Why lacking conviction is sometimes good?

India is surrounded by neighbors with problems - big ones. As usual there are two sets of people - powerful and powerless. The powerful get greedy and forget that "with power always comes responsibility" (quote by Uncle Ben of Spiderman). They pick on the powerless. Encouraged by their dirty/easy success, they push the powerless to a corner.

In China, the powerless (Tibetian theocracy) dealt oppression with Gandhian non-violence. Whether they had any other choice is left for the historians to dissect. But Gandhian non-violence makes some basic assumptions - the oppressor has a conscience, the oppressor cares for his image in international politics. Attaining moral high ground was in itself the greatest weapon. for the oppressed. Unfortunately in this case, neither assumptions hold. Result: total failure.

In Srilanka, the powerless (Lankan Tamil) cornered themselves in the north and carved their own territory and exercised their God given right to equality. In guise of exercising their right, they violated the the Lankan right of national sovereignty. Perhaps, this was situation for which Gandhian non-violence was a tailor made solution. A democratically elected government was there. There was tamil representation in the electoral process. Yet, things got out of hand. There powerless we quite resourceful too... and hence became powerful in their own back yard. There started a new problem with in the bigger problem. The LTTE (the new powerful) estranged themselves from the common tamilian (still powerless). There are two powerful groups fighting against each other while the real powerless suffers. Result: total failure.

In Pakistan, the 3 groups of people are the cunning, the stupid and the intelligent. The cunning are running the government (and hence powerful) and intelligent are all in jail (physically or ideologically). Those who are neither counted as cunning nor as intelligent form the biggest group - the stupid who are stupid enough to repeatedly vote the cunning (either this one or that one) into power. They (the stupid - technically oppressed) have chosen the path of indifference to deal with their problems. They don't care if their own go hungry as long as they can see Indians in trouble. The rogues (the cunning) have managed to evoke such strong emotions among the stupid. Result: laughable failure

In most of Africa, there is very less differentiating the oppressor and the oppressed. In the grand scheme of things (world wide), they are both oppressed. The rest of world (developed world) is looting the continent of its resources with out it even realizing it. Immediate annihilation of perceived enemy tops the agenda of every warlord - leading to frequent violence, stagnant development. If every body involved just step back about 200 years and find reasons for their present state - they would all unite against the common enemy. The industrial world. Instead, their solutions (or even approach towards it) have always been short sighted and shows evidence of tunnel vision. Result: Pitiable failure

Putting that in perspective... in India, we have all sorts of problems - small ones. But none of those problems have grown out of proportion. We have all the makings of a colossal screw up. Yet, we do not fail. We are one of the success stories of recent times. One reason I can think of for this failure to fail is the lack of conviction. Indian rogues lack the conviction to do substantial evil and thank GOD (everybody's) for that.

NTSE / NMMS results - Karnataka - held on November, 2008

The NTSE (National Talent Search Examination) results for the state level exam held in the month of November, 2008 are out. Finally!! These pertain to students from 8th standard only.

You can find them here http://dsert.kar.nic.in/NTSERESULT.htm

The NMMS (National Means cum Merit Scholarship) results are expected by the end of this March 2009.

The NMMS results for 9th standard held in August 2008 is sent to their respective BEOs (Block Education Officers). Please contact them.

PS: Why I posted them here? Because google search is not picking up the DSERT site. Hoping that the right kewords will help pick this up.

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Update: 07-April-2009

1. NMMS results are delayed apparently to some Delhi bureaucracy (Min of HRD). Expected by the end of this week (11-April-09).

2. NMMS students are not considered for NTSE second level exam even if they score more than NTSE cut-off. I urge the Head of schools to write to DSERT about it. More on this after analysing the NMMS results.

3. Some NMMS candidates were counted as if they appeared for NTSE exam. At least 2 cases found. Heads of schools and parents need to urge for more transperancy. At least for next year. Again, more on this after this year's results are out.

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Update: 23-May-2009

DSERT keeps the best interest of students in mind. However, they are exhibiting acute "once bitten - twice shy" syndrome. Here goes the possibel (wink wink) explanation:

The cut off marks for this year's state level NTSE exam was 119. There are a handful of students who appeared for NMMS that have scored more than that. It makes good sense in order to provide them with most opportunities to be allowed to write national level NTSE exam also. So far so good.

