3rd Nov : Munnar to Kumarakom

Can you spot the red Blaze?

Walking inside a tea garden is a great experience!

Protection from insects is important. Thats the way to do it...

It was quite a task, waitin for the rains to stop and takin pics of this waterfall...

The Blaze, perfect scoot for twisties - easily scrapes the main stand and powerful enough for inclines...

The place where I had breakfast - amazing little restaurant

The view from there

Tea tasted great, it was made this way...Waited for more than an hour at this point for the gang. Some 25 kms before Kotamangalam

3rd Nov : Munnar to Kumarakom

I could hardly see the road ahead of me, relying on luck and that wee bit of visibility, I somehow made it to the nearest shelter. No, it wasn’t late night riding but heavy Kerala downpour, which blinded me completely as I rode towards Kotamangalam from Munnar on my way to Kumarakom – back waters of Kerala. Stopping at an abandoned shelter room, I parked the Blaze out in the pouring rain and lied on inside the little room, wet down to the bone and wondering where the rest of the pack was. There was no cell phone coverage and asking the localities would be of no help as none of us would understand each other’s language!
Hours earlier, back in the room in Munnar, I wanted to leave asap as I wanted to walk in the tea garden properly, which I had still not been able to do yesterday too. Leaving the group in Munnar, I filled up the Blaze and headed out of Munnar. The place is dominated by TATA Tea gardens and within minutes of riding, I took a small road up tea gardens (again Tata tea gardens) and clicked some pictures of the hills and mist around, continuing my way down to the road ahead, which, although was narrow, made it up in the quality of the surface plus the fact that there was less traffic. I was constantly looking for a path up the numerous gardens and finally saw a path, no wider than 2 feet, going up the tea gardens. I took up the challenge of riding the Blaze up this slippery path and parked it next to a tiny waterfall. This was perfect as the bike wouldn’t be left on the road that would arouse suspicion among the local people. Taking the camera and locking the helmet in the front compartment of the Blaze, I started my first ever proper walk inside a tea garden. It was a little misty but thankfully there were no rains and I took the whole time in the world to see the place and understand how the plantation is done row wise and space is given between each row for the people working there to pass through. I also came across numerous workers spraying insecticides on the plants and womenfolk plucking the leaves and carrying them to a central collection point. They did not seem to be interested in my presence or me taking pictures around! I carried on and finally joined a small path leading upto a house and so returned back to the Blaze but on the way back it started raining. The whole atmosphere was so pleasant, I really wished if time could stand still. “Sardi lagti hai to lag jaane do, aaj mujhe bheegna hai is Munnar ki barsaat mein…charoon taraf hai Munnar ka jaadu, waqt nikalta hai to nikal do, aaj mujhe bheegna hai is Munnar ki barsaat mein.” How can I explain what I was going through at that time. The clouds were touching my face, the rain was wetting me to the bone, and the presence of greenery all around created their own magic.
Only when the rain turned heavy, did I decide to return to the road, but then it struck me – getting up the 100 meter narrow dirt road was easy but the little path was now all mucky and slippery and I had a scooter to get down! It took a lot of effort and luck and finally I was down on the main road and continued the ride. The rain was now coming down very hard but I didn’t care about stopping. The feeling of getting wet while riding and that too in a place like this is just awesome. Add to it listening to your favourite music (with the Ipod safely in the waterproof pocket of the jacket) and thinking about all the beautiful things in life, life at GIR does seem to rock!
The rain did subside down a bit soon and as I came across a curve, I saw a sign board indicating a 3km detour to a waterfall – turned around and took the road down to the waterfall, which was all deserted. I could see the waterfall from the road as I rode all the way down, finally reaching a tiny creaky bridge, the entrance to which read “bridge in bad shape, do not cross!” I hadn’t come here for this, and I carried on. After all a load of just a little over 200kilos would not bring it down! The rains just wouldn’t stop and I waited a good ten minutes before they slowed down enough for me to take out the camera and in the shelter of the jacket click some pictures of the waterfall next to the bridge. In the meantime I could see the oil formation under the Blaze and it was evident that a lot of oil was leaking continuously from the machine and I badly needed a fill up asap. Turning around, I rode up as fast as I could as I didn’t want to loose the group, in case they rode and went past me. Riding for some time, I couldn’t come across anyone and slowed down to have breakfast at a little cutish place overlooking the valley. I wonder why that place was deserted – it had everything to be a crowd puller. Nice food, lotsa flowers and seating arrangement from where superb views of the valley could be had, and what not. Here I waited for an hour for the group but then carried on as no one came. The road started getting worse and the rains too became heavy again. It was pissing cats and dogs and here is where visibility came down to nothing, and with the inner of the visor too wet and foggy, I didn’t want to risk things and stopped in the abandoned shelter. I was shivering a lot, was sleepy too and lied inside on the bench. It didn’t strike me when I dozed off, just to be awakened by the sound of the thundering clouds! Waited a good 30 minutes and as the rains stopped, again carried on.
As I entered the town of Kotamangalam, the scenery and structures around started changing. There were lot of rice fields and the houses made right next to the highway could give the best of the houses in any metropolitan city a run for their money for sure. The group finally caught up around 60kms short of Kumarakom, when I had stopped as the Blaze sounded low on engine oil and in fact Vinayak Jee had to fill close to half a litre of engine oil to top it up! As I was all wet, I took out my water proof lowers and changed inside the back of the back-up vehicle! It was dark and we all rode in a formation, and the roads were a mix of good and bad, and it took less than 2 hours to reach the Illikalam Resort, on the banks of a lake, in Kumarakom. Sitting on the comfortable laid back chair in the cottage with four beds, facing the lake, I am all ready for the early morning ride in the boat to the bird sanctuary. The reliance network is a little weak and if luck is on my side, the blog should be up right now!