Ride to Skandagiri - The sod amongst clouds.

There's something breathtakingly blissful about a sunrise. It's like unconditional mother's love, a breath of fresh air which brings about inner peace, a soul touching experience which showers endless joy, a totally remarkable grand spectacle which holds indescribable beauty. It's just tranquil in its simple magnificence making you feel big and tiny at the same time which happens once every day and its absolutely FREE.

Warning: The pictures uploaded are intriguingly seductive. I hold no responsibility whatsoever if you tend to fall in love with Mother Nature.

10th of February 2015.

12 am. I was technically at work minding my own business (watching the roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor for the 4th time) and then this awesome random picture of the sun rising amongst the clouds comes up on the screen. The next thing I knew, "The Itchy Feet Syndrome" started kicking in.

It was time I had a few riders accompany me for a short ride. I approach Isaac (a.k.a Icy), Mithun (a.k.a Malabari) and Shreyas (a.k.a Sprinter) with an impromptu plan and give them 2 options.

1. Wind yourselves up in a warm blanket and doze off like a giant panda and die of boredom and regret.
2. Come watch the ever inspiring sunrise and get a glimpse of God's view from the top of the land amongst clouds.

The answer was unanimous - "let's ride".

• Rides used: 3 Vintage street style Royal Enfields (The king of Rides), 1 Yamaha R15 (Boy's Toy).
• People Abused: Mithun (nah not really, we love the guy to the core).
• Destination: Skandagiri.
• Skandagiri Trek difficulty: Easy (if you are an acute trekker).
• Trek distance: 10 to 11 kilometers (too and fro).

5:30 am. It was cold and we were at the bottom of the hill. With our backpacks filled with a couple of oranges and a water bottle, we started trekking with a torch in our hands. A rabbit ran past us and nothing interesting happened until the sky started changing color (so I'll chuck the boring part).

Somewhere near the top, the dark starry sky started changing color from pitch dark to pink to slight orange to deep gold. It was simple yet spectacular (the twilight, what can I say??).The city lights from the top was not a bad sight either. It just took the sun a mere 8 minutes to rise up to a certain level before we could take some stunning silhouette pictures.

Then, the mysterious morning mist started kicking in enclosing the sun completely. I guess the weather Gods had some seriously important stuff to do like watch air crash investigations and eat Thai curry while wearing only pajamas. Well, I'll never know. We had no regrets because the slight breeze made us ecstatic and the mist caressed our faces like we were someone special.

There is a flag post at the top, a couple of rock buildings and some ruins which marks the end of the climb. We plopped down on the end of the cliff and waited for the mist to clear to get that sight of the surreal landscape which we had come for until our pants got wet from the moisture of the mist. Then in an instance, our jaws dropped and eyes opened wide and we just sat and stared and stared and stared some more as the sun glowed and glimmered revealing the most awaited sight of the waves and waves of milky white clouds below our feet.

If Gods enjoy this sight everyday, then I would love to be a God. The apprehension of the clouds from above is absolute eye candy. We just sat there for ages without uttering a word. The only parts working were our eyes and brains, trying to process the unimaginable amount of happiness that we felt. No words come close to describe the aura that we felt. It can only be felt physically.

9 am. It was time to descend and head back home. We were just glad that we had night shifts in our office.

Important Note and frequently asked questions.

1. Police: There is no police and no sneaking is required.
2. Getting lost: Google maps works fine. You won't get lost.
3. Getting robbed: Not happening in Skandagiri.
4. Vehicle parking: Has ample space and parking fee is INR 50 on weekends and free on weekdays.
5. Trekking by night: Completely legal, carry a torch. Snakes are rarely seen.
6. Trek guide: Available. INR 200-300 if you speak in Kannada, INR 400 if you speak in Hindi and INR 500 if you speak in English with a French accent. Usually guides are not required.
7. Food and water: Not available. Carry your own and please DO NOT LITTER.
8. Camping: Can be done at the top. Gets windy at night.

Suggestion: If you want some privacy, go on weekdays. The hill is all yours.

If you liked Skandagiri, you may like Nandi hills as well. Check these out.

Note: Nandi is comparatively crowded.

Next Ride: Very soon. Until then, ride hard ride safe. Peace !!!!.

Ridesntreks: Ride to Gandikota (The Grand Canyon of India) - Belum Caves (The 2nd Largest Cave System in India) - Yaganti (T... - http://ridesntreks.blogspot.in/2015/02/ride-to-gandikota-grand-canyon-of-india.html?m=1

Ride to Gandikota (The Grand Canyon of India) - Belum Caves (The 2nd Largest Cave System in India) - Yaganti (The place with a Growing Nandi) - Bangalore.

Incredible India is a salad bowl of Nature's Wonders and Manmade Wonders alike. Among these, there are a few "HIDDEN GEMS" which are nothing but Magnificent. Be it the Monumental Places of Worship, Beautiful Palaces with Exquisite Carvings, Mind Blowing Gorges with Epic formations, Old Ruined Temples with Historical pasts, Leagues and leagues of Magical Grasslands, Unbelievable Caves that are too good to be true to exist or just a simple Creek irrigating the lush paddy fields, "Hindustan has it all". All we need to do is just get out of those four walled chambers and experience what is in store.