If the students who sat for NMMS and got better marks also qualify for interview and get the NTSE national level scholarship - well and good. But if not, then they have to fall back on the 4 year NMMS scholarship amouting to Rs 24,000/-. Other students who get through only state level NTSE get approximately Rs 4800/- as scholarship over the period of 2 years. Hence the fall back mechanism is good.

Problem now is, untill the NTSE final results are out DSERT will not know the exact people who have to be given NMMS scholarship in each district. Hence the long wait.

Possible solutions:
Declare result for the rest - If lets say a district has a NMMS quota of 200 and 5 students have qualified to write national level NTSE, then declare result for teh rest 195 - say results of 5 people are pending. If 2 of those 5 go on to get NTSE notional level scholarship, then at that time announce results for the remaining 3 and 2 more students (who will be pleasantly surprised).

But I guess, the DSERT does not have confidence in its staff to pull out such a mechanism without goofing it up some where. If it goofs up the results it will be bad PR. Hence they are taking the safe route of doing everything at once... albiet very late.

No need to worry about amount:
AFAIK, the arrears scholarships will be given. No need to worry that if the results are delayed, you will get lesser amount.

PS: Keeping fingers crossed so that Mr Veerappa Moily gets HRD and not the other guy with white hair.

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Update: 07-June-2009

DSERT claims that the NMMS results are finally dispatched the respective BEOs. Please check ASAP. However, the grape wine suggests that any body who got 36 marks in GMAT and SAT - all get the scholarship. Still, only 780-odd students qualify. While, the allotted scholarship for Karnataka is about 4 times that number. As ever, only successful students are intimated of the result - another BAD practice of DSERT.

The main reason for this poor show by Karnataka was the "out-of-sylabus" questions that came in the SAT paper. ~15 of them. These account to 16% of the marks. Hence, IMHO, the passing marks should be 20 and not 36. This exam was supposed to help the rural students - However, it has precisely avoided doing so.

Possible measures parents/head-masters can/should take:

1. File a RTI at DSERT to know the exact marks their child has got.
Cost: Rs 10/-

3. File another RTI to know exactly how many more scholarships are going waste this year.
Cost: Rs 10/-

2. If the marks >30 and Number of scholarships pending > number granted - then file a writ petition @ High Court of India requesting DSERT to remove the "out-of-syllabus" questions from the valuation so that the 40% pass-marks should be calculated only on the remaining questions.
Cost: I have no idea.

May you live in interesting times

It is an old Chinese saying... never able to categorize it - a curse or a blessing?

I always felt nothing much is happening in India since Emergency. Perhaps my ignorance of the situation in Punjab and Kashmir in the 80s and 90s makes me make this statement. There was this economic boom of late 90s... An occasional riot - an Ayodhya, a Godhra, a Singur, a Kandhamal... Regular scams - be it fodder, coffins or petrol pumps. We have won two cricket world cups, couple of medals at Olympics (bronze mostly). There is the mobile phone revolution. Satellite TV brought the world into our living rooms. Yet, it is still not interesting enough. There has been nothing that has captured the attention of our entire country. Even IPL failed to a get a decent response from the Incredible North East. Even after all these prosperity, it is not interesting... I do not have even one story that I can narrate to my grand-son.

We are so deprived of interesting things that our news channels today are obsessed with interesting things rumored to be happening in neighboring democratic state of Pakistan. It seems it is really getting interesting there. The Honorable President (erstwhile Mr 10%) is out of the country visiting the only country US fears in the whole Arab world - Iran (for a change, the fear may be reasonable). Doing what?

The Chief of Army (who happens to be the ISI chief. Some say he is retired... But I don't buy it.) meets the Prime Minister and secretly tells him that the Honorable President is plotting to remove him from government. Just like the way he removed most of the judges. All the judges and lawyers (Gosh, I never knew Pakistan has so many of them) have united (really, lawyers can stick together) and are siding with the opposition leader and marching to the capital.

Men in camouflage (read: army) have been reported to have fenced the capital with barbed wire. The present judiciary (he he, a joke) issues warrants against the only philanthropist in Pakistan, who is now gone into hiding. Those poor cancer patients would be wishing their grandfather had never got out of the attic in Amritsar 62 years ago.

