Rendezvous with Hogenakkal Waterfalls

2008-09-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

Planning
It was long time since I had given my love my time. Every time I left my house or entered she was standing there and screaming for my time. I owed it to her. So I started planning from Thursday itself. Called 5-6xbhp friends but all of them had some other plans or were not interested. Friday evening and still nobody had confirmed. Even I started feeling little lazy and sleepy and I said chuck it. Went to sleep while watching a movie. I got up 8 in the morning with the weird question, what the hell am I going to do for weekend? Since everybody had gone to Mumbai for Ganpati or were out of town or were working. Well I thought 8 ‘O’ clock is not a bad. I can still freshen up and leave, after all Hogenakkal was just 140 kms away. So I was taking my own sweet time to get ready (after all it was my special weekend bath ). Finally was ready, had a pack of Maggi and was ready to leave.
Journey
I realized that my Bike Insurance had expired. Was in two minds should I cover over 300kms without insurance?? I thought I would really get bored sitting home. I saw my watch, 9:50. Withdrew some cash and left. I had traversed on this route before hence knew the road was good. I started cruising around 90-100mark. The road was very straight forward. I mean one doesn’t have to even bother to ask anyone. I was easily maintaining 105-115kmph. Motul (Read my review on Motul Engine Oil) was doing its job very well and was worth the every penny I spent. This was the first time I was travelling alone and was different experience altogether. Take Hosur road one that leads to Electronic city. Keep travelling to Dharampuri, passing Krishnagiri on the way. As soon as one reaches Dhrampuri, there is a diversion for Hogenakkal on the signal itself. No chance of getting lost. Road from here is two way and is riders paradise. There are long sweeping corners, twitches and I got to practice all that I read about cornering on the net. This road leads to destination, which is about 45 kms from Dhrampuri.
Total Distance: 174.3kms
Time Taken: 3hrs 30 mins (including 3 breaks)
Average : 49.8 km/hour cool isn’t it!!
Destination
Once you reach destination, you will be hounded for money by all possible means. One funny incedent. Even when I was entering I had to pay some taxes. Person asked to me pay Rs. 10/- as motorcycle tax and gave me a coupon of Rs 6/- only. I thought of having some fun. I insisted to give me 10 rupee coupon. Helpless that he was he gave me another coupon of Rs.20/-. What the hell was that, I enquired. He said taxes have increased and that 6 rupees coupons are redundant. I started laughing wildly on this stupid answer. He got furious. I handed over 6 rupees to him and left there smilingly.
As soon as you enter this city people run behind your car/bike for boating, massage and god knows what not. I refused a guy for oil massage almost 8 times. 9th time he approached me, we both were laughing when I mentioned “No Massage please” before he could ask!! :-)

Things to do:
There is nothing much on can do except for watching the lovely waterfall. People quote prices of Rupees 800/- for the boat ride. Now I was wondering if there was yacht standing nearby and was going to say please normal boat would be okay with me. Puzzled I asked him which boat you have. He showed me a boat made out of leaves, bamboo and plastic. What the hell?? Time to use some of my MBA negotiations skill. Played along long time bargaining with this guy and finally got the ride for 300/-. Not bad I thought!!
I was made to sit in a boot of Mahindra Bolero. Met few other Bangloreans of my age. They was surprised to hear that I was alone and I just took 3 hours to travel, where as they took 7hours!! :-)
Well before travelling to this place I read on the net that, this was called Nigara falls of India. It was indeed true!! One could go deaf by the loudness of Water crushing stones, pouring from such a height. It was indeed amazing. Photos just don’t do justice to that falls. They are wild, dangerous and beautiful at the same time. My so called boat driver was very proactive in talking photographs. He advised me few positions and some places that I should be standing and talking some good snaps :-)!!
Journey Back Home:
It was 4p.m and I better start getting home. I wanted to touch NH7 before dark, so that I can avoid driving on two away. Since Hogenakkal falls are in Tamil Nadu and plus water adding to the humidity factor, I was completely soaked in sweat plus my face was suffering sunburn. I bought 2 liter chilled mineral water, removed my shirt and poured on myself. Luckily I was carrying extra shirt and towel. Felt fresh after my mini bath and was looking forward to start my journey.
In my entire day of activities I was enjoyed so much that I forgot to eat anything. When I reached Dharmapuri (45kms from Hogenakkal), I halted for a heavy lucheve (similar to brunch :-)). It was 5.30 and I had to touch NH7 quickly. I again halted for bio break after 50 mins (covering 45kms) and saw heavy rainfall in distant that I might encounter. And I was right. After about 30 mins at about 6:50pm types, I was attacked heavy rainfall. Now it was still twilight conditions and hence visibility was also poor. Thanks God that my Helmet had good ventilation system and I wasn’t fogging. My speeds dropped considerably to 60kms region. But I got hang of the condition and soon was back again in 80-90kmph range. This was because now it was dark and because of my headlights I could clearly see vehicles in front at a distance, giving me enough ground to break early. Rain stopped after some time. But I could see lightning everywhere from those dark clouds gathered. Riding at night is both fun and scary. One has to keep lot of control on their right wrist so that it doesn’t twist the accelerator too much. :-)
Finally exactly at 7:55 I reached home. My cook was waiting outside the house. I was so happy to see him, didn’t have energy to dine out now. I started bragging about the distance I traveled in one day. He smiled looking at the speedometer.
I am sure he must have said to himself, what a crazy fellow?? But that’s what I am..Insanely crazy!! :-)
Ratings:
Roads: 4.5/5 (0.5 deducted since 80% road is just plain straight and gets boring after a time)
Place: 4/5 (Perfect for one day trip. Nothing much to do once you have witnessed the waterfalls).
Places to Eat: 1/5 (Have to survive on chips and biscuits, no even one restaurant to eat).

