week 8 logs

panoramas coming shortly. enjoy.


diya stand walls. imagine how it would look when fully lit.


ramdas jail and the shaft of divine light

ananya goes to golkonda

india's once biggest university front view.













Day 50 jun 12 fri
Hyderabad
12 kms
At some point last night, ananya wakes up to see a fire in the room. Jedi had fallen asleep while the water to soak his hands was being heated. His tongue cleaner was only metal, the mug melted and burning, and the tumbler heater on the floor. Ananya raises alarm and jedi wakes up, sees the fire and puts it out. And shortly both go off to sleep. Jedi needs a new tumbler heater.

jedi’s maun vrat day so ananya has to do all the communicating for him till 6 pm – Hyderabad traffic sucks, everyone drives like they have poor eyesight and keep bumping into each other, also in any direction and irrespective of traffic signals –Hyderabad traffic hasn’t changed in 10 years – has gotten worse – while Bombay has snarling traffic, it has a sense of order – Hyderabad is terrible – from auto drivers to bikers who swerve from right most lane to leftmost lane – jedi doesn’t like the place. find servicing place and give bike – go to multiplex to watch Angels & Demons – ananya and Jedi kill 2 hours by doing ‘city’ stuff like eating at MacD’s, book shopping, blood sugar check, BMI check, looking at shops and people, drinking hot chocolate and reading our new books on the stairs – jedi gets call from hsbc advocate saying case or settlement –
after the film return to hotel then leave for Roshan’s place in Hi-Tech City – MRT/MNNS? tickets are dirt cheap – an old man opposes the existence of a lady’s line and shouts at the women standing in it - ananya is felt up several times in the dirty crowd and doesn’t want to take the train so we take the auto that asks for the least money (meter allergy runs rampant here as well) –
traffic and rain make it a long ride – Roshan’s mom and dad are over – everyone talks about yoga and health – it’s great to have home made food after weeks on the road.
Hyderabad drops to bottom of cities jedi would want to live in – overall bad energy
his hands are changing shape! - Jedi wants to rest; 50 days nonstop on the road –probably another 30 left before money runs out – hopes we reach atleast padum. Jedi starts thinking of job prospects!

Day 51 jun 13 sat
Hyderabad, KBR National Park
30 kms
wake up, laze, have brunch, and fall asleep again. Wake up afternoonish and get to get the bike. The bike is still not ready at 3.30 pm – was supposed to get it yesterday at 7 p.m. head to a cybercafe nearby and upload logs and photos. Roshan comes and then take the bike. Skip original Golkonda plan and head to KBR National park. Give gyan on yoga and karma during walk amidst peacocks under a setting sun.
Head back to the hotel and do Lord’s Prayer meditation. Want to eat something other than south Indian, so head to Aromas of China which has 30 min waiting- so head off to Mainland China and have a sumptuous meal courtesy Roshan.

Day 52 jun 14 sun
Hyderabad, Paradise, Big Bazaar
12 kms
Wake up, chill, have room service breakfast – jedi falls asleep again and wakes up in the afternoon. Go to Paradise at Secundarabad to meet Karn K. Enroute we get the bag people at Rastrapati Road to make a new bag for the tent, which has seen no use but massive damage! Also get new tumbler (called baby) heater/immersion coil. Meet Karn and have veg biryani! Not bad- well ya. Talk about each other’s trips.
Go shopping in Big Bazaar for the ‘list’ – plastic bags, zip lock bags, teaspoon,clothes scrubber etc.
Jedi watches India lose, while ananya makes South India consolidated map. Jedi and ananya make plan for amanya photo.

Day 53 jun 15 mon
Hyderabad, Golconda Fort
25 kms
Pack our stuff – fed up of all the extra stuff – must dump in Calcutta. Go to Golkonda fort via gullies. Hire a guide who gives a nice tour of the impressive fort. All the sound, light, water and defense engineering. 900 yr old temple still exists. Quite happy. Have altercation with impatient asshole army watchman.
Return to city and have meals at Tehran hotel before stopping by Big Bazaar again for triphala gritham box. Jedi has badam tea. Go back to room, decide to stay over, and promptly fall asleep.
Wake up in the evening and go get the next set of maps scanned. All the maps on this blog and the official map book for Mataozm is the Either India Road Atlas – the best possible road map for India and select cities. Do Internet surfing while waiting for scans. Eat dinner at Kamats – the best food we have had in AP was at Paradise – everything else has been this spicy hot food which we think is the cause for all the hyper chaos in AP and Hyd in particular.
G Rajasekar calls and gives new route to Lonar. We head into Maharashtra tomorrow.

Day 54 jun 16 tues
Hyderabad – Zaheerabad – Bidar - Gangakher – Parbhani
363 kms
NH9, unlabelled road in Karnataka, SH217
Finally leave Hyderabad - get stopped by cop who asks for papers. jedi gives license. cop asks for PUC and insurance. jedi gives PUC and waits. his insurance expired in May and the Bombay bike guy hasn’t done the insurance work. cop sees PUC, says August and says ok go – ride till sadashivpet where beggar girl in school uniform hassles jedi. Does normal stuff, then spastic sounds, laughs at herself. Jedi says drama ke liye paisa nahin. She starts touching and then touches face when jedi blows up and raises hand. Her eyes expand and she moves on –

After breakfast, head towards Bidar. No one knows about any shortcut from sadashivpet; so have to go through Zahirabad. Reach Bidar and see old structures. Had heard about bidar connection to Golkonda yesterday. Swerve into town and see the clock tower chaubasa – the centerpiece of old bidar town. See the huge mosqueish building, which we later learn was the biggest university in India at its time, where ppl from abroad used to come. Finally we enter the fort, which has the same anti-elephant entrances. Have a cool stop, where the enquiring shopkeepers tell us to go check out with help of guard. We enter and wander about and see all locked gates and doors, when the guard?/guide comes himself and says 150/45 mins. We want to see the rangeen mahal so we say yes and after yesterday’s Golkonda guide experience have kinda decided to use guides. We says 30 mins and 100 inr. He agrees.

