last week i read george bush, the president of usa making a statement that the growing economies of India and China is making the people there eat more, hence causing food prices around the globe to go up. i was not at all surprised at the statement. only the stupid mr. bush can make such absurd statements. i am back in bangalore after a 9 month stay in dallas and was amazed that such an ironic statement was made by the president of a counrty that takes pride in splurging.
firstly, the people there tend to overeat. they then become obese and spend money on weight reducing regimens. ultimately most of them remain obese and eat more and more. more than what is required for survival or a decent healthy living. secondly, and more baffling was the fact that you have to buy large quantities of anything and everything you buy. the idea is to encourage the consumer to buy more of the same product. this is done by using "economies of scale". for eg. you get more milk for a comparatively lesser price. it seems to be a win-win situation where the producer sells more, makes more money and at the same time the comsumer get more at a lesser cost. but, the catch here is that food products are perishable, safety and hygenie standards expected are high. all of these products have a very small shelf-life and most people tend to dump the stale food. there is a big lobby behind not selling smaller quantities at resonable prices. the amounts of food that people wasted there made me very sad. the millions of starving people back home would immediately come to my mind.
contrast this with the scenario in most Indian middle-class households like mine. we buy in small quatities if the product has a very small shelf-life. (a liter of milk a day for a family of 3 for eg.) none of us are obese, nor are we sick and starved. we either eat edible leftovers or give them away to hungry road-side beggars. Indians tend to share food even in restaurants!!!! (this is save money mostly, ;-) but, it does save food as well) mr. bush's statement is not only baseless, it is also kiddish. you dont expect a big bully to complain!! ;-)
India could face an acute shortage of food in the coming few years. this is not because of higher consumption, but coz of the fancy, short-sighted plan called SEZ. most of these special economic zones are carved out from agricultural land. at this pace the backbone of the country might be broken sooner than expected. in a few decades from now, what will future generations of India eat?? software?? or something produced from these SEZ's?? its high time the babus and netas realize that land is a limited commodity and fertile agricultural land is precious. the SEZ's just solve existing problems temporarily and crop up bigger and larger problems. it is imperative for a counrty of a billion to be self-reliant on food. if we are to reach a situation where we need to export food, it may wreak havoc with our economy. :( like what fuel prices are doing to the growing economy now.
the solution to this is to use wastelands or barren land to build and promote SEZ's. care should also be taken to preserve the forest cover in the country. another reason for the popularity of SEZ's is that they provide tax-breaks. we should ensure that this is not misused by the large corporations.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
blasts in jaipur - terrorism in India
there were bomb blasts in jaipur a couple of days earlier. some seven blasts rocked the city of jaipur. this is not the first time that there have been blasts in India. this is also not an one-off terrorist act on our soil. bomb blasts have become a regular thing in our country. the blasts in hyderabad, malegaon, mumbai, new delhi, varanasi and etc etc... there have also been other acts of terrorism. our successive governments have repeatedly failed to control these acts of terrorism. it makes me feel that we are a nation of "hijda's". it also gives me a feeling that we are bunch of "good-for-nothings" who just eat, make babies and watch cricket. its a matter of national shame that we have tolerated this for so many decades. its a disgrace to humanity, to the democracy that we like and enjoy. all that the fu##ing politicians do is make bloddy statements after every blast. thousands and thousands of our brothers and sisters have been killed or maimed over the years. the ch##iya politicians are just not bothered. more painful is the fact that people in general have started to take this for granted. not many people seem to be bothered about the loss of innocent lives. "hmm... yesterday hyderabad.. today jaipur.. tomorrow it could happen in our city..." is what is commonly heard from people. some smypathy thrown at the families of people and we tend to move on with our daily routines. some people are more worried about the fate of IPL, aishwarya's dress, rakhi sawant's cleavage and etc etc. some dumb-fu##'s dont even know that people are dead in jaipur. we are no different from the fu##in politicians. we are the bast###s who elect them. "we will ensure that the culprits are punished" is a common statement from the corrupt leaders. the max that they do is pay a visit to the hospitals and promise aid and make sure that they are on national television. this whole laidback attitude makes me feel sick. when are we going to change? will we ever change? we have a lot to learn from countries like Israel and USA. the way they tackle terrorism with an iron fist is relly commendable. "we are a huje nation, our population does not allow us to do the same" , "solving big problems like terrorism is not easy" are some of the statements i have heard from people. this is absolutely bull-shit. we just lack the will to do it. we do have the capability to solve the problem. but, we seem to just passs the buck. the cops would be vigilant for a few days and then get back to their usual "chalta hai" attitude for a few thousand rupees in bribe. there has to be some solution to this problem. i have no clue as what or how this could be solved. but, i would be willing to do my part for it. hoping things change for the better.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
My Top 10 Bike-rides
after quite a few bike trips i decided to come up with my own "top 10 bike trips"
this is entirely my perspective.
