Trip to Antarvedi

7 members, 4 bikes , 4 days , 1400 KM , 2 perennial rivers and ocean. That is our trip in a nutshell. Now to the details.



                                                          DAY 1.



9th January 2014. As usual, we started late. My hopes on trip were not really great. All that pushed me is the mild urge to have a multiple day trip on road.
We very diversified , not all of us are close friends, we dont belong to one age group, not profession, not all of us are riders, not all of us are smokers, not all of us are boozers. With four guys who are new to long drives, i was skeptical how long we go together, or how long we can travel without anybody getting ill.



                                  Cutting through the mist, heading towards east.



After taking pics, we started and stopped after 30 KM for breakfast-1. It was my proposal to have breakfast at Organic Hotel. The advertisements were welcoming us to eat there for the last 15 KM. The place is great, with a fake bullock-cart. Prices are a bit costly, so we decided not satisfy our tummies there and have our second breakfast at Suryapet, about 70KM from there.

When we are about to leave, Uday put iPad on my face and asked me to read the passage on it. Its a passage by Jiddu Krishnamurthy, a philosopher. We had little chat over it.

Of course we stopped twice for tea once and for cigarettes before reaching Suryapet. We devoured there. Santosh is driving my bike. I was enjoying my lost but found songs collection from 2006. I thought i have to recollect the songs when my hard drive broke , but luckily my friend had them. I could not stop smiling and singing. That old collection reminded me of the past "me".

I was a teenager when i started collecting them. So most of them are hero-introduction songs, related to personality development , telling the listeners how to deal with hardships of life and romantic songs. In romantic songs, except for few duets , there are mostly sung by a guy who had feelings for a girl and yet to propose her, or break-up songs.
 
We attach feelings to objects. We need that object to remember those feelings. I attach freedom to drives. That makes me happy, not just because, i am away from home, but it kind of gives me a feeling of Gypsy, a Normad. So, when i am on a drive, i try to enact the modus vivend of a gypsy. A rugged, not-so-
sophisticated , no-problem-with-mingling-with-all kind of Gypsy, who sings along , and who is not rich.
While i was singing out loud and drumming on Santosh's back, rest were waiting for us at road side lake. It must be an open land, which gets immersed with heavy rains. The trees, in the middle of the lake, gave it a magnificiant look. Had a short cigarette break there and we drove away, promising the lake to visit it again.
At outskirts of Vijayawada we discussed in which way we should reach Eluru. There are two ways to reach it. Through Vijayawada and circumventing-vijayawada. Finally, we decided to ride through the city. Sridhar and Uday knew the city well. Despite my request to lead through the city, they have zoomed away and rest of us were lost. Thanks to Google Maps, we crossed the city without wasting much time, its the people and police there who tried their best to confuse us.

Couple of hours of driving and we reached Eluru, headquarters of WestGodavari district. Our plan is to visit Kolleru lake , night halt at some lodge. The college kids we met there told us its futile to go there when sun is setting. So decided to go to Bhimavaram, visit Kolleru on the way back to Hyderabad.

The night, bad road , cattle and bugs, a bad combination to drive. The lady at a Tea stall gave us suggestions and gave phone number of his son in law, who would help us to get lodge at a temple nearby, which we didnt paln for. For curtosy sake, i took the number and assured her that we will call her if we are lost.

We reached Bhimavaram. I was expecting it be a small town, but a big shopping mall welcomed me. After fuelling bikes, we started to veeravasaram, where Grandparents of Uday live. This time, we had tea near a Fish packing factory, where workers are more friendly towards strangers and invited us to bet in the cock fights which will happen in next two days.

After driving in the night, long enough for my mood to get dampened, we reached the destination.

Scope of this blog wont allow me describe the great party and hospitality we received there. I might write it sometime in regular blog.

                                                                  DAY 2

Thanks to last night's party we all woke up late and we all are suffering dizziness. It was around 2 PM we started the bikes. Had to take a long break for Disprin and let it show the results.

Today, our target is to reach Antarvedi beach. This is where Godavari meets Bay of Bengal. And another to-do thing is to cross the river on a ferry.

Borded the ferry at Narsapur, parked bikes at ferry and stood by them as we cross the river, as if there

were horses terrified of river.

When the boat hit the river sand on the other side, i exhaled with relief. However, its fun. BTW, the ferry is called “Panti” in that area. Now we are at Sakinetipalli. Funny name.

With coconut trees standing like soldiers on either side of road, we got the black carpet welcome. I am going to skip how beautiful the way is , because all the routes we travelled in this particular trip are exceptionally beautiful. Unless i say otherwise , assume that, the road is beautiful, with coconut trees, canals and green fileds on either side of the road. This way, i dont have search for new words and expressions to make repetitions less boring.

Few kilometers from Antarvedi, we come across prossession of dummies to ward off evil. Enjoyed the show and went ahead.

                                                       

                                                              Antarvedi Beach 

If you are looking for a lonely beach, where ocean makes less noise and beach is relatively neat and where you wont be distrubed by the streethawkers. Then its Antarvedi Beach. Whenever, i go to beach, i make sure to have some lonely time, to let the waves beat my thoughts so hard that i can find peace.

I was about to get into the beach-calm, sridhar came with his bike, followed by dixit on his bullet and lot of noice. Then came santosh and uday with my jacket and shoes. Nageswar and Prahlad follwed then. I was determined not to to let them distrub me, so i encouraged them to enjoy the ocean and promised that i shall guard their belonging. Santosh was first to throw his mobile and wallet and ran. Then Sridhar, Prahlad and Dixit disappeared from my sight. Nageswar took time then moved , he needed some push. Finally, Uday walked away with iPad. Aloneness again !!!

