Journey to the Hills !!!

This Marathon Bike ride to Tirupathi marked my debut of travels in this vast beautiful planet. Marked by thrilling nail biting incidents the memories are sure to make my heart pound anytime.

I had a desire to go on my bike somewhere far from home. Definitely there would be a lot of thrill involved. It was the month of December 2004 and I decided that I’ll take off to Thirumala Hills. I thought I had planned the trip very well but later realized that it was a blinder.

December 10 2004, four days after my 22nd birthday - I woke up early in the morning and packed my bag with my camera, its charger, memory cards and a pair of clothes. I set off from my home as if I was going to work. I had never informed my parents as they surely wouldn’t have allowed me after the serious bike accident I had in July 2001. I went to Malleshwaram 18th cross Bus Stand where my close buddy Harsha was to join me. We formally began the ride at 8 AM offering our prayers to this goddess here in our minds.

The weather was very chill and pleasant. There was a slight drizzle in the air as we started but later it cleared and the sun was out in full glory. This is Harsha in a 'straight out of bed ' unkempt look :)

I decided to take the Hebbal Ring Road and go via Kolar. The Hebbal Flyover is really amazing and supposed to be one of the best in Asia.

My good old Hero Honda CD 100. If I look back on this trip I wonder how I could decide to go to far off place #1> on a bike #2> without a helmet #3> with a bike like CD 100 which has not so good speed and power. I guess it was just the madness and the desire for some thrill.

We soon hit the ring road. I filled petrol for 400 rupees. As Banaswadi was on the way I paid a visit to one of my colleague's home. But unfortunately she had left for office. On the way somewhere near KR Puram we went to a church. This visit turned out to play a crucial role in the end of the ride, which you will read later.

On reaching the end of the ring road near the ITI office we took a left towards Kolar. The weather was pleasant and the mood was jovial. We sang a lot of songs while riding. Harsha is a very good singer and has a wide repertoire of songs in Kannada, Hindi & English. It had been less than a month since I had got my camera and I was just beginning to enjoy photography. The sunshine on the water was nice to see. The sound made by the flowing water could be heard very distinctly.

We were stopping at a lot of places to capture those special shots. The ride was filled with songs and many conversations about a lot of things.

A fallen tree that blocked the road was being moved.

This highway here looks good in the daytime, but is considered to be one of the killer roads in the night. Nevertheless in the daytime the mountains in the backdrop add to the beauty. At around 11 AM we had breakfast at Hoskote. When we got ready to leave from here, I realized one of my memory cards was missing from my pocket. I searched the whole bag and pockets inside out, with no success. I thought it was gone and was about to start the bike. But Harsha stopped me and as a final attempt he went to check in the hotel we had been to. To my good fortune, it was lying on the ground untouched. Happily we resumed the ride.

This is a brick factory ( itke goodu ) where the bricks are baked.

I was driving at a steady speed of around 65-70. My bike can go max at 75. I had been to places like Chennapatna and Nelmangala on bike, but as this was a real long journey was enjoying every bit of it. As the air goes into the ears at high speeds, I used a band, which covers the ears (khaan patti).We stopped on a wayside teashop to have some biscuits and water. We crossed into Andhra Pradesh State sometime at 1 PM. Stopped for lunch in a hotel. I don’t remember the name, but it serves real good food and usually everyone who pass by this stop here. Andhra Food is famous for the amount of rice and the variety of side dishes served with it. It was a very filling and satisfying lunch.

Amazed to see the numerous mountains alongside.

Came across a train halted on the tracks.

The clouds make the shape of the hood of a King Cobra. We took a deviation towards Hyderabad instead of Tirupathi. After around 15 Kms I realized my fault and we had a tough time in communicating in Telugu with the locals and finding our way back.

We came across a water tank. Stopped besides it and voila in a few minutes we were on top of it. This was a lovely view of the fields beneath.

That’s me on the top who is scared of heights ;). Descended down and resumed the final lap of the journey. Just after a few minutes the bike came to a sudden halt - it had run out of fuel and guess what to our good luck, the petrol bunk was just 20-30 meters away. Would you believe it.

Finally after 10 hours at around 6 PM we reached the city of Tirupathi. It is a very crowded place. There was a real long traffic jam near a railway crossing. It was really bad. I contacted my friend Vinay in Bangalore whose dad works for TTD. He was to help me find accommodation. We checked into the Tirupathi Thirumala Devasthanam lodges. It is a huge building which looks grand from the outside. Once we checked into the room I was badly disappointed. It was not at all worth Three hundred rupees. I was furious and decided to check out immediately. We lost 200 Rupees as it had been entered into the records. I didn’t mind this. We decided to go up the hills the same night.

