A Successful Sunday- Sangam Ride

28^th Jan 2007; Swami, Piston, Chandra, and myself planned a ride to somewhere outside the city. As usual there was no specific plan. Everyone left it to someone else to plan where to go. But in the morning somehow ‘Sangam’ idea came up. There is something behind that decision too. Mr. Piston doesn’t want to go in Mysore road… Reason… last evening he’d already been there and is a very much explored route for him. All right, who has issues… no one… when there is no plan at all there wouldn’t be issues in choosing a place.

Piston doesn’t sleep, as far as I know, He spends most of the day as well as night at his office cursing his manager ‘Sardarji’. By the way he is one of the very good admirers of sardar jokes. As usual the day before the ride he spent the night at office hoping to go back to sleep after finishing the work which didn’t happen and this sweetheart slept on his chair sometime in the night, may be some time in the morning. We, all set to go are calling him to get no answer. We took the decision. The ride will be to Sangam against Piston’s wish as a protest.

Myself, Chandra and Swami started our ride to Sangam after a good breakfast from a restaurant at Swami’s area in Bansankari at around 8:00 am. Chandra is my pillion. His bike’s been taken by one of his friends for a short time use. I picked Chandra from his home at somewhere close to the ‘Kemp Fort’. Anyway at around 8:30 we got a call from Piston with lots of apologies and willingness to join us. He had just woken up from his ‘office chair’. We waited for him at a place close to the ‘way of life’ ashram. There Swami's and Chandra’s cameras happened to have some promising shots. Swami even went up on a tree to shoot a nest found there.

Piston meets the rest of the gang… Ahh… What a meeting… At 10:00 (against the preplanned 7:30) in a roadside restaurant, gentlysipping juice, Piston came and rests (in peace). We gave him a warm welcome by kicking his ass and few nice ‘pats’ on his back. Had some snacks from there and we headed to Sangam

The route is Bangalore- kanakpura (take a left turn from the city) – sangam. Total of around 80km. We took a right deviation about 20km before reaching sangam to have a small ride to an abandoned quarry which is a hill top through steep rough gravel road. Myself and piston went up while Swami and Chandra waited down photographing some microscopic creatures and unknown plants there in upside down professional angles.

The ride to the hilltop was awesome. The gravel road with hair pin curves surely will test anybody’s skills. The hilltop is fully deserted with no sign of any life. There is a pool with a cubical stone laid in the middle and empty area with few rock pieces laid here and there.

Piston had a nice idea and didn’t hesitate to deliver it… Why don’t we come back with a JCB and a truck for those stones!!! Let him do it… Anyway we spent some time roaming around there and took some snaps (though not as good as Chandra’s double barrel Nikon and Swami’s ‘puttukutti’ my lil powershot too did a decent job.) Coming back negotiating the gravel road- down hill was an exciting experience.

We grouped again (Chandra was standing down in the main stream and Swami was found in the nearby chilly field) and headed to Sangam. Had a late lunch there. There, to go to Mekedatu there are two options. Cross the river and board a bus like vehicle or cross the river on bullet and headed to Mekedatu on bullet riding the off road with kavery on one side and scenic hill view on the other. We didn’t have to think twice to opt the second. Shoes and socks taken off and hung on the bike, jeans pulled up, a bare foot ride…

The most exciting event of the day was crossing the river on bullet and the ride to a settlement in the forest via Mekedatu, around 8km off roading through the forest. My bike did a good job carrying myself and Chandra as pillion with our luggage. The photo captured by Swami gives a nice memory and feel about the ride through the forest. Swami, this is one of your best photos…

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have a ride to finsh.
A river to cross before I reach.
And miles to go before I reach.

Oh, I can’t miss to narrate this incident… Piston had a slight scratch on his hand while trying some gymnastics on an eaten up stand at a view point on the way. Not good, there was rust everywhere on that iron frame. Piston wanted some alcohol to apply the scratch to avoid being septic. No alcohol available in the forest, neither the wild animals nor the 'nonwild' animals drink. Piston had a backup plan which we found very extreme- apply some petrol and burn the area to kill the ‘enemy’… wow… (We could stop his efforts to apply grease). Anyway the burning step was dropped, couldn’t stop him applying petrol though. Later he gave us a lecture on first aid in military style. We listened with eyes wide open and ears tightly closed.

In another exiting moment for Piston, he got the golden opportunity to prove himself a mechanic. He successfully solved a tuk tuk sound coming from the back wheel of his bike on breaking. Later his attempt to lay hands on clutch got prevented by us. Reason: we wanted to reach Bangalore the same day.

If you ask Swami about his take on this ride, he has a very specific answer. His childhood dream came true on 28^th Jan 2007 evening on the banks of river kaveri. Swami wanted to explore the chances and his caliber in nude photography. A volunteered model, swami’s photographic skills and quick reaction to capture the event without wasting a millisecond… everything paid off. Swami is the happiest man on earth. Way to go swami… (Don't ask me who this model is. It's not me or Piston or Swami)

We had coffee at the same place where we had lunch (sitting on the steps of the restaurant). While the return ride Piston got the golden opportunity to demonstrate his mechanical skills, something which he always wanted in his entire life… A nut is loose at the rear and he tightened it. Good job Piston…. Awesome... Anyway we successfully stopped his efforts to do something on the clutch. We wanted to reach Bangalore the same day and wanted Piston too with us in one piece.

How can I miss Swami’s Yoga on the way back... I didn’t feel anything strange when swami stopped on the way and wanted to take a 5 min break. But within a flash of a second swami is in Yoga mode on the road side. Swami ‘Asamayathu Yogananda’…

We reached Bangalore at around 9 O’clock, Had dinner together and bye byed.

I call this one of my best riding experiences for some reasons. Apart from the ride experiences mentioned earlier, there was a very good advantage of having a very good company. We formed a very good group to ride together, always stick to the same common agenda, or should I say, we made sure that there wasn’t any agenda at all. Thanks to Swami, Chandra and Piston for a wonderful day. Let’s meet again…

Sangam ride albums: Jo's Swami's

__________________________________

You might feel the narration a bit funny and exaggerated about characters and some incidents in a few occasions. Intention is to prevent losing the spirit of the trip. Thank you for taking it in the right sense.