The Longest Dream

Do dreams come true? If they do, does one ever realize that until the point that they realize that their wishes have been fulfilled, they have actually been living their dreams? Does one realize that when a dream comes true it ceases to be a dream?

My 2 week leave was approved and I was going home after 10 months. I had been planning this trip for more than a year, but due to some reason or the other, I could do it only now. I used to get mighty upset about not being able to do what I wanted to, but then we all know that “all that happens, happens for the good”, and I realized that all the “reasons” only served to prepare me for this moment. What I wanted was simple: I wanted to ride from where ever I was to my home in Coimbatore. “Ride” like in riding a motorcycle.

Prior to the journey, I spent a lot of time psyching myself, not to mentions having actually done distances of up to 750kms, solo, in a day. Having been an amateur powerlifter I know what it is to be mentally prepared to take on something that is apparently very hard. I had planned to ride from Pune to Coimbatore over the weekend.
Since it was the middle of summer and very very hot, I had decided that I would ride at night like I had before to Nagpur. But some of my friends who came to know of my plans expressed serious concern and advised that I should ride during the day. So be it, I said and decided to start early next morning. Over the next two days I would be consciously living my dream.

Day 1: I had planned to start at 4.30am and then take a long break in the afternoon to beat the heat. The alarm woke me up at 4.00am and I readied everything, only to realize that the rear tyre was flat. I was mighty surprised since I had checked on it at 11.00pm the previous night and all was well. Anyways, I uttered a silent prayer thanking God and went back to sleep.
I decided that I might as well stick to my original plan of starting at 4.00pm and riding thro the night. After a disturbed sleep I woke up at 9.00am and decided to fix the bike. At the puncture shop I met another guy with a bullet. He too enjoyed biking and had ridden up to Belgaum. He said the ride past Kolhapur was marvelous and went on to describe the terrain, the roads etc. Upon hearing his description I could not wait any longer and decided to start right away.

So after repacking and a quick breakfast I was on my way at 10.30am. The heat was terrific and I could only imagine what it would be in the afternoon. My ride to Ganpatipule had taught me valuable lessons about riding in the summer and this coupled with the knowledge I had gained by reading about "riding in hot weather", on the web, saved the day. I carried three packets of "Electral" with me to replenish the salts I lost due to sweating, since drinking plain water alone was not sufficient. Also, I soaked my tee shirt whenever I could. As the water evaporated, it carried away the heat and cooled me. I followed the advice from some of the senior members of BCMT to stop frequently and actually stretch, not just walk around.

The roads all along were superb, except between Dharwad and Chitradurga.
Fuel efficiency was at an all time low since I was cruising at 100-110km/h whenever I could because that is what the roads demanded.
Interestingly, the most fun filled part of the journey was not riding but updating my parents about my whereabouts. I had told them that I would be taking a bus to Bangalore first and from there a train to Coimbatore. They were under the impression that I was to start at 5.00pm that day. When I had crossed Katraj at around 12.00pm, I told them that I just had lunch. At the nimbu paani stop beyond Kolhapur I said that I had finished packing and was about to take a quick nap before boarding the bus.

I reached Davangere at 7.30pm and decided to break for the night. I spent the night in Sree Lodge which was highly recommended by the local police. Here I called my parents and informed them that I was about to go to sleep since the movie in the bust was pretty boring. Dinner was tomato curry, fried rice and rotis. I retired early at around 9.00pm but could get only about an hour and half of good sleep, because of the mosquitoes. I had not anticipated staying somewhere and thus did not have any repellants with me. That night the insects too had a good feast.

Day 2: At 4.00am I gave up on my attempts to get some sleep and decided to continue my journey. But before anything else, I vowed to bomb the mosquitoes if I ever stepped into the town again!!
I was on my way towards Bangalore at 5.00am. It was pleasantly chilly in the morning but the roads continued to be dug-up and unmarked.
The sun rose sometime past 6.30am. The sky was cloudy and there was a slight drizzle. I prayed that it should not rain since I did not have any rain gear with me.

I stopped for tea at 7.30am and realized that I was very hungry too. I reached the Bangalore-Mysore bypass at around 9.00am and stopped for breakfast. Having covered 850kms I was now approximately 400km short of reaching my destination. Come to think of it, that was almost half the distance I had already covered! But I was elated and started afresh.
Somewhere at the exit of the bypass I lost my way and headed into some village and it was well past 11.00am when I finally found the road to Hosur/Salem.

Riding on NH-7 was even more enjoyable than riding of NH-4. It was hot, but not as hot as it had been the day. I updated my parents by telling them that I had reached Bangalore and was now heading for Salem in a state transport bus.
A few kilometers short of a town called Dharmapuri I stopped to have coconut water. I exchanged my road trip details with three men who had also stopped to have a drink. They admired my bike and my courage for having come so far alone. Then advised me to take the route to Coimbatore via a town called Bhavani, instead of riding via Salem. It would save me about 40kms they said. For some reason, I thought that the route to Bhavani was through Dharmapuri. I entered Dharmapuri were election rallies were in full swing and thus was delayed due to the slow moving traffic. After exiting the town I was back on NH-17! Before branching off into Bhavani I stopped for fuel and wet my tee shirt again.

I crossed Bhavani and was in Avanishi at around 4.00pm. The traffic was very slow and the roads were narrow.At around 4.30pm I could see that I was at the outskirts of Coimbatore and neither my joy nor my sore butt knew any limits. I was nearing the end of a journey that I had been visualizing for more than two years! The final approach was marked by the familiar sight of the L&T bypass that starts at one end of the city and ends at the other end, just a few kilometers from where I stay.

I stopped to take one long look at the road behind me and reflect on all the emotions that I experienced since I started. My dream was about to end soon and become a reality. I reached home at 5.00pm that evening and took everyone by surprise. My parents were speechless for about a day! I had traveled thro three states in two days , Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, covering a distance of 1225 kms, solo, in 21 hours.

The longest dream was over.

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Trip Photos are here.

Photos of the University campus where I stay are here.