Colombo feb 2015 missed beast

As all my travels are related with beast  but this was my first international exp

My first international assignment as a Chair Umpire thanks to the TOI and SLTA for giving me this opportunity.

 

My immigration took more than one hour as there were many flights landed at the same time, Dharawka and his team were waiting for me at the airport, thank you guys for the pickup nothing much difference as compared to India in weather wise, traffic is the same as here but with discipline. My accommodation was in National official house.  Big independent house I had a separate room to stay in Ground floor Thanks to Anjana for the accommodation it was like home with home food for breakfast and at times dinner if we didn't go out. The food was great at  his place and the places we had been to eat.

First Week ( Queens club)

I got in an trisho (auto rickshaw) to reach the venue, the trisho missed the route and was sightseeing for me in Embassy and defense area,  Jemin You the Supervisor  for the tournament.  Venue is quiet far from the place I stayed, it was like an hour's travel one way to reach the venue. Since the courts were slow had almost Three setters everyday and we used to be free by 3pm with not much trouble from players. We had been to Mount Lavina beach and Galle face in evening for walk during. First week just flew off.

The four legged spectator on bottom right corner

Second & Third Week (SLTA)

It was our Supervisor who was happy that he did a tournament without rain, but his words were short lived, it was almost wash out for next three days due to heavy rain, somehow finished the matches by Sunday, we had to use hard courts for one day to cover up the matches, second week used to be long but it was quick, There was one special spectator who used to come to see the matches everyday only the matches happening  in court 4.we could make time to go to Galle it's a hour's drive from Colombo. Most of my return travel from venue to house was accompanied by Prasad J in Bus, Thanks to you buddy for dropping me every day. without you it would have been tough for me to get down even though there was a big statue which almost resembled Like Muffi ( just kidding buddy).

Conclusion

Jemin You, it was nice working  with you  learnt many things from these three weeks, the coolest ref, had a great time with you on court and off court.

Anjana, thanks once again for the accommodation and special thanks to maid who used to cook veg food specially for me,  it was like home for me, but I don't know where eva I go am related to an Criminal Lawyer .

Prasad J, thanks buddy for travelling with me most of the time during return to home.

Dhwaraka E, Dinusha W and Muffi, had great company with you guys. It was an memorable great three weeks

I would like to thank again TOI and SLTA for giving me this Opportunity, without your support I wouldn't have experienced all these.

Regards,

Santhosh V

Trip 11 Go green 1736km Bhimavaram

It was an late start for the year on the beast due to work travel.  Bhimavaram 1736km march 2015

Bike

First of all I would personally thank the Enfield service center in BTM layout Bangalore for not solving the battery issue under warranty  and giving false promise to customer, cos they themselves didn't know what the problem was,( I am not being sarcastic here) its the fact that I can enter into limca book of records for the number times my bike has visited the service center in one year,  for the same battery issue. I was even promised that the issue would be solved and i would have peaceful ride during the trip, but they never even bothered about taking this one seriously.

The Ride

On Friday morning by 6am my ride commenced pleasant weather as usual in morning, roads were amazing, little further surprised to see single lane road till Naidupet which slowed my speed took my first break in Sri Khalahasthi around 11am had breakfast and continued after crossing Naidupet little further stopped for fueling bike did another full tank, it was time calculate the mileage as this was my first solo 800+km one way ride, was surprised to know that bike gave me 35kmpl had never got this mileage before in my rides, so happy to know about the mileage, it came to an end soon as the bike started to give trouble it used to go off when it was slowed down during speed breakers and an long time to start it, for my bad wasn't carrying any spares which I regularly used to, somehow managed till Adaanki 30km from Ongole in my grandma place.

