Do you know Manifesting works! Here is the story of how I manifested Annapoorna Sambhar and Coffee!

Post HBC’s Danushkodi ride – which I could not go because of my cousin visiting us the exact weekend – in the group they were planning a ride to Cherai Beach in Kochi – for the Independence Day long weekend.

Guests were expected around that time too – so I did not sign up for it.

Few weeks back I started missing the Annapoorna Coffee and Sambhar. I was thinking wish I could make a trip to Coimbatore.

Those of you who do not know Annapoorna – you should watch this first. I will wait while you watch this.

 

Waiting…

 

Ok continuing the story. The long weekend got freed up as there was a change in plans. At the same time Val announced in the group that slot has opened for 2.

I got permission from my Mother, Son and Wife – dont remember the exact order 🙂 – and signed up.

Then the drop outs started. It was to be 10 members I think.. but one of by one they kept dropping off.

On the eve of the trip – I was the only one jumping with enthusiasm. Only 5 were left and among them only 1 – I think Sujay – said let’s do it.

Val recommended I lead the ride – as I was familiar with Coimbatore roads.

The rendezvous point – as usual for all the South rides was the Continental building at Electronic City. Reporting time was 5:15 AM. I reached by 5:26 AM.

Vibhor and Vivek were there before me – so the trip was on. Phoo – I need not go back home with my tail pipe folded – because I only have permission for a group ride – solo rides are out of syllabus for me.

Thats Vibhor Vivek ( Walmarts as Sujay called them both ) and me.

Vineet and Sujay joined a bit later. They were coming from Hennur!

Our trip started at 5:45AM – Aug 15th.

3 CB 350 Highness – 2 black, and 1 Green – mine.
2 CB 350 RS – a Red and a Blue one.

We took the Attibelle-Royapettai-Dharmapuri road. Around 7:30 AM we took a short break to stretch  and kept riding till we reached Sai Sangeet around 8:15AM. Traffic was light – it was smooth sailing. Luckily no hint of rains.

Sai Sangeet was full – long weekend. There was a 20 minute wait for the table.

Note to self. Return if I carry Kerala chips should not park here in this gully next to the Hotel.

The tall guy at the back – Sujoy and Vineet to his left.

We resumed journey and we stopped at a scenic spot before Salem for some photo ops.

After a while we crossed Kaveri River and we stopped on the bridge. Since 2006 I have been crossing this bridge but this was the first time I stopped here.

 

After Erode and some 70Kms before Coimbatore – we got into the best stretch of this entire trip – a well laid 3 laner.

We reached Annapoorna and parked our bikes. Now the trip had majority Vegetarians – 3 vs 2. For the 2 I gave the option to walk to Haribhavanam 2 blocks away – but they decided to check out Annapoorna.

And I had my Onion Dosa and Coffee. Bliss. Manifested!

Vibhor had the infamous Cream bun.

It was around 2:30 PM when we left Annapoorna. We still had another 177 kms, and map was showing 3.5 Hours.

I was confident we could reach by 6:30 PM – even with sufficient breaks.

Little did we know what was in store for us.

For a very long stretch – the Salem-Kochi highway was a one laner – without any median.

We had to ride on the left overtaking lorries and buses – from the left. This was still ok.

Once we entered Kerala – Vibhor warned us – dont over speed they have cameras everywhere.

And true to that – there will be these over head cameras at regular intervals and everyone would slow down to 60 KMPH. The road signs said 50 KMPH limit.

One of the signals I spotted a RE biker – he was going to Thrissur from Bangalore – and he confirmed about the cameras. I started following him for a while till I lost him.

Then it started raining. We found a tea shop and settled there to wait the rain out.

 

 

The rain was not stopping. We decided to resume.

We were greeted with some beautiful scenery. Just before we entered a tunnel there was clouds – like smoke – going from the mountains to the clouds. What a sight!

We did not stop to take it in – it was getting dark and we wanted to cover as much as possible in day light.

And if rain was not enough – we were soon slowed down by heavy traffic – because of construction and road diversions.

And things got worse once it became dark. Sujoy had a brush with a Toyota Corolla in all the traffic mess.

We then stopped and took stock.  Sujoy suggested we all have our blinkers On and we stay together. So other cars and vehicles can spot us better and will be careful around us. The power of group rides!

Sujoy and Vineet had extra fog lights – apparently these are banned in Kerala – but they turned it on. Vineet started leading and we all followed him blind.

And a new problem surfaced. Fogging inside my helmet. Once I tried to keep the front lens up – for better visibility and less fogging – and a car in front splashed water inside my helmet and face. Yuk.

Finally after riding forever – we got off the highway and the rain relented. The last 18-20 kms was in beautiful village roads – one laner – but nice winding roads – and we reached the hotel around 9PM.

Pratap Sir was waiting for us there and we all checked in.

Because of all the drop outs – each one of us had a room for ourselves!

My gloves and Shoe were fully drenched. Dried them Jugaad mode.

Day 2

Next day morning – it was Breakfast at Pratap Sir’s home. It was a rain drenched day.

 

God’s own country. No one can argue with this.

We had delicious dosa idly vada  – and we could also taste some of the creations of Mrs. Eswary – a very energetic entrepreneur!

I have tried this Puliyinchi pickle during Onam Sadhya. Also got her Lemon pickle – which was even better and everyone at home loved it.

Highly recommend – https://wa.me/c/919074620947 – check this Whatsapp link to order.

Post breakfast we had to go to Honda Big wing in Kochi – one of us had some work to be done – again through the 18-20 kms of nice beautiful winding roads.

Saw this bizarre apartment! Thought it was Total Environment – but it was from Good Earth Builder. This is how Apartments should be!

We waited and waited – but the rain just will not relent. We decided to go ahead in pouring rain – and to make matters worse Kochi had traffic as bad as Bangalore.

On the other side of the rain drenched ride – a feast was awaiting us.

Pratap Sir had arranged a sumptuous Kerala Thali for us. It was in this beautiful resort – one side was the Sea and other side was the backwaters.

‘

Day 3

Sunday morning wanted to push off by 5ish.. was ready by 4:45 AM.

And finally by 6 we pushed off. After checking tyre pressure and lubing the chains. Thanks Vineet!

The roads were empty and we made good progress.

And we reached Annapoorna around 10:45 AM for brunch.

We again took the Dharmapuri-Royapettai-Attibele road. There was mad traffic at Royapettai – the returning holiday crowd had figured out the best kept secret – to avoid the Krishnagiri Hosur stretch and all were clogging up the small roads in Royapettai.

Luckily we zig zagged through the traffic – and reached Attibele in the middle of a heavy downpour.

And the customary trip stats.

In summary – each trip teaches a few lessons. I have to improve my rain gear. My riding buddies were well prepared – had rain gloves and covers for their shoes. Entire ride my feet were soaked in wet socks. My hands were also fully wet the entire time.

And the head lamp – I thought the lights were sufficient. But they are completely inadequate. During rains and with my front lens visibility diminished added to my spectacles fogged up – these lights are a joke. I am ready to pay a fine if they catch me – cannot risk riding without the aux lights.

And the ride – was not smooth. It was rain soaked and was full of traffic and bad roads at places – but there were some dream stretches – and that is worth all the trouble. It’s like life itself in a nut shell. We need these bumps and slow downs to enjoy those stretches where we feel we are literally flying!

 

 

Statutory warning – This is a long post of my 3 day ride with HBC on Jan 24, 25 and 26.

First the thanks

1. Honda CB 350

This could be the goldilocks bike. In spite of riding for 10 hours a day – on the stock seats and its suspension – did not feel much discomfort. And 40+ Kmpl.  Thanks Honda for producing this wonder machine – perfect for touring.

2. Pratap Ramdas Sir

He is one of the core members of the HBC team. He retired from Tata Tea last year after some 30-40 years of service and had organized this entire trip right to the last stop.

3. Val 

The founder of HBC. Super enthusiastic guy who just loves to ride and keeps the group alive.

Friday, Jan 24th

San took this photo while sending me off – me in full armour

Morning 5:00ish I packed all my stuff and started. Reporting time was at 5:45AM at Continental building on Electronic city.

And we waited till 6:30 AM – for one Vikram who was also our sweep. Now while waiting one parked bike fell on another bike and one of the CB 350’s accessory came loose.

We were a total of 12. 11 rider boys and 1 awesome rider girl. Some were to come in a car – but they dropped out and I was thankful they dropped out.

10 CB 350s
1 CB 300R
1 NX 500

Prathap Sir also rides a CB 350, he was riding from Cochin to greet us at Munnar.

There is something romantic about riding a bike, carrying your own luggage – all self contained. If I can add a tent and a sleeping bag and spend a night on a field instead of a hotel – it will take the ride to another level – perhaps another time.

I am riding after almost 3-4 months – and was a bit doubtful – do I have the stamina for a 500km – 10 hour bike ride in a single day? Plan B was I will take a break somewhere and return by myself next day if I could not continue the journey – and it almost happened. Will tell you a bit later 🙂

Once we hit the highway all my doubts flew away. The morning was a bit cold but totally enjoyable.

We took the under construction route between Attibele to Dharmapuri – via Rayakottai – here and there the roads are still under construction – but majority is completed and there was very less traffic. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

We stopped around 8:30ish for breakfast at a Wood fire Dosa place.

This is just off the Dharmapuri highway – location I saved in What3words –  https://w3w.co/tries.sensitive.game 

We continued on NH44 and from Salem went under the Coimbatore flyover stretch towards Theni. The day temperature was slowly rising and we took a few water breaks.

Around 1 we reached Karur and stopped at Dindugal Thalapakattu

One of the protocols I follow was to send a selfie to home whenever we stopped.

There were 3 eggetarians in the group – I ordered Egg Kothuporrotta but they forgot I guess and it came after all had paid the bill and were packing.

I took the parcel and paid off the bill and put my hand in my pant pocket – and where the bike key should have been there it was not there.

I then searched in all the pockets but the key was no where to be found.

I cooled myself and did a thorough search and found my right pant pocket had a hole! Gosh!

I had made a trip to the washroom and went there and searched. Searched in the table, beneath the sofa and got the waiter guys also to search.

Meanwhile many had already started and left to fill their tanks.

I then got an idea and put my fingers through the pant pocket and lo and behold – the key was there wedged somewhere near my knee.

Important lesson  1 – later confirmed by Gopal : In such long rides – always carry a spare key.

Apart from messing up the ride for everyone – I would have to break the trip – spend a night in Karur perhaps as I wait for the spare key to arrive from home. This almost became a forced  Plan B which I mentioned earlier.

Was the last to get out and filled the tank and we continued.

Till this stretch I was following the leader pack who were touching 120s. While it was thrilling felt such speeds are not safe – that too on a bike. Even in car I try to limit to 100s.

Post lunch I decided 120 is not my cup of tea and decided to stick to 100. There were a few along with me who were sticking to 100.

The faster group will wait at the next toll anyway – so it really didnt matter what speed we were all going.

Around 4pm – I started picking a headache. Luckily they stopped at a road side tea shop before Theni and I had tea and washed my face. Felt a bit better.

[ from Aaron’s camera ]

And around 5,5:30 – we hit the foothills of Munnar. And the climb began. And immediately I forgot about my throbbing headache as the temperature started dropping and the view was just fantastic.

 

The best was yet to come – the highway twisties that are laid on these hills were too good to be true.

Here is Aaron’s video captured on his Gopro.

Just in December end we were in Nilgiris and the roads were ok – had enough potholes and were narrow.

But these roads were as if we were in US or Europe  ( though I have never driven in Europe – what I see in movies and YouTube videos ) – truly world class.

The lines were clearly marked and road was well laid without any blemishes and best part – wide and natural curves. I could lean pretty well and felt natural riding on these roads.

We reached the resort around 7:30 PM. Pratap Sir was waiting for us.

I just slouched on the couch and did not feel like getting up. Had not subjected my body to this much stress in a day. Once I took a nice hot bath felt a lot better.

Day 2 – Jan 25th Saturday

 

Thanks Girish for the snap!

We went to the Tea Museum first.

Pratap Sir’s hand is there in almost all the Tata Projects in Munnar. We got a special tour of the Tea Museum.

The beautiful Tahr! once again greeted me here!

This is the brand – a co-operative now and the Ripple tea branding was there all over Munnar.

And Srishti – a short 1-2 kms ride from Munnar we then went to Srishti – a welfare center setup by Tata for the Specially abled.

All the workers are well taken care of – they have a bus which picks them from their home and drops them at work. Their kids get free education. And the papers, bags, dress materials they produce are all world class – and 100% Eco friendly. It was so heart warming to see this setup.

Pratap Sir was a hero here – everyone greeted him and even though he had retired was treated with lot of respect and affection.

All of Starbuck’s bags are manufactured here. Yes confirmed – 100% eco.

Thats a young Pratap Sir!

In the middle is founder of Srishti – Ratna Krishnakumar – she was there in the counter and I even had some friendly banter – not realizing she is the founder. Would have thanked her for this successful initiative.

This lady – forgot to get her name – was our guide and explained the natural dyeing process.

I was chatting with her and asked is that girl you – and she said yes! I gave bouquet to Ratan Sir. Just wow!

This was from the bakery. The employees are trained in Taj Mumbai from the Chefs directly. We had a sample of their handiwork – truly world class.

This is Vikram. Interesting guy! Wears an old Casio watch. Listens to golden oldies. Is the developer of Old roll [ https://play.google.com/store/search?q=old%20roll&c=apps ]. He does bouldering – climbs rocks without harness – and broke his leg few weeks back and was still recovering.  He showed the video too.. gulp.

This was in the Jam section. They were receiving 5 Ton of Strawberry that day! The jams they make is pretty simple. Just the fruit and sugar – no other preservatives. I asked is there not a sugar free option – they had tried other options but nothing worked – so they are sticking to sugar.

After Srishti we followed Prathap Sir as he took us around Munnar to locations he asked us not to disclose 🙂

\

Teesta drinking in the greenery all around.

Some random break as we recoup.

There was road work going on so we had to take this diversion inside a very narrow dirt road and an auto and a small jeep were coming on the opposite direction. We had to take U turn and find a place on the side to let the auto and jeep pass by. It was crazy and we did manage somehow.

Few lessons learnt during this off road adventure.

Lesson 2 : I should have turned off the Traction control. It did not occur to me that time. At a few places my wheels were spinning as I tried to climb up on loose roads.

Lesson 3 : Always wear gloves / armor. I learnt the hard way – I did not know we will get into these dirt roads and had removed gloves – as I was taking lot of photos – and my hand hit an innocent looking branch and it hurt quite a bit. At the next stop I wore my gloves back. Also the roads were treacherous – had I fallen I would have scrapped my hands or might have injured it.

Lesson 4 : I have to bend my knees when I stand and ride. Vikram gave this feedback that my legs are stiff and it is dangerous. If I hit a bad patch my legs can crack – so I should keep my legs little bent.

Lesson 5 : Do not slow down while standing and riding on rough patches. The bike is hard to balance on low speeds – and anyway since we stand the shocks do not affect us since we are standing.

We reached this serene picture by the lake – it was like a nature postcard.

It was Pratap Sir’s treat. He had arranged food from Srishti’s kitchen.  Yes I finished the entire Biryani plate in front me – was quite hungry after a day’s riding.

Sun was setting and the entire place became magical. We stopped multiple times to drink it all in.

 

This is Aaron’s gopro video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEkhuKi7stk

 

Day 3 – The Return on Republic day. 

 

It was around 9am we started. Return was via Udumalpet, Perundurai and then we joined the Salem highway towards Bangalore.

The roads were smooth and traffic was light. Even the Salem highway was sparse.

Reached home around 8pm ish.

Got the famous Kerala chips!

 

Monsoon had set in and temperatures has started cooling – this ride was in October.

Morning it was magical. Sun wasn’t out and the ride around Kanakapura was dreamy!

The ride was to a Tibetan settlement – Dhondenling. A little kid – Akshay – gave us a tour of the Monastery.

Here is a compilation of the photos.

Hbc ride to Dhondeling – Oct 6, 2024

 

 

Sunday morning, Aug 4th I woke up at 4:30 AM and had a big task in hand.

Rewind back to Saturday afternoon. I was having some free time, and as the saying goes in Tamil – the jobless barber will tonsure his wife if he has nothing else to do – I decided to clean my MT Helmet.

On the previous ride a bird had decided to do its job on my helmet which I had wiped with a leaf. Some of the white stuff was still left behind and it had dried.

After making the outside Chaka chak, I pried out the 3 cushions from the inside of the helmet –  and soaked them in a bucket. I have this helmet for 8 years and thats 8 years of sweat that came out. Yes I was yukked out too.

It was around 4pm now. Cloudy and no sign of sun. I squeezed as much water as possible – and left it to dry.

5pm. Still lot of dampness. I borrowed San’s hair dryer – her priced possession – a Dyson hair dryer – which comes in a jewellery box! I was admiring the Engineering of Dyson while drying the 3 cushions.

ps : If you guys want to get permission for a Ladakh trip – first get this hair dryer and bring up the subject.- might work!

 

It helped a bit but still there was dampness. Then night I kept the cushions on a shelf top – closer to the fan – hoping the draft will dry it completely.

Sunday morning first thing I did was to check the cushions. It had worked – they were dry!

Now this is the first time I am assembling these back. Took a good 20 minutes before I could fit them smug.

Job done, I got ready and armoured up and hit the road by 5:30 AM towards Indira Nagar Big wing.

At HAL Junction I saw another guy armoured up in a Highness. I waved at him but he just road past me. Huh – what a rude HBC guy I thought.

But he did not take left to Jeevan Bhima Nagar into Indira Nagar –  but rode straight towards CV Raman Nagar. Not a HBC guy. He would be wondering who was that crazy guy who waved at me!

This time I reached within time and the usual chit chat was going on. There were many new faces – for me – more veterans of the group had come this time.

We started around 6AM and hit old Madras Road. When we came down the KR Puram bridge we were greeted with a nice fragrance. There was almost a kilometer stretch of flower vendors on the left side of the road. One of the perks of biking – typically which we will miss cocooned in an AC car.

At 6:30 AM there was so much traffic at KR Puram and lucky none of us got lost. But after a few minutes the traffic eased and it we left the city behind.

Stopped for breakfast at Aaradhya Grand at Kolar – and had a sumptuous breakfast. Their star item was Mulbagal Dosa.

This hotel attracts lot of bikers. Here is a Who’s Who of Elite bikes on this planet. Towards the end you can see a Highness had sneaked into this Elite list! The Red one with a Sofa for pillion is the Honda Gold Wing. First time I am seeing one in Bangalore.

 

We then resumed our journey and entered Andhra.

“Welcome to Sunrise State” the board said. Did some R&D on your behalf. This was the term coined by Chandra Babu Naidu in Feb 2015. Technically it is Arunachal Pradesh which sees the Sun rise first.

And immediately felt my innards heating up.

Whenever your friends joke about Bangalore’s Traffic and your retort on but the weather is better – holds good. Just 2 hours away from Bangalore and here I am getting cooked inside. We can fix the traffic, but weather – it is God’s gift to us.

We took a break closer to Horsley hills – after riding for almost 2 hours.

I recorded the climb up the hill –  had my Gopro on my chest – so this is the view a kid would have got sitting on the petrol tank.  I have to yet figure a way to fix the Gopro to my helmet.

Have to say this – there is something riding a bike on a hill. Very addictive.

We road almost 150 kms one way from Bangalore just for these twisties.

It was  a rocky plateau and the view was amazing.

On the summit we had a bit of introduction and handing over badges to newbies.

The oldest rider in the group – Mr.Pratap – a core member of HBC- is turning 60 next month and retiring from a 32 year stint at Tata. He had lot of stories to tell.

The youngest rider in the group – was a Super woman – just 19, in her 1st year of College! She was riding a CB 300F – and was riding super confidently throughout. Hats off to her Dad for letting the biking gene flourish! He had presented this bike on Woman’s day.

That evening I promised Prithvi – I will get your learners license in 11th summer break – 2025, and a proper license in his 12th summer break – 2026.

One newbie in his introduction said he recently added Highness to his garage. Someone asked how many do you have. He has 8 bikes and a Hayabusa was one of them.  He complimented the group for being disciplined and riding with full gear!

Around 1pm we started back, stopped at a random Dhaba  around 2:30 PM – who was a bit overwhelmed to see 21 hungry bikers. Yet they managed to feed us all.

We pushed off around 4:30 PM and after a brief stop and bye-byes at Hoskote toll reached home around 6PM.

Mission statistics 😉

A 12 hour outing. 320 Kms. Around 1300Rs expense.

Breakfast : Rs.270
Entrance to Horsley Hills : Rs.30
Lunch : Rs. 190 ( was a hand scribbled bill – no GST! )
Petrol : Rs. 800 ( got an average of 41kmpl )

 

 

Here are the SM handles for HBC

Insta : Honda_beer_club_bengaluru

FB : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556726514899

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@hondabeerclubbengaluru