He opens and shows us the 16 pillared mosque with its unique acoutics. Then the Turkish queen’s palace. The 1000 roomed 7 seven storey (now only 3.2 are standing) with the unique bidri soil – explains the process. The buggy khana (2 wheels are tanga, 4 wheels are buggy). The bidar festival (3 days-feb) area where sonu nigam, kanada actors, hyderabadi qawaals etc. perform. We then go to see the rangeen mahal and see the families of langurs who scatter. See real bidri work. Also see carvings of a dove and peacock in the walls – out of place in mozzy architecture. 3 moats and lots of other things.

We part ways with guide and then have another cool stop. Again the shopkeeper says not seeing cannon? Go see. 40 ft long – among india’s longest. So we go find and see it. LONGGG. We leave the fort and go to see the Narsingh Zarna – apparently u had to walk across chest deep water to do darshan. We went. Saw a lot of people. Walked to the outside and walked back.
We then target Lonar and hope to atleast reach Parbhani. We are in Karnataka and its quite obvious from the roads. Broken, bumpy, bad. So bad that they haven’t put any markers on the road – atleast construction is going on. At some point in the afternoon, some local on a bike stops abruptly, and jedi brakes, honks and bumps into him. Words are exchanged and then after license kisne diya jedi rides away.
We enter Maharashtra and the road becomes better and now is SH217. The deccan plateau is HOT, brown, red, dry, dusty; dust somehow sticks to the helmet; have to wash it off.
We finally reach Gangakher at 6 and try to find a place to stay. Another shithole of a town; the lodges from afar look like nightmares, and the govt. guesthouse is booked full; some mata has come to town. Caretaker suggests Parbhani – this is taluk, that is zilla. We fill petrol at BP (second petrol pump deviation of trip) and gun towards Parbhani, which we reach at 7.10 with the sun just going out. Jedi was shocked to see egret type birds in the dustbowl beside some buffaloes!
We circle the bus stand looking for a good place to stay and finally see one and turn, when jedi bumps into another bike. Says sorry and the other bike goes away pacified. Bike topples and front mudguard is scraping the tyre. Check in. 300 rs place with clean but ‘uncared for‘ toilets.
Jedi feels extremely body rattled and sleeps while ananya goes on tea hunt and brings lassi. Have early/late dinner and pass out. Electricity goes off often.

Day 55 jun 17 wed
Parbhani – Jintur – Mantha – Lonar
140 kms
SH217, SH220, SH171
Wake up and leave around 10. When leaving, old man comes outside hotel and asks for chai pani – jedi says kyon? Man says ‘yeh arrangement kyon? And walks away. He wasn’t beggar type. Jedi replays throughout day thinking was it philosophical statement? Ananya kicks the mudguard into place.
Have powa and missal breakfast at Jintur. Jedi still can’t figure out what thank you in marathi is. So calls chotu and finds out. Take the Bamni road, which 3 ppl have said bad road, but after asking again and again, they say ya ok. 7 kms into the road, we ask a person who says no chance, u have to ride through chest high water at purna. So we decide against and head the mantha way.
Bike is leaking oil, so we try to get 20w50. None at jintur, wont get also, says shopkeeper, try at mantha. So we stop at mantha and ask 3-4 shops for 20w50, no luck. We buy more water. Finishing 1 ltr every 30 kms! One guy stops and asks ‘bag mein kya hain? Jedi gets pissed and says aapka bag mein kya hain? Apna kaam dekho. Man’s face falls and starts bike and heads. Hint – don’t ask travelers whats in their bag!
Head towards lonar drinking water by the liter. Reach lonar and take side road and have first glimpse of 50000 year old hypervelocity impact crater in basalt rock – second largest in world and only in India. Kickass – green color water with trees u wouldn’t expect to find here and hundreds of birds – small, tiny, big.
Head into town and go to bottom of crater and end up in some other temple which has spring gomukh. Go back to Govt. rest house, which has path down but no rooms. So go to MTDC and get a room. Refresh, drink icewater which has icebergs in bottle.
We pack the stuff for the ammanya photo and go in the evening to the crater, walking down the stone steps, ananya doing the same gingerly. We pass a family of peacocks, second in a week, and see another peacock fly across plants. Photograph more birds and then do the ammanya photoshoot. Second use of tripod in whole 54 day trip. Walk along the shore shooting more birds, while thunder and wind kick up a storm around us. Jedi hopes to see peacocks dance, ananya says no chance, need lots of water for that. We start climbing just as the heavens open with level 2 rains. Try yogi technique for climbing easily and find we are back to clavicular breathing! Local boy we had met before is sitting midway and says aap aaye tho bearish aaya. Iske pehle itna thanda nahin tha. Yet another place where the rains follow us. We reach the top and walk to lake view point close to MTDC and wait for sunset. The rains have stopped.
Suddenly we see about 30 youth, male and female, run down a path from top to bottom of crater and beyond. A coach/master type person comes and monitors and goads ppl from the top, and eventually gets on a bike and goes to end point we think.
Sunset happens and we head back to find our room in darkness unlike all other room. Jedi goes to caretaker and talks entire sentences in marathi. Some phase problem.
Have chaha and powa.
Jedi planning to go to nagpur to get bike checked up, while Ananya wonders that we haven’t seen a Stupa. Closest should be Sanchi, and when we check on the map book, it’s a day’s ride away. So plans are made – Nagpur, then Sanchi. Then lonely planet comes out and MP is looked at. 30 mins later, the tentative route is Buldhana, Mandu, Bhimbetka, Sanchi, Khajuraho. Decision to be taken at Kraho whether Benaras or straight down to chilka. Vizag and Borra caves are collateral damage.
Thought for the day has been how this trip has been a demystifying trip. After 3 years of wanting and waiting, lonar is now BTSTWN.

