AYYO!!!!

We were high on the BOBMC Rider Mania vibes as a year before i.e. in January 2016 we attended Rider Mania in Nagpur which was fun filled and an awesome event. For those who don't know, BOBMC Rider Mania is a bikers' event which happens every year since it's inception in 2003 and on the last day of event it is announced where the next year's event would take place. We were super excite knowing that Rider Mania is happening in Kundapur, Karnataka in January 2017. The plans started soon after bookings in the month of October 2016 because everyone in my group wanted to attend the event but also adjust the leaves etc for the same. I had something crazy on my mind which luckily few of my friends, Sachin, Sujata, Mandar, Francis & Baptist agreed to and allowed me to plan everything. Hence it became a big fat 15 days affair to travel across South India. The BOBMC Rider Mania was hosted by Madrass Bulls, a Bullet club from Karnataka and the dates of the events were 27-28 of January 2017. The planning and brain storming begin from December 2016 checking the entire map of South India and checking and gathering information of all locations we wanted to visit. We decided that at any cost we start from Mumbai and on day 1 itself we shall reach Karnataka. We were 5 bikers and 1 pillion who were ready to make sacrifice for unpaid leaves and complete this journey but also our dream to visit South India.  We were laid back as the plan sprawled over 15 days including some extra days in case of any bike breakdown etc.

I personally was so excited that I did not sleep at night and finally the day arrived 18th of January 2017. We started our journey at dawn. We started at about 3.30 AM in the morning. We all were suppose to meet at Vashi Toll naka and Sachin and Sujata were going to meet us at Chowk Fata near Karjat. Along with all luggage we also carried lot of snacks with us which helped us survive through out the road journey.

It was super duper chilly in the morning. Especially when you are from proper mumbai, you would know what I mean. We wants our blankets if the temperature drops below 24C and leave super early in the morning and especially after crossing Vashi Creek Bridge we began to vibrate just like our Royal Enfields. After that we all finally met at Chowk Fata, we began our journey further and it started getting cold like hell. Travelling through Khandala ghat and further crossing Lonavala, I was just keeping my hands near engine one by one to get some heat. I was in the lead as I was the planner and Francis was on tail to make sure everybody's together. We decided to take halt outside pune for quick breakfast. We crossed pune at about 7AM reached at Warve McDonald's but it was not yet started so we decided to move a little further at slow pace so we can spot a hotel and finally we found one. It was so chilly in pune that we had more tea than breakfast.

The breakfast affair went on till 8AM and we again started our journey shivering like hell. I couldn't even feel vibrations of my Bullet because of shivering. We continued further as our first stop was at Davangere in Karnataka which was more than 700kms but we were ready as the roads are super smooth from Pune onwards. We had decided that after every 100-150 kms we shall take a small halt for everyone to get some rest eat, drink water etc. So later on we made a small stop near Karad and clicked our first picture of the journey as by the time we reached Karad, the cold weather became little pleasant. It was a fun filled first day of the journey.

We continued further and reached at Hotel Goa Ves at Nipani for our lunch. After harsh cold weather and travelling since dawn, we were dead hungry and just started eating butter chicken and roti like savages. Alas! Such a big meal and good rest of about 1.5 hour.

We wanted to rest more but journey shall continue so we continued from Belgaum, Dharwad, Hubali. After reaching Hubali we had our first South Indian Snack being Idli and Medu Vada. It was so good that even after such a heavy meal along with Jeera Rice we still ended up having multiple plates of Idli and Medu Vada. Meanwhile we booked our hotel stay at Davanagere. To be honest we were not sure about doing approximately 750kms in a day so we had not booked hotel stay, we had decided that where ever we get most tired we shall see for stay nearby😛 but we somehow reached Davanagere. The Hotel was super nice and at the same time was having a live show which we could see from our balconies. So at the end of the day 1 the dinner set up was in the balcony along with drinks.

