Relishing Challenges!

Relishing challenges... my way!

Being of a mild frame to look at, I’ve always been the topic for jokes and inadvertently for humor amongst people; In a way, I never bothered but relished them with glee and also housed a secret wish of achieving things that I was supposed to be not fit of…

Yezdi’s, Java’s, Bullet’s are the cult bikes that I have grown up seeing and always used to look at them with amazement and I could feel my inner thump resonate with the machine’s. But alas, owing to my slender frame, I was never given an opportunity to ride these in spite of me knowing biking! The wish soon turned into a challenge and the seed of fulfilling, relishing the challenge grew over the years secluded deep in my veins.

After years of patient wait, an impulse decision and next thing was the booking of an 350cc Royal Enfield bike done and grinning at everybody. The reason of happiness was evident but none knew the background behind it. Now, I was getting a bullet all for myself, no more asking and no more being pushed around.. but I had to wait for at least 8 months to downrun all the talkers and challengers, for that 'alive is awesome moment', for more challenges that lay ahead.

The day arrived, I was all excited right through and I could feel the instant connect with the thump pounding away instantly in my heart. As I lay my hands on the bike, the grin became wider and bigger and as the beauty came to life roaring all its might, it sure would be the beginning of a new journey together relishing challenges and enjoying alive is awesome moments.

An answer to all my detractors to say so was when I successfully completed my solo ride of 1000kms on my Thunderbird in the rains, an alive is awesome moment to say the least and a ride that would not erase out of my memory soon...

Being the adventure junkie, I’m relishing challenges and looking forward for more.

Recap 2012, Welcome 2013

I traveled a fair bit in 2012 and to many new places and to some familiar jaunts. Overall, the year has been very productive and eventful :)

A long pending visit to Thattekad finally happened and was a very productive trip along with Amit.

Nature and Bird watching trails done covering many lakes on the peripheries of Bangalore – Bannerghatta, Hulimangala, Kaggalipura, Gulakamale, Madiwala, Hesaraghatta and Markonahally lakes with the UGS group (Usual gang of suspects as Deepa Mohan calls it) and others.

Much awaited and long overdue moment of owning a bullet transpired – a proud owner of a Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350cc bike – time for the biker in me to evolve!

Owning a bike and no rides…!

So happened bike rides to Bandipura, Ramanagara, Jalamangala (the only ‘trek’ of 2012) with Guru and a solo ride of about 1000+ kms to Ganeshgudi (Dandeli) and back.

Team outings were scarce and had a good time with the group at Ganeshgudi in March. No more team events, hope for more team outings in 2013!

Attended couple of Indiblogger meets in Bangalore and had a good time and met lot of new people. Took part in lot of contests this year and was rewarded with vouchers and hampers for the same. Being in the top 10 and winning a Samsung phone was another highlight, courtesy Cinthol’s new campaign propagating alive is awesome.

Went with the family on a pilgrimage to the holy temple town of Badrinath in the Himalayas and that was another memorable outing.

Went around Bengaluru city to capture the old-time towers that were the boundaries of the city, the Kempegowda towers that are now almost bang in the centre – how big have we grown!!!

A weekend spent at one of our favored destinations - BR hills.

Took time out to volunteer for wildlife conservation and took part in activities at Gopalaswamy betta and Melagiris forest ranges and the Turahalli habba.

Interest in macro photography and also reptiles/amphibians took me to Goa and Coorg (Honey valley estate). Wish more people visit Goa for its wilderness rather than the beaches and wine!

Visited Hampi and Daroji (for the Sloth bears) with a new team and was a fun trip all along.

Prashanth, a college mate working in Dubai – met him after 10 long years (connected back through Facebook) and him having similar interests helped matters the more.

November was a quiet month with only a drive to Ganeshgudi happening with KKT, who again is being introduced to wildlife and photography by self.

The highlight trip of the year – maiden solo trip for a fortnight to Gujarat happened in December and was very enjoyable and eventful, had a lifetime experience there and traveling solo has its pros and cons. Heartfelt thanks to Falguna Shah (from Ahmedabad) for helping me out on this and many others whom I met through the course of the trip.


The blog has evolved more over the year and has gained me more friends, more audience, more followers and has gained more popularity. Sincere thanks to all who take out time and come here to read this, I hope to live up to the expectations!

Watch out – much more to come!

