Day 13 - Srikakulam to Vishakapatnam, 100 kms

It was going to be a long day due to the distance. But we were extremely excited because of the rest day coming up tomorrow… We couldn’t wait to get to the beach (we were told that we are staying at YMCA, on the beach). And the other excitement (not really exciting) is washing our clothes.. hehehe.. we've been piling them up for the past few days anticipating the break day. Our next break will be after 9 days at Chennai.

The road today was very enjoyable. It was a lot of downhills, though we did have quiet a few uphills as well. We had our first Dosa for the trip. The owner of the dhaba pulled out the newspaper and showed us our picture:)

One of the new things that most of the girls did today was eat a fruit called tateningo. It grows on a coconut like palm and has small juicy heart shaped fleshy pulp filled with sweet water. One has to peel the outer skin with the fingers and eat the fleshy pulp while the water bursts into your mouth. It was so refreshing that we ended up eating quite a few each.

OH!!! and how could I forget.. All the girls also tasted fresh toddy today :).. We watched a guy climb up the palm tree using the rubber and jute apparatus and recover fresh toddy.. we all had a sip each... It is amazing how are are all getting to do so many new and exciting things ont he journey and meet such accomplished and generous people...

All along the route, everywhere we stopped for a break, we've collected a crowd of curious people. Everyone is equally shocked (it is more like - entertained) when we tell them our route. But more than anything, the men and the boys are more interested in the geared cycles and they all ask us the price. They refuse to believe us when we tell them that they are Hercules (Indian) cycles. In fact they refuse to believe that we are Indians ourselves. hehehe.. We normally have a tough time getting them not to touch the cycles and change the gears. It is really funny to see that in every group there is one person who is the 'know-it-all'. He invariably is the one who explains to the others the intricacies of the gears and how they work, even though he actually has no clue about it.. hehehe.. As you can see, we have entertainment wherever we go, even if we feel like zoo animals up for display :)

We've had many people stop us on the road to take pictures. One of then today turned out to be the District PR person. He was extremely interested and said that he will pass on the details to the media.

Mr Vithal Raj of the Rotary came to pick us up from the beginning of Vizag ( also called Vishakapatnam and Waltair). This place is so beautiful. One of the most beautiful cities visited so far. Even our truck driver Is telling us to stay back here for a few days. As promised, we are staying at the YMCA and our stay here is hosted by both the Youth Hostels Association as well as the Rotary. Had a big press conference and a presentation with the Rotary. We've not had time to go to the beach, though it is just across the road.

BSA Hercules got all our cycles re-fitted today. That is exciting.. They should run like butter day-after-tomorrow. heheheh..

Have a long day of sightseeing tomorrow.. and meetings and conferences.. :) catch you later… :)

cycles when loaded into the truck

Reena loved the Toddy :)

The tender coconut break

With Mr Vittal Raj

Day 12 - Tekkali to Srikakulam, 50 kms

Today we met woman empowerment in action... An amazing woman named Annapurna who lives in Singapuram, about 10 kms before Srikakulam, with her husband, who is the President of the Rotary here. She insisted we have breakfast with her before we go to Srikakulam. Now, this lady is no ordinary person. She single handedly runs a rice mill, one of the oldest rice mills of the area, where they process 32,000 kgs everyday. The rice mill was set up by her father-in-law. She also runs a cattle milch. And she is so hospitable that we were truly touched. She and her husband, Mr Prasad, drove with us all the way to Srikakulam and handed us over personally to the Rotarians here before going back.

Today's ride was very short, comparatively at least, and it was very enjoyable. We were hosted by both the Red Cross and the Rotary. Met kids in the hostel and spoke to kids in a pre-university college.. Before this we had a press conference where we got chewed up by huge mosquitoes. We have decided to keep the odomos with us where we go :)

Had 2 punctures :( Roopa's cycle had its second puncture..

Day 11 - Ichchapuram to Tekkali, 90 kms

NH 5 and the roads so wide
But the ups and downs continue…
Hills and lakes all around
But the ups and downs continue…
Tender coconut to drink and roti's to eat
But the ups and downs continue…
Great hospitality of the Rotary club
But the ups and downs continue…
2 punctures and a 90 kms
But the ups and downs continue…

The long roads are inspiring lousy poetry in me… hehehehe…

We have stopped about 10 kms short of our original destination (Kotabommali) at a place called Tekkali. We are staying at the Rotary Club's hall. It is a nice big hall but this place has just toooooo many mosquitoes..

