Biking to the Land of the Kodavas - March 16 - March 18, 2007

Trip start point: Airport Road, Bangalore.

Trip end point: Aalath Cad estate, Amathi, Coorg

Route: From Bangalore - Srirangapatnam - Siddapur - Ammathi

Distance: 300 Kms (approximately)

Accessories: Saddle Bags

This happened to be my first long ride on the spanking brand new (albeit, after the first service and a bit of running in) Bullet. I have an Electra 5S.

After an early start (6:00 AM) we hit Mysore road and the ride till Srirangapatnam - if this had been a seasoned biker - was rather uneventful, with there being more tarred roads than real nature. But for the newbie biker in me, this was the grand opening of tunnel vision...

I have done the road less traveled, but on four wheels and inside the cabin of a car with a boxed up windshield view and streaming windows.

With the wind blowing directly at you, and the whole world as you can see it out in the open thumping around on a Bullet was completely other worldly! Apart from a short break for some hot iddly's and coffee on the way close to Mandya, no breaks.

Right turn after a bit from Srirangapatnam and we were out of the highways into state roads. Cut through the loopy roads asking around a bit (no road signs or directions can be a pain) and we were on way looking for Madikeri (the capital of Coorg.)

Right after we exited the grandly done up Mysore road, we also exited good roads. But hey, Suddenly we came up against a dilapidated sign which said Siddapur, Orange County, and we stopped confused.

If Madikeri was where we were to go, what's this? Looks like a short cut! Like wise people, we decided to take the small lane to Siddapur... Behold, here the roads ended and pot holes and stones made up the way!

Cursing our the spell that made us take this turn we trundled on. This was just about 30 kms, seemed more like 300!

Anyway after this hard boiling on the back side, we found ourselves suddenly, entering a different landscape. The smells, the vegetation, the lush green and the quiet atmosphere got to us. Enough to forget the rough ride and enough to get great thoughts about the beauty of life in general!

From Siddapur to Ammathi about 10 kms a real cool 10 mins and we were into a plantation... Aalath cad. The path way to the home was pebble stones and that's it! The home... this is amazingly calm and serene. One could spend days without doing anything and not getting disturbed.

Parked ourselves here for the next two days.

That day was spent chilling out in the widerness of the estate during the day. (We'd reached the estate at 12:00PM.) The beer and light lunch (the food at the estate is complete suckage and also costs the earth) and the village down below offers no better. So the best alternative is one is fussy about food is to stay at Madikeri. But then, you'll miss out on the entanglement with nature which ranks way over on the priority list when one is travelling!

The next day was spent immersing ourselves in the land of the Kodavas. Spotting Elephants, checking out the Tibetan monastery, Riding to a Dam, Spotting the origins of the Cauvery river. While the bad stretch of roads continued right till Madikeri we went at it completely tripped out on nature, weed and beer.

And to top it off the variants of spicy food that the Coorgi's eat wherever we went. Madikeri was a great day trip for food and beer.

Two days was two days too short! The Bullet took everything in its stride. And even for a newbie like me this was completely smooth sailing... picture perfect!

March 18, 2007, was time to head back to Bangalore. There has to be a next time. They say once you go to Coorg, you might leave it behind, but the place will continue to haunt you and lure you to come back.

Already, feel the urge to pack my bags and go once again as I relieved those moments.

Coorg was shot completely in Black and white. Pictures here.

December 30, 2006: The last lap. Pune to Bangalore 887 kms

Please read from the beginning, the first post onwards. This is a complete journey which took me from Gurgaon to Bangalore and this is the last lap. Click here to go to the post.

The only thing that I knew about this drive was to make it before dusk as driving through the day is tiring and then to take on the night traffic and lights takes its toll. So 6:00 AM was the trip start time. We both decided to stop on for leak breaks and also for food pick stuff which we could eat while driving...

The early morning sun rise was amazing. A new day was dawning in our lives, this was also a new chapter in what we could be doing. A mix of good and bad roads and a stopover at Hubli for a quick bite we ripped on homewards.