here we go:
10: yelagiri
the ride to this small lesser know hill station in tamil nadu was very pleasing.
9: yercaud
the yecaud ride is memorable because this was my first trip on my bullet. it was very close to the himalayan odyssey 07 and i just wanted to get used to the bullet.
8: all the rides to sakleshpura
sakleshpura was a short distance from hassan. but the route was a dream. it had straight stretches where we could test the top-speeds of our bikes, also it had high speed corners where we could test our riding skills by bending the bike as far as possible. the rides would with the boys in class, some 5-6 bikes. we would mostly go to manjarabad fort and get back. the trips would be planned during a lecture and we would just bunk the next class and get back before lunch!! i and poo poo would also ride to sakleshpura, sometime late in the night, just for kicks. it would be shivering cold and pitch dark. the rides to sakleshpura had to be in the top 10 as i have very fond memories with friends on this route.
7: gaganachukki - talkad
this was one of my first rides on the CBZ. those were the days when only speed mattered. :-) i was not very experienced and it was a very good learning ride. still remember that i had a puncture near talkad. the headlight also stopped working on the way back. this is probably the only trip with my oxford friends.
6: mangalore
this is a notorious trip!! i and kulla wanted to play around in a beach, since the nearest one was is mangalore we decided to go there!!! :-) i rode at breakneck speeds on shiradi ghat from hassan to mangalore. we played around in the beach and rested in a cousin's place and got back to hassan the same evening. the trip later became notorious coz my cousin told my dad that i had ridden my bike there whereas i had told them that i used a KSRTC bus!!! :-( hee hee.... all in all it was a very high-speed ride in the ghats.
5: muthodi - kudremukh - horanadu
we wanted to do something over the republic day 07 weekend. we decided to hit some forest on our bikes. off we went to muthodi forest. once there we decided to go to kudremukh. the green scenery here is absolutely spectacular. the long winding roads were a treat to the eyes as well as to the bike. we then went to horanadu before heading back home in b'lore.
4: karwar and jog
unofficial trips (unknown @ home) always give that extra satisfaction. this trip was not at all planned and we just packed a bag and left. we got to see the majestic jog during one of the best monsoons in ages. riding on wet roads in high speed corners is one the highlights of the trip. its probably the best unplanned trip that i have ever been on.
3: twin trips to mullayangiri
hassan to mullayangiri in the rainy season is special. twice in two days with different people is AWESOME!! the roads were slippery and visibility was poor due to fog (at noon!!). the landscape was wet and absolutely beautiful. there is no prettier sight than seeing cloud covered mountains from the highest peak in karnataka.
2: kodachadri - agumbe
this trip was planned and executed within a week of me landing in bangalore from dallas. it took a lot of courage to finish this trip sucessfully after lee and darpan crashed up. the off-road routes were too good. the ride to kodachadri in darkness was pure madness. we got a first-hand view of nature's splendour on this ride.
1: himalayan odyssey 2007
not much to say about this. the ride, the weather, winds, cold, rain, unforgiving terrain, bad gearbox springs, screwed up transport of bikes, lack of oxygen and etc etc.... made this one of my most memorable trips ever. some pics are @ http://picasaweb.google.com/rangan.iyengar/HimalayanOdyssey2007
this is entirely my perspective.
here we go:
10: yelagiri
the ride to this small lesser know hill station in tamil nadu was very pleasing.
