Ardent evening Sun

An evening sky, glistened by golden sun looks lousy without clouds. After a long gap, clouds are back over the skies of bangalore as well as my village. Even though their presence was ephimeral, the timing was spot on. Nowadays the clear skies are scarred with patchy clouds during evening hours for good. They enable some of the stunning landscape frames even amidst the arid vegetation and also keeps night warmer.

As I rode towards home after office hours, the clouds surprised me with their presence. These were shots taken standing near the fence of the lake.

The clouds appeared during evening time diffracting the sunlight culminating in spectacular crepuscular rays. The sea side composition would have been fabulous. I had high desire to visit but circumstances do not resonate sometimes. Nevertheless, the scene was sublime from the village road with the tiny sun sliding behind the palms towards the golden weeds. The scene would not have been perfect without the presence of clouds. I imagine basking under sun shooting those beautiful rays fanning out over the gentle sea.

Those who comprehend the beauty of nature need not go far. Everything lies beside within your boundary abound with beauty

The other side of Maravanthe Beach

I have visited the Maravanthe beach umpteen times. The redundant visits are never boring. The  landscape has vivid pictures to show during every visit. Some of my landscape photos have come out excellent in this location. Not because I am good at nature photography but attributed to nature's inspiration. It is not the only beach which is abound with beauty here. The nonchalant souparnika river that meanders opposite to the beach equally lures the landscapers. Despite the frequent visits, I never bothered to gawk at the beauty of river. This visit, I was firm to spend more time on the other side for a change. Due to the initial hurdles, I could not spend the evening hours nearby river. It was only during dusk, I visited the river bank.

The initial expression was just wow! I was fascinated by awe-inspiring beauty of river curving gently parallel to the beach. Even though the river merges few kms away from Maravanthe, the beauty is inexplicable. What increases its majesty is the beautiful hinterland comprising of swaying palms and mangroves and he fishermen boats tethered to shore. Last but not least, the peaks of western ghats complement the entire landscape frame. It is due to proximity of these hills, the region also experiences heavy rainfall during monsoon season.

Apart from the nature beauty, there is unique temple situated beside the river. At this place the river takes U-turn which gives feel of teasing the sea. The unique temple hosts idols Lord Vishnu and incarnation of Lord vishnu Varaha and Narasimha.

A newly constructed bridge connecting the beach with hinterland. Earlier, people used boats to cross the river.

The newly constructed bridge across the highway, part of NH-66 four laning project.

Till today, I just had glimpse of river overlooking from highway. Now I had a broader (but not complete) view of the landscapes adjoining to the river

When nature decks-out, the natural beauty ensues. No special skill required to photograph it's charm. Despite the lousy atmosphere, the beauty of the hinterland culminated in stupendous pictures. I can't wait to capture those moments of monsoon season here.

I never forget to recall this beautiful tune of Andy Blueman "Neverland". Tranquility within springs up when the I connect this tune to hinterland. The rhythms of orchestra mirrors the landscapes of river bank. Someday, I will break the slumber to capture those magnificent moments of sunrise percolating over the region smearing golden hue, together with clouds kissing the distant mountains. FOr a change, enjoy the beautiful chillout version of Neverland composed by Amind Two Guys

ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ - ಪಾರ್ಕು ಜಿಮ್ಮು, ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಗೇಮು

ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿಯವರು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪಾರ್ಕುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಓಪನ್ ಜಿಮ್ ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇದು ಸ್ವಾಗತಾರ್ಹ ಕೂಡ. ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಕಿರಣಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ವ್ಯಾಯಾಮ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಎಷ್ಟೋ ರೋಗಗಳು ಬರುವುದಿಲ್ಲವಂತೆ. ಇದು ನಮ್ಮ ಆಧುನಿಕ ಕ್ಲೋಸ್ಡ್ ಜಿಮ್ ಗಿಂತಲೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಉತ್ತಮ ಎನ್ನಬಹುದು. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅಳುಕನ್ನು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬದಿಗಿಟ್ಟರೆ, ಸಧೃಡ ಮೈಕಟ್ಟು ನಿಮ್ಮದಾಗುವುದು. ಕ್ಲೋಸ್ಡ್ ಜಿಮ್ಮಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನೀವು ಬೆವರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಎಷ್ಟೇ ಮಿಂದರೂ ಅದು ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಕಿರಣಗಳಿಂದಾದ ಬೆವರಿಗೆ ಸರಿಸಾಟಿಯಲ್ಲ. ನಾನು ಕೂಡ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ ಜಾಗಿಂಗ್ ಬಳಿಕ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ಜಗ್ಗಬೇಕಲ್ಲವೇ (ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಅಳುಕಿಲ್ಲ :P)

ಇರಲಿ ವಿಷಯಕ್ಕೆ ಬರೋಣ. ಜಿಮ್ಮು ಉಪಕರಣಗಳು ಪಕ್ವವಾದ ದೇಹಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ತಯಾರಿಸಲ್ಪಟ್ಟದ್ದು. ಮಕ್ಕಳ ದೇಹ ಇನ್ನು ಪಕ್ವವಾಗಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಮತ್ತು ಇಂತಹ ಉಪಕರಣಗಳನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವಾಗಲಿ ಅಥವಾ ಮೆಚುರಿಟಿಯಾಗಲಿ ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ಇರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಉಳುಕಿದರೆ ಅಥವಾ ಅವಘಡವಾದರೆ, ಜೀವನಪರ್ಯಂತ ದೇಹ ಅಂಗವೈಕಲ್ಯದಿಂದ ನರಳಬಹುದು. ಪಾರ್ಕ್ ಜಿಮ್ಮುಗಳು ೧೫ ವರ್ಷ ಮೇಲ್ಪಟ್ಟವರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಮೀಸಲು. ಇದು ಸರಿಯಾದ ನಿಯಮ ಕೂಡ. ಆದರೆ ಇದರ ವಿಚಾರವಾಗಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಸೂಚನಾ ಫಲಕಗಳನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕೂಡ ಇದನ್ನು ಆಟದ ವಿಷಯವೆಂದು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಪಾರ್ಕ್ ನೋಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವವರು ಇದನ್ನು ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇಲ್ಲವಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳ್ಳು ಇದನ್ನು ಎಗ್ಗಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇಂದು ಕೂಡಾ ಹಾಗೆ ಆಯಿತು. ಅಜ್ಜಿಯೊಬ್ಬರು ಮೊಮ್ಮಗಳನ್ನು ಜಿಮ್ಮಿನಲ್ಲಿ ವ್ಯಾಯಾಮ ಮಾಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು (ಅವರ ಲೆಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದು ಆಟ). ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬ ಹಿರಿಯರು ತಕ್ಷಣ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ವಿರೋಧ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು. ಇವರ ಸಂಭಾಷಣೆ ಹೀಗಿತ್ತು.

"ಅಮ್ಮಾ ಇದು ದೊಡ್ಡವರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಆಟ ಆಡೋ ಉಪಕರಣ ಅಲ್ಲ ಇದು"

"ಏ ಇರ್ಲಿ ಬಿಡ್ರಿ. ಪಾಪ ಮಗು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಆಟ ಆಡ್ಲಿ (!!!) ನಿಮೇನು" ಇದು ಗೇಮು ಅಲ್ಲ ಅಂದಾಕ್ಷಣ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಗರಮ್ಮು ಆಗಿದ್ದೆ ಸುಳ್ಳಲ್ಲ.

"ಅಲ್ಲಮ್ಮಾ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೋಸ್ಕರ ಆಟದ ಉಪಕರಣಗಳು ಇದೆ ಅದ್ರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಡಲಿ" ಅಂದಾಗ ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ರೋದನೆ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಯಿತು.