Day 56 jun 18 thu
Lonar – Buldhana –Ajinta - Jalgaon - Sendhua
SH171, SH206, SH176, SH24, SH8, NH6, SH6, SH4, NH3
366 kms
leave lonar northwest heading towards baobab trees in mandu. Take a series of state highways in intense heat – hottest day so far. Dry fields line the highways. All ploughed and ready for the rains. – no 20w50 oil anywhere, buldhana, jalgoan, nowhere. – jedi finally gets noseburn. Skin burning in the heat – see a series of crazy men wandering along highway, one every 50 kms; 6 seen so far.
Bypass ajinta caves, already seen them.
Jedi eats first batata vada. Memories of vada pav lunches
Take the ‘direct’ route till we hit MP, where ghats start and NH3 begins. Trucks, heat, and high velocity winds; almost pushing the bike off, esp. when overtaking trucks. The sudden gust bangs into the bike, strenuous riding. Wrists and shoulders taking a hit.
Scenery changing; similar to tiger territory except flatter and scrub. Losing time. Plan to take white road to bypass 50 km highway, but get warned off by local who says take highway – after persistent why long route, man points at bike and says yeh sab nahin rahega, and then points to tribal standing opp. And aise log milenge. Ananya also supports with frequent robbery area. So take longer highway crap slow route. Just riding in the plateau saps the peace of the ride. Also as we go north, people are changing – more cocky and mocky friendly. No more subtle, whispered convos about us and bike, but audible commentary.
Sendua pink hotel is like godsend and settle into room. Jedi and amanya’s body taken hit.
Jedi sits and watches semi final when ananya sister calls and says her dad has had stroke. Jedi sleeps while ananya does phone call planning and pranic healing.

week 7 logs

tada to pulicat

pichavarm jetty

joined/mating? bugs at theosophical society chennai

jedi's hands

birds at pulicat lake

hard idol

mines at yerraguntla

belum caves

ananya at the 'banyan tree' at belum caves

sri sailam siva and co

coracle at nagararjuna sagar reservoir just below the dam

one of 1000s of anthill/snake pit at nagararjuna wildlike sanctuary

charminar

pulicat lake from sriharikota side

Day 43 jun 5 Friday
Velankanni – Nagapatinam – Thanjavur – Papanaasam – Kumbakonam – Chidambaram
SH9, NH67, NH45A, SH64
201 kms
Leave velankanni and do long stretch to Thanjavur. Check out the ‘big temple’, Sivan temple, which is terracotta coloured and so a little different from the ones we’ve been seeing, brightly coloured murals inside but not well preserved at all. Outer parikrama? Full of series of lingams and murals. All along the diff temples there is stuff written in ancient tamil – architectural and visual change from the temples of the nellai-ramnad region - this temple was thrown open to ‘harijans’ in the 50’s by the raja and was lauded by Gandhiji, feet burn on the hot paving – post lunch 2.5 hrs long internet updating session –

Thanjavur palace, built by the maratha rulers – the 17th century they ruled maharastra, and bits of Karnataka and thanjavur, before the empire grew to cover the whole of India. Palace is also ill preserved but has surprisingly bright interiors in places, scattered with ‘royal junk’ mainly, has bat pee smelling entrances to underground passage - Serfoji II’s (1798-1832), their best ruler, student of German missionary Swartz, built this very impressive library, now called Saraswati Mahal Library, finely illustrated books on anatomy, botany, Chinese punishment, elephant breeding, etc., palm leaf and paper manuscripts of ancient texts, early printed docs, illustrated Ramayana and Mahabharata, Tanjore paintings. Also has the original Agastya and Sivan nadi volais. he had first printing press in South India - Joins jedi’s list of kickass places list. Climb up precarious narrow and dark bell tower stairs, ananya is scared to but finally does with terse reassurance from Jedi.–

back on the road, witness accident at Papanasam cool stop, 2 bikes collide and go flying, older rider comes to fight with younger one, both hurt on legs – Pass through Kumbakonam – the place of 1000 temples – supposedly a super holy place – southern equivalent of Kasi/Benaras. Don’t stop – kinda tired of seeing temples, except for little mental prayer stop. little adventure of dirt road detour around the Cauvery as highway to Chidambaram is being fixed. Close to mouth of Cauvery – Jedi’s yoga mat falls off on the way, we only discover when we check in. Signs of weather changing – the rains should be here soon. Jedi unsure whether to be happy or sad. Jedi manages a decent moun vrath. Still needs absolute shutupness.

Day 44 jun 6 Sat
Chidambaram – Vaitheeswaran Koil - Chidambaram
NH45A, SH64
53 kms
Visit the Nataraja temple – no photography allowed, though sneak a few. Impressive huge temple – though most temples we have seen so far have been huge – again that subtle change in architecture and idols on the gopurams – glad to see the energy generator patterns here too on the ceilings – lots of priests in the temple, they look different from the ones we’ve seen so far, with wide shaved foreheads and hair tied on one side – eat brunch at secret hotel – lots of Brahmin boys roaming around, probably bunking shastra class.

Go back and jedi goes into his now usual morning nap – wake up and head to Vaitheeswaran koil after finding out that there is no nadi in Chidambaram – ananya wonders why jedi wants to do again – but jedi feels the need – does the Siva nadi – better match this time, also gets history checked before he selects the leaf and pays – heady stuff written – head back to Chidambaram and find hall to watch film – 40 min early so head back to hotel and then don’t go. Jedi settles to watch cricket while ananya goes to cybercafe – for dinner, look around and luckily find meals place.
Jedi again passes out before India Bangladesh match.

Day 45 jun 7 sun
Chidambaram – Pichavaram - Puducherry (Pondicherry) – Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)
NH45A, ECR
170 kms
Leave after breakfast and visit Pichavaram; climb the tower and see but don’t go on the boats – jedi learns what mangroves are – reach pondy and do dvd shopping – skin is burning from the heat. Have a big meal at surguru and then hide in a cybercafe to wait till the sleep haze and sun fade – finally leave at 4! And then reach mahabs and ride past the sights – check in to Rs.700 place very easily haggled down to Rs.500 – for dinner go to sea side place and eat veg korma rice in a place reeking of seafood.

45 days on the road – feels surreal. Also the heat is getting to us – possible signs of travel/road/heat weariness. Also tired of seeing temples. Andhra Pradesh seems to be bleak in terms of spots (non temple i.e.) even lonely planet discards it after a few pages. But still decide on a cross AP route – Chennai to hyd to vizag. Post msg on FB asking for locals to pitch in aka wheninrome!