Village Jatere (Ongole district)

As it was Holi the next day the district hosts an village festival once in every year 10 nearby villages come together to celebrate it  I was lucky to witness it, the crowd and the lighting was amazing the picture tells all, the horn speakers are   most of the houses didn't even have main doors, they were telling me there are no thefts here it's just us we stay no outsiders come here, as it was night couldn't take much pictures as my phone camera in night is bad.

still in use with no noise cancellations system there were 11 stages in one open ground playing different music, it's an night long festival starts at 7pm and ends at 5am next day. I could just spend half n hour there as I need to get some sleep for my ride tomorrow. Staying in rural side was different experience for me the people were so soft and nice, I stayed in a village of just 16 house, along with cattle's

Adaanki till Bhimavaram.

had to give around 15kicks to start the engine, ride started at 7am in morning the birds chirping it was an very long time since I saw sparrows, thick mist in morning made the ride a pleasant start with the same issue with bike, nearing Guntur the views of small hills with fog half covering them was an nice view, saw two dead monkeys on road due to hit and run, nearing Vijayawada around 11am the traffic was heavy and all the speed was reduced and kept the throttle high then letting the engine go off,  turned on the gps near benz circle the narrow rural roads surrounded by sea of greenery on either side was just amazing. As was entering Bhimavaram Spotted an Enfield service center stopped the bike took drop from the mechanic and left the bike for servicing ( 5days in service center), they actually did fix my battery issue and later informed that accelerator cable was gone and replaced.

The return

Started by 2.45am took Tadepallegudem route, actually there was no road for first 20km till Pipera, it took one hour for me to reach Tadepallegudem from there the NH 5 was superb till Naidupet, wonder how drivers are blind saw another hit and run this time it was buffalo and calf, calf was smashed on the spot and buffalo dragged for 50mts both on the spot death. so sorry for those poor creatures for no mistake of theirs they ended paying up their lives for hit and run. Met a group of bikers from Nellore district they were having their weekend coffee ride, just took three stops one for fueling and other two for photos and did 868km in one stretch, from KR Puram the traffic got heavy,  was home at 4pm, second time the beast doing 850+ in single day.

Bike

Thunderbird 500

Rider

Santhosh Venkataram

Beast and its rides Trip10 BR Hills, MM Hills, Hogenekkal Falls and coracle ride 500km

Beast and its rides Trip 10 

BR Hills, MM Hills, Hogenakkal Falls and coracle ride (500km)

We had  1 hour late start waiting for others and two guys dropping out at last minute, witnessing an accident from our start place where a MUV collided head on with a sedan as MUV was coming in wrong side of the road (Urvashi signal), luckily there was no death but serious injuries to the drivers.

BR Hills

Pretty cold at 5am even though we were late we reached on time as per the plan to BR Hills, we took short break in Malavalli as usually we do in that route, met a fellow rider who was heading home to Kerala from Bangalore, the sun rise near Talkad was amazing, wish I could come here every day to see the sunrise between the mountains, we missed a turn after Talkad 20km extra de-touring as it's there in all the trips without it is no fun of the trips, reached BRHills by 8:30am. Its open from 6am to 6pm, hardly 2km inside from the check post we could spot dozens of Peacocks on the road side and on the road too little further for first time we were lucky to spot 2 Bison's crossing the road after quenching their thirst from nearby pond, on the top from the view point the name stands true Biligiri Rangantha Betta means white hill but a small change in the name we could make after reaching there is Billigri Mangana Betta as there were plenty of monkeys in the view point, even at 10am it was covered by thick white fog.

MM Hills

We reached there by 12:30pm, the roads were simply superb got a special entry to park the bike near the temple as I requested the keeper to allow me b'cos of my broken leg (ligament tear) was using ankle brace, we could see small chariots carrying the idols were out and people were rolling on the road around the temple, the queue to go inside for darshan was huge so we stayed out, we did one round around temple on our bulls, had our lunch in nearby hotel  and we started to descend towards mettur, hardly 5 km done with hairpin bends and the bike had to do dirt biking, the roads were bad for 15km we were covered by mud completely by the time we could hit metal road.

Hogenakkal Falls

We reached Hogenakkal falls from Karnataka side, the roads were narrow and empty. 