Enter Bangalore, a third coming for me, a second for wifey sharp 5:30 PM. 11 and 1/2 hours, not bad! But then the next three hours were spent in wading through traffic to reach Koramangla where we were staying till we moved to our new home.

We made it. It was one heck of a ride. At times I often recall an acquaintance had made a passing comment to me that I was "fantasizing" when I spoke about a ride to Delhi from Chennai... not done in the real world.

Wanted to tell him this was for real. And real in a much grander fashion. People are strange. They disbelieve the real ones and believe the grand liars! On that note I end this trip story. There are many more to come. Of course not in a chronological order.

December 29, 2006: Vadodara to Pune. 547 Kms

Completely uneventful and medium speed driving till we reached Panvel to meet the grand expressway to Pune. This was the speed ride of the trip. Rubber meets concrete rips through high speed of 170 kms/hr. Rave through tunnels, cut bends, rip the straight lanes whoooohooooo... This is what I felt I lived for! This is it. Pity it ended in a flash too! Did you know you get a card when yo pay the toll tax for the expressway ... something like a debit card which you submit at the exit point?

That set me thinking on the amount of toll tax we would've paid on this whole trip... A roough guestimated calculation and the figure that poped up then 3,300 bucks (Rs)! Wow. Don't ask me to calculate it again as I've lost most of the tokens by now.

Pune city was easily the most excavated one I've seen in recent times. There was less room for traffic and more room for dug up roads... within all the debree and grime we looked around town a place called Swargate which a friend had tipped me off. Suddenly a scream.

Wifey sees a hotel and orders for a check. Which promptly I did and found it reasonably good to stay over.

That was it. Next morning the last lap to Bangalore. 887 Kms.

December 28: Lake views and preparations for the last leg. To Vadodara... 365 kms

Late morning wake up with a phone call. The Packers had arrived in Bangalore. Our new home beckons us. It felt fresh already. New life ahead mate a fresh new start at what I wanted to do professionally. So now that Jaisalmer stay cut and now the Udaipur full house was nudging us to move on... Probably time.

So just a cursory view around Udaipur town and the lakes and palaces we were bound towards Vadodara...

The only memorable part of this drive was the 100 odd kms of a six lane super highway between Ahmedabad and Vadodara. No cycles, two wheelers, three wheelers allowed. Only cars. And while the signs mentioned some 90 (or was it 100) kms/hr top speed, traffic was oblivious to the signs and ripped at 150 kms. So did we. And we were at our destination early evening!

Checked into a reasonable place. Went around town a bit. This was, well, just another town! So we tried to find a place for getting the local fare. Heavens were blessing us we found this joint called Kansaar... This most amazing place served hot Gurati food the whole range of it... the waiters made sure you were stuffed before leaving and their language of communicating for a refill on plate? Snap! Yup snapping fingers and feeding the hungry... eating there was intoxicating.

Well that kinda brings me to the last but one lap next day.

December 27, 2006: Jaisalmer to Udaipur. 600 kms

6:00 AM and out on the streets of gold. This ride was going to a long one the second longest in the entire trip. The longest would be the last lap Pune to Bangalore...

7 days on the road... this has been quite a colourful ride so far. In Rajasthan the temperatures have incredible swings of highs and lows. The early mornings and late nights are biting cold, the day time is hot even in December! This early morning was no less, but with a heater in the car, could not quite feel the bite. But a stop over for tea and snacks got us to reality! It was a freeze outside. nothing seemed to get the food or the tea hot! Even fresh baked Alu Paratha became cold in a jiffy. That roadside dhaba breakfast turned out to be the most expensive one we'd had in quite a while. Imagine shelling out 300 bucks (Rs) at a roadside shack for nothing!

The road to Udaipur meanders via Jodhpur. So we decided to do a gas filling halt. And I decided to go back to that friendly petrol bunk once again to feel good. Yeah it did feel good. From there on trundled along village roads, lost our way somewhere outside Jodhpur went all over before coming back on track and heading towards Ranakpur.

