Started the day with the bike wash. And that reminded everybody of Sardar. Its a good thing that I had watched him wash his bike, religiously each day. So it didn't seem painful when I did it myself. He and his Machismo have moved to Hyderabad now.. greener pastures ! Incidentally, most people in the neighbourhood who passed by me while I cleaned MY bike - gave me the look that they pitied me - for being forced into cleaning my elder brother's bike. Duhh.

Prema cooked excellent fish for us. And Dilip experimented with his own version of Bisi bela Bhath. It was a good attempt, except it looked more like fried rice prepared..umm.. differently. Bottomline is, it tasted great with the fish. This time around too, we had scraped the cooker clean.

Picked up Shombit from Nandanam and went shopping at General Patters Road. This is the place to visit, if you're shopping for helmets. Only if you can figure out how to get there. The only directions we had were, that its behind the imposing LIC building on Mount Road. I'm horrible at shopping, so it was great when Shombit and the lady-at-the-counter nodded in sync at my choice.

I had clocked about 100km in 24hrs and now happen to know a reasonable part of Mount Road and Nungambakkam quite well. But I'm still to figure out the Gemini Flyover intersection. Its probably the most confusing criss-cross in Chennai.

I got my Enfield Machismo today...1721hrs to be precise. That's a 346cc cubic capacity and 163kgs of metal. I weigh about 57kgs after a heavy dinner. Although she looks big and imposing, someone demonstrated starting her - with one hand. Yeah. There's no electric push button start in mine. You just use a gentle leg stroke to bring her revving to life !

My first visit was to the temple. I didn't really know what was happening and except for my name, there was not much info I could provide to the Swamiji. He found it pretty weird that this biker doesn't know his own moon sign. Even if I did know it, how would I tell him the Tamil equivalent ? But the Gods were happy.

I squeezed two lemons, one under each wheel. That's for the destruction of all evil. Man.. those lemons were juicy. I would have preferred crushing some of the cashew and almonds which my Mum insists on me devouring. They always disgust.

Thank goodness we have something like the East Coast Road. The ride gets interesting only past the toll gate. It feels nice to be able to ride 20km down a road on MY OWN BIKE, drink a Cola and come back.

My roomies were ecstatic about my new posession. The best part is that the thrum of the bike is so powerful, that you don't need to honk to call the guys out !

I also caught up with Kaus and Malaniman at IIT. Took them for a round and nearly got chased by Campus Security for riding triples on the bike. Malaniman, is normally the unusually sincere types, but he now wanted to go for a longer ride, and we settled for Le Meridien. The pleasures of enjoying icecream at 4AM are one of a kind. And those of tipping everybody, right down to the sweet chappy who just smiles at you while you start your bike, are of another kind. I don't recall having spent so much time on the roads ever. And the weekend had only just begun..

Watched 'Inii.. What next', at the British Council Lecture Hall today. When your parents get too overbearing, and you dread returning home, its better to run away. Naww.

But I really liked the affection portrayed. 11yr-old Sathya waits at the School's steps for the younger Vijay to finish classes. I got the dialogue from the subtitles: When Vijay finally arrives and enquires why they aren't going home, Sathya asks him, 'Do YOUR parents matter to you more or do I ?' The kid replies 'Brother, you mean the world to me. I will come with you wherever you go.'

The stuff was too well done. And it made me stop and think if I could, in my lifetime, matter to somebody like that..

When there's a pile of dishes in the sink, one knows the maid is on leave. At the end of day2, when there's not a single clean utensil left in the house (even the lids for covering the dishes have been used!), one can safely conclude that the maid is on leave and this is bachelor territory.

Prema was on leave yesterday and today. It took barely 24hrs for the repercussions to be felt.

