And then we were given the dates for the arrival of Charlie Bear - the first solo, stuffed-animal traveler ever ! :-) and lucky us, it was looking out to be a grand weekend!
My friends, Srinath (co-rider & coordinator for the WWRR - Mangalore), Sanjay (Revlimiterz), Kuldeep (Supersouls) had all been furiously working out on plans and ideas culminating towards the grand Sunday event and I had been getting calls and messages throughout. Come Saturday evening, when they should have had Charlie in their hands, and our hearts sank when Steve said that with all the previous delay, they had stopped for the night at Murdeshwar, around 130 kms away from Mangalore and could only continue in the morning.And our plans were scheduled for Sunday morning at 8.30, when our team could take Charlie for an entire city sightseeing trip! So, a few quick calls and messages and Sanjay and Srinath had to alert everybody, the press, the police, the other clubs and riders that the 8.30 plan was not happening.
And me? I had sneakily got up at 4.30 am after just 3 hours of sleep, ready for the 360 kms dash from Bangalore. But unfortunately we managed to get out of the city only after 7 am. And we kept going, my wife and little boy peacefully dozing away, while all thoughts, curses, nightmares kept me awake throughout!
In the meantime, amid rising temperatures (both climatically & humanly) and up stoppable time, the anticipation was building up and around 11.30 am, the 4 Bulleters, led by Steve crossed over the city perimeter and met up with Srinath at KPT junction, who was waiting with some of the most colourful bikes from the Pulsar club! He then quickly led them to Kadri Park entrance, where the media, together with at least 30 bikes from the different clubs, Pulsar Naked Wolves, Yamaha Riding Club, Dark Viperz, Zero Gravity and the Mangalore Jawa Yezdi Club. While Steve and his team were raring to just get back on the road and ride back towards Hubli, Srinath convinced them to just drop in at the Radio Big FM Studio, at Bharath Mall, where the official handing over was going to be done! 
At the Studio, it was a field day for the press as everyone wanted to know what was Charlie doing all alone, criss-crossing over countries and continents and why was this relay even conceptualized in the first place. While Charile occupied the main chair, Srinath, Sanjay and other riders all crowded around, eager to put forth their own views, thoughts and excitement! Post the interview, the next ideal thought was to take Charlie around the city to some of the most famous churches, temples and mosques. But unfortunately the only city attraction that came through was St. Aloysius chapel with the world famous 18th century ceiling and wall paintings! At both Kudroli temple and mosque, the huge crowd that formed because of local ministers visits did not allow the entry of the cavalcade of assorted motorcycles and so the riders had to move on.
By this time, it was way past lunch time, and so all the riders headed back to Kadri Park, to fill their tummies and work out on the next plan of action. At precisely this time, we had just cleared Sakleshpur Ghats and were eating up the miles nonstop, eagerly waiting to see the next milestone with depreciating distances towards Mangalore. And then before we crossed Uppinagady, the single lane road with continuous traffic made the going slow. However in spite of this, we somehow reached Kadri Park, a little after 3 pm, stopping near the entrance where all the riders were waiting for us!! 
After this, just so that we would not miss the light, our original plans of riding to the beach in a group then materialized and the riders all took in in neat 2 * 2 formation. I unfortunately had other things to think about and get my poor estranged wife and kid home for lunch (it was 5 pm) and unload our luggage. I somehow managed to do this all in 20 mins, and after co-ordinating with Sudhir and Srinath, quickly took out my '84 Classic and set off for the beach! Catching up with Sudhir on the way and then with Srinath at Panambur, we made our way towards the harbour breakwater, where the impressive lineup up Yamahas, Pulsars, Yezdi Roadkings and other assorted bikes were already waiting! A few quick pictures later and a brief thank you to all the guys who contributed and the teams who made it, and it was time to head back home in the fading light! 'Casue I now had one more long trip to consider!