Anything which breaks our chain of thoughts and make us stop thinking about anyother , we say it has “wow” factor or “awe” factor. Things like an engineering marvel , ocean, beauty of girl, great art work, force of nature, a deadbody , forest, waterfalls etc etc. However, its very rare for a thing to have both wow factor and awe factor. Ocean is one such thing. The shore is like rap music, it has a beat and mood lifting nature, but the horizon is silent , terrifying seems observant . Its like the lazy lion watching its cubs playing in the distance.

There are tons of poetry on waves. Not much on ocean. Probably, the sheer size of ocean scared the wits of poets too.

Been looking at the ocean long enough to wonder if the ocean is trying to encroch remaining earth or its just retreting ? Then i realized its running away from me. Its been more than36hrs since i took a bath.

We found 2 dead turtles on the beach which come ashore. After few days i read in the newspaper that there were more.

I was hoping that today we dont have to ride in the dark, but , Uday decided otherwise. He returned to the bikes after sunset. After he started talking, the fact that i didnt go to the place where Godavari meets the sea hit me. I blame the beach.

                                                            Wrong Mukkamala 

Its decided. We are going stay at Mukkamala, where cousins of Uday reside. We headed back from the beach, and this time we trusted Google Maps and it costed us time. We reached the beach through bunch of villages with loud temples. Now, we were riding on a lonely road , through the woods. There was not man on the to confirm the Google is right.

We ate Rotis at a hotel.. Mukkamala is not so far, that made us to take more halts for tea. Ocean filled energy in everybody, especially, in Nageswar and Prahlad who seen it for the first time.

We reached Mukkamala at around 11PM. As bikes stopped polluting the air and we took up the job, Uday talked over phone with his cousin and ended the call with a peculier expression on his. He took slow steps , changed the voice modulation and told us “ Guys, we are in wrong Mukkamala, our Mukkamala is in West Godavari district and now we are in East ”.

When everybody froze with that and cold weather outside, Sridhar jumped on the road and started shouting “ I like this twist, I like this twist” with hands thrown in the air.

Uday is a doctor by profession, Santosh is a mechanical engineer, me and Prahlad studied electrical

engineering. Santosh, can take out the batteries from the bikes, me and Prahlad could connect them in series and Uday can give shocks to sridhar brain to set it right. However, Sridhar came to his senses soon and we started riding.

There are two villages named “Mukkamala” in each Godavari districts. Sadly, only one Mukkamala is recognized by Google which is not our destination.

Patil, cousin of Uday, came to pick us at Ravulapalem as he started doubting our navigation skills. He took us the correct Mukkamala village and hoasted a party in paddy fileds. This party too just went like the old one, with camp fire and all. However, this time the host is with us and he is one good conversationalist.

We went to sleep at 3AM.

                                                                  DAY 3

Woke up early than yesterday. After breakfast, took leave from Patil and started off our journey.

Sun showed us what darkness hid from us last night. Its greenary! Spreading across acres of land, like an ocean which is standstill. Except sridhar everyone become speechless. It brought out creative photographer in everybody. Uday, become the cinematographer with his iPad , asking us to drive in a row. I enjoyed it for sometime. When they started showing each others work , wasting precious day light, i was irritated.

Nageswar had no choice except to accept my ultimatum to get on the bike. The road is highly elevated , giving the obstruction free view of beauty around me. I decided to enjoy it , with music. Music serves another purpose too, i can escape participating in conversation.

We have only two things to do that day. Travel from Bobbarlanka, where river Godavari splits , to highway. The way looked beautiful in Google Maps. The two tributaries and the highway formed a triangle. The choosen way is from apex of the triangle to the mid point of the base.

Highway was conjusted as there was a lorry-bus accident. I drove till Kadiyam. Kadiyam is famous for nursaries and Nageswar wanted to see it for a long time, and that was the seed to this drive. I anticipated that he would take much time there, however, he was bored after first nursary we bumped into.

Part of me wanted to have tea and part of me wanted to see Bobbarlanka. Former is strong but later one got lucky. We halted at a hotel, which doesnot serve tea. Continued the ride in disappointment. Once we saw a bigger than life size statue of SV RangaRao, a gem from Tollywood,at Dhavaleswaram Dam, i become alright.

I passed through Dhavaleswaram bridge before, we walked on the sands in the previous trip. I anticipated that the road to Ravulapalem from Bobbarlanka would have the similar traces. I was wrong.

I bid Nageswar to call someone and tell them the location, and where to take the turn. Its about 2PM then.

We are headed towards a village called Ryali. To visit a temple there, where the sculptor is of both Vishnu and Jaganmohini. Just like previous day, the way is filled with greenary, and as a bonus, there is canal to either side of the road.

Blood is for Vampires, and tea for me. Its hard to resist our thirst for those liquids. We stopped at a place, had tea, had Jilabi and gave chance to rest of the guys to catch us up. They came, after having tea i requested them to get started. Everybody is talking on their photographic skills. I though Que sera sera and gave ultimatum to Nageswar again.

Bumped into series of shops which are selling “Pootharekulu”, a sweet which looks like a thin wrapper. We bought some and went to Ryali.

Spent some time in that temple, as we are returning, rest of the bikes approached us. I asked them to visit the temple as it is unique , while i ride slow towards Ravulapalem. They didnt show much interest in the temple and started off to Ravulapalem with Uday cursing me from behind. Obviously, i was pissing them off.

For the last one hr or so, i felt weirdness riding my bike. I thought, the problem is with with shockobsorbers again, however, Prahlad pointed out that its a flat tyre.