9: yercaud
the yecaud ride is memorable because this was my first trip on my bullet. it was very close to the himalayan odyssey 07 and i just wanted to get used to the bullet.
8: all the rides to sakleshpura
sakleshpura was a short distance from hassan. but the route was a dream. it had straight stretches where we could test the top-speeds of our bikes, also it had high speed corners where we could test our riding skills by bending the bike as far as possible. the rides would with the boys in class, some 5-6 bikes. we would mostly go to manjarabad fort and get back. the trips would be planned during a lecture and we would just bunk the next class and get back before lunch!! i and poo poo would also ride to sakleshpura, sometime late in the night, just for kicks. it would be shivering cold and pitch dark. the rides to sakleshpura had to be in the top 10 as i have very fond memories with friends on this route.
7: gaganachukki - talkad
this was one of my first rides on the CBZ. those were the days when only speed mattered. :-) i was not very experienced and it was a very good learning ride. still remember that i had a puncture near talkad. the headlight also stopped working on the way back. this is probably the only trip with my oxford friends.
6: mangalore
this is a notorious trip!! i and kulla wanted to play around in a beach, since the nearest one was is mangalore we decided to go there!!! :-) i rode at breakneck speeds on shiradi ghat from hassan to mangalore. we played around in the beach and rested in a cousin's place and got back to hassan the same evening. the trip later became notorious coz my cousin told my dad that i had ridden my bike there whereas i had told them that i used a KSRTC bus!!! :-( hee hee.... all in all it was a very high-speed ride in the ghats.
5: muthodi - kudremukh - horanadu
we wanted to do something over the republic day 07 weekend. we decided to hit some forest on our bikes. off we went to muthodi forest. once there we decided to go to kudremukh. the green scenery here is absolutely spectacular. the long winding roads were a treat to the eyes as well as to the bike. we then went to horanadu before heading back home in b'lore.
4: karwar and jog
unofficial trips (unknown @ home) always give that extra satisfaction. this trip was not at all planned and we just packed a bag and left. we got to see the majestic jog during one of the best monsoons in ages. riding on wet roads in high speed corners is one the highlights of the trip. its probably the best unplanned trip that i have ever been on.
3: twin trips to mullayangiri
hassan to mullayangiri in the rainy season is special. twice in two days with different people is AWESOME!! the roads were slippery and visibility was poor due to fog (at noon!!). the landscape was wet and absolutely beautiful. there is no prettier sight than seeing cloud covered mountains from the highest peak in karnataka.
2: kodachadri - agumbe
this trip was planned and executed within a week of me landing in bangalore from dallas. it took a lot of courage to finish this trip sucessfully after lee and darpan crashed up. the off-road routes were too good. the ride to kodachadri in darkness was pure madness. we got a first-hand view of nature's splendour on this ride.
1: himalayan odyssey 2007
not much to say about this. the ride, the weather, winds, cold, rain, unforgiving terrain, bad gearbox springs, screwed up transport of bikes, lack of oxygen and etc etc.... made this one of my most memorable trips ever. some pics are @ http://picasaweb.google.com/rangan.iyengar/HimalayanOdyssey2007
Monday, May 5, 2008
Kodachadri - Agumbe bike trip
When i was in Dallas, i relly missed the bike trips that we enjoyed the most. So, when it was confirmed that i would land in bangalore sometime in april, we decided to go on a bike trip to... someplace. :-)
Since my bike was in a bad shape after my himalayan odyssey 2007 i got it fairly fixed the very next day i landed in bangalore. Initially myself and pomchi were supposed to go solo, but darpan and leelu also decided to join us. Our plan was to leave b'lore on may 1st and reach murudeshwar, kodachadri on the 2nd, agumbe on the 3rd and back to b'lore on the 4th of may 2008.