Tomorrow again we will be staying at a place that is not on our route map: Srikakulam. This is almost 30kms before our original destination - Ranastalam. It Is good for the girls. We had 2 girls falling sick today, both with upset stomachs. Luckily the Rotary President here is a doctor and has given them medicines. We are also carrying medicines and had already given them to the girls. I'm sure they will be alright by tomorrow.

Everyone is looking forward to the short distance cycling tomorrow, especially since this week has been really long distances in the heat. The weather was comparatively better today in the morning. There was thick fog and it was wonderful cycling through that. But by 10.30 am, the heat began as usual. We filled up our bottles with glucose water and also stopped to have 2 tender coconuts (they were really sweet).

When we entered the village of Tekkali today, a guy stopped and asked me,"Forrester aa?" He repeated it when he saw the bewildered look on my face.. Then he decided to rephrase the question,"Indian aa?" hehehe.. then I realised he was asking if I was a foreigner.. hehhe.. People everywhere in the villages think that we are foreigners. I guess they think Indian women will not do stupid things like this.. heheh… I Sigh!! I guess we are stupid women.. hehehe…

Internet connection acting up.. unable to upload pics :( will try again tomorrow...

Early morning fog.. Very pleasant to ride in..

The Rotary hall at Tekkali

The girls sleeping in the Rotary hall.

With the Rotary President and his wife...

Day 10 - Barkul to Ichchapuram, 100 kms

We are so tired!!! It was an extremely sunny and hot day and the road was never ending.. We reached Ichchapuram only at 3pm. We left Orissa today and the reception in Andhra Pradesh is just as wonderful.

We had a quick South Indian meal as soon as we arrived and got together to ride around the town with about a 100 school children. It was fun. We then went to the school and spoke to the children about riding cycles, keeping healthy, keeping their surroundings and India clean, keeping their minds alive by asking questions and researching on the net and also about helping make the world Polio-free (Rotary's drive). The children were very receptive and clapped every five minutes :)..

The route today was again ups and downs... We're waiting for it to get back to flat grounds heheheh... This whole week we have to do a 100 kms each day so it is going to be very tiring, especially going by the last 2 days. We've decided to take a break at Vishakapatnam instead of at Tuni. It will give us a chance to visit the port and for the girls to play around in the ocean (a new experience for some). Moreover, since it is a large town, we might have more to do to keep us occupied on our rest day. Anyways, more about that when we get there :)

In Orissa, we found that there were ponds all along the Highway. Little ones, with Lotuses and with cottages on the banks of the pond. It reminded me of the Ramayana and other mythological stories where Lord Rama stayed in cottages like that when they were exiled :) imagination :)

Ready for action at the start of the day..

We found a small joint to have breakfast at... idli, puri and upma :)

This kulfi guy found us on the road and we had a treat..

The kids in the school at Ichchapuram... They were so excited to meet all of us..

Meet the team Part 2

Bimla Negi Deoskar

A very senior mountaineer from Nagpur. Married to a mountaineer, Avinash Deoskar, a great trainer and one of the biggest supporters of WANI. WANI was started only due to the enthusiasm and commitment of this husband-wife duo.

Bimla has been part of the Mt Everest expedition in 1993 and has also led many expeditions. She and Avinash run the Indian branch of Outward Bound: Outward Bound Bharat, in Nagpur and conduct innumerable courses every year for all age groups.


Maj Ashwini Maheshwari, VSM

Ashwini (in red pants above) climbed Mt Everest in 2005 as a part of an expedition organised by the Indian Army. She is presently posted in Guwahati.

Deepa Shembekar

Deepa is basically a farmer from Baramati, near Pune. The cycling bug bit her in 1998 and she has been taking part in rallies since then. In fact, she just completed two rallies back-to-back, before she joined ours. She is the resident cycle expert in the team and patiently explains the intricacies of cycling to the girls.