Its almost 4PM, and we are yet to have lunch, i asked rest them to go ahead with lunch to get my fixed. I was afraid that the tube must be replaced, fortunately that was not the case. When i called them to ask in which hotel they are lunching , they said they are still searching for the hotel. Apparently, sridhar wanted to eat rice-items so all bikes went for hunting. Its sad, we are searching for rice in the rice-bowl of Andhra Pradesh.

We had a long , unsatisfactory and costly lunch at a Dhaba. It was so long that we had hit the highway with headlights on.

                                                          

                                                           To Learn or not to Learn

“I hope that you will listen, but not with the memory of what you already know; and this is very difficult to do. You listen to something, and your mind immediately reacts with its knowledge, its conclusions, its opinions, its past memories. It listens, inquiring for a future understanding.

Just observe yourself, how you are listening, and you will see that this is what is taking place. Either you are listening with a conclusion, with knowledge, with certain memories, experiences, or you want an answer, and you are impatient. You want to know what it is all about, what life is all about, the extraordinary complexity of life. You are not actually listening at all.

You can only listen when the mind is quiet, when the mind doesn't react immediately, when there is an interval between your reaction and what is being said. Then, in that interval there is a quietness, there is a silence in which alone there is a comprehension which is not intellectual understanding.

If there is a gap between what is said and your own reaction to what is said, in that interval, whether you prolong it indefinitely, for a long period or for a few seconds - in that interval, if you observe, there comes clarity. It is the interval that is the new brain. The immediate reaction is the old brain, and the old brain functions in its own traditional, accepted, reactionary, animalistic sense.

When there is an abeyance of that, when the reaction is suspended, when there is an interval, then you will find that the new brain acts, and it is only the new brain that can understand, not the old brain”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti

This was the passage, Uday made me read at dawn of first day. I was thinking about it and found it half wise and half ridiculous. Jiddu Krishnamurti was proposing to abondon the experience we had and to grasp things as they are without judging them based on knowledge acquired in the past.

Probably the passage was taken out of context, or its the whole thing he wanted to make. I agree with the philosopher, we tend to ignore new things which keeps us away from getting fresh perspective of things, however, if we dont learn lessons from the past, and treat every repetitive incident as anew , we wont go ahead. If we dont learn and pass that knowledge to the next generation, then every generation would be inventing the wheel.

According to me, humans are supreme not because we have an opposible thumb or we are created by god. Its our ability to learn from experience, using it at next occurance of the same event and passing that knowledge to the next generation.

Probably, he does not want us to generalize things based knowledge we already have. We learn a lot with bad experience, and make an improptu conclusion based on it, they might help us survive but not make us happy on content. If every person , concludes that love is false after the first break up, we are all doomed. If every person concludes that his life is a waste after first failure, we are all dead. I dont mean to say, sit and talk to a tiger which came your way , hoping that it will become your pet. Tigers kill, thats all.

Though passing knowledge from one genration to other made us improvise the things, it is the same reason some of us are struck with dogmas.

While these thoughts are chewing my brain, we finished eating “Pootha rekulu” .

100 KM drive and we reached Eluru again. Tomorrow our aim is to tour Kolleru, let Sridhar take pics of Birds there and go home.

                                                                   Day 4

We continued the ritual of partying till late night and starts the bikes late. Of course, this day we started at 9AM, which is way too early for us.

We had Appalu, kind of Idlies till our neck. It took us some time to reach outskirts of Eluru, not because its a big city, but the traffic is as bad as Hyderabad.

                                                    Cheated by Google Maps, Again !!

According to Google Maps, Kolleru lake is a point on land and its not a waterbody at all. Some how , satallites used by Google, missed a fresh water lake of 300 SqKM. Thats then, i decided not to trust Maps.

However, part of blame goes to us too. We didnt bother to Google it and read any available blogs or see videos of Kolleru on Youtube. We expected the lake would be somthing of Hussain Sagar Size.

The lake turned out to be too huge even for our imagination. Its not like any other lake i have seen so far. The lake has small islands on it, some of which are connected and some are habituated by both birds and humans.

The fish-farmers use small boats made out of trunk of taddy trees. They can carry a diesl powered motor to pump water from one sector of farm to another.

I noticed that sridhar went missing. When i asked, Uday said, he drove back few kilometers to take snaps of birds. As we were waiting for him, we stopped a motor cyclist for directions. He gave us orange fruits along with directions.

The road is so bumpy that whatever we had for breakfast is digested and we were hungry again. We

stopped at a temple, “Peddintalamma gudi”, a local diety. We decided have lunch over there, or we had to eat there because Uday started eating. We ate till the hotel owner said there is no rice.

Apparently, there is an a bird sanctuary, 5KM from Kaikaluru. To reach that, travellers have to cross a Bamboo-bridge which is built by village panchayat. They charged Rs 2 for each bike as toll . The money might be sufficient to maintain the bridge, however, the experience we had and laugh i had is priceless. A local says that without that bridge, they have to circumvent 60 KM. At this point, Sridhar zoomed to the bird sanctuary so that he could take few snaps before sun set.

After another long bumpy ride which made our skeletons to vibrate, we reached “Aatapaaku bird sanctuary”. Mostly pelicans and cranes are visible at the bird sanctuary. Sridhar gathered the information that the administrative unit of the zilla made sure that humans and birds dont disturb each other. Hunting the birds and their food i.e fish in the lake is an offence. The policies worked, the fish in the lake grew exponentionally , which made the pelicans to make the bird sanctuary their breeding center.

After discussing how pelicans might taste and how much they weigh , we decided to go back to hyderabad. It was almost 5 PM.After talking a guy at tea stall, we decided reach Hyderabad, via, Gudivada and Vijayawada.

While we stopped , for tea, Sridhar went to saloon to get a shave. Rest of us found it weird and Dixit was shocked. The shock is visible in his face. We left Sridhar and went ahead, as a Ghost Rider, no matter how

late he starts he can catch us in no time.

