Prologue:
It was somewhere around 3 AM in the morning I heard a weird noise that stopped me from snoring. I, partially separated my eyelids from each other and found a pale face with a 25cm tall skull cap resembling a Sufi- Dancer greeting me with a wide grin: “Assalamu Alaikum Jaseemkka, wake up”. I thought: “How the hell did this guy Fazal enter my bedroom? May be it’s a dream or something”. I just tossed towards the other side and resumed the snoring session. But before I could regain the rhythm I heard another voice calling my name. “Isn’t that Rafsal?” I opened my eyes and rubbed it. Turning around I could see Fazal and Rafsal staring at me with red faces. I could guess it was my snoring. “By the Way, how did these guys get together. OMG! I just forgot. We were sleeping at Ramzeel’s house and this was the first day of our 3day bike trip”. I jumped out of the bed and hastened to washroom to freshen up while the other two got busy waking up Azmeer.
“Meghamalai”, Ever since I saw travelogues on Meghamalai by few xbhpians, the place was added to my ‘To-Do’ list with a star. Rafsal, my cousin working in Dubai, used to call me frequently asking me to do some trip planning, so that we could execute when he is back. And I would say “In Sha Allah”, but no planning happened. Finally he was home for one of our Cousins wedding last month. After all, the marriages and other food feasts of Malabar are simply Irresistible. The planning session got heated up. Initially it was only two of us. We, Malabar people use to have a lot of food feasts related to marriage for the next two weeks or so. From amongst a dozen of such parties, Rafsal got this friend named Azmeer, who is also an avid rider. Soon Fazal and Ramzeel was added to the group. Finally the team was set:
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| Rider 1: Rafsal with his Royal Enfield Bullet 1974 |
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| Rider 2: Azmeer with his Royal Enfield Standard 350 |
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| Rider 3: Ramzeel with his cousin’s Royal Enfield Standard 350 |
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| Rider 4: Fazal with his rented Royal Enfield Standard 350 |
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| Rider 5: Myself Abu Zainab with my Royal Enfield Bullet 1990 |
The D-Day:
We all offered our “Thahajjud” (optional night prayer) and “Safar” (Prayer before embarking on a journey) prayers and were out by 4:30 am. Ramzeel’s mother served us “Unniyappams” and boiled bananas along with a hot cup of sulaimani (Black tea). She advised us: “Children, be careful. Do not take any unwanted risk. Make sure you don’t starve or dehydrate”. Rafsal’s reply was immediate: “Whatever we miss, we’ll make sure that we have ample amount of food”. And I should say, He lived up to his words for the entire trip. Finally we got our tyres rolling just before the Azan (Call for prayer) of Fajar Prayer. Our next stop was at Kondotty for the prayers after which we decided to have tea. I was thinking of taking a small tea break and have breakfast at Palakkad. Nothing doing, everyone were damn hungry. Somehow we managed till Perinthamanna and decided to have our breakfast there.
Porottas (Please note Kerala style porottas as entirely different from that of north Indian paranthas) and veg curries were ordered. We had a stomach full of those hot and crispy porottas. Everyone came out of the restaurant as we finished our meal. But Azmeer was nowhere in the sight. A few minutes later, he came out with a broad grin on his face: “I just went to toilet”. Least did we realise it was just a beginning. I heard Ramzeel asking about the cleanliness of the toilet. Within no time I saw him removing his shoes and taking the sandals out of his saddlebag. “Ahh…No…” I turned towards Fazal only to find that he too was missing. I lost my patience and started the journey forward with Rafsal in a slower pace so that they could catch up with us soon.
With two more breaks we arrived at McD Palakkad at around 11:15 am. After Burgers, Plain water and Peeing we were off towards Pollachi. Since it was Friday, we started the search for a suitable Masjid where we could park our bikes safely. I had most of the costlier items, so was more sceptical. But thankfully we got one just after Pollachi.
