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"

Experience

The mind is very vulnerable inside that thin sheet , all it takes is even a blunt object to dig in and you stand naked if not physically though , but under that star filled sky on a midnight who cares for that physical wrapping.

But often I have realised world has good people ,there is more love , more care , more humanity than you think exists. On One such outing on a cool , calm, camp site , so silent that I could clearly hear my heart beat I heard it beat faster ! What was it ? A car , a car full of people , a car full of people speaking Urdu.. ushhhh, Wait there is another car , yes it's full too! Young people shouting on top of their voice, but now in kannada , young people shouting biriyani! biriyani! shouting when you could actually  hear a whisper. Or Wait! is it my insecurity , awake and shouting louder than the young boys straight onto my ears? Never know ! can't say !

It's well past 1 in the night , the mind is a beautiful thing , isn't it! After half an hour of no bothering from the crowd of youngsters the mind said it's just a gang of boys having fun. It also reminded of my own gang of boys , our own share of fun , our late night parties , the booze, the laughter and what not. It also compared that aah! We had better fun!

Slowly I sneaked out of the tent , it looked a secured place now , I walked up to them . Saar! Did we disturb your sleep? Asked one , Saar! Where are you from , here , take this juice , we don't drink alcohol said another. Shame! I looked the outside world from my insecurities , I said to myself and bid goodbye and entered the tent , after all a good sleep was awaiting me.

#canononthemove

Be well , Santhosh

The East Ride

Day 1 – And the Ride begins – Bangalore to Palamaner 131 Kms 20-Dec-19

The day has finally arrived, I am at work and a few hours from now I will hit the road, I can already smell the highway and I can only think one way the Highway!

Christmas week has always been a lucky week , for many years now I have had some memorable trips. This year we had planned to explore few places of the naturally gifted land of Andra Pradesh and Telangana. Both the states are fed by biggest rivers of India the Godavari, Krishna and Tungabhadra being the prominent ones. My travel to Andra and Telangana has been restricted to mostly places near to Bangalore such as Belum Caves, Gandikota , Lepakshi and Tirupathi and this time we wanted to explore more.

Karthik and I planned the route and started our ride on 20-Dec-19 6pm. We started our ride planning that we will either ride to Palamaner or Chitoor and finally decided to stay at Palamaner and checked into Hotel Charan Dhaba which is on the highway NH 75. Dinner was served at the restaurant and the Phulka and Dal was very tasty. That’s for the day

Day 2 – The Actual Ride Day – Palamaner to Pulicat Lake & Sriharikota 216 Kms 21-Dec-19

The day started early, we left Hotel Charan Dhaba at 6am in the morning and our destination was Pulicat Lake and a visit to Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It was a foggy morning and the weather was beautiful to ride. Road till deviation leading to Tirupathi is top class but post that most of the highway till we reach NH 16 is under construction which considerably slows down the riding pace. We had booked our stay at Fortune MR Grand Sullurupeta the nearest town to Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary. We checked into hotel at around 11.30am and after a bit of rest and tasty veg thali lunch at the restaurant we went to see Pulicat Lake.

Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary is a famous 481 km² located in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and Protected area in Thiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu. Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, after Chilika Lake (measuring 759 square kilometres (293 sq mi). Its hard to even imagine how huge the lake is. The sanctuary is most noted for the many greater flamingos seen here. It also attracts many migratory birds and also is a feeding and nesting ground for aquatic and terrestrial birds such as pelicans, storks,etc.

The road leading to Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR is one of the most beautiful road I have ridden, with Pulicat Lake on either side and a very well tarmacked road it’s a visual treat. There are many viewpoints set up on either side of the road to see the birds. I was very excited to see and photograph the greater flamingos , I stopped at one of the view points after I saw a folk of birds far away in the lake , the greater flamingos ,  I met a gentleman from Karnataka and he graciously lent his binoculars to see the flamingos , unfortunately couldn’t photograph any of them.

We visited the information centre and got information about birds and then rode till Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR. The day ended well.

Start of ride from Hotel Charan Dhabha

Fantastic Roads of NH 75

A beautiful patch of road , after a bumpy ride post deviation towards Tirupathi off NH 75

First Look of Pulicat Lake

The road I was referring to in the blog , one of the most scenic of the ride

About Pulicat Lake 

Road less traveled takes you to beautiful destinations

Posers

Men with their machine , myself on my Dominar and Karthik with his Himalayan

A Painted Stork ready to take off 

Hues of Nature

With a Kill

Ready to take a plunge 

Kapidwaja and Karthik's Himalayan at SHAR entrance.

