
Destination : Chennai - Kodaikannal (600 km one side)
In October monthly meet the destination is fixed as Kodaikanal , and the date as December 3rd -5th, 2010. As usual some members nodded and others were blank,thought it is not possible to go such long distance. Some were confidence about their health, irrespective of their age and their Machine. The cost for the trip and details were provided by Srini(Moderator of Roaring Riders) and waited for the YES_NO reply. It took a time for most of the members to decide on the trip.
The rooms were booked, momentoe, badges were ordered, Banners got printed and all were set for the ride. The bike papers were checked and bikes got serviced. Now we are waiting
for day and praying the god for Rain free weather.
Day 1 - Dec 3rd,2010.
My alarm cried at 2.30am. which was not a usual time for my clock. I got up from my bed and freshen up. I sipped a glass of Kattan coffee(Black coffee) made by Mom. By 3.00am I was out from my home, and throttled towards direction of Airport. Around 3.30am, I was waiting near the Hotel Radison, and I saw a huge guy crossing me waving hands in Yezdi. Later I came to know he is 'Rassu kutty'.


with baggage, tool and small person like Hassan. The route map and reflector jacket were distributed. 5.00pm the first batch left from the spot. We decided to have a first stop at Vilupuram for breakfast, which is 150km from Chennai.
Luckily the weather looked very pleasant for riding. We crossed Chen


Next our ride was towards Dindukal direction, for Lunch stop. By 3.00pm we reached Dindukal. This place is famous for 'Thalapaakatti Biriyani'. Some guys wanted biriyani, and so went for the search of real Biriyani, and following them Silk Jai too went loosing the way. After lunch, we moved towards Vathalagundu, and one point of junction towards your right you will find a board pointing Kodikannal 52km. The watch showed 5.30pm, its getting darker and all we want is to reach the Kodai city before rain. The ghat road looked very dangerous and most of the path is damaged due to rain and lights were very poor. Some of our fog lights did'nt worked. Any how we managed to cross half of the distance and took a small Chai break near the falls.

My bike had some problem to climb the hills because I have changed the 'jet' which comes in carborater for better milleage. Sekar ( Engineer) gave me the confidence to ride and some tips to ride.


kero. Well now all Chennai guys have reached the spot and unpacked their luggage s in their respective rooms. Couple of hours later we heard Roaring sound from the hill slopes. Its not the

Meanwhile the Camp fire was getting ready - ready - ready. Yupe, It took hell out of time to burn the logs. At last we got warmed up. Its time now for some fag and drinks for some team and others are ready to bed. The dinner was Chappathi, Veg Rice, with Chicken curry and some Vegetable side dish for hard core vegetarians. The weather outside was

Suddenly no were we heard large bursting sound with big fire ball lighting down the hill.Later we came to know that was not any terrorist attack, but just a jeep got crashed to Lamp post and it created the sparks of fire. Due to this the hotel was dark for some time.
Day 2 (4th December, 2010):
Luckily Professor was not snoring, so I had sound sleep with my jackets on. Some were around 4.30am I heard our bikes sound and was wondering who is riding in this cold. Later I came to know those were guys from Trivandrum club who just reached Kodai. Well my sleep was waked up by 6.00am when the hotel fellas switched on the motor, which was just near my room. Srini, Anand were up and we

The Southern Raid T-shirt were distributed and all of them were in SR attire.
Meanwhile Srini was planning for site seeing and he was talking with the Manager for
arranging the mini bus.Three buses were arragned, and most

The Mini bus 7.1 DTS, took us to some important tourist spot like Polkers path were we most of them had fresh ICE CREAM, carrots and did some photo shoot.
Later the bus


Back to hotel now......

Its very chill and dark ! Camp fire is on. Its mella now. Hari switched on his Car stero and danced like Prabhu deva to the desi beats. Well the night party ended with Dance, Drinks, coffee, chai,

Day 3 ( 5th December, 2010):
By 7.00am, we were ready with our luggage and our lions are waiting for their masters order. Sand-witch was given as breakfast by the hotel guys which was not sufficient. Anyhow we managed to have it as starter. Exactly 7.30am we left the hotel, waving bye to all the other club riders. We reached Dindukal and stopped for the real breakfast. Then it was non stop ride to Trichy to refill our tank. After filling the tank full, we throttled till 2.30pm to reach Perambullur for lunch at

Well, I just left some kilometers away from hotel and saw a Yezdi parked, and a person waving hands. I just stopped to see. Its our professor again. I told him that we are not going to go for any stop until we reach Chennai, because the rain started to pour.

As I see the Sign Board descending 220km ... 200 km ... to Chennai , it was more thrill and speedometer was metering up. The speed didn't lasted long. Gradually I reduced the speed to 60kmph. The weather was completely changed. Heavy rain, poor road lights and fear of Highway dogs, and other speedy vehicles reduced my speed. At this moment I should salute Professor's energy. You don't believe, I almost dragged him to stretch of 250km non stop ride. When I was almost nearing Tambaram, Professor missed the track and there was no clue were he went.
Well now Iam in Chennai city.
My speed is only 30kmph now. I got stuck in the Koyemedu traffic and took an hour to reach home. Once I opened the gate, my daughter heard the 'Dapa' Dapa sound of my bike and came running towards me and hugged. She asked " Where is my Chocolate'.

I sms'd all my fellow riders to know their safe reach. Thus our 2nd Southern Raid came to an happy ending note.
What I learnt :
Carry set of gloves if you going for a long ride that too if the weather is cold.
Do fix good Lights. Carry your tool kit, extra spark plug and cables.
Always look around for dogs in the highway. They are always surprise visitors to you.
Memorable Funny events:
Kero - Fero love story,
Karthik getting trained under Fag guru - Rasukutty
Rasukutty running behind Professor ( almost he opened the Rest room door when he was in) to know who is Miss.Honey.
Fero loosing his number plate in the highway.
Oro bike been water washed by Highway lorry.
Kms:
Chennai - Chengalpet( 45 Kms) - TIndivanam( 65 Kms) - Villupuram( 40 Kms) - Ulundurpet( 40 Kms) - Trichy( 125 Kms) - Dindugul( 116 Kms) - Batlagundu( 45Kms) - Kodai ( 60 Kms)
Bikes : Chennai - 11, Banglore - 9, Mysore - 11, Trivandrum - 8, Mangalore -1.
Cheers !!
Keep riding.