Ride to Nilambur - Day One

"God's Own Wet Country."
That eponymized my drive as I set off from my home in Tripunithura at around 0515 on October 15th. The sweltering heat of the past few days was shattered by the massive thunder storm that started the past day evening. There was no hope of waiting for the rain to ease off, and showing even the slightest reluctance would cause this drive to be postponed. One never knows when such a golden opportunity would present itself. After all it had been my dream for years to drive to Nilambur, my maternal ancestral town.

The three day Pooja holidays starting with the Friday triggered the wanderlust in me as I slyly heard the Admin Manager talking to the MD. The plan which tentatively started taking shape on that Monday had resulted in a more or less sensible route plan by Thursday. It was really lucky that so many of my colleagues are from the Northern Districts of Kerala. Paying heed to the suggestions in safety as expounded in xkmph community, I had decided that for this drive, I would be using proper gloves. By Thursday evening, I had bought the inexpensive leather gloves, filled up the tank and had got more or less ready.

Any hope for an uneventful drive was thankfully disrupted by the rain. Even waking up at 4o'clock on 15th the sound of still raging rain brought a measure of trepidation along with the excitement. The trepidation proved itself to be merited as soon as I left Tripunithura as my years old jacket got soaked through the forceful rains. The cheap anti glare glasses I had worn along with the visor helped in the matters as the visibility dropped seriously. The Airport-Seaport Road from Tripunithura to Kalamasser via Kakkanad was a watery haze as I negotiated the steady traffic this early in the morning against the visibility issues. A steady 40kmph more or less made things easier. I did however worry about the other drivers in this route, who may have even less visibility and much less driving sense than me, going by their undimmed headlights burning their way into my retina.

The stretch of road via Kalamassery ITC to join the NH47 proved to be as despicable as ever. My curses at the PWD increased the already Himalayan tally as I strive hard to negotiate through the massive potholes trying to figure out where the road ended. Thankfully rains had eased a bit in its intensity by now. The drive onwards from Kalamassery Apollo Tyres had been plain vanilla, with me maintaining a steady 40-45 kmph while adjusting myself to the rains and early morning NH traffic. Passing Aluva however I felt myself envigored and acclimatized enough to give more tension to the throttle. Ride was steady, albeit monotonous, the stretch of road having been driven through by me many times. Additional care was taken around the danger stretches near Nedumbassery Airport, the sight of which in the early morning was as ever a feast for the eyes.

I slowed down as I neared Angamaly, the hometown of my "beloved" Alma mater looking for a coffee shop. However knowing the town as I did I felt there to be far greater possibility for a bar being open at this time, around 0615 rather than a coffee shop. There was not even one of those small tea shops that are the lifeblood for the ordinary traveler in Kerala. Thankfully the renovated Hotel Crystal Palace at the Karayamparambu Junction in the Angamaly-Chalakudi stretch had been open. The coffee though not stellar was the lifeblood I hoped it to be, warming my benumbed fingers and rejuvenating my innards.

The road from Angamaly to Trichur is a promising one. Stretches of insanely superb roads marred at times by bad roads where construction is going on. Within a year or so, this would be an awesome expressway. Even now it is proving to be excellent speed way for two wheelers if not quite so for the multiple wheelets as was the case for the massive line of trucks, buses and cars piled up in a kilometers long traffic block in this stretch of the road. Some lingering road sense must have enabled these drivers to follow the rare propriety of road sense by sticking to one long line in one lane without any of the lane jumping which makes traffic snarls execrable during more busier times. As a two wheeler, however that propriety is not applicable for me and I was able to weave my way past this massive traffic jam which was incidentally caused by a limber truck breaking down in the middle of the road. No doubt due to overload and poor condition of roads.

The shimmering orange of the rising sun to the East announced the formal start of another day. I have always enjoyed sunrise in the highways. What comparable way is there to really travel other than through biking. Unencumbered by the body of a car or the windows of a truck or bus, the massive vistas one can enjoy while driving a bike is one of the most sublime pleasures one can know. I dare any other medium of motorized travel whereby such a sight can be had by the traveler. Had it not been steadily raining, I would have humored my temptation to stop by the shoulder and take snaps of the skyline. It was so beautiful. Though the rain was still falling in my sector of the land, out East the clouds were clearing and the magnificent rising sun was inundating the land with rays casting the orange hue to clouds, a hue that was of incomparable magnificence.

Taking the High Road, I drove up to Trichur City and rounding the Swaraj Round I arrived at my aunt's house at Ayyanthol Chungam at 0730. The sight of me clad in black jacket, cargo pants, army boots, black helmet, glare proof glasses, black leather gloves and everything sopping wet must have been quite a sight for my aunt. Shedding the outer garments I had breakfast with my aunt and in all spent around 90 minutes there talking.

At 0845 I started off for the drive, with the next destination in my route being Kunnamkulam. Following the Ayyanthol road through the front of the Lulu International Convention Center I joined up the Kunnamkulam road that was becoming progressively heavier in traffic.The dryness of the past hour became a fleeting memory as the rain picked up in its intensity. The drive was however pleasurable.

