Update on my motorcycle trips.

Travelling as a leisure(maybe also as a Vocation but not yet) occured to me after reading the articles of Hugh and Colleen Gantzer which used to appear in every Sunday Magazine of The Hindu ( Their articles still appear infrequently in the dailies). Now there are real Professional Travellogues, Guides,.....you name it. Although during the school/college days only travel was to my Fathers work place(through different routes from Kerala to Tamilnad and back) and then the usual tours from the College/School.

1998 - My first travel "for the sake of it" was on a motorcycle with my brother Unni from Dindigul to Trichur and back on my Motorcycle (Hero Honda Splendor) . The potholes and muddy fairweather paving on National Highway is what lingers in my memmory in an otherwise unspectacular but satisfying trip.

Next was to Kodaikanal from Gandhigram (near Dindigul), around 120 kms with 8 of us friends. This was a wonderful trip with lot camaraderie, mishaps and bonhomie. We had started in the early morning and some of the villagers had spread some sort of harvested reeds on the road to dry the dew. One of the Bike slipped and had a bent fork. We managed get some repair done to make it travel worthy.

For another three years the motorcycle trips never happened but was rekindled at IISc when i happened to travel with my cousins to Kemmanangundi,Sringeri, Mullayangiri, Bababudangiri, Belur and Halebid in a car.

Then I met Suresh on his bike who had just bought a bike and was looking for a companion. We had some of the best times together on the motorbike and othewise became a close friend of mine in a year. His travellogues can be found here.

Since i had left my motorcycle back home, Suresh's bike now was our vehicle. Our travels have been written by Suresh( who also had a separate biking group at the institute). I intend to write soe detail travellogues in later blogs

• First trip was to Chickmagalur-Kemmanangundi-Belur-Halebid
• Second Trip to Chitradurga-Davangere
• Then madikeri-Thalacauvery - Mangalore - Udupi

On our initial travels, the idea was head out along the roads from bangalore and then find some places worthwhile to visit. So the interest was first biking and then seeing places.weekends were made use during these initial trips and hence the distance was also restricted with regards to the time needed to come back.

• Ananthpur-Puttaparthi
• Mysore-Gundulpet-Moolehole-Gopalswamibetta-Wayanad.

There was lot of short trips together in between but the wayanad trip was ours last together. After which on an new years eve he found his destiny (He rode to death on 31st december,2003) .

By this time I had bought my own motorcyle(Wind125) and had already travelled to my father's work place at Dindigul( 434kms) with another friend of mine. I got married in between and it took some time for lekshmi to come around.

It was some time i started to travel after Suresh Passed away.

It started with a trip to

• Chennai
• Tirupati
• Again to Mysore-Bandipur-Wayanad with Lekshmi
• A trip to Somewhere in the direction of coimbatore ended at Satymangalam with my friend hitting a lady on the road .
• Hognekkal with my friend mahesh.
• Bellary-Hampi-Tungabhadra reservoir.
• Shravanabelagola with lekshmi(2006)

latest

• Thiruvannamalai-gingee-pondicherry-mammallapuram-vandalur zoo (18 and 19th of March 2006)