•The knives, forks, pots and pans were all in the sink.
•The cabbage which had been lying in the closet since Wednesday morn (Prema would have kept it in the fridge) was now fluffy because of fungus all over it.
•The curd in the refrigerator was so horribly sour that it could have been used as an industrial cleaning agent.
•There were three days of newspapers piled all over the drawing room couch.
•Visitors to the home were greeted by a mound of used footwear at the doorstep (Prema would normally have stocked them up neatly on the shoe rack).
•All, except two buckets in the house had been stuffed with clothes for washing.
•Everybody's underwear was untraceable. (It somehow makes it to its respective shelf, when Prema is around)
•The yellow daal which had been lying in a bowl since I-don't-know-when, was now a thick white paste of fungal fluid.
•The effort to boil milk left us with a ¼ of what was originally the milk packets' content.
•Eating out was acceptable on a weekend, but its the last thing we'd ever want on a weekday. So Dilip treated us to his very own potato-tomato-onion stew. All of us hogged it up with steamed rice and scraped the cooker clean. Even then, our 5-man team effort could not make up for Prema - the One.

We were really missing our housekeeper.

This time I behaved as if I was home after a long while. I was lucky that we got in at 1230hrs. Just made it. Its open only from 9AM to 1PM on Sundays. Made myself comfortable on the bed and as usual, looked the other way when the needle was pierced into my blood vessel. This time even Arun was with me. He's more of a veteran. The nurse was as friendly as always. Watched the Boys soundtrack play on the TV console. Within minutes, it was all over. Apollo Bloodbank gave me a fruitnik and vanilla cake. Yum. 146 more to go !

Had just returned after a swim in the rain. Warm water in the pool with cold droplets of water hitting your skin. It wasn't a continuous shower, so I actually managed to stay dry as I cycled back home.

And then it really started to pour. I had barely changed when Cheeru stepped in - completely soaked. And even as he stood at the door with water dripping from the tip of his nose, ears and fingers, he goes - Chalta kya ?

He he.. open invitation to enjoy the rain - of course man. We rode down to Besant Nagar Beach.. Couldn't see a thing. Were shivering. It was cold and we were literally wading thru troughs of water.

It was fun observing how most people react to a downpour. Sullen faces. Desperate to get to dry land. Cars dashing past with their windows pulled up. Bikers trying everything they can to keep their trousers clean. And then there was us. In shorts and wretched tee-shirts. Chappals. Riding with smiles. This was like the college days.

Somewhere near Giorgio, the scooter stopped. As if we cared. Parked it at the safest spot possible and headed straight for the Besant Nagar beach.

The rain eventually stopped. Gentle breeze on the beach. Nothing like the coffee in clothing soaked to the undies.

Walked back to our scooter. It was still cold. So we just dragged it back home. It was as if we hadn't chatted like this in a long time. Didn't even realize how two hours had elapsed and we were home.

Thanks to the alarm in Isaac's cell, we were up around 0530AM. It was nice and cozy in the blankets provided but I just had to do the Nature Walk. We were all out at 6AM. It was quite cold but not dark. Not exactly a hill-station. Sharp shrill of the crickets or whatever they have out there. Couple of birds chirping. Daybreak.

First halt at a small coffee shop near the Reserve's Entrance Gates. Fantabulous strong coffee. Loved it till the last drop. Served in white china with a saucer. I think that's what made it even more pleasant.

We took our entry passes at the gate and hired an auto to get us in. 7AM is kind of early for the Guides to arrive. Or maybe it was off-season. Or its just India. We found two Swiss Nationals from Einsiediln also looking for a Forest Guide. Signed a form declaring no one except me is responsible for injury blah blah during the trek. Refused the leech stockings. They prevent the leeches from climbing up your legs. Yeah but what the hell, I had come in shorts to get those suckers to come and get me.. needed some of that fun.

Had to cross this 30feet across section of the lake. They have these bamboo rafts crafted to carry upto three people across. Construction was simple - about six or seven 4inch dia., 12feet long bamboo logs tied together with jute ropes. Three additional bamboo stumps provided to sit on. And you just sit still, because those things looked easy to flip. Yeah, but the ride lasts about 43seconds.

Nature Walk was more like a brisk walk thru the jungle. There's a well-marked trail thru most of the forest. Occasionally, our guide stopped to show us animal tracks. He even pointed to one paw and said 'Tiger'. That was pretty tiny to be a tiger paw. It wasn't scary like a real jungle. There was virtually no grunt, snort or growl throughout the trek. But we did spot some trees being shaken by monkeys, and he also showed us a beehive. Cat tripped three times and let out the only 'Yeowl' sounds that we heard.

