Episode 1: Part I - Ride to Chunchi Falls

Prologue:  A pleasant surprise, Half of the gang getting lost, Abhi getting stoned, Mani's  plunge into the untested water, Koustav's playboy pose, Bee's first attempt to swim, Debasmita's bus top summit and descent, Sole-less Punit, Z security escort of Vishaka.

Even before the alarm could start buzzing at 5 AM, I slapped it quiet. I was up way before that. The excitement which started as a whisper had reached the stage of crescendo. Finally, we were set for our first ride as a group. Wanderlust, which till now had been residing in the womb, was about to meet the world. The venue was decided 3 days prior. The route was decided 10 hours back. Old Madras Road - Indirangar - Inner Ring Road - Koramangala - Silk Board - Kanakpura Road - Chunchi Falls - Mekedatu. A breathtaking journey of 110 kms was about to unfold.

I glanced around the room wondering what to do first. Picked up my DSLR and Ray-Ban, meanwhile, the fellow riders were up as well. We quickly fired-up the engines and embarked on our journey. Here's how the ganged looked like - Abhi & Swarup (Bike), Punit, Sunny, Shreya & Itika (Car), Vishaka (Solo Biker, and she is proud of it), Arka & Bee (Bike), Koustav & Debasmita (Bike), Arindam & Papu (Car). Prado & Kuntol (Bike) and Mani & Myself (Bike).

It took an hour to fight through city traffic and onto Kanakpura Road. Life along the Kanakpura Road was less busy. The morning sun was behind me, and soon the city’s structures were too, replaced with patches of green fields. Trucks lay crippled and crumpled. Women waited to cross the highway, massive bundles of cut grass piled on top their heads. It didn't take long for us to shift to the 5th gear and race ahead. The road presented lovely curves, which I had not anticipated. Very soon we understood, that it won't be a casual Sunday drive (incidentally it was a Sunday though). The road and traffic churned along like a serpent periodically thickening and thinning before mysteriously breaking apart and allowing us to roll free. No one had anticipated the road to be such, and it was an excellent surprise. We gathered speed quickly and left the heavy  trucks with their bent axils and worn gearshifts to lumber along behind. I wasn’t among those in the lead since I have a habit of screwing up routes. But again, I was about to get surprised.

 Once in Kannakpura Road, you're supposed to take a left bend. Few in our gang missed it and they continued riding a good 30-40 km. Meanwhile the rest of us were on the right track, which included me, took a pit-stop, chatted, waited, called-up and continued to wait. Fortunately , we ganged-up sooner, much to Shreya's relief, as she had started pondering about Abhi & Swarup, since they were the last among the lost to join the gang. The result was simple. Swarup was dethroned from the bike rightfully by the bride. We were later told that Swarup thought winds have blown away his shades and hence Abhi had to stop the bike so that Swarup can quickly look out for them. Although Abhi later spotted the shades safely nestled on Swarup's head. A complete brain-damage moment ( AKA - FMCG).

We hurried along and reached Chunchi Falls. It took us around 2 hours to reach with all the incidents of pit-stops and getting lost. But no one was complaining. That's what travel does to you. it makes you a better person. The immediate thing that attracts you to this place is that to reach the falls there is no defined route. You have to earn it. Since we belong to a diverse nation, we all identified different ways of reaching the falls. It was absolutely breathtaking. There was no falls as such but what we encountered was even better. A gorge with shallow river flowing through. The mother of all pleasant surprises. We couldn't believe it. We were in the lap of nature. We all were contemplating the fact 'if only' we had change of clothes. Our contemplation was still on, when Mani decided to take the plunge. I realized, with Wanderlust, the 'If Only' moments were behind us, safely locked inside our homes. Everyone followed Mani and most of us were taking a cool dip in a river in the middle of nowhere. Few Daredevils led the way to the water and some reluctant souls quickly followed. I guess you cannot resist nature for a long time. It has a way of speaking to your heart. Well at least it did in our case. Bee will vouch for that. She doesn't know swimming, but being a brave-heart, she jumped into the water, only to be rescued later by Punit, Koustav & Itika. Punit & Koustav were left with few friendly scratches :) 

The ascent from the falls to the level ground was hilarious. Swarup literally crawled across the stones, Punit lost his sole, Debasmita had the look of Edmund Hillary, while Prado just breezed past everyone else only to be caught panting later. After lazing around, we headed to Mekedatu. We were already so impressed with Chunchi Falls, that we thought of grabbing a quick meal at Mekedatu, since that's the only place where you will get it, and ride back. Little did we know what was waiting ahead at the curve.

(Part II To Be Continued...)