Where is the Jungle yaar..!!???(Part 1)

This was something that was waiting to happen. It’s been 10 months since my last ride. When ever I had decided to do a ride I had always caught myself making excuses and backing out. The reason would be like.. "Dude... you have no company!! What if your bike breaks down??? What if you have a flat tyre when you are riding through the jungle!!! :-O “Or it would be like...” You are not feeling well... You will not be able to enjoy the ride... when you are not feeling good about yourself...”

This time around I didn't want to make any excuses and more over after spending about 4 days at home, I wanted to something that would make me happy. What better than riding solo?

Zeroing in on the place was not a problem. I wanted to do a safari, wanted to feel the smell of the Jungle. I wanted to do a 2 day ride. Monday- Tuesday and as Wednesday was a holiday I would have time to take rest too. With this criterion I decided it got to be Nagarhole. Planned to try out, a home stay. Which I had never done. I did some price shopping about it on Sat. Was it was about 1000 Rs. for a day.

My aim was to Reach Nagarhole by afternoon. Visit Irup falls. Do safari in the evening. Next day do a trek through Bramhagiri forest. Then head back home. Reach Bangalore by 10 PM/ Sounds fun right..?? ;-) So it was going be fun filled 2 days.

Sunday I started to scramble for the spares of my bike. I had nothing left from my previous ride. None of the shops where open to pack my spare kit properly. I still had many things missing in it. I could not even get my bike checked.

On Monday morning, 6th Oct 2008 , lying in my bed, one part of me, was praying to god to make this trip happen and there was other half of me that was telling me about the problem that I might hit on , reminding me about the longest ride back home ( Biking back from Goa). Making me feel that I was lucky then, for not having a major problem, this time it might not be the case. It was also reminding me that my bike was not checked and so was it could lead to the problem that I had when I was set out for Waynad trip, when I had to tow back my bull and take my Pulsar.

Somehow the former got better of the latter and I decided to do the ride. However I wanted to pay attention to the other half about the problem it had pulled up. So as a compromise I decided I would not start at 8 as I had initially decided, instead I would get the bike checked up and then start tentative time of leaving I fixed it to be 10.

Kannan was in the workshop by 9. For a change I was sharp on time. Got the basic checks done. He even fine tuned the tarpit. He said my bike could do over 1000KM hands down. Those words were like booster to me. Now no one could stop me. Due to the delayed start, I was able to fix the missing gaps in my spare kit. (including leg pump)

By 11:20 I has ready to rock and roll. I was singing "lets get it started" by Black Eye Peas. I have this strange habit of singing this song every time I start my bike trip.

I kept the speed steady at 60Kph -80Kph. I made it to 24hrs Coffee shop in good time. I picked up a sandwich and drink bill came up to 147/- The guy behind the counter promised to give me the change later (Rs 3/-), which he never did. The sandwich was not that good and the drink was filled with only ice. I was cursing myself for choosing the coffee shop for lunch.

I started off again. I didn't want to enter the city of Mysore as the traffic would surely reduce my pace. I took the deviation just before Mysore. I was almost lost. That’s one thing that I have noticed here in India. We hardly have milestones to help the travelers. May be because we hardly have people traveling on their own vehicle.

I reached Hunsur by 4. Another 2 hours I would have reached the place where I wanted to go. I bypassed Hunsur. Just out of curiosity checked with a passer by to reach Nagarhole. He showed me the opposite direction. I had to ride back into the city and at the junction I rechecked again. The passers by confirmed the route. However one guy was quick enough to tell me that Bikes are not allowed inside the Jungle. and also suggest that I call up. I called up the homestay I was planning to. The lady on the other side told me that I had to ride through Gonikoppa and would take me another 2 hrs to reach that would mean I would be reaching there by 6:30 and hence my waterfall and the safari idea was going down the drain. The other thing worth mentioning was that the lady asked me how many would turn up. When I told her I was the only one I could make out the change in aunties voice. However she told me call her back when I would reach Kutta.

With a disappointment, I started riding again. My mood changed when I was riding through the coffee estates. It was plain bliss riding thought the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. By 6:30 I reached kutta. I called up the lady again she told me to ride back 5km. I just wanted to reach someplace and crash. The problem with the area is that you will not find any lodging, you find only homestays. After failing to find any other place I decided to go back to the homestay that I had initially decided moreover it was also getting dark.

The lady was co-cordial. She usher me to my room. Later in the night after checking with me, I was offered cocktail before dinner. It was called coffee liquor, something that I had not tried before. Just tasted wonderful. Soon I had a simple dinner was getting ready to sleep that all of a sudden I had phone calls from my friends. (Casual calls) It was a bit strange I never had that many calls and didn't expect either. That was the reason that I had not carried my charger even. Before I went to bed I had a cellphone with drained battery.

That was an eventful first day. Not able to anything I had decided to do and drained battery. :-) I was just hoping that the next day would be better than that day.