After the Juma prayer and a juice we started the hunt for a suitable hotel. Finally settled at some random restaurant enroute. The rice and curries where so tasty that I ended up having in such a way that it became even difficult to get up from the chair. On top of that I had to help Azmeer finish off his omelette since he felt something weird in his belly while having that. Ramzee diapperared again while we were having a black tea. While we were wondering where he is, we heard barking of dogs those were tied near the toilet.. By the way Azmeer fullfilled the task while we were busy ordering the food.
Our next stop was decided at Palani. After Udumalpett, the landscape had a drastic change. The tree shaded highways disappeared and vast plains opened up with massive windmills on either sides as far as eyes could see. A few kilometres down that windy road, we spotted a small restaurant named ‘KDFC’s Only Coffee’ surrounded by windmills on all the sides. We stopped there to enjoy a few sips of authentic Tamil Nadu Filter coffee in those traditional brass vessels. The coffee was too tasty that we ended up having two coffees each. Next we stopped at the right turn towards Kodaikanal at Palani. While we were busy having tea, Azmeer had his regular visit to Toilet.
We were very much disappointed as we could not make it to some view points on the ghat sections to view the sunset. Anyways we moved forward. Thankfully we were not stopped at the check post, and that saved us at least half an hour. But we were forced to stop at the first view point as the lake with colourfully lit sky was an irresistible view; especially for the photographer in me. The posers in them were too equally excited. We had a good fifteen minutes of photography and peeing session there. It was decided not to waste any more time so we moved fast towards Kodaikanal. Then came this huge climb with dozens of hairpin bends filled with potholes. Riding on a pothole bitten road in night is a tedious task; and it becomes a nightmare if that’s a ghat road. We were having a real tough time. Me, Rafsal and Azmeer stopped near Silver cascade falls as the other two were missing in our RVMs. Ramzeel had his brake struck somewhere on the way. Even though no one could figure out the real problem, it was back to normal after a small break. After a few more incidents we finally arrived at Kodaikanal around 9 pm. It took us quite a long time to locate the hotel we have booked ‘Vedanta Wake Up’.
Now came the next hurdle. The ‘Goibibo’ guys didn’t inform the hotel guys about our arrival but still did sent us confirmation mails. Now that was not a pleasant thing to hear, especially after such a long tiring ride of over seventeen hours. I and Fazal was trying to sort out the problem in a peaceful way, but Ramzeel got aggressive and started shouted. I was thinking: “What the hell is going on. What makes this cool and calm guys so aggressive”? Then I figured it out that it was not unavailability of the room, but the toilet which was attached to it. Azmeer’s case was worse. He couldn’t even speak. He was walking here and there. Finally we dialled the customer service of ‘Goibibo’. Within no time they contacted the hotel guys and confirmed our booking on phone. The manager was too stupid that he disconnected the phone after lots of “yes’s” and “okay’s” and repeated the same story to us. “We have not received any confirmation yet, Sir”. I slowly started getting heated up. That was when this Hindi speaking guy turned up. I think he is one of the partners. After narrating the whole thing, without a second thought he instructed the staff to handover us the key. After the toilet session of Azmeer and Ramzeel and our Magrib, Isha prayers we headed out to have some food.
Fazal was the finance keeper of the trip. He always made sure the food is cheap but better quality. The street outside the hotel where we stayed were full with street food and restaurants. Street food appeared to be unhygienic so we went to the nearby restaurant. The food was too costly still not up to the mark. While we had ‘Dosas’ and ‘Uthappams’, Azmeer had a ‘lemon tea’ and ran back to our room for his next ‘session’. After the food we directly went to the room and took shelter inside our blankets.
