Chapter 3_The Illegitimate Child of CCD

Chapter 3

The Illegitimate Child of CCD

I thought for a second that some vehicle behind me had lost control and was about to crash on me. It was Thorappan. He was yelling at me. I slowed down. Apparently, I had been gliding to the left, which basically meant that I was dozing off. Did I sleep? I wasn’t quite sure about it; unable to recall the past few seconds, it all felt like a dream – a bad one.

We enquired at the very next petrol bunk about lodging options. Fortunately, there was one in a few kilometers. Thus, after 804 kilometers, day one on road came to an end. We had covered an extra 40 kilometers; but the plan of winding up the ride before sunset flopped on day one itself.

We got a room for the four of us, at 1500 bucks. As we liberated ourselves from the riding gears and unpacked our bags, the room filled up with so much stuff that one would wonder whether all these were going on four bikes. We spent 15 minutes doing the ‘avalokanam’ of the day. Avalokanam is an audio diary; all four of us would sit together, recall and voice record the day's events. (‘Avalokanams’ are the ‘deep resources’ for the blog). After the avalokanam, Khan and Thorappan went to the terrace for a ‘joint’ venture. I picked up my sleep from where I had left it on the road. So did Mahesh. It must have been 2 AM when the enlightened ones joined us.

We woke up late the next day. We cleaned and lubed our bikes’ chains. The sky was overcast. As we were packing our bags, I received an SMS on my phone from the ‘APSDMA’ (Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority). It read, “Any time within the next 40 minutes there is a chance of lightning strike in the vicinity of your village/habitation. Please take shelter in a safe building.” Omen? Not for the boys whom I’m adventuring with. We were soon back on the road. It must have been 10:30 AM. Day 2 it is.

We stopped for tea before entering the highway. It was drizzling. We were in the market area of a village. It was quite busy. We soon became a major attraction for the people passing by. The tea was good; the secret ingredient being the rain drops from the thatched roof, that fell into my cup.

We had approximately 600 kilometers to Puri. After about 150 kilometers on the highway, just before entering Vishakhapatnam city, Google Ammachi asked us to take a deviation onto a bypass that would save us the trouble of the city traffic. Going by the logic, we agreed to Ammachi’s suggestion and entered the bypass road. The initial few kilometers were scenic and had many bents; Thorappan captured a few good frames on his Gopro as well. Soon, Rajamundry bypass version 2.0 unfolded - bad roads, lorries and dust. The day had started off pretty well with all of us riding at the same pace, keeping in line. However, yet again, Mahesh and Khan disappeared with the dust. Thorappan and I trailed behind. After a while, I missed Thorappan as well. The next few kilometers were very frustrating – I didn’t have any idea when I would see the highway or my fellow riders again. I caught up with Thorappan after a while and we continued together from there on. The sun was right up there and made the ride even more testing. After about 40 kilometers of uncertainty, we reached the highway. I was completely exhausted. A bottle of ‘Pulpy Orange’ went down my throat in a gulp. There were two little curious kids in that tiny roadside shop. Their mother was resting inside and they were in charge of the shop. It was interesting to see how the 7 or 8 -year olds checked the price on the bottle, confirmed it with their mother, collected the money from me and gave back the balance. 

The day had started off pretty well with all of us riding at the same pace...

We rang up Mahesh and were surprised to know that they still had 20 more kilometers to the highway. Confusion! How on earth is that possible! We exchanged our locations and indeed they were quite far behind. Apparently, they had waited for us at a junction for about 45 minutes. We might have missed each other there or Thorappan and I hadn’t taken their route. It was decided that Thorappan and I would continue on the highway, stop at a convenient place for lunch, and wait for the other two to catch up. Thorappan and I kept going on; we would slow down near every other hotel, look at each other and exchange nods that meant ‘the next one’. We nodded thus for the next 80 or so kilometers. 

It was 5 PM by the time all four of us reunited. We stopped for a meal which would be the only one of the day. Thorappan and I were very keen on stopping at a CCD (Café Coffee Day) and did find one with the help of Google Ammachi. We had to take a detour from the highway and ride 3 kilometers into a town. We didn’t mind the extra 6 kilometers. However, we were heart-broken to find out that the shop was an illegitimate child of CCD. They just had a ‘tea/coffee/beverage machine’ that belonged to the CCDs. Otherwise, they were an independent shop. However, the place and the menu were quite appealing and we went in. We ordered sandwich and cool drinks. The sandwiches were tasty and filling. The drink wasn’t that good, but I was very impressed by the effort put in by the master to decorate the glass with a piece of lemon, papaya (that too cut in the shape of a star!) and cherry each. To top it, there was a tiny little umbrella resting on the ice-cream scoop, floating on the drink. I not only ate the fruits in my glass but also forced the others to do the same. Mahesh didn’t budge and I ate his share as well. I felt that eating the fruits was a token of appreciation for the master. As we paid the bill, I had a chat with him. Apparently, he had undergone training in Thrissur. 

Soon, Rajamundry bypass version 2.0 unfolded - bad roads, lorries and dust.

After the all-in-one meal of the day, we continued our ride. We had another 300 kilometers to Puri. Once again we were together in a line, for the first few kilometers of the session. As always, the Khan-Mahesh duo disappeared soon enough. Thorappan and I rode parallel to each other; Thorappan had deduced that riding parallel would increase the  road visibility (two bikes – two headlights – double the light!). After about 100 kilometers, we took a water break; Khan and Mahesh were waiting for us at a petrol bunk. Thorappan had a can of ‘Monster’ (an energy drink) and became super charged. I sped along with him and soon the Khan-Mahesh duo disappeared behind us (which is a very rare scenario). We entered Odisha after a while.

The terrain changed all of a sudden. There were hills on our left, and a huge water body on our right. There was not much light, and I couldn’t see much of the landscape. The water body on the right was the Chilika lake. Had we passed this route during daytime, it would have been a different experience altogether. In fact, Google Ammachi had suggested an alternate route which included a ferry ride as well! 

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Out of Curiosity…

Chilika lake is a brackish water lagoon in Odisha. It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest brackish water lagoon in the world. Besides being the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent, the lake is also home to the rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. 

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We entered Odisha after a while.

At around 11:30 PM, we reached a junction on the highway, from where we had to take a right and ride another 50 kilometers to reach Puri. But Google Ammachi told us that the 50 kilometer ride would take us almost two hours. That was unusual. We inferred that more adventure was awaiting us, before we could call it a day!

(to be continued...)