Beach on the East Coast Road:

Some of the other cool things that we consumed were Mustani, Wada Pav, Kokam Juice, Aam Ras, Poori+Shrikand and Poha. We also picked up a box full of juicy Ratnagiri(?) Aphonso Mangoes, on the way back to the airport.

Places we visited :
Ram and me biked up to National Defence Academy, on his new Thunderbird.

Ramana and gang drove us to Kadak Vasala, where we watched a beautiful sunset.

The IndiGo airlines staff badly need training on how to handle passengers queries. By default, Customer Experience in India sucks and IndiGo Airlines is a perfect example for that.

On a ligher note, read Jammy’s funnie take on flying Kingfisher Airlines.

We plan to visit Nashik and Shirdi too. Man, am i not dying to eat those yummy “vada-pavs” (also known as mini indian burgers).

Reached my all time high speed, 160 Km/hr

Its been a while since i went for a long-drive. Made an impulsive decision to take off to Chennai by road to spend time with my folks on the occassion of Tamil New Years day and Vishu.

Left Bangalore at 6:45 am on Saturday, clocked 345 kms under 5 hours to Chennai.

Hosur : At 7:45 am stopped over at Saravana Bhavan for some yummy Pongal and Vada. Even though this is not the original Saravana Bhavan, the breakfast here was pretty yummy. I usually stop over here, on route to Chennai. The real highway began from there and so i stepped on the gas and hit my all time high speed at 160Kms/hours and managed to maintain this kinda speed for a while. Not bad for a Santro eh?

Ambur: Ambur is well know for its mouthwatering legpiecious Briyani. I never had one there though. Now Ambur is a kinda place one needs to watch out for. You’d notice bikes coming head-on to you. So i tend to slowdown and let ‘em pass by. People, often cattle cross the road, out of the blue. I was telling Ramya that a Qualis that zoomed past us like a bullet, was heading for trouble and it did. And then there was this Ford car which overtook us near Ambur. I again told Ramya that it was heading for trouble and we did notice this one parked a few Kms down the road a lil battered with dents. Next i saw another car, but this time kept my mouth shut.

Another Qualis started swinging right, left and centre, but the driver kinda manouvered it really well and ensured that it did hit the median. We later realized that it suffered a puncture at high speeds.

Kanchipuram : Impulsively took a diversion at Kanchipuram, in order to reach South Chennai a lil quickly. Turned out to be a bad decision. Realized that the Kanchipuram road was way to narrow (could do only 60Kms/hour) and so found a way back to the highway. I always thought that i had a spiritual connection with the Kanchipuram city… ( In my previous janmaa/avataaram, i was one of the kings who build very many temples in Kanchipuram, including the one displayed below)

Did you know that there are 4 toll gates on route to Chennai and the 5th one is coming up soon?
To be continued >>

The 5 of us, Rahul, Surbi, Niteesh, Murali and me, left Bangalore on Saturday early morning by 4.30 am. After taking numerous tea breaks in-between, we checked-into Cosmopolitan Club by 9.30 am. It poured Cats and Dogs and was super cold. The drive was however awesome. Niteesh played some good mujik on route.

Manjirabad fort. : Post coffee, we landed at Tippu Sultan’s Manjirabad fort. This star-shaped fort has plenty of dungeons and couple of secret tunnels which go all the way to Mysore and Channarayapatna. Also noticed a beautiful mix of Hindu and Islamic Art in the fort’s design.

Bheemeshwara Estates : Sun was playing hide n seek with us. We realized that we could NOT actually do the abandoned railway trek. Sigh

The least we could do was to get close to the bridge, over which we were supposed to trek. Murali, who always manages to close deals with the localities, got us into a narrow path off the Highway, which lead us close to the bottom of the Bridge. We heard the sound of water gushing through the rocks. There was a Shiva temple at the end, beyond which we were advised not to go. This was supposedly a Point-of- No-Return.

And then, we lazed out, order snacks, drank tea and watched Soccer. The next day we got outta Sakleshpur and drove down to Hassan for some yummy lunch.

Shravanabelgola : Post lunch we drove to Shravanabelgola. The architecture and craftsmanship at this Jain temple didnt appeal much to me. One of the of the tallest monoliths in the world, built in 981 A.D (Bahubali) was yellow in color. The turmeric smell was pretty strong. It kinda drizzled on and off during our, climb up the steep VindhyaGiri hill.

After we climbed down, Murali managed to get someone cook some hot yummy Puliyogare! And then we drove back home.
Lazy trip. Lousy Soccer match. Awesome drive. Not a bad weekend at all… BTW food sucks in all the hotels in Sakleshpur. Guess we ll someday trek on that railway track…. Here are some firt-cut photos. More photos will be uploaded soon…

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don’t know where it goes
But it’s home to me and I walk alone

Update : 6 of us, Murali, Niteesh, Boony, Luther, Arun and moi took off at 9 PM on Friday night on a Toyota Qualis.

Boon and Arun : Check out Boon’s shades!

Coorg/ Madikeri is about 250 Kms from Bangalore. We hit Mysore road from Bannerghatta Road. The road was awesome till Srirangapatna, then it was getting kinda bumpy.