It has always been my observation that driving in inclement weather is ultimately safer. In bad weather people become more careful than usual, driving more slower. In good weather the jackasses of the driving community let rip their throttles without caring for other people's safety. However even this weather was not proving to be a slowing factor for the speeding private buses plying this route.

A few kilometers from Kunnamkulam at Kechery I spotted a board indicating a shortcut to Perumpilavu, the next town after Kunnamkulam. My deviation through this track proved to be a wise choice as the roads were of decent quality, albeit narrow and traffic light. The intensified rain had really beautified the lush green surroundings and it was with great regret that I refrained from stopping by that road going through a vast farmland area, Rain truly is a lustrous jewel upon the land, bedecking the vegetation with its sparkling drops and washing away the soot and dirt of a parched earth. Despite being drenched to the bone, I had never appreciated rains more.

The Kechery - Pannithadam - Perumpilavu road joined up the highway and onwards was a road of exceptional quality where I truly felt confident to let rip my throttle. Stopping for coffee at Edappal I drove onwards to Kuttippuram and Valanchery. The roads were simply magnificent, however the heavy rains forced one to maintain a sober speed of around 50-60 kmph. A Tempo Traveller coming from the opposite direction obliged me in this stretch by anointing me with a wave of water as a sheet of water engulfed me from head to toe. I really thanked God that I had been driving with visors down, else that would have been a sure shot recipe for accident. A few stretches of bad roads and road under construction marred this travel near Kuttippuram however the overflowing waters of the Bharatapuzha proved to be a treat for the eyes sufficient enough to help one tide things over. Another coffee break at Valanchery and I was on my next stage. The Valancheri-Puthanathani-Kottakkal roads were of sufficiently decent quality and reasonable speed could be maintained. From the Changuvetti Junction at Kottakkal I entered the road to Malappuram.

Another coffee break at Malapuram (the continuous drive through rain and the reasonable fast speed maintained was causing one to be quite cold) and I ascertained the directions to Manjeri and my uncle's house there. A few kilometers short of Manjeri I took deviation at Vayapparapadi Junction to arrive at my uncle's house at 1130. As at Trichur, my drenched visage proved to be quite a spectacle albeit to a larger crowd this time. Two aunts, one matriarch, two of my cousins and three little kids were open mouthed at the "Space Man" like vision of mine.

The rest of the day was spent more or less lazing around with my cousin brother suggesting that we drive to Malappuram town in the evening for some sight seeing, This cousin who had been involved in a nasty accident  an year back still had some trauma issues with regards to traveling in bikes so I had express orders not to drive fast while the "delicate cargo" was behind me. Naturally I obliged. There is no fun to be had by distressing the pillion rider.

A few distance before Malappuram town we took the road to Kottapuram, a hill top recreational area which boasted some adequate scenery. The steep uphill drive to the top of the hill was fun and some time was spent there clicking away on my Nikon L110.

Though moderately pleasant there was nothing captivating enough to spend too much time here. The assemblage consisted mostly of families or elder people so there was no more scope to stay there. At my cousin's suggestions we drove onwards, this time to Malappuram town. Passing through a road to the left of the Civil Station road we found ourselves in a very steep incline. purely by second gear and rear foot break I drove down the road and my quintessential quirkiness prompted me to retrace the road. Paying no heed to my baffled cousin brother, I drove up the nearly 50 degree incline at progressively second and first gears and then came back down yet again. Though the cousin condescendingly prompted me to repeat the performance, for all my craziness, I am not a Naranathu Bhrandan. I am no copy cat, I follow my own whims.

Random meanderings through these roads finally brought us to a suspension bridge serving as a walkway between the two banks of the Chaliyar River. Sections of this bridge had its handrails crumbling away and with trepidations I walked across the bridge at the behest of my cousin bro. The view was pretty good and having walked across and backwards we set off onwards. By this time it had been getting steadily darker and we returned to my uncle's home.

October 15th was the day of the release of the movie "Anwar" a Prithviraj starrer, which I later heard is a copy cat remake of the movie "Traitor" starring Don Cheadle.Suggestion that we watch the late night "Second Show" was accepted by me and after dinner we set off towards the theater. Going by the easy going confidence wielded by my cousin, I felt that he must have made some arrangements to get tickets for a first day show itself. He even seemed reticent at making a prior reservation, apparently so confident was he that he entrusted a friend of his to stand in the queue and buy the tickets. As any experienced movie goer knows, you never get lackadaisical when going to watch a movie in first day itself. Standing in queue a good three hours beforehand is the normal thing to do if not buying tickets in the "black". Naturally the plan fizzled. Since we were anyway out for a movie and to avoid the shame of returning early we went to watch another movie, "Elsamma Enna Aankutty" which was an average entertainer, good for viewing one time.

As we left the theater at midnight the surroundings had turned truly magical. After a day of rains the whole area was surrounded in mist. Driving through those swirling clouds of fog was truly an out of the world experience.

A total of 222 kms was driven on this first day of my longest ever solo ride. With satisfaction of a lifelong dream being fulfilled I went to sleep planning for the next day when the dream would attain fruition as I pray at Nilambur.