In the mean while, somebody advises the Honorable President not to come back home for security reasons. TV channels report that the adviser is none other than The Chief of Army. (you slimy double crosser!!) The Honorable President follows every other Honorable President before him. Decides to enjoy the hospitality of the city of Dubai. I hear they have a indoor ski resort there... Even after much resistance the "Nero fiddling..." idiom comes to my head... Well then, Pakistan in spite of all the feudalism and warlords, is not much of a Rome any way. As if none of these happened, the Taliban are partying (in their own psychedelic way) in Swat Valley. Rave Party?

Across the ocean people in Langley and Arlington County are spending sleepless nights trying to figure out "Who is in charge of Pakistan?". Across the border though, Indian politicians are worried only about the upcoming elections. They perhaps know that Pakistan can wait until August to get India's attention. (yes, I know results of election will be out in May... I gave 3 months for the coalition drama to settle down)

In an unrelated incident, a man in Alabama, US went on a killing spree wiping out his entire family. This was not an single shoot out... he killed all his victims in different ways. Another teenager in Germany opened fire in a school killing 16. My analysis is that these are direct consequences of living in a boring country for too long. Guess what!!! The entire international media is covering these two boring random killings. In both cases, the killer is already apprehended or killed. Case closed. But this intriguing puzzle in Pakistan does not even appear on CNN's front page. So much so for East meets West.

PS: The Pakistan commentary my understanding of the situation from watching IBN live@7. Some fiction may have crept in. Believe at your own risk.

PPS: The only philanthropist is cricketer Imran Khan. He has built a cancer institute cum Hospital in loving memory of his mother - whom he lost to cancer.

Day 7: Celebration Rally

By 4:00 PM all riders had reached Jnana Bharati. The environment below fig tree had turned euphoric. A small party had started automatically. Drinks on the house - Tropicana, Gatorade or plain Aquafina. Some preferred Ganne-ka-juice. Starters included all chats - Masalapuri, Bhel and others. The joy and celebration attracted strange looks from curious on-lookers. It was a moment to remember for all riders and organizers alike. They wanted to immortalize the moment and posed for photos all around.

Standing:George, Datta Patil, Dickie, Naveen, Dipankar, Abhin, Francis, Sharath
Sitting :Ethesh, Dinesh, Iggy, Sriram

The above is a photograph that will be remembered for a long time. It is a School Annual Photo of Dickie School of cycling. No guess who is the head-master. But this is one head master we all love.

Night Riders: Kaushik, Kamesh, Deeksha, Francis, Babu.

Then there is another group that navigated the Mysore traffic in the dark behind a support car. They enjoyed it so much that they now want to ride only after sun down. They call themselves "The Night Riders".

Mysore Road Flyover traffic stopped for TFN

Quarter of an hour later, the police escort arrived. They made quick checks on their walkie-talkie and signaled a "all-green" for us. That meant, the cyclists would be given VIP treatment all the way from Jnana Bharathi to Cubbon Park. All intersections would be closed so that we could get through traffic. The entire group of cyclists followed two support cars behind the police escort. Any comparison to 150 cyclists riding down the Champs-Elysees was only natural. It would be just like comapring a tender sapling that grows into a huge tree. TFN has all the making of a great event in cycling calendar.

Mysore Road Flyover traffic stopped for TFN

People started posing again for memorabilia photos. The two pillars of TFN - Raviranjan & Rajesh Nair. These are the folks who started the idea of touring South Indian mountains during Christmas. That snowballed into TFN with able help from Abhi, Pradeep, Deepak, Sathish, Sharath, Modi, Nilesh, Amit, Shrikanth, Sridhar, Arun... and the list continues... Thanks a lot guys.

Once we reached Cubbon park we rode past Vidhana Soudha - the most attractive landmark in Bangalore. It was a spectacle worth watching. 50 cyclists riding past. All the other traffic stopped by themselves watching us. We reached Cubbon park again to interact with the press that had been waiting. Tv-9, Suvarna, E-TV, Udaya - all the news channels were there. Lot of riders, organizers talked to the media. Waiting to see how much coverage we will get in the next few days. I will post here as I find it.

Bike Salute: Ethesh, Naveen, Kamesh, Francis

Sukhdev & Rajesh Lifted by other riders

Again at the Cubbon park, the celebration continued. Hi-fives, three cheers, bike salutes - you name it, they did it. Words can not describe the electricity in the air. I will not even try. If you are feeling left out, then let me remind you that registrations are already open for TFN09. Dattatreya Patil announcing award to Sukhdev

Dattatreya Patil, the grape-farmer from Sanghli had a surprise announcement to make. Every year his cycling club at Sanghli will identify an exceptional cycling talent between the ages of 11-15 and confer a "young achiever" award named after Swami Vivekananda. Previous recipients of this award have gone ahead and represented their states and country in cycling events. This year he announced that this award would be given to our own Sukhdev.

The message is clear : If 50 riders with no prior experience in endurance sports can do 919 Kms, any one can do a 10Km commute on a bicycle. Bangalore!! Get back on the saddle - for a green future.

Day 7: Riding back home

The day started with mixed feelings. The joy of going back home to the loved ones was all mixed up with sadness that the tour is going to end. Lot of hugs and wishes exchanged before the start. I am sure there would have been quite a few moist eyes. As an every day of the tour, people started leaving in groups. The slower riders who were determined to complete the stage left ahead followed by the faster riders. I was on board the Scorpio loaded with Gatorade and Water. Along with me were a couple of riders who opted out of this stage since it was the same highway that they rode on Day 1.

[George][Nachiket][Sangwan][Saurabh]

This gave opportunity for lot of riders to try new bikes out. Nachiket was on a road bike (for the first time?) - A Trek-1.2. Dickie has been riding a MTB (his specialty anyway) since later part of yesterday. We started the stage 0700 hrs. In less than 30 minutes, we were on the Bangalore - Mysore Highway. The highway was monotonous and riders stuck to their rhythm and moved ahead steadily. The weather was so pleasant that they did not even feel any discomfort.

We reached the food point between Maddur and Chennapatna - a BP gas station with McDonalds. Soon a few riders Venky, Iggy, Sangwan... mostly road bikers. By their calculation, they would need another 2 hours to be at JnanaBharati from where our Victory lap would start. So they decided to take a break - long one. Nilgiri's food was served - Curd Rice, a version of Bisibelebath, set curd, badam milk, cold coffee and so on... Somebody even cut some water-melon and everybody feasted on it. Nelly was at his usual - showing off tricks on a MTB.

Back on the road, we caught up with most of the riders who were battling the heat and head wind. Some of them were glad to replenish their fluids. Once we entered the ciy, limits the wind got reduced and riding more easier. The excitement of completing the tour was also high. So the pace picked up. Srikanth was the first to be at the finish line - followed by Dinesh, Datta Patil, Sourabh and Mani. All of them relaxed under the fig tree sipping fresh Sugarcane juice and Tropicana.

Many more riders finished in a matter of minutes and everybody jumped and cried in joy. More on our grand entry into Bangalore in the next post.

Pune Cycle Prathistan in TFN

One of the objectives of TFN is to create a network of cyclists. In order to do so, RAC-F (Ride-a-cycle Foundation) has tried to include people from different backgrounds and cities into the TFN08. Three riders from Pune have joined us on the tour - Ulhas, Nachiket and Shantanu. They represent the PCP - Pune Cycle Pratisthan. It is an organization, much like our RAC-F. Like most cycling organizations their charter puts promoting bicycle use as their main mission.

[Left <= Nachiket & Shantanu]
The obvious way to get people into cycling is to make them feel that it is fun. Ulhas & his friend Dileep started to go on small rides (get-aways outside the city). The first week only two turned up for the start even though more than 20 had enrolled. Ulhas simply described how wonderful he felt on the ride to those who missed. Next week, there were 6 guys... the numbers started growing and growing... 8, 10, 20... now, after two years, they have a strong contingent of about 120 people who ride on 20Km get-aways every first week-end of the month.

For the more adventurous, the longer version of the ride also happens on the third week-end. That has an average attendance of 60 to 80. Pune Rocks. Apart from local rides the PCP also organizes expeditions that are carried out on no-profit-no-loss basis. There is a Ladakh expedition that happens in July-August every year. As Ulhas says, Ladakh is best explored on a bicycle. The monasteries, the white deserts, the never ending inclines, the pristine air, visibility up to infinity are all very easy to be missed on a motorized transport. To give you a few stats, the Ladakh expedition has 7 stages and covers 480 Kms. The entire tour has altitude of 10000+ feet. The highest point on the tour is 18385 feet. The entire stretch is on very rough road and tough conditions. Road bikers, please excuse them - this tour is only for MTBs.

[Right ==> Ulhas]
If you thought such expeditions are for adrenaline junkies with costly high end bikes, the PCP has a different solution for you. The Konkan expedition involves riding country roads along the Konkan coast line. It is for the normal people. It aims at getting even the house-wives on the bike. It happens in January and has 30 ladies and 30 men enrolled. Most of them beginners. Hence they pedal only 50Km a day for 4 days. It is a joy ride with short climbs of steep gradient. The message is clear - if beginners can do such a tour "cycling as a mode of transport is feasible and safe"

Good job guys!! Long live Pune Cycling Pratisthan.

Day 6: A ride through the jungle

The rest day has given a chance for every one to attend to their body aches and socialize. Today, we will descend from the Queen of hills through the precarious Kalahatti (or Shigur) ghats. It is a long long highly technical descent. Beyond that we will pass through two long stretches of reserved forest before we come back in touch with people. The rest day talent show had prolonged till late in the night. Nights get really cold in Ooty. -3 was the lowest temperature of the night. Most of us got up early. Not because we wanted to, but because of small holes in the blanket that lets the cold air in. A small fire was made and everybody awake huddled around it. People who slept in the tent outside told stories about what body parts froze in what order... Somebody got tea ready. Pongal and Vada was served as breakfast. A photo shoot for local media was arranged and our enterprising riders posed very nicely.

Since it was a treacherous descent the organizers wanted to make sure that make sure that the fog had lifted. In the briefing the riders were asked to check their brakes and reduce saddle height to gain more control. After all riders completed necessary checks, we could flag off by 0945hrs. It took a while to get out of the Ooty city. We re-traced the same path until the bridge at the 8Km mark. Here, we go straight instead of left. There is a small uphill section to be climbed before we start the Kalahatti descent.

The Kalahatti (aka Shigur) ghat takes us down by about a 1.6 Kms in 14 kms. That's 12% average gradient. It has a total of 36 hairpin curves. The idea was to allow the MTB riders ahead since they would take more time to get used to the gradient. 10 minutes and 3 curves later we could smell the rubber burning. But it was heartening to see that riders had realized the virtues of group riding (although a descent like this is not suited for it). At the check post the policeman promptly stopped our ambulance from going ahead. He said he had orders that vehicles as large our Ambulance were not to be allowed to descend the Kalahatti ghat. (no problem for climbing it up). He was just following his boss's orders. Dr Renu spoke to the right people at right offices and got orders passed to make an exception for our Ambulance.

Even though the riders were cautious, they set a good pace. I am sure thoughts of climbing the Kalahatti ghats would have crossed every riders mind... It would be hard, but worth every inch of the incline we climb. This is a tailor made for anybody who wants to train. Most of the hairpin curves turn inwards. If it was difficult for us to navigate the curves on a Scorpio, one can imagine how hard it would be on a cycle with V brakes. The first double bend is at curves 20-21. The boards along the road always reminded riders that if they did not break in time, they would be plummeting into deep valley below. If you break late, you will be on the ground face first. You have to break just enough and just at the right time. We were descending so rapidly that our ears would pop every 15 minutes. There are are small stretches of straight road now and then - we would feel imbalanced driving through them. The curves are addictive. We ticked off one bend after another... more of the same.

After the descent we entered the Madhumalai forest range. No photography allowed inside this (and the Bandipur) forests. I did not have any riders ahead of me as well. Today we were assigned as the "Sweeper" car. A sweeper car has the duty to tail the last rider on the road and make sure nobody is left out. So I have no cycling stories to tell. However, when I saw Dino on the road, it made me wonder what on earth is Dino doing so far behind. We got a chance to chat up and he told me that he had gone off road a bit to meet his friend. There had been an elephant death in the area and post-mortem was going on. The most likely cause of the death was suspected to be poisoning. One of the tusks of the elephant was missing. Elephants have strong family bonds. They even mourn family deaths. Dino tells me that people have been misbehaving in the forests very much. They blow loud horns, glare head lights at the elephant herd just to get some response from them. All this only to get a story to tell back home. This behaviour is as bad as hunting itself. You dont kill them at once, but trouble them untill they die. This plays with the psyche of the elephant and makes them rogues. There was a series on Nat Geo on human impact on the minds of these gentle creatures. Why do they some times kill even when they are vegetarian? There are simple rules while passing through a reserved forest - No horns, No Stopping, No Photography (cause the flash upsets the animals), No cooking, No fire... all these seem so common sense. But if they had to write it explicitly, then we can understand how insensitive people in respecting the homes of wild animals.

We passed the beautiful forests of Madhumalai and Bandipur with out much action. I gathered later from the riders that they enjoyed every stretch of it. Who would not? gentle slopes, green every where, ocassional brush with wild life (monkeys, deers, boars sighted). Some riders did have an anxious moment or two when they found themselves too close to an elephant. Once we were out of the Bandipur range, we had lunch at Pugmark restaurant run by the jungle lodges fellows. A complete buffet... salad to dessert. The road from Bandipur to Gundlupet is horrible. The road bikers struggled to get accross. The MTBs had no problems at all. They formed a small groups among themselves and enjoyed every bit of their ride.

The road bikers found their rythem after they crossed Gundlupet. They also formed drafting groups and started setting some super pace. Since most of the road bikers took an hour long nap at Pugmark, they were riding as if it were a new day. Since most of them had now found out their own speeds we got to see a lot of single file riding. As the sun started setting, the temperature cooled down and made riding much more easier. Some city riding in the dark got us back to YHAI, Mysore. Rest for the day.

Tomorrow we are heading home. There is a grand show for the home-coming riders. Be there to receive the riders @ Cubbon park: 5:00PM, 31-Dec-2008.

Day 4: The mother of all climbs on TFN08

Today we would head towards Ooty from Sulthan Bathery using the round about way through Gudalur. The day involves at least two major climbs - one at Devarsholai (5% to 7%) and another one being the Ooty climb (7%-8%) itself. Last night's nightmares spilled over even to this morning. Breakfast got delayed (in spite of shifting to Wind Flower. Ethesh, Naveen, Kamesh and me decided to try out local restaurant. We had puttus and baked bananas. Yes, you can bake bananas (if you get the nendra variety from Kerala) and they taste yummy - sweet and sour. One need not worry about how it is cooked because it is boiled with the skin and it is peeled right in front of you.

For some reason I chose this day to ride. After much searching, I found the bike I would be riding - a Firefox Tempest, six gears, front shocks, and V-brakes. The best part of the bike was that it has a bell. It comes in handy in crowded villages that are not used to seeing fast moving cycles ;-) Today we decided to ride as a group - that would be the best bet against the being swept. Since I am riding today, I may not have any images for the rest of the post. Apologies. Those that are posted are cliked by Modi, Nelly, Deepak and others on support cars. Thanks Guys. Finally we started the day around 0900hrs.

The day started off slowly. We were cautions even on the gentle downhills - riding slow and steady, cracking jokes and waving to excied children. We passed through many tea and coffee estates and small villages untill we come to the first climb of the day. It would be approximately 5% and for 7kms. This was supposed to be the pre-cursor for what was to come later in the day. The reward for climbing Devarsholai was the food van would be waiting for us. The climb as really mild. So mild that at Devarsholai we kept asking if the climb was over or still to come. On top of Devarsholai, we were welcomed by courteous Nilgiris crew serving us cold Badam milk. "Excellent!" I told my self. The brunch consisted of nice chapatis, mixed veg subji and set yogurt. I felt fully charged up after that. There were couple of people leaving the tour from Gudalur. This is junction where one road leads to Ooty and one to Bangalore. Ram, Vishal and Ullas would take the Bangalore road. Hence I took a some time to take leave of them.

After Devarsholai, the road goes winding down the hill. Since I had to catch Ethesh and Naveen, I flew through this down hill. I stopped only at couple of places to get the first look at the Blue Mountain Range. I caught up with Ethesh in the next up hill climb. There would be couple of more mild (3%-4%) climbs before we reach Gudalur. I was accompanied by Ashwin for the last few Kms before Gudalur. Ashwin is an enterprising kid studying in 8th grade in the local convent. He inquired about the shocks on my bike and proudly exhibited his. He said, he had to removed the gears on them because it would not work. He took leave of the tour just as we hit the Ooty highway. A Sunday well spent for him.

The start of the ooty climb is vicious. I remembered that I had plain water only. So, stopped at a house to add salt into it. The family was so forthcoming to help us. A kilometer later, I saw the Manipal ambulance waiting for us. We filled Gatorade into our water bottles - to form a potent concoction, ate one banana each and owed to stop only at the 10Km mark (he he he... what were we thinking?) For the first few kilometers, I was scared about the heavy traffic that was mentioned in the rider's docket. However, the traffic was not much... They were surprisingly well mannered too... (barring a couple of morons any way). We Put our heads down and marched ahead. We rode past villages, churches and shops before we felt totally alone. 30Kms of hard climb was ahead of us. I later understood from Rajesh that the gradient never dropped below 4%. This is still acceptable considering that the other way to Ooty is through Masinagudi (Shigur ghats) involving up to 12% gradients - even if it were for just 14 Kms. (It will be fun to get down the route tomorrow).

