Skip to main content

Allah Mojud - One God is Alive

The traveller set sail. My mood kept switching, after spending some time at our hangout with Victor and Saji I felt better. I stayed in Mysore for a day and rode on to Bangalore catching up with the gang. We gathered at Pissay's place while he asked his wife to stay back at her father's place for the night. Karthik, Naveen, Akshay and Bhagath, It was a blast.  After 2 days in Bangalore, my real journey began. I bought a rain pant from Decathlon and fixed a USB charger on the bike. Filled up the tank and started riding towards Hyderabad.

 Being brought up in Coorg, a paradise with enough nature, good climate and rich surroundings, the highway heat from the plains started baking me. I Planned to cover 200 kilometres or extend by another 50 per day. Camp on roadsides, rest and continue. 

 Suddenly, a beautiful view tickled me, I was brought back to life and my mind felt clear. I stopped at Lepakshi, a place well known for its floating pillars. They looked like they were hanging off the ceiling. a statue of Brighu dancing on 3 legs, Idols of gods and goddesses carved to perfection in this ancient temple, built by our Vijayanagara rulers. After offering my prayers to Shiva and Shakti, I continued.

I found Ghooty fort on the maps. Reaching the top was a trek in the hot sun. The beautiful ancient fort in ruins was mentioned as being maintained by the government but all I saw was goats using the fort as a place to graze. The place seemed to have a good history, it was grand, had taken a lot of manpower and planning in its construction. I was the only person there and I started hiking after parking my bike at the gate, with the luggage strapped on. I thought I was the only tourist, but I had the company of a hundred goats and sheep joining me out of nowhere. I started around 10:30 and came back at 13:30 exhausted and drenched in sweat. Took off and camped early on a flat place away from the highway. 

By the time I reached Hyderabad, I lost about 2 kilos of weight. The heat, the vibration from the bike and the sudden change in food, burnt all my fat. On the way, there was a Dharamshala sheltering old people, providing free food at any time of the day. I stopped to eat, dropped a few bucks in the donation box and got into conversation with an old man there.

Why did he decide to leave home at the age of 60? He'd been living here for the past 4 years. He worked as a driver and labourer across the country, making a house and a family. Then why leave?

He said he was not comfortable with his own people. For him, all of them were his life but when he realised his place in theirs, he knew it was time to leave. One fine day he took a bag and left home and this place offered him a permanent residence. About 15 old people lived together doing what they could to feed the hungry on the road. Some NGO ran the place. It is located on the left side of the road about 300 kilometres from Bangalore towards Hyderabad. 

 When you walk on the right path you will be guided. There is no need to remember your lies and need not be worried about anything. You are free. For me, people and values are more important than money and possessions. I live by my ethics and life has earned me a lot of good people. Like the dialog from a Rajinikanth movie 'Padayappa' , he says "Aandavan nallavangala sodhipaan aana kai vida maatan! Kettavangalukku alli alli kodupaan aana kadaisila kai vittuduvaan!"

Meaning, God tests good people but doesn’t abandon them. He generously gives to the bad people but abandons them.

And then Rajinikanth himself hosted me in Hyderabad. Rajini was a couch surfer who stayed with us in Coorg. I remember tagging him along with my other guests to do some sightseeing. Varala Rajinikanth Reddy gave me a place to stay in his penthouse on the top floor, where he lived with 3 other boys. It was a bachelor’s paradise. 

I cooked chicken for them in the night, they bought all the necessary things. I made some Poha in the morning for breakfast, which didn't come out well enough. Still, we ate. 

Having about 1500 rupees left, I went to an ATM to draw 500 and surprisingly the balance showed around 7000. The adrenaline of happiness and a cloud of questions arose in my mind. How? I checked my bank account online to realize it was Mohammed Arrsath who had credited me 5000. My dearest friend, someone I would risk my life for. I'm not saying this for the money he sent into my account, I'm sure bugger knows better. My cousin, a techie working in Germany sent 2000.  