I would like to mention that in 6 of us some were kind of daily drinkers and would finish at least half the bottle but we had made a rule from begining that no one shall have more than 2 pegs and must go to sleep by 11PM max so that we can start early next day. I am glad we followed same pattern for entire journey. We used to sleep at 11PM or so and be on our noble steeds by 6AM in the morning.
First day was fun and tiresome and as soon as we hit the bed the eyes couldn't open and it was a deserving sleep for all of us.

So, as decided, all were ready to hit the road at 6AM in the morning. It wa still dark because of winter days but the nightmare was yet to come. Taking stops as usual and by 12PM we reached our nightmare"Bangalore". We all are from Mumbai and very much used to daily traffic scenario but here its just next level.it was so hectic that at one point we thought of just pushing our bikes around to get away from the roads😅. Luckily we went came out of the traffic and somehow reaches Hosur. We were dead tired in Banglore traffic but we also wanted to continue and reach our first major destination being Pondicherry. We were so happy seeing the Arc gate of Pondicherry that we did a little dance and clicked photos in pride that we reached here. It is pertinent to note that none of us had done major cross country ride on bike. Among us, only Mandar had gone to Ladakh but that too by hiring bike from Delhi along with a major tour group. So none of us had experience for such a long journey. We crashed at our hotel which we had booked through a rider friend who earlier visited the same place. Hotel Sarvmangalam run by a middle aged Tamil lady along with a Maharashtrian man. It was little difficult to converse but we were relieved knowing that we got somebody to speak marathi. The lady is loving and caring making sure everyone is comfortable. This hotel has kind of old world charm, having wooden stairs and the decoration would take you about 30-40 years back. We again after hectic journey of about more than 550kms crashed at the hotel. We had no energy to get up and go out to roam around but the stomach wont let us sleep so we headed out to have dinner at french restaurant Le Cafe. The colorful vibes of Pondicherry and confluence of Indian & French style. The French cafes amd restaurants, Pondicherry is an awesome place for leisure travel. We were going to stay for two nights in Pondicherry to experience Pondicherry but even though, being just like Goa having cheap booze and awesome restaurants, Pondicherry is calm and serene.

So as per our schedule, we were on the road at 6AM and the journey continued towards Velankanni. Velankanni is not so far from Pondicherry but a major Christian holy place which Francis and Baptist wanted to visit.

The east coast is not like the west coast. Mumbai and nearby coastal regions are having calm seashore whereas the eastern coast, it can rain anytime and the same happened, we visited Velankanni, came out, continued further to go to Rameshwaram but as soon as we reached the main road from internal roads of Velankanni it started raining heavily and we couldn't continue our journey. We had carried on thermals and other clothing but not rainwears. So we decided to stay near Velankanni and dry all wet luggage. The hotel we stayed was only lodging and had no food facility, hence we moved out for food meanwhile as it was already cold and rain made it little colder than usual we thought of getting our beloved Old Monk and started searching for nearby liquor shop, unaware of the fact that there's no such thing in Tanilnadu. All the liquor shops are state run having majorly Indian local brands which you may have never heard of. Another surprising thing is that, one has to wait in the queue to get liquor. There will be a small window just like cashier window at the bank where you collect your bottle. Unfortunately we couldn't find Old Monk but the hotel where we had our dinner had bar facility and had all kinds of liquor so as usual 2 pegs each and we were good till next day.

Everyone woke up by 9-10AM and after getting ready decided to head out to get our engine oil changed. Till now we have clocked more than 2500kms, so it was necessary. We asked Hotel owner if he knows anyone and he just told go to Babu Mechanic on the outskirts of the city. Now this mechanic is so famous that you can ask anyone and people just know him by name. His speciality is diesel bullets which he still restores and assembles. He even convert petrol bullets to diesel along with electric starter. Upon reaching there we saw babu was working on a diesel motor. He has his articles etc published in local newspapers sticked on wall of garage along with couple of trophies and certificates from Royal Enfield itself. So after chit chat with the help of a local who understood hindi and getting our bikes serviced are ready to munch more miles, we headed towards Swami Vivekanand Rock Memorial but by the time we left it was almost 2PM and we had no breakfast, so we decided to have brunch and went to eat authentic South Indian Fish Thali which was finger licking good and lipsmacking. Again heavy lunch is done with lots of fish and rice. Actually for me Sachin and Mandar, we being from Konkan region, fish and rice is our weak point and we cannot control eating it.