800 Kilometers - 3 Destinations - 26 Hours - 1 Peaceful Ride.

Wait; what ??. 800 kilometers in 1 day ??. Was it worth it ??. HELL YEAH !!!!!. Take a look.

ZROYA RIDES TO THE SOD OF ETERNAL CLIFFS.

I've always cranked up Zroya with the head lights on (all thanks to NO 8 pm Curfew at home - My Impromptu Plans always work). This time it was no different.

31st of January 2015.

A shivering Saturday night. While most people tore up the dance floor and probably their ear drums to the loudest of Yo Yo Honey Singh's numbers by indulging themselves in Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker; I was sipping on a hot cup of home made CHAI and was getting ready for a long ride.

They say traveling is an Expensive Affair; well, sometimes its not. You don't have to carry an arsenal of cash every time you travel. With a little more than a tank full of fuel and INR 150 in our back pockets, me and Sam (A.K.A The Lover Boy) started riding around 11 pm to witness the Amazing Sunrise at Gandikota which was 285 kms away. With two breaks to enjoy one of the underrated pleasures of life (drink a hot cup of tea) on the highway, we reached Gandikota around 5 am (A little too soon for the sunrise).

Note : Getting to Gandikota at night without GPS is next to impossible.

1st of February 2015.

Gandikota is one of those offbeat destinations which aren’t commercialized but no less bewitching than those in the limelight. This place is just gorge-ous. With a huge course of cliffs and river, the setting is breathtakingly similar to that of the Grand Canyon, and it goes one notch up if you were to imagine the backdrop hosting a Crumbling ancient fort, a Mosque, a Granary and Painstakingly carved temples with an Epitome of history behind it. Enough said; if you are a fan of empty spaces and wide open areas, this is your heavenly paradise and its so khaali !!.

I've watched a Gazillion sunrises and sunsets (best sights ever) in my life, but watching the almighty sun rise over the raggedy canyon with just my buddy (YES !!!, we two were the only souls there) was an otherworldly experience. The rocks which seemed to be stacked up for billions of years just shimmered and shone as the sun's rays fell on them.

The deep chasm with different layers of rocks by color - red, brown and grey seemed to be a world of magical shapes again proving to the fact that Mother Nature has no shortage of surreal landscapes.

There's absolutely no one out there to stop you from doing whatever the hell you want. So we got all Bear Grylls and did this to check whether our Adrenal Glands worked perfect and yeah, it did !!!. Well, what's the fun if there's no fun right ??.

If you are afraid of heights, this place is not your cup of tea. Its probably a 500 feet drop and getting too close to the end of the bloody cliff is not such a good idea. With a few extremely impressive pictures here and there, it was time to hit Belum Caves.

Reaching Belum caves is cumbersome. 70% of the roads are taken up by the local farmers to dry their produce, while the remaining 30% is taken up by farm animals (cattle, sheep and goats) which had absolutely no intention of moving as we approached. They just stood on the roads and pooped all they want all day long. I think they were literally ignoring us.

12 pm. We get greeted by a giant Buddha's statue. It was such a welcoming sight. Then, in a couple of minutes we started entering the Belum caves, the 2nd largest cave system in India (1st being Krem Laitprah in Meghalaya) with our eyes and mouths wide open. It was like entering an alien land (literally). The caves are 3.5 kilometers long (unbelievable ??) With stalactite and stalagmite formations reaching its deepest point of 150 feet from its entrance level.

All I know is there's magic in this world and not enough time to experience it and Belum caves is nothing but magical. Each and every sight inside the cave is enthralling, leaving you craving for more. The caves maintain Zen like calm in every nook and corner. No wonder Buddhist and Jain monks used these caves ages ago to meditate. It's such a calming place.

No two formations are the same. Getting lost in the cave's awesomeness and forgetting every damn thing about every damn thing is a total possibility while you are inside those caves. I'll be a man of few words and more pictures here because sometimes words fall short.

3 pm. We were at Yaganti. This place is mysteriously mysterious. A growing nandi and a temple inside a cave ??, Yaganti has both. There are enough stories about the place which is basically out of my equation (I'm not a religious person).

Taking the help of Google Goddess and Brother Wikipedia should be a good idea because there's absolutely nothing I know about Yaganti (me coming up with a new story would be blaspemy) except that it had an inspiring gopuram which was built according to Vaishnavaite tradition and a few temples inside those enchanting caves. Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Luckily I have a few thousand words up my sleeve.

After leaving the place and with multiple stops along the highway we reached our homes at 2 am and the next thing I knew, I was totally missing those places and BOOM! - Emotions. I could have only wished that I had a job which pays for traveling.

Next Ride : Kolli Hills - Place with 70 hairpin bends. Until then, Ride hard Ride safe. Peace !!!!.

Ridesntreks: Part 2. Ride to Madurai - Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Theni - Kumily - Kodaikanal - Bangalore. -http://ridesntreks.blogspot.in/2015/01/part-2-ride-to-madurai-rameshwaram.html?m=1