Day 2:
I was having a good time dreaming my one and a half year old little Zainab. But then appeared this villain named ‘Low Temperature’. Thigh muscles got cramps which made me jump up from the bed. The time was around 5:30 am and Fazal’s (or Ramzeel’s) alarm kept making some creepy noise. Fazal and Ramzeel too got up soon. We performed ablution and left towards the Masjid. I was the last one. By the time I got out of the room, there was ample sunlight. As I feared I would miss my Fajar prayer, I offered it in room itself. I then took my camera and left for some early morning shots - My favourite time of the day to shoot. The cold was somewhat manageable (around 12 degrees I guess). After the few shots in front of the hotel over a cup of tea, I moved towards the famous Kodaikanal Lake. The Lake is surrounded by roads in similitude with its shape throughout the length. One can hire a bicycle from any vendor here and have a half hour ride. I preferred my bike. After a couple of photos and the second cup of tea, I returned to hotel. There I found a street tea shop serving hot ‘Vadas’. ‘Vadas’ are awesome in Tamil Nadu. Had the third cup of tea here with those hot crispy ‘Vadas’ and ‘Sambar’. I could feel some grumbling inside my belly after that. Rushed back to the toilet to get relieved. Hearing about the Hot ‘Vadas’, everyone left their blankets and rushed towards the tea shop. But Fazal was too lazy to lift his ass up the cozy bed.
While we were all busy tying our saddle bags around 9:30 am, Azmeer was busy with his sessions, followed by Ramzeel. Even after the bags were all tied up. Ramzeel took a long time to arrive finally. And he got this name: “The Last Bus”. We decided to skip the breakfast and rush towards Meghamalai via Theni. But just before the Silver Cascade falls, we spotted a small tea-shop that served hot Puris and Vadas. They had a few awesome ‘chutney’s (a curry made out of coconut). Without a second thought, I stopped there. One by one, others followed. But Azmeer decided to find a better restaurant as he is already suffering from stomach disorder. After the food we teamed up at the next junction and proceeded towards Theni.
On this road we encounted some awesome curves and corners with very less potholes. Since I’ve got a pair of MRF tyres (3.50-19 on Rear) just before this trip, I was having a really good time. The temperature kept increasing as we were descending. Finally the ghat roads came to end and we were on some fantastic butter smooth roads with shade trees on both sides of the road and occasionally appearing remote villages. The best thing about Tamil Nadu Roads are these Shade trees on both the sides of these Smooth roads (Well, exception proves the theory).
But still the heat was getting unbearable for me. Body was getting dehydrated minute by minute. We stopped at some roadside restaurant, bought a mineral water bottle mixed glucose powder and gulped that full bottle to regain some energy. Soon we entered the Theni-Madurai highway. Tarmac was at its best but the shade trees disappeared and it was open fields was on either sides. The noon Sun was frying us on the road. Soon we came across a Masjid and we stopped for the Zuhr and Asr prayers. As we were parking our machines we could notice a few heads with skull caps peeping from different windows. That was a Madrassa (School for learning Quran) hostel. A sweet aroma of Ghee rice and Mutton Curry filled the atmosphere there. Rafzal prayed that they invite us for the lunch; but that didn’t happen. We ended up having some awesome Fish, Mutton and Prawns biryani at Theni. As a dessert we had awesome Pappad and Payasam (Kheer). I think that also deserves a mention here.
Post lunch we were cruising towards Chinnamanur so that we could make it to Meghamalai before sundown. Some 3-4 kms to the left of Chinnamanur, two diverged in gravel paved junction. We took the less travelled one towards the right, and that made all the difference. On the way here Rafsal dropped our 5L water bottle. That was a disaster. Before entering the road I asked someone how far was Meghamalai from there. He Said: “23 km”. For my question “How about the Road”, He replied “Pathetic”. Ramzeel had a little reservation as his shoulder was dislocated a couple of times. I was also sceptical about my back pain. But as a team, we decided to move forward. We saw a couple of grape farms on the way, but we were in no mood to stop as we wanted to make it there before sunset.