Day 46 jun 8 mon
Mamallapuram – Kovalam – Chennai - Tada
ECR, Mount Road, SH1, NH5
170 kms
Do calculation of kms done so far to know whether service is due – the speedometer cable had broken again some 1000 kms ago – find out that from cochin (prev service) we have done some 2600 kms! And in total 4700ish kms. Jedi decides to service in Hyd only.
Skip the sights of Mahabs – been there seen those done that – head to Kovalam (Cove Long) – see the cove! Now seen Kovalam beaches on both coasts – West coast is party place and east coast is hmm buttermilk drinking place –

look for the snake park despite getting notice that its closed on Mondays, but LPlanet says Wed-Mon. find it closed – well, some other time or some other park – defn. not real time (sic) snakes – head to Chennai to do 3 things – a. fix bike speedometer cable b. eat at Adyar Anand Bhavan in Adyar c. visit big banyan tree at theosophical society.
Reach elliots beach for Cool Stop and call RE to find that service center is at Tiruviyanmur (which we had already crossed) – so jedi says fuck it- lets do it in one go at hyd. Also remember that we should visit Pranic Healing center – jedi wants to get chi generators if possible. Get address by phone and gprs.
We ask ppl for big banyan tree and no one knows till finally big tree? Oh big alla maram (banyan tree) ya ya there there (tamizh). We reach to find that visiting hours are 8-10 and 2-4. There are visiting hours!

We head to pranic healing center in nungambakam and find place. Check it out and get one more book! And some other material. Ananya says haven’t read the books we have so far and one more book! Jedi is sheep.
We ask directions back to Adyar and gentleman offers to ride ahead and show the way and we accept. 4th person on trip who has done this so far (coimbatore, cochin, Virudhnagar, and Chennai) – reach besant nagar and go to Subway – jedi and ananya need a food change! Eat sub and watch Pakistan get ass kicked by England. Jedi thinks about all the friends he had in Chennai who are no longer in Chennai!

Head to theosophical society and walk around the place and see the different religious structures – parsi temple, synagogue, liberal catholic church, gurudwara etc. – all from the outside. Finally see the world’s largest banyan tree. 250x235 feet. Second big banyan tree of the trip (machinabelle lake side is first - day 3 I think). Ananya says world’s oldest is in Calcutta. Guard asks jedi if he is driver for madam and then whole story about trip and recent marriage and why no signs of marriage etc. again chai pani money!
Unsure about which route to take to Pulicat lake (Pazhaverukadu) as white roads lead to Pulicat where there is no place to stay. As we leave Chennai, it starts darkening and then raining. This time defn acid rain. Speed past marina beach, Chennai university, fort st. george etc. jedi makes mental reminder for the 100th time to call Barry – whenever he remembers its either too early or too late in the day!

At ennore, jedi skips the minjur ponneri white road and hits the NH5 highway – the white roads must have got mothered in the rain with all the trucks – see the refinery spouting flame from those refinery flame burning things. But when he shows it to ananya, there is no flame. Did the rains put it off or did they just turn it off? Can these things be put off by rain?
Anyway again the watching the rain clouds from far only to finally end right in the middle of it happens. Reach Tada while seeing spectacular sunset. Finally out of Tamil Nadu – Kerala circuit and in Andhra Pradesh. And is it hot or what! Check into AP Tourism GH – rotating fans and the room is HOT! Water in the tap is HOT. This is at 6.30 p.m. jedi calls his mom for usual weekly call. eat fiery meals for dinner, watch films and sleep late. Ananya is looking like bronze idol. Tomorrow pulicat, sri kalahasti and then towards hyd. Happy birthday itisha.

Day 47 jun 9 tues
Tada – Navapetu (Pulicat Bird Sanctuary) – Sri Harikota – Pulicat/Sulurupet – Sri Kalahasti - Rajampet
NH5, G.N.T. Road, MDR65, SH61, SH31
206 kms
wake up late. Pack and head out to find the bird sanctuary – don’t expect to see any birds – its blazing, but .. find a board pointing down one dirt track, which we take and are soon riding in a village and then onto walk tracks – ananya gets off and does recce, some turns and twists later around the outer pools of the million year old lake, we reach one watch tower. There we spot a couple of birds and a map of the lake, where we see that there is a road to sri harikota – no such line in the mapbook. So we decide to check it out and head towards sulurupet and then right to sri harikota. Soon we are on a long straight road bisecting the lake – more like pools of water amidst large dry salty lakebeds with the main lake in the distance. We reach sri harikota and circle the front entrance of the space project and head back.

Take another road and ride into the lake. Walk along the edge of the lake and see bird tracks, some small some big. Quiet exciting. A must do during season. Could be a great place to camp if any dry sandy stretches are still available.
We head back starving and try to find a place to eat in sulurupet. Finally find one and have our second spicy Andhra meal. Two meals for 20 rs!
We then head for sri kalahasti – should be our last temple till konark I hope. Another large complex with lots of deities. Ananya gets held back coz of camera and then doesn’t want to go in. jedi goes in and gets trapped in the free darshana line – has to go thru the entire circuit before he can come out.
Jedi runs through 2 bottles of water quickly heading across the dry hot hills around tirupati. Gets into reserve but doesn’t fuel up, wanting to fuel only at HP as he has done all trip/5000 kms – gets to 3 HPs but either diesel or no fuel. Finally with probably 10 kms left, he goes to Indian Oil and puts little. Ananya feels upset stomach so jedi finds her a lovely potty spot under a bridge. Finally stop at rajampet instead of cudapa and check into lodge where they are unsure whether to let us stay and ask a million questions.



Day 48 jun 10 wed
Rajampet – Cudapah – Tadpatri – Belum Caves – Nandyal - Atmakur
SH31, MDRx, NH14, SH27
325 kms
pack and head out – meticulous lodgekeeper erases our names from his room chart - confirm belum with mangal – eat breakfast at cudapa; udipi sambhar tastes the same everywhere – pass 7 cement factories, 1 steel factory, countless limestone and cudapa stone quarries – hills being mined and quarried – refuse/rejects? Being dumped high into artificial hills – surreal. Kilometers of the same.

