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wonderful shots of sunset,keep pouring more

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Biru

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Day 1 :: Cut to Krishnagiri halt :- It was 5:35 AM and we decided to pull through the next stretch. Inner of the riding gear quietly slipped into the saddlebag and odometer constantly stayed beyond 100 KMPH. After 2 hours and 172 kms of hard riding we stopped somewhere near Namakkal. Fluid intake and outlet was the need of the hour, needless to say semi sore bums also needed some cooling

With sunlight the machines cried to be shot and we had to oblige them, came out the camera not the Nikon but Xperia. The place was not so beautiful to deserve some space on our Sandisk SD cards :P . So the first pic of the trip goes like this. Pardon me for the noise and other faults in the pic as it was just Mobile camera in Auto mode


20 minutes of break and we are back on the saddle, and as described above next pit stops were within 100 KM's and were so much dehydrating that photographic soul took a back seat, boring highway also needs to be blamed for this. 20 KM's to Kanyakumari we passed through the windmill farms and decided that we will capture those during the ride back as reaching destination was the prime priority at that time. Reached KK, checked in to a cheap lodge, 450 RS per day :P . Money was needed for the "other" fluid,food and petrol . Freshening up took 20 minutes and we decided to explore the city. Cool breeze was blowing giving hints that somewhere it rained. I dunno but the below song and video flashed to my mind



Gave my thoughts a break and came to the realm of reality, which told me that Fuel tank of NS was almost empty and can do max only 20 KMs. I was in a no mood to hunt for a Gas station. Damn the 12 Ltr tank. I so much envied ZMA for its huge 17 Ltr capacity. Subbu was at his real best again and his Delhi waala "Koi nai Koi nai" soothed me and we decided do take our Redbull only for the recci.

Reached the Kovalam beach ( not to be confused by the Kovalam of Kerala ) and now Subbu was quiet eager to let his ZMA taste the sea water. Of-course after the snow of Ladakh last summer, this ride was always on his priority list. I took the back seat with a cunning smile and let him enjoy the moment.
Here is he unable to contain his excitement while posing. P.S: He garnered maximum likes of his FB history for this pic :P


Nikon's were feeling really left out as both the pics were taken without their consent. We obliged them

The pan India Old warhorse Tourer


Another view of it. Subrata was unable to contain the happiness and it all got potrayed in the pics


It was 4 PM and tides started to come. We were unaware that more beauty is in the store for us



the cool breeze was so soothing that I left the camera work to Subrata and decide to take a power nap Never felt so nice while sleeping on the beach



While subbu was clicking random pics and I was lost in my dreams about my planned honeymoon in Bahamas. To clear all doubts, I am not engaged to anyone. Its just a wishful dream though I like one girl but for her I am just a "good friend". Excessive SRK dose to be cursed for all these "friends thingy", why she has to be Anna from "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa" for me. Why can't she follow the "Pyar dosti hai" funda from KKHH and be the Anjali for this Raj..... Raj, Raja...sounds similar right :P...

OK, Enough of my self bragging and lets get back to reality.Half an hour later subbu woke me up and we started our city raid again. The plan was to go to one secluded beach far from the milling crowd and enjoy the serenity of the water. A small road pass led us to a scenic point. The place was not empty though. Few foreign bikini clad beauties were drenching themselves in the salty water. Subbu gave me a wicked smile ( self praising mode one :P ) and I grinned back. The only shots taken at that point were by the retina of our eyes.
"There is something that is best viewed by the eyes, for everything else there is a SLR "

Once they were done, dressed up and left our eyesight back came out the SLR's. Let the pics do the talking now

group of kids enjoying the view





Rocks which will eventually provide us serene view the day after







Tiruvalluvar statue. Don't know If I spelled the name rightly or not



If there is 300 mm lens, birds needs to be captured, doesn't matter even if it is a crow



Before calling it a day we decided to visit Vivekananda rock and captured this glowing beauty

It was already 7:30 PM and by this time and Subbu started grumbling.. Well I can understand his pain, the time for the "other" fluid has come :P. We searched for Wine shop and to our surprise only found one, asked for Blender's pride and Teacher's. Came out a disinterested answer "Only Peter Scott or Signature". Damn, which place on the earth are we? All the praises and respect which I had for Amma during afternoon turned into sourness. Settled with Peter Scott, packed some chicken, bought Paper glasses and paper plates( Plastic is banned there which is very good ) , enough water for the night and left for the Lodge.