What a change in the goegraphy. Right from arid dessert lands to hills and valleys and greenery all over... Ranakpur incidentally also houses a mindblowing Jain Temple which is held up by more than a 1,000 columns. The carvings on these are intricate and each is different. As for the place its breathtakingly relaxing. Wifey wanted a stay here and not at Udaipur. I was the ass who felt the drive up to last leg should not be too stressful so that extra 100 odd kms would be a good saving and the roads were really bad! It took us close to 3 hours to cover the 100 km distance to Udaipur.

At last the city of palaces, lakes and colours. City of Octopussy. The good thought screeched to a halt when we found the directions to the Ram Palace hotel... a single slender lane with cattle, bikes, cycles, people, cars, jeeps running through it! After a long and tedious snaky drive finally the spot. It resembled a shack! And there was no parking space for this hotel. We could not stay here.

Too numb to figure out what to do next we decided to hunt for a coffee shop to sit down, look at the options and then make the move. The shop we found was a South Indian joint. They also claimed to have hit the Guiness book for the longest Dosa made in History. We were too distracted by our own plight... ordered coffee and started calling all the hotels around from the books... none had ANY room. Imagine, Udaipur was full. We had visions of sleeping in the car already!

Not to give up I chatted up the restaurant manager for help... these guys were more than helpful. They came up with a list and recommendation as well. A few calls later we'd hit the sweet spot. The hotel turned out to be quite a decent one at that as well. And they were charging twice the tarrif we'd paid so far (3,500 plus.)

Dejected that this seemed to be spelling the end of the mega trip and unable to scourge Udaipur for a couple of days we just blacked out.

Few and bad quality pictures were taken from this day on till the end of the trip. Faulty Camera.

December 25, 2006: Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. 310 kms

At 6:00 AM we told a rather disappointed Mr Newton that we would be moving on in an hour. So that was a short but packed stay at the Blue City. Next stop the mysterious dessert town or the golden city of Jaisalmer. Rajasthan is a colourful place.

What caught my attention was the fact that the people here were kool and different from the abrasive crowd that we left behind in Delhi and UP. Three days into Rajasthan and we'd met and talked to people in all walks and I felt they did their thing and were polite, warm and friendly.

In fact, a scene at the petrol bunk struck me. Where this attendant would welcome customers with a Namaste. Get the car wiped, but request us to shut the windows first, ask if we needed a drink of water to freshen up before we went on our journey. Asked us where we're headed and give a short cut to the highway... this was great relationship building. We left feeling good. It was routine petrol filling and air check. But that was a different for us to vividly remember even now (5 months later.)

Before we hit the dessert road, we went straight to the halwai shop we'd spotted for the usual breakfast... jalebi's, kachori's (these were different from the ones at Agra) and stock up on Chilli pakoras and drinking water.

This ride was simply amazing. The route via Pokran was deserted, in the middle of the dessert and had sand on the road with straying camels, stray cattle. This was the Thar dessert. But let me tell you this was not like the dessert we'd seen in movies. It ain't eloquent sand dunes and winds blowin em away as dust... it was grimy, scrubby and shrubby with a dash mustard plantations to boot. So THIS was the Thar! The temperature was rising rapidly as we drove along and the winter wear started coming off as we went along. Soon we were in the city of Gold. And yes there was no doubt about the gold.

This town's landscape is dominated by the fort which was made of sandstone and was actually a living fort. People still lived there and did business inside and that was a tourist attraction by itself.
I think I skipped the bit about how my camera got back into action... but that late bit of tinkering on the shutter seemed to have worked. But then, on developing rolls realised that the pictures we blotchy only some came out ok...

Anyway, headed straight to FIFU Guest House yet another decently rated place by the Lonely planet it did match. This place was made of sandstone. The rooms had a quaint heritage look and we were apparently lucky to have landed a room here for a couple of days as the traffic was high. This place had some amazing views from the rooftop restaurant as well as a sitout on the floor we were staying. Just too good. A few beers and food later, we were tripping off on a drive around the dessert and dreaming of leaving city life and living here.

