Episode 1: Part II - An Eventful Ride To Mekedatu & Back

All around us, our bike engines grumbled and growled, and so did our body. With the afternoon rolling around, we were all famished. Our route led us back to the junction from where we took a left to reach here. The day was beautiful and the breeze was comfortable. I noticed

how the roads changed shape, as Mekedatu was on a down-slope. We began to find numerous bends and short sweeping turns. I turned off my bike's engine and swooped past a number of switchbacks. Meanwhile, Abhi got stoned with two drags of love & peace, and Prado soon chanced upon the situation and took the bike under his reign, ably guided by Arindam da. We lingered on effortlessly on the cascading road and reached Sangam. As the name suggests, there is a confluence of two rivers at this very place. One needs to cross that to head towards Mekedatu. We made a quick dash at the cafeteria and ravenously started devouring. Bee and Arka decided
to head back and we bid them adieu with a group photo. Ikita, Punit, Kuntol & Shreya decided to laze on the sand beside the river and stay chill. Rest of us marched along to our next destination. From here, you have to board a bus, run by the local authority, to reach the place. Everyone voted for the bus top as the hot seat. Debasmita quickly wore the Edmund Hillary boots and started ascending the great height. Like a true climber, she didn't make a dash for the summit. She took her time, rested a bit, thought about the challenge of descending, and then made the final push towards the summit. On the top, there was nothing to hold onto. But that didn't pose as a challenge, yet. As the wind started buffering and the bus started vibrating, we saw what lay ahead of us.
Narrow passages, sharp loops, low hanging trees and unstable gravels. Yes this was the 'road'. It was basically a narrow, dirt, steep path with no guardrails to prevent you from rolling down into the gorge. And

remember, we were on top of the bus. But the taste of adventure brings out the innocence in you. We threw caution to the wind and started enjoying the wilderness and picturesque view of the gorge. The bus came to a halt after a 4 km down-slope which provided pure adrenaline rush by dodging past rocks, trees and ravines. We all jumped off and headed down towards the valley. The ruggedness of the rocks overseeing the river won our admiration. We hopped from one rock to another and soon reached a table-top from where you can see the entire valley. Meanwhile Abhi had recovered and decided to take a nap on the edge of a boulder looking down at the river flowing 200 ft below. Few of us continued to explore and began descending till the last boulder which met the river. This place was majestic. Picture this - happily seating on a submerged boulder where the water splits by crashing on it. This had to be the most memorable Sunday afternoon. After resting for a while, we headed back to Sangam, on the bus top again, regrouped with our fellow members and started our ride back to Bangalore.
We must have covered some 5 kms when a car started following Vishaka, the solo bike champ in our group.
Quick to spot it, we started riding as a convoy, I took the lead, followed by the damsel in distress, who was covered by Abhi, Sunny and Koustav. Somehow the car managed to overtake Koustav & Abhi and chase Vishaka again. The damsel zipped past me and I was cornered by the car who refused to give way. I quickly took the opportunity on the next curve and overtook the car and sped along to catch Vishaka.

A little later Kostav, Sunny and Abhi joined us with a very welcoming news. Their car had broken down. Meanwhile, Debasmita had called the cops and reported the incident and voila there they came. Kuntol & Prado who were well ahead of us, on receiving a text came back for help, but their timing was much like a typical Hindi movie cop. We took a short pitstop, and Prado took over Vishaka's bike, whose owner was sent in the car. We hit the accelerator and left Kannakpur Road during dusk, when the  sky wore a colour which resembled a tropical drink with the sun setting somewhere far in the horizon.

This is how our first trip as a gang concluded. We rode hard and rode as one. It was one hell of a ride with deluge of memories. We made new friends, explored new places and looked at the world from a new lens. But most importantly, this trip became the launchpad for all our future endeavors and it was here that we coined our group tagline, which singularly defined our feelings - Live Free. Ride Free.