A Trip from Bangalore to Govindapur, a village in ORISSA
Bangalore-Orissa-Bangalore (3200Kms)
While my brother was droping me in a village school on a bicycle in 1985, I use to ask him, which is the most powerful bike in our country, the answer was BULLET. Since then, anytime I see a bullet, I forget my existance and watch it till its vanish from my view point. While in college, I got a chance to ride the dream bike in 1996, it was one of my frind, whose father was a contractor?. I can't express my feeling, the excitement I had, when he handed over the key to me to go for a ride. With little money in pocket, buying a bycycle was a dream for me. From a village in ORISSA, I came down to Bangalore looking for a job after my degree. Years past, one day, I was gifted a used bullet standard 350 by my best friend in Bangalore. Later I bought a lightning 535, an amazing bike that I have ever thought of.
I always had a dream to ride from Bangalore to my village on bullet. I believe in the beauty of my dreams. Look for your choice, pick the best one and go for it, that's what I did on the 21st day of Dec 2009. I bought a new bullet classic machine on Monday and was set to ride to orissa on Friday (25th Dec) morning. I prepared a trip Plan and one of my friend joined with me as he has a Royal Enfield TBTS.
Day -1: Woke up in the morning 4:30am, got ready, with all tools and spares, pucture kits, and few cloths in my bag. Started 06:00am in the morning from Bangalore Tin Factory and moved on to the old madras road. Finished our breakfast at Madanpalle (AP) and Lunch at Kadappa.The original plan was to reach Guntur on the day one. We landed on to a bad state highway after Kadappa. It was really thrilling, cruising through the lankamala forest in the afternoon. We had to ride about 100Kms extra, thanks to google map guided us to reach NH5 with lights on in the evening on some very narrow roads. On the way to Guntur, we had our dinner and kept moving. 50 kms before Guntur, we stopped as it was 10pm. We stopped at a place called Chilakaluripet. Since we had to ride 100kms extra, the first day riding was 750 KMS
Day - II:
Gotup in the morning whle the clock was shoing 06:00am, got ready by 30 mins, went to Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Sanctuary that is sprawled over an area of 3568 sq km across Nallamalai Hills and is acclaimed to be the largest tiger reserve in INDIA. Wherever we go, we were the point of attraction; many of them come to us asking lots of questions on bullet trip out of their curiocity. We spent some time there, finished our breakfast and came back on to the highway. The next target was Rajahmundry for Lunch. We reachd there by 2:30pm and had the best lunch of our trip, the traditional Andhra Meals. Since I had the new bke, it was due for the 1st servicing. I had it planned to get it serviced in Rajahmundry RE service center. Thanks to the folks there, who were very helpful to attend my classic machine, mind you, they had never seen the new bullet classic model, all of them (mechanics and sales folks including the showroom owner and other staff came to see the bike, photos attached?). Finally, I have got it serviced and then left towatrds Vishakapatnam. We reachd there by 8pm, finished our Dinner by 9pm. The real challenge started when we went hunting for a hotel room. Due to the rush X-mas / New year holidays we failed to get a room booked in Vizag. After spending 3 hours, we had no option but drive out of the City in the midnight. I have lots of confidence, having my BULL with me, no matter whatever the time is -- It was as if, the machine knew that he had to move on just to ensure that I don't loose my confidence. I felt as if, the bull was telling me - "don't worry; you are not alone in this. I am with you. Back to highway, drove for 1hour 45 mins and found a city called Vizianagaram; luckily we got a nice hotel room there. It was 02:00am when we got into the hotel room. We drove about 500 kms by end of day 2.
Day - III:
After driving till 02:00am in the morning, I was sure; we are not going to see the sunrise on the next day. We got up by 8 am, took an hour for getting ready. It was nice to have Dosa's and Idlys in the breakfast and left Vizianagaram by 9:30am. We were very excited to experience of getting closer to orissa boarder. We slowed down and going on 60/70 speed enjoying the nature. We reached Berhampur, ORISSA by 3pm, had lunch there. It was time to split as my friend had to go to Bhubaneswar and I had to go to my village. After riding 350 Kms on day 3, It was 6:30PM, The moment I reached my home; I dismounted my bag from the bull, kissed the machine, Needless to explain, I was sorrounded by my family and friends in the village, I just wanted to freeze for a moment, to make sure that I capture this moment since it took me time to believe that this is no longer a dream but a reality, I reached my village from Bangalore on the Royal Enfield Classic 350 machine!!!
I sepent 10 days in my village, did a lots of offroad riding, attchaing couple of pictures here as well. Left home on 8th Jan 2010 morning as I had to join back my work place in Bangalore. Not going to explain much, Day-IV of riding, we opted to stay at Annavaram (AP), just 50kms before Rajahmundry. We had our breakfast at Rajahmundry and the next target was Tirupati. This time on Day-V, we took the alternate route in order to avoid the bad state highways. We had to say goodbye to the beautiful NH5 when we reached Naidupeta. After having dinner, we realised its 10pm, not a good time to ride anymore. However, we couldn't find a good place to stay as it was a very small town. Finally got back to state highway and reached tirupathi by 12 in the midnight.
Next morning, on the DAY-VI of the ride, we left Tirupati and were back to Bangalore home for Lunch. I gave my bike the customary hug. A gesture of respect and gratitude to this machine who was more than just a bike during the ride. Truly, a man made gift of god.
Posting few of the key milestones/achievements:
-- Most distance covered - 750kms in Day1, We ran 100kms extra, Google map rescued us
-- Most efficient Driving - 700kms in 14hrs, Annavaram(AP) to Tirupati, Day 5
-- Max nonstop Driving Duration - 3 hrs(Guntur to Nellore)
-- Max nonstop Driving Distance - 200kms(Guntur to Nellore)
-- Max Average Speed - 75 kmph
-- Best Road patch - Guntur to Nellore on NH 5
-- Worst road patch - AP/Orissa border on same NH 5
-- Best Breakfast - Plain Dosa near Rajamundry bypass.
-- Best Lunch - Rajamundry town, Andhra meals
-- Best Dinner - Nayudupeta, Andhra meals
-- Best Night Accommodation- Annavaram and Vizianagaram
I love to live life in my own way. I love my bike, the Royal Enfield Machine. While writing this, I miss those village days and offroad ridings!! RE Rocks!!