After 5 Kms up the climb, we lose touch with any civilization. On either side of the road there are nice tall Eucalyptus trees. I was on the road with hill on one side, valley on the other side. Eucalyptus trees on both sides seemed to be of the same height. Ethesh was ahead of me. It is amazing how tall these trees are... they grow absolutely straight. The bark on them seem to curl up counter-clockwise. The reason I worked out in mind was that it had to do with movement of Sun from Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. When you are on a bicycle, and going so slow - up hill, you tend to think observe and think about a lot of stuff... On a car you can stop only when there is a shoulder... On a cycle, you are always on the shoulder watching everything ;-)

There is a signage on the road, an enlarged "Z". This is the most dreaded sign. This means that there are two back-to-back hairpin bends coming your way. If you see this when you are in the last ring, you better get off the saddle to get some momentum going. While we are at the road signages, the speed limit for the vehicles going up the gradient is 30. That's seemed so irrelevant. Ethesh and me, people who owed to stop only after 10Kms, were waiting for the other to call for a stop to take in some fluids... or a leak break... or to eat the honey-cake. We passed Shankar a couple of times who had some hard time due to shoulder discomfort. Ooty road is being repaired... nothing is wrong with the road, but it was the embankments along the road that were being reinforced. The up hill lane was closed at many points for this work which caused many anxious moments for me. [last but one] The only way was up up and up. I changed to my 1st gear (last ring) some time between 10th and 12th Km of the climb. I was under the impression that there would be a support car at the 40Km to go mark... did not find one. After some more Eucalyptus (Nilgiri trees), I spotted the Black Santro of Amit. They were watching the green forest from the Madhumalai Forest View point. We replenished our Gatorade bottles and marched ahead... When I saw a shop board that said Naduvattam, I was ecstatic. I remembered that the rider docket mentioned that it was the end of the 8% climbs... the toughest part of the climb was behind us. The Manipal ambulance was once again there to hand out Gatorade and water.

From then on the climb relaxed a bit. It was still about 4%... However, I had some chance to go back to the second gear. I will tell you why it is important to be in 2nd gear. It will give you some hope that if it gets worse and you are about to hit the wall, you can change to one lower gear. If you are already in the first gear (the biggest ring in the rear), then there is no way to escape. You are looking at the wall... an you will hit it. Luckily, today I was not in such a situation. When ever I felt totally down I remembered the two bus full beautiful girls from Bangalore that went past us. Two of them even wished us luck. "Have to catch them at Ooty!" I kept remembering.

After some time, the gentle gradients turned into a steep downhill. I went to 2nd, 3rd and the 4th gear. This sudden difference in tension was flagged by some muscle behind the knee... Ouch!! It was also an alarm that I had not taken any fluids for the last half hour... I stopped to stretch a bit and more Gatorade. That was when Ethesh passed me egging me on to continue. Both of us did not know at that time, that the road ahead was winding up and down - mostly down. With 29 Kms to go, we tailed one another on all the slopes until we reached the last support car - 22Kms to go. I stopped for a Gatorade refill. But Ethesh did not stop. That's when I lost him. Only 22 more to go, filled with fluids I started pedaling hard - hoping to catch Ethesh again. The road was being less and less harsh on us. Downhills got lengthier and up hills shorter and milder. For once the Kms stoned seemed to be fair. We were happy to see some "Drive Slowly" boards which clearly mean that road went down. The kilometer stones kept passing by with ease. At the 8Km to go point, I was inspired by the encouraging words of Dikki sir. Thank You. Further more the gradients did not matter. I just kept peddling asking for directions to Charing Cross. At Charing Cross, Dikkie was still asking for directions to the Youth Hostel. There are three such hostels in Ooty. After pedaling around for some more time, we finally ended our ride at YHAI, that was next to the cemetery near the bus-stand. All the riders thoroughly enjoyed the ride in spite of aching buttocks. Its that thing with us cyclist - the harder it gets, the happier we are.

After a hot water bath, cozy campfire, spicy dinner (not ready to make), singing and dancing we all called it a day. Tomorrow is a rest day. May God bless us.