The weather was quite pleasant and it actually started pouring Cats n Dogs by the time we reached Kamat’s. We hogged some really hot n yummy Corn Chappatis. Then these jokers started drinking and smoking.

It was 4.15 am when we reached Coorg on Sat morning. The KSTDC hotel accomodation that we Blocked neva happenned. Finally, we checked into a relatively better hotel called Mercara Inn. Costed Rs 550 bucks for a double bed. Service wasnt that good here. Krishna Bhavan was a decent mess, where we hogged some really tasty Chow Chow Bath.

Talai Cauvery was about 40 kms from Madekeri. We drove through the Coffee Country. Fresh air and the sight of green coffee estates was refreshing. It took us 2 hours to reach Talai Cauvery. I was really dissappointed with what I saw. All i saw was a pond and a small temple in it.

Then we went to a nice temple in Bagamandala and returned back to Madikeri. Hogged some yummy South Indian meals at Hotel Athithi.

Next we went to Abbey Falls, some 8 Kms from Madikere. This place needs to be declared as a “plastic free” zone.

The next day, we went to Harangi Dam which is the first Dam on the Cauvery river.

And then we went to Nisargadama, the confluence of 3 rivers in Kushal Nagar.

Monks on a Bridge

Punks on a Bridge

Fat Albert

Boon, Murali & Arun

Luther & Niteesh

Niteesh, Muthu & Boony

To be continued.. >>

Planning to do Coorg next weekend.
There’s a lotta mention of Thalai Cauvery in Tamil Literature & History.

Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talakaveri | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauvery

Just Pause n Play

“AWESOME” is the word. Wayanad is about 290 Kms from Bangalore and is located in North Kerela. It’s full of Misty Mountains, Wild Forest Brookes, Waterfalls and Tea Plantations etc.

13 of us ( Utkarsh, Balaji, Lokesh, Rahul, Murali, Niteesh, Satya, Sushma, Sidharth, Gopal, Ankur, Parag) took of on Thursday night and were back by Sunday early morning.

Vythiri Resort: The resort is situated deep in the wild woods. Thankfully there wasn’t any TV, mobile phone signal or newspaper.

The first thing that one hears is the sound of wild brook gushing through the rocks. There’s also a suspended rope bridge which goes over the brook. It was pretty shaky too.

It was slightly drizzling and thanks to Utkarsh’s persistence and after initial hesitation we all jumped into a waterfall. It was shivering in the beginning and then we evolved to enjoy the water. Then we swam in the swimming pool for a while, played snooker, chess, table tennis etc.,

We also hogged like there was no tomorrow. Kerela Cuisine was at its best. We custom ordered Puttu and Kadalai curry and the cook was only eager to prepare it well.

Pookat Lake : 3-4 Kms from Vythri Resort.
We bought some fresh spices, root herbs, medicated oil here etc

Edakallu Caves : about 10 Kms from Vythri Resort.
This cave was formed a long time back when an earthquake struck Wayanad.
We climbed up 1.25 Kms to reach the cave and found Wall carvings which date back to 6000 BC. One of the inscriptions, written Tamil Bhrami Script stated that “
The man who killed many tigers, Nandu lived in this cave. King Vishnu Vardhan also lived in this Cave.

How to reach Wayanad from Bangalore? See Route Map given below.
The distance might not be 100% accurate

Off to Wayanad tonite for the weekend. Wont be back for coupla days. Promise to post some pics when i get back. Until then, hopefully there’s gonna be zero connectivity.

Route Map : Bangalore> Mysore> Gundlupet > [!-- Karnataka - Kerela Border--!] >Sultan Bathery> Kalpetta >Chundale> Vythiri > Wythiri Resort

Adios Bangalore…

I want to getaway!
I want to fly away,
yeah, yeah!

Rahul, Murali, Moi, Niteesh & Lokesh in front of Hebbe Falls.

Are you tired of walking up n down Brigade Road & M G Road & Forum on weekends? You want to know how to have a BLAST for just Rs.900/person for 3 night & 2 day on a Bangalore weekend? This is how you do it. Drive 400 Kms. Trek 20 Kms. Do Wildlife Photography. Eat some Dhaba food. Watch a Sunset. Steal a jackfruit. Visit Belur temple. By Monday morning, you will be ready to take on the world.

The photos were taken with Kodak Easy Share DX6490

Update : April 15th :
Off to Kemmangundi tonite Route Map : Bangalore /> Tumkur > Tiptur > ArsiKere > Kadur > KemmanaGundi
Kemmangundi > Linganahalli > ChickMangalur > Muthodi ( another reserve forest)
Muthodi > ChickMangalur > Belur > Hassan > NeelaMangala > Bangalore

April 08
Am off to Chennai this weekend. The next weekend ( April 15th nite) we are off for a long drive and a trek to Kemmanagundi. You are welcome to join. Try to mobilize a car and 3 other folks, else, gimme me a holler!

Kemmanagundi is about 230 Kms from Bangalore and near Chickmagalur town. 55 Kms north from Chickmagalur town is this scenic hill station on the Baba Budan range of hills. Kemmanagundi is also known as K.R. Hills after Wodeyar King, Krishnaraja Wodeyar who had made it his favourite summer camp.