This is the road...roaaad to Bengalooru..

It was not unusual when mom asked us not to leave in the night and we did...and as usual we paid for not listening to 'badon ki baat'...not exactly superstitious here , but this is the 4th time it has happened , before this , once i met with an accident and twice got stranded in rain during the middle of night with bikes refusing to start...

This one wasn't that bad though...Having left late from home...we were heading for some trouble we had to anticipate before hand...

Mangalore-Bangalore are connected by 2 roads one National Highway 48 via Hassan and the other State Highway via Mysore.There is this railway line which was closed in 1990 and never since then opened for passenger trains, they say there is this bus owners lobby preventing it from opening.Crude estimate would be more than 100 buses from Dakshin Kannada district leaving for Bangalore every night and as many to Mangalore.

We took NH 48 and knew very well it was late when we started and had to cover 360 kms before making it to Kumarswamy's capital Bengalooru. This road was once drivers paradise , but ever since Mangalore has joined the race of Tier-2 cities its not that way anymore.With MRPL and New Mangalore Port inviting heavy traffic its now car drivers nightmare.

This 2 lane highway passes through Charmadi Ghats to reach Sakleshpur yep The Coffee Hub. During day and especially in monsoon the smell of wet forest is just amazing.From Sakleshpur the highway passes through Hassan (known for ISRO base station and bypass to monuments Shravanbelgola , Belur ,Halebidu ) , CR Patna (better known for the Indian Oil gas station and Kamat Upachar restaurant ) , Kunigal , Nelamangala , Bengalooru.

Leaving Mangalore at 10:30 pm , we were actually starting with many of the buses state owned as well as private , heading to Bengalooru.One must remember ( which we did not initially) , there are as many buses descending from Bengalooru as there were ascending along with us . However before late when we realised about onward traffic ,and we decided to stop at Sakleshpur and complete the journey next day ( we had not reached Sakleshpur yet) .
But sometimes its too late when you decide.The ghat section to Sakleshpur is only 30 kms and on a normal day it takes an hour for a car as 'powerful' as a diesel Indica. That day it took us mind blowing 1/6th of a day to complete it...reason TRAFFIC JAM...!!!!

Yeah, we are the second largest populated country in the world , and we are growing fast , so fast that our administrators have no time to drop in and check the condition of 'National Highways'. Logic is what we have lost , in fact lost beyond recovery . I never understand why is nobody using the railway for transporting bulk goods other than the Bangalore-Mangalore pipe line for oil and gas .Oh I forgot to mention the railway line is now a trekking spot mentioned in almost all travel guides.Ok lets say we do not have resources to build a road right away , cant we have at least 5 traffic managers in the middle of ghat with a wireless ( none of the cellular networks are available in the ghats ) .This is when Mr.Kumarswamy spent whopping four crores on a monument on death of so called Karnataka's legend , god knows how many crores in changing the city names , what about the ones who are alive and whose names cannot be changed ? For all the tax payers I guess government should give a free ' art of living 'course ...

The traffic included everything from trucks of 30MT capacity to 40KL tankers , 40 seater buses , sleepers, volvos name it and you find them all. Eyes were drowsy as we waited to stop at the next tea shop.Bombay theme was playing in the background . The only kicks we found was finding smartest pints to park in the jam so as to take the lead when traffic moves.It included delicate negotiations of turns to rash driving , come on we were sleepy .
All in all apart from feeling good about our cities amazing growth rate , there was this kicks of 'powerful' Indica (otherwise sluggish) overtaking overloaded trucks . I guess the Tata's never actually designed it they just reduced the gear ratio , rpm and bhp of a truck , shrunk it into an Italian designed body and there you are Indica.

As already the dark sky was shedding its colour , and the sun was showing signs of rising in another hour , we continued our journey without stop . As we reached Bengalooru in the morning , I thought mom was right again .

Sweatin Is Out..!!

Come may end , all i hear and see is the wait for breakin of monsoons....???

I still remember Lagaan , Bhuvan and his team's wait for the rains to till the land , I m sure Rahul's team did pray at Chittagong too (they sound better as Rahul's team than Indian cricket team )...luckily for them their prayers were answered....

Durin childhood rains meant the begining of school.The funny smell the first rain would bring , the paper boats and yep fishing in the paddy field floods , garam pakodas, thats all monsoon were all about.I never knew rains made big news , all i remember is dad waiting to watch the INSAT pics during the news .

Its an electronic world now,and so the older methods of speculating the break of monsoon is even more complicated.One click and you get hourly image of the sky above...thanks to ISRO scientists...I m sure met dept also does ve a methodology to find it out and they do predict it almost accurately...

Rains aint about power cuts , bad roads , traffic jams like most of city dwellers think (esp Bangloreans...10 mins of rain can flood the car parks there)...neither is it bout farmers wait to prepare the land....Its more than that...!!

Other than marking the end of sales of mineral water ( and sending Bisleri back to mountains ),monsoon this year shall be about level of water in reservoirs and how Kumarswamy and Karunanidhi negotiate the rapids of Kaveri . Its arrival shall not only mean end of drinking water worries for local muncipalties but also inspire and trigger artists , poets and writers creations.

From what I understand monsoon delays major construction projects , and its arrival does decide the crop status ,also a good agricultural yield will mean lesser imports .All in all other than the bookies betting on Chittagong tests , the daily traders at Dalaal streets are the ones for whom monsoon shall matter most.

While for news readers the weather report shall be watched more attentively , the netas will be cashing on the feel good factor during a good monsoon. Come rain and you get 25% extra cola in the pet bottle , magzines shall now come with a polythene cover and the AC manufacturer shall come with discount offers.

With monsoon aint insignificant anymore , gear up yourself ! Its not evoparation condensation and precipitation any more...!!

As for me.... m gonna grab ma jacket , n ride ma unicorn into the western ghats...!! Sensex , GDP , Inflation ...cmon give yourself a break...ride into the clouds , with gushing water , fog ,drizzle and rain forest...Monsoon truly is lifeline...!!!