Yeah, the leeches. They were good. These were not the black slug-like variety. More like some worms with suckers at either end. So they just cling onto your shoe and move upwards till they find your flesh. None of the leeches got above my socks. I think wearing white shoes and socks helped spotting them. The Nature walk lasted about 3hrs and was quite frankly, more like a walk across a poorly maintained overgrown garden. Though I did like crossing the many streams with cold water in them. As for animals, I spotted one harmless green snake as it slithered across some bush. And that too at the forest periphery. Nothing eventful. Isaac, Cat and the Swiss folks had a nasty time with the leeches. There was blood oozing below their jeans.. It was gross. Cat had two of them inside his shoes. I set fire to one and it bloated up before turning to ash.

Got home, changed and returned to Aranya Niwas, inside the sanctuary. Cat fancied the place because they called it Beer Parlour. No snacks. No smoking inside. But it was fun to lounge about and discuss the days events. We settled for lunch at the restaurant there. Surrounded by trees and somewhat overlooking the lake. Food was good. Once again there were no Appams and we settled for Parotta.

We were completely done with the Periyar Reserve business now. Felt like we'd seen it all. So we headed to Rizzaz - the only place that looked serious about their ice-cream. We had chocolate sundae, followed with butterscotch with chocolate sauce. Treat.

I think that did it. We had run out of things to do at Thekkady and headed back to Green View. We were all pretty tired and just got some rest. The weather had been so pleasant all along, it was fun to just relax.

Dinner was at this restaurant above Aayur Cafe - the coolest looking hangout in town. Totally frustrated with the lack of Appams during meal time, we just ordered more Malabar Paratha. I was still to figure out what it is with the menus in Kerala.

This was perhaps the laziest day of the trip. Woke up late. Freshened up and headed to Hotel Maharani for breakfast. By now, we had figured the three streets that made up Kumily town. Maharani did have Appams. I was most delighted. But they did not have coconut milk. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I orderd vegetable stew. The Appam was cold but I enjoyed it. Followed it up with a massive Banana pancake.

As I write this, I wonder if there was anything else we did, except eat. After vacating the room, we headed to Hotel Ananda Bhavan, near the bus stand. This one served Non-veg unlike the pure veg Chennai chain. Lunch was ok. Though, I was still trying to figure out why nobody sold Appam with coconut milk in Kumily. Or was it so in entire Kerala ? And the coconut bits put in the curry had now begun to get tiring. It was time to head back home.

Kumily has only one bus for Chennai each day - the 1630bus. Otherwise you go back to C**b** and take the 1930bus from there. This bus was better - no video player. Plenty of leg-room because we got the first seats. The last I remember is stopping at Trichi around 2230hrs. Dinner was cream biscuits and bananas.

Woke up at Dindigul with my back really sore. Friday had been tiring and sitting 11hrs. thru a bus-ride was no way to re-energize yourself. I think we reached Cumbum at around 0930hrs. Boarded another bus to Kumily and pondered over WHEN we'd reach Mallu territory. The ride uphill lasted a good 30mins. thru well forrested terrain. Our questions were answered when we stepped over the border - a ramshackle checkpost at Kumily - into Kerala. It was zimbly great.

Because nobody bothered to tell us, and because we thought our destination was actually Thekkady, we took one more bus ride..to get dropped right inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve. I didn't see any hotels around. We were inside the reserve dammit.

Thanks to a local guide, and another auto ride back into Kumily, we found ourselves inspecting Green View Lodge with Cable TV. The owner of the place kept stressing on how this one room with toilet-attached was better than most others, thanks to a 14" cable TV. I hadn't come this far to be locked up inside a room and watch cable TV. Oh yeah, it was also strategically located, because it overlooked the Taj Garden Retreat. So, basically you get the same luxury of location as the Taj, at 1/10th the price. Drained from all those rides, we just settled for the place.

