Horemheb's Musings

First Published on July 9, 2012

The road stretched as a narrow line far away into horizon, lush green agrarian country stretched out on either sides, the silence of countryside accentuated by the tinkling bells and sombre mooing of cattle and to top it all sparse traffic letting one truly relax on the handlebar! I never knew Karnataka could be so beautiful, I have started to fall in love with it!

The ride started at around 7AM from my home near Dairy Circle. Following the Bannerghatta road to Outer Ring Road and finally the exit to Mysore road was not a hassle in the sparse early morning Saturday traffic. Of course on the Mysore road itself the numerous pot holes and the vastrly increased traffic kept one on the watch constantly. For a person accustomed as me to be the solitary biker on long rides in the roads of Kerala it was a pleasant surprise to see many touring groups on bikes. While stopping for coffee at a motel outside of Ramanagara I was passed by a Bullet group who also had a vintage Royal Enfield and an awesome Yezdi! I gave the customary rider salute to them, but perhaps it was because I was riding a Hunk received none in return. No matter, all in good time. Except for some moderate traffic block at Mandya, the ride was pretty much easy and uneventful. After Srirangapatnam I turned right at the Colombia Asia Hospital juntion to take the Ring Road to reach my aunt’s house.

After some very pleasant hours of conversations topped off with a superlative lunch and awesome ice cream and Gulab jamuns for dessert I left Mysore at 1PM. Once again I retraced my path through Ring Road on my way to T Narsipura. Keeping true to my distaste of returning via the same route I had come earlier I had decided to follow the NH209 through Kollegal, Malavalli and Kanakapura to return to Bangalore. The lack of any fuel stations along Ring Road prompted me to take a slight detour along the Bangalore Mysore State Highway 17 ( the one through Mandya) for a few hundred meters to tank up. It had drizzled during my rest halt at Mysore so the weather was very pleasant now and the roads all washed of dirt. Following the Ring Road towards the Lalithmahal Palace I turned left and left once more to finally rejoin the NH209.

The road was pristinely tarmacced and lined with shady trees all around that for some moments I forgot that I was in Karnataka and felt I was in Kerala! It was blissful riding conditions!! The narrow NH209 had very sparse traffic when compared to the Bangalore Mysore SH17. As the shady trees left way for the stretching farmlands the ride became even more relaxed. Occasionaly bouts of confusion did arrive as some of the crossings did not have signboards. After one such crossing a few kilometers before Kollegal

roads virtually disappeared for stretches of 1-2 kms at a time. Sure it was decently levelled and thankfully the path was dry so at an even clip I managed to suffer through the bumps of these roads. Several light showers ensured that I got lightly drenched but none so severe as to restrict the riding conditions.

After Kollegal my exhaustion started to raise its head and I started taking more and more rest breaks. One such break near the Shivanasagar dam was spectacular. Standing by the side of the hill and watching the reservoir with its gentle waters was quite soothing. The signboarrds were pretty much in abundance after Kollegal and I managed to track my route easily through Malavalli and Kanakapura. After Kanakapura light started fading and all I wanted was to reach home in Bangalore. I paid a toll of 9 RS to take the NICE ring road to reach Bannerghatta Road and this stretch was full of me swearing at my throat’s limit. Despite several signboards instructing slower moving traffic to keep to the left, the ubiquitous truckers true to their nature hogged the speed lanes. Several times I revved up to 90 on the speed track only for the progress to be cut at the last stage by a jackass trucker trying over take another trucker and thus cutting off my path. Seriously a race of tortoises is faster in comparison. Why in the name of the the Higgs Boson Particle do these truckers even try to overtake one another?

If I had thought that the hellish stretch was over now and I could relax now for the last few kilometers back to home, Bannerghatta Road had another bitter lemon in store for me. Caught up in extremely jammed up traffic from Gottikere all the way till Gopalan Mall I did not even have the energy to swear at Bangalore as I progressed at first and second gears. Finally as I reached home I was as wracked mentally as I was physically. Next time I must figure out a way to beat the obscene Bangalore traffic while heading in as well as while heading out.

As I laid down to bed that night I went through the 350 kms I had rode through the day. I decided that in the year ahead of me I will try to explore even more of Bangalore. Tantalizing prospects of Hampi, Coorg and Karwar are ahead of me. Though I detest Bangalore for its traffic, I have for sure fallen in love with Karnataka.