2013 looks promising and I hope it brings with it more travel, new locations, new people and overall more growth as an individual :)

Jalamangala (Narayanagiri hill)

(the first view... the spot on the top is the temple and the tree)

 

Mid hot April and myself and guru decided to go on a short hike to Jalamangala, near the town of Ramanagara close to Bengaluru. I got pointers to this location from Aravind’s blog post on the same (http://aravindgj.blogspot.in/2011/04/jalamangala.html). I presume this is also known as the Narayanagiri hill.

Directions: At the Ramanagara town signal take the right turn, a little ahead take the left at the Y junction. 20kms from here and you will reach Jalamangala village.

As you near the village, take the broad road toward the left and proceed for a km or so and park your vehicle at the base of the big tamarind tree. A clear trail leads you all the way to the top as we realized later. This is the easiest and best way to reach the top.

Else, at the fork, turn right and reach the village. You can park at any of the houses here and ask for directions to the cliff. This path is tricky and you may have to find out ways yourself and it takes a longer time too.

I and guru rode on my bullet first to Ramanagara to have a peek at the vultures. After some scouting, finally we saw a lone individual at a far distance away, noticeable was the absence of any activity on the cliff. Boards indicating ‘Vulture Sanctuary’ have been put up near the tar road (Latest update: the area is declared as a protected area for conservation of the very few Long billed Vultures left). After a good one hour we moved towards Jalamangala. As I had read, it hardly takes less than an hour for the ascent, so we took it easy and moved without any hurry.

As we approached the village, we could see the cliff far away and made the mistake of going to the village instead of taking a left turn to the base. The villagers suggested I leave the bike near their house (it would be safe from mischief makers) and walk from behind the village to ascend the cliff. I nodded as I thought it to be a good idea and there would be no worry about my bike but we realized the hard part very soon. The villager guided us saying – “As you traverse behind the village, you see a lake and a small temple, take the path next to it and keep climbing to reach the top”. All seemed well till we reached the lake and took the path next to it going upwards. We soon reached a hill top only to realize there was a bigger one to our right with dense growth in between. We somehow made our way to the top of that hillock to find nothing there and we could see another bigger hillock now behind us and with not suitable path direction seen. The sun was now all bright and fury and was pretty harsh and we had exhausted our water supply too. It was becoming increasingly difficult and the hear getting unbearable. After pondering what to do and resting for some time, we finally made up our minds to figure out the way to the top however long it may take!

Taking a narrow path and crawling amidst the dense growth we joined a fairly used track going uphill only to realize that was the actual well marked path to the top from the other side of the hill closer to the main road (as I have indicated above). Relieved, we started climbing again now following the arrow marks (thanks to the person who has taken the effort to paint the arrow marks everywhere) leading to the top, Traversing to the top on the fairly notified path in pretty much easy and you get to pass through the edge of the cliff at one point (lucking iron rails are there for support) and steps carved out in the rocks. Finally we reached the top to see the similar sight of a temple and a tree that was the lone identifier of this place I had seen about. There were a few people inside the temple complex drunk and playing cards, in all probability they had camped overnight, prepared a non veg meal, drunk and were gambling. Felt very bad seeing the sight but a lone Egyptian Vulture soaring nearby lifted my spirits as we sat and rested for some time. The sun was right on top now and we had run out of water and were feeling the heat now. We could see lot of small dry ponds around and remains of fort walls (not sure though). The tree on the top was excellent providing good shade to relax under. The view from the top was good and you could see as far as you want being a sunny dry day.

We then descended following the marked route and traced back the route to the village. Back there, I literally gulped some 4-5 bowls of water but still was feeling very thirsty and hot. Hot weather, hungry stomachs and tired bodies are not a good combination on any day J We asked a villager about the activities on top of the hill and he replied – “Yes, they do go as it’s a cool place, its quite common”. I felt like bulldozing him right there but kept quite not to create a ruckus there. The journey back home was uneventful and was a good ride on the bullet.

Tips: Carry food and water, do not litter the place.

Use your instincts if you can’t find the way, simple rule being you need to climb and so figure out how!

Ride safe! Be safe!

Bike Ride to Bandipura

 

A famous quote:

“There are two types of people in this world, people who ride motorcycles and people who wish they could ride motorcycles”.

