Prologue

Since the last two years I had been wanting to do a ride down South, but my efforts did not fructify and so life went on, until Gurpratap who is my riding buddy resurrected this lost dream of mine. Initially we planned the ride for the Diwali week which was full of holidays, hotel bookings were made, much planning was discussed and our tails were high in the air and then due to some work commitments Gurpratap informs me that Diwali week wasn't possible, Argh, Deja Vu all over again. Anyway, after a few days passed he informed me that we can make the trip Nov 5 to Nov 12 (Nov 13 Sunday rest day). Game on, ride on! As our initial ride plans were for Kodaikanal and then Valparai for which hotel bookings were available only Nov 8 - 11 we decided to include the southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari. So once again the world was bright and hotel bookings, planning was discussed, bike suspensions softened (Thruxton front and Ninja Rear) for the long haul, chain lubed, oil & coolant levels checked, luggage kept ready etc and we were set to Go --->

Day 1 and 2 : Pune - Tumkur - Kanyakumari

Day 1 - We had decided to meet up at 5 am Saturday Nov 5th but were there ten minutes earlier all bright eyed and bushy tailed. Our first stop was at the vada pao stall just before Khambatki ghat where we stopped for a cup of tea amidst a very cold morning ride thus far. There are many diversions on account of the numerous flyovers that are still being built whilst the authorities dream up of even more to add on this chaotic stretch of highway. We pushed on with the sun beginning to rise and the weather getting now freezing cold. It was so cold that my eyes began watering but we soldiered on, pushing the pace, keeping in mind we had to make Tumkur before dark. Another quick and welcome tea break after the Satara toll I rode like a frozen statue to Sai Inn Kolhapur which we reached at 8 am. My hands were shivering as we tucked into a idli and medu vada breakfast washed down by some hot tea. We decided not to take our jacket liners off as it was still quite cold.

Past Kolhapur we were able to open up the throttle and before we knew it were past Nipani and heading for Hubli. Somewhere along that lovely piece of road my tail bag went flying off and hit the road. Fortunately it rolled to the side away from traffic and was relatively unscathed. It was here that we came across a long procession of goats being herded in a most orderly fashion. We soon hit the single lane 30 km stretch before Hubli town which slowed us down as it was difficult to overtake safely but overall it wasn't too bad as the road is smooth. Past Hubli, we were back on the four-lane highway heading to Chitradurga. Amidst fuel breaks and short refreshment stops along the way we pulled into Tumkur at 5 pm and dived into the first decent looking hotel we saw called Citria Three Star Hotel which charged us Rs. 1500/- for an AC double room off which we took one each. We proceeded to unload our bags and then wiped our bikes down which became a routine at the end of each day's ride. After a refreshing shower and a massage by those shower jets in the panel (see video) we settled down for some mild beer and dinner. Dinner consisted of the most amazing prawn chilly and chicken pepper fry. We had completed a distance of 798 km.

Day 2 - We began our ride from Tumkur at 6 am and we were heading to Hosur via NICE ring-road to meet friends Kurush and Zahara who got up early in the morning and braved the drive to meet with us for breakfast along-with their pooch Buddy. After paying a toll of Rs. 60/- which was well worth it given we bypass all that horrendous Bangalore traffic one keeps hearing about. The NICE road is well really nice and for some part of the distance we did a high speed run against a Verna going pedal to the metal. We caught up with Kurush's Mahindra Thar jeep somewhere a little before A2B Hosur which was our designated breakfast stop. We spent close to two hours chatting and digging into some scrumptious south Indian food. Kurush whispered he had a surprise for us that was waiting in the car (I love surprises). The surprise turned out to be the most relaxing massage which was from neck to lower back by this massage chair he had bought recently and had fitted in his jeep.

Fresh from the TLC, we were gung-ho and ready to ride on by around 10.45 am. Our destination as per the plan was for Dindigul where we were to stop for the night. We soon entered Tamil Nadu and the roads were just awesome, the best that I have ridden on. Along the way and I think a little before Krishnagiri we stopped at a KDFC outlet where some other bikers were chilling out for a our first cup of filter coffee. I was hooked! The coffee was like no other and which we relished the entire time we spent in TN. After introducing ourselves and engaging in a vibrant chat the group dispersed and we continued our ride to Dindigul.

We reached Dindigul at 1 pm and proceeded to ride into the town in search of a hotel. After a local gave us directions we had to backtrack some distance and had to off-road a couple of kilometers under an upcoming flyover to reach the only two hotels in Dindigul. Both were full! Some marriage party had descended into town and had booked all rooms. So we then decided to have the famous Dindigul biryani for lunch at Thalappakatti. This eatery was established in 1957 and has branches in Kuala Lumpur, US, Dubai and a host of places in the South. Sadly the mutton biryani didn't live up to our expectations but the mutton roast which was delicately spiced was good but the service was terrible and indifferent. I could hear the cook bellowing in the kitchen for crying out loud. After lunch, we left Dindigul at 3.30 pm and decided we try our luck for accommodation further on near Madurai. We pulled up on the highway at Madurai at 4.30 pm and were undecided as to whether we should bother entering the city to look for accommodation or should we continue riding. We continued riding, also because the hotel sign boards before had ominous advertisements like Veg, High Class Veg, Even Higher Class Veg.

In a short while the sun began to set and soon became dark. This is where the road becomes barren for things like hotels, though in the dark we could see large neon lit boards displaying hotel, we discovered that these were just eating joints and not places to stay. After pulling over a few times and found this hotel stuff repeating itself we reached Tirunelveli which was just 85 km from Kanyakumari. We decided to push on and finish our ride the same day. We reached our hotel Tamil Nadu Hotel (TTDC) at 9 pm and checked into a Twin Cottage AC off which we had one each. After unloading our bags we went to look for mild beer as the hotel only served strong ones which we dont have. TN is the most miserable place to get liqueur as it is sold by the Government Licensed shops, all of which are dark dingy seedy looking places with rot gut to pass off as booze. No mild beer available! After picking my feet up over some sprawled drunks outside the shop and passing through the alley stinking of urine we decided to skip the beer for the night and head to the hotel for some R&R. My odometer read 1575 km and we had covered 777 km for the day.