I think we had cold-showered and cleaned up by around 2PM, and so we stepped out for lunch. Since none of the hotels in Kumily accept plastic, one needs cash in hand. Luckily Kumily has a State Bank of Travancore ATM. Correction, Kumily has ONLY ONE ATM, and its from SBT. Cash in hand, we headed to the nearest KTDC tourist reception office, that's the one overlooking the bus-stand. It wore a sleepy look. The one lady manning everything had no clue what we were asking about, while we had no clue what she replied. Man, if the Indian tourists find it so hard here, how do the non-natives manage. Anyhow, she gave us two pamphlets which advertised everything the Reserve had to offer.

We were not looking for vegetarian food and it took us quite a while to reach the first hotel that advertised food. Hotel Revathy was bad lunch. Isaac ordered roasted beef and got something in gravy. I was already pissed because I was in Kerala and they didn't serve Appam here.

We walked 4.5kms to the boat-landing. It all made sense now. Kumily is this little town in Idukki district of Kerala. Thekkady just happens to be one of the spots inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve. But its green and cool allright. And that soothens your nerves.

The boat-ride commences at 4PM. But first you need to figure out which boat you are to board. They were named Jala Yathra, Jala Rathna, Jala Taranghini and Jala Mohini. But they were labelled Y-1, R-2, T-3, M-4 respectively. Why ? I don't know. Somebody got real creative and thought confusing everybody would be very amusing. We were on the lower deck and happy cause it started to rain. Got quite cold. In the hour and a half the ride lasted, we spotted a few birds, some buffaloes, pigs and one kid washing his clothes on the banks. Was actually delighted when I finally spotted an otter. Tha'wwaz great. I now knew why we had the Cable TV - we were all gonna go back and watch National Geographic's India specials. The ride got really tiresome and were only too happy to be back on land.

Took an auto-ride back into Kumily town, because the last bus out of Thekkady leaves at 1730hrs. And the Gates close at 1800 hrs. I don't know what happens if you get locked in.

Went to another Tourist Info booth. The chappy greeted us well and actually proposed some interesting activities. There was only one in our budget - the Nature walk. We'd have to be at the boat-landing next morning at 7AM; we were told.

Moved on. Began searching for a bar. Somehow, Cat turned ecstatic as he spotted atleast half a dozen Hotels where, on getting closer, the print read 'Bath attached'. That was bad humour. And we wanted a watering hole badly. After some scouting, we were back at the bus-stand. The only bar in town (apart from the Taj!), was at Hotel Kumily Gate. When we entered, we felt we were inside a TASMAC bar. Red lighting and the regular melee at the counter. Probably the only people not in Mundus, we were directed to the VIP Bar. This was a calmer place and we finally relaxed.

I think we got back to Green View around 2230hrs. Isaac could smell the dope in the air near our place. It lingered over around Hotel Armani - It was easier than calling it by its real name - Ambadi. Important landmark when the Thekkady folk enquired about our place of stay..

Was late for work today because I went to Koyambedu bus-stand to organize our tickets to Kerala. Oh yes.. There was a long weekend ahead, and a Kerala trip was definitely on the cards.

Trouble is, Koyambedu bus-stand is really not tourist-friendly. None of the signboards are in English. Mansukh had told me that there's no direct bus to Thekkady. Instead, you ask for Theni. The lady selling the tickets had no clue which bus, if any, goes to Theni. Luckily, at 8AM there's no crowd at the counter, and someone from the Time-keeper's room told me to book tickets to a place 40mins. from Kumily. Kumily in turn, is about 15mins. from Thekkady. The name of the place - 'Cumbum'. I'm naught trying to be notty here.

Cat, Isaac and myself confirmed the spelling on the ticket. The name was as harmless as Ben Stiller being 'Gaylord Fucker' in Meet the Parents. Boarded the bus at 2100hrs. The ride to C**b** was quite uncomfortable. The video coach initially had some recorded KTV song-dance sequence playing. They followed this up with some movie starring Ajith and Simran. I dozed off somewhere after Simran's Mommy Daddy got killed for some stupid reason; and Ajith was serving as a Cadet in the Army.. some scenes from the DSSC Parade Ground in Wellington.