Relishing the Challenge- Braving the storm

During a recent movie meet with friends, we were talking about going on a road trip to Goa. Then came the discussion of when is a good time to hit Goa, post rains, before new years, etc etc. And before we knew it, each of us was sharing an interesting incident from our travels to various corners of the country. The most exciting was from Karan. An IT boy, he has been in Chennai for a while now and loves driving around on his bike, his pride & joy.  I share his experience here. 

I was in Kerala, at home for a few days. And true to Kerala, it kept drizzling constantly. It was Friday evening and I was bored of sitting at home.  I wanted to just up and go somewhere but none would come alone using the rains as an excuse. D'uh!! On saturday morning, I woke up, had chaiya [tea in malayalam], put on my jacket and just took off on my bike. As I hit the road, the drizzles began and pretty soon it was pouring cats and dogs. I had no clues where I was headed, but I dint want to stop, I dint want to come back to an empty house. There were quite a few mountains and green fields around, luckily I knew my way around this part of the country. I kept riding and the rains got heavier. 

Along with the downpour, mist started settling in to a near zero visibility. I paused for a moment, wondered if maybe I should not be so foolhardy and just return home. But then, some craziness kicked in and I just kept riding it out.  The 1st break I took was an hour later. I was drenched to the bone, but there was such a big grin on my face. Feeling the wind and rain on my face, I experience excitement like never before. I stopped at a road side tea shop for a cup of tea and something hot to eat. There were a couple of elderly men sitting there sipping chaiya, who looked at me like I had lost my mind. One man asked me if I was from out of town and another commented "youngsters these days, no care for life, look at him". I was tempted to ask them what was the most crazy thing they had ever done. But then decided against it. Paid for what I had and got back on the road, this time heading back home. The two hours was exhilarating, giving me a sense of "freedom". 

No sooner had I parked the bike, mom came scolding me for going out in the rain. My mind was already cooking up plans for a longer drive, maybe to Kochi or Nagercoil the next weekend. Talk about Relishing the Challenge and living life to the full.... 

Ambur - Leather and biryani!!

It was my great uncle [gramma's bro] 60th bday- shashtiabdapoorthi on 21st Sep, and we all decided to drive down, just 3hours from Chennai, and the roads are beautiful!! Where did i go? Ambur~~ Almost halfway betwen Chennai and Bangalore, it is about 190kms away..

Though it is not a hot shot town or has some major tourist spots, the drive down long empty roads, lush greenery on either side, mountains welcoming the clouds as they floated above.

Now that is how awesome the NH46 is!!!  Plus i had my google maps on in my phone and was enjoying the keeping track of where we are, how much further chat with my uncle and gramma!! :) A whole new experience, let me tell you..

Thanks to the recent bouts of rains, the roads within the town were quite bad, and the one that led to my uncle's house, well, it was missing! yep, the last time we came here, there was a rickety one, this time we had to get off 100yards away, and walk across stone and rubble... They had laid a sewer system bang across.. and were apparently gonna lay a road over it.. Wonder when that will happen!!

 

The Town of Ambur, part of Vellore district, is filled with people working in the Leather industry... Most of whom are Muslims! infact, that is how my uncle moved there, he joined a famous leather company...Hence, it the name "Leather City". Some of the big names that have manufacturing units here are Farida Shoes, Bonaventure, NMZ, and so on...

The one thing we were all looking fwd to was digging into a Kala jamun.. It is almost like a gulab jamun, except not floating in sugar syrup.. It is black in color as the name suggests and has a bit of khoya or dry fruit hidden inside.. Quite big in size too, it is delicious...

 The function went off well.. Since it was just close family, we had a ball.. Pulling each others legs, generally kidding around!! Oh, w3e also got to stay at a new hotel- Hotel Anand, on the main road, about 5mins from my uncle's place.. Quite a large place, and rooms were very nice.. I think we were among the 1st few customers..:) Sheets were brand new, they even gave us mini soaps and toothpastes... The beds were still in their plastic cover..

Corridors and floors filled with rooms.. Not cheap, altho that took us by surprise, since Ambur is a fairly small town.. The room rent per day was Rs1100, and for an extra bed we had to shell out Rs200..They dont have a restaurant, but the guy gets coffee from nearby store..!! Not too good, but what the heck!!

Anyways, we were there just for a day, next time i want to look around town, explore some of the history hidden in the walls of the town...

For now, adios!!