It’s not about speeding above the 3 digit mark, its not riding like there’s no tomorrow, it’s not a speed rush; it’s riding… and riding a bullet. The feel you get while riding a bullet is next to none and definitely can’t be expressed in words here. The engine roars to a start and the thump you feel is something only you can feel :)

Coming back to the post, I wanted to take the bullet out on a long drive (well, this was to be my first long drive on a bike with more than 150cc capacity) and with an eager buddy, Guru, more eager to accompany me on his Rx, we made a quick weekend dash to Bandipura covering about 500kms in 2 days. Incidentally, this was our 2^nd bike ride to Bandipura, the first being a double ride on his Rx sometime back.

http://adventureanytime.blogspot.in/2010/04/bandipura-bike-ride.html

I was a speed fanatic some years ago, but with age come wisdom and with that wisdom, I control the urge to speed and ride within safe limits. The bullet is a rider’s delight, a perfect recipe; it shall behave as you want it to and responds in sync with your pulses. I love riding and that halves the tiredness you feel and the urge to ride keeps you moving.

We left early to reach Bandipura by afternoon, but as it was destined, the Rx had a bad puncture near Bidadi and getting a person to do it took nothing less than 5 hours! A regular stop for Bidadi Thatte Idli became an unending wait for the mechanic to turn up. A rare day, when the mechanic failed to turn up at his regular time and by the time he came, there were about 10 customers from the entire town waiting for him! Argh! From there, there was no stopping me and the bullet and I only stopped next at Mysore city (Columbia Asia hospital circle) and Guru was wondering where I had vanished! Another of my habits is that I never attend calls nor sms while riding unless I feel it may be something important, if so I pull over and take the call. In short, I never realized the vibration of the cell and had completely missed his calls. After a super quick lunch at Kamat café, Mysore, we went ballistic on the road towards Bandipura with the only stop for ATM at Gundlupet. The road all the way from Bangalore to Bandipura is in good condition for 95% of the stretch with a few small bad patches in between.

We took the customary safari bus ride by the department to get the feel of the wild. Being summer, it was dry, hot and humid. The deers, peacocks, jungle fowl, gaurs, and boars were all there and were waiting for the first showers of the season. We stayed at the Vana Vihar (http://www.vanavihar.com/index.html) right opposite to Bandipur Plaza, our regular place of stay. The cottages look good for families to stay and the food is decent enough; don’t expect anything extraordinary, but better than the food at Bandipur Plaza. Next day another customary safari ride (this time a jeep ride with the Jungle lodges) and we got to see a young tusker chipping away at a tree for its bark repeatedly. The weather was dry and so was the forest, forest fires happening in some places, scarcity of water and dry throats, its tough for the animals and the monsoons are eagerly awaited. Very few waterholes survive the summer onslaught and some are filled by the department to beat the heat and the bigger ones shrink to quarter their size during the summer months.

But, it felt good to be back in the forest and enjoying the magpie robin’s show at every nook and corner, on every branch and stump, the peafowl’s in group waiting for the rains, the jungle fowl cuckooing everywhere, the faint alarm calls of the sambar deer or the barking deer far away hinting of a predator movement, the 7 sisters or the jungle babblers babbling all around, the numerous birds who can only be heard but not seen owing to the dense canopy and growth, the fearless wild dogs who run, chase and eventually eat their prey when still alive, those tense moments when you wait without luck for a cat to stride out from the rustling bushes, a monitor lizard on the tree, a star tortoise having lost its way on the jeep track, the hoopoe’s and mynah’s sharing the same trunk of the tree, those elusive raptors soaring high and mighty, the crumbling of branches indicative of a tusker nearby, a ton of black mass revealing itself as a lone gaur giving you a quizzed look, you blink and miss the elusive barking deer; the barks, grunts, and whoops of the silver coated hanuman langur’s high above, the wonderful win-win co-existence of the deer’s and the primates, the sounds of the bamboo cluster or the trees made by the howling winds, the eerie silence you encounter in the middle of a jungle – well, I can just go on and on… :) The joy of being in a forest can only be felt, not said!

After an eventful stay, we were on our way back home on the bike’s and starting mid afternoon, we reached Mysore pretty fast and early maintaining a decent speed and riding single lane. After a heavy lunch, Guru started feeling the tiredness, hampering our ride back and taking numerous breaks to stretch. Finally, reached home before dusk set in and hit the sacks right away recounting each and every moment of the wonderful journey we undertook.