After coming from Dubai in Sep 2005, I started working in
Coimbatore from Oct 20015. I was in my twenties during this period and had a small circle of friends
for parties, hang outs. Key members of our gang were Neeraj, Nishant, V Bhat,
Suhas. Neeraj and Nishant were from Bihar. Suhas and V Bhat were from Upupi.
I would like to write down the summary of
various sweet memories we had together.
Trips to Ooty: As our acquaintance increased,
we started planning for weekend spots. We
had bikes with us and it was easy to ride to Ooty. We were staying near Karamadai
which is on the way to Ooty. The distance to Ooty was 60km, 2.5 hrs journey.
The ride will usually start 7AM in the morning. After various stops in between for
Tea and Cigaretes, we reach around 11AM. It will be evening by the time
we finish our visits to Coonoor, Rose garden,
Boat house and Doddabetta. Doddabetta is the highest point of
south
India from the sea level.The temperature will be very low throughout the
year. We have enjoyed 0o C without covering our T Shirts. It was
exciting and marvelous. At this low temperature, we use to eat Ice creams!. adventurous !
Need to have special skill if you have to
drive in Ooty. There will be traffic and if you are stuck up behind a bus or lorry
in that Narrow road, it will increase your journey time. Overtaking near
the hairpin bends, gauging the vehicle movements on the opposite side on a curvy turns for overtaking makes your bike ride challenging and thrilling.Downward journey is
not just easy too due to the slope and
the traffic. If you are travelling
during the day, you will see a lot of monkeys around and it is real fun watching
them.
Kodakanal: Ooty was getting bored and hence we
gathered some more people and initiated
trips to Kodaikanal. The journey time was 5 hours, the locations at Kodaikanal
were also interesting to watch.
Mysore:
The Dasara and Deepawali was coming at the same time in 2006 and so there were holidays.We decided to go to Mysore which is
about 5 hours from Coimbatore. I called Akshay Kadidal, my classmate in Nitte
at mysore for arranging accommodation in his hostel! ( He joined MBA course).
The two days at Mysore can be ranked as most utilized among our trips.We reached at 1 PM in the afternoon.
Booked a cab and went on to see Srirangapattana
and the KRS DAM/brindhavana.The next day morning was for Nandi hills and
Mysore Zoo. Afternoon was for Dasar procession. Vow..What a crowd and it is
worth seeing the final Dasar procession atleast once in life time.
Our bus was at 11 30 PM in the night. We
watched a movie “ Lage raho Munna Bhai” at a theatre near to the Mysore bus stand.
Great Utilization of time.
Bike ride to
Mangalore:Can you imagine a bike ride from
Coimbatore to Mangalore?!. 500km one side and we did it. It was Pongal in 2007 and this
is a big festival in Tamilnadu.We had two days and V Bhat provided the idea
of this historical ride.
We started our Journey at 12 Noon from our
Factory with an intention of reaching
by 11PM in the night to Mangalore, ended up reaching at 2AM..15-16 hours
journey was tiresome, but in the mean time was a great thrill. It was difficult
to travel continuously. We had to stop 5-10min every hour before to resume.
After spending one day in Mangalore, we
retuned to Coimbatore with the same spirit. Till date, this ride is most
memorable,exciting,thrilling journey of my life. I like long drives and would
like to have one more in the near future.