From Chennai To Munnar

They say “Journey is more important than the destination”
… This is not about any particular city or any specific destination. This is about one such trip where the journey was more vital than the beautiful destination ‘Munnar’. Here it goes like this…

It was October of 2006. And I was left alone in Chennai… with most of my friends leaving the town for some better opportunities elsewhere. I was also bound to leave for Mumbai in December. I had a trip to Kerala in my mind for a long time, but somehow it was getting delayed every time and I wanted to do it before leaving Chennai. This was on 24th Oct ‘06 when I was sitting in my office and it was a holiday on 25th Oct, Wednesday. It was this time when I decided instantly of doing my so long awaited Kerala trip. I thought of taking leave of two days i.e. 26th, Thursday and 27th, Friday and clubbing it with weekend. So, I was effectively having 5 days to explore Kerala. And there I was, all set for solo ride to Kerala. After all, all you need to have is a good camera, willpower and your Beast (ThunderBird 2005 model). And with all the trust in my Beast I started next day.

Day 1 – 25th Oct ’06, Wednesday – I started around 5AM from Chennai to reach Trichy by 10 AM. (320 kms). There I met a fellow member of my motorcycling club ‘Madras Bulls Motorcycling Club’ - Simmrit and had a great lunch at his place. Thanks mate! Started again around 2PM and after a long ride of more than 5 hours, I finally reached Munnar by 7.30 PM. I found a decent guest house and retired for the day. It was a long and tiring day as I covered 620 kms that day, but still it was the simplest day of my four day trip. More was yet to come!!!

By Road: 135 kms from Kochi; 300 kms from Thiruvananthapuram; 150 kms from Coimbatore; 600 kms from Chennai
Nearest Airport: Cochin

Places to See: Top Station (35 kms), Mattupetty Dam (14 kms), Tea Museum, Devikulam (7 kms), Chinnar Wild life Sactuary (60 kms)
Nearby places:
Ernakulam (135 kms), Periyar Wild life Sanctuary, Thekkady (110 kms), Komarokam Backwaters (170 kms)

Day 2 – 26th Oct ’06, Thursday – I decided to look around some places near Munnar, and so after having a light idli-wada breakfast started for a tourist spot known as Top Station. This is a mountain top and is 35kms from Munnar. This mountain lies on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, with one side falling in Tamil Nadu and other in Kerala. As I left Munnar I was mesmerized by the green-all-green tea gardens. The fresh tea gardens and their magical aroma bounds you and you can’t help but to stop there for a while and appreciate nature. As I moved a few kms ahead I spotted a dam and saw a diversion towards the same. I took the diversion and there I was on Mattupetty Dam. I spent some time there and moved ahead towards Top Station. There is said to be a ‘echo point’ on the way to Top Station but I missed that somehow. I must admit that I was in a hurry to reach Top Station. It was because my SIM was not working in Munnar though I had activated the roaming service and I had to make an urgent call. At that time, a weird thought came to my mind out of no where. I thought of reaching the mountain top and walk in a few meters towards Tamil Nadu side and try my Chennai’s connection. Having no other choice I thought of giving it a try atleast. So, I started rushing towards Top Station. As I was about to reach top station, it started raining. In some time I reached the Top station to find it a bit foggy. I parked my bike and moved in to Tamil Nadu side of the hill. Just few meters and ‘beep-beep’ – few messages were delivered to me in no time. Yeah! there was some signal. I made the urgent call after which I felt relieved and was ready to enjoy the trip! I walked back to Kerala :) and had a cup of hot tea at one of the few stalls up there. After spending some time there I started back in pretty relaxed mood. Luckily, it also stopped raining. Now, I was actually enjoying the ride, the curves and the mountains. It was then, when the inevitable happened. On one of the curves I had a fall, I think it was mainly because of the overconfidence that might have crept in after doing around 100kms of ghats. I was doing 60-70 on curves when this happened and I swear, after that my speed reduced to max of 40 throughout on hills. I was not wearing gloves at that time so left palm got badly brushed and bruised. Somehow, I reached back Munnar around 4PM and moved directly to the dispensary. After some dressing & bandage I thought of taking rest. So, I relaxed in my room and planned the next day’s route. For next day, I finalized: Munnar –170kms - Komarokam – 120 kms - Thekkady. Just 290 kms of ride in one day! A cake walk!! * Worst assumption and mistake of my entire trip *

Day 3 – 27th Oct ’06, Friday – I started around 9AM towards Komarokam (170 kms). I underestimated Kerala’s uncertain weather (rather certain rains) and did not provide cushion for Kerala kind of roads (all curves). Well, driving there was all together a different kind of experience but at the same time I was not able to stick to my naïve schedule. I was unable to come out of last day’s trauma and was not able to do 70-80 speed on curves. I took a break for lunch some 70 kms before Komarokam in Kothamangalam around 2.00 PM and it started raining heavily. I was trapped there helpless.. waiting for rain to stop but all in vain. At this time a strange feeling started creeping in. I started feeling lonely and I could feel that emptiness. I started feeling like I have come too far away from home and lost somewhere in some unknown land. With such feeling inside and looking at the heavy rain I decided to skip Komarokam and move on directly to Thekkady. I enquired about the way and distance and understood that Thekkady is around 80 kms from there via Pala. I waited some time for rains to stop, but it did not. So, I thought of continue riding sharing same trust with my Beast which I always had. I finally started from Kothamangalam around 3.30 PM. I kept driving in the suggested direction, crossed Pala and around 5.30 PM I stopped by a road side bakery as it started raining heavily. Here again I enquired the distance to Thekkady and they told me 82 more kms. Damn! I had been driving for last 1.30 hrs and still 82 kms.