Such a heavy food, making us unable to get up and somehow continued to explore. After quick visit to Rock Memorial, we went at sat at the Kanyakumari beach to experience the sun diving into Indian Ocean. Such a mesmerizing moment to witness. After sunset we against n had snacks and we were already full because of heavy brunch so we again decided to look out of Old Monk because of cold weather. After inquiring with locals we found the liquor shop and luckily we got last 2 bottles 180ml each. We were happy, we came back to our hotel with chips and salted peanuts and the the program beings at 8PM.

We slept early as we were going to start early towards Kodaikanal.

The journey further continues. We started as early as 4AM in the morning. Chilly weather open roads, we are now quite used to with the daily routine Wake Up - Eat - Ride- Repeat. Our bikes are ready to eat the tarmac as the bikes have fresh engine oil and filters. The journey begins in super chilly morning and total darkness. We decided to have breakfast by 8AM or so as we were not hungry. We continued riding, I had earphones plugged with good marathi music to listen in such a pleasant morning on low volume and suddenly my bike also started dancing. I thought it might be a puncture again so I stopped and checked tires but nothing. I thought it might be a illusion or something as we all were actually sleepy. Now again bike started no wobbling, the bike is smooth. We almost reached near Thirunelveli again suddenly bike started wobbling and I was about to hit a car in the next lane. It was a scary moment which took my breath away. We all came to halt and Mazal Tov, the front wheel bearings are now powder. We somehow reached Thirunelveli but at such a early time, no mechanic was to be found. We halted near a Sweets shop and Francis and Mandar went in different direction to search for mechanic. One Traffic Police Constable told us about a garage some 10kms ahead on the highway itself. Meanwhile we found that being in Thirunelveli and not having Thirunelveli Halwa is a major sin hence we indulged in Halwa affair sharing 1kg of Halwa among 6 of us and along with it Samosa and other stuff as well. After quick sweet toothed breakfast, we went ahead, finally found mechanic and he took about 1 hour to repair the wheel bearing as he had to go to town to get bearing and the shops were yet to be opened. Hence we were behind our schedule but still we were determined to reach Munnar before dark.

The bike is again ready to roar and now we are heading towards Madurai and Kodaikanal. It was a lightening quick visit to Madurai and headed to towards Kodaikanal taking left from Madurai. Let me tell you one thing, if you want to explore beauty of South India, travel through the Western Ghats starting from Karnataka, you will be speechless by the beauty of nature. It can not be contained in words how beautiful this region is!

While travelling through Kodaikanal after a quick visit to Kodai lake, Pillar rocks, Devil's Kitchen, we moved towards Munnar the beautiful ghat sections are bliss for riding bikes its beautiful and at the same time terrifying as its just straight cliff. The cold wind along with fog was really mesmerizing and we all were just lost in its beauty. Stopping to admire the beauty, clicking pictures and suddenly by the time we reached near Manthal, BAM! Francis' rear tire was punctured. Luckily we found one roadside puncture repair shop ahead. A lady was going to repair the puncture but as she waa confused with Bullet's mechanicals she called her husband to help. Meanwhile we also found a Narial Pani wala next to the shop and we raised Narial Toast for our journey. Puncture was fixed and so the Narial Pani was over and we headed towards Munnar.

We reached near Tamilnadu- Kerala border near Bodimettu and Francis smelled something. He made blowing horn signal gesture for us all to stop. We started looking and found that after the puncture was fixed, he forgot to place the distance bearing and the tire was touching the mudguard and by that time we dragged it so much that it was almost like burning and left profile of tire was totally scratched like it was done with sand paper. It was almost 5.30PM, we are in the middle of the road. One local resident told us to move near his restaurant area which is just 400mtrs away from there as this entire area is a forest reserve and by evening, Elephant herd starts moving and crossing through this area which can be dangerous.

