19.5.13

My life in Coimbatore -1



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.



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