A [(50-7)*2] Kms Cycle trip

Hmmm.......you may be asking why did i write an idiotic equation instead of saying 86Kms Cycle trip..........there is a small(jus takes 15min to read) story behind it and this how it goes...........

As a result of unbearable boredom and highly joblessness,I was growing desperate to do something adventurous or atleast go out somewhere.The moment I told this to buddi(praveen) and hemanth,they both made no delay in coming up with an idea and they finalisied on going to Mahabalipuram on cycles which is 50Kms from our place and the best(some people say worst) part is that we planned to start at 11PM and see the Sun rising at Mahabs.This plan looked very wild but we made all plans and arrangements so as to be comfortable. The trip was scheduled on 27th Sep, 2008 and we got 3 cycles which are in gud condition and hemanth took care of important things(food and drinks) and he said every thing's ready.Actually, hemanth went to a first aid camp in the morning then slept the whole evening and never looked like has got stuff but still was lazy to even cross check what all he has in bag.Buddi went for some meeting and returned at 11 30 and the laziest person of the team(thts me) got ready by 11 30 and finally were set to start...but it looks like nature din really like our idea and started raining heavily....but none of the trio was willing to pack the journey and we planned to move out at any cost after 15min......rain reduced to slight drizzle and we started at 12 30AM with no real protection from rain.

The journey looked well in the first 10Kms untill drizzle was accompanied by heavy breeze and we had to increase the efforts we were putting by atleast 100% but we never lost hopes and we were really going well.It was at sholinganur junction, that fate decided to test us with additional troubles and the new surprise is that the moment we reached the junction, the power went down and no street lights on the whole road. The road we have to travel now is called East Coast road and is very much famous for accidents...the only advantage is that the road is a highway so clear road with a separate bicycle lane and we decide not to come out of bicycle lane at any point of journey. We were still doing well..we covered 40 kilometres in a span of 3 1/2hrs and we took rest at 3 30 for sometime and then started to finish our last 10Kms.We thought we are experiencing all the difficulties tht are to be faced on a cycle namely......no lights.....slight drizzle..... heavy winds in opposite directions and importantly one of those cycles had a bit loose handle............but unfortunately we had to experience the worst ever situation later just after 15min of rest time i.e somewhere around 4AM when we were at a place which is 7Kms away from our destination.

Buddi who was slightly out of this world at times again lost himself somewhere and din observe a stationary lorry infront of him which had hollow rods protruding outwards......inspite of me shouting at him saying right he jus couldn't come back from his world, hit tht rods and fell on the ground suddenly. hemanth who was cruising ahead heard the shouts and came back and both of us were left in sudden shock to see that heavily bleeding face with one cut on head and other on cheek. I was in shock.....couldn't react for a minute or so and it was hemanth to react first and told me to hand him over his bag..........then he just made us realise how important was that first aid session he attended in the morning. he jus washed the face with water and started applying cotton and a lot of bandage to stop bleeding and finally the bleeding came in control and the situation grew really threatening when we heard that there is no hospital in a vicinity of 10Kms. Somehow we managed to get a bus going to Chennai in which hemanth and buddi made their way back to institute so as to get treatment and i had to stay back in tht abandoned place in a bus stop along with three cycles and every one's bags.By 5AM buddi was admitted in hospital with the assistance of Sateesh who came to take buddi on bike from the bus stop in Chennai to the hospital.Buddi had 16 stitches on forehead and cheek and then other friends came to take care of buddi. Now the challenge was to get all the three cycles back to insti which indeed looked very much a costly business with each of the lorry guys there asking about 1200 rupees and auto was costing around 500.

Finally, there came an idea and hemanth and sateesh came to the place I am staying by bus and we three started of cycling back to institute. Before starting, we did a bit of forensic investigation on the accident place with the camera we had and then started off exactly at 9 30. Now we had to experience a new kind of problem.....hot sun and humid chennai weather conditions. But we managed well by taking rest at regular intervals, having breakfast,juices, taking pictures at stud locations and the finally made it to campus by 12 50 with our bodies not supporting further. On a whole, except for that accident, everything was so great that I could never forget this adventurous journey for the rest of my lifetime. After coming back, we had small discussion session where the sole objective was to make buddi realise what all he missed just because of that reluctance for a moment and we really dominated it because buddi is advised not to speak much and he couldn't even speak loudly.Below I am attaching the pic of our team after coming back to the hostel(it doesn't not have sateesh)

Few striking quotes of the journey:

Hemanth says he has a water bottle with him but never filled water in it. Only he should know wats the use of an empty bottle.

15min before accident, in our rest time hemanth gives instructions saying, if anyone by mistake meets with an accident try making sure that you don't fall on your head

After all the first aid is done, blood still oozing out of cotton, me and hemanth worried on how to get a bus, praveen calls slowly and says "arey, take a picture of mine with all this blood and cotton" [:O]

10min after the accident, after all the first aid is done, buddi says "Why are you asking for a lift? Give me one hour rest, we shall cycle back to insti(that means 43Kms)".

Before starting to come back, hemanth says "If you guys are ready, we shall go to Mahabs now and return to insti somewhere in the evening".

All the pictures will be updated in my picassa web albums....you can see from there.

So guys now I think you understood the importance of the equation. If not here it...... actually our destination was 50Kms away and we couldn't traverse last 7Kms...........both the journey directions had a different trio so I specified it as a multiple of 2 rather than adding them up directly.Anyways, I understand you guys might have got tired reading this long post......go have some nice coffee..........will be back with a new post again and Get Well Soon Buddi......we have to play football in our quadrangle.