It’s been a while since we met our friends or did something fun.! “Stay Home, Stay Safe, Social Distancing, Atma Nirbhar bano” have changed our lifestyle drastically. It was fun in the beginning and the meme content was off the charts, but now it seems to haunt us for a while. This blog is about a Social Distancing experiment done by us – Members @ Hyderabad Nomads Club (HNC). The Idea is to visit a place and return safely, while following Social Distancing rules – Safe distance, Zero contact with others, Mask ON, Santizers.
Quarantined for a long time, culminated the roots of this social experiment, deep into us. So, we decided to ride and fixated the location as Laknavaram lake; which is an awesome getaway in 250kms radius from Hyderabad city and present in Warangal district. In monsoons, it holds a huge mass of water, and attracts wildlife. The lush green tress surrounding the lake and the man made rope bridges connecting different islands, is a treat to cherish upon..!!
Lineup:
Captain Vikranth, Arshad, Vega Polali, Raghuveer, Bhavani Prasad, Rohit Curry.
Three Dominors, Classic RE, Himalayan and an MT15.
Preparation Day - June 19th:
In the evening, we thought of ride arrangements. The challenges ahead us - it is farther from Hyderabad (though it’s not our concern) which means, we need to take decent halts for fuel, water & food supplements. The third and bothersome challenge - social distancing.!!!. Fuel was out of topic, as it is obvious, we would re-fuel whenever required. Water and food posed an issue, as they are essential for everyone and there’s a chance of contact with the others. We decided that each person is to carry 2 or > water bottles, as much as packed food, fruits. Few came up with innovative ideas like packing cooked food, carrying boiled eggs, juices etc.
After partying all night with my roommates, I was high and excited for next days trip. It was around 2AM, we decided to put an end and sleep. I was afraid I might miss the ride. Regret took over me, I acted crazy with 5 alarms of 3minute intervals set on my mobile and multiple reminders to my roommates to wake me up. The alarms were set at 4:30AM, Yes! which is in next 2hours ..!!!
D Day – The following Day:
Finally, the time came and one of my friends, woke me. Leisurely, I had a bath and geared up by 5:45AM, we were expected to be at the rendezvous point by 6AM – Uppal X roads. Usually it’s an hour ride there, but as it was early in the morning, there was minimal traffic and I scooped along the roads and reached in less than 30minutes. I was hungry, not sure if it’s from waking up early or from last night’s party.! As soon as I reached, I started eating biscuits. I’m the first one to arrive, followed by Bunny, Vega, Arshad, Raghu and then Vikranth anna.
We greeted each other and took few clicks, geared up and took off in 10 mins. That 20kms stretch from starting point to highway was pain in the neck, the road was under construction and there was plenty of traffic, at 6:30 in the morning.! The ride was smooth on highway and after crossing about 50kms, we took our first fuel break. The craziness of our experiment began. Raghu carried bananas, sealed away in a polythene cover, in his bag. They got crushed by his Copper bottle, also they became ripe and squishy. If left for an hour, it would have been a thick banana shake made in his bag. Luckily, we saw it midway and he threw away the spoilt ones and we had the rest. After washing his bag, we resumed our journey on HYD - Warangal highway.
There came a bypass road to the right from the highway towards Warangal, we took a small halt for breakfast at 09:15AM. Everyone was busy in discussing, on breakfast menu, while I was busy clicking my BEE. Menu was set as boiled eggs. Three of us have bought half-a-dozen boiled eggs each and some seasoning to go with. We also had a quick bite competition, in peeling eggshell and finishing it off. The memorable part was all the eggs were smashed on Raghu’s RE. After around a dozen and a half eggs smashed on his RE, his cool stayed as is.!!! A small glimpse from the quite bite challenge can be seen below.!
It’s my first, wandering off the streets of Warangal district. The roads were nice and cozy, with less packed speed breakers and traffic. To say the truth, I was a little disappointed, that I could see Ramappa and Thousand pillar temple from the outside while passing through. They’ve been closed due to Covid-19 and also, one of them is under renovation. In a split second, I went through various emotions while passing through them.! There was a point on highway, after going deep into Warangal, the view was awesome. Every bikers dream.!! Watching clouds pass through hills, as we sped past them. Such a heavenly sight.! It made the ride worthy and I cursed myself, for not owning an action cam.
A small detour towards right from the highway into the patchy ghat section, covering a stretch of 5kms, we reached Laknavaram lake. Honestly, I was a little disappointed at the sight. It was totally dry and place looked dready red in color, with excavation under progress. Weather was extremely humid, with moderate sunny blue skies, filled with fast flowing clouds. Water was far less compared to usual times. My favourite part was saddling (stand on foot rest of one’s bike and drift away through the off road) that dried lake, which was filled with gravel and grass. Standing off my footrest for no reason and feeling the breeze brush my face as we doze off the farther depths of the lake, was an emotion, no one could understand.
We finally reached the spot, which we thought was ideal and parked our rides on the banks of the lake. Took few clicks of our ride and we had a small talk. Meanwhile, Arshad, found “THE SPOT” on the lakebed where, a small piece of land was into the lake, making it a miniature peninsula, it was such an awesome spot, I cursed myself again, for not getting my eyes on it first. The timelapse, which he recorded was beyond expression.! There was another spot, which I laid my eyes on, it looked amazing with lush green grass, over the other side of the lake. This time, I acted smart, I took BEE and saddled off. Arshad, Bunny and Raghu followed me. We spent nearly three folds of an hour, taking pics of our rides. The pics turned out amazing, my gang, entitled me as “Photographer”. Have a look below😊
The time has come, we were hungry and exhausted. Signs of dehydration turned up, which indicated us to replenish our nutrients. We searched for an ideal place to have our lunch and finally found one, under the thick shade of a tree. We took out the bread packets we carried and to our surprise, there came bunny with a box full of rotis and he even bought paper plates as well.! He seemed to have given a lot of thought into it, to come up with those. The chutney, which he bought to accompany rotis, was spectacular. We enjoyed the mini meal and finished off the rest of boiled eggs. I remember one line from Arshad, he told us to wash hands, after using hand sanitizer, as it helps in washing the dead bacteria, viruses, dust from our hands. I couldn’t agree more, but my hands looked dirty from all the saddling and had to wash them anyway. Many precautions were to be taken in these tough times, to be safe and I sighed. Look down for Bunny’s arrangements !
We sanitized, whenever we felt necessary. I had a close friend in Warangal, around 50kms away from the lake, so I decided to take a small de-tour and pay him a visit. The rest proceeded as per the plan. It was around 3’O clock in the noon, we parted ways. The five of them took the same route, we came. It was in the evening, they took a small water break and halted in an order. Suddenly, Bunny went ahead, it seemed as if, he was taking a turn, but it was the opposite. He felt unconscious for a split second. He might be dehydrated and weak from the journey and in-adequate quantity of food intake. By God’s grace, both he and his White Horse, escaped the fall with zero damage(Usually, I don’t bring up such phrases of God, but we never feel grateful to god, unless it’s our dearest…!!). Take Care in future rides Bunny, you have a bright future ahead. That, incident was a lesson to all of us, it reminded us of the thing we lacked – intake of enough food supplements and water, which was not enough from the packed food, we took. It was around 8:30-9PM, in the night, everyone reached their respective houses, safely, thus, ending our social distancing experiment.
Bonus content:
There was a time, an hour before reaching the lake, we took a quick stop, as Vikranth anna, wanted to change his GoPro battery. It was then, we abruptly, parked our rides, beside the road and were waiting. To our surprise, there came a herd of buffaloes, out of the blue. Rest of them, were on their bikes and I was the lone victim, away and off from my ride. They shouted at me, saying, the buffaloes are about to poke me. I panicked and took to heels, pushed my BEE onto road. I literally ran like a scared little kid, who runs away, as soon as he sees a dog.!!! This incident was not recorded, but we’ve got an awesome moment to laugh at…!!!
Links:
Vlog by Vikranth Nanda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIw2ANgRSuk