Reach belum caves and find out its underground – awesome place – esp. the banyan tree and water spigot. Millions of years old and formed by river movement – probably chitravati river?
Lots of cool stops today – jedi feels his head is baking in the hot helmet – wets the helmet – white roads are bumpy in AP, back feels broken, stomach churned, ass mashed – aim for srisailam – end up at atmakur – check out two lodges before settling for second – jedi shoos beautiful blue and red frog from the loo for ananya, she is reptile phobic – jedi rests in shavasan



Day 49 jun 11 thu
Atmakur – Srisailam - Hyderabad
SH5
320 kms
day starts with karmic rain in return for ananya’s complaints about the heat the day before – ride through the forest in the rain, looking for tigers – Andhra food has been disappointing so far – rain stops, the Nagararjuna Srisailam Tiger Sanctuary forest is lovely but no tigers, flying insects try to eat Jedi and die a pathetic death – spot the great Krishna river. – a peahen and wild cocks
Srisailam looks like a typical religious town but Jedi explores on and happens upon ropeway down to Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir – Jedi’s first ropeway ride – boatrides are available from the bottom of the ropeway to million year old caves but we don’t take it as it will take more than a couple of hours - Nagarjuna Sagar is huuuge, the dam is the tallest masonry dam in India/the world (?) – more forest, spot different kinds of birds but aren’t quick enough to shoot them - walk into ant/snake stronghold of forest to see the ‘octopus’ (a part of the Krishna river) - a huge salamander barely saves itself from our front wheel – after 200 kms of dramatic forest and hills, almost forgotten how the plains look –
There are nature walks and treks on the Hyderabad side of the sanctuary but give it a skip – want to reach hyd today.
finally reach outskirts of Hyderabad, takes ages to creep in with the traffic, then it takes ages to find a hotel we like near Nampally station – cities are always so expensive

week 6 logs

week 6 photos on flickr
includes Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Neyyar Dam, etc.

Day 36 may 29 friday
Neyyar Dam, lions safari park, steve Irwin crocodile rehabilitation center
Morning satsang, yoga is there, so we do and then have a hearty brunch – jedi is feeling nauseous from major chest congestion, ananya does some pranic healing – jedi feels better and we head for lions safari park – first we go to the silent walk place and try to see agastya mountain, but as usual just the main bits are covered by clouds – so we go to the pavilion and ananya takes her panoramas – we then go for the lion safari in the boat – see 6 of the 8 lions up close.. as much as one can see through a caged bus – then we see magars (crocs) in the steve Irwin place – some deer also. Thrilling.
Bunk the evening satsang and crash.

Day 37 may 30 saturday
Neyyar Dam
Jedi’s chest has gotten worse – bunks classes and goes to see doctor who gives like 5 meds – some to be taken for 6 months! – ananya goes for the classes – on taking meds, jedi starts melting from inside and sneezes the entire day – jedi plays civilization – ananya starts reading bhagavat gita (Sivananda version), again

Day 38 may 31 sunday
Neyyar Dam
Sposed to leave today- while looking at the map to decide route, jedi coughs hard and pulls a shoulder muscle - same as last time – agony – ananya does some healing, feels better but more is needed. Decide to stay for another day- cant ride with thsi shoulder. Jedi gets a good full body ayurvedic massage and rests the day – nikhila comes over to talk, shortly followed by sasi who goes at it for 2.5 hrs. good to hear stuff.

Day 39 jun 1 monday
Neyyar Dam – Kattakada – Nedumangadu – Kolaithupuzha - Sengkottai – 5 falls/courtalam - Tenkasi – Tirunelveli – Tuticorin
NH208, NH7
A280 kms
no yoga session - pack and go to kattakada and buy meds at kottakal arya vaidya – ananya is addicted to chanting gods’ & gurus’ praises and sings bhajans incessantly, also pops dairy milk éclairs incessantly – jedi tries to remember what non-veg tastes like while we eat iddiyappams and peas curry - bhagaoed from scenic bridge side location in Kolaithupuzha by stupid policemen, jedi calls them idiots –Kolaithupuzha is gorgeous with teak, rubber and other plantations. lush place.
Ride road over saddle dam near Kolatupula Dam – eat mangostines at Courtalam 5 Falls, which turned out to be more of a popular bathing destination than culmination of five waterfalls – jedi remembers what mutton tasted like when eating kuska– the end of hills and chill weather. just heat from now on. had managed to escape the heat, but the rains have given dhaga and have to start heading north.
reach beach by old harbour in Tuticorin, dark blue sea, gulls fly around, cricket match is on, moon is up at 5 pm, man is shitting – check in and have mega large dinner



Day 40 jun 2 tuesday
Tuticorin – Vembar – Kilakarai – Rameshwaram – Danuskodi – Rameshwaram
NH49, white roads
212 Kms
take the white coastal roads – Salt fields and fishy smell all the way – mega wind constantly tries to flatten bike - this is the land of the street hawks/Kites/eagles, they’re everywhere, hunting for fish in the sea, or flying in one place –amazing sights of them flying/hovering 10 feet over our heads - also mid-air fights over caught fish- when dropped, other bird swoops and catches before it falls to ground, then fight continues...videocam battery no charge
heat, heat, heat – more sea panoramas from what ananya thinks is the ‘engineering marvel’ Pambam bridge to Rameshwaram, railway line goes over the sea just a few ft above the water and even opens up to let ships through – go beyond Rameshwaram to Dhanushkodi Indian Navy Post, no vehicles beyond this point, take rear plank ride in dune buggy truck till actual Dhanushkodi point (Abdul Kalam's birthplace), beautiful blue-green waters of Palk Bay on one side and Gulf of Mannar on the other, can’t see Adam’s Bridge – Sri Lanka (Talaimannar) is 18 kms from this point - next stop is abandoned Dhanushkodi railway station – village was destroyed in 1964 cyclone and they never built it again. church by sea where a sadhu refuses to let the villagers use his sweet well water but gave to visitors – locals grumbling in background– marine national park board says there are sea cows, whales, turtles and sea leeches (in tamil, though looks like sea cucumber) – return to Rameshwaram and find food and place to stay near the temple. Tomorrow tanjavur.

Day 41 jun 3 Wednesday
Rameshwaram, Oviyur, Muttupet, Point Calimere, Velankanni
NH49, ECR
320 Kms
Get woken up at dawn by the temple prayers. Being one of the holiest places for Hindus on Earth (4th most for vaishnavites it seems; char-damPuri in the east, Rameshwaram in the south, Dwarka in the west, and Badrinath in the north) - this is where Ram built his bridge across the seas. also where ram prayed to shiva to forgive him for killing Ravana (apparently shiva's greatest devotee and also a brahmin) . have breakfast and visit the Ramanathaswamy temple with its world famous 1200 m long pillared corridor.
then go see Ramar Padam- ram sighted the front of ravana palace from here and the back from another spot (to be visited by chance later in the day! near Point Calimere).
We then head up the coast towards Point Calimere - another tip of eastern India. quiet roads with little to no traffic - we spot a board for the John de Britto shrine church at Oviyur. so we turn left.
its a big church as expected with two parts, one old and one new. also school and other things.
local old man tells story - around 330 yrs ago he came frm portugal or italy and set up shop here. king of place had 3 wives - john tells him boss - have only one - one of the queens gets pissed and gets him hacked to pieces. later on his relatives come and make up shrine etc. less than 50 years second big church was made. has fest in july simultaneously with Velankanni- his relatives are still living somewhere and come visit. local also tells me to get haircut.
velankanni? hmm. close by. maybe should visit.
we head upto muttupet and then to Pandi where we turn right and curve to point calimere. when we reach, it looks like a smuggler's beach - assumption reinforced by black Bolero that whizzed behind us into cargo area. anyway beach was dirty and the water murky - after 40 days of green, and blue green and all other shades in between, this sea was a downer. saw sunset again in the east.
we leave and visit the vedam... bird santuary and climb up the watch tower and spot spotted deer and few birds. off season for them. See the other Ramar Padam - Ram saw the back of Ravan's palace from here - how we don't know but he was the ultimate man and 7th reincarnation and all that, so he probably could. ananya bit off the heads of some rajasic tam brahms who said ur not hindu, u shouldnt be here.
head off towards velankanni and reach after dark. do a recce and get disappointed. 6 church like buildings and systems similar to all the temples we have visited. another commercialization of religion.
check and watch india pakistan. jedi has new ritual of heating water for his medicines. have VCR for dinner at Mallu place.



Day 42 jun 4 thursday
Velankanni
Wake up early and have meds. go visit the Shrine and Basilica etc. Each structure has a different purpose - tonsure, meditation, confession, - services in different languages. its a religious center almost similar to all others in India, except its Christian or rather another Amman/Mary. same head shaving, vibhuti (sorry holy oil), hundi, archana /mass (70 inr), candle offereing (300 inr) and so on. But end of day, its a faith center and thats what matters.

The shrine is called Our Lady of Good Health - and only Mary to wear a sari! is said to have given 3 apparitions over the years to 3 diff groups here. Mary birthday FYI is Sept 8. also sivananda's bday! :)
eat breakfast and go back and fall asleep in room till 12. jedi says lets stay in today and rest. watch films on hbo rest of day and laze around. have discussions on how our yogic practices have taken a hit but still retained the veggie diet and the other smaller ones. eat icecream and chocolate.

week 5 logs

Day 29 may 22 Friday
Virudanagar, Madurai
NH7, NH49
52 kms
Jedi’s cold is full blown, not an allergy – those 2 days of riding in the cold rain. We pack our stuff – need to buy tarps. Whole plan of bypassing the rain has failed, though glad that we managed to hide in the hills most of the summer. post breakfast, we go to class and learn more on how to heal using prana, for diff ailments.– also learn distance healing, self healing and other stuff. Complete the course – still lots to learn and tons to practice, but is a good feeling.
On receiving our certificates, we pack and head out to Madurai for the 3 day advanced pranic healing and psychotherapy course. Once on the highway, we see clear weather and long open highways – after a month of riding in the hills at 30 kmph, a bit strange and unsatisfying to ride on the plains highways at 60-70 kmph. Near Madurai, we spot a huge rain cloud and its raining someplace – not someplace, but north and we are heading right towards it. Here and there, we pass around the rain, but as we enter madurai, its really close. We reach the place and call our contact who manages to guide us to the Center we are staying (for free again) just moments before the rains starts pouring heavily. Spend the evenng with the center head Mr. S. R. Ramesh Babu who is a karate teacher and also a pranic healer. Quite cool – heals both our auras which are congested. – feel lighter immediately. Have dinner.
Ramesh’s son is staying back and Jedi talks to him and finds a bundle of DVDs which he spends till 2 am watching and copying some stuff to watch later. Both ananya and jedi miss the Silence days this week.

Day 30 may 23 Saturday
Madurai
Wake up and do our kriyas and asanas – from june 1 should start all the practices – finishing a month on the road for mataozm – almost 3 for jedi – pongal for breakfast - 1st day of advanced pranic healing – learn to heal with colours – in the evening go shopping for ‘tumbler heater’ with Ramesh Babu, who picks up gift watch for his 10th boards super scorer daughter – watch shopman is attracted to jedi’s aura and on learning his name predicts that he is meant for great things and should become an advocate to help people with his powers of counseling/convincing and giving right advice though without proofs currently.

Day 31 may 24 Sunday
Madurai
Idiyappam breakfast at Bharma Ediyappa – steal seats from a baby – 2nd day of advanced pranic healing – more healing practice for serious illnesses like heart disease and cancer – our teacher Uddya is a clairvoyant - Chettinad and Karaikari dosas dinner – Krishna temple visit to hear Ramesh Babu accompany his musician friends on the tabla

Day 32 may 25 Monday
Madurai
Pranic psychotherapy class – learn of the psychological aspects of the chakras and how to improve relationships between people and help people quit smoking among other things – jedi and ananya are keen to start using their new learning, starting with family – Ramesh Babu gives Jedi a prosperity generator - evening shopping for tyre tube and rubbing alcohol (dirty energy cleaner for pranic healers) – looks like no one wants to sell alcohol to us (think it’s the way Jedi looks) – finally get it at a veterinary medicine shop and it’s called Surgical Spirit – pack to leave the next morning. Unsure whether to go to rameshwaram or kanyakumari. To decide in the morning.

Day 33 may 26 Tuesday
Madurai – Kanyakumari
238 kms
NH7
Leave the GMCKS Pranic Healing Centre in Myna Tippakulam, our home for the last 3 days – visit the Tirumalai Naick Palace which is being restored – far grander than what we imagined from outside, with the fattest pillars ever! – only 1/6th of the original palace remains and is being repainted in brilliant colours little by little – the court, theatre and the harem -

Tirumalai Naick Palace photos on Flickr

next stop Meenakshi Amman Temple – Madurai traffic sticks bumper to bumper – buy plastic sheets to rain proof our luggage – the shopkeeper is from Jodhpur – Jedi does some expert parking under very trying traffic conditions – the gopurams are gigantic and crazy colourful - the temple security think we are terrorists from Bangalore and examine Ananya’s swiss knife and camera, also forbidden to use phone inside – thousand pillared hall – Jedi taken by lady perched on peacock – the statues have boobs like orbs – poster showing visualization of emotions – the ceilings are covered with energy generators –
we sneak into the Shiva Temple that loudly forbids non-Hindus from entering, it’s the most crowded part and stifling hot - Meenakshi Amman’s hall has martian green pillars and murals of her doing cool stuff like flaying a sword or watching a dance performance – this is around the tank with the golden lotus that Shiva told us stories about - the temple elephant goes for a shit and nods his head once done – Jedi says it will take weeks to check out the entire temple complex -

