This time when, I planned my next visit to Mysore, I was more excited about the journey rather than the destination itself. Now one would wonder what’s so special about this otherwise a banal looking journey. So to clear those web of suspicion, I must tell you that this time unlike my previous visits to Msyore, I decided to scale the distance of about 160 km by a simple machine called bicycle .Accomompanying me in this adventurous extravaganza were two of my friends named Pranjal and Rahul who also, like me found themselves bored off by ongoing college routine and were looking for some change. Once decided it did not took ours much effort to arrange the three bicycles ,courtesy to Pranjal widespread PR skills .On the name of the preparation for the journey we kept nothing other than a bottle of water in a bag containing our clothes too.
Finally on an pleasant morning when the city was still in its bed ,wind whispering into our ears giving it’s fresh morning essence ,birds chirping loud like telling everyone 'wake up the dawn has arrived' the three of us began our escapade. At about 5.30 am we gave the paddles a gentle thrust and started off, moving through the narrow lanes of the colony, we moved onto highway, which was slowly awakening to its daily routine Undulating on the road, we headed towards the Tumkur highway, to finally reach the Bangalore-Mysore highway, ie-NH-48. Cycling against the early morning breeze was an enriching experience in itself and the one we haven’t experienced ever since our childhood days. Chitchatting together and thoroughly enjoying the ride we reached at the outskirts of the city in time of about an hour. Swirling nonchalantly on the road, we saw office goers hurrying to their offices, school children’s waiting for their bus, shopkeepers opening up their shops to begin their daily routine, on the contrasting side we found ourselves free of any such commitments. (At least for that particular day) At about 9.30 we reached a place called Kingheri, approximately 35 km away from Bangalore, where we decided to have the much needed breakfast of idli and Wada. While eating we chalked out some journey plans, which of course we never followed later .Yet again we moved ahead with a brisk speed to cover maximum possible distance in those cool morning hours. Soon the sun rose to above our heads, making us feel the heat of that merciless afternoon. But we kept our spirits high and maintained the momentum of the journey, gulping on plenty of water and refreshments like banana, coldrinks etc in between.
Initially cycling together for a while, later on we gave up that failed idea and followed one’s own style of cycling to be at ease and feel more comfortable. I was comparatively quicker leading at front, followed by rhythmic Pranjal and finally the slow but steady Rahul. Once it so happened that, after a long session of cycling when ,I looked at back , there was no sign of the two on the road, hence I kept my cycle aside and sat on the nearby field dipping my feet’s into a small stream of water or a canal flowing through the field. Sitting there listening to the euphonious sound made by the flowing water, I felt at a complete state of solace and peace. After a while, I saw both of them coming togather, relieved by that I sat on my cycle and continued moving forward. Marching ahead we saw the milestone 'Mysore 99 km' written on it, by then time was about 1.30 pm , now we got the clear idea about the gravity of challenge that journey had put in front of us , it was 60 km long distance still to be covered. We decided to skip the heavy sort of lunch, instead relied on small in between refreshment throughout the journey.
Although riding on the highway was a smooth spotless affair, but built on the slopes of Western Ghats it surely made the journey more difficult for us. Riding upstream on the road on that blowing hot afternoon was a torturous but then inevitable part of the journey. In the mid way, we passed through a big town called 'Ramnagram' famous for its sugar mills and as a location for popular bollyoood flick 'sholey '(my personal favourite).By the time sun started mellowing down (at about 5 pm), we were completely exhausted, sweating profusely and started feeling the slight pain at few joints of the body. But then, now it was a sort of self imposed challenge, which never allowed us to buckle down. I still remembers ,somewhere in midst of journey at an small town, three of us lying like corpses on the floor of a movie theatre premises, which was showing some kannada movie, lying there we had that paltry siesta (sort of ) . By now we could see the shadows going lengthy and blazing yellow sun transforming into picturesque crimson orange. The serene evening breeze tried its best to fill us with new vigor required to scale the remaining journey, praising the surreal beauty of nature spread all around us we moved further .Around 6.30 pm we reached the place called 'Srirangapatna' which is famous as 'Tipu sultan ' capital of his time Mysore. At Srirangpatna which is the last big town before Mysore, we had a fragile thought of halting their overnight ,but then followed our gut feelings and marched ahead .Now it was completely dark all around us and we still had good 20 km to cover up. Moving cautiously on the extreme left of the road (to avoid being ripped off by heavy vehicles),for visibility relying on the headlights of vehicles zip passing us from the behind, we spend the most testing time of the journey .In the middle of that cantankerous session ,our long time dried throats longing to be quenched by water made the things worse on that ceaseless looking road ,with only darkness around .After cycling further for about 2km (felt like 20km at that time) we saw few houses couple of meters away from the road. We had no option but to knock one of the doors, on doing so we met one generous person who not only gave us water, but also appreciated our adventurous spirit, which of course motivated us to scale the further remaining distance. After quenching our thirst, we moved ahead only to halt again after inching further about 3km, at a small bridge. Out of sheer exhaustion, we parked our cycles aside and lied down on the pavement of the bridge, watching the uncountable stars in the sky, we shared some philosophical thoughts (our favorite time pass), meanwhile deathly heavy vehicles kept on zip passing us, unaware of the presence of three lives lying on the road side.
After that not so usual sort of halt, we picked our cycles again and reluctantly peddled to move further. Actually, the distance of 160 km proved too much for three amateur cyclists who were just looking for some fun through it. At around 9.30 at night ,still riding on that endless looking road, we felt like almost fainting down at any point of time,but then, now far down the road we could see the innumerable sparkling lights ,which ofcourse were of Mysore city, which were like telling us "yes, boys common, you can do it”. On witnessing the emergence of our much awaited destination, we recollected our remaining energy (which wasn’t much now), and gave the paddle a final sprint. In span of few minutes we zoomed into premises of Mysore city, feeling victorious and ecstatic about it. I looked into Pranjal and Rahul’s eye and said "dosto humne kar dhikaya"(friends we did it).That moment brought the end of our memorable cycling marathon and the beginning of new quest, to find a suitable lodging at around 10.30 at night. But then don’t you worry friends we will tackle it; we guys are some tough souls aren’t we.....