Our plan was to leave b'lore early within 6 AM, but ultimately managed to leave nelamangala only by 8.30 AM, all thanks to the lazy ass leelu who woke up when i reached his house to pick him up!!!! when at his door he signalled that is gonna take a bath!! he is the root cause of ALL delays in ALL our trips. to kill time i woke up navya and bakra at 6 on a holiday. ;-) the ride to nelamangala was a pain due to heavy traffic and road-widening projects on the route. we joined pomchi and darpan who were waiting there for us. the ride to tumkur was smooth and boring on the 4 lane NH. not long ago this streach was notorious for traffic jams and accidents, a good job by NHAI has solved the problem. leelu switched bikes and rode with darpan after a while. we had a good breakfast at tiptur and rode towards kadur. i stopped for some yelaneeru just outside beeroor at a railway crossing. pomchi joined me and some 10 mins later he got a call from leelu saying "maga aaykondvi.. skid aaythu.." we rushed to the spot to see darpan very tense and somewhat shaken. lee was in a lot of pain. the bike seemed intact, but the guys seemed like bhikaris with their clothes completely torn.
the good thing about the bad roads in India is that they pass through lots of villages and the people there are very helpful when there is an accident. with some help i rushed the guys to a nearby hospital in an auto. the hospital seemed good enough for such a small town. darpan was now very tensed and still in shock. "doctor, internal bleeding check maadi... doctor, x-ray tegdu internal bleeding aagidiya antha check madi..." was what he ordered the doc, pointing to his huge tummy. leelu was as usual laidback and cool, though in a lot of pain. to assure darpan we got an x-ray of his tummy!! which turned out to be a blank sheet. :) all four of us then had some chai and laughed out the whole incident.
we took a few pics of the patients as well. life moves ooon and we had a good laugh at the situation. we then transferred the guys to a lodge in kadur. most of them were full coz of the upcoming elections. after lunch at masala dhaba we decided to watch "tashan" in one of the local tents, just to kill time. the movie was sad and we walked out after ogling at kareena in a couple of songs.
we sent the guys back to b'lore with help from a couple of darpan's friends. i and pomchi decided to continue the trip and not go back. it took a lot of courage from us to go ahead with the trip. its never easy to see your friends crash up and limp around and still hop on to the bike to finish the trip. nan maklu aaykond mele even we lost some confidence. we then made some changes to our plan and skipped murudeshwar and decided to go to kodachadri directly from kadur. we rode to shimoga and met badani at the bhadra dam in lakavalli.
"neev bike mele bari scam madode aaythu kandrilla" is what he said in his own unique style about leelu and darpan. i sorely missed leelu in shimoga as we had decided to go to our usual restaurant and have dosa there. amazingly no in shimoga knew the route to kodachadri. "sagara hogi ne hogbeku saar" said one. we had decided on shimoga-ayanuru-hosanagara-nagar-kodachadri the previous night using our map! we reached ripponpet after ayanuru and some 3 kms further pomchi had a puncture on his front wheel. i went into the town to get someone to fix it, but not one was available or willing to come. "savkarru helde naa yelligu baralla saar" said one. "wheel togobanri haakodana" said another. we then removed the wheel and got it fixed.
we rode on towards nagar and then sampekatte. we then spent the next 2 hours or more covering 9 kms towards kodachadri. the road is non-existant and there are huge rocks on the road. only 4WD jeeps use the road (so-called) to ferry passengers to kodachadri. the road seemed in the same state some 5 yrs ago. after the first 2 kms it was pretty dark and we had to rely on our headlights. they were not of great help coz of the mist. the route was very steep and we had to cover the entire distance in first gear. the loose sand and the gravel made sure that the tyres did not have adequate grip and we would skid quite a lot. the technique here is to not slow down too much as the bike would go then stop or start going back downhill. there has to be some momentum maintained to ride over the rocks and also to ensure that the bike dint come to a halt, which would make it extremely difficult to balance as the surface is uneven and very steep. we had no other option but, reach the top as it was too very dangerous to ride back downhill with limited visibility. i was not getting much power from my bike as the throtle seemed to be very hard. i would still stop at regular intervals to ensure that pomchi was on track. at one point i had to ride over a very steep place, but i did not have enough speed and ultimately the bike came to a halt. the best thing to do at this time is to get off the bike swiftly and make sure that the bike is smoothly lowered on to the ground. ayesha at HO-07 would do this perfectly. it seemed ages since we started and the destination was no-where in sight. the forest, darkness, mist and bad road made the situation pretty scary. every once-in-awhile we would see a jeep and ask "inna yesht doora ide saar??". "inna yeradoovare km ide hogi" was the reply. the jeeps and the jeep drivers were our only hope for survival if something went wrong. :-) after a long ride we could see some lights and we had finally made it to kodachadri in 1 peice. we had a sense of achievement and satisfacion once we reached our destination. we managed to get a matress, bed and pillows in a corner of the dormitory available.