Arrsath is a cousin of my classmate Sheriff Mohammed. Sheriff is another friend for life, I still remember the first time he popped a wheelie on his Suzuki Shaolin with me sitting pillion. I won't be wrong in blaming him for my falling in love with motorcycles. Those days in Ooty when gangs of bikers, tailing each other, leaving sparks from the stand, scratching our shoes to the road, to reach Hill Tea, just for a cup of tea. Every single day. 

Arsha and me on the Shine, he dips a corner, before we realise, he sees a bus climbing from the opposite direction. He counter steers, somehow manages to bring the bike to halt just inches away from the bus. The driver jams the brake and draws a holy cross. Within seconds, we ride on leaving nothing but a smile.

Sheriff, Manish hiding, Sukesh, Tabres, Noor, Sunil, myself and Kiran. The Ooty JSS gang. 



Waseem, Arrsath and Sheriff. A picture from Ooty


Sheriff on his Shaolin and me on the Shogun. Ooty to Kunda road. 



Like the blog? Then support the blogger

You can contribute through Phonepe @ 7259496378 ( Akarshan Devanand )

Or

Bank transfers can be made to

Federal Bank

Akarshan Devanand Bhagwan

Account number - 19310100012360

IFSC - FDRL0001931

Kushalnagar branch

---

Instagram

@Akarshandevanand

https://instagram.com/akarshandevanand?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=

YouTube

https://youtube.com/user/TheAkarshan17

Thankful to them all, Thankful to the One! Much metta

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India - from divide and rule to divide and sell

The Indian politics loves the MNC'S over any Indian farmer feeding them to oversize.  A job valued 2 lakh in the USA is done at 1 lakh in India, where there is a about 20% to the Government, then a share in every penny spent out of the remaining 80%. The higher the pay scale, the higher the tax. The higher the income, expensive are the things you buy, the costlier the things you buy, the more you feed the system for free. All you trendy ladies and gentlemen in the cities feasting of the grains and veggies, the ones who grow can hardly afford a proper clothing. All oversized humans, enjoying the protein from cows and chickens. Do you know there is hardly one veterinary doctor for every 30 kilometres and every time an animal gets sick, it sufferers until someone reaches on time. Does anyone have any idea, what you are living on and what you are living for? Had any of them once opened the religious books of each other, this world would have been a much better place with a...

La Sovereign De Himalayas - The cry of my soul was calmed with purity

As we left the Sadhu, we glided down the slopes enjoying the speed but for Dinakar he had to give himself some push whenever the cycle stopped. Turns out he parked the cycle in good condition at an ashram before going to Satopant and when he returned someone had broken a connecting part between the gear and frame. We planned to stay at the Gurudwara at Govind Ghat which we reached around 4 in the evening. Turns out Dinakar smoked too so while Ramesh rested we went out to have a smoke. Later that evening a Sadhu came and took a bed next to ours and joined in the conversation. That's when I heard the name Khagbasundi for the first time, Dinakar spoke about it before saying it was one of the toughest treks, both me and Ramesh were interested the moment he said it was one of the toughest treks. Ramesh watched a video and looked confident enough to do it. We had no clue about the distance or how many days we had to plan for but we knew we had to carry out groceries. After making sure we...

A week in Dev Bhoomi, to realise Human body is a Miracle and people cannot be bought.

Chander Verma is a father of 3, a local resident of Munsyari. Having done various jobs in the past and now running the Mayank Homestay by himself, on lease at 3.5 lakh a year. The day I reached, I told him that he was paying way too much but he already made an agreement for 3 years. He did magic with his hands when it came to cooking though. No bad habits, would smoke a cigarette rarely if someone offers, humble and a neat gentleman. Lovely kids and a beautiful family, living life on what they could afford. He knew his expenses would gradually increase so I asked him to think wisely before he did anything. I had long conversations with him, numerous times during my stay. When I called him to discuss my bill he was kind enough to offer the room at 500 and dinner at 150, even suggested that I extend my stay till the roads ahead were open. I wasn't moving around much but had to be paying rent for my stay and took only 1 meal. Dinner. Survived the rest of the day with biscuits and tea ...