudubud Ice Cream and went back home. The next couple for days was spend mostly visiting temples , speaking to grandparents and collecting Chikoo from the tree in the garden and reading E book. I also met my friend Conrod and his wife for lunch at the woodlands hotel but missed meeting Surendra.

I headed back to Bangalore and felt 4 days just flew. While on my ride from Bangalore I was listening(audible) to “Jupiter’s Travel” by Ted Simon an unbelievable travelogue and on the way back I started listening to “Cant Hurt Me” by David Goggins. I took the winding Chikkamagalur route and reached home but heart still in Udupi.

Did I say I did a cosmetic pushup ( I would love to think so ) to my bike , I gave it a red warp and it looks a beauty. So , I will call this Blog " A New Wrap"