Since my bike was in a bad shape after my himalayan odyssey 2007 i got it fairly fixed the very next day i landed in bangalore. Initially myself and pomchi were supposed to go solo, but darpan and leelu also decided to join us. Our plan was to leave b'lore on may 1st and reach murudeshwar, kodachadri on the 2nd, agumbe on the 3rd and back to b'lore on the 4th of may 2008.
Our plan was to leave b'lore early within 6 AM, but ultimately managed to leave nelamangala only by 8.30 AM, all thanks to the lazy ass leelu who woke up when i reached his house to pick him up!!!! when at his door he signalled that is gonna take a bath!! he is the root cause of ALL delays in ALL our trips. to kill time i woke up navya and bakra at 6 on a holiday. ;-) the ride to nelamangala was a pain due to heavy traffic and road-widening projects on the route. we joined pomchi and darpan who were waiting there for us. the ride to tumkur was smooth and boring on the 4 lane NH. not long ago this streach was notorious for traffic jams and accidents, a good job by NHAI has solved the problem. leelu switched bikes and rode with darpan after a while. we had a good breakfast at tiptur and rode towards kadur. i stopped for some yelaneeru just outside beeroor at a railway crossing. pomchi joined me and some 10 mins later he got a call from leelu saying "maga aaykondvi.. skid aaythu.." we rushed to the spot to see darpan very tense and somewhat shaken. lee was in a lot of pain. the bike seemed intact, but the guys seemed like bhikaris with their clothes completely torn.
the good thing about the bad roads in India is that they pass through lots of villages and the people there are very helpful when there is an accident. with some help i rushed the guys to a nearby hospital in an auto. the hospital seemed good enough for such a small town. darpan was now very tensed and still in shock. "doctor, internal bleeding check maadi... doctor, x-ray tegdu internal bleeding aagidiya antha check madi..." was what he ordered the doc, pointing to his huge tummy. leelu was as usual laidback and cool, though in a lot of pain. to assure darpan we got an x-ray of his tummy!! which turned out to be a blank sheet. :) all four of us then had some chai and laughed out the whole incident.
we took a few pics of the patients as well. life moves ooon and we had a good laugh at the situation. we then transferred the guys to a lodge in kadur. most of them were full coz of the upcoming elections. after lunch at masala dhaba we decided to watch "tashan" in one of the local tents, just to kill time. the movie was sad and we walked out after ogling at kareena in a couple of songs.we sent the guys back to b'lore with help from a couple of darpan's friends. i and pomchi decided to continue the trip and not go back. it took a lot of courage from us to go ahead with the trip. its never easy to see your friends crash up and limp around and still hop on to the bike to finish the trip. nan maklu aaykond mele even we lost some confidence. we then made some changes to our plan and skipped murudeshwar and decided to go to kodachadri directly from kadur. we rode to shimoga and met badani at the bhadra dam in lakavalli.