The gravel roads came to an end at some random village which had a few shops and a police check post. After that the gravel roads too disappeared and what left was a weird terrain which they call ‘Road’ but no signs of tarmac. To add to the torture road construction was going on throughout the length till Meghamalai. Hopefully, the place will be a biker’s paradise in a matter of few months. But for now, the next few kilometres will be a literally back-breaking ride for us. A few kilometres up the road, I was forced to stop as my back was hurting like anything. With all those riding gears, scorching sun and reduced speed of 10-15 kmph, we were sweating like pigs. We felt as if we were climbing the mighty Himalayas. We were feeling proud that we were doing such a tough task, many bikers dare to do. That’s when we saw this guy in his forties wearing a lungi riding a 97cc HH Splendour down the hill with a 20L bucket hanging on its handle. He was doing a good speed of 40-50 kmph. We were all dumbstruck. Every one stopped complaining about wrist and back pain. Without a single word we continued our Journey.
A few more kilometres up I noticed an Old man around 75 years of age working for the Road Construction group. He was carrying a huge piece of rock that was at least 20 kg heavy on his head. That was the moment I reflected upon the luxuries that God gifted us with. I thought for a moment: “What might have passed through his mind seeing us burning fuel like this?”
After a few more kilometres we asked someone: “How long is Meghamalai?” “20 kms” he replied. I thought: “What the hell. We have rode near to 20 kms after the other guy told us 23 km. Still 20 kms?” We found a worker after 2-3 kms and asked him. His reply was too “20 km”. “Grrr… no more asking guys. Let’s go” I said.
Barren valleys with mountains switched from right to left and back as we ascended the climb. Same valleys from different angles appeared like different valleys. We soon stopped at an awesome location that will most probably be converted into a watch tower in the near future. We took a good twenty minutes break there. Two boys on a bike stopped nearby. On enquiry they too had the same reply: “20 kms”.
“What? Are you sure?”
“Hmm…”
“Pakka?”
“Hmm...Well...15 kms then”
“That’s better”
We moved on.
The temperature started decreasing and the views started getting better and better. Some 15 kilometres of humpy bumpy roads, we were at Meghamalai. There was nothing except a few settlements. On enquiry we came to know that the guest house is situated at Highwavys and that’s around 5 kilometres from there. OH no, that means 5 more kilometres of torture. My spine was hurting like anything. I wanted to settle down as soon as possible. “Any ways, just five kilometres right. Let’s make it before sundown” I moved forward.
Finally the guest house came into vicinity. When was about to take the left towards the guest house, Rafsal took it right towards the end of a cliff. I followed to call him back. But he parked the bike there and jumped off. That’s when I directed my gaze on what was lying ahead. “Subhanallah…” We said together. All of our jaws dropped. That was indeed a scene of a lifetime. No pictures nor words could possibly describe the serenity and calmness of the place. The valley unfolded before us had few acres of Tea gardens surrounding a lake carved out perfectly. What can I say about the state of mind when you have such a view in front of you and the and around you is the ideal climate that your mind crave for. All of us were spellbound for the next few minutes. To add to its beauty, Sun did leave a few Orange and Golden strands on the sky. I forgot to take out the camera for a few minutes. While I got busy clicking the scenery, Rafsal got down to the estate and befriended Mr Chinnaswami, an employee in that estate. Well, the intention was to get some first quality tea powder. But that is a forbidden fruit for Indians as he said. They are not even allowed to see the first quality powder. Those directly gets exported.
After exchanging the phone numbers, we headed to the guest house. After initial denial of the room, we managed to convince the manager to give us the room. Room for 5 @ Rs.1500. Quite a fair deal right? Soon we rushed to the room while Azmeer obviously to Toilet. And Ramzeel followed. Meghamalai had only 2 shops. One is a stationary shop and the other one a small restaurant. We immediately rushed to the restaurant after freshening up. The point to note is that the restaurant has nothing pre-prepared. They’ll prepare it only after you place the order. We had tonnes of dosas and omelettes to satisfy our tummies. Biriyani at Theni got digested long ago. After a small walk and few leg pulls on that cold night, we retired to bed.
