It was 25^th November 2024, 2 months ahead of the trip date. Our ex chairman Jiju posts a message in Whatsapp group for our first ride of 2025. Destination: the last road of India, Arichal Munai, Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram. The numbers quickly reached double digit and kept ticking finally crossing 25 (CRWC team thinking entha destination potalum 25+ thaan polaye!)

After the long wait, finally the trip day arrives and as usual our CR folks wish good night after packing, simply for formality’s sake as all are still awake. We gather up at our usual starting point and no surprises our soon to be married forever, pro rider Maran joins up for seeing us off and probably bidding farewell to his own bike (for those of you wondering why, marriageku approm Maran ride kashtam thaan).

Off we go, a 3-minute early start (oruthar romba happya irupaar, last ride 3-minute late start got well compensated nu) we head towards our destination. It was a bit of rough roads till about Melmarvuthur and then on it got better. We halt for our first tea break and no one else can be as elated as this man, Ramesh (Morattu), his mind voice (like actor Ponnambalam in Ejamaan movie), 18 hours aah ithuku thaan kathukitu irunthen. Just for laughs, no one can match Ramesh in this as he keeps cool and tracks every order till the last one before settling the bills at each pit stop. Hats off buddy and we hope to improve on the cooperation bit on ordering to streamline things so that we can save time.

Breakfast at hotel Ariyas was sumptuous and after a heavy one it was going to be a slight challenge to stay awake. We did well and seemed to be well ahead of lunch time as lunch was at Karaikudi and at current pace we would probably arrive before 12PM. So we decide to take a small refreshment break but we relaxed a bit than usual before commencing ride to Karaikudi. Veg group headed to Annalakshmi and non-veg group to Priya mess. Both turned out to be good but the non-veg group seemed to have enjoyed a great lunch. Post lunch we made a small tree side halt and took a few pics before heading to the resort, Joe’s beach shack.

The fun was about to begin. Bart had decided to reach the gate first and take a video of the group’s arrival. So he enters and prepares for his video. When the group was about to enter, the resort security was right in front of the camera and not allowing the bikes to enter. He was telling Bart, bike la allowed illa, kaasu katanam park panna and Bart is like yov thallu ya. Finally, he did manage to pick the rest of the group. We check in at the resort and relax for some time before deciding to take a plunge into the resort swimming pool.

We had some good time at the pool playing monkey game with soft ball. Some folks had a walk to the beach and picked raw banana bajji and also some chilly bajji for the group. Bajji mukkiyam bigilu, all folks from the pool stepped out for bajji. Time to get ready for dinner and of course the most important part of the evening (drinks nu thaane nenaichenge kudikara pasangla😅), the CR badging and new joiners experience sharing time.

Two badges for the evening, first up is our silent rider Gana (ivaroda background theriyama intha title vehuirukangu), ivaru vera level. He can have his sena jog dial spin with wind, he can stay absolutely silent in sena. Next up is our guru rider Sathish. Now don’t ask me why he is guru rider, yenna ivaru vera level rider. He can ride with his specs fully fogged, he can set up auto off in his sena and the list is long. Jokes apart, it was a wonderful moment to have two good riders get the CR badge and we wish them many more safe and fun rides👏🤝🏻. After some great discussions and experience from new riders Raghavan and Prasad, we bid good night as it was going to be an early morning start to Dhanushkodi. Our cousin brothers Gowtham and Ramprasad joined us and they had a quick dinner.

Day 2 and it was early hours 4:00 AM. The idea was to reach the check post by 5:15 AM so that we could get about 30-45mins crowd free content creation. Thanks to Santosh for making arrangements with local police through his past service connect, we were allowed to enter around 5:30 AM. Satya had the best sleep possible while waiting at the check post (avan rideliyum thoongitu thaan varaan was the vociferous view of the group!!).

We spent some wonderful time at Arichal Munai, Ghost town, old railway station all that had been swept away by the 1964 devastating cyclone. We took a quick turn at Kothandaramar temple as well to cover the bridge. After breakfast, some of us got a good darshan in Rameswaram temple. The architecture was fabulous and we managed to take a few pics. We then headed to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s memorial. We spent some decent time here and headed for a beautiful spot for some very memorable pics. Sathish’s bike became the test bike here as everyone wanted to get a feel of Scram and some of them almost made up their mind. A small incident here though where the brake lever and the knuckle protector broke. We then headed for lunch. Inga thaan semma bulb NV boys ku. Romba aasaya sea food ku poittu they ended up with real sea food uncooked. The veg gang had fun as we ensured the hotel was occupied only by us. The butter milk here was awesome and we almost finished the entire volume.

Back to the resort and some of them began to clean the chains and lube them. Some were relaxing and here again unfortunately Sathish managed to break the other side brake lever as well. While it was a slightly unhappy moment, but we had to make it lighter and hence the outburst could not be controlled😂. Bart, Santhosh and Sendhil were later comforting him that this was nothing and just move on. For sure, he is going to get stronger by every ride. And he has also promised that he will fix his sena auto off mode😜.

Day 3 and we are on our way back home bidding adieu to Joe’s shack, Pamban bridge, Arichal Munai and all the roads that created wonderful memories to relive forever. Every ride creates new memories, new brotherhood, new nick names, new fun and most importantly new learnings. We mature with every ride and we become more responsible. It was a good ride in the return as we consistently paced as a group and breakfast at Karaikudi, lunch at Ulundurpet and the tea breaks were good as well. We took a group pic as usual at our standard peel off point Rolex cafe and we reached our home sweet home waiting for the next destination and next date!