Mettur dam can be seen on the way, took a coracle ride till the falls, it took one hour to reach the fall and return. The water was green  in color, its crowded from Tamil Nadu side entry. Karnataka its always peaceful  ;-)

Return (coracle ride)

Got to know the bike can be put in coracle and shifted across the river as we wanted to enter Tamil Nadu side from there we could save 30km. Shifted two bulls together in one coracle and we took hardly 3mins to cross, but to shift the bulls in and out of the coracle it took more than half n hour. The roads were good so kept our average in 60s as there were many winding roads, saw a snake of two and half feet in length  cross the road it was close to the bull which was ahead of my bull. As we entered the city near atibile the light fuse of classic 500 got burnt, spare fuse too got burnt, the classic chrome was in stealth mode,  we were lucky as it was inside the city and rode slowly and reached home exact 500km done.

Riders,

1 Sharath Chandra

2  Santhosh Venkataram

3 Vishwas vishu

4 Venkataram

 Bikes,

1 Classic Chrome

2 Thunderbird 500

Photographer,

1 Vishwas Vishu

Beast and its rides Trip 9, 704km Belum caves and Gandikota

Beast and its rides Trip 9,  704km

Started at 4.30am from Bangalore pretty  warm weather, two guys pulling out from the team at last minute, still we continued with two bikes  surprising to see  around 100+ two wheelers travelling to Nandi Hills for sun rise, cops were stopping most of the two wheelers to make morning moolah near airport toll booth, surprisingly they didn't stop us, (might be they knew I won't give them anything) as we crossed Devanahalli the chill started and little further surprised to see heavy fog, visibility was reduced to hardly 5 feet , never experienced this from a very long time near Bangalore, and our first stop was in Anantpur for breakfast, amazing dosa at unbelievable price each egg dosa was 15rs and single omelet for 10rs, we stopped our bike for fueling just after gooty.

Belum Caves,

Just before the caves on the way one can find massive  cement industries  and waste black stone piled up in heaps on the sides of the roads with some beautiful small hills in different shapes, we reached the caves by 10.30am, caves are open from 10.00am till 5.30am entrance fee of  Rs50 per person with free guide available inside the caves one has to be present inside to enjoy the natures carvings and the lighting placed in some places makes the carvings done by water look magnificent, the guide was telling us there were saints earlier but I wonder how they used to go in or come out, its 120ft deep from ground level  with bats in it and one has to bend at many places as the height is

about 3t to 5ft, and the Pathala ganga is very narrow to enter where the water still flows and there is natural formation of linga due to lime stone, it took us nearly 2 hours to explore the caves and we did little detouring without the guide, entering new holes and coming out from other.

Gandikota fort,

  Nobody can make that a fort exists, its so inside and on the way you can spot a Dam and the roads are narrow, the video clip where a drunken rider falls on a thorn plant and his back was full of thorns and sadly got to know he was a tourist vehicle driver, hope he drives safe to the destinations. We were hungry but still we explored the fort. Entrance was so amazing we thought that the road would continue on the fort walls but to our disappointment after 4 turns it ended but the feel was different while riding the beast in that small place. we trekked on rocks for some distance to get the magnificent view of the Pennar river and the mountain  the pictures explain themselves. Standing on the tip taking some video and photos we ascended down it was 4pm there was only a APTDC restaurant where he charged us for meals and gave us only rice and sambar and other stuffs got over we had no choice but eat what was there, as no hotels were there. stomach filled with rice we took a short 10min nap in the hotel.

The return,

Roads were amazing and ghat stretches were in good condition with sun playing hide and seek with us and finally we decided to stop and catch the sunset in the camera, as it got dark couldn't make out much on the sides, but the air was cool and both sides surrounded by mountains  but this was short lived and then came an 80km horrible stretch with cement lorries dominating the roads it was just narrow road for one bus or lorry to go, but there were two way traffic had to do some off roading too and these lorry fellows never gave way for us easily, we stopped in between for chats in small town around 8pm had good masala puri for just 10rs, I remember paying 10rs for masala puri 8years back here in Bangalore. As we connected the NH7 the beast was unleashed cruising at its best after an hell ride.

