Breakfast Biking in Bharat

The sea shipment arrived this past week, and an important item in the manifest was our mountain bikes. Upon reassembly and pressurizing the tires, I casually mentioned to a fellow expat, Alex that he would have to show me some of his biking trails, as he has often talked of several trips he has taken. Apparently, there is a Sunday morning biking group that goes out into the country side for 30-40 km rides. Alex invited me to go this Sunday past, and so we ventured to Varthur and beyond.

Departing Palm Meadows at 6:45 am seven intrepid adventures headed South towards Jessie’s school (2 through 7 on the map), which meant that we needed to traverse the narrow road atop an earthen dam on the road to Varthur (2-3). At the dam we encountered dense fog for the next 10 km or so, and it did not burn off until we were quite a ways into the country side.

Other than being on the highway from Palm Meadows to where we turned into the country, which was kinda busy with traffic and other hindrances, the ride was peaceful trek through the fields and coconut groves of rural Karnataka.

Breaking for chai somewhere around 9 or 10 on the map, we continued deeper into the country traversing fields with people harvesting sugar cane and coconuts, planting rice, irrigating, and tending to livestock. We rode through several villages where the people were just beginning their day. In most of the houses it appeared that there was no electricity; so, their day begins when the sun comes up. People were out and about, talking in groups. The children were playing. Our entourage caused a bit of a stir whenever we went through a village. The children always waved their hands and yelled hello or good bye with big smiles, and we always returned a kindly reply accompanied with smiles.

Since we were out in the country, and since I have seen several TV programs regarding the whereabouts of big snakes in India, I was acutely aware of me immediate surroundings at all times. No one in the group encountered such a critter, which was fortuitous, but the possibility was there – especially around the rice fields with standing water. Two dangerous critter encounters to report upon. The first was when I almost collided with a chicken in the road as we went through a village. I was not sure of the outcome of striking a chicken, and you never know just how much the fowl was going to cost if it suffered a premature basting. The second encounter was with a cow. As you are gliding by on your bike, and you must pass within inches of the south end of a north facing bovine, your thoughts center around if you’re going to get past the howitzer before it goes off.

Somewhere between 18 and 21 on the map our fearless leader, Arun, stopped and chatted with a local person as we passed through another village. He then indicated that he wanted to backtrack a bit to see if a well they had been searching for the past two months existed. We ventured down another path for 200-300 meters, and indeed, we did encounter a well. It was a big hole in the ground – there was no fence around it to keep things from falling into it. The well was about 10 meters across, and the water level was down from the surface about 8-9 meters. The well was lined with a wall of granite blocks cemented together, and it had a staircase that went down to below the water level that was made of granite planks cantilevered out from the wall. The granite steps looked to be about 4” thick by about half a meter wide, and they stuck out from the wall of the well about a meter. The story of the well and this cycling group was that on a previous trip, with much higher water level, one of the members of the group jumped into the well for a swim, which we did not do, of course.

Further on, around 22 – 23 on the map, we encountered 10-15 frames of silkworms in the road soaking up sun as we went through yet another village. Silk worms are quite large – about 8-10 cm in length and almost a cm in girth. These were white as snow, and I do not know if they are any other color.

Leaving the silkworms, we quickly encountered the hustle and bustle of urban civilization, and we scurried back to the safety of Palm Meadows around 10:15 am. In total the trip was about 37 km in length. Many thanks to Arun for leading the trek and for having the presence of mind to take a camera to document our travels. I must say that it was quite liberating to know that I can make such a trip. I would never attempt it without a guide as every little trail goes somewhere and nowhere at the same time, and it is quite easy to get lost. Even with the use of a GPS we found ourselves repositioning a few times as were on a trail of dubious destination. Upon our return, Alex and I went to his house for a medicinal bloody mary, which was the perfect end to a successful foray into the countryside of Bharat.