Kerala December 2011: Day Six

Early morning 6, I packed my bags, readied up the cycle. Again, it was humid and hot even at this time. It took me almost an hour before I got out of the city.

Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari: Far View of the temple

 But once I was on the National highway, I managed to keep a constant pace. Reaching Kanyakumari felt a lot more peaceful than yesterday’s ride. Anything would be easier than yesterdays, I kept telling myself all along.  I reached Kanyakumari quite easily. Since I was more worried about my bike than being interested in  Kanyakumari, I just took a quick tour around the beach, snapped a few pics.

My bus reservation was from Nagercoil, so after a quick lunch, I headed back for Nagercoil. It was 20 km from Kanyakumari, but I couldn’t understand how I had missed the scenic beauty here.

I rode as slow as possible, taking in as much of the surrounding as I could.

My dear cycle, Shreya

As I waited at the bus stand, I couldn't help but smile looking at my dear cycle. She had been faithful to me all along the way. Never once did I have any problem because of her. No flat tires over the 750km ride, no crankiness, nothing. What else could I ask for.

Finally took my off from Nagercoil for Chennai at 6 in the evening.

The Crux of the expedition, why did I title it 'The Pilgrimage'

Wikipedia defines pilgrimage as 'A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. typically, a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith.' 

Well, it was no different for me. I took up the challenge of doing this because I wanted to prove to myself that I can. Just like a pilgrimage, it often made me question my motivation and incentive all along the route. It often pushed me to the brink of giving up, but I held on. And when I reached back Chennai in one piece, without much damage to me or any damage to my cycle,  I knew I had succeeded, and i still cherish the journey and will keep doing so for the time to come. After all, I DID IT!

Kerala December 2011: Day Two

The crash yesterday was more potent than it seemed. His hand swelled up in the morning and the vision was still blurry. And with 5 more days to go, it would be difficult. So he decided to go back to Chennai, and I decided to keep going.

Our second halt was supposed to be at Munnar, which was around 160 km from here, but we had underestimated the rigours of uphill cycling. And Ooty had given us just the nudge to forget Munnar, if we planned to pedal there. So the route was changed, and now it was Ponnani instead.

Road to palakkad

7:30 in the morning, I began cycling, solo towards my next destination.

The highway was awesome! It was mostly flat, and as I moved towards Palakkad, the scenery started improving as well. My excitement knew no bounds when I entered Kerala. I began hooting the moment I crossed the checkpost into Kerala, but had to shut up soon because the stares from the truckers made me feel like a fool. 

Just inside Kerala

I reached Palakkad in about 90 min, and had covered around 50 km. This was by far, one of my fastest escapades. I stopped here to fill up my bottles, and picked up some dry fruits for the way ahead. I met with similar reactions here, bike or a cycle? Is he crazy? Why does he want to cycle so much? And when they learnt that I was going to go all the way to Ponnani, they gave up on me, but nonetheless, wished me luck and went off. Often, auto-rickshaws, bikers tagged along, wanting to know where I was headed. I took my second halt at Ottamalam, had lunch here and moved on.

The all equipped dashboard ;)

The ride after this point started getting tougher. Bad, dusty roads, lots of slopes, hillocks and cattle! Your motivation while going uphill is the downhill ride that follows it, but that is interrupted by the livestock! And then I took a turn at Patambi, and didn’t realise that it was the wrong way until I had covered some 7 km, so had to turn back, get back all the way on the potholed road and reach the correction junction. This was not it, I got lot of directions from here, different people asking me to head in different directions. Giving up hope, I had to call up my friend here, and he advised me to follow the buses to Edappal, some 22 km, and from there Ponnani would be just 9 km. It was around 1 pm in the afternoon, and these distances didn’t seem very comforting, knowing the terrain was hilly. Finally, 4:30 in the evening, I reached his home.

He has the most beautiful of homes that I’ve ever seen, house surrounded by lots of trees, in a very serene and an isolated locality. And Ponnani felt a bit underrated, I wondered why it did not feature on the places worth visiting on the net. We went to the beach, had Saudi Cuisine in the evening and crashed. It was a challenging day, particularly in the 25 km. I had broken all of my previous records today, had covered 165 km, ride time of 6 hr 30 min. My back ached from the weight of my backpack, but the satisfaction was enormous.

Day Three: Ponnani to Kochi

The Pilgrimage

The journey had been planned, though not very meticulously.  A rough route had been decided. Bookings were made just a day before, with no idea whether our cycles were going to be allowed to be taken as luggage or not. Cycles had been serviced; we took spares with us; 

The essential was with us in abundance, motivation.

We reached the Koyambedu Bus Terminus almost an hour before time. We still had to confirm the luggage. The person in charge told us that we would have to talk to the bus driver, and it was his prerogative. We waited. Other travellers flocked our waiting area asking about our cycles, mostly clearing their doubts over whether these were really cycles or motor cycles. The bottles, after all, made them look like fuel tanks on a moped. The bus was delayed, by another half an hour. Our anxiety accrued. Our entire trip depended on this one decision of the driver. What if he just denied?

Finally the bus arrived, and I made it to the drivers cabin even before he could switch off the engine. And before he could say anything, I was already blabbering over my demands, or petitions maybe. The guy was confused. By then, some other bus company people came up and offered me to have our cycles delivered separately in a luggage van. No way, that was too much disconcerting. We were taking no risks, and sending our sweethearts separately was in no way an option. The driver finally spoke, and did not speak something very comforting. He said there was no space in the luggage and that he couldn’t help. What?! We weren’t giving up so easily, luggage space? That could definitely be adjusted.

With my limited lexicon of the tamil language, I somehow managed to persuade the driver to show me the space available. It seemed tight, but could be worked out. He saw the bikes, and the first reaction was: ‘You call this small-u?? No way sir, not possible.’ By then, I had already dismantled my front wheel and had put already begun loading. Ajay was doing the same. When mine was inside, the driver gave similar concerns, how will the second fit? But by then the second was in as well.

Back inside as we reclined back on the chairs, we couldn’t help, but feel overjoyed. 500 bucks for two cycles. The bus started moving.

This is what it looked like after the luggage had been emptied

Finally a much fantasized journey was taking place.

Day One: Ooty to Coimbatore