Dixit's Enfiled ran out of fuel enroute to Gudivada. Fortunately, we found petrol at a retail shop. With that experience i checked the fuel knob to make sure that its ON. The way from Kaikaluru to Gudivada is scenic as usual, and we have a canal to the left, all through the way. I was looking for “ Ballakattu”, a floating thing which Andhra people use to cross canals. I guess, its the construction of bridges over canal made Ballakattu obsolete.

We passing through famous places which have made their way into Tollywood lyrics. Kaikaleru, Mudunepalli and Gudivada. I should start a theam-drive to cover places which were mentioned in the movies.

                                    Chose the road less traveled and it scared us.

After Sridhar joined us in Gudivada, we picked a way suggested by Uday who travelled in that region before. The traffic constable suggested an alternative route which has traffic. We headed that way, then couple of police suggested us to go the way Uday suggested. We came to route number one, the traffic halted due to railway gate, so decided go in the other way, and that has costed us peace of journy.

Gudivada to Hyderabad road has all the bad qualities a road can have. Single way, Potholes, bugs , cattle and traffic ( Maintly SUVs). Each one of us had experienced a near-accident experience then. Fortnately, nothing unwanted had happened, except two bikes went missing by the time we reached Kankipadu. Dixit , Prahlad and Sridhar took a detour as Sridhar had to pick up few things from his relatives.

I have reached Vijayawada first and waiting at Auto Nagar for the rest. My phone battery is drained and Nageswars battery is about to. We waited till Uday came to rescue us with a charged phone. It took another hour for us to communicate and coordinate for us to meet. Sridhar was still at his relatives home.

We have wasted some more time discussing wheather we should checkout the tunnel route in vijayawada or hit the Hyderabad highway as if we have chocices to make when sun went to bed and moon is challenging us to travel at night.

We have decided to go to Hyderabad and Santosh made us to halt to buy a monkey cap. We drove 20 KM to stop for dinner. Informed Sridhar about the location, and he joined us.

                                                                  Sleep Riding

After having stomach full of rotis, we made our plan. Its simple. Tea break at every major town on the way to Hyderabad. Little i know that we will have a sleeping-break too.

I was skeptical about our journey to hyderabad. Previous trips taught me that not every one can drive through out the night. And i am not one of them. Night driving, though on National Highway scares me. Invisibility , highbeams put more pressure on the brain which wants to take rest.

We stopped at every town for tea and coffee. I expected that Uday would push the idea to check in a hotel and sleep, but it was Dixit who did that. Four days of driving took the toll of each one. But, budget made us

to move ahead.

Dixit entered half-sleep mode, so santosh took Enfield. We continued our journey with me and Dixit arguing over politics till he becomes sober and expressed his will to drive Enfield.

In one of the many tea-breaks, Uday stood up with a firm expression on his face accused us of riding slow, so he would take Nageswar and reach Hyderabad, because Nageswar cant ride and he doesnot nead a back-up rider. We let them go, as Uday had to come to Bhimavaram the next day with his family.

10 min after we all started, i saw Dixits Enfield stopped on the left side. Prahlad didnt put his feet down and Dixit leening on petrol tank, looked as if he checking the fuel in the bike. I thought , the bike ran out of fuel and went there to enquire. Dixit was sleeping with his head on the petrol tank and Prahlad is checking his Mobile.

With a push, he woke up with red eyes. Santosh took Enfield again. Dixit started nagging to take a hotel. He made up stories like, he is seeing houses travelling along with us due to lack of sleep etc etc.

After couple of hours of riding, we stopped at Narketpally for Tea. Now the time is 3AM. One after one, everyone went to sleep. Me and Santosh were chatting till Uday and Nageswar joined us. Apparently, both of them slept at a town for more than hour and came here to sleep again.

My plan is to wake them up after one hour, but could not do so. They scattered all over that small hotel and slept with heads on the tables. The old guy who preparing breakfasts didnt bother us.

Me and Santosh palnned to wake them up at sun rice. The dense fog allowed them to sleep for some more time. It was almost 8:30 AM when the visability increased and we are confident enough to drive.

At Chowtappal, Uday and Sridhar slept again. Santosh who didnt sleep at all, was exhausted. He was so exhausted that he thought spelling of 2 is “to”.

In couple of hours , we reached our cafe, had tea and samosas and went home.

Its one trip which made realize that, one only needs to have endurance for a long drive not experience.

Jurala !

So we planned a trip to Jurala Project , MahaboobNagar. I felt good because i am going to see a new place, felt bad because its the same old NH7.

This time, the group got bigger. We are 11 members on 6 bikes.

We followed the ritual, i.e starting at the cafe after having few cups of tea and delaying the trip for 1 Hr. There was no fog, so my bike compensated it with thick white smoke. After, reaching Aaramghar, Mahesh, the irritatingly speed driver Mahesh on Apache, said, he doesnot have money for petrol. Raju, step forwarded to help that poor guy, so that we dont have to go without him.

 
Am really getting bored of NH7. One more trip on that highway, may be i can tell the name of every Dhaba till Judcherla. I let Dixit drive and let the music not road, entertain me. With the entry of new members, there was no coordination on halts. Chandu is getting irritated of halts, and i am in a mood of "Let it go".


We got off NH7 , took a detour on dirt road to reach Jurala. The dam is not very big, but its a local picnic spot. People from near by Karnataka Villages come there to have a family outing there. Its almost 3, by the time we reached there. Everybody is hungry and nobody dared to talk on it. Finally, Sridhar broke-down and bought Bananas and ice-creams. They become starters for our lunch. Now we have to drive for main-course.

