A Ride to Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur, located in the Western Ghats of Southern India, is known for its beautiful hill stations, coffee plantations, and the best eye-soothing view all along the place. The hill stations certainly make it an amazing place to trek the Kemmangundi Z-point, Mullayangiri, Kallatgiri, Rani Jhari, Kudremukh to name a few. I've visited this place a lot of times, mostly for treks. Nevertheless, there's a whole other side to this place. Many beautiful falls, Hebbe falls being the most visited; many places to just visit, chill out, and experience the heavenly feel of looking around and getting lost in the middle of nature. Best part is no other phone networks are active except for BSNL, which adds to the beauty of a perfect break away from phone and internet. 

Ours was a ride planned and coordinated by ARMC-Acclaimed Riders Motorcycling Club. A pure Royal Enfield riders club. The ride started by 5:30 in the morning from the Royal Enfield showroom Yelahanka. We stopped at Parle G factory for a quick tea and to let the riders who were to join midway catch up. Having the target time of 1:30 pm to reach the resort Jhari in Chikmagalur, our next stop was instructed to be only after 120 km at a breakfast place. As decided, we stopped at UpSouth to have breakfast and had a good one-hour break. So far, I sat in Thunderbird and after breakfast I switched to Standard (Bullet). Once we started here, the next stop was after we reached Chikmagalur entrance. My back went numb and I feared my jeans would catch fire caused by friction against the leather seat. Gladly, our lead made up his mind to stop for a quick tender coconut drink. The resort people had started calling for lunch from 10:30 in the morning and we also had an off-road stretch to cover. Without wasting any more time, we left the place, and the last 12-km distance was the best of the whole ride. The riders were pro and went ripping the curves. The footrest of their bikes scratched against the roads and sparked. After reaching the off-road path, all pillion riders got off the bikes and took jeeps arranged by the resort.

Once we reached the resort, we had a quick look around. The resort, Jhari, was constructed near a waterfall and hence the name Jhari. We were so hungry, we just got every dish from the buffet spread on our plates and ate to our heart's content. After some rest, we got into the falls and the water was coolest imaginable. After gathering some courage to get into the waters, I had to have some more courage to fight my fear of suffocation in water and standing right below the waterfall was the next big thing to conquer. Fortunately, I got some helping hands to get there and some survival tips :D. Once into it, we were in no mind to come out. We got chairs and sat beside the falls in the water and had hot tea there. Duh! If only I had special effects to express my experience. To add to the bliss, it rained hailstones for quite some time. After the rain stopped, we had a camp fire, surprisingly most of the riders danced like they didn't ride for 300 and odd km, fully energetic. I was so lost in the nature and sound of the waterfalls, my limbs just didn't move to dance, but I quietly enjoyed the food and music there. 

Next day, I again went to the falls with my friend and sat right in front of the falls. The experience was much more than meditation. We usually try to stop having mixture of thoughts in mind and have a quite mind, which is barely possible and we end up constantly talking and thinking about random stuff. But in this place, I realized I was just listening to the sounds around and was really living the present. This experience was really priceless. Very soon, other members of the group woke up and we went on a quick 45-min hike followed by breakfast. Now guess what! we got into the waterfalls again! This time, I directly went and stood below the falls and just didn't move for almost an hour. Finally, when I came out, the pressure of waterfalls hitting my back, the best massage I can say, had stopped and I could feel my heart beat. I can say that was the moment of inner peace. I can also say having no phone network added to the experience of feeling alive every moment. We quickly changed and had lunch, as we were running out of time to leave the place to match with the set journey time.

On the way back, I sat on RE Himalayan. This rider gave a little piece of advice before getting on his bike or I can say terms and conditions on how I had to hold on and not put pressure on his arms or his bike. It took a while to get the rhythm, but I picked on it soon. The view on the way back was again amazing. The rider even taught me to stand with him on speed breakers while riding and we soon stood on all types of speed breakers, the continuous ones, in my rider-naive language. We stopped at a place for tea and photo shoot of the team, and after reaching the last toll, we stopped to talk about our experiences. After some casual talking about the ride, we signed off. We departed to our respective routes and that's how our amazing ride came to an end.