Musing on Randomness!

I've been a vegetarian most of my adult life since age 10. I still crisply recall the day I gave up eating my most favourite food as a child - Chicken. Growing up, I loved accompanying my father anywhere he went. This would mean sitting on his bike's petrol tank or standing in the front of his other two wheeler and tagging along him to buy vegetables, groceries, hardware, his official visits and every other place. I even recall a day I unstoppably kept asking him to take me to his workplace and he did. One such visits was to a butcher shop to buy chicken. I stood and watched my father converse to the shopkeeper, after which the man went ahead to open a giant, overcrowded chicken shed where there was only enough space for the chickens to stand and not be able to sit on what seemed like flooring laden with manure. He caught one of these chickens by the feathers. The bird was terrified and screaming relentlessly. I was told to not watch the rest of it and distanced from the site

Pyramid valley is located on Kanakpura Road in Bangalore and houses India’s first and largest meditation pyramid. The plan to visit pyramid valley had been lingering in my mind for a very long time (a few years) due to my sheer fascination by pyramidal structures. I kept delaying the visit as I am not drawn towards meditation. I am at my most curious and restless self when I try to meditate. Hence, ‘No, thank you – not my cup of tea’ is what my mind always came up with at the initial thought of visiting this place.      On a Sunday morning, I and my cousin who was visiting me in Bangalore finally decided to visit this place on his choice. It’s distanced 43 Km from Bangalore inside a village in Ramnagar district. We decided to opt for two bikes as none of us were interested in riding pillion. We chose the NICE road route as it was closest from our house and also because I always end up choosing NICE road over any alternative routes in Bangalore. After roughly 20 km from the NI

Place: Chunchi Falls, Kanakpura, Karnataka Distance from Bangalore: 90 Km Type: Biking, Hiking, Trekking, Waterfall It was after a long time that I was riding with ‘The Bikerni’ as I was on a work trip to US for a while before this ride was planned. The destination decided was Chunchi falls which is roughly 90 kms from Bangalore. I wasn’t as enticed by the location at first but I was proven wrong, albeit delightfully.       Chunchi falls is fed by the river Arkavati and is enroute Mekedatu and Sangama. This destination isn’t very popular with the locals in Bangalore as it’s dry for most part of the year. The time of visit is the key. June and July also happen to be the best time of visit for most waterfalls near Bangalore. The route from Bangalore to these falls is lush green.  A few patches of roads that we rode past on the way had roads were fully covered with orange colored flowers and overcast by trees on both ends.     The route was confusing as there is ha

Teotihuacán was an ancient pre-Hispanic city located approximately 25-30 miles from Mexico. The city got its current name ‘Teotihuacán’ from the Aztec empire and translates to ‘birthplace of the Gods’. Teotihuacán is also the most visited archaeological UNESCO world heritage site in Mexico. The moment I heard about these pyramids from a few locals when I was on a work trip to Mexico City, there was no doubt about my willingness to visit them for obvious reasons. I am a history buff, specifically interested in the origination of modern day cities. The fact that I had never visited a pyramid in my life before intrigued me further. When I first heard about pyramids in Mexico, I was confused as the only concept of pyramids I had known earlier were Egyptian. It took me a bit of reading to figure out the concept of ‘Temple’ pyramids that Mexico had. As we made our way inside, we noticed vendors everywhere and each with his own aggressive marketing strategy. Our driver cum tour guide s

Where: Antaragange, Kolar, Karnataka When: 13th March, 2016 Number of riders: 14 Type: Bike riding, Caving, Hiking, Trekking Bikes: Avenger, RE Classic 500, RE classic 350, Electra, Pulsar Distance:  70*2 = 140 kms Before I start, let me tell you that this bike ride was particularly special as it was my first with 'The Bikerni'- India's first and largest all female motorcycling association. The Rider Gang. PC: Nikhila Krishnamurthy I wasn't even sure about riding 150 Kms at all as I was unwell since a week before the ride; juggling between doctors and office cubicles and completely off gym and exercise for the whole week. I had barely touched my bike that entire week. But, all thanks to the constant motivation from my husband who gave me a long 'now or never' monologue, I decided I just had to go. 'Try riding to the meeting point, meet everyone and come back if you still feel unwell', he said to me. Feeling anything less than happy and

It all started as a very random plan to celebrate new year's evening. For the sheer lack of better alternatives to kick in the new year with a blast, I and a group of friends got together and started looking up for places to ride to; and in no time, a plan to ride to Dhanushkodi was up. Here are some minor details of the plan: Route: Bangalore>>Salem>>Dindigul>>Madurai>>Rameshwaram>>Dhanushkodi Distance: 620 Km Number of riders: 3 Riders, 1 Pillion Bikes: 3 RE Thunderbird Trip Duration: 3 days (31st December, 2015 - 2nd January, 2016) The Route My riding gear was ready and the bike serviced a day before, the 30th. We wanted to call it an early night for the big ride ahead. Invariably, sleep gave me a miss, just like before any other ride. Adrenaline plays it's part well, this time too without fail. So, On a bright Thursday morning, we all took a day off work and started from Bangalore on 31st December at 7:00 AM to our destination.

When: 19th November, 2015 Destination: Pune Bike: Royal Enfield Thunderbird Total Distance:  875 Kms Route: Bangalore - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Davangere - Hubli - Belgaum - Kolhapur - Satara - Pune We knew we had made a bold decision to ride such a long distance and that it was going to be a critical test both mentally and physically. Since this was a trip we were planning for more than an year, we were finally determined to make it happen. Day 1 Bangalore - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Davangere After calling it a day at work on a Friday evening, we headed home to finally pack and leave for our destination. We rigged up the luggage, tanked up the bike and everything was set for our longest bike ride so far. The saddle bags were packed with all essential things for our 3 day trip. we tried to pack as light as possible without compromising on our and the bike's safety. We were all geared up with an armoured riding jacket, riding gloves, shoes, knee guards and helmets.