sunday at ooty's kindness...

since my trip to ooty, i have been trying to write about the trip, but i was not in the best shape... things are just where they were and not a bit of change for good... to add to this few happenings around me made it still worse, like the horse that died next to my house and the nagging stiff back i have caught, i wish to write about it, but i feel i better not make everyone sad reading my column...

Trip route - home-mettupalayam-conoor-ooty-pykara-doddabetta-home
Why this trip? - wanted a hill ride in my bike for long
Total distance - 240 kms start to finish
Time - 8 hours
who all? - only me :-)

this trip had been pending since May 1, my bike was getting fixed and was available only by May 16, but since then peace had been broken at my personal front and was going through turbulent times... it's still no better... some how life rolls on but definitely not good...

Anyways coming back to my trip on sunday, i got ready and left home by 9, as i hoped it was all clear and sunny, having just my camera and a rain coat i was thinking perhaps i will need a weather jacket if its going to be cold at ooty... but the weather reporter in me looked in the direction of ooty and saw no clouds and decided that a rain coat will be just enough :-) which i was proved wrong later...

off we go, me and my bike, my camera, two sets of batteries, 2 GB memory stick, two mobile phones i use, few hundred rupees to take care of my hunger and fuel for bike... filled about 200 rs of petrol for my bike at thudiyalur and fired up my bike doing 80 kms/h zipping through the slow Sunday traffic on mettupalayam road, through periyanaikenpalayam and karamadai in no time i was at mettupalayam... navigating the busy roads of mettupalayam crossed the bhavani river bridge and black thunder only to be welcomed by the lush greenery and the really empty road... doing 90K around corners towards kallar was a warm up... yes... the thrill of throwing a nice bike around the twists and turns at scary speeds is something... and knowing how to do it sanely and safely that no one ends up 6 feet under the ground is another...

Forgot to mention that my bike is a 180 cc bajaj pulsar from year 2002 that i bought in 2007 as pre-owned when i was in B'lore, the mechanic in me had fiddled and tweaked it and made it a bit mean machine... so it rides and sounds like no ordinary bike... zooming past fellow bikers who were in much leisurely pace, i just crossed the very old cantilever steel bridge at kallar and stopped by to take my first picture, good... a welcome stop at 40 kms from home...

quickly back on road and the ghat section started, the first hairpin bend that signals the start of ghat road and endless fun :-)... i should thank the highway department for flawless roads and the repair works they have done anticipating the monsoon... as the tourist season was over, there weren't much of vehicle traffic... few buses, few cars, and surprisingly very few bikers... i had my apprehensions about how my bike will handle in the hill road... coz i have not done a good hill ride on it... and it's been four years since i went to ooty at all... the bike was nice, was doing 70k at corners that i wouldn't even dare otherwise in the city... the more i pushed it, capable it felt... tyres were good, brakes were good, ride was good... all the while the engine was freeing itself screaming from the bottom of it's throat and eating up one vehicle after the other... the twists and turns the short stretches, the wet and dry roads, the clear sky shining through the greenery, the occasional traffic jams at hairpin bends... i didn't bother to care about rest of the world, just one thing was in my mind... it's my day... i am going to ride it all the way as if there is no tomorrow... i am in mind for a ride, some recklessness included but no harm meant...

there was a guy on another bike, a bajaj eliminator having the same engine as mine but the chassis is a cruiser... gave him a good company till some time but i pushed my bike and i was leaving him behind... i don't pick up any road rash, i just enjoy a fellow biker's company... at the end of the day i too want him to take a good memory home... going past the wellington, temperature started falling and i felt the cold air through my helmet... and reaching coonor brought some drizzle and even colder air, i took the road to ooty, bit too much of traffic and was not the best ride to enjoy... and even made worse by the drizzle and the dropping temperature... and now i started shivering with no warm clothing to keep me warm... getting into the city it was raining a bit and me already soaking through the rain coat... believe me the rain coat is not meant to protect you, it will just delay the process of getting soaked :-) when it rains...

aah!! in ooty and now what!!! in just one and a half hour i was in ooty from home, roughly 70 kms i believe... i just spotted a coffee day and decided to get a warm coffee... and a much needed break... having a chit chat with guys there and gulping a grand mug and munching double choco chip cookies, i found my next ride will be to pykara a reservoir and a boating place... but i was a bit worried about the rain outside... spending 15 mins and warming up a bit, grabbed my camera and the rain coat and walked into the rain outside, rain??? who cares i am here to live it too... took the road towards gudalur, don't remember the milestone numbers but it said it's a national highway, a short distance later the road was almost deserted and the rain now turned into the occasional drizzle... the perfect scene i would have asked for... open roads, bit of a clear sky and a bike to ride... open throttles see my bike doing 70-90 kms on average... all the while being careful about the wet road and the trash from the forest canopy that had fallen and covered parts of the road... the moist air, feeling cold at my face... the roads were mostly left handers and worth taking corners at good speeds, i should say again that the roads were the best, never i had to bother about a rough patch or a bad road... i enjoyed riding every bit of 24 kms sometimes thorugh thick fog and eerie forest wood, to reach pykara... spending few good minutes at pykara, took a few pics of the lake, bits and pieces, i was not in best of my spirits to enjoy the time there, i didn't have my peace within to stop and make it memorable, i was missing someone very dear, missing the purpose, missing the joy and happiness, missing myself, lost in the puzzle of hard times, only time will answer my worries...

.... to be continued in part 2