Day 8 - Bhuvaneshwar, Rest day

A few exciting things happened today… Roopa and Soni saw the ocean for the first time in their lives.. Kavita sat in a cycle rikshaw for the first time in her life…

The bad part was that we were rejected in our own country as being foreigners and not allowed to go into Lord Jagannath's Temple in Puri.. We were extremely disappointed. They thought Krishna Thakur (from Manali) and Kavitha (she's got small eyes) were foreigners even though they spoke good hindi. They asked them what their 'gotra' is and Krishna got a little stuck and did not answer immediately… and that was It… They wanted us to go to the office, which was a distance away, and get a written letter saying we are Indians, before they let us into the temple.. Vasumathi went to the head constable and showed them her Army id card and explained the purpose of the expedition, but they did not care one bit. Understandably, we were extremely upset and refused to do that.. We decided we’d rather not visit the temple.. What kind of a stupid rule is this where the constable at the entrance is allowed to show his so called superiority (we think it shows his dumbness) just because he sees a few girls dressed smartly.. Even after it is so clearly evident that we are all Indians. Just because the stupid constable got a doubt once, the seniors also refused to let us in. Something has to be done about this rule that makes normal people suffer just because they look different. Does the lord refuse to bless people because they are different? Why do human beings think they can decide for God. Anyways, you can see how upset we are about the incident. God has already blessed our expedition, so It is alright.

Sigh! We got over our blues by shopping..lol.. bought a few sarees, log sleeve t-shirts, watches and other junk..heheh.. we were fine by the end of it :)

We went and met Pradeep Sahoo's mom and sister and her family after that. Pradeep Sahoo and his wife Chetna Sahoo are the ones who hosted our entire noisy bunch in Kolkata for the 4 days before the expedition. They were such great hosts that we did not even feel that we were meeting them for the first time or that we were staying in someone else's house. Thank you both of you for feeding us like crazy.. We have not found better mishty dahi or rasgullas anywhere else!!! They sweetshop in the corner is amazing :)

Bimla didi and Deepa left us today :( Deepa will join back soon and we are hoping that Bimla didi also does soon. But the good new is that Reena Dharamshaktu and Krushnaa Patil have joined us. We are back to being 10 girls :) we will get to 14 in a week or more… :)

We felt we did not really need this rest day, but I am sure our body must be thanking us for it.. hehehe.. We have a really long day tomorrow - the longest so far - about 95-100 kms to Barkul. We were originally supposed to stay at Balugaon, but were told that this place is better, accommodation wise. We will be at the Chilika lake tomorrow so are really looking forward to it.. BFN…

Sitting on the stept of the beautiful Konark Sun Temple..

Roopa on a beach for the first time in her life.. :)

With Pradeep Sahoo's mother and family...

Day 7 - Chandikhol to Bhuvaneshwar, 80 kms

The highlight of the day was that we encountered our first signal light of the expedition…hehehe.. We waited at a red light in Cuttak for 120 seconds and the second one was green :)

Great timing today.. Chandikhol refreshed us so much that we cycled so fast.. lol.. We reached Bhuvaneshwar at 11.30 am. We had to wait at a temple on the highway till about 12.30 for the Rotary team to come to receive us. We have not landed right back in a temple.. We’re staying at the ISKCON temple in Bhuvaneshwar. Had very tasty breakfast at a dhaba and as usual ate too much. The guy got tired of bringing us rotis… we asked for sugar with our curd, but he never brought it, despite us asking about 20 times.. hehe, then we realised he was out of sugar. He sent someone to bring a little from nearby.. we thought it was funny at that time

We were very happy that we did not have any punctures yesterday. But when we took the cycles off the truck, 2 cycles were punctured :(

The shoulder of the road where we usually cycle, was not quiet there during the ride today. Even though the road was there, it was (or is) covered with mud and sand, leaving barely half a foot for cyclists to cycle on. We ended up cycling mostly on the road.

Roopa is getting used to not having her mobile phone. She lost it in the guest house Bhadrak 2 days ago. She was so upset that night that she hardly ate any food. She hopes that I will give her a mobile, but I tell her- Better luck next time.. hehehhe..

The Rotary is giving us so much hospitality everywhere we go that we don’t know how to thank them. Each and every person is taking it on themselves to ensure that we are fully taken care of. We went to the tribal fair today and are going to Konark and Puri tomorrow.. Really looking forward to it.. havent had time to download pics as yet.. will upload all three days tomorrow.. promise :)

Our amazing reception at Bhuvaneshwar

A tribal woman at the tribal fair...

Outside the ISCKON Temple...