After the experience at the temple, I was in a semi conscious state. I packed up my stuff within no time started my journey back. Before I came out of that town, I went around the road which was adjacent to the seas and ocean. They were just empty very unlike the previous day evening. It was very pleasant and the people of that town were just starting their day. While I was roaming, at one of the scenic locations I noticed some group of people dancing. Later I came to know that it was some movie shooting. These things are never of my interest. It is the end of land, I was wondering how would be the train station at the end of the track! I robe by the train station, it was interesting to find the train station almost perpendicular to the track! Slowly I left Kanya Kumari behind me. It was a worthy trip!
The road was just plain and unexciting. It was no fun in riding back on the same road you traveled only a day before. I wanted to stop for breakfast at Tirunelveli. Through out that route I was looking for my kind of food place. I found one but only to realize that they don't serve breakfast, so I continued. I was feeling hungry but there was no place in sight. Actually there were many but not of my kind. Why compromising when you can afford not to :) At last, before reaching Tirunelveli I found it, simply beautiful, empty and just on the road. Breakfast also was good, I was very happy that the not compromising did pay off :)
From there I reached Madhurai, it was just too smooth to talk about. After reaching Madhurai I made a blunder of entering the town. That traffic, crowds and pollution, I just hated. After taking too many turns and asking too many people I managed to find myself near that 3 star hotel which showed me stars two day back. I got another tank full before leaving the town. It is was very exhausting to ride through that town. The ride had become very boring till I crossed Dindigul. It was past lunch time. I was looking for a nice place for lunch, but in vain. Adding to that it started raining. Then I thought it was wise to finish lunch before all shops get closed. Having spent day in a boring ride, I thought I should try something different for a change. I stopped by a food place where he was making parotas. It was that kind of a place where I would never stop by in my normal senses. The parotas were very tasty and I had a second helping as well. People around were very nice. By the time I finished my lunch, the rain also had stopped. Next target was Karur. It reminded me of my earlier drive through 5 elemental shrines.
Post lunch, the ride was very interesting. There was a hill range where all clouds were getting accumulated. It was a beautiful scene. The ride was through some very scenic landscapes. I had some prior experience in studying the clouds. It was a very interesting to follow each cloud and make a calculated guess on when it was going to rain and and for how long it was going to rain. I was enjoying this through out till I found myself under a huge cloud which I knew would give a heavy rain for more than half an hour. Having studied that cloud for quite some time, I was just thinking that it should start raining by now and I was also looking for some shelter near by. I was just few meters away from a small petrol station, it started pouring and it was coming towards me. I was quick enough to go under the shelter just in time! Except for the vehicle cover, I was carrying almost nothing which was water proof. After reaching the shelter the first thing I did was to pull it out and kept that ready. As expected, it was a heavy rain and pouring from all different directions. Just before it drenched my iron horse, I managed to cover it and myself with the vehicle cover. It did work and protected us perfectly from that rain. After about half an hour that cloud had shifted way from my route. Back on the road, heading towards Salem.
By the time I reached Salem it was 7:30. I knew that there is one nice place after crossing Salem bypass where I could take rest, if I wanted to. But I was not sure how far I need to go to reach that place. I rode into a Reliance petrol station and asked them for this A1 Plaza, which is also from Reliance. From them I came to know that it was about 50 Km away. I continued my journey hoping to get some good food and a nice place to stay. That bypass was good and I guess I covered more than 50 Kms but this A1 plaza was no where in sight. I got a bit worried and started looking for people on the highway to cross check with them. After riding for few more Kms I spotted a human on the road and checked with him. Everyone was saying that it was near but no one knew how near it was. The good road came to an end and the later stretch was the worst I had seen in that trip. It was so bad that my bike fell off for no reason. I managed to lift it up and started riding it with extra attention and effort.
Finally I reached my destination. First thing I did was to get a tank full and parked the bike at a safe place. I stretched for the first time in that day. I ordered food and relaxed for a while. I had two choices then, one was to stay back in that place and start next day morning. They had beds and good toilets, very comfortable place to spend that night. The other choice was to continue the journey and reach Bangalore by midnight, as I was just 200 Kms away. I tried getting the idea on the road condition from the folks over there, but in vain. It it were a Dhaba, you could be sure to get the exact picture of the road. The crazy me woke up then, he started pursuing to continue the journey. After all he was also right, riding from Kanya Kumari to Bangalore non stop is a prestigious guy thing ;) This time I had given in to him and decided that I'll resume my journey at 10. Dinner was served and I had got enough time to relax. I was not knowing then that there was a damn crazy experience waiting for me few Kms away! During dinner I had ordered a water bottle and completed the whole of it before I started from there.
I started from that place in a heroic manner, thinking that I would reach Bangalore by mid night and would have one full day to unwound and get back to the city lifestyle. After getting back on to the highway I realized that the road condition was really bad. Adding to that the driving sense of Tamilnadu bus drivers was lethal. I narrowly missed twice that day. I managed to ride 20 Kms in that horrible stretch. I started feeling pressure in my bladder and I had to take a leak :) side effects of drinking one whole bottle of water! I tried to park the bike by coming down the highway. The mud was so loose and the bike fell off as I was getting down. I never thought that I could lift my bike when it was completely flat in the mud. I had more strength than I thought that I had. I could lift it by myself and managed to put it on stand. I ran to the edge of the mud road and relieved myself from the pressure in my bladder. I came back to my bike and tried to start... then I noticed. Battery was hanging from the bike... Petrol was all over... and the clutch was no more! Yes... it broke completely. The clutch was hanging to the the clutch wire away from the handle. First thing I did was to fix the battery back in it's place, second was to clean the spilled over petrol. I had also tried starting the engine, it was roaring perfectly. I was happy that I was left with only one problem... clutch! How to fix it... ha ha ha... I did not know and I had no clue either. I tried tying that hanging clutch to the handle to get any ply, it was absolutely of no use. I had give up... the only option left with me was to push the bike and continue as much distance as I can. If I had tried that, how many days it would take for me to reach Bangalore... dropped that interesting idea and started thinking in little practical manner!
Ask for help... but from whom? One source was to stop the vehicles passing by. Ok... how could they help me? They might be able to give me a lift to the nearest town or till Bangalore. That would mean to leave my iron horse behind... just out of question! Take help from local people... good idea! Guess where I was stuck... in a forest range on some up hill... and it was almost midnight. Somewhere inside I was very happy to get a chance to experience such weird thing... crazy me! Then I noticed one guy walking on the other side of the road, immediately I hailed at him and asked him whether he can do anything to help me. He did help me! He came up to the place where I was standing and gave me the complete idea about that area and also what was available and what was not. From him I came to know that if I went ahead in that route next village was 4 Kms away, If I chose to go back then the other village was 7 Kms away. The 4 Km stretch had two up hills, each was about half a Km. He also indicated that there might be some robbers in that 4 Km stretch as it was a forest range. He had declined from accompanying me for those 4 Kms, After all how could he trust me! After considering all possibilities the best option I felt was to make a halt at the nearest safe place. Temple...yes... that was the best idea! I vaguely remembered crossing one before this whole incident had happened, but was not sure how far it was. I asked this guy whether I could find any temple near by. There was one, just 100 meters away. He also recommended that it would be a safe place to spend that night. I thanked him for his help and pushed my iron horse till that temple and I collapsed.
(to be continued)
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