"ಇರಲಿ ಬಿಡ್ರಿ ಆಟ ಆಡುತ್ತೆ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ನಾನು ಏನು ಮಾಡಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗುತ್ತೆ" ಅಂತಾ ತನ್ನ ಮೊಮ್ಮಗಳನ್ನು ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರೇರಿಸಿದಳು. ಒಂದೋ ಮೊಮ್ಮಗಳ ಮೇಲಿನ ಮೋಹ ಅಥವಾ ತನ್ನ ವಾದವೆ ಸರಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ಮೊಂಡುವಾದ (stubbornness)

ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಇವರ ಸಹವಾಸ ಸಾಕು ಅಂತಾ ಸಲಹೆ ಕೊಡಲು ಹೋದವರು ತಮ್ಮ ವ್ಯಾಯಾಮ ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಿದರು.

ಇದೆಪ್ಪಾ ಪ್ರಾಬ್ಲಮ್. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಸ್ತವಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಎಮೋಷನ್ ಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಪ್ರಾಮುಖ್ಯತೆ ನೀಡಿದ್ದು. ಮಗುವಿಗೆ ಯಾವುದು ಸರಿ ಯಾವುದು ತಪ್ಪು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸುವವರು ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಬಂಧಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದರು. ಭಾವನೆಗಳು ಇರಬೇಕು ಆದರೆ ಜೊತೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ವೈಚಾರಿಕೆಯು ಇರಬೇಕು. ಹಿರಿಯರಿಗೆ ತಾವು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದೇ ಸರಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ಚಾಳಿ ಇದ್ದೇ ಇದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಅನುಭವವೆನ್ನುವ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ಬೇರೆ. ಮೇಲೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದ ಘಟನೆಗೊಂದೆ ಸೀಮಿತವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ ಹಿಂದೊಂದು ಕಾಲವಿತ್ತು. ಸರಕಾರಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಸಿಕ್ಕರೆ ಜೀವನ ಸೆಟಲ್ ಎಂಬೋ ಭಾವನೆ. ನಿವೃತ್ತಿಯ ನಂತರ ಸರಕಾರಿ ಪಿಂಚಣಿ ಕೂಡ ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಇದೇ ಭಾವನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಇಂದಿನ ಹಿರಿಯರು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಕೆಲಸ ಸಿಕ್ಕರೆ ಜೀವನ ಸೆಟಲ್ ಅಂದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದು ಇಂದಿನ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಒಗ್ಗುವುದೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿದರೂ ಕೆಲಸ ಹೋಗುವುದೆಂಬ ಭಯ, ಪಿಂಚಣಿ ಈಗ ಸರಕಾರವು ಕೊಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಸರಕಾರಿ ಕೆಲಸಗಳೇ ಗ್ಯಾರಂಟಿ ಇಲ್ಲ (ಎನ್-ಜಿ-ಇ-ಎಫ್, ಬಿಎಸ್-ಎನ್-ಎಲ್, ಬ್ಯಾಂಕುಗಳ ಮೆರ್ಜೆರ್ ಕೆಲವು ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗಳು). ಇನ್ನು ಹಿರಿಯರ ತತ್ವಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತವನ್ನು (dogmatic thinking) ನಂಬಿ ಕುಳಿತರೆ ಜೀವನವೂ ಸಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. "ನೀನೇನು ಜೀವನ ಕಂಡಿದ್ದಿಯಾ" ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಅವರ ಏರುದನಿ ಮಾತು. ಆದರೆ ಜೀವನ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ತಕ್ಕಂತೆ ಬದಲಾಗುವುದೆಂದು ಅವರು ಒಪ್ಪಲು ತಯಾರಿಲ್ಲ.  ಕೃಷ್ಣನೇ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾನೆ "ಬದಲಾವಣೆಯೇ ಜಗದ ನಿಯಮ" (change is the only permanence) ಎಂದು. ಇನ್ನು ಹಿರಿಯರನ್ನು ಗೌರಿವಿಸಬಾರದೆಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ ಆದರೆ ಅವರ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತಗಳು ಈಗಿನ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಒಗ್ಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. "benjamin graham " ತಮ್ಮ ಪುಸ್ತಕ "the intelligent investor"ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳುವಂತೆ, "ಎಮೋಷನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಹಣವನ್ನು ಬೆರೆಸಿದರೆ, ಹಣ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ನಿಶ್ಚಿತ". ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ನಾನೇ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ, ನನಗೆ ಇದರ ಅರಿವಾಗಿದೆ. ಹೇಗೆಂದು ಹೇಳಲು ಬಯಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ ಅದು ಬಹಳ ನೋವನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಹಳೆ ತತ್ವ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತಕ್ಕೆ ಶರಣಾಗಿ ಈಗ ಪರಿತಪಿಸುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ನಾನೇ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ. ಏನೂ ಮಾಡಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಧಿ ಕಲಿಸಿದ ಪಾಠ. ಕಾಲಾಯ ತಸ್ಮೈ ನಮಃ.

