Pre-dawn Adventures(!)

3:55AM Saturday morning and a voice pierces through the darkness -- "Kokkada". All of a sudden, 3 of the 6 dudes in the middle of the bus are startled straight and are busy waking up the other three. In no time, all six are out of the bus, out in the cool environs of the Western Ghats. First timers wonder "Are we at the right place?"; we sure are, 'cos as we look around, there is a young family of four, waiting in the shelter of a kirana shop. Except for the ten of us, there is no soul in sight, leave alone a jeep. Occasionally, a faithful KSRTC bus whizzes past, making its way to Lord Manjunatha's abode, Dharmasthala.

The immediate question on everyone's mind is "How do we reach Shishila?"

From past experience, we assumed that'd not be a problem -- that time around, a jeep was in waiting, with many more in the queue. But, that wasn't at 4AM though. Our host had assured us that transport needed to be the least of our worries... but that was not to be.

What happens when you have a few half asleep people in the middle of nowhere? They just make their way to the nearest flat spot that has some semblance of looking like a bed to put the head down. A small step in front of a cement shop served this purpose.

Just as we settle down, a jeep drives in, picks up the young family and disappears as fast as it came. A few minutes later, a faint light appears down from a crossroad leading to this intersection: an autorickshaw! Our spirits soar... but 1 auto won't cut it... we need at least 2.

Two of the more enterprising folk from our ilk walk up to the now parked auto and report back -- there is absolutely no way an auto can take us to Shishila. The roads may lead us elsewhere (hospital perhaps) if we took an auto. The auto driver tries to get in touch with a jeep driver friend of his to help us out, the friend refuses.

After about 15 minutes, along comes a jeep. Now, not 2, but 5 people surround the vehicle. The driver says he is already booked. Immediately after, yet another jeep drives by and stops as if it is trying to solicit passengers. Subsequent conversation with the new driver went something like this:

Driver: "Yes?"
We: "We need to get to Shishila"
Driver: "Really? How?"
We: "This jeep"
Driver: "It'll cost you money!"
We: "Sure, how much?"
Driver: "350 bucks"
We: "No problems"
Driver: "But not this jeep, that one" and before we respond, he drives off!

The 'booked' driver, a real patient man, throws a ray of hope -- a Milk Van would drive by "anytime between 5:45 and 6" and that goes to Shishila if nothing else does.

So, back to the cement shop steps... more waiting and finally, the Milk Van arrives at 5:40AM. The souls manning the van are kind enough to accommodate us "Only if you can ride in the back".

6 people with bags weighing about 6-15kg get in and find they have about 15 milk cans for company. That marks the start of perhaps the most bone rattling of rides some of us have ever undertaken. The van makes its way past ginormous potholes that can aptly be described as mini water sumps. Some places, there is almost no road to speak of. After about 50 minutes of bone jarring, stomach settling, rickety ride in the back of a van that probably lost company of its shock absorber 2 months after it came into existence, we get off, thankful that the ordeal is over. But nobody would take us there for 60 bucks either ;-)