Evening was left to a canter in town. Jaisalmer town goes to sleep at 7:00 pm! It was dark and the only lit up place was the fort which we'd decided we would attack the next day...

December 26th was a day I'll remember for the sights that I got to see. A chocked up fort completely busting in its seams, dirt, shit and grime all over, trinket vendors bustling around, tourists making their way into crowded lanes inside the fort. Well no wonder this fort is on self destruct mode. Seeing is believing. Yet another piece of history becoming history soon enough.

We got our share of the views of gold from the top and then it was time to get on to other things such as looking around for trinkets that wifey would take home, or for that official bhang shop to pick some cookies... loaded stuff better watch out how you consume it.

Next on the agenda was a day trip to the interiors of the dessert. We ripped across some touristy places and then up ahead in a distance a Camel vendor...

Time to break for a camel ride... Mine was called Abdul, wifey's was called Michael Jackson. Wow. A couple of hours around the sand, and I started feeling a little tired. So break for a snack and then browse around in the sand dunes - yea these were more movie like! But the minute we went a little further the entire streach became the original grimy, shrubby et al...

Enough of sand for the time being, we planned to stay over an extra day to chill out before making the last stand in Rajasthan at Udaipur.

But the almighty had other plans... Bad news, we'd heard about it, but experienced it first hand. Camel safari's are a draw for the hotel one stays... if you don't take the day or night shift from them they would throw you out!

Since we did a round of the dessert by ourselves and we'd indicated to the FIFU owner that we would not be taking his safari, we were told that the room was not available for the extra day... mind you, this very room was available when requested in the morning... sudden change? Since I had a couple of pegs inside me, the view to the world had changed. And we (that's me and wifey) discussed the situation inside the room and decided to show the finger and fuck off from FIFU fucking guest house early next morning. So all the books came out and calls made to many hotels in Udaipur... finally one yielded a room yet another Lonely Planet guide, but by now we were quite tentative about the whole thing. Obviously this book worked only about 60% of the time for us. But then, no other option for now. What the heck.

The hotel fella was actually surprised when I just quitely asked for the bill and settled the thing after a detailed scrutiny then and there... no tantrums, no arguments, no skirmishes.

Pictures of Jaisalmer. Click here.

December 24, 2006: Pushkar to Jodhpur; 250 kms

We just did not want to go from Pushkar. The short experience there was the most heart warming one. Probably a picture of one of the great chill holidays we'd had. Wifey kept pushing for another nights stay over. The arse in me made me not see light of the chill. Instead gleamed at the other colours that Rajasthan had to offer.

So the morning drive out from Pushkar towards Jodhpur also known as the blue city was just another drive. Hearts wishing we could've stayed over, minds thinking of the road ahead.

The caravan trundled into the blue city. No blue in the main town. This actually seemed bigger than Jaipur. The roads much broader (despite the traffic) the colonies a tad more organised. We found our way to Newtons Manor a kind of a home stay we found (thanks to Lonely Planet.) This was completely Victorian. But nice and clean. They had a grand total of four rooms. This was actually Mr Newton's house (no relation to Sir Isaac.)

After a quick freshen up, it was time to head towards Mehrangarh Fort on the hills. In a quick 5 minute drive towards the fort we came to realise that we had to drive uphill through a really narrow and winding lane in which one would have trouble moving if there's a car coming from the other side.

In any case the traffic frees up a bit and we trundle across the beautiful blue walled houses which give this city the name Blue City Tag.

And yes viewed from the Fort it is a mass of blue. Apparently this colour scheme was traditionally done to keep the houses cooler in summer months and is still being followed. Sounds good and I am sure works as well.


Welcome the new age audio tour in Mehrangarh fort. Forget guides, rustic talk and blah. This equipment is The Guide in the fort. Take it if you can and each detail point is marked with a number tag stand in the fort. