It was Sunday and I had to be some place other than home and what better place than one less known to the world, *DRUMROLL* Meghamalai!
Having heard about it from fellow enthusiasts who drove to the place the previous week I was already sold on the idea but for the sake of company I called up a few friends but none of them were up for the challenge as they had to go back to work on Monday and wasn’t sure that they’d be back before dark considering the distance and especially what the experienced members described about the route. Long story short, solo run it is!
Starting at around 6:30 AM from home I was taking it a bit easy, cruising at 60 kmph considering that Google Maps said under normal riding conditions I would take only around 6.5 hours to reach the place.
Since I was riding from ‘Kollam,Kerala’ I had opted for the ‘Bharanikavu’ route which is a less opted for route for interstate travels but at the right time of the day it can save you considerable time and that is what it did for me. Soon after I was past ‘Erumeli’ and that’s when the fun began, the roads were decent and the corners were just tempting and before I could bring my mind to comprehend the risks, my shoes, pegs and brake pedal(It’s a drum brake thing) was scraping all over the place.
The route was familiar as I remember riding through the place to attend the ‘2017 xBhp Inter-state G2G’ which was at ‘Thekkady,Kumily’. The curves were really dangerous considering that the state transport buses were having a blast overtaking without a care in the world and almost gently brushing pedestrians and slower traffic, but that was expected, what caught me by surprise was a private bus coming in the opposite direction that went seriously wide on a blind corner and nearly washed me out of existence, the only reason I was able to save myself was due to the CT100B’s handling and CEAT’s grip as such aggressive mid corner corrections usually don’t pan out well with my Bajaj Pulsar 220 as it runs like it’s on rails and mid corner correction aren’t well reciprocated.
After the near miss I was back to taking it a bit slow by going back to 60 kmph, enjoying the beauty of everything around me, I even stopped to capture photos of disciplined cows that were resting on either side of the road on the pedestrian lanes which got me to wonder why they’re polar opposite to the bovines up north that would at times decide to take a quick nap in the middle of the road, I event went to the extent of making up a joke correlating animal behaviour to literacy rates of their respective states, frankly it felt good to think about petty things for once and find joy in humility.
But my joy was short lived as I was cruising ahead I observed two calves walking side by side on the pedestrians lane and the one closer to the road got distracted by a yellow leaf that the wind carried and landed onto the traffic lane, the young-ling fascinated by it impulsively hopped on the road and grabbed it. I immediately signaled oncoming traffic and slowed down to a near halt, what happened next sent tremors of emotions throughout me as I resumed riding and slowly passed the pair the one that hopped on the road gave me a look of terror that I cannot find words to describe, it was as though the calf was in fear of punishment which moistened my helmet's cheek padding thinking of man’s cruelty towards animals.
After the experience I was riding slower at around 50 kmph until I got distracted by the board that said ‘Welcome to Valanjamkanam Waterfalls’, though there was nothing to see as the harsh summer had already dried it up. Being back to normal I decided to pick up speed and resumed at a comfortable pace until reaching ‘Vandiperiyar’ where the traffic got a bit tense but wasn’t anything worrying, soon after I was at ‘Thekkady,Kumily’ and without stopping moved further along to cross the border onto Tamil Nadu Roads.
A few kilometres into Tamil Nadu and I’m greeted by a rich waterfalls, which I first assumed to be named “Pinkeytex, Kumily” but later realized that it was the name of a textile shop, if anyone from the area is aware of what this particular falls is named then do let me know, I couldn’t ask around as there was no one else in sight.
Going forward the roads were decent but still narrow and that can’t be helped but being not so crowded I was able to squeeze my way and maintain decent speeds as all I had to do was go straight until I reached ‘Chinnamanur, Theni’, and just when the next deviation was about to come up my mobile phone which was also acting as my GPS threw up an overheating warning and crashed, leaving me to the mercy of my below par knowledge of Tamil but surprisingly the people of the area were well versed in English and guided me towards ‘Meghamalai’, which was around 25 km’s from the next right onto the ‘Old Palayam Road’.
Once off the highway the road towards ‘Meghamalai’ was almost like a runway with windmills on either sides, after a while you would reach a check-post where you would have to provide your details and duration of stay after which they would let you know that if intending to return the same day you would have to cross the check post before 5.30 PM.
From there on the road conditions were mixed with a few hairpins and patches of roads that were under construction but nothing too scary, you can enjoy the view as you go up cause once you cover a considerable distance then the scary stuff shows up, thought in all honesty the terrain was a piece a cake, I say this in spite of my thigh muscles screaming at me while I type this sentence.