We reached near restaurant, inquired him about mechanic to fix it. He told us to move yo Pooppara where we can find a mechanic and also suggested to stay in Pooppara as it was dangerous to travel on bike after sunset in this forest region.

We mutually decided to move to pooppara and we were crawling at the speed of 20-30kmph. Francis was in the middle and Mandar was on the tail. We reached Pooppara at about 7.30pm or so and wasted about half an hour in finding mechanic but couldn't find any.

One Local Tea vendor who had multiple flavor of tea, another beauty of this region. Tea in the flavours you can never imagine, his younger brother was with him who could understand and speak english. He asked us through him if everything's fine. We told him our problem and he spoke to his younger brother in Malayalam. We couldn't understand language but we know for sure hw told his brother to help us in everything.

His brother's name is Akmal Suleman. Now Akmal is our regional guide here. He also offered various tea for testing and also refused to take money. We forcefully made him take atleast for some of the tea cups if not all and he happily agreed. He took francis and Baptist yo local mechanic who was about to close his shop but he happily helped us and repaired with the new part which was missing. Akmal also suggested us that we should stay in Pooppara instead of moving ahead in the dark. It was almost 9PM at night.

He helped us find a good hotel showed all possible options and we finally zeroed down on one Lotus Hotel. Such a wonderful guy helping us throughout even to pick our luggage to drop it in the hotel. We offered him some money but he refused with a smile and gave us our number and told as long as we are here, if anything is needed we shall call him. He told, he would also come and check on us next day.

Now we are in Lotus hotel in Pooppara. The hotel owner was very generous. As we entered we saw he had some wines. Which are known as Munnar wines. He offered us best rooms with balcony to get the beautiful view of tea estate across the road. We were relaxed meanwhile ordered for food. The owner made a good set up at the poolside for us to dine. Food was really delicious and Francis and Baptist were happiest as they got Beef to eat. The owner also offered us the Munnar wine for which he did not charge us anything. He was also a ln avid bullet fan having couple of old bullets and was very fond of us seeing we travelling on bullets. He also had dinner with us. We are now really to lucky to have such a great host and were happy with the hospitality.

After the dinner we are back to our rooms. It was about 4-5C temperature outside. Baptist opened up his Chivas Regal and now we are drinking just sitting in balcony. We could hear the roar of the elephant herd coming from internal tea estate.
Best part was the bed. It was so comfy that we never wanted to leave it.

So the next day decided to visit Munnar and further continue our journey and stay at Adimali. Meanwhile Akmal called and told us that he too going to Adimali and couldn't come and visit us. We told him that we shall call him once we reach Adimali.

The hotel owner also gave his visiting card for future references and if any kind of help needed when around Pooppara. We also purchased a bottle of Munnar wine from him and we started towards Munnar. Now it was Mandar and Baptist's turn to have trouble with the bullet🤣 and after visit to KDHP tea plantation, when we came back to KDHP outlet in Munnar city, the bikes refused to start. Again search for mechanic began, one local taxi driver told us about a mechanic who could resolve bullet problems in minutes. We towed the bikes are reach to mechanic's place which was just near by KDHP outlet. There was issue with spark plug and fuse of both the bikes. To our disappointment the parts were not available near by so Francis along with mechanic went to Adimali which is about 30kms from Munnar. Meanwhile me and Sujata went for window shopping and in search of Nettipattam for house decoration and luckily we found Nettipattam at cheap rates so we purchased 4-5 of it.