"neev bike mele bari scam madode aaythu kandrilla" is what he said in his own unique style about leelu and darpan. i sorely missed leelu in shimoga as we had decided to go to our usual restaurant and have dosa there. amazingly no in shimoga knew the route to kodachadri. "sagara hogi ne hogbeku saar" said one. we had decided on shimoga-ayanuru-hosanagara-nagar-kodachadri the previous night using our map! we reached ripponpet after ayanuru and some 3 kms further pomchi had a puncture on his front wheel. i went into the town to get someone to fix it, but not one was available or willing to come. "savkarru helde naa yelligu baralla saar" said one. "wheel togobanri haakodana" said another. we then removed the wheel and got it fixed.
we rode on towards nagar and then sampekatte. we then spent the next 2 hours or more covering 9 kms towards kodachadri. the road is non-existant and there are huge rocks on the road. only 4WD jeeps use the road (so-called) to ferry passengers to kodachadri. the road seemed in the same state some 5 yrs ago. after the first 2 kms it was pretty dark and we had to rely on our headlights. they were not of great help coz of the mist. the route was very steep and we had to cover the entire distance in first gear. the loose sand and the gravel made sure that the tyres did not have adequate grip and we would skid quite a lot. the technique here is to not slow down too much as the bike would go then stop or start going back downhill. there has to be some momentum maintained to ride over the rocks and also to ensure that the bike dint come to a halt, which would make it extremely difficult to balance as the surface is uneven and very steep. we had no other option but, reach the top as it was too very dangerous to ride back downhill with limited visibility. i was not getting much power from my bike as the throtle seemed to be very hard. i would still stop at regular intervals to ensure that pomchi was on track. at one point i had to ride over a very steep place, but i did not have enough speed and ultimately the bike came to a halt. the best thing to do at this time is to get off the bike swiftly and make sure that the bike is smoothly lowered on to the ground. ayesha at HO-07 would do this perfectly. it seemed ages since we started and the destination was no-where in sight. the forest, darkness, mist and bad road made the situation pretty scary. every once-in-awhile we would see a jeep and ask "inna yesht doora ide saar??". "inna yeradoovare km ide hogi" was the reply. the jeeps and the jeep drivers were our only hope for survival if something went wrong. :-) after a long ride we could see some lights and we had finally made it to kodachadri in 1 peice. we had a sense of achievement and satisfacion once we reached our destination. we managed to get a matress, bed and pillows in a corner of the dormitory available. the next morning pomchi was famous even before he woke up!! (we did not get bedsheets the previous night and we had to sleep in the cold). all the other trekkers woke up early and were taking pictures of pomchi as he was sleeping on the matress and using the bed as a bedsheet!! a funny sight indeed. the early morning view was very beautiful. the clouds and the greenery was very pleasant and relaxing. all the difficulties of the previous day seemed worth it after the breathtaking view. after a small trek to sarvangna peetha we had a light breakfast and decided to leave to agumbe. my bullet was already short on petrol the previous night, so we filled it up with a liter of petrol from pomchi's bike. "maga yerad sari anthu pakka beelthini" is what pomchi said of our ride back down. i said "maga confident agi iro.. correct agi vodsu yenu aagalla". finally we said bye to kodachadri and started headig back. every turn and every slope was a challenge. going downhill is never easy, it requires a lot of skill. i told pomchi things like "magi neutral alli vodis beda, first alli hodi" and etc etc...
every now and then we would wonder as to how we went uphill on this streach in the night with a lot of fog!!!!! just the thought made us proud. we made a few stops and took a few pictues and enjoyed the nature. the ride back downhill took more time than goin uphill. to give you an idea of our speeds, a group of trekkers were keeping pace with us!!! and beating us at times!! :-) pomchi fell off his bike twice at the same place!!! the second one was too funny.. he fell in front of his bike. hee hee. this was the same place where i fell off my bike the previous night!! we finally managed to complete the off-road ride safely and reached sampekatte safely. we then headed towards nagar and filled in some petrol for the bullet there. we also saw a small fort which was pretty decent. we rode to teerthahalli where we stopped by for petrol and lunch. the small town was crowded with election observers and most of the restaurants were packed. we expected the ride to agumbe from there to be tough with lots of ghats, but it turned out to be a simple streach of road.