2 hours of dinner and we retired for the bed. Next day was supposed to be a relaxing day with a beach bath.
Needless to say Day 2 to follow soon

Nice Teaser...Super pics...Now please serve the main course

Thanks a lot guys for liking the log and also sorry for the delayed updates, being an employee of the World's third largest Investment Bank means extended work hours and less time for personal life during weekends....OK OK....without cribbing much about my job anymore lets cut directly to day 2


Day 2:: Day 1 ended with the regular status update call to my mother and as usual I got bashing for another long ride that too in summers, after couple of minutes of bashing I got orders to visit the Kumari Kanya temple and other holy places which I out of disinterest agreed and kept the call. Perfect example of a Momma's boy
Subrata had already plans to capture the sunrise and we settled for that. well, momma's boy please keep quiet now and don't retaliate


Morning 6:15 and we were ready to start the day. Capturing the silhouette of Vivekananda rock as the foreground for the rising sun was the dream which we had whole night. But the jinx of the trip haunted us in our this plan too. Over reliance on technology is the culprit this time. Android weather app ( Google proprietary) showed 6:27 AM sunrise time for the day and we were at the "venue" by 6:30, only to find that we were 15 minutes late and missed the glorious rising sun


Out came the DR plan ( for non IT guys DR means Disaster recovery )... chuck the silhouette and switch to other subject.


So here how it goes.....already risen sun captured as sunset...Hats off to our Creativity :aikido:





A fisherman collecting the sea-shells. does anyone remember this childhood tongue twister


She sells seashells on the seashore;
The shells that she sells are seashells I'm sure.
So if she sells seashells on the seashore,
I'm sure that the shells are seashore shells.





The first sign of the beautiful water





Oh yes, I did visit the Kumari Kanya temple but it was confined to completing one full cirlce across its periference. Promise was of visiting it not of entering it
The agnostic rider soul at its best again and God must be taking note of it.

Time for breakfast and we again had paper dosa and Vada with 2 full cups of tea. Man these people really know how to make awesome Vada's. Tummy was full and it was time for some morning walk before we can again retire for bed till afternoon . Some few more snaps came along the way


if you won't bless us with Sunrise we will capture the view in some other way



This is just some abstract photography



It was already 8:30 AM and we decided to take some rest. Oh yes!!! we are morning sleepers. Subbu checked the clicks at the lodge before retiring for the bed..


12:00 noon and we were back in action. G maps came out again, it doesn't matter how much destiny tries to trick us with its wicked tricks we will go by our tried and tested ways . Zeroed on Muttapathi Fisherman colony to be as our next target. NS was still out of fuel and ZMA was proudly boasting of its half full tank..
Sigh!!!!It has to be pillion ride again...15 mins of GPS navigated ride and we were at the fisherman colony. What we saw next can be best described via SLR captures only


Calm sea showing us its serenity



Who said wrecked boats doesn't provide a nice view



The fishing boat. Well, its their daily source of bread and butter



Motley collections of boats all set for the hunt



Half a KM walk and it led us to this pavement.



Another view of the pavement. different angles and different aperture width adds dimension to the view





Now the same pavement san the boats





Time for some posing. Enough of objects, subjects and nature beauty. Afterall it was we who made this trip possible. No point keeping the trip log bereft of us.