We took another path to return home, and joined with NH7 at Gadwel. Its 5 PM. Sridhar wanted to have lunch at Gadwel, but we dragged him till Pebbair, where Dixit and Raju went to bring chicken. We got into a Dhaba. The owner is kind and gave us a big hall. Had our lunch there, then Chandu made hukkah. I didnt know he brought Hukkah with him. Its a pleasant surprise.

 After having their stomachs full, now guys wanted to have fun, which goes great with Hukkah. And there is Mahesh. Anil reminded him of the bet they both placed. The bet is Mahesh should reach Jurala from Hyderabad in 2 hours. Stake is 5000.  Mahesh complained that he didnt knew the route to Jurala then. They both made me the judge. My verdict is, Mahesh should from Pebbair to Hyderabad in 1 and half hours to prove his driving prowess or give 5k to Anil. When Sridhar mocked him, Mahesh accepted the bet and left the Dhaba with such a rash speed that the dust rose to 5 feet. When dust settled down, Raju questioned "How can he go to Hyderabad, with no sufficient fuel in bike and no money in pocket ? "

We resumed journey with loud laughter, pointed at Mahesh. This time me and Raju on my bike. With Raju driving at 60 speed. Later, i realized that , we are actually at 80 KMPH and speedometer is broke. First dusk then darkness chased us. Once the night conquered the day and ruling the world, Anil called us and asked to us wait for them, as sridhar bikes HID is not functioning. As we were waiting at Bus Shelter, Sridhar and Anil came on Avenger, with low beam , turn lights on and Anil holding a torchlight, focusing it on road. After me and Raju done laughing at them, we started again and halted at Judcherla to get the headlight repaired.

Mahesh called me for help as he ran out of fuel and doesnot have money with him. As we were at Judcherla, i called Chandu and asked him to help that poor guy who was waiting at a petrol bunk. Soon, Chandu called me and started shouting at me. Apperantly, Mahesh bike was at petrol bunk and he is nowhere to be seen and its raining there. I called Mahesh, only to know that he went out for smoke and got struck in rain.

Everybody waited at Bunk, till me, Raju, Sridhar and Anil reached. I am using reserve petrol now, so went inside and getting petrol. Mahesh told the Bunk to fuel his bike worth 170 Rs. I didnt understand that, but i let it go, as cant understand most things about him. The Bunk guy asked me to pay 200 for fueling Mahesh Bike. When i asked , why extra 30, that guy told me that he lent Mahesh , Rs 30 for cigarettes. Rarely we meet guys like Mahesh, is not it.

The rain has spoiled the whatever coordination we had since morning. Only few of us, came to the cafe to finish off the driving ritual.

Trip to Nellore

This is my first multi-day trip. When i embarked on it, i have picked a direction, not a destination.

I was  tired of single day trips. Still, i enjoy them, but while returning, the thought of reaching the home used to annoy me. For few days i want to roam like a nomad without a destination. I started preparations for  just two days  i.e told to my parents i will be going to Nellore with my friends to attend a marriage.

Upgraded the bike headlight bulb to H.I.D. Increased the bike height by modifying the seat. Bought new leather gloves. Replaced the rear mud-guard with a new one. Refilled the engine oil with semi-synthetic oil. At home, i told that the marriage was on 18th. So i started on 17th January, 2012 at 5:30 AM from home.

                                                         Day 1

First halt at Hayathnagar, not even 10KM from my home. But i had to have to tea. Its against trip-ritual, to start the journey without a tea. I had a Rajasthani chai there.

Bike felt different. Its like, i was riding another bike, or i was in some others body and riding my bike. The new handle bar grips, the gloves and the heightened seat making me feel uncomfortable. I took the gloves off, and swore not to use them again.

Nobody knows where i was going, even i didnt know where i was going. But i had to inform my friend Raju or somebody about it, but what to inform? I updated my facebook status saying i was going south.

Pulikat was in my mind then. Its in nellore, there are two routes to go there. 1. Via vijayawada, 2. Via Miryalaguda . I was scared of vijayawada highway then. I stopped at Narketpalli, where

At the canal near Vemulapally village

 I bought nylon rope to tie my backpack to the saree-guard of the bike. But the bag is slipping. So, i bought a chain and a lock. The chain gave support to the backpack and nylon rope made sure that it wont wiggle. Now me and bike, attained long-drive-look-and-comfort.

 I was in no hurry at all, as i dont have to reach home by night. On the way to Miryalaguda, i crossed a bridge over a canal. Instead of going straight , i took left turn and started riding on the bank of the canal. After few minutes, i reached serene place. I parked my bike, removed the shoes, tied them to the bike with laces. Then  sat at
the canal with legs immersed in water and listening to the songs from the farmland on the other side of canal. The landlord setup two speakers in the land for the entertainment of employees at work. Cool !!

It was almost noon when i reached Miryalaguda. On the outskirts of Miryalaguda, where i stopped for a chai, i met few college students. Didnt talk to them much. when they asked me to take few snaps of them together, i obliged. They must be in engineering first year or so. There was railway track just beside the road. I always wanted to have a photograph of me, while resting on tracks. First they were awed then giggled and said ok. Thats how i got my dream picture. I wish i took off the goggles, but still fine.

The road from Miryalaguda to Guntur was under construction then. For more than 100 KM , the road is half laid, and there were road rollers everywhere i go.  As i said earlier, i was in no hurry at all. I was having tea  wherever i wished . Not many hotels or  dhabas on the way. I found a dhaba on road side and went inside.  Its not a dhaba, its a Janatha Bar. No rice items are available to eat. I ordered khaju fry and to remove dust in the eyes i planned to use eyedrops. However, i ended up with ear-drops in my eyes. I have cleansed the eyes cursing myself for picking up the wrong one. By the time, my eye-fiasco ended, khaju fry was ready. I had little, poured the rest in my jacket pocket and started off.

