¬¬Three Dirty men at 40 and the one who joined later.
Where we went everyone knew nothing. Starting km reading - 24,569, closing km reading – 25875. Total distance travelled 1306 kms without knowing nothing. ‘Go straight’ to thiruthirapoondi. ???? There are 4 roads. ??? huh?
Bharath arrives at 6. Wearing a pinkish shirt and a rucksack. His Bullet (bike) all prim and proper. We take the customary photo before we start the trip. Chilly morning. Good feel. Empty road. Had breakfast at mamalla bhavan and headed for pondy. Before reaching pondy my back wheel starts to wobble. I paid close to 18 grand to get my bike ready. Hmph. Headed straight to promenade and ordered beer. OB. A word I would repeat very often. OB – ordered beer. He he. Met a man outside promenade riding a well-maintained Bullet (bright yellow colour). Told me where to go. Nice mechanic. Fixed my bike. Got a carrier fixed too. Tied up the rucksack. Bharath knew where to stay. Must have stayed there earlier. Hmmm… with whom? Went to Satsang. OB. Had very good food. Went back to hotel, watched IPL, slept well. Left Pondy late. Bharath’s fault. Very hot. Thanks to the coast we survived. Next destination – Kariakal. Another French colony. Reason for choosing French colonies – cheap liquor. A slight detour now. Pichavaram. Mangrove forest. Boating. Not interested. Not Interested???? Yes. Bharath noticed – “ pinnale parthingala”. I swerved. “BAR” Yeah you’re right. Boat ride is boring. OB. I should tell you that this bar had no counter, NO BARMEN, NO LUXURIOUS SEATING. One freezer. One man who served you what there was. Two seating places. One was occupied by 2 locals. The other, of course by 3 dirty men. 3 BO. Some chick peas and multi coloured vathals (crisps). Pradeep and bharath ordered for extra helpings of Chick peas. Pleasantly tanked we headed further south and reached kariakal quite late. Another Attempt of locating hotel. SIGH. (Nanda, Paris International, and some non-descript places we ended up at (ironically on the coromandel coast) Atlantic Inn. Decent place (with AC) but not good food support. OB. 6. Drank 4. Left 2 behind. Ordered chicken 65 (Pradeep likes it) and bharath had what? I don’t remember. An Old man in a lungi kept coming and going and kept bringing us beer and food. Watched IPL on a very grainy TV. Grains so large the white ball was missed most of the time. Crashed. Woke up Late. Bharath’s fault.