Meenakshi Temple photos on Flickr

we set out for Kanya Kumari – mostly smooth highway so we keep zipping down – at a cool stop encounter a tiny orange super swift half snake half lizard – smog over a cement factory looks very hazardous for the people who work there - Ananya and Jedi are stung by the same insect while riding – she on her left ankle and he on his left hand – see the southern ends of the Western Ghats with fluffy cloud icing, Jedi says ‘it looks like a painting’, add to that cranes flying overhead - nearing the cape, windmills for as far as the eye can see (asia’s first largest windmill farm- must be 1000s ) – in Kanyakumari the first guy who approaches us promises a room with a sunrise view so we take it and the room is very much worth it with church and sea view and all – shoot some sunset panoramas on the non-sunset side – watch last year’s emotionally charged premier league final thinking it is this years – Ananya practices distance healing on her aunt and brother

Day 34 may 27 Wednesday
Kanyakumari
Wake up just in time to shoot sunrise from hotel balcony – inaugurate our tripod – Jedi has fever and chest congestion – Ananya does healing for him and her aunt – Aunt calls to inform to check if ananya had done healing as she is feeling much better – Jedi feels better too so we have brunch and take the ferry ride to Vivekananda Rock – the tri-sea is choppy – pay the usual visits to all the buildings on the rock – speculate on how and why Vivekananda came here and what it must have been like for him - do Shoonya meditation in the dhyana mandapam on the rock– check out book shop – super windy – take photos –
next, ferry to Thiruvalluvar statue – pose for photos on his feet – Jedi does headstand between his feet under extreme windy conditions – try to take panoramas of all 3 waters – ferry back – futile DVD shop search – nap – Jedi’s fever is back full force – watch TV, have dinner – more healing on Jedi. Jedi plays facebook mini prank saying reached rock bottom. Jedi keenly watching Aila path and aftermath. During meditation gets idea to visit neyyar dam ashram to buy yoga dvd – idea which by night becomes 3 day stay plan.

Kanyakumari photos on flickr

Day 35 may 28 Thursday
Kanyakumari – Neyyatinkara - Neyyar Dam
100ish kms
NH47
Another dazzling sunrise and we leave. Head to neyyar dam – weather is holding out – quite nice weather actually – the weather guys said 26th – today’s 28th! Good for us.
Jedi gets road rage – why do people overtake on curves? What is the basis of their angle and speed? Divine vision or too much EA Sports F1 in indestructible mode? Chants om 108 times to cool down. At one spot, a chicken truck has smashed into another truck of unknown cargo – chicken feathers and squishy stuff all over road. Jedi feels sorry for kerala- the entire state is one big city – just people, and traffic. Total urbanization. Also gold crazy – the biggest and most hoardings are for gold shops – josco, alukkas, and joyallukas.
Plan to have brunch in kerala but give up after marthandam traffic and stop to eat at Friends Hotel to celebrate the imaginary story based one-stop-all-shop near kaniyakumari (friends and co). eat brunch and ride on to see that we had stopped 50 metres before the border! Give trivandrum a skip and take neyyantikara route to neyyar dam –
Reach the ashram and check in – the yoga vacation batch is almost over, but it doesn’t matter – meet shreya’s sister who is doing work-study here – attend last moments of cooking workshop and eat seera. attend 4 pm yoga and get ass kicked – supper and satsang and crash. Tomorrow is holiday at ashram so not sure if yoga classes would be there.

week 4 logs

All Photos of trip to Laksadweep Islands (Kalpeni) on flickr

Week 4 photos on flickr

Day 22 may 15 Friday
Allepey – changanacheri – kottayam – edapally
Kms
Indian coffee house on beach – shut – Indian coffee house on mulackal street breakfast – found in 1958 at trissur – checkout and head via kottayam – lots of questions and turns – but mostly straight – in lemon soda country – soda in branded soft drink bottles – ride between back waters – duck growing? Land – lots of churches

– ananya says ‘ the people here eat duck eggs.’ – punished by jamming her left foot during a aerial segment of the ride at a sudden yahoo bump and scraping her left foot along the road. – after 9 Ow, owu, Awu.. and zero ‘STOP’s, a confused rider stops and lo behold, blood on the dustfloor. Blood red in color, this blood oozing out of what used to be rightmost space of her left big toe and for added color, the right skin of her longest toe. After this near fatal accident, ananya repackaged her toes, using her trip special first aid kit. Jedi helps by watching and asking all the right questions. Savlon, cotton, guaze, filipino alcohol swab, swiss army penknife scissors, water- roadside repair. – grand houses in kottayam – slow riding – palatial mansions here and there – kerala has the highest number of road accidents in the country – public transport has right of way and road cops also support that – man shook hands during a stop and asked the usual questions ending with congratulations – 3 months is a shocker – feels strange to say from Bangalore – but stick to it. – grey colored sada coffee – mango juice by roadside fruit seller cum generator juice maker. –

entry to cochin via some junction where we stop and wait for reshmy’s father – in a short while, reshmy’s house – tea and carrot cake - medical clinic – friendly doctor with tips and info about kerala and people – recommends rest, bandage, pills, and tetanus.

Dinner at alwaye at bread world.



Day 23 may 16 saturday
Thirkakarra - edapally
8 Kms

elections – all good – appam breakfast – royal enfield bike place closeby – give for service – walk back – drink mango time and bad tea – walk back and have sharja shake (milk banana chocolate?). get bike – go to Indian coffee house and snack tomato sandwich and other savories.
Languages need to be learnt – what are the 10 essential words or phrases that need to be known – 1? Where is 2? How much 3? 1-10 4?thank you 5? No 6? Help 7? What food is there? 8? Road bridge ..? observation – people when giving directions invariably use their hands to give visual cues to their audio and most times u can just watch the visuals and use key words and make up the directions, mostly correctly. Or simply, understand the directions.
Ananya roy says every road leads everywhere.
trip names idea – ananya – photaka devi - jedi = papathi
kerala men on the road don’t acknowledge the being of women. They look at or they look through. People drink boiled pink warm water. North kerala, they drink tea with their food.