Bridge connecting Guntur and Nalgonda

Soon i reached Guntur boarder. There is a bridge connecting Telangana and Coastal Andhra, which serves as the boarder between Nalgonda and Guntur. I shouted "Jai Telengana" before riding on the bridge.

Had lunch at Piduguralla. Guntur is famous for red chilly. They add it in everything, that lunch was the spiciest meals i ever had. Even daal was spicy. I had to drink lot of water to calm my tongue.

 I was going real slow. Stopping and admiring the nature whenever it is possible. After a couple of Tea-breaks the sun is set. Its dark by the time i reached Addanki. Its the birthplace of famous telugu poet Errapragada, the last member of Kavitryam who translated Mahabharata in to Telugu. I expected to a statue of him on the main road, but all i have seen are the statues of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.


After few kilometers the road got merged with NH5. I was able to go fast now, in fact i had a race with couple of Ongole bikers there, i could continue that, but i have stopped to see Taj Mahal. The local exhibition fellows built a replica of it. It was so good, and could fool anybody. I entered the Ongole town, and called my friend Samrat who is from the same place to take his advise on accommodation. He suggested Hotel Mourya beside Bus stand. I checked in, then went to meet him at the bus stand, gave send off to him and went on searching for food. After sitting for a long time on bike, bums feel funny when i started walking. So, i strolled for sometime before i slept.

                                                                Day 2 

Next day i started at around 9 AM. When i checked Google Maps, i found Kavali ahead. Kavali is the background of the book "Poleramma banda kathalu " and "Dargamitta kathalu ", a  telugu equivalent of "Swamy and his friends". Both the books are full of wit and comedy and personally i gave those to at least six friends as gift.

There is a beach in Ongole but, i have decided to skip it. After travelling for some time on the highway, i saw a board which says "Tanguturu" is few KM away. Tanguturi Prakasham panthulu a.k.a Andhra kesari ( The lion of Andhra) flashed in my mind. Without a second thought i have

decided to go there. On the way to Tanguturu i stopped for chai. The owner seen the bike and bag then asked me about my journey. His jaw dropped when i told him that i started from Ongole that morning and going to Tanguturu. May be he would have got a heart attack if i told him that i was coming from hyderabad.

I asked a man with Telugu-teacher-looks for the house address of Andhra kesari in Tanguturu. He enlightened me that, the forefathers of Prakasham pantulu lived there but not him.
                             
                                                                                                                                     
                                                            

                                                            Kavali 

Then headed to kavali. Its few KM from the highway. Kavali is not as bad as i thought. "Poleramma banda kathalu " is the collection of short stories of kids of local high school. I

was able to find the school easily. Then to "Poleramma banda". Shockingly, not a single soul heard the name. I was having tea at the hotel opposite to school and enquired. No use. I asked the SI who was also having tea. He said he had no idea. I told him about the book, the publishers , the authors,

Poleramma Banda 

he denied any knowledge of them. Then he asked how old that book was. I vaguely guessed that the incidents might have happened about 15 to 20 years ago. When i said that, he asked me to go and check in the old-town. And yes, i found poleramma banda there.

The distance between kavali and ocean is not more than 5KM. The ocean air is inviting me to the beach. So i have decided to go to a beach. There are two beaches in Nellore. Maipad and Kothakoduru. Due to logistics i have decided to go to kothakoduru beach.



                                            Kothakoduru beach.

Its a long way from Highway to the beach. But the way is serene with fishponds and coconut trees. I was in a very good mood with all the greenery around me and going slow, as I was passing through a village, a kid with cycle started racing with me. I cant say he was "on" the cycle because he was not sitting on the seat, he was peddling with one through the frame of the bicycle , i

dont the right word to describe that style of riding a bicycle but in telugu its called "Pakka Tokkudu". I bonked the harn loud and shouted at him to go faster. All of a sudden , he started crying but kept on peddling it. I started riding beside him and bonking the horn, at that point he started sobbing. I thought thats enough and left the kid alone.

Soon i reached kothakoduru beach. Though its January, the area was hot. The beach is not well maintained. It must be the holiday-resort to the nearby villages.

I was enjoying the beach view and saw two bikers on the beach. Suddenly, i had the urge to ride my bike on the beach. I went to the parking place and started riding it. Its not easy to ride a bike on sand, it requires a technique. Naturally, i thought i should ride on the first or second gear as friction would be more, but i was wrong, biker should maintain an optimum speed or the wheels get stuck in the sand. Naturally, i though i should not ride on the wet sand as it cant support the weight of the bike and me. Again , i was wrong, riding on the wet sand with optimum speed is all it requires to enjoy the ride on the shore. It took me some time and lot of petrol to learn these things. A fellow

rider on beach and me helped each other to preserve those memories by taking snaps of each other.  I rode till i reached an abandoned construction protruding in to the sea. May be its used to carry goods to the ships.

I scaled that construction, planned to hit the road and then have my lunch. On the beach, i found many hotels which only serve fish and crabs. I have little experience in eating fish and none regarding crabs. The men procure the fish and crabs and the ladies fry them and sell them. I always appreciate the equality in gender regarding economics. However, its more predominant in low class than in educated upper or middle class. However, domestic violence is more in lower class than in other classes. When the woman is financially independent , then why she has to tolerate domestic violence is the question which always beats me. May be i need some more understanding regarding, family, economics and women.

                                                                   

With little difficulty, i finished the fish. Its more like a snack than a meal. I started back and reached the highway, and started searching for a dhaba to eat. Again , i got myself into a janatha bar. I guess this trip is jinxed with janatha bars. Luckily, they also serve food. I had roties and resumed the journey.