Memorable ride to Nandi Hills

2008-09-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well among all the trips that I have done this one is the shortest but one of the memorable one. Actually the distance was barely 80 kms one way, on a well laid Bangalore-Hyderabad express highway. Average travelling speed on this highway can be easily 80-110kmph for bikes and 120+ kmph for 4 wheelers. So why was it so memorable?? Let’s find out…

The Preparation…

Well trip to Nandi hills was on my mind but I wasn’t persistent. Previous night we had gamming get together at my friend’s house. We started playing CS a.k.a Counter strike J from 10.30pm. With almost 10 of us, the virtual fight went on till 4 in the morning. Then the thought of leaving for Nandi Hills became more attractive (Adventure bug was stinging me really hard & I was loving it J). So after long persuasion, my roommate Mr. Shinde agreed. Well we came out of my friend’s house to get back home and discovered huge cover of FOG that covered the city. Visibility was bare minimum restricted to 15 feet. As a sane person that I am, should have cancelled the trip. But I already mentioned the adventure bug had bit me. This provoked me all the more and was able to convince Mr. Shinde J for the trip again. Reached home, we wore our jackets & Helmet and left for Hyderabad Highway. Mid-way Mr. Shinde again insisted that visibility is too bad and should return home. But I again painted a rosy picture this is really adventure.. Blah..Blah (don’t remember what gyaan I gave J). I also betted condition on highway will be better. J

The Journey Begins…

I had mentioned in my Mum-Del-Mum trip our awesome journey behind a sumo. Well that’s the idea that was toying in our mind. But problem was who the hell goes to Hyderabad on Sat Morning 5 ‘O’ Clock. Actually driving in Bangalore is very rough and almost every day TOI carries news about a 2 wheeler getting killed. Hence this fear was gripping us in this poor visibility condition.

Finally a Qualis obliged. Fog condition was worse on highway. To add to this misery, when you travel @ 80kmph this Fog hits and melts on you (similar to fog melting to water on Car wind shield). Now this was a lethal combination. Think about it. Pitch dark, Foggy condition, travelling behind Quails @ 80kmph, chilled December night & Fog melting on you. We were feeling as if some pointed needles being bombarded on our hands (No Gloves). Our speed was restricted because of this chilled weather. We now had difficultly to keep up with the Quails. Helmet visor was also drenched with water.

But determination was the word combined with some insanity J. We kept the speed going for good 40 kms. Finally we saw a chai wala when we decided to halt. It was twilight condition now. Funny thing that we saw was, our jeans was so badly chilled that when we stood next to a small fire, out jeans filled with water started vaporizing. Pants on fire J.

We waited for the conditions to improve. Once sun was our brightly we raced our way to the top of Nandi Hills. Scene there was usual was very serene was beautiful. On our way back I was regularly doing 120+kmph ducking behind wind shield.

Finally when reached home went for marathon 6 hours of sleep. When I look back now it was one of the craziest thing I did, and enjoyed doing it!!

Sandesh Satpute

Rendezvous with Hogenakkal Waterfalls

Memorable ride to Nandi Hills