ಇರಲಿ ಬೋರ್ ಆಯಿತೇ ಅಥವಾ ಅತಿ ಆಯಿತೇ!! ನಿಮ್ಮ ಭಾವನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ನಾನು ಬರೆದಿಲ್ಲ :P.

ಸರಿ ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಪಾರ್ಕ್-ನಲ್ಲಿ ಏನಾಯಿತು. ಏನೂ ಆಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಜ್ಜಿ ತನ್ನ ಮೊಮ್ಮಗಳನ್ನು "ನೀನು ಆಟಾಡಮ್ಮ" ಅಂತಾ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಹುರಿದುಂಬಿಸತೊಡಗಿದಳು. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಇದ್ದ ಮೊಮ್ಮಗನನ್ನು ಉದ್ಧರಿಸಿ "ನೋಡೋ ನಿನ್ನ ತಂಗಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ಚನ್ನಾಗಿ ಆಟ ಆಡ್ತಾ ಇದಾಳೆ. ನೀನು ಬಾ" ಅಂತಾ ಅವನನ್ನು ಹುರಿದಂಬಿಸ ಹೊರಟಳು. ಅವನ ಸಪ್ಪೆ ಮುಖವನ್ನು ಕಂಡಾಗ ಎಂತವರಿಗೂ ಅವನ ಅನಾಸಕ್ತಿ ಅರಿವಾಗುವುದು . "ನೀನು ಆಟ ಆಡಮ್ಮಾ" ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ಮೋಹ ಮುಂದುವರಿಯಿತು. ಆಟ ಎಂಬ ಶಬ್ಧ ಕೇಳಿದಾಗ ನನಗೆ ನಗು ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ವಾಸ್ತವಿಕ ವಿಷಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾವನೆಯ ಕಲಬೆರಕೆ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ನಷ್ಟ ಅವರೆ ಅನುಭವಿಸಬೇಕು. ಮತ್ತೆ ನಾನೇನು ಮಾಡಿದೆ? ಬೆವರು ಒರೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಮನೆ ಕಡೆ ಹೊರಟೆ!

Gravel grave

Digging roads never stops in our area. Many of the newly laid roads are already smeared with murk thanks to rampant digging by private agencies. The roads that are dug, leaves a plethora of agonies to cityzens especially the two wheeler riders. The spine twisting ride on mammoth potholes results in long term back issues.

Sometimes I feel, bbmp has tied up with hospitals by deliberately fracturing the commuters. This unattended gravel may be  someone's grave too!. Many two wheeler riders fall down unbeknownst to such rotten setup. Our main focus on road has shifted from negotiating ongoing traffic to dodging nasty artificial potholes originated from digging. The digging has escalated the traffic jams which were thing of main roads to even residential roads.

