Western Ghats – the bridge between Udupi and Hassan districts
The travel between the two major cities of Karnataka namely Mangaluru and Bengaluru involves crossing rugged terrains of western ghats. One has to climb up and down the western ghats mountain chain to reach either cities. The narrow semi-damaged, unfinished, gravel-filled and poorly maintained / under-construction roads from Hassan to Mangaluru makes the route one of the most rugged trips for travelers. The 200 Km stretch from Hassan district of Karnataka to Mangaluru / Udupi takes approximately 4 hours to cross. However, all the difficulties are well compensated by the scenic beauty of the ghats. Imagine the plight of your vehicle tyres that bears the brunt of this tough yet scenic route. And worst, what if one gets a flat tyre in the middle of such a remote and arduous mountain journey? We can make the scenario even more difficult. What if you get a flat tyre and you do not have a spare wheel? Disaster right?
Recipe for disaster | Unprepared adventure
It is ideal to be doubly cautious and be prepared while deciding to go on adventurous activities. For long journeys through car, servicing and check-up is a pre-requisite. However, my car did not have a fifth wheel as it was damaged and given for fixing. It was during this time, I decided to go from Udupi to Bengaluru. There was a catch. Three of the car’s tyres were brand new while the fourth one was the spare tyre. The actual 4th new tyre which was supposed to be supporting us was being serviced for its rim damages. Tada, this brought in the perfect recipe for a grand disaster in my journey. Here I’ m and my car roaring with excitement s the clock ticks 3 PM in Udupi.
Driving through the Ghat Road
The travel from Udupi to Hassan requires a steep climb from mean sea level to 950 m above sea level. As one enters the Hiryadka circle in Udupi district, the ghat section begins to show up gradually. From Hiryadka, my route involved covering Karkala, Naravi, Charmady, Bhatkal, Banakal and then to Belur and Hassan. That would complete 50% of my journey. There are two routes to reach Hassan. One is the Charmady road that I took and the other one is the Sakleshpura route. The Charmady route is more into the mountains, forests and filled with so many hair-pin bends. The route that every adventure lovers would prefer.
The ghat roads are generally zig-zag in shape. Plus the continuous and gradual elevation of the roads uphill adds up to the challenge of fast-driving. This means that the challenge for the drivers is directly proportional to the speed one takes. The ground clearances are also not so great towards the corners in many places. The sides of the roads are not covered till the end. There will always be a small gap where the road has not been typically laid towards the sides. This gap could be huge in some areas. So, the driver has to ensure that over-speeding doesn’t lead the vehicle towards the corner of the road especially while taking sharp turns. Else, the chassis of the car could get hit due to growing gap between the road edge and the off-road sides. That is exactly what happened in my case.
Crossing Naravi and entering Kuthluru
The front tyre became flat after the car hit the sides of the road which had large ground clearance. At a speed of about 60 Kms per hour, the front tyre of the car got down from the road, hit off-road towards the side which caused the rim of the wheel to get bent thereby releasing all the air from it. From 60 Kms / hour, it came down to a halt within the next few meters. The situation was slightly troublesome due the remoteness of the region. The bad part was that the breakdown happened in a remote region in western ghats. The good part was that it was only 4 PM and was quite bright. I was optimistic that I could some how sort this out.
I could hardly find any person on the road except for the speeding cars, trucks and buses. Managed to ask a localite about the nearest puncture shop. It did not come as a shock when I learnt that the only service shop is 4.5 Kms away. It wasn’t possible to drive the car for 4 full kilometers with a damaged rim. It would have only caused further damage. By the time, I crossed a tea shop to inquire about the possibility of any support mechanism to fix the tyre.
Good Samaritans. Thanks to Dinesh, Raju and Raveendra
A small provision shop owner Dinesh, without a second thought gave a call to the puncture shop owner, asked him to come to the spot. Because they are localites and know each other so well, the service person drove down 4.5 Kms to reach the spot. Meanwhile, I was offered a cup of tea to sip and relax. The tyre shop owner Raveendra reached the spot on his bike with jockey and a manual cycle pump. Meanwhile, a third helping hand, Raju who owns the tea shop came for the support.
Raju used the manual cycle pump to fill the air. Dinesh fetched a vessel full of water, so that Raveendra could check different parts of the tyre and identify the hole if any. This was a coordinated effort involving all three of them. I felt thankful for these three people. Else, the day would have been more tougher. Finally, they identified and fixed the torn portion, once again, Raju helped in pumping the air using the manual pump and then I took the car, reached Raveendra’s shop to fill actual Nitrogen with the right pressure. Trust me, no one would prefer to use a manual pump in first hand, but ,here, they used a cycle pump to fill sufficient air for the car tyre. It was strenuous and hard labor. If I had a spare tyre, then, it would have been an easy job for all. Probably, I would have fixed the spare wheel myself.
Absence of spare wheel, remoteness of the location and the extent of damage to the rim – all coming together created a challenging situation. However, these three men made it seem like a cake-walk. Thanks to the good samaritans – Dinesh, Raju and Raveendra. I would certainly remember them and visit them if I ever take the same route to go the western side of Karnataka.
The uniqueness of Karnataka
The Indian state of Karnataka holds a unique terrain that includes plains, plateaus and mountain ranges. Plains are those areas which are at sea level. They mostly form the coastal regions of Karnataka. Plateaus are those regions of earth which are elevated from sea levels, but are not hills or mountain series. They are sections of earth which are elevated than other regions due to the act of natural earthly forces lakhs of years ago. While its capital region is a fully elevated plateau raising 2900+ feet above sea level, the coastal region towards Arabian sea is exactly at mean-sea level. Mangaluru, Udupi, Kollur and many such pilgrimage and historic cities are placed in the coastal belt of Karnataka.