Bikes

1 Thunderbird 500

2 Classic Chrome  500

Riders

1 Sharath Chandra

2 Vishwas Vishu

3 Santhosh Venkataram

Ride photographer

1 Vishwas Vishu

South India trip (N0 8 1980km 48hours)

Beast and its rides Trip 8 1980km

 [Rameshwaram (Panban bridge, dhanushkodi Beach), Kanyakumari, Athirapally water falls, Silent valley national park, Bandipur national park]

It was an long weekend started on 3rd morning at 12am, with two new guys joining us at last minute, we saw the sunrise in Madurai had our breakfast, kept the bike at steady pace of 90kmph and as we were nearing Panban bridge the scenery was breath taking just the road surrounded by Indian Ocean and to add extra beauty to it, we saw two peacocks crossing the road, we stopped few meters before the Panban bridge for our first photo bike was taken near the shore, surprisingly the water was so clean, just as we finished taking pictures the train was passing to cross the bridge, we raced before it could cross the bridge and took some photos it was one of the best memories we can have, the water was so clean and never in my life had seen such clean water except in movies, from there we continued to Dhanushkodi beach on the way the an traditional drunkard trying to cross the road came in middle of the road and had to apply sharp brakes and the beast was in control, got in water played for sometime, the place is the cleanest beach than any of the beaches I had been, best place to enjoy without crowd. 

Kanyakumari
We left Rameshwaram at 12.30pm the stretch between Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari were bad, which took more time in negotiating the potholes and mud roads, since we are from Bangalore we were comfortable in navigating the stretch with comfort as our roads are the same here, added to this slow moving we were slowed down by the local people who were traveling to the Ayudha pooja celebrations and roads were blocked at some stretches and were late by 3hours covering 995km on day one, reached

Kanyakumari by 8pm checked in a hotel room had our dinner and visited the sunrise spot came to room and slept off, next day we got ready to witness the sunrise from the sunrise point to our surprise there were more people than we could find in the market, it was flop as there were clouds and sun could be seen by 8am got some clicks and left to Athirapally.
 

Athirapally Water Falls (Super natural effect)

Day 2 we were slowed in kerala by their festival blocking the roads and the road users were little weird not like Chennai people, it was little respite to us we could cover only 370km riding from 9.30am till 5.30pm, the falls close by 5pm so we had to take room as we had no other option,we got in Pullikans lodge with a special room no 420 had our dinner by 8pm and slept off early, during middle of the night two guys in the room had some super natural effect, the guy sleeping next to me was tossed up in bed and the guy other side of me heard some sound, but i was dead tired and was sleeping like a log, got to know this in morning when I woke up they explained me about the incidence. We were in Athirapally Water falls by 8am the base view was splendid as Niagara falls, had good fun and spent more time there. by this time all our butts were ready for the iron butt challenge.
 

Silent Valley national Park (SVNP) & Bandipur National Park (BNP)

Near the base of the SVNP we were informed that we should be having booking to enter SVNP and the booking was full for the next two days and localite informed us about other route where we can sneak in but that route is heavily guarded by forest staff, we didn't take any chance of taking the risk and we continued our journey home we crossed Mudumalli and BNP we spotted Deer grazing in large nos and some baboons on trees and as usual monkeys on road, we were welcomed by rain in that region we just waited for this from a very long time, the ghat just before Gudalur is little dangerous as there are no barricades on the steep sides.We took the Kankpura road to reach Bangalore near Malavali the clouds opend up completley till Bangalore where we had to move slow in 30kmph as the visibility was very low.

Riders
1 Gajapathy
2 Santhosh Venkataram
3 Chetan
4 Raju

Bikes
Thunderbird 500
Thunderbird 350