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In October 1987, eight of us planned a trip to Kodai via Munnar & Top Station. The operation was top secret – we didn’t tell our people we were biking to Kodai. We packed our stuff and met at BTH (My parents were told we were going to Kottayam to meet Chicku – REC 1988, more about him later).
BTH, waiting for the gang to assemble
I don’t remember who, but one of the bikers didn’t turn up. So it was seven guys & three bikes – one of us had to drop out, and nobody wanted to. So we decided to ride triples on Biju’s RD 350!
Beginning of the Ghat section
The Se7en – Biju, Top, Raman, Fanny, Ani and sitting, Rojo & I
(Fanny passed away last year, RIP)
Vazhiyorakkazhchakal
Hairpin near Munnar, After the First Crash.
Check out the tear in Biju’s jeans
(The backpack on Rojo is Paramu’s, u will be hearing more about him soon)
Top Slip. My fav photo
Roads were bad, but no so bad…
Rain & Slush. After a few spills, nobody wants to ride…
I do not have any photographic record of the next few hours (If i had taken the camera out, i would have got hit)
On the forest roads between Top Station and Kodai, it was dark and raining, Raman & Ani crash, and one by one the head lights of all three bikes conk off.
We managed the last stretch on the nurungu vettam of 350’s turn indicator.
Outskirts of Kodai. The worst is behind us.
Warmth, Food, Kodai
It was a Gandhi Jayanti-Puja weekend, and Kodai was packed. We ended up spending the night in a bunglow’s annexe some 15 km away from Kodai, and all we could manage was one room, and one bed.
Yes, this bed…
But we had a blast there, jamming late into the night till the guy from next room (a judge, we were told) made us shut up.
The morning after
Trying to top Top! Mookkan & a friend of Biju’s from Palghat join the fun.
Go to Cochin!
One the way back, a late lunch at Diana
Finishing Point. Caravan.
We did 550 km in 36 hours, seven guys on three bikes. Vintage Sangham Stuff.
One year later, we did it again, 14 guys on seven bikes. But then, that’s another story…
Onth is Sangham-speak for girls who are not fair & lovely.
This onth was spotted in Manali last summer.
Yesterday i shared with my friends my plan to create a blog; a few of them warned of dire consequences and the rest, disowned me.
Guess a disclaimer is in order.
All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental,
and should not be construed.
No names have been changed in order to protect the innocent.
Angels protect the innocent as a matter of heavenly routine.
(Kurt Vonnegut, again)
Last year, i got a call from TV – Sangham is planning to do USA, coast to coast, and wanted me to join.
He, along with Biju, Bobby and Jose had chalked out the basic stuff – land in New York, rent a van, drive across USA and get back home from LA.
All four of them had been to the USA, but i knew the maps better, so TV wanted me to work out the route. The plan was to hit the road during the summer of 2007.
Well, things didn’t quite work out that way, perhaps we will get to do it in 2008…
So, watch this space for the updated On the Road
Let’s talk about Sangham.
Cochin Legend – When a pretty girl walks past St. Albert’s College, she gets to hear the local equivalent of hello, “Excuse me, oru vali vidamo?”
We loved the story, we adopted the phrase and we became Vali Sangham.
We were in Maharaja’s College then. Biju, Bobby, Diji, Jose, Mookkan, Pattar, Shibu, TV and I. (OK, Albert’s was the alma mater of Bobby and Pattar, but they spent more time in Maharaja’s)
First Year, First Group, First taste of absolute freedom…
Babu Kuriakose 