Recently, 50-year-old, sanskari, politically vocal, gentlemanly, secular-humanist, single, fit, good-looking, bearded motorcyclists who have walked the BJY, kick ass on social media, have a quirky sense of humour, attract hate from the right wing, are good with kids, live with their loving but tough-as-nails mothers, and are sons of pilot fathers are in the news. (As an aside, I’d like to note that no one has ever seen me in the same room or photograph as Rahul Gandhi. I mean, think about it. Just saying.)
In light of that, I have decided to embark on a (longish) solo trip down parts of Southern India to celebrate Kym and I turning one year older, she 9 and me 51. She will travel with her mum by air and road to Coonoor and back while I faff around to take in the sights on two wheels for a bit more as I zig-zag across the peninsula and meet people, eat food, and photograph random stuff to post.
My itinerary is as follows:
- Pune-Bengaluru (28 August 2023)
- Bengaluru-Coonoor (29 August 2023)
- Coonoor (29 August – 02 September 2023)
- Coonoor-Kodaikanal (02 September 2023)
- Kodaikanal (02 September – 05 September 2023)
- Kodaikanal-Karaikkudi (05 September 2023)
- Karaikkudi (05 September – 07 September 2023)
- Karaikkudi-Puducherry (07 September 2023)
- Puducherry (07 September – 09 September 2023)
- Puducherry-Bengaluru (09 September 2023)
- Bengaluru (09 September – 13 September 2023)
- Bengaluru-Pune (13 September 2023). This return date is tentative. I might stay for another day or two, or may return earlier.
Any recommendations? Advice? Anecdotes from experience? Cautionary moral lectures (which I shall ignore, but secretly love you for being concerned) about not riding fast or not going on this trip at all or how I am a senile old man suffering from hallucinations? Scenic routes? Must see, must do things?
Does anyone want to meet me in any of these places on the said dates (I already have meetings planned with some folks, so we’ll have to work around that)? Does anyone want to ride alongside (they’ll need their own wheels, 2 or 4) on any leg? DM me. Everything and everyone is welcome.
And now, I log off again. Back to, erm, doing whatever it was I was doing before this.
![Mr Baba: 'Would you like to take off the backpack now that you've been downstairs for like 30 minutes?'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'I like it like this. You should try it. It's very comfortable.'
Mr Baba: [Pulling on his backpack] 'Hmmm, you're right. That's rather snug.'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'Twinning! Yay!'
#LuckiestManAlive #BearFamily](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416920031_3373151642830342_6696851954454537274_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=ZMLmjPdSAEUAX8nnJex&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfB0olvUVmnenPKd2wCllMDehg5gzDgAbc4BDsGLqIm6pA&oe=65BA4561)
![Kym: 'Mr Baba, can I tell you something wierd? You can actually get tired from doing nothing!!'
Me: 'It is called boredom.'
Kym: 'Noooo. I mean, like physically tired.'
Me: 'One can get tired and sleepy due to boredom. I remember reading about it somewhere. Let's find out.'
[Some Googling later]
Me: 'It says here that "A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications finds that a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure - the nucleus accumbens - also can produce sleep. The new findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored." Isnt it interesting?'
Kym: 'I already knew that. Why do you need to research things we already know?'
Me: [Finding a subject worth talking about now]: ' Ah well, that's what we'll talk of tomorrow on your morning run. It's very interesting the way science is done and our understanding of the universe is expanded.'
Kym: 'Can we talk of unicorns instead?'
Me: 'Sure. How do you know they exist? That's an interesting question too that you can use the scientific method to answer.'
Kym: 'Do they have to exist for us to talk about them? We can just pretend they do for an hour and have fun.'
Me: [Laughing] 'Yes, sure. We can do that too.'
#BabaBabyConversations #BearFamily #KymAndI](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416410840_383105434396466_2267910263456009774_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=LIozs445JFcAX_48wGC&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDQ2qbb0yO_wUmLj_L0ZxF61eDdwlIN-vyrd8GZe_pBMQ&oe=65BAFA57)