Day3:
It must be somewhere around 5 am. I could feel some grumbling inside my stomach. I tried diverting the attention and getting some sleep. Nothing worked out. I hesitantly got up with half closed eyes. I was walking like a drunkard towards the door. Alas. The door was locked. Guess what, Ramzeel has already started his day. I knocked, kicked and shouted. He was kind enough to come out soon. After the daily chores and Fajar Prayer, I took my camera and headed out as usual. Had a few photos and hot tea. On return I found everyone was up and ready to get rolling.
There was a knock on the door while we were getting ready. It was Mr. Chinnaswamy. He was kind enough to come up and meet us. He had a bad news that we might not get the first quality tea. We were quite disappointed. Anyways we bade him goodbye and decided to move forward.
After having two dosas each, we got ready for the descend. But before that we had to checkout this beautiful lake and the surroundings. We headed towards the lake and found a small opening that could take our bikes directly into the lake. We had an hour long photo session there before the return. That turned out to be a good decision. I got some really cool snaps.
The descend was comparatively easy. I was very much careful not to hurt my spine. One stupid mistake and that would mark the end of my passion-Biking. I was riding in first and second gears only. While others sped up, I decided to take my own sweet time. I didn’t want to punish my machine. Fazal was kind enough slow down his bike so that I don’t have to ride alone. The sun was turning furious and the heat was increasing terribly. I was too exhausted and wanted a break badly after an hour long journey. That was when I found the team waiting for me with a cup of tea for me. That was a relief I should say. After a short break we continued. The gravel roads soon started. I and Rafsal were tailing the group. Unfortunately we were struck behind a truck that made us eat tonnes of dust. We found others waiting for us somewhere on the route.
With them was a plastic carry bag which had a kilogram of grape in it. Towards our right side was this vineyard covered in shade net. We were not allowed to enter the yard as the lady worker there was aggressive and kept shouting at us. Rafsal tried negotiation, but she covered even the entrance. Anyways we decided to have the grapes there itself. While we were washing the grapes a middle-aged fellow came there to wash his hand. We offered him few grapes, to which he said: “No. but thanks. I’m the owner of this vineyard”. That was great news. We presented in front of him the previous request. As we were seeing the vineyard for the first time, all we needed was a few snaps. Mr Selvam was kind enough to grand us the permission. After capturing as much photos as we could, we headed towards Chinnamanur. We hit the tarmac after 3-4 kilometres. Man, I was never so happy seeing highways. I was overwhelmed with joy. That was bliss. We all shifted our attentions from gears and breaks to accelerators.
I changed the route through Munnar and decided to move through Idukki, as no one was interested to go through Munnar as it was Sunday. There is no need for explanations about traffic at popular tourist spots on Sundays. Our next stop was Cumbum, where we had our lunch. Post lunch we took a right turn towards Cumbummettu. The curvy ghat roads were filled with potholes. I felt something wrong with my stomach. So I decided to have lemon tea. By 4:30 pm we reached Kattappana and offered our Zuhr and Asr prayers there. After a tea, we headed towards Calvary mount.
As we were climbing towards Calvary mount we saw vehicles returning, which indicates that the sunset was over. I was disappointed very much as I was longing to capture sunset over Calvary mount since my last visit in May (Ride De Tea Country). But what welcomed us was more dramatic. Even though sun was gone there was some light left back. The whole area was covered in mist like anything and we were having the best time of our trip. No much clicks, but we spoke a lot of stuffs. Azmeer was angry at me for taking them there so late. They wanted to spend more time there. But the officials asked us to leave the place. We were glad to know that they provide stay there atop Calvary mount. We enquired about that but all the cottages were full. Those who are staying there can spend their whole night on those hills. Such a nice place to stay. (Contact for more details: +919497535460). As it was getting late, we decided to get going as soon as possible.