Day 3 – A Long Day on road – Sriharikota to Rajahmundry 544Kms 22-Dec-19

A long day’s ride awaited us. To beat the heat and traffic if any we started as early is 4.30am. The plan for the day was to visit Doleswaram barrage and then head to Pushkar Ghat in Rajahmundry. We were on NH 16 , road till Vijayawada was fantastic , from there to deviation to Doleswaram barrage on the highway was good but with truck traffic. After the deviation the road gets bad till we reach Rajahmundry Town. We visited the Dowleswaram Barrage , the view of the sacred Godavari River is breath-taking , Godavari rivers is one among the  7 sacred rivers worshiped in India along with Ganga , Yamuna , Saraswathi , Narmada , Sindu and Cauvery. The Dowleswaram Barrage was an irrigation structure originally built in 1850 on the lower stretch of the Godavari River before it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It was rebuilt in 1970 when it was officially renamed the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage / Godavari Barrage. After clicking a few photos we headed to our hotel in Rajahmundry Town and reached around 2pm. After a much need rest and lunch we decided to walk to Pushkar Ghat to witness the spectacular Godavari Aarthi. After watching the aarthi Our mind and soul was filled with gratification and we rested for the day.

@ Dowleswaram Barrage

When in Rajahmundry do not miss the rose milk

Preparing for the evening Godavari Aarthi

Preparing for the evening Godavari Aarthi

A kid enjoying the sunset at Pushkar Ghat

Sunset over Godavari River , Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry

Railway bridge during the Golden Hour

Railway bridge during the Golden Hour

Elderly couple waiting for the aarthi to begin 

Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry

Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry

Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry

Vedic Chants before the Aarthi

Godavari Aarthi

Godavari Aarthi

Godavari Aarthi

Godavari Aarthi

Godavari Aarthi , everyday aarthi is performed to River Godavari starting 6.15pm and lasts for 20mins 

Day 4 – The Destination – Rajamundry to Lambasingi & Arakku Valley 270 Kms 23-Dec-19

We were back on NH 16 and headed towards our next destination Lambasingi & Arakku Valley. Road till the beautiful Lambasingi a Tribal Dominated area was good , I had heard a lot about Lambasingi and its natural beauty , true to what I had heard Lambasingi was indeed a beautiful place but the tourists have thrown trash everywhere and it was very sad to see the irresponsibility of people. We tried an alternate route to Arakku Valley from Lambasingi and the forest pass which passed through many tribal huts was very nice and we reached SSN Prakruthi Resorts in Arakku Valley around 2pm. On the way we visited the beautiful Kothapalli Waterfalls a multi-tier waterfall around 80kms from Arakku Valley. Arakku had lots of tourists but luckily we had booked our stay a good 3km away from the Arakku City. It was very cold in Arakku and the view from our room was beautiful. Next day was the much needed rest day and we relaxed for the day.

A beautiful sunrise somewhere in NH 16

Post Crop fodder

Men going to work

Somewhere in NH 16 , NH 16 connects Tamilnadu to West bengal

Beautiful landscape of Lambasingi

Tribal firewood collectors , Lambasingi

Mother and Kid , Lambasingi

Travel to road not travelled to see the places not seen

Bikes resting near a beautiful lake in Lambasingi 

Kothapally Waterfalls , a multi tier waterfall

Beautiful Kothapalli Waterfall

Sunset , Train and Birds.. there is a subject to photograph if you have an eye for it

Day 5 – Rest Day – Arakku Valley 24-Dec-19

I woke up as early at 6am to click a few photographs and as I opened the room door I could hardly see anything. The valley was enveloped by thick fog and I came back and sunk inside the bedsheet again , after all it was a day to relax. We had our breakfast and chai at Star Annapoorna Hotel a famous eatery in Arakku and the hot Idli Vada Sambar tasted lovely. Around 10.30am after the fog cover had reduced we went for a short ride till the Arakku View point and also visited the tribal museum.

