Biking to the Land of the Kodavas - March 16 - March 18, 2007

Trip start point: Airport Road, Bangalore.

Trip end point: Aalath Cad estate, Amathi, Coorg

Route: From Bangalore - Srirangapatnam - Siddapur - Ammathi

Distance: 300 Kms (approximately)

Accessories: Saddle Bags

This happened to be my first long ride on the spanking brand new (albeit, after the first service and a bit of running in) Bullet. I have an Electra 5S.

After an early start (6:00 AM) we hit Mysore road and the ride till Srirangapatnam - if this had been a seasoned biker - was rather uneventful, with there being more tarred roads than real nature. But for the newbie biker in me, this was the grand opening of tunnel vision...

I have done the road less traveled, but on four wheels and inside the cabin of a car with a boxed up windshield view and streaming windows.

With the wind blowing directly at you, and the whole world as you can see it out in the open thumping around on a Bullet was completely other worldly! Apart from a short break for some hot iddly's and coffee on the way close to Mandya, no breaks.

Right turn after a bit from Srirangapatnam and we were out of the highways into state roads. Cut through the loopy roads asking around a bit (no road signs or directions can be a pain) and we were on way looking for Madikeri (the capital of Coorg.)

Right after we exited the grandly done up Mysore road, we also exited good roads. But hey, Suddenly we came up against a dilapidated sign which said Siddapur, Orange County, and we stopped confused.

If Madikeri was where we were to go, what's this? Looks like a short cut! Like wise people, we decided to take the small lane to Siddapur... Behold, here the roads ended and pot holes and stones made up the way!

Cursing our the spell that made us take this turn we trundled on. This was just about 30 kms, seemed more like 300!

Anyway after this hard boiling on the back side, we found ourselves suddenly, entering a different landscape. The smells, the vegetation, the lush green and the quiet atmosphere got to us. Enough to forget the rough ride and enough to get great thoughts about the beauty of life in general!

From Siddapur to Ammathi about 10 kms a real cool 10 mins and we were into a plantation... Aalath cad. The path way to the home was pebble stones and that's it! The home... this is amazingly calm and serene. One could spend days without doing anything and not getting disturbed.

Parked ourselves here for the next two days.

That day was spent chilling out in the widerness of the estate during the day. (We'd reached the estate at 12:00PM.) The beer and light lunch (the food at the estate is complete suckage and also costs the earth) and the village down below offers no better. So the best alternative is one is fussy about food is to stay at Madikeri. But then, you'll miss out on the entanglement with nature which ranks way over on the priority list when one is travelling!

The next day was spent immersing ourselves in the land of the Kodavas. Spotting Elephants, checking out the Tibetan monastery, Riding to a Dam, Spotting the origins of the Cauvery river. While the bad stretch of roads continued right till Madikeri we went at it completely tripped out on nature, weed and beer.

And to top it off the variants of spicy food that the Coorgi's eat wherever we went. Madikeri was a great day trip for food and beer.

Two days was two days too short! The Bullet took everything in its stride. And even for a newbie like me this was completely smooth sailing... picture perfect!

March 18, 2007, was time to head back to Bangalore. There has to be a next time. They say once you go to Coorg, you might leave it behind, but the place will continue to haunt you and lure you to come back.

Already, feel the urge to pack my bags and go once again as I relieved those moments.

Coorg was shot completely in Black and white. Pictures here.