Devarayana Durga

We were supposed to meet at 6:45 on MG Road and start off by 7:00. I was running late due to the hangover from some disturbing mails. I was sure that I was going to delay everyone but finally managed to get myself on Bullet by 6:45. To be on safe side, I messaged Sree asking him to wait till I reach. I was glad that they were still there, by the time I reached the meeting point. It was just 7:08... only 8 minutes late... How much ever be that, I was late. I parked my bike and shook hands with all... some were having there morning cup of tea... and some smoking... I could not remember anyones name during those introductions. I found 2 familiar faces apart from Sree, they were part of the earlier RTMC ride. One was Kamalesh, very friendly & warm dude and the other one Shasi, our Bullets had touched each other in the last ride. I thought I was not the last one to join and was expecting some more, rather feeling happy that 8 minutes was not too late. Soon I realized that no more wound join and I was the last :(

We roared our bullets and started off. We were supposed to take left on Mekhri circle and head towards Shell petrol pump after Metro. I was riding last and noticed Sree going under the Mekhri circle on Bellary road and Girish started following him. Though I am not very familiar with Bangalore roads, I have fair idea on exit points. I went after them to get them back on to Mekhri circle. Thats when my Bullet reminded me that I must pay attention to her, it stopped as the choke was kept on. It took 2 minutes to pamper her and get going. Then I noticed Jayan was waiting for me, so that I was not left behind due to technical reasons. I felt very glad and guessed that he must had done lot of rides and a true traveler. I was very right, his blogs and photos talk a lot about him.

Our first stop was Shell petrol pump. Staff were just taking their positions to take care of customers. One thing I just did not like about that place was, you will have to get down from the Bullet before they start fueling. I got almost tank full just the previous day. When I said 200 or tank full, the lady over there got totally confused. Then I explained to her to fill for 200 with auto stop after tank full. It was a small group... 7 Bikers, 7 women and 1 Pulsar!

The traffic and the road was getting better and better as we were going away from City. Living in a city is a paradox for me, I am sure that there are many who share my views. We had decided to stop for breakfast at Kamat. Though we were not really hungry we just wanted to complete that chore for that day. Few Kms after crossing the toll gate there was a road sign indicating the route to few near by towns. The beauty of these signs is, though you are going in the right route you will get confused. This has been my experience with these signs so far. It was no different there, so I stopped after that sign and started waiting for others to catch up. They were also equally confused with that sign. There we collectively decided to take one of the routes which was going over the ramp. It turned out to be the right one :)

Around 20 Kms from Tumkur we saw this big eating place Kamat. One of our riders was waving at us near a broken road divider. I've got his message and rode into that broken patch. Few other riders rode past hoping for a proper U turn returned back later realizing that such thing existed only after about 6 Kms. It is always a beautiful sight to find few Bullets parked next to each other systematically. We all had Sardar jokes for breakfast, courtesy Sid and Sree. It was just awesome and it continued through out that ride. I felt that the bill he gave us was very unreasonable, it was around 400 for 8 of us, all we ate was one breakfast item and two teas each. I did not feel like leaving tip at that place. We had a nice photo session before we left that place.

We were getting closer to Tumkur and we knew that we have to take the right right turn to reach our destination. Destination!... well, stop over... Do travelers ever reach a destination? Yes, but only to head to the next one :) Shasi was asking people on the road and we were just following him. Knowing the local language has it's own advantages. We took a right turn and very soon we found ourselves among hundreds of school kids. All, rather most of them were giving those admiring looks at our Bulls. This is something I just love about riding a Bullet. After taking couple of turns through that crowd of students we reached one play ground where some games were being organized. I guess it was a kind of inter school sports meet or something like that. As left all those admiring future generation behind we found ourselves heading towards curvy roads and into the greenery. That was what I came all the way to experience...Superb! We rode slowly, someone or the other stopped at each curve to ensure that the whole group was taking the right turns. On the way I stopped at some place till Sree completed his clicking and joined.

I was little surprised to see all other bikes parked at some place. That place was good but it had just been few minutes we started riding. May be I am used to long rides with minimal stops. We were just catching up with each other and also made some nice pictures. After enjoying the early morning jungle atmosphere for some time we started heading towards ghat section to reach the top of the hill. It was very scenic and very pleasant. You see some nice curvy road on top somewhere and within no time you find yourself there. That's the beauty of riding. Soon I found myself at a Y junction and I had no clue which road to take. So I just stopped and was waiting for directions... from whom? As expected someone passing by on the road showed me the route to my destination. Thats the advantage you get in riding with other Bulls.

Finally we reached the entry point of that small town. We stopped all our Bulls next to each other in the middle of the road. All shutterbugs started firing their guns and few captured very nice pictures. There was another road going uphill. Obviously we took that road and started riding uphill till we reached the end. It took us to some guest house and forest security post. Was that all?... I was little disappointed! Few others in the group were thrilled and very excited about that place, so I kept my mouth shut. We parked all our Bulls there and locked the necessary items and took the valuable stuff with us before we started our exploration.

(I don't feel like writing more about this trip... lazy me!)