Subrata, As always his love for staying geared up showed here too





Often camera shy me trying to give an uncharacteristic pose. The newly grown mustache needed a showcasing





During our self obsessive photo-shoot a fisherman stopped by. From his half Tamil, half English accent I could only make out that he was asking where we were coming from.
I proudly replied, Bangalore 11 hours ride . The look on his face was worth million dollars... half amused, half confused he ran out of words and continuously repeated Bangalore 4-5 times along with his some Tamil banters. When he left the riders inside us high five'd and we marched on to explore the village more. Exploring the unknown is and has always been fun.


after 1 KM of off-roading we reached the other end of the village, and I found the rock where I will mediate. If Narendra nath can mediate ,become Swami Vivekananda in the same town and also acquire Nirvana then why not me. After all I am also a bong like him .
The meditation rock for the Wannabee Narendranath





While I was literally trying to meditate and freeing up my mind from weird chain of thoughts, Subbu was busy clicking the waves. For him, capturing the moment and places is what matters the most and being a nice roomie I always let him be. For the next 10 minutes he was busy and came up with some nice shots


Cant stop shooting this from different F distance
20 mm



200 mm





Aha!!! some nice waves



10 mins later Subbu kicked me on my back and made me realize that with all the "paap's" I have done in my lifetime, I simply cant achieve Nirvana by meditation. Even if I do, I will have to live a celibate life...... Oh well!!! mere thought of celibacy made me realize that I'll have die as a single soul if it happens.
Vatican city has recently conferred its new Pope and they don't need another one very soon, also my Bahamas honeymoon plan was still ON. Stood up and trudged off to explore more :excited:


We visited the Vivekanada Ashram next and man what a place it was. so much peace and calm. we wanted to stop and capture but then peace shouldn't be disturbed. 5 mins of travel inside the ashram and we were out in the city again. A wrong led us to the "right" place. 3 Bengali restaurants were lined up provoking us to attack them....Oh yes, It was already 2:15 PM. Lunch time folks. We stopped, spoke to each other via our eyes and decided.... cut the crap of idli vada sambhar dosa and thali when there is "Ilish maach" and "Bhetki"
Ilish is Hilsa Fish found mostly in sea water and Bhetki is barramundi fish, another sea water delicacy


We entered the Amar Bangla hotel and ordered typical bong Thali consisting of Rice, Masur Daal, Alu posto ( Potato cooked in mustard sauce ) , Saag Bhaja ( Spinach ), Cabbage masala and ofcourse fish . Quenching our Bong tummy took its own sweet time and by the time we were finished gobbling, burping took over


The amar bangla Hotel





Now as were painted and dented in Bong color ( pun Intended ), like a true Bengali it was decided that its the time to hit the bed again. Bengali's are one of the laziest people and love their afternoon nap so much. How could we have gone outside that tradition. Came back and dozed off, promising sunset and sea bath will be the motto for the evening.


5:30 PM and we were ready again to explore the same secluded beach ( where we had encountered foreign beauties ) this time to take a proper sea bath and capture the setting sun.


On the way to the beach we encountered this view



5 minutes later we reached that place and man it was our lucky day. Waves were at their full flow and sun was proudly taking the leave after a hard day at office


The panoramic view of the place



Me in awe of the waves





Subbu thinking how far can I swim against the tide





For the next few images I will let the pics do the talking and leave it to the readers to enjoy the sight and caption them











The best shot of the trip.. Took 15 mins and 3-4 camera setting changes to make it picture perfect





It took the nightfall to shoo us away from that place. Time for tanking up for the return journey and have a light dinner. Took a shower after reaching the lodge and went for Gas station hunt. The first turn and cops stopped us asking for License and RC. I showed him both. Karnataka registration compelled him to ask me again the same rhetorical question of our starting destination. Out came Bangalore as the answer in a Jiffy... Bangalore aaa, Bike aaa, Crazy aaa.......... I just smiled took back my DL and went ahead for refueling. Refuel, Air pressure check has to be followed by the dinner. We stopped by a hotel which screamed loudly "marwadi, Gujrati, Punjabi and other north indian thali available" , only to find that he just had one one so called North Indian Thali which he believes that entire West India and North Indian people happily eats.


