la pondy

time 7.30 distance covered 40kms. Not a great way to go if we wanted to beat the early summer sun to Pondicherry. And with every passing kilometer the road began twisting and turning more. And with every passing kilometer i was getting more and more comfy with the bike. Fear melting away and the deeply held craze for racing -NFS style took over. 10 mins into the drive and anil bellowed 10 mins-8 kms...and that did it..

I bent my head and crouched on the fuel tank, putting on the profile of a race biker, and exposing anil's huge frame to the wind. the tacho was steadily climbing.. 6000rpm...7k.....7.5k...8k... and i could now feel the engine straining. But i was not one to let go now. The spirit had taken over. tilting gently thru the banked curves. devouring the kilometers. And anil behind me was getting slightly uncomfortable and with a gentle tap on the shoulder pointed to the tacho..and i gently let go..a few kms on and the game was back on..immediate target - catch up with the guys in the front. and we did that soon after anil cried out 12 mins 15 kms..and we passed them...Riding was now a breeze with the vegetation providing
cover against the wind. With trees on both sides and lush green paddy fields the scene could been straight out of kerala. the road now punctuated with the odd signpost declaring dangerous curves. We were pushing ahead in the hope that the series of dangerous curves would continue even in Pondy.
After what felt like 5 minutes, we stopped. Time 8.30 distancve covered 55 kms.. And the guys couldnt have stopped at a better place. A road side flatform built long ago, under a huge banyan tree, for the travellers of yore. A small navagraha temple nearby and a couple of locals peering at us curiously. Kind of felt like a step back in time, as though, in the next second a huge caravan of bullock carts could come right out of the end of the road. Or a battalion of soldiers gallop by to the alambra fort that we just passed.
A few memorable snaps later we were off again, me and anil switching roles. We passed the memorial marking pondicherry soon and were slowed down to a crawl by the narrow roads and the traffic.
Upto me to play the role of the navigator. The countless traveller magazines that i had read came in handy. Pondy is reputed to have a very efficient tourism department and what better place to look for help than on the fabled marina. And there it was tucked away, in one of the buildings in the french quarter.
The sun was bearing down heavily on us and the reflection from the clear sea was blinding to say the least. The air conditioned confines of the tourism office was a welcome reprieve. We were asked to make ourselves comfortable, handed out a couple of brouchres and a map of pondy that was to become our guiding beacon from then on. Asking around for a couple of decent stay options we move out. A little bit of desperation creeping in with the rumblings from within growing bigger. And with nature calling a couple of us really badly, we needed to act fast. The sun was
sapping us pretty fast and a couple of hotels later (all of which were costly) we were dehydrated to the core. Finally finding a baragain at Hotel Aruna. Draggin up our tired asses upto 4th floor, and the A/C room felt like heaven. All of us dozed off almost instantaneously, waking up a good 2 hrs later at 12.30. A refreshing shower and all of us were raring to go. Lunch time!!!