FSR#5: My Rs.0.02

Aloha Fellow Riders, Whew! Feels good having nailed down FSR #5, that makes it 3 in a row, not bad at all. I usually end up procrastinating and something else usually comes up, but not for the FSR, touch wood. Well this write-up is really not necessary as there's already one on bikes zone but since it's a hot afternoon and self having not all that much to do, am putting the pedal to the metal or rather the finger to the keyboard. :-) Actually the FSR #5 started a little early for some with Screech, Indi and Harsha heading to Bharat's Farm the previous day for Bharat's B'day Bash. Well for me it started as usual at the crack of dawn, Satya(SRK :-) ) landed up at my house at 6:00 am on the dot, in fact I think he arrived a little earlier, as usual, I was ready and in a couple of minutes Satya and I were riding towards Mekhri Circle Flyover Table top which was the rendezvous point. We were the first to arrive, and then people started arriving and a couple of chai's later, our tibe had increased to 12, with the snap of the line up from Mekhri Circle being taken we all headed out to Doddaballapur Raliway station which was our first pit stop for Breakfast and the place where we were to meet up with Screech, Harsha and Indi. Just as we were crossing Yalahanka, Deb rode up and told us that Richie's bike had a flat, Satya rode back to help. We continued on towards Doddaballapur, the road was bad, pot-holes the size of small craters and sand all over, but we rode on and after a while we stopped to wait for Sats, Deb and Richie.Samarth and Vodka joined us at this point. We decided to ride on to Doddaballapur Station, where we were joined by Screech and Indi, Harsha having decided to catch up on his Zzzzz's at Bharat's Farm. The break-fast was ok, thatte-idli and Vada, I guess we were a little disappointed with the spartan fare but then we got over with the breakfast and the inevitable cuppas of chai and coffee and headed out to Ghati Subhramanya. The Road to Ghati was a lot better with some good twisties, not hairpin bends or anything but anything to bend the bike a bit.We rode up to the top and stopped off on the way because the Beamers and some intrepid souls wanted to do a bit of off-roading. The scenery was beautiful and I was freaking out with Screech's Monocole with which I could count the girders of a railway bridge a good 3-4 kms away. Post the off-roading we rode to the Ghati Subramanya temple, where we only stopped for a couple of minutes asking for directions to Nandi. The road to Nandi was as bad as the road to Doddaballapur, passing through small villages and hamlets. I was riding Indi's Enfield Machismo, as my "t"rusty Roadking wasn't exactly road-worthy for this FSR. I was having a ball of a time on the Enfield, the thump-thump of the exhaust and the bike had a real head for speed. I was riding with Vodka on his Enfield Lightning 525 for a part of the way which was also as loud as hell ....... I can imagine the racket we must have been making. (Cacafonix and Deafenix) We finally reached the foothills of Nandi Hills where we had a stop for the inevitable ciggi and some really cool tender-coconut. Post this some of the riders decided to hit the top of Nandi, we ambled into the Eaucalyptus grove behind the Manu Bar and Restaurant on the first curve. We parked the bikes in the scant shade and found places to sit, it was really hot and getting hotter. We ordered for a few chilled ones and spent the next one hour relaxing and exchanging bike stories and basically having a good time, in general. Some people decided to call it a day and head home for various reasons and calls of duty. Finally it was time and we had to leave for the last leg of the ride and the destination was Bharat's Farm.We all rode to Devanahalli turn-off and waited to regroup, Bharat's Farm was a good 27 Kms from there. We all started off, the road was pretty good and soon we were all speeding and the group divided with Indi, Santosh, Abhi and Samarth all speeding off ahead and I was a little behind them and there was another group with Screech a bit behind me.Pretty soon I was all alone with the groups ahead and behind out of sight. I reached the town of Siddlaghatta and decided to head on knowing that if there was a turn off the group ahead would have waited and after a point I pulled up onto the side of the road and called Santosh, he told me that they were lost and a little ahead of me and we agreed to regroup at Siddlaghatta. I rode back to Siddlaghatta and pretty soon the group returned and Indi having remembered the way proceeded towards the Farm, we reached the farm in about 10 mins and were greeted by Harsha who was standing on the road and directing and soon pulled up under the shady trees in the Farm. Indi and some of the others who had again over shot the farm soon joined us. :-) Dude you need a GPS on that beamer. :-) Bharat was there to give us a warm welcome and soon we were sitting in the grass with chilled beers and waiting for lunch to get ready.Satya's bike was firing only on one cylinder due to a clogged petrol filter and he soon had it ready with advice flowing from all corners :-) , the onlookers were really enthusiastic :-) :-). Pretty soon lunch was ready and man was it delicious, there was a spicy red mutton curry, Mutton Stew, Soppu Saaru for the veggies and Rice and rotis. We dug in and pretty soon were full up, having satiated our hunger we relaxed outside for a short while and decided to hit it back as it was getting late. The group decided to split into 2, the riders going towards South Bangalore were planning to go back on the Devanahalli Road and the Riders heading towards East Bangalore, your truly included, decided that it would be closer to ride towards Hoskote which was about 35 kms away. We said our goodbyes to our gracious hosts, and headed out towards Hosakote. The road was fantastic and straight as an arrow for most parts and we were sending the bikes past the 100 mark for most of the way. On a mellow sweeping right hander curve, I saw the most glorious sunset, the sun was almost setting and I could see the silhouettes of the hills on the horizon and the sky was in different pastel shades. Damn I wish I had a Camera with a panorama setting, I have been saying that for every FSR, next time will make a note to carry one on my hip, even an aim n' shoot would have done. I wish we had stopped but we were all riding fast and pretty soon we pulled into Hoskote and the Bangalore-Chennai Highway, we passed Hoskote and pulled into a Dhaba for a couple of chais. Reclining on the metal wire cots in the Dhaba, I was recounting the day and I had to say, I had a great time. After the chais all of us rode back to town, traffic, loud horns blaring and our respective woes and worries :-). As usual I get melancholy after the FSR, but it's a great feeling to wait and let the excitement build for the next FSR. And last but definitely not the least, a huge thank you for all our hosts till now, for the past 3 FSRs , in alphabetical order Baba,Bharat,BK and Omi, without you guys going to all that trouble we would probably not have had such a good time, every time. And the riders, Thank you guys for being there and making it happen, every First Sunday and hope to see you there for the next ride. Adios Amigos, Au revoir and all that sort of thing. Surdeep Riders Line-up (Guys I apologise for any omissions, my memory's like a sieve, please respond in case I've got anyone's details wrong) 1)Abhi & Kavitha - Enfield Thunderbird 2)Aditya - RD 350 3)Harish - RD 350 4)Satya - RD 350 5)Arvind -RD 350 6)Screech a.k.a Hemant Kumar - RD 350 7)Santosh - BMW 650 8)Samarth - BMW 650 9)Indi - BMW 650 10) Vodka -Enfield Lightning 525 11) Siddharth(Deb) - Honda CBZ 12) Richie - RD 350 13) Ram Nagarajan - Enfield Thunderbird 14) Surdeep - Enfield Machismo 15) Harsha - RD350 - Missing in Action :-)