Let's cut to chase. The problem is not potholes rather the unattended gravel. I understand the tarmac needs at least a day or two to turn harder but these ballast does not need such a period to mature. Few days after pouring ballast, the Authorities turn oblivion or is it intentionally delayed. May be it is micro contracted each stage involving separate clearance. This delays further work. By the time the patch work completes may be another set of diggers are ready for demolition. Ultimately, the common public are the sufferers.

I remember an incident in Mangalore. Similar digging had occurred and it was unattended for months. Nothing happened. Suddenly authorities were enlightened to repair the road by unevenly spreading gravel over the rotten path. May be some official wanted to pilfer public money. Later the lethargic authority went to sleep without asphalting half baked road. Two days later a bike skidded off the road and fell over the gravel. Unfortunately it turned out to be his grave. The sharp ballast hit his head hard and he was instantly thrown out of earth.

During transit of vehicles over the gravel, some of the stones spread outside the area causing more inconvenience to riders. This is problematic since there is danger of tyre getting punctured but most importantly skidding as mentioned before.

Eerily, it looks like road is constructed solely for digging rather than vehicular movement. Problem is that authorities destroy road in hours and take almost months to recast. By the time surface sees fresh tarmac, a new set of diggers are ready with their tools. This vicious circle is eternal and public unfortunately must bear their money being thrown into dust. Ironically, tax payers need to glide through these bumps and be victim for paying taxes.

Sarcastically, BBMP can think of constructing flyovers all through Bangalore. This will allow them to utilize the ground solely for digging. Look at the screenshot of BBMP complaint page. It considers potholes with MEDIUM priority. The priorities are auto assigned leaving public with no choice to describe severity! May be this is reason, BBMP never repairs road at the earliest and destroys often because road is not the highest priority :D

I am writing this blog 3 weeks after authorities poured gravel on the pot-holed road. The scene has not changed rather turned worst with gravel spreading all over the road. This is all happening in the constituency of so called efficient MLA of Karnataka. If this fact is true, then the state of other constituencies is unfathomable!

Meanwhile, I have raised complaint in BBMP Sahaya page. Let's see what will be the outcome :-)

Below is another scene seen in my village. There is heap of gravel. The road is not even illuminated and the heap of gravel along the sharp curvy road was soon inviting disaster during night. Fortunately, this stretch was soon patched with tarmac and that mound no more exists.

Casual evening at Maravanthe Beach

My toddlers are yet to reconcile with streaming waves. They downright dread the streaming sea tides. The oscillating sea tides somehow frightens them a lot. Sometimes they literally cry. But step by step, the situation is improving. Once wailing at the sight of sea tides, now declined. Nowadays they cry only if taken to water otherwise they are happy to stare at sea tides inquisitively. Hopefully they turn normal as day pass by.

Maravanthe beach is one exotic beach having expansive National Highway running parallel to sea and river. The beauty of Souparnika is no less to mention here. These pictures were shot at the resting place constructed to gaze at the beach casually. We visited during golden hour and it was worth visiting with nature showering beautiful golden light over the region. Hope you enjoy these pictures.

The presence of boat near the shore enabled me to capture few surreal scenes which appealed much after final touch in darktable.

And finally, the evergreen sea tides. Can't leave the place without few of their pictures

When weather goes haywire

The last week of December was filled with unpredictable weather activity in Bangalore with atmosphere abruptly transiting to severe cold weather in couple of days. This roller-coaster was due to the western disturbance prevailing over North India which brought in unusually severe cold winds towards South India. The chilly weather which measured as low as 10 degrees at night also brought plethora of disease along with it. Even my toddlers are having tough time battling with the severe weather. The viral infection is persisting for weeks. The tropics of coastal Karnataka are also reeling under cold conditions with temperature dipping below 16 degrees during night. Never did coast face such quirky weather. Hopefully the situation would improve when Sun moves to Capricorn during mid of January. As of now, its unprecedented freezing here in Bangalore with record dip in mercury levels. The scientists are attributing the severe climatic fluctuations to global warming. The streaming of chilly wind is slacking off the human efficiency as well. Weekends are restricted to dozing off and snuggling under the blanket.