I found many villages in Nellore whose names are hilarious. Dont understand how they got those names. The core city of nellore is called "Buja Buja nellore". I fueled the bike there and went on driving, laughing at the names. I have decided to make a halt at Sullurupeta.

It was dark, when i reached Sullurupeta. I started enquiring for lodges and about ten members eagerly surrounded me and trying to help me. The shining snake emblem on bike must have attracted them. I followed their directions and found a lodge near vegetable market. Rent is cheap and room is clean. The owner adjusted other vehicles so that i can park my bike inside the building. Surely, long driver gets lot of help from others. After dinner, i bathed and slept. But, woke up couple of times because of the trains on railway tracks which is not even 100 yards from the building. At least the building is not shaking , like shown in old bollywood movies.

                                                    Day 3  


Woke up late and decided to visit nearby  tourist spots. I started towards Pulicat lake. I had breakfast in the market and had a coffee near national highway. Then changed my mind and went to Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary. Its few kilometers from Sullurupeta. The place is crowded with

Pelicans and Flamingos. Few years back i read "Pelican brief" by John Grisham , but didn't know how to looks till then. However, Flamingos look beautiful than Pelicans. They are categorized based on size of beak, color and body weight mainly. Locals organize Flamingo Festival to promote tourism. The bird sanctuary is a group of isles in a large lake, where the migratory birds breed.

On the way to Pulicat lake, i met two saints walking on the highway. I considered them as fellow travellers and chatted with them for a while. Apparently, they are coming from Varanasi and their destination is Rameswaram. It took them 5 months on foot to reach Nellore and they are confident that they would reach the

destination in 3 months. When i asked them about their fooding and lodging , they simply shrugged and said almighty takes care of them. Well, thats faith, and i lack it.












                                                      Pulicat lake

Pulicat is in the village Thada which is at the border of  Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu. Though, geographically its in A.P, Tamil culture is predominant there. There were no sign boards to Pulicat.  I was asking for directions for everybody is confusing me, including Google Maps.

Finally, god sent an angle with white beard on old Luna. I followed him and reached Pulicat. Everything was great so far. I dont know Tamil and the fishermen don't know Telugu. We communicated in pidgin language and finally settled  on Rs 200 for a trip in the lake.  This is my

first trip on a sail-boat. Raising the sail is a tricky job.

Pulicat is a lagoon. Its salty and with less depth. We have gone one KM from the bank and other fisherman standing in the lake arranging their Nets. I was able to show those sailors how to take a snap and they convinced me that its safe to walk in the lake. I got excited , left my wallet, mobile, bag, bike keys and shoes on the boat and jumped in the water. The cold water touched the face, then cold fear touched me. What can i do , if they hit my head with an oar and sail back to bank? Well, if they want to do something like that, they can hit me and throw in me water even from boat. I got a sailor who is walking with me holding the boat. I thought may be his job is make sure that i was drowned. Then i thought, i must start trusting people if want to travel alone. Then i thought about the saints i met earlier that day, and planned to walk back to home like them, if they rob me. At least i would become lean that way, but nothing of the sort happened. The fisherman walking with me offered  Beedi, and encouraged me to swim in those waters.

Well, world is not a bad place at all. I swam for a while, then came to boat. I ditched the thought of getting back in to the boat and started walking. The mud under my feat is little slippery but the aquatic plants compensate  that. I asked for one more beedi and walked while smoking. The month was January, the weather is chilling, i was waist deep underwater , there is water everywhere in half kilometer radius , and there are some fish jumping off the water like dolphins. At least i got one lifetime memory which i cherish till i die.

When we reached the bank, i paid the money. Interestingly, they offered me a fish which is still alive, as a gift. Or at least i thought it was a gift as i dont understand their language, but i don't know how to cook it, so i returned it to them and left.

I reached Thada but the problem of Tamil is still there. I never went out of Andhra pradesh after i grew up. I am at Tamilnadu border now, Chennai is about 40 KM, suddenly i had the urge to eat Idli - Sambar at Chennai. I crossed the state border  towards Chennai. I travelled about 10KM on the highway, then i started contemplating things again. I dont know a bit of Tamil, none of my friends were living in Chennai, I remember someone saying that Chennai Traffic police are hostile towards vehicles from Andhra Pradesh.. so, I returned to Thada, called a friend who used to live in Chennai and asked him how to say " Is Idly available ?" in Tamil. The answer is "Idly irukaa".

Then i searched for Idly for sometime. Its almost 2 PM, so hotels stopped serving Idly. One guy said something in Tamil when i asked for Idly , and i heard the word "Dosa", i said ok and sat. He served a Dosa with sambar. Well, that Dosa is more like large idly.

I had lunch at a mess, then started towards Thada falls.  However, thada falls is so large and have to walk so much that, i should have been there by 11 AM or so. I reached the place at closing time, i took few snaps of the small pond at the entrance and returned.

The detour to Thada is not a disaster, though i could not see the water falls. My bike tyres touched the dirt road for the first time. A lonely road , and the calmness is guarded by the hills around. The dried lands around me made me feel that i was riding for months. The beauty exhausted me. In the last three days i have seen new things, travelled on the road which i have not travelled before, talked to people with different accents. Its all too much to take for guy like me, who never really travelled before.

I thought of going to Sri kalahasti, spend the night there and travel back to hyderabad via chittoor, but dropped that idea as i am running our of money. With little money, i found the known places safe. I have returend to Sullurpeta, had a coffee and started off to Ongole.

                                                  Angles at midnight - police

After driving for a long time, fighting with insects , making my way through the darkness , a couple of teas , two rotis at a punjabi Dhaba, i reached Ongole by 1 AM.

