Temple Ride : Road to Manthralayam

It's time for me to tell you all of another story. This time around, we decided to go to a different type of location, a Religious one. Don't believe anyone who says, that motorcycle riders and motorcycle enthusiasts, are hardened men and woman who drink beer and smoke cigars. Well, most of the time we might be like that, but there are other sides to us as well. Over the year, we will be embarking on many such temple rides, to seek the blessings of different deities, for the sole purpose that we get a chance to go on more rides.

Manthralayam, is a town in Andhra Pradesh, home to the devotees and followers of Guru Raghavendra Swami. It is around 250 kms from Hyderabad and 400 kms from Bangalore. Smoking and consumption of Alcohol is strictly prohibited in this town.

At the Start Point

On Feb 9th 2013, 16 bikes assembled near Hebbal. 16 bikes and 17 bikers. This time around, we started off by 5.45 am, with a planned early breakfast at Kamat, around 70 kms from the start point. The route was simple. Head North past the Bangalore Airport, cross Ananthapur, and take a Left toward Gooty. From there another 120 kms to reach Manthralayam.

Amazingly bad Pongal

Traffic in Bangalore is always bad. But who would expect traffic so early in the morning, well, there was a bit of traffic upto the Airport. From there onwards, it was clean and clear Highways without any traffic at all.

So after hardly an hour of riding, we reached our breakfast stop, Kamat Upachar. Why breakfast so early and so close? Because you wont find anything on this highway. Not even the roadside tea shops.
Breakfast wasn't so great. Bad Vada, even worse Pongal.

Saddling up after a "Tremendous" breakfast

We literally got out of the hotel as quickly as we could, saddled up, and were ready to leave. 

The road till Ananthapur, is very dry. Nothing on the highways, no shops, no people. But the road is fantastic. Highways without any other vehicles for miles and miles. Dream come true for anyone tired of the mindless traffic jams of the city. Along this road, Go Go's bike was behaving cranky, similar to my girlfriend (I'm gonna get a beating for that), cutting off the fuse after random distances. We ended up replacing the fuse 4 times during the ride. This is where a dog with suicidal tendencies almost came under our wheels, not once, not twice but 3 times. Almost as if it was playing that old game, where the frog tries to cross the road, it kept running from one side to the other. Having escaped being the bad guys, we took a stop at a lonely bus stop on the side of the highway.

For people who love taking photos of themselves, try taking a photo of yourself sitting on a highway. You'll love it. But do be careful, I wouldn't want you to damage an oncoming truck!! :-P

What did I tell you? I know, I know. I'm damn handsome!

After a bit more of riding on the highways, we took a diversion on to smaller roads. Here is when, one by one, the bikes started running out of fuel. Vikram and me, being sweeps, had to stop each time that happened. Many of our bikes were surprisingly giving horrible mileage, mine being the worst (a sad 25kmpl, which I found out later was due to engine trouble). People in this part, were so amazed seeing a group of bullets drive by. Wherever we stopped, people came up to us and started asking, how much did the knee pads cost, what about the jacket, What's the mileage of the bike, and many more questions. We somehow resisted stopping and answering everyone's questions, and made it to Manthralayam.

There we neatly parked our bikes, checked into the hotel rooms, freshened up and headed out for lunch.
When going to such places, we often need to keep in mind that the luxuries we are used to, we might not get. For example, the food, took forever to be served. We might complain, we might crib, but as riders, we know that's all just for fun. In our hearts, we really don't mind anything.

At the Manthralayam Mutta

After lunch, we entered the temple. Few of us, including myself wore a dhoti and got in. Men are supposed to be bare chest when entering the temple. Its a time honored tradition. Having offered our prayers, we collected the prasadam and returned to the hotel.

Next item in the plan was to go to a temple known as Panchamukhi Aanjaneya temple, which is around 25 kms from Manthralayam. We decided to hire jeeps to get there. The first part of this short journey, was to cross a bridge. Till this point, the roads were nice, from there onwards it was very very bumpy. Thank god, I have a hard head, or I might have got hurt hitting it against the roof of the car multiple times.

The temple, looked to be quite old, and after a quick round, we went to another nearby temple by walk, where Goddess Lakshmi is the main deity. The idol is kept within in a small cave formed between rocks. Here is where we found a baba, who we dubbed, "Go Green" Baba.

Go Green Baba

Panchamukhi Aanjaneya Temple

Sunset at Manthralayam.

Zen Rocks at Panchamukhi Aanjaneya Temple

Before leaving, we enjoyed a couple refreshing glasses of sugarcane juice. And got back into the Jeep. Trust me the journey back was made lots and lots of fun, by the friendly jokes we cracked.

I was off to bed early after reaching the Hotel. Wanted to be awake and alert all the way back the next day.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 7am. Others had woken up earlier, and gone for another round of darshan. I thought its best to not surprise god with another visit. First of all, he would have been shocked, that I of all people came to visit him. :D

Ready to hit Bangalore

We were all saddled up and ready to leave by 8.45am. A quick refill of fuel, a couple of kms from the hotel, and the group was off on the job of waking everyone along the route, with the loud thumps from the silencers of the bikes.

Time for Lunch

The ride back was pretty much the same. After around 150 kms, we hit the highway, and soon after stopped at a roadside dhaba for lunch. After lunch, I just randomly decided to check the oil in my bike. To my surprise, there was none. Had I not noticed, and driven on, I would have surely ended up with a engine seizure and a very very hefty repair bill. Also, as luck would have it, I was carrying around half a litre of engine oil. Praying to god, that my engine would last till Bangalore, I got onto the bike, and we continued our journey back.

Beautifully executed Formation Riding.
This is how we ride at RIEOC.

We rode in perfect formation all the way back to Bangalore. It was a sight to see. Perfect formation for more than 200 kms. Wow!!

Go Go fiddling with the electrics.
Was that the source of the problem in the first place? :-P

Another 100 kms down the road, we took another stop for a breather and some refreshments, and Go go's bike had to give in to a fuse burnout. But lead Shridhar, came to the rescue. Taped up the problem, and she was ready to reach Bangalore.

From here, we reached Devanahalli quickly, our designated end point. Said our good byes, knowing that it was just for a couple of weeks. Woooooh!! What a ride!!

The Temple Ride Team

Hope you enjoyed this travel Journal!! Please do leave your comments!!