Healthy Baked corn at Arakku Valley View Point

Most popular dish of Arakku Valley , Bamboo Chicken

A view point in Arakku Valley

Tribal Museum , Arakku Valley

Tribal Museum , Arakku Valley

Sunset and the train , Arakku Valley

Day 6 – The Return Leg – Arakku Valley to Bhadrachalam 344 Kms 25-Dec-19

We debated a lot on the route to be taken to Bhadrachalam from Arakku , while searching on the maps we found a route running through forests of Orissa but when we saw reviews of NH 326 we were a little skeptical of taking this route and finally we decided to take a chance and it was a great decision. We left early at 5am ( not a wise decision ) and I could hardly see anything , darkness and fog is a bad combination. We crossed the Andra Pradesh border and entered Chatwa district of Orissa. The roads all along was beautiful and we stopped for breakfast at Pangam at a roadside eatery which served hot and tasty Poori and Dosa , on seeing us on bike the villagers suggested not to the the Malkangiri Sukma route which we had originally planned but to go to Motu and take a boat to cross the Godavari river and go to Bhadrachalam , this would reduce the distance by around 60kms and also would save time. The ride from Malkangiri to Motu is beautiful , the roads are great and there was deep silence everywhere. We reached Motu and got to know road connecting from Motu to Konta in Chhattisgarh was done but still it would take 30kms and an hour extra and we decided to take the boat. It was a small fishing boat and after a lot of struggle and help from the captain we crossed the Godavari river and entered Konta District the border of Chhattisgarh and Andra Pradesh and hit NH 30. After riding for about 2kms we were back in Andrapradesh and the road till Bhadrachalam was beautiful. We had booked our room at Hotel Haritha Bhadrachalam which is just 1km from the Sita Ramachandra Temple. We took a dip at the Godavari River and had darshan of Lord Sri Rama and Sita and felt blessed. 

Village in Orissa , dada charged me 4rs for a cup of coffee

Crossing over to Andrapradesh on the other side of Godavari in a Boat

Before the adventure of boarding the bikes on to the boat

That smile after myself and Kapidwaja reached the otherside of Godavari and entered AP without drowning:)

Day 7 – Solar Eclipse Day – Bhadrachalam to Hyderabad 311 Kms 26-Dec-19

It was Solar Eclipse that day, we were warned to be careful while riding by folks back home. They were happy and even a bit relieved of the fact that we had visited the Bhadrachalam Rama temple the previous day and were ok with us riding during the eclipse time. We started early at 5.30am , we took NH 30 there were beautiful roads and picturesque agricultural lands and lakes all along. We had our breakfast at a road side eatery in Suryapet , after belting the lip smacking breakfast was surprised to see the bill was a mere 100 bucks. We reached Hyderabad around 11.30am and checked into Hotel Central Park.

We took rest for a while and went to Hotel Vivahabojanabulu for lunch , the hotel is in Jublee Hills Hyderabad and is quite famous for its Andra style meals and has recipes of all of Andra food. I felt it was a little overrated and expensive. After lunch we went to the famous Charminar , it seemed like the whole of Hyderabad was there at Charminar , huge shopping bylanes , colours , bargain , photos , selfies it was like madness. Charminar is also famous for Pearls and I surprised myself by shopping pearls for my wife, sister and daughter  . We took an auto to come back to our Hotel and the auto driver sounded like a wannabe astronaut or an astrologer he asked so many questions about solar system and planets I am actually ready to give an exam on the same as all of my knowledge was revisited and tested I drank the famous Irani Chai at famous Café Bahar and lunch was so heavy we skipped dinner and went to sleep.

Charminar

Pearl sellers , Charminar Market

Charminar Market

Charminar Market

Charminar Market

Bridge across Krishna River

Day 8 - The Long Ride Back – Hyderabad to Bangalore 568 Kms 27-Dec-19

Started the ride at 6.30 am, NH 44 has beautiful roads all the way. Uneventful ride, sit and just twist the wrist. We reached the Nandi Hills junction at 1.30pm and had our lunch at Nandi Grand. Only thing interesting about the whole ride was the KIA factory I saw near Ananthpur , wow! It’s huge and out of nowhere we can see lots of Korean restaurants and also a Korean Resort! Reached home at 3pm after being on road for 8 days and for nearly 2,500kms. 

Hope you had a good read. Do like , comment and share if you have liked it. Planning for the next is one and will be back soon. Till then wish you a very happy 2020.

Be Well and Namaskara

Santhosh

PS : All the images are captured by me on a CANON EOS 77D and Samsung S9