I was searching for hotels to stay. Every where i go i get the reply "No rooms" from the watchman or attendant who is half asleep. Apparently, all the students who came to Ongole to write B.Ed exam next day occupied cheap hotels, including dormitories and costly hotels were occupied by a Cinema company.   I was hopping from one Hotel to another in search of room. While roaming on the empty roads of Ongole, after half an hour, police zeep started following me. They stopped me and asked me about my details. After listening to my long drive, they got impressed and promised to help me out.

I have to mention , SI Sultan Khan. He took me to a Hotel , woke the manager up and told him that i was cousin and demanded a room for me. The greedy manager, who rented his own room , could not help me. Then one of the constable reminded the SI that , there was a new lodge in the adjacent lane. SI sent me there with two constables. Both lodge and its owner are small. First he said there are no rooms with droopy eyes, but the constables, lifted him up, threw him in the air and again caught him, just like we do with little kids. When safely landed, his mind is active and suddenly he remembered that there is a vacant room. I thanked the police, stayed in the hotel that night.

                                                 
                                                           Day-4  

Woke up a bit late in the morning , and started off to Hyderabad after thanking to SI once again. Few Kilometers of the road from Ongole is blocked because of the police selection. But i got bored to ride on the same road again and again. I have decided to take detour. I started off on Guntur

Highway. Then , via , Macharla , Nagarjuna Sagar, i reached home. On the way back home, i have seen two statutes of Police constables who died in Naxal encounter. Never seen police getting such respect.

As i was having chai, i noticed sand on the bike. It must be from Kothakoduru beach. I had my bike water washed at Piduguralla. That waterwash cut the horn wire. Got it repaired at Macerla.

At Nagarjuna Sagar, i have seen little Romeos. Kids of about 10

years age, offering flowers to girls on the way. When i asked them to give a pose, they did their best to look like a true Romeo.

Unlike many trips before, this trip gave me new experiences, i ventured into distant lands, i have seen people of different culture and language. Most of all, this trip proved my stamina.



One lesson i learned from this trip is to use sunscreen lotion.

Avancha

Nageswar forwarded an article from Namaste Telengana, where we found information on this Avancha ganapathi statue. Apparently the statue belongs to 10th century. Its about 30 feet height and carved from a single stone.

The picture in the article, where the statue is lying among the grass fields tempted us to go there. The place is around 120KM from where i live. This time, the team become big with new people. We decided to start at 10AM from the cafe, due to the joining of unexpected people, we started off  an hour lately.  We were seven members on four bikes.

Took the first halt at Aramghar, then another near shadnagar, then at Hillpark restaurant near Balanagar for lunch. So far we covered more than 70 KM.  There is new member Mahesh, who got confused long drive with racing and scared every pillion rider he had in the trip. He was alone from starting, but Nageswar dared to go with him, when we stopped for lunch he had to drink two glasses of water to calm himself down. After lunch, Raju ventured to ride with Mahesh.

To go to avancha, one has to take left turn before reaching the judcherla flyover. Everybody was informed so, but chandu didnt pay attention. He was riding alone. He took the flyover and going
fast towards banglore. He didnt pay attention to the surrounding or milestones and not to his phone either. After half an hour , he called us, realized his mistake and returned.  I proposed to resume the journey while chandu was returning. Raju didnt have faith in chandu it seems, he said he would wait for chandu and bring him and and asked us to move forward. So Srikanth and Raju waited there and the rest i.e me , Nageswar, Sridhar and Mahesh , continued to Avancha.

An old man asked us for lift. Its a delight to give lift to localite on trips like these. Usually, i indulge them into a conversation with me, but this time nageswar took that job. Where we had to take a left turn to go to Avancha, Mahesh and Sridhar went straight. We all started when they came back.

After dropping the oldaman at his village, which is about 5 KM from Avancha, we have decided to wait by the road for rest of the boys to join us. There we met another old farmer, who started discussing his family issues with us. When rest of the boys, came, we started again.

It was not that difficult to find the Statue. Its among the green fields. There was a farmer , taking care of his cotton plantation. One acre of land might yiled anywhere between one ton to two tons. The market price of one quintal raw cotton is about 3500. Due to lack of water, they could raise the farm in one season only. It means a small farmer with 10 acres of land shall get minimum 3.5lac per annum.

The farmer complained that the construction of  irrigation lift canal which was started when YSR was CM has stopped. When asked about the statue, he told me that the land where the statue is situated now belongs to a Pune trust who bought 9 acres of land and the way which leads to statue. And he provided all these information because he mistook me for the ETV journalist who is yet to come.

We took few snaps there and went to village to have some tea. Its been a long time my tongue tasted tea. We stopped at a kirana&general stores to have softdrinks and enquired for tea. The house next to the shop is the hotel. When we went there an urdu-speaking person confronted us

and told us that they are out of milk. The owner of the hotel, a lady in her early fifties promised us to make black tea, but the cattle is full of tea with milk and she served us in the cups where villages get tea in glasses. Surely, we were treated well.

On the way to Jadcharla, we have seen two men , with a bird in the cage. They are trying to sell it and told us that it would taste great. Even offered us to cook it for us. After much negotiations Nageswar wanted to buy that bird to set it free. So we bought it and went ahead.

Genetically , the bird must be a relative to the Hen. It has long legs and could not fly. I noticed its tongue when it bit me. The ropes with which it was tied are hard to untie. Raju had to use his teeth to untie them. Finally, the bird was free. When everybody was waiting for fly like a pigeon from the hand of Nehru, it jumped from my bike and ran in to woods.

We started again, had a tea at judcherla, and had to stop again several times due to rain.

The journey was good, but it got prolonged unnecessarily.