Here are few pictures caught at Jakkur lake but not during those freezing days. The weather was warm till 5PM and instantly out of thin air, the fog appeared thus chilling the region.

And a similar feel at Chikka-Madhure. Too cold to bear. The atmosphere speaks everything!

Pesky riders

26 Jan 2019

Holidays inflate the traffic on highways adjoining to Bangalore. Invariably, the diverging paths need to bear additional friction during the outset and conclusion of long weekends. The toll gates have become source of mockery by adding additional latency of nearly 10 to 15 mins. If you combine toll gates leading to Mangalore, the delay sums up to nearly 30 mins minimum. It is possible to cover 1km in 1 minute on such roads. This means 30km distance lost in transit waiting to pay toll.

Back to the topic, while we were frustrated driving in massive uncanny traffic, a series of bikers were spotted in expedition to unknown destination. Call it fad or craze, but this was disgruntling to already dreaded traffic. The problem was not breaking rules or overspeeding but the riders stacked closely for long distance. There were many adding to misery for miles. The long chain of bikes were making it difficult to cut off sluggish trucks. Moreover, the parallel running slow mongers (aka goods carriers) which are not special, added fuel to the overall mayhem. With inordinate wagons scraping the tarmac surface of NH-75, the long chain of bikers further aggravated the already disheveled highway.

I am not finding problem with these peppy riders smitten with Enfield (most of them were enfields) nor regarding their expedition with contempt. Growling bikes are new trend nowadays which would subside gradually over the time. Inadvertently the bikers resulted in harrowing journey to fellow travellers. The fact is there are other people around. You need to respect their time. Not maintaining adequate space increased our turnaround time to overtake trucks which unlawfully occupy speed lanes. Swapping lanes were darn misery due to serial presence of bikes along left lane. It was impossible to maintain 80kmph for nearly 10kms. Nearby kunigal, they lined up for long distance which hampered smooth flow of traffic. Some of them even hindered the lane with parallel rides. Only after persistent honk, the lane was cleared. There were many such instances to quote throughout the drive. At once, I thought of parking my car aside and wait for the show to fade away. But it was long journey to Udupi and with toddlers in car, there was need to reach before dusk ( I was still 350 kms behind the destination)

Overhauling the long string of bikers strewed closely along the highway was disgusting until we crossed Yediyur. The procession seemed eternal before fading away at Yediyur probably because we stopped for breakfast. The saga of bikers was over and drive was smooth thereafter. Either they overtook us or breaked for morning eats or parted ways.  Since their number was huge, the hotel, even though could rake in huge revenue would be having tough time managing them (if not pre booked). Nearly an hour of journey wasted negotiating these bikers smoothly. The bikes and trucks which gripped the traffic eventually thawed after Hassan. The two lane road was far smoother than the expressway. At last, liberation from entangled journey :-)

This post is not to debase their craze but request to earnestly respect the sentiment of toll payers. Two wheelers are not tolled which is still OK. Cramping the highway is not accepted even for toll payers. Incidentally, it was republic day and many bikers had the Indian flag erected on their bullets. Freedom unfortunately is the most misused asset in our country.

Interestingly, the two lane journey from Hassan to Uppinangady was insanely comfortable than the four lane tolled highway.

Here is the picture from the crowded toll gate. Everyone was trying to quickly wriggle out of the mess which even deteriorated the situation. The dynamic gate swapping by cabbies worsened the situation. They couldn't stick to a single gate which was disgusting and escalated the snarls

The pictures cannot display the grieve, hence a short video series was captured to show the agony