Day 24 MAY 17 Sunday
Edapally- Willingdon Island – Arabian Sea!
15km + 154 nautical miles!

Breakfast and head for SPORTS (Society for Promotion of Nature Tourism and Sports)- Laksadweep office in Willingdon Island – park bike at office hoping it will be safe – be gone for 3 days! – get boarding passes and gift bag with laksadweep tshirts and caps. Go to Cutin wharf – M.V. Minicoy. Inside it looked and felt like a very big video coach – yaay- only showing malu films (not good ones at that). – walk around once out at sea – watch cochin go by and then the wide open sea – the further we go, the more the rolling and the spray – soon all around ppl start throwing up – we too feel queasy – drink welcome drink and then dinner – ananya skips –keeps body perpendicular to movement of the ship - jedi queasy but eats both dinners – crash for the night. – tomorrow laksadweep –

Day 25 may 18 Monday
Arabian sea – kalpeni island – thilakam isle -
M.V. Minicoy – get up early and go check out the sunrise – little spectacular with crescent moon (see photo) – good – after yester even’s disappointing nonsunset at sea.
Spot lighthouse and get confused coz map doesn’t show lighthouse on kalpeni – so think we are headed to minicoy – but its actually kalpeni – ship drops anchor – actually some maneuver with a bouy – little boats come from shore – they open the cargo and take out bananas, tyres, boxes etc. we go down the rope ladder onto little boat and head to land – the water is blue, green, clear, fishy.
Get on jeep and get taken to koomel bathing huts and drink our welcome coconut drink – and then breakfast – note on notice board says lots of things planned for day, but jedi gets urge to smoke so we go hunting and walk around the island – finally find shop that sells wills and also a board that says kalpeni lighthouse – so we light up. At the lighthouse, there is only a gardener who says we can but have to wait till some main man comes. So we wander around the beach and take photos and say aah ooh. We head back and convince the main man to let us see it now and not at 4 pm with the group which he says will come. We get a universal cochin lighthouse district pass and walk up the lighthouse – fantasic views – talk to the gardener who is from Andrott – no tsunami here, but some generations ago, one washed away an island. Main export from kalpeni is coconut, and its very obvious (see photo). We head back and everyone else has disappeared. We hang around, take photos, do headstand etc. until the motorboat comes and takes us to thilakam 2 isle where everyone else is. Immediately we are taken snorkeling! And wah. We are hooked I think. We head back after seeing something really new in life.
Ananya’s bandage gets wet. Back at kalpeni island, we find out that we have no more gauze. We have to go to the primary healthcare center and get before it shuts at 1 pm. So we walk again and have the wound bandaged, get gauze and betadine. And its FREE. Was a bit shocking and then we figured its government – now having lived in Bombay and well paying for everything – and never really going the government way – it was a nice feeling. We had watched Sicko recently and we felt a little happy. Back at koomel, we have lunch and then watch some guys do the local dances, which is more like a dancy martial art. We are taken to the local hosiery factory and see how they spin cotton. Then onwards to Tip beach where lots of snails and corals. Ananya sees shells that on seeing her run away. then back to koomel where we have tea. Then off to see corals at sea in the glass boat – midway the motor starter cable comes off, but the man quickly fixes. Coral in a shop and in the sea are so diff. somehow manage to get the lower mouth to meet the upper. See shoals of fish jumping in the water and birds diving into them…
Watch the sunset and then head back to the jetty. Its already dark and M.V. Minicoy is glittering. We do another midsea? Rope ladder climbing from swaying boat to rocking ship, but all goes well. Back on the boat, but this time like seasoned seamen.
See the nurse/doc/? From the primary health clinic on the ship and now understand his see you someplace on mainland India. Overhear lotsa conversations – esp. the one with the teacher from Andrott going for interview at Pondicherry. Have dinner and crash.

Day 26 may 19 tuesday
Arabian sea – willingdon island – edapally – devikulam
154 nautical miles, 137 kms
NH47, NH49

Get up at dawn and watch the sea. Soon a few birds fly around – surely there must be land nearby – more ships in the horizon – get to see the main deck and all the instruments – XO gives tour of equipment – is impressed that we know about fathoms J (not used anymore – only metric system) – have breakfast and almost miss sighting of land – entry into cochin – no free docking place at the BTP (boat terminal point) so they maneuver MV Minicoy along side MV Amindvi. We have to cross to the boat and then onto land – kickass trip –
back on land – head to SPORTS get bike and then on to reshmy’s house – pack and head out in a drizzle – monsoons are supossed to be early around 26th May, but why on May 19th? What premonsoon showers nonsense. Head off for munnar – have to be in Virudanagar by 20th evening for our Basic pranic healing course. Beautiful ride – bypass munnar and end up at the same place we stayed last time we came this side. Crash. Lotsa stuff is still wet.

Day 27 may 20 Wednesday
Devikulam – theni – usilampati – peraiyur- virudanagar
178 kms
NH49, NH7

Leave devikulam after having complimentary breakfast – excellent ride – as soon as we cross the kerala border – the hills give way to the plains – think TN should be glad they atleast have ooty and kodai – more rain as we cross usilampati – its like we are going along the premonsoon shower trail – every break we take the rains catch up! Wet wet wet – thunderbolts striking the ground all around – scary – enter virudanagar and ask our way to the teacher’s house – about 150 mts (in retrospect – we didn’t know then) on the flyover, we get a flat! Push the bike down the flyover (its still raining), and lo – there is a bike fixer – second time this trip there is a bike fixer at hand – get tube changed – again the valve has conked – decision to increase air pressure and CHECK daily without fail. – find teacher’s house and get treated to dinner – go to the center and our free room – open everything and let it dry –

Day 28 may 21 Thurs
Chidambaram Nagammal Medical Hospital, Virudanagar
Most things have dried, though still. Two days of acid rain? Also everywhere is hard water. Get breakfast from teacher’s house and then off to class. Basic pranic healing!
Learn how to see auras, scan auras, and lots of other cool stuff. Even after these months of knowing and understanding prana, to see it is a bit freaky. Ananya tries to heal jedi’s cold.
Lunch again brought by teacher. Evening check out Burma Hotel. Crash.