Now Francis and Mechanic is back from Adimali and its about 5pm in the evening. We remembered what the restaurant owner told us last night, not to travel on bikes in this region in the dark, so we decided to find good stay in Munnar as we are newbies in this city and do not know anything about it. It is better to travel in day light. Good that we had extra days at our hands. I, Sujata and Mandar took everyone's luggage on bike and dropped it at the hotel rooms and came back to mechanic. Now its evening time and we are hungry because it getting cold now.
Travelling to Munnar and near by places, actually, more or less entire wester ghat region of south India during the month of November-February is a blissful period.
Now it started drizzling as well. The weather was awesome.

We got local food i.e. chicken chettinad and kerala parotta from the Munnar market where you get street food. Its awesome delicious and on available till 1AM or so at night. We got everything parcelled and came back to mechanic and along with him we all had dinner.  The bikes were ready by 8PM and we headed back to hotel.

The next day we woke up and ready to leave at 6AM but the Hotel manager told us to wait as they were offering us breakfast. They offered everything of our choice and by the time we had a heavy meal, it was almost 8AM. After thanking hotel manager and staff we started our journey. Today is the Republic Day and we are little behind our planned itenery as the BOBMC Event was taking place on 27th-29th January. We decided to cover maximum possible distance today to reach Kundapur by tomorrow afternoon for lunch. We decided to get down to Thrissur via Adimali to further continue our journey on highway so we can go little faster instead of going through western ghats.
Now we are riding as fast as we can the flags are placed on the bikes which are waving with the wind. In one of the small break we decided to go from coastal side of Kerala and instead of Thrissur we got down from Angamaly and continued towards Kodungallur. Now we are travelling through internal parts of coastal Kerala. Small roads, Coconut trees everywhere and backwaters and sea side, BEAUTY!!

Now its almost 4PM as we had started at about 8AM from Munnar we were falling behind. We were dead hungry and decided to take a stop in search of food. We halted near Kodungallur and just found a roadside dhaba type hotel. It was a local joint in every sense. The owner saw us and welcomed us. He could speak little english, one of his waiter knew hindi so he started conversation with us through him. He was keen to know how we travelled and where we are heading as he say MH number plate and was surprised and happy to see us traveling so much. We ordered veg and non veg thali which was served on a banana leaf. Typical kerala food. He continued his question as we were eating. He told us that he has 1 family member staying at CJ colony of sion, Mumbai. I told him that I have a Keralite friend staying at the same locality and he just bounced with joy. He offered various food including banana fritters. We ate more than our stomach could handle. Veg, chicken, fish, beef everything and the food was so delicious that it became best part from the best parts of this trip. He eas not ready to take money when we were leaving and asked of bill. Upon forcing him alot he tool money for just 2 thalis that too just rs.200/-. We came out and waved at us till we disappeared. Such a great hospitality we are experiencing since we came to South.

By the time we left from there it was 6PM. We were falling behind. We were now very sleepy after heavy meal so we slowed down. As everybody is feeling sleeping the tea breaks increased, moreso, the evening traffic and single lane road were testing our tolerance. It was very late and we reach Kozikode at about 10.30PM. We had heavy meal so no one was hungry. We decided to continue further atleast for more 100-150kms to take halt so that next morning we wont take much time reaching Kundapur.  We reached on the outskirts of Kannur and decided to take a short tea halt. Here where the major problem occured to us. While we were having tea few drunkards were crossing by and they saw Sujata having tea, they started to come for her which I and Sachin avoided but they were making remarks, comments, signing hindi songs. we were ready for fight but also little scared. As it was past 12AM and noone was there except tea shop guy. However, the chaiwala started giving them bad words and told us to get on bike and go. We paid him and got on bike now we are on our way. Meanwhile we needed to refuel so he reach at a petrol pump just 5-6kms from the place of incident. We filled in and just took a small halt at the gas station but we realised these drunk guys wete following us on their scooty. Sujata was shit scared and were not letting us handle it so we all just got on the bike and took up the pace now we ar riding at more than 100kmph speed.
Meanwhile Francis reached near by bike and told me that I was right we should have halted in Kozikode only. We decided to search hotel at Kannur city. We luckily found one hotel at about 2AM at Payyanur. Everyone was scared but now as we reached hotel everyone was relieved. Sujata cried a bit but we calmed her and gave her whiskey to drink😛 and assured her that nothing would happen till we all are together.

Next day we started at 7AM as we slept hy 3AM. We were just 200kms behind Kundapur, Karnataka. We were energised and started our journey. Now on our way to Rider Mania, we saw many bikers coming for the same from parts of Kerala. We were more happy seeing many bikers passing by on their bullets. Now we are heading towards the event and by afternoon we reached at the gates of event. Got us enrolled showed our ID's and booking receipts and we are in. 2 days of madness begins here. Bike events, games, dirt race, live music, rock bands, unlimited food and booze. We met all of our friends, greeted them. We had taken tent option and had brought our own tents, so we pitched our tents dumped all the luggage, got freshen up and we are ready to party. Now our other friends from mumbai arrived for the event travelling by car as they all had issues with leaves they came only for event. To my utter surprise my better half Prachi was also with them, which I never knew and I was shocked and surprised. I saw her after 10 days since being on this journey. I wanted her to accompany me but because of issues for such long leaves from office that too in the begining of the year was not possible for her.

Talking about the event, it is not possible to pen down the madness at BOBMC Rider Mania, one has to experience it to know it. There's unlimited food and booze throughout. Bands playing, DJ's playing. It can bring out the party animal in you. Bikers from all around India and even Nepal comes for this event. Every year the big bikers clubs through their leaders pitches for hosting the event i. Their cities and voting happens and then the event venue is decided and announced on the last day of event at the evening party. The 2018 event happened in Maharashtra, 2019 event happened in Rajasthan and 2020 event was successfully hosted in Nepal by a club called FORE (Friends of Royal Enfield and now in January 2021 it is hosted in Hyderabad. This event also allows you to go to places to attend the event itself.

Now we are in paradise for next 2 days being 27-28 January. To know the experience of the same one must attend it atleast once in their lifetime.

Now its the morning of 29th January. The party's over. Last breakfast at the event and everyone heads back home, meeting every friends they know, made during this event, known faces with whom we had beers but dont know their names but the company of each other made a sweet memory and promising everyone to see them next year in the event. We started our journey back to home. Prachi also headed with Ninad in car as she had to go to office next day. We were also ready to leave to go home.

Bazingaa!!!
Our journey is not yet ended. We are yet to arrive in goa where we are spending couple more days.
So, morning we started along with our entire group and decided to visit Murudeshwar first. First stop was at Marvanthe beach which has its own beauty. The sea and the river side by side by doesn't meet because of the road in between. Pati, Patni aur woh!!
A natural marvel. Crossing this part gave me a feeling which cannot be explained. We quickly visited Murudeshwar and headed further. We we planned to visit Gokarna but we had already gone there long back and many of us wanted to continue and reach tomorrow tonight so we all continued in a big group of 15-20 bikers. Francis and Baptist invited us all to their house in Goa. His father had already managed everything right from liquor food everything we wanted. His mother and sister came to Goa from Mumbai. His mother cooked delicious food along with prawns pickle. While coming to goa we also visited one of our friend who recently opened up a cafe in Goa and he was jumping with joy to see entire group coming to his cafe at once. The conversation continued till midnight and they we had to force everyone and go to sleep as many had to head home in the morning to be present in office on the next day. Francis told me sachin and sujata to stay as long as we want. Along with us, Mayur and Amit also decided to stay back. We decided to leave on 31st January. Meanwhile we chilled at Arambol, Mazorda beach, and rest of the beaches and shacks and stayed with Francis- Baptist & family and had fun.

The vacation ends here. Now we head back home on 31st of January. We started as usual early at 6AM, bidding adieu to Fernandes family. I along with Sachin Sujata Amit and Mayur continued our journey to Mumbai. Taking an entire saddle bag full of memories and good times that we had and by night about 8PM we are at our home sweet home and the epic journey ends here.

