Motorcycle Diaries - Kemmannugundi



The greatest heights of Karnataka - Kemmannugundi.. This was the third time we were planning this trip and hence were pretty strong willed on making it, come what may.

At first, we made the plan with 3 people. A number of people seemed interested on being told about it though.. and like the saying goes.. "Log aatey gaye aur karwan banta gaya".. The highest we reached was a group of 12 people to join in with 8 bikes! Well, the joy of a big-gang trip plan was short-lived; as people soon started backing out. And finally one night before the trip, just the original 3 were left :)

The route


Nice road, scenic ponds, green surroundings... life!



Thats Akhil... A saying about him goes:
"His speed doesn't vary with the quality of the road; only his pillion rider's luck varies..."
- Anon


After battering many a butt, he now rides alone.




The hour long trek to Z - point. Amazing .. Adventurous .. Awesome!


The winds are so damned strong that you can barely stand still for a few milliseconds


On the way from Kemmannugundi to Chikmagalur.
Whoever told Abdul that it's a bad road probably rides on the runway.

After this, came the Belur temple, lunch in Hassan and then the only bad part of the trip.. an incomplete highway between Hassan and Nelamangala.
All in all, a well spent weekend. Looking forward to the next road-trip.



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Apologies from God




You wanted to be the king of the land

And all I've made you is a pawn in my hand


The devil and I play a game of gore

And here is how we keep score


Taking turns, we play with your mind

And whom you obey, gets one point


You build me a temple and I'm in the lead

You crush it to dust and I recede


You build me a mosque, but all in vain

'Cause then the devil strikes again


You make, you break and make and break

And truly believe it's all for my sake

You snap and swear and cry in pain

Until it's too much for you to take


Perplexed, you look for guys to blame

And kill your brother in my name

It's not about the points any more

This, for me is a matter of shame.


I walk through your mind, trying to make a mark

But sometimes the door's shut and the room, pitch dark

The devil smiles at me from the inside

I humbly move on and let him reside.


You think you're smart and voice your views

You think you get to decide and choose

While it's just a game I play with the devil

And whoever may win, YOU LOSE.


Sorry dude... No hard feelings



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Kailas Gad - Easy trek with mind blowing views

Had been to Kailas Gad on saturday. Not many know about this fort mostly because it is surrounded by more famous forts. It must have been only a watch fort during Shivaji's time because it does not seem strategically important considering that it is surrounded by Loh Gad on the Lonavala side and Sinhgad on the other side.

A road going right from the base of Tamhini Ghat takes us to a village named Waghwadi from where the trek starts.This road goes along the backwaters of the Mulshi Dam which is what makes a trip to this fort a refreshing experience. Also from the top you see the whole view of the backwaters surrounding the fort on three sides.

Here are a few snaps of the trip.

Some classic photography on the way














The bikes....The enfield looks the best as always :)













 A Classic view on the way to Kailas gad. We could not resist waiting here for a while. Besides since we had cousins Digital SLR with us it was worth waiting.













 The lush green mountains just made us feel refreshed already.














Whole group except for the Photographer...













 Nice view half way from the fort. Mulshi Backwaters.













 Beautiful view of the Kailas Gad. We had to still climb the mountain seen in the snap.













 The queen of the fort we called her. She does not look less beautiful than Katrina Kaif. Thats the beauty of SLR. I was a little afraid that after clicking the snaps she would ask for her modelling fees. some 100 Rs per snap or something. We had clicked quite a few snaps of this lady.



























"Gai Humari Mata Hain, Agey kuch nahi ataa hai" 













Have you seen a flying Human? No it is not Milkha singh. It is our own SLR owner.













Finally the tired, exhausted group with a thought in the mind that we need to still travel 90 Kms.













All in all not a difficult trek, but a very refreshing one. Or you can say can be a romantic trek rather than a hectic one.

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Mr Aurangzeb's city

Had visited Aurangabad on a weekend in May on my new unicorn. Was a great experience and I proved myself the quote that "Four wheels move the body while two wheels move the soul".

We were just two of us on two different bikes to attack Aurangzeb in his own city.


Here are some snapshots of the experiences we had.

Me with my girl friend...

It seems this is the famous Delhi darwaza at Aurangabad. I wonder what is it doing at Aurangabad. It must be an consequence of some silly demand from one of aurangzeb's wife that she wants to stay in Delhi and Aurangzeb must have fooled her in this manner. Believe me, when it comes to wife's wishes the mughals could go to any extent...


The tar on our way to Ajanta Caves.


Ajanta Caves view. They are basically monastries from the 5th century. They have some amazing architectural desings and i must say the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) have preserved them with care. No camera flashes are allowed in the caves so that the bright light does not deteriorate the paintings.


 

An example of the architectural intelligence of the 5th century men.
 

Ghrisneshwar Temple. One of the shiv jyotirlingas. The place is called Verul. We had a real good learning experience the previous night. We reached here at 12:00 from Ajanta caves as we got so engrossed in the caves that we did not realize the time. We could not find a lodging and were thinking to stay on the road. But by God's grace we found one just besides the temple. Moral of the story: Stay wherever you are by 9:00 PM when you are at an unknown place.


We two exhausted with the experience we had the previous night. We had slept at 2:00 AM in the morning and we were back on tar the next morning at 6:30 AM.



She was the only one supporting me whole heartedly for anything i wanted to do :). This view was on the way to Daulatabad fort.


Daulatabad fort. It gives you an measure of Mughal intelligence. It is not easy to rule almost whole of India when other kings like Shivaji, Pratap singh rana and brave rajputs always on your look out. It had in all 5 safety layers. The most interesting was a dark cave which was the only way to enter the fort. It seems the troops use to hide there and in case the enemy manages to cross all the earlier safety layers and reaches the dark cave, the troops hiding in the dark cave would attack them.

This is called the "Chand Minar". It was a sort of announcement point. This is one view from the top of the fort.

Great experience. Would be visiting this again in the rains. Should be more fun.

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Times Cycle To Work


Cycling rally on Saturday 5 June 2010.
Over 2000 cycles to see, some more expensive than bikes :)










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Hari weds Nayana

Hari wed Nayana on Wed 2 June 2010, Bangalore



The ceremony

The dos and don'ts

See! Shooting star!

The rest of us (I'm clickin')

Highlight: Clyde's neck was locked at 27ยบ from the mean position arresting the rotary degree of freedom.










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Motorcycle Diaries - Pondicherry

Pondicherry trip


Since we've all become very busy (read lazy) nowadays, blogging isn't really possible. I thought I could utilise this webspace to keep picture records of my trips.. hehe

This one's about my Pondicherry bike trip with friends and family on 6-7 Feb 2010

The route


Somewhere down the road


Thiruvanamalai TempleSaapaad near the temple
Gingee Fort And the other sights on the beach




The famous Le Cafe

All in all.. we had a good time :)

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