every now and then we would wonder as to how we went uphill on this streach in the night with a lot of fog!!!!! just the thought made us proud. we made a few stops and took a few pictues and enjoyed the nature. the ride back downhill took more time than goin uphill. to give you an idea of our speeds, a group of trekkers were keeping pace with us!!! and beating us at times!! :-) pomchi fell off his bike twice at the same place!!! the second one was too funny.. he fell in front of his bike. hee hee. this was the same place where i fell off my bike the previous night!! we finally managed to complete the off-road ride safely and reached sampekatte safely. we then headed towards nagar and filled in some petrol for the bullet there. we also saw a small fort which was pretty decent. we rode to teerthahalli where we stopped by for petrol and lunch. the small town was crowded with election observers and most of the restaurants were packed. we expected the ride to agumbe from there to be tough with lots of ghats, but it turned out to be a simple streach of road.
we booked a lodge in agumbe and the owner provided us with two guides to show us around. the guides were cricket playing 10th std kids. they seemed to be innocent kids who were excited to sit on our bikes. they took us to barkhana first. we did another off-road ride in the dense forest to reach the place. half-way thru we had to stop our bikes and walk as a tree was blocking our path. we trekked to barkhana viewpoint from there. the view there was absolutely breath-taking!!! it was one of the best views i had ever seen. it was green dense forests all around. "akasmika shooting aagidd ille anna" said our enthusiastic guide. "rajkumar avru ide maradinda nethadiddu!!" said another. 
we took pictures and were in awe of the place. we then did another small off-road ride to jogi-gundi falls. then we rode to sunset point which is famous in agumbe. the sunset was great but the big crowd did not allow us to enjoy it peacefully. i got my bike fixed at a local mechanic who told us not to miss kundadri betta. "neev adanna nodidre vapasse hogalla saar" he said. we decided to visit the place and then leave to b'lore the next day.
we took pictures and were in awe of the place. we then did another small off-road ride to jogi-gundi falls. then we rode to sunset point which is famous in agumbe. the sunset was great but the big crowd did not allow us to enjoy it peacefully. i got my bike fixed at a local mechanic who told us not to miss kundadri betta. "neev adanna nodidre vapasse hogalla saar" he said. we decided to visit the place and then leave to b'lore the next day. 
we woke up early and left to kundadri betta. the mist on the road had not cleared yet and visibility was not that great. the ride to the betta was steep but the road was a good single lane road. the view atop was a disappointment as the cloud cover did not let us enjoy the sunrise or the scenic beauty. we waited for half an hour and then decided to leave to sringeri. we had breakfast in sringeri and visited sirimane falls. we again had to do a small off-road ride to reach the falls. the falls was good but, had less amount of water. it was one of the most well-maintained places that i have seen in India. the forest dept. has done a great job out here. though we could enter the falls for a bath we left as we had to ride back all the way to b'lore. the route from sringeri to balehonnur was a smooth ride with lots of fast corners which gave us a good opportunity to bend our bikes and enjoy the ride! we had coffee in our favorite coffee shop in balehonnur. while there we were recollecting our ride a year ago in these parts with badani, leelu and murthy. that ride was on my CBZ and this on my bullet. we then reached chickmagalur and then hassan where we went to out usual hangout "satish angadi" and had a slice. we both recollected out good old days in hassan three years ago. time flies!!! the ride from hassan to b'lore was boring and also we were extremely tired after riding so much over the past three days. the off-road rides did take a lot out of us. in bellur cross i said to pomchi "sisya, ee streach na next time inda out-source maadana..." hee hee. from there we safely reached our homes by 7.30 PM.
overall it was a GREAT trip. except the first day crash, this trip was very satisfying and challenging. the highlight of the trip was off-roading to kodachadri at night.
some pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/rangan.iyengar/KodachadriAndAgumbeduration: 4 days
route: b'lore-tumkur-tiptur-kadur-beeroor-kadur-bhadravati-shimoga-ripponpet-ripponpet-ripponpet-ripponpet- nagar-sampekatte-kodachadri-nagar-teerthalli-agumbe-kundadri-sringeri-balehonnur-chickmagalur-hassan-b'lore
distance: roughly 1100 kms
petrol: roughly 30 liters
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