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Vivek called on a Thursday evening : "U’ll be free this weekend right ?
Lets meet at Ooty"
"Sorry da, I’ve to attend my
colleague’s engagement .", I replied
"Oh yeah ? "
"I’m serious , I really have to "
"Ok . "
"I cant avoid that function , its like
this colleague has been my friend for so long now "
"Hmmm.."
Thats Vivek Chandrashekar . My guru &
friend . He does not get angry , or use abusive language even if you
are telling him , that you can’t come for the gettogether. And
before you know , you would be packing your bags and putting on your
jackets.
Vivek is working in Dell, Banglore and
he caught hold of his friend , Parinitha who owns a bullet . Pari , it seems was desperate for a long trip on his bullet and
Vivek was as usuall desperate for a get away.
Saturday Morning :
Vivek gave a wake up call at 5:00 am .
I went back to sleep immediately.
Half an hour later , he called again to
inform us that they are starting from Banglore. Again I went back
to sleep.
At 6:30 am , I woke up startled and
shook moonie awake. We were supposed to leave Trivandrum by 5:30 am
atleast if we have to reach Ooty ( 500 Km away) by evening. Moonie
is in his lazy self . We decided against any kind of body wash which
might freshen us up , and mounted my machine by 7:00 am .
We reached Kollam by 8 O’ clock and
went to collect Moonie’s bike from his relative’s house. There is
hardly any rear- break in his bike , and we’ve 400 Km to cover . Its better to change the break-shoe than taking any risk . Meanwhile I could repair my indicators too.
3 valuable hours were lost while
repairing our machines , and finally by 11 O’ clock we started ourjourney on two bikes. Boss & my friends rung me up , after they saw me in full blast enroute . They were on their way to my friend’s wedding .
Weather was tooo hot for us , who are
used to the centrally air conditioned office rooms . We were stopping after every hour ( very unlikely of us ) and replenishing us with lime juice and water .
Saturday afternoon
We are in Kochi. We decided to split
here as both of us had some appointments and I had to get a bag and
bungee cord . We met again at 3 o clock and after having some fresh
juice , continued our journey to Ooty.
Saturday evening . Odo : 380 Km
Coimbatore : Its 6 pm and we are
supposedly running on time. Called Vivek to give the current
position. He and Pari had already reached Coonoor where our friend
Rajesh Banerjee ( Banu ) has arranged a cottage for us. Banu is
working in the ICICI Bank , Coonoor . Ooty is just 18 km away from
there.
Banu asked us to hurry and reach the
place by 7:30 pm atleast, as the town would be dead after that.
Moonie called his friend in Coimbatore , Brijesh who is a Automotive
Designer for Jayem Motors. Brijesh asked us to leave our bikes in
Coimbatore and join him in a Qualis . It was just 70 Km for us , so
we stuck on to our machines. It would take atleast half an hour for
Brijesh to join us, so we decided to use the time to change our
helmet visors and buy more accessories.
6pm became 7pm and then 7:30 pm .
Brijesh is still stuck up . Vivek is getting agitated as they are
stuck all alone in a big cottage with 2 full bottles and nowhere to
go . Finally after having Ghee Roast from a local hotel , we decided
to head to Coonoor. Brijesh is still half an hour away , so we
updated him about the decision and told him to catch up with us
enroute.
Saturday night. 420 Km
We reached Mettupalayam by 9 pm . Road
was pretty straight and traffic was stretched out till now. Stopped
in a Reliance pump and filled gas . Its going to be uphill drive from
now on . 30 Km of pure ghat roads. Just as we started the climb ,
we could feel the change in weather . It got cooler and cooler as we
climbed and by the time we reached Bed Ford , Coonoor I was shivering
inside the jacket. It was at 10:30 pm .
Banu came on his Activa to show us the
way , but before he could find us , Moonie found an open Cafe Coffee day . He order Hot Chocolate to get a little warmth.
Finally , we all reached the Cottage , Vishalam . “. "Gentlemen , we’ve arrived” .
Announced us to the inebriated Vivek , Pari and Banu . Moonie was dead tired by now , and
he crashed . Rest of us started our biker’s other passion "Boozing".
Saturday Midnight .
Moonie’s phone
rings and its Brijesh . I went to pick them up . They left their
Qualis at home and were on Brijesh’s Pulsar modified Aprillia .
What shocked me was that , both were not wearing any helmet or jacket
or gloves . Even with all these accessories on , I was shivering
really bad . And they are like , “whats the big deal ?” .
Reaching back at
“vishalam”, I
introduced Brijesh and his friend , Rohan to rest of the gang .
Brijesh said , he’ll wake up Moonie . After much shaking and
kicking , Moonie came online . He stared at the new face in the gang
, Rohan for few seconds.
Rohan , was the
first to break the stalemate . “You , Varghese ?” ....
“Rohan ???”,
Moonie questioned back .
The last time they
met , they were in 4th standard . !!! Meeting after almost
20 years . And still recognized each other . How many amongst us can
remember the faces of our lower primary class mates ?
So
thats how our get together started . We shifted our drinks to the
lawns outside , as we came to Coonoor to enjoy the climate. Brijesh
wanted to burn some rubber , and he was successful first time in
waking up the neighbours and their dogs . He finally got the hang of
it , was doing a burn out with one hand pointing to the sky . Vicky
took some snaps of it , and then Booom ... Brijesh went flying with
his bike after loosing the break. Both crashed near the gate , and
Brijesh burned some skin. Being a strong willed guy , he took the
bottle of scotch and poured it over the wounds. Vivek finally had to
stop him as he was concerned about the scotch going waste.
After singing and
dancing our heart out , we crashed at 5 in the morning .
Sunday Morning :
I was sleeping , so
was the rest of the gang
Sunday
Afternoooon.:
Wokeup after
nonstop pulling by Brijesh , had break fast and we all introduced
ourselves again in day light . Vicky was interested in photography ,
while the rest of the gang discussed bikes , tyres and cars.
We’ve to see ooty
and its already getting late . Finally at 3 pm , we all mounted our
bikes and left to meet Banu who was working that day also .
Fortunately, right opposite to ICICI bank was the Cafe Coffe Day
and we all thought we would wait for Banu inside the CCD . By the
time we moved out of our seats , it was 5 pm and with that ended our
hopes to reach Ooty.
To hell with Ooty ,
we decided to hang around the places near Coonoor itself and went to
Lamb’s rock and Dolphin’s nose . We enjoyed the nice climate and
nice weather and nice scenery all along with way . Met a bikenomads
member , Kartz at Lamb’s rock . He was there along with 20 odd
bullets as a part of 4th anniversary of Mad Bulls ( Madras
Bullet Club ) .
Sunday Evening :
We met Moonie’s
room-mate’s brother , John . John is just 24 years old , he is a
timber merchant in coonoor and also a big shot . Evening was spend at
his place , over drinks and chicken kabab. John had a lot of
experiences to share with us , like narrow escapes from Bison Attacks
and a close shave when a Black panther attacked them.
We all reached back
by 10:30 pm and continued our talk session right till 5 in the
morning.
Monday Noon :
Woke up by 12 and
we had our fare well coffee at Cafe Coffee Day . Moonie ordered Hot
Chocolate. The waiter came and secretly asked one of us , whats the
name of Moonie's galfriend . Since he does not have any human gal
friends that we know of , waiter came out with this . ..
Finally we all bid
good bye and was on our way back to Banglore , Coimbatore , Kochi and
Trivandrum .
Route to
Coonoor :
TVM – 220
km -- Kochi – 180 km -- Coimbatore – 40 km –
Mettupalayam – 30 Km -- Coonoor
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