TRIP TO BALAJI TEMPLE

Saturday evening and I decided to retire early as today was to be a long trip(By my standards!) to Balaji temple on the road to Purandar Fort. I am up at 0330 hrs and cursing my biological system which ensures I wake up well before time. After unsuccessful attempts to snatch a few more winks I give up and get ready by 0500hrs, Chintu is wide awake and marks my departure by irrigating a square foot of the dining room. The rendezvous was to be at Rajaram bridge. I step out and am greeted with a light drizzle. I curse my luck and continue. Take the route behind Pinnac Society and am in position at 0515hrs. Wait for 15 min till one of the group passes by and tells me that others are at the other end of the bridge. There are 29 members gathered in the dark early morning with few familiar faces - Aniket Sutar and a coule others who I had met in my earlier rides with assorted groups.

We take off at 0600hrs  and soon the group  was on the slope to Katraj tunnel. In the tunnel a group of Super bikers crossed us, the sound in the tunnel was like an aircraft taking off! Once across the tunnel it felt like entering an airconditioned room with the blast of cool air. Soon I was virtually cycling  alone with an occasional  member crossing me from time to time. Soon I was at Narayanpur where some of the team had stopped. Quite a few were very curious about the Dahon and seemed quite surprised that I reached there at all! :) The route from there was not too good and soon reached the temple. En route the first rider was speeding back! At the temple met others who were waiting for the darshan which was to start .

At Balaji temple I stopped for a short while as the entry to the temple was to be at 0830 hrs. I did a short prayer from the main entrance and clicked a couple of snaps as a proof of my having reached there for all doubters. 

Meanwhile members kept trickling in. I started back and reached the highway where I joined a couple of other members for a plate of Misal Pav(Assorted mix with bread) at a roadside shack. A BIG mistake! That dish had the capacity to make one remember his Dear departed ones! Had a few bites and went searching for an extinguisher, and got the ideal one - Chikki - our own desi Health food! The Misal was pure dynamite, makes me wonder how anyone’s innards could survive the spice attack. On top of it the shack owner had kept a plate full of chillies and a bowl of red hot chutney powder to spice the dish up further! 

I look off at 0900hrs  from there and was soon joined by Jagan in the ride back. We went at a leisurely pace chatting and exchanging stories. He works in WNS and stays in Vishrantwadi, has a canadian cycle worth 25K and usually cycles at night on the Alandi road. We exchange cycles a few km short of the tunnel. His cycle is quite smooth but my back is under strain, even though the incline is hardly anything. He also finds pedaling more strenuous on my Dahon. We are crossed again by the  big bikers short of the tunnel. Jagan mentions that he plans to cycle to his place - Pondicherry! after the tunnel it is downhill all the way.

 I click a couple of snaps of Kothrud as seen from the flyover. Reach back home at 1100hrs. The legs are a bit stiff, but overall the trip had left no adverse impact physically. I have a couple of glasses of Kokum and then crash out after a wash for a couple of hours. My cycle is a mess with mud splattered all over and I am dreading the cleaning activity as the mud variety here has a stubborn nature and doesn’t come off easily. The problem is however solved when I find the hose pipe - thereafter it turns out to be a 5 min job. The next step is to fix the 7th gear and tighten the brakes. And I wonder as to how and when I will achieve that! But I have decided to do the whole thing myself. Lets see how it goes, in any case I have Lifecycle as backup if I mess it up!