Another point taken away from Amma for having such crooks there :cry2: Point tally now stands at +1 v/s -2
It was very hot and humid there and Subbu promptly suggested that lets leave by 2 AM so by the first ray of sunlight we cover the maximum distance. My first reaction was "how the hell we will capture the windmills at 2 in the night?". He just said next ride to KK and we will do that. I grumbled.....whatever..huh....


It has been an eventful day, exploring the unexpected, finding some pleasant and some not so pleasant surprises. with all these thoughts and sweating bodies we retired by 10:30 PM with a plan to ride out by 2 AM.


Short log of the final day to follow soon...............

Good debut on xbhp. Now please stop this hillock hopping and gear up for the big one

Beautiful pictures of the seashore. Seems the tides are rising high.

And nice to see some well-toned muscles of a hunk.

Very soon mate very soon

egarly waiting for your last log :P

should have tried Punjabi Dhaba at KK great veg food.I'm a bong too but hate those Bong Restros food so when ever I was in KK Punjabi Dhaba is the place for my food.

Enjoying the log till now at its best...Eagerly waiting for the rest...

A well enjoyed down to earth ride .

Just being Salman Khan

Sorry for the delayed post guys. Was busy contemplating and then finally booking my Baby Ninja 300 White . Next log maybe on it

Without wasting any time cut to Day 3:
Hot and humid weather really drained us on Saturday night and no matter how much we tried to sleep we were constantly getting bugged by the power cuts and heat. Finally at 1 Am we decided lets start packing. A quick shower followed by lazy packing routine and were firing up our engines by 2 AM. Subrata decided that first pit stop will be after 1 hour and cruising speed will be 65 KMPH max. Well if we cant capture the windmills then better ride slow and appreciate the beauty by eyes only....As they say For your eyes only. No matter how much I visualize the windmills I still miss capturing them. A tripod was the need of the hour to capture the beauties in Bulb exposure

We had just crossed Madurai and first ray of sunlight blessed us. Cruising speed also got increased from 65 to 95. 3rd pit stop and came out the camera's again

Sunrise from Day 3:


3 days had passed and we didnt had any picture in our riding gears. Cant stop posing for the sake of safe biking practice

Subrata :


And finally me




Just before we were getting ready to start again



started at around 7 AM and after another 100 KM of riding we stopped after the toll of Dindugal to have breakfast. I must say the Tolls on the south Indian highways provides a nice view



I dont know what were these and what they do but they blessed us with a nice click



The parking lot of the cafeteria. These 2 cars were following us for long and stopped with us for food and drinks



after a nice heavy breakfast of Dosa and vada's we started again targeting Salem as our next stop, which was some 145 KM's away. A boring cruise on 90 KMPH suddenly became dangerous when a TN state Transport bus whisked past by Subrata keeping a mere 1/10th meter of distance. I almost froze seeing that, regained control over myself, overtook Subrata and asked him to pull over. It was not at all safe to ride now. Even he had also lost concentration. Next Coffee shop and we stopped to regain touch and liquid re-fuel

10 mins to the stop and few school kids came near us. Riding gears and saddle bags might have enticed them to talk to us. "Bhaiyya, you look like Hero. just like racing dude" . I could just blush with the compliment and yes offered them a 500 ML coke pet bottle. "Hero" tag was too much for me. Of course another point to Amma was given and now the score stands even stevens at +2 to -2

Then came Krishnagiri and we refueled and stopped for our final photo shoot of the day

The trustworthy machines



Its me getting connected to my Social world and checking the likes on my FB check-ins and pics


And finally the most controversial pic of this tour defying all safety riding habits and just posing for the camera



after enough photo shoots it was time to reach back home. Our beloved beds were calling us and back and bums were crying to hit them. 2 hours of final hard ride and we reached home. A nice cold shower followed by some cooling and we were off to bed. The soft mattresses and nice pillows were so soothing.

A dream run to KK got done and dusted and I slept with a dream of riding out long after the Monsoons. nice sweet wet tarmacs and curvy twisties will be a real fun to ride.