We were altogether 20 people, which included 16 riders and 4 pillions. After a photo session with the group we made our way out of Banglore. We were still waiting for some last minute additions who caught up with us in Nelamangala.

   We planned to go on NH48 route via Hassan, Sakhleshpur Upinagudi, Managlore and then reach our destination Kundapur.

   Off we went on the highway cruising at 80kph and we all stopped for breakfast except Joy and Preeti who managed to ride very far very fast… Vipin went to catch up with them and have breakfast with them.

It seemed that Joy and Priti also had breakfast along with Vipin and we were all back on the road and we were together. So on we went 10 bullets, 6 RDs, 1 CBZ and 1 Pulsar.

We were following bikes as usual and it so happened that we missed the turn we had to take and entered Hassan with the RDs who were anyway planning to stop by Hassan. Tara invited us to her house in Hassan and we had a nice chill out time. The others decided to go without entering Hassan taking the bypass. We would be regrouping at Sakleshpur.

   After lunch we were riding the Shiradi ghats and well I was as usual appreciating the scenic beauty of the twists and turns of the roads. The RDs zoomed passed by us and very swiftly and expertly initiated the turns. As we reached the end of the Shiradi ghats, Rocky stopped to refuel. The ride through the ghats were beautiful and it reminded me very much of Shillong. Felt so much like home. The roads were great and one could smoothly cruise by without feeling any bumps. The roads were wide and as we were riding we were cocooned from both sides with mountains and forests.

Rocky then crossed the road and climbed up the hilly area and viola !!! he could reach some of the guys. They were on they way, and well I breathed a sigh of relief..

Finally Joy and Preeti, Arun, Karthik reached here. We let Rajshekhar go so that he could catch up with the pack !!!

   Here is Preeti by the bike when Joy and Rocks had left to get the tyre fixed and was I glad that I had company with friends and it was not scary.

   Karthik meanwhile tried to inform others that we would be on our way and we got to know that they were waiting for us in Mangalore.

^Go to top^

The small group was triumphant when the tyre was fixed and we knew we had to hurry but not before Preeti made Rocky do an MRF stunt !!!

Oh yes we were glad to be back on the road. We reached Mangalore and met up with the group

Joy again got busy with adjusting Praveen’s tappet. As usual he made Praveen very happy and we started for Coondapur. It was getting dark and Praveen made sure that we stayed with the pack since it would be difficult to find our way to the beach house. I had a cramp in my back was longing for the much awaited stop. As we continued with our ride, we had a CBZ coming out of nowhere and trying to break in between us. After doing a couple of stunts it went past. Keerthi took pleasure in racing it and giving them run for their money or should I say "bike"?

We stopped for a short break to make sure that everybody was in line and then continued and at last we reached the much awaited place. As we rode through the small twisty meandering roads we were welcomed with cool sea breeze and nothing was more pleasurable than hearing the sound of the sea.

When we saw the house, all of us flipped…. I could hear " Praveen my man you are great …. Wow …. Amazing….. Unbelievable…." And I went on to myself .. "This is paradise". The picture to your left is the view of the house during the day. We reached in the evening and we were generally impressed by the interiors more than the exterior. Here is the porch outside the doorway where we could perch ourselves and relax. We also got introduced to the friendly who thought it was her duty to know everyone.

The house was welcoming us with open arms and we were so glad that we made that trip. I forgot the cramp in my back and quickly called Preeti up… No sooner was I settled, I took out my camera and clicked a lot of shots of the house. As you can see in the pics above the top right pic is the entrance to the house. Then we come across a spacious living room cum dining room cum kitchen which is all set up in one place with neatly placed old columns of wood. There is a winding staircase which leads us to the floor above which contains three bedrooms and 4 to 5 beds in the open area. Keerthi, Karthik and Vibhu captured the room or lets say balcony plus room with open air view on the top while we took the rooms on the corner with a very romantic view from the beds.

Joy was as usual clicking away to glory. I was famished and the simple dinner of dal, rice, cabbage bhaji, home made curd and papad was heavenly.

Meanwhile Keerthi marked his bed and territory by keeping his undies on the bed he chose and announced to all that woe betide anyone who would take his bed and place.. they would have to cross his undies… !!! And if that was not enought he proceeded to scare off everyone from his corner by doing an act

   Suddenly we could see the moon and it was a sight for sore eyes. The sea looked beautiful in the moonlight and we were enjoying the ambience.

Then we saw Kartz with his menagerie of cameras, laptop, et al and well Joy freaked out. They spent a long hour discussing the pros and cons of lenses and the rest were just chilling out.

   A few drinks later and a few PJs later we went up to bed since we had to get up early in the morning to enjoy the day by the seaside. Some of the guys decided to spend the night in the beach.

End of Day1

Kundapur Main Page

Day 2: 19th Apr 2003

Day 3: 20th Apr 2003