And so @ 4 am, after suiting up and making sure Charlie was safe in his waterproof bag strapped down on the pillion seat of my trusty '93 Roadking, I slowly made my way to Cochin Bakery where my co-riders would be waiting for me. In the dark, I could make out the silhouettes of 2 riders on a Pulsar 200, Sameer and Ibrahim and in a couple of minutes Dr. Brijesh joined us on his KTM Duke 390. We knew Srinath would be waiting for us at Thokottu, so a brief intimation to him and we set off. Without any delay, with Srinath waiting for us, we carried on, riding straight on to Kasargod 49 kms away. Our plans for now, were to ride to Payannur, where we could hand over Charlie to the next relay team. In the event there was nobody responsible enough, well then, Calicut it would be!
After a quick coffee break on the outskirts of Kasargod, we rode down past the lovely Chandrigiri Bridge on the Payaswini river, where the fishermen where beginning with their early morning catching spree! Past Chattanchal and then towards Kanhangad and in a short while, we were at Payyanur, another 60 kms away. Call after call was made but nobody was picking up and so we realised that, oookkkkkaaayyyy, let's just ride to Calicut, a 122kms away! A short stop somewhere down the line to fuel us up with breakfast and we were on the way. 
The entire stretch was a beauty that would not bore you at all. The roads and alternate hills and curves were a thrill to ride through, but at the same time it was with high concentration, as the oncoming traffic at breakneck speeds, famous on these roads, were liable to take us off the roads! Somewhere after some time, we passed by a small sign on the other side of the road, denoting "Muzhappilangad Beach", a sign so small, that we all practically missed it. It was just that I was expecting it somewhere close by and so therefore caught it. I madly hurried up to catch the attention of the others and after we all regrouped, rode back together onto the narrow side road. I had earlier passed by this side at least on 2 different rides and everytime missed this famous beach. Now come what may, we were going on that beach!
And 1 km down, we rode onto the white hard sands of the famous Muzhappilangad Beach, the longest drive in beach in Asia, with 4-5 kms of spacious driving distance, without the fear of getting bogged down in the wet sand. Charlie's first foray and maiden sightseeing attraction in God's own country! After a lot of photo clicks, poses and Charlie's log book signing, it was time to continue straight on to Calicut.
Shortly after 11.30 we all regrouped just before the flyover entry into Calicut city, where we awaited the next relay team to come and take over. A few rounds of ORS hydration, kind courtesy Dr. Brijesh and his deep knapsack, and we saw Vijeesh AKA Vepavi Calicut Chopper, zooming towards us on a Duke 390. Warm handshakes all round, then we realised that we had to ride further in on the Beach Road, where the media would be waiting for us. We all took off and as we roared through, I realised that my Roadking had just run into reserve. Well, that meant we would need to find a bunker soon, or else Charlie would have to be pushed towards the waiting press, instead of grandly riding in! But it wasn't too far off and with the welcome sight of Jayshankar, who had taken the 7 am train and reached before us, his sudden appearance from a by-road on a lovely gray Roadking, things were now looking up. We all came in together, headlamps blazing, towards the crowd of cameras that kept clicking away! We had touched Calicut, thereby completing our relay section and we had done a damn good job of it, well within the time frame we had set for ourselves!
After a hearty lunch of the famous Calicut biryani (both quail & chicken), followed by some thirst quenching milk sherbat, we managed to take leave of our over-so hospitable Calicut friends, knowing that we had quite a distance of a total of 230 kms to cover before dark. Well we suceded but towards the end, just after Kasargod, things got a little bit disoriented for us, specially Srinath and me, and our movements were purely mechanical, with the drone of the bikes, creating an entire blurry experience. Clearly we had pushed ourselves since 4 in the morning and now with our 10 pm deadline fast approaching, we were quite on the end of our tethers! I was just hoping that both Sameer and Dr. Brijesh who had gone on ahead were doing fine. Once I safely reached home and practically toppled over while dismounting, our messages went out and we breathed a sigh on getting replies that all of us had reached safe and sound!
An awesome experience on the most assorted of motorcycles, probably in this entire relay in the country, with great co-riders, it is what we did as part of the World Wide Relay Ride, the ride to and fro, complete in the satisfaction of knowing what we achieved, however small it seemed!
The Pictures, News Reports and Articles that documented the World Wide Relay Ride -
http://bharathautos.com/from-may-9-to-13-mangalore-will...
http://www.thehindu.com/.../charlie.../article6003665.ece