I started immediately without wasting time any further and then the tough time began. It was raining heavily and I was able to match 30-40.. By 6 PM it was complete dark and I was drenched to the soul. Shivering in cold but still driving. Previous day’s wound completely wet and paining, but still driving. Some time later I entered into the ‘zero-visibility zone’. Thick fog, drizzling, complete dark, freezing cold, shivering and speedometer showing 15kph. I was not moving.. I was indeed crawling. But, I decided not to stop and I kept moving.. I was on bike and drove non stop for more than 2 hours with all the perseverance to reach Thekkady the same day. I checked the time and it was around 8 PM and I was still driving. I looked around. It was complete dark, constantly raining, no vehicles, no sign of life on road and among all that one drenched soul. That was it! Somewhere around 15kms before Thekkady I gave up. Even my bones were freezed at that time and as soon as I saw ‘Hotel, Restaurant & Bar’ neon signboard I moved in. First question – Is there any room available?.. Second – Do rooms have geyser/hot water?.. All affirmative and I checked in. I don’t even know name of the place.

Guest house/ Hotel Accommodation available in all ranges from economical to star stays.
For good south Indian food one can try out Hotel Sarvana Bhavan
Try authentic south Indian snacks (on banana leaves) at any local roadside snacks shop.

Day 4 – 28th Oct ’06, Saturday – I started from whatever that place was to Thekkady around 8AM. Thought of covering Periyar and touching plains before 2PM as somebody told me that every day it rains heavily after noon and riding in rain was last thing that I could have considered after having enough of it the last day. I reached Thekkady/Periyar around 8.30 AM. Next boat ride on Periyar lake was scheduled at 9.30 AM and after that 11.30. I checked and came to know that 9.30 boat was full. Frustration that started to build up last day, now was becoming dominant and prominent. I sat there on a rock for few minutes, with my head down and trying to compose myself. Then I gave it some serious thinking. 11.30 boat ride will get over by 1.30 PM, implying no way of touching home the same day, that in turn leads to one extra day of frustration. Damn it! Then I remember seeing a milestone reading out loud ‘Theni – 70 kms’. So, may be there is a way to touch Theni in time without facing Kerala rains, and once I reach Theni I was sure that I could reach Chennai the same day. I took just two snaps of Periyar lake and decided to explore it some other time. Anyway, even if I would have stayed I would not have enjoyed it much with that feeling of frustration and emptiness which by that time crept deep inside me. So, I decided to move on with only one target in mind – to reach home ASAP. I started from Periyar around 9.30 AM and was in Theni around 11 AM. Had my brunch there and again started at 11.30AM. Now the road looked familiar and I ripped. I touched Trichy around 2.30 when I saw clouds building up. So, decided not to stopover at Trichy and so I kept moving. And 50 kms after Trichy IT started again - Rain (no! not again). I did not stop, thinking that atleast after 10-20 kms it will not be raining. It was 3.15 PM at that time. I kept moving and moving and moving trying to cover as much as possible during day time itself. I did not stop anywhere for lunch. I was not able to catch speed, but I kept moving. Two and a half hours of continuous driving, again in non stop Rain, and 5.45 PM, it was dark when I reached Villipuram. I stopped there to treat my rain soaked and empty stomach. Some breather to stomach, but, no respite from Rain! I waited for some time and finally gave up. To hell with Rain! And I was on the road again. Now it was even more difficult. It was raining heavily, with no street lights, road with unexpected potholes and above all I was unable to use visor of my helmet. It was a real tough ride throughout but atleast after Tindivanam four lane toll road till Chennai helped a bit and on this road I was able to maintain speed of 60 kph. Stopped only once for tea and was at home around 10 PM.

Overall it was a tough and hence a GREAT ride! I was not able to take many photographs due to rains, as I had to double pack my camera.

Looking back I think the best part of this ride was the trust that I shared with my Beast and it surely lived upto that. It gave me confidence to move on and on… 4 days of rough terrain and bad climatic conditions & 1545 kms without any break down or hold up. Hats off!! Even after the fall, when I got bruised the person who helped me with first aid (a gentleman cab driver) asked me whether I will be able to ride? I said yes, then he asked is your bike okay? I said ‘it MUST be okay’. He asked me to check it… and single kick… Vrooooom!!! There I was… on the road again…

Overall Trip – 4 days/ 1545 kms.
Experience – Regression testing / Spine chilling
Learnings - Do not be overconfident on your riding. Do not underestimate ghats, hills and curves. Do not make overoptimistic plans. Do not ever underestimate Nature (Rains), pay respect and always provide cushion for it.