The whole place starting from the bottom of the hills and the whole place on top is under high security after the infamous Akshardham incident in Gujrath. After the security checks we started the ride up. It was to take 45 minutes.

The ride was too good. I remember in January 2004 when I had gone to Tirupathi in bus with my parents, I had decided in my mind the very moment I was on this beautiful ghat section that I want to come here on my bike. My dream was being realized now. The feeling then is unexplainable. My friend was singing 'So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasma' from Tezaab . It was just apt for the moment. Some of the turns were very sharp. But it was not at all challenging to go on a bike. A four-wheeler offers more thrill in such situations. Never mind it was a superb feeling.

This was somewhere in the ghat section road.

By the time we reached the top it was 9 pm. We began to explore the hill pilgrim center. So much life exists on the hills. It is amazing. Harsha and I lost our ways in the crowd. He doesn’t carry a cell phone. None of us worried and for the next 3 hours we explored the whole of thirumala individually. Finally at about 12 midnight my phone was reachable and Harsha contacted me. We met and had dinner. The whole place never sleeps. There is life 24/7 365 days a year. These colorful bangles were displayed in one of the numerous stores.

View of the gopuram in the night. I got a call from my worried dad, asking me where I was. I told him that I will be back in a day’s time and not to worry.

There are people for darshan all round the clock. We were not interested in darshan as I believe that devotion should be in the mind and heart and one should do good to others. We were here for the thrill of biking and photography.

Another 'buzzing with activity' view.

Finally we caught up with some sleep at around 2 AM guess where.......... in a jeep. It was so damn cold, very very chilling cold. We got up at around 5 AM. This golden gopuram is not visible from the outside and it has not been photographed much. I managed to get this shot somehow from I don’t remember where. We were quizzed by the security there, but then they let us soon knowing our harmless intentions :)

This one too is gold plated.

This dog here tells the whole story of how cold it was.

6 AM time again to explore. There was some change in the plans and we decided to leave thirumala to Bangalore via Chennai at around 11 am. Harsha went somewhere and got 4 Tirupathi Ladoos to take home.

The sacred kalyanis where people take a holy dip in the chill air before darshan.

People taking the mangalarathi.

We had a good breakfast in Hotel Mayura. Check out these giant masala dosas

The communication antennas and the tall wind mills on the mountains. Mountains on mountains.

The museum contains some very old historic idols, paintings, photographs, musical instruments and ayudhas.

Maha sudarshana murthy of the 16th century.

The 11th century Ganesha from Chitoor district nearby.

The sacred Narayana Pada. (Footprints of Narayana)

As I had clicked a lot the camera charge was very low. So after filling petrol yet again we spent about an hour there keeping the camera for charging. My sister called me from the US and she was shocked to know that I was here in Tirupathi and more shocked when I told I hadn’t informed anybody. When I told her that I’ll be leaving soon via Chennai, she blasted me and told me to go straight to Bangalore. I had to listen to her and so Chennai was scrapped. Know what exactly 16 days later Tsunami struck the coastal city. she still talks about her warning me not to go. Don’t know how it’s related ;)

This one here is one of the luxurious looking guesthouses. These have to be booked earlier. Next time I’m going to come here 1> drive by car 2> stay in one of these guest houses 3> a good equipment 4> a laptop for archiving the photos I shoot 5> probably a video camera 6> a long stay for 2-3 days, not a short one like this

A giant clock on the hills.

We started the journey back to Bangalore. it was around 11 AM. The ride downhill was a scenic one as we had missed out the view the previous night.

Roads winding around the mountains. The authorities have done a fabulous job in maintaining these roads neatly.

Imagine the work that must have gone behind this.

Other than the roads, for the benefit of the devotees who prefer to go to the top on foot, there are steps from the bottom to the top.

To protect against the sun and the rain the walkway is sheltered.

The deer’s on the hills

Lovely view of the rocks.

Birds eye view of Tirupathi , from the Thirumala hills.

We spent a lot of time clicking a lot of shots. This monkey here was cute.

Once again a nice formation.

This kalyani the Konda Kalva, is shown in many Tamil movies.

By the time we reached Tirupathi it was 1 PM. What takes only 45 minutes took over 2 hours. Thanks to my photography. Had a quick visit of the famous temple in Tirupathi Papa Vinasanam. Left Tirupathi for Bangalore at around 1:30 PM.

Crisscross growth of the two coconut trees.

We came across the Heritage Diary Plant and had some refreshing flavored milk

Palm Trees along the way.

Nice sight of the crane with its reflection.

This one taken by Harsha from behind while I was riding.

Couldn’t resist taking some shots even though it was getting late.

A nice view of the highway. At around 4:30 PM we stopped for a late lunch, still in Andhra Pradesh. After a quick lunch (1/2 hr) we started back for what we thought would be the last lap.

We entered namma Karnataka at last.

The sunsets were too good to be missed. So stopped just for a wee bit.

This one was taken somewhere in Kolar at about 6 pm. We were way behind our schedule as almost 4 hours. It was beginning to get dark. The whole canvas looked a bit eerie as if telling us that something drastic was to happen. We decided it was getting late and said no more photography, lets head home as soon as possible, as I was not used to drive in the night. Also the Kolar - Bangalore highway is one of the most dangerous and poorly lit roads. Added to all this, my headlight was very dim which almost didn’t serve its purpose. At about 6-30 a Volvo bus coming from the opposite direction almost came in front of my bike, I glided my bike into the un-tarred sidewalk in order to avoid the collision. Cursing the damn guy , I tried to steer the bike back onto the tarred road without realizing that the height difference between the sidewalk and the road was quite a bit. Due to this the bike going at 40 Kmph, which is not as slow as it looks like, lost the road grip and we fell flat on the middle of the road. My Jansport bag, which I was hanging around my neck, served as a cushion. I fell on top of it, my friend on top of me and the bike lay next to us. It all happened in a flash.

Thank the holy god; we were alive and breathing, barring a few bruises on the palms and knee. I missed out on the photo - This explains the seriousness of the situation we were in :) We were speechless and in a state of shock. What if any vehicle was coming either in the front or back? What if we had got the slightest of impacts on the head? What if something had happened to either one of us? There were unending it’s which haunted my mind. For your information I was not wearing a helmet, because I never do. I knew how worse a head injury could get because of a previous experience. Thanking god for his kindness and still in a state of shock we set out to Bangalore at a very slow pace because the road was not at all visible because it was completely dark.

I had lost the confidence in driving. Heading forward just a few Kms away we came across some good Samaritans in the form of Rajasthani truck drivers, who were heading from the Kolar BHEL factory to Jaipur. One of the guy by name Raju offered to drive the bike till Bangalore, while I was in the truck for about 1 1/2 hrs. It was a different experience in its own. The way these guys drive their trucks and the way they approach life. Their whole life revolves around the road and wheels, which is quite fascinating. We reached Bangalore at 10-30 PM and due to the grace of the almighty my friend Harsha and me were alive.

This was not the end of it. There was yet another piece of confusion waiting to unfold. The truck guys dropped me somewhere near KR Puram flyover and I met Raju there (The guy who rode my bike with Harsha). The punch here was that he had dropped Harsha somewhere near the ITI campus. I took an auto along with Raju and went back to the ITI office (The truck proceeded - Raju was to join them in the ring road).

Shucks when I thought everything ends well, here starts another problem. Harsha was MISSING. He doesn’t know how to ride the bike confidently. He doesn’t have a phone too and my phone is OUT OF CHARGE. I thanked Raju for his kindness and asked him to leave as it was getting late for him. I waited for Harsha hoping he comes back but that was not the case. Luckily I had a charger with me and went to a shop and put my phone to charge...within a few minutes Harsha was online. I was very new to this place and didn’t know any landmarks. Luckily the church that we had been to served as a common meeting point. I took an auto there. Ah a big relief. He was there!!!

So finally for sure we started the last lap by hitting the ring road. The roads were brightly lit. There was no problem in riding, but the confidence was lacking. We recollected all the incidents that had happened through the trip - the petrol getting over near the bunk, the ghat section drive in the night, night exploration of thirumala, both of us getting lost, the nap in the jeep, early morning exploration, the photography, call by my sister, the drive down, the accident, the truck drive - and heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally reached home at 11-20 and went to bed as if nothing had happened. The lesson I learnt from this episode was that 1> Never go on a long journey in a bike and 2> Proper planning required about accommodation, schedule. My next rendezvous with the hill shrine is going to get executed perfectly. Tirupathi - Thirumala wait until I return next... :)