1) Write-up By Thiyagarajan Vijayakumar
"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; It is something you design for the present"
- By Thiyagarajan apdinu sonna nambava poreenga. Net lernthu sutta quote than.
About our trip to Irukkam Island. In spite of being a 100% active fitness freak’s(Niranjan) friend , I am one who should be the laziest one who would involve these kind of activities very occasionally :-P Whenever I go to a trip (ada one or two trip than ithuku munadi poi iruken. Flow la apdi than varum kandukatheenga ;-) ) it will be more kind of test for my physical endurance. But this trip is like, I enjoyed a lot with energetic and fun filled crew J I did not mind about the distance, improperly fitted Head light, the traffic or my body weight. I was like, chattering with co riders (krishnam Raju, Thakali alies Mahesh, Padmakumar the kattu thanamana cyclist), clicking photos (varalaru mukiyam amaichare), drink juices and kept on moving. So it was easy for me to complete the ride comfortably. When we going inside the village those people were approaching like, “ei pudida avingala, dei ne enna hindi karana”. I was Feeling like “Dei nangalam Aliens illada”.
Padman kumar's kattu thanamana cycling
Bala anna’s cycle ride with formals.
Camping and cooking in spot is always fun. Special thanks to Chicken chief Uma and whom and all worked for Chiken BBQ they were awesome. J
Full of funny movie dialogue chat with GAME OF THRONES story writer Girish :-P
Thakkali alies Mahesh’s mind buckling plan for finding a proper sleeping place near tent and to get shadow when sun comes up :-P
Morning goes in neck level water (unmayave aazhamathamba irunthuchu), and kambala race by our kambala (aiyaiyo avar per gnabagam varalaye)
Thakkali’s salt level comparison between marina and Irukkam island
FB DP la vakrathukune plan panni edutha boat ride pics.
Return ride – with Siva anna, Chicken chief, GOT story writer Girish and Thakali, was tough while starting. But later point once it becomes cloudy we got little bit energy and was keep on hoping that the rain should come. Not to disappoint me, the rain came while we started climbing the Redhills bridge. Then it was a fantastic ride till Puzhal. Then a perfect tea at Puzhal. To sum up all, it was a fun filled enjoyable trip for me.
Atlast for all the organizers, who have worked towards planning and organizing comparatively big crowd with ease and made the crew happy Ja well spent week end.
2) Write-up By Girish Kumar
Start: When you wear the cycle helmet and a crazy reflecting T shirt and with a gear cycle, you will definitely look like an ALIEN for general public. Once you join the clan of CTC, you will feel absolutely home. I have always admired the punctuality of CTC. 4 Pm Saturday evening was the assembling time at koyambedu. I reached the spot well in time and so was everyone. Niranjan and Raja( This event’s Organisers) were busy taking head counts and making “Hi-Hi” interactions.
We all dumped our bags in the Car and got ready with the hydration kits. Cars were also carrying all the supplies required for the Dinner. Everyone waited for the important thing. Yeah ofcourse! Groupfie at the starting point.
Not so fast riders started first ( obviously, I am one of them :p ) giving others a head start. Took our Groupfie at the starting point. Well, We started.
Night Ride: Though I have attended cycling events before, since lack of practice lost a bit of touch with the pace. Well managed it with the friends chit chat and happenings . Niranjan and Raja ( Our Hearty Friend) kept a keen watch on all cyclers and rode their four wheelers at a very patient pace along with the cyclists.
Regroup and then most exciting thing happened: After all the tiring 60+ Kms ride with all that Hunger everyone regrouped at Aarambaakam. Hurray !! we reached. Many did Funny Poses to make stretches to ease their pains. ( Well Photos speak lot more about those funny poses anyway).
Many phone calls made, known the status of everyone. Regrouped with everyone and went to the shore at Aarambakkam. As organizers planned ahead, boatmen and boats were ready for our moving. All riders hopped into one boat and Cycles were placed in another boat.
Exciting thing was THE 45 mins boat ride. Who would think that there is an Island this near Chennai with such a wonderful boat travel. Never been to the island before, so like many , Even I was very much excited to reach the Island. That too the boat ride was at 10:30pm, which added magnificence to it.
Only disappointment was that of Clouds and Moon. Organizers have planned the trip on a Full moon night , so that we can enjoy the Moon on that boat ride. But Moon played a little bit Hide and seek with clouds and didn’t show her face to us.
Hurray! The Island: With no idea whatsoever about the looks of Island, reached it. The Sunday morning revealed the beauty of the island. Well we will get to that a little later.
Unloaded all the supplies, cycles and stepped into the Island. Saw for a leveled space and unfolded the tarps. Allotted each of the tarps, one for cutting vegetables, resting etc.
Awesome dinner: Many felt very tired after the ride and even some started sleeping before dinner preparation. Thanks for the Chef and the Cooking team. Dinner was splendid. Chicken curry and Mushroom curry with Phulkas never felt this better.
After the “One plate many hands brotherhood CTC’s own style dinner”, everyone ended their long day at2am retiring to their tents or tarps or sleeping bags etc.( well technically It was Morning, Never Mind).
Pure Bliss: Sunday morning the view was a perfect bliss. The island looked so good like there was no human stepped there before. The sun rise with sea at one side and all sides’ water, we were all sitting under open blue skies. What more beauty one could ask for?
Dip in water and Sip of Coffee: All sides were water, for CTC members especially for regular open water swimmers it’s a tough task to restrain them from dipping themselves in water. Well, most of us jumped into water, clicked memories. Water was uniformly 3-4 feet high which was very surprising.
Coffee was prepared and no one had glasses or cups to drink them. That never stopped us from drinking the Coffee. We poured entire coffee in water jugs and like new hatched bird chicks we were all opening our mouths wide open. Raja poured the coffee right into our mouths. An entirely different way of drinking coffee though. Had Upma as breakfast which was awesome and headed back to Aarambakam. The beauty of waters which we missed to admire the last night was fully clicked as photos on our way back. Each and everyone had their display picture (Fb ,Watsaap DP’s) shot at that boat with their own poses.
Aarambakam to Akka Kadai: We started without wasting any sunlight at approx 11:30 Am. Our only motivation was “Akka Kadai”. Akka kadai was the our next regrouping stop where we had planned to have our lunch. Yes! Briyani of course. During the last time, CTC guys have tasted Briyani there and recommended it highly for us.
Few police men were shocked when we enquired about the Akka Kadai with them. “ How the heck did these guys find out about the Akka Kadai, or Was the Akka kadai that famous ? :p “
Reached the spot and had so much Briyani as if we were going sleep next. We had 45+ Kms ahead to reach Chennai. Organizers finalized all the accounts and shared all the expense details with everyone. After some not-enough rest we all started towards Chennai.
Chennai welcomed us with rain: After the briyani shop the next 15-20 Kms were the tough. Sun above our head just absorbed all the energy right from us. For each 5 Km we stopped and drank some juice or something.
To our surprise, when Chennai was just 25+ Kms away the clouds clubbed black, though dark but that was the light in us all. Never felt so refreshing. Only thought on all of us was to have rain that time.
Though Moon disappointed us last night, skies compensated it. Dark skies down poured !!. Hurray. Cycling in a highway, Briyani on our stomach and Chill rain. Took that as a sign ‘Chennai was welcoming us’. Our pace gradually increased.
Chai and Bye: Reached Chennai refreshingly with all the energy which the climate gave us. All reached Madhavaram bypass junction and had an appropriate fresh hot Tea(chai). With gaining many new friends and renewal of some old friendship everyone parted ways waving Bye’s and sharing photos. Some headed to the starting point itself, some to surrender their rental cycles and some to their homes directly.
Now on a serious note: Thanking Organizers would never be enough. They planned everything ahead, right from Cycle’s Puncture Kit to making ready the Boat for our transportation. Their patience made the trip a memorable one. Thank you CTC and Organizers.
Funny moments:
Though many moments were shared in mail loops, I would like to summarize it here.
· People on roads looking us like ALIENS. Their usual questions were , “Where are coming from and going to ?” , “ Do you go all the way in cycle?” , “How much these cycles cost? :p , etc “
· A cycle named as “ Formals Cycle”. – Bala Anna rode that cycle with complete business formals.
· I was glad I could find some Game of throne fans and discussed many GOT theories. Funny thing was, someone thought “ Actor Arya was acting in game of thrones” :p . ( FYI: I was mentioning about Arya Stark in Game of thrones)
· Mr.Mahesh ( alias Thakkali) finding a proper sleeping place at night to avoid sun light early in the morning. But Sun rays first fell on them in the morning:p
· Everyone pretending the water level was very deep. It was actually just 3-4 feet depth. Everyone literally sat on water legs-bend to take photos as if we were swimming in deep water. :P ( Sorry Truth revealed)
· One person who compared the salt level of Marina and the Irukkam island waters. And his statement was” This water saltiness was not that salty when compared to marina water’s saltiness :p” ( Yes ! I know)
Well jokes apart, It was a fun filled memorable ride. Gained new friends, experienced new things and would cherish these memories for long.
Once again a big thanks for the Organizers. Let’s all meet soon in another event.
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