Within no time we were cruising towards Kothamangalam. We took a left from Cheruthoni. Fazal was complaining about low pressure in his tyre. Somewhere on the way we heard the passengers of a car coming from opposite direction shouting at top of their voice: “aana….aanaa…” (Elephant… Elephant…). The time is already 8:30pm. We wanted to reach home that day itself, as most of had a few commitments the next day. So, we decided to go forward whatever comes. Also we could see few vehicles coming from the other side, which means the situation is manageable. Even though I was sceptical, I didn’t express it. Because I feared that may affect the morale of the team. I acted as if I was the most courageous and started leading the team. Azmeer was brave enough to ride with me. We got into cautious mode. I instructed everyone to ride in a formation and strictly no honking or high beam. For the next 3-4 kms, every vehicle we saw repeated the same story thing: “Elephant… Be careful”. We saw a truck and a car were parked aside. We could figure out that the elephant was close enough. Seeing us carrying on, they tailed us. A few meters down the line Azmeer’s high beam reflected back the image of a huge rock like structure on our retinas. That was what we were anticipating for the past few kilometers. The Wild elephant (Not a Tusker though). That was an experience of its own. Riding too close to an elephant, when its pitch dark through a dense forest. Whoa man! We did it. A huge sigh of relief “Alhamdulillah”.
By the time we reached Kothamangalam it was 10:30 pm. The last 60 km stretch did take its toll upon us. All of were damn tired. Ramzeel even suggested that we take halt there and continue the journey next day. But after food we did continue the journey. Fazal wanted to recheck the tyre pressure. While he got busy doing that rest of us got down the bike and lay down on the floor of the bus stop nearby. We decided to stop at Perumbavoor and sleep in a Masjid we knew. But we continued the journey and stopped at Angamaly for Magrib and Isha prayers.
Post Angamaly Fazal and Azmeer decided to do a mad rush to Calicut with no stops. I with Rafsal and Ramzeel decided to continue at the same pace. Both Ramzeel and Rafsal were too sleepy so that we had to take multiple breaks. Even the Espresso shot did little help. By the time we reached Trissur I felt both of them were at times losing control. As they couldn’t go forward we decided to have a power nap at some shop veranda. Even though I was the encouraged them to push as much as they could, I was the one who started snoring as soon as we laid down. Time was 3:15 am. We got up after a short nap of 30 minutes or so. I was more tired as I don’t have this habit of power naps. Poor Ramzeel couldn’t sleep as we were interrupted by two Hindi speaking people and few dogs during that few minutes. Who knows, Might be this space belongs to them, the dogs. By the way I was deep asleep and unaware of what was happening. Ramzeel narrated this later. (Even though this was Ramzeel’s first long ride he performed exceptionally well. Kudos bro…You’re awesome). We started the next leg by 4 am after a tea at Trissur. Fazal and Azmeer was nearing Calicut while we were about to start from Trissur.
The next phase was uneventful until we reached Chelari around 8 am except for the misty ride through Edappal and Kuttippuram. We had a few stops to stretch the spine though. The sun was up and the traffic was piling up as we reached Chelari. Just before hitting Calicut Bypass, I heard a familiar voice shouting at me. I took a U Turn. I was surprised to see Azmeer and Fazal standing there in front of a puncture shop. My jaws dropped: “What the hell is this man? Why in the world are you standing here?”
“Can’t you see Fazal’s bike. The tire went on strike since 4am. It refused to hold the air.” He replied in a frustrated tone. I laughed with my jaws wide open; so loud that the people around threw a “Who is this guy” look at me. All the tiredness vanished. We all had a hearty laugh. After the Good-byes and Salaams, we dispersed. The destinations for each were still the same, but at different locations - HOME sweet HOME.
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