I remembered a quote from Confusious "wherever you go, go with all your heart". It is true indeed. When you open your heart you meet best of the people and see best of the things that are there in world. Actually everyone should go to some place they have never been atleast once a year to find themselves.

With the next day's sunrise we all wakeup lazy rolling on the beds as it was a exploration day.
Some of us were still a sleep. So I, Baptist and Sujata decided to head out fot sightseeing. We visited Paradise beach, Serenity beach and the famous Promenade. Pondicherry is very vibrant in colors and at the same time it is calming. The whole day went into exploration and chilling in Pondy. We loved Pondy ao kuch that we promised it that we shall come back soon.

While planning this entire trip, we had kept extra days in our hands which helped us as we used one of the extra day for stay in Velankanni. Next day as usual we are ready at 6AM and the journey further starts towards Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. Its once in a lifetime experience to visit Rameshwaram. Such a beautiful place. Crossing the Pamban bridge is such an mesmerizing experience which cannot be explained in words. We had a quick visit at Ramanathaswamy Temple and had some snack. We decided to go further towards Dhanushkodi and have our lunch there. Road going to Dhanushkodi is a straight road and nothing on both sides except sand and mangroves. We reached at the start point of Dhanushkodi, there's a small market like places having small food joints and snacks corners. We all were scattered around some of us on the beach side clicking pics as we are at the very end point of our India where the Indian Ocean washes India's feet. However, Sachin was in search of food and found a small hut serving local saltwater fish which he caught just some moments back and was cooking freshly using the Tamil spices. He quickly Tawa Fried the fish and served us on a piece of news paper. The fish was so delicious that we forgot everything else and pounced on the fish to eat. We just told him to keep going and ended up having more than 10. To our surprise, Sujata who doesn't like fish much, she ate the most just after Sachin. It was delicious and unforgettable and we ate till our souls were satisfied. We continued to visit further, the Haunted town of Dhanushkodi but at that time some roadways works were going on so the road was shut to go further. We decided to return back and directly start our journey towards Kanyakumari and make a good stay of 2 nights instead of staying in Rameshwaram for 1 night.

The bullets continued to road towards Kanyakumari. We covered up major portion riding smoothly. The roads in Tamilnadu are butter smooth. At about 7.30-8 PM we reached on the outskirts of Kanyakumari but the the problem started. First Sachin's bullet got punctured, we shifted his luggage on other bikes and Sujata also came to sit on my pillion seat. We thought that at least little ahead we shall find a mechanic to repair the puncture, but then 2nd incident happened. My bike too got punctured. Again the luggage was shifted on other bikes so to make it light and we continued at the speed of 20-30kmph in search of mechanic and we came to find out that on Kanyakumari side everything's shut by 8.30-9PM on the highway side. Meanwhile Baptist saw a Police Beat Chowki and we headed there to ask for help. They told us that there's nothing near by, either entee Kanyakumari and get someone which was about 20kms ahead or to a nearby village on 10kms to get the owner of puncture shop to open the shop which was right behing the police Beat Chowki. We were already dead tired and back to back punctures were frustrating but the Police helped us like they were god sent at the right moment. Their beat van was on patrol ao we had to wait for it to come back. The van came back at around 11PM and the police along with Francis went to the owner of the shop and requested him to come and fix it. The owner too was ready instantly. They all came back and we were happy like seeing our favourite food coming to us 😅😅.
Meanwhile Mandar's bike also had a puncture so he started fixing all 3 bikes and also took a look at other 2 bikes as well but by the time everything was fixed it was almost 1AM at night. The shop owner didn't take any extra money to come and open the shop at this hour. He just smiled at told in his broken hindi- english, "You Mehmaan here, You always welcome". We were so happy with the hospitality we are getting in unknown state/region and felt good. We happily gave him 500 extra. Moreso, the Police again went to drop to his village in their police van.

We continued towards Kanyakumari and by 2.30AM after searching every road as there were no one to direct and guide, reached our hotel for stay. We didn't even change and crashed. We wanted to see sunrise at Kanyakumari but the hell with it we need sleep🤣.