Kalhatty Revisit

Kalhatty Revisit- SB


12th of July 2008 was same as other 12ths. But this 12th had few specialties.
-Moshaii woke up before sunrise.
-JSR rode with pillion.
-Meppa had his first ride after he shifted to USB (United States of Banaswadi)
-We could flag off before sunrise as planned.

This time Kalhatty was the proposed venue for TVM guys to meet Blore gang. Making them ride all the way from TVM, around 500km- almost 12 hours of butt breaking ride was one criminal offence. Bangalore fellows escaped with less than 300km.

Bangalore gang: JSR, Moshaii, Meppa, Conductor, Shre, Karthik, GK, Sassi, Keeny and myself Jo.
TVM team: Jay, Crank, Anil and Venu.

I was excited to take out the white lady for a long run for the first time after the overhaul and modifications. MuneerDa kept his word and delivered the bike the night before the ride. When I took the test ride, I felt the extra kick of the additional CCs along with the convenience of operating levers at the ‘right’ sides as those used to be in my old 350.

Expectations are high when Kalhatty visit is planned. Many of us who’d been there before had wild dreams about the Kalhatty climb. Starting at 5:45 seemed a bit impractical considering the punctuality of our men. But noone came much late. There we go again to SB’s most visited Kalhatty for the Nth time. Few of us pushed hard and some like JSR kept their cool.

JSR wouldn’t have ridden like this before. Like a ‘just licensed’ rider, medium rev/speed in all the gears, dead slow in cities and almost in Hanuman gear on speed breakers and even on zebra lines… Our respected madaam AntaGulika seemed to enjoy every bit of the ride. Experimenting with the camera in different angles, sometimes stretching hands wide, thinking whether to put on sunglasses in the darkness or not, wondering if sunglasses are removed that’s gona affect the glamorous pillion look… Gulika, I think was under the impression that holding something while pillion riding is the sign of fear and a daredevil like me shouldn’t do that… Evidently JSR seemd fed up with this myth riding. His eyes started to pop out saying ‘yeh dil mange more’…

JSR finally stops before eyeballs touch the visor. I continued riding on JSR’s assurance that he and the stopped pack will start soon and catch up. But, by the time I reached Mysore people were scattered everywhere. People took different routes to bypass the city and I took the city route and since no sign of anyone, had breakfast too from Kamat alone and headed straight to catch up with others. But amazingly the confusion made most of them stuck here and there and just before Kabini I could realize from Meppa’s call that I’m atleast 15km ahead of rest. What an irony! Anyway I got reunited with others at Nanjangud. Breakfast at Nanjangud was great. Moshaii and Meppa had a dosa which was longer than moshaii.

JSR kept his cool for some more Kms and then an unexpected twist… I’m talking about the throttle twist child… He couldn’t control his emotions seeing the wild ghat curves. JSR flies like Luttappi flying the spear with Dakini as pillion. Our pillion daredevil started to shiver for the first time and was seen holding the rear carrier tight praying for life. (That rear carrier was found lose on reaching Kalhatty and JSR had to tighten all the nuts and bolts on it.)
Bits and pieces overheard by co riders on the way--
Dakini: Entahda Kunthathinoru virayal? (Dai Lutt, why does the bike keep wobbling all the time ?)
Luttappi: No problemo Dak, That’s not issue with the bike.
He then explained about the banking and other technical stuff about taking curves at high speeds.

This time noone’s bike gave up on the Kalhatty climb and everyone made it to the top safe and sound, but to see the ‘Kondi’ waiting there. Pattambi Satyan is almost an Anaconda. Earth, sun and other smaller particles rotate around him. What comes out of his mouth is pure spirit fume. Noone dared to light a cigarette near him. Pattambi is 100% inflammable.

Ride to Ooty after Lunch was eventful. There we had the next ‘Kondi’. Sassi’s chain gave up and fixing it took around 2 hrs limiting our plan to visit one place- the beautiful landscapes at 9th mile. It’s an awesome place. Coonoor is dropped.

We headed back to reach Kalhatty before sunset and the TVM guys too reached there almost at the same time. Crank was stuck in the middle of the final climb when I passed him. Anyway he need not worry about the bad performance of his bike on climbs. That is a road runner with unbeatable top speed. Though there were minor issues on the way all TVM guys, Jay, Crank, Anil and Venu made it on time in style. They would really have enjoyed the last part of their ride- the ghat section.

Eventful night…
To be honest, this time the camping was disastrous. Two more teams share barbeque and dining, not enough space to accommodate such a big crowd and on top of all Pattambi is fully out. Result: everything out of control.
Then the unthinkable, unacceptable happens. Blue Grape, specially brought for TVM guys vanishes in a matter of few minutes! GK rose up to handle the situation. He played double role as Sherlock Holmes and the drunken fist. In an amazingly choreographed climax GK kisses the villain and villain kisses the ground multiple times. THE END. Issue solved. Whoever has that bottle, keep it as a memento.


Next day during the ride two more ‘Kondies’ were in the list waiting to happen.
Sashi’s battery cover flew off and scares the car behind him. He amazingly avoided running over it. Conductor who was behind him did manage to sweep it and then to his amusement the battery itself comes flying off. This time our hero had no other option but stop and fix up with others help before heading further.

Mappa’s break down added icing on the cake. I could see big fire balls coming out from bikes exhaust. Bike stalled with no spark. Thankfully it never started again. Problem lied in the clutch box cover- a broken soldering from the coil to the CDI unit- the only thing we did not open and check. Anyway one carrier auto got a good ride to Bangalore. Keeny deserves a special thanks for staying back till bike got parcelled.

Without paamban pattambi's Anaconda performance… sasi’s chain and battery kondi… the great blue grape incident… Meppa’s bike's breakdown…
there wouldn’t have been much to learn and remember from this ride. But what I’m wondering is how come all the “Kodies” happened on this single ride.

Finally, how many of us would return to Kalhatty once again. I don’t think anybody will do that unless it is to give pattambi a ‘kickback’ on his undercut.

Each and everyone had their own contributions to make this ride a memorable one. Thank you all for being a part of this wonderful group event and for the nicest company.
I owe few guys special thanks.
Meppa, Moshaii, Jsr, GK..... those who offered me their pillion seats when my bike's delivery was in doubt.
Sasi even offered his bike....
Thank you..........

PS:-
Kondi: Disaster
Anaconda: Fully drunk state of a human being or the heights of drunkenness.
Hanuman Gear: 1st Gear
Luttappi and Dakini: Cartoon characters in one of the Mal publications. Luttappi has a flying spear. He takes Dakini and another character Kuttoosan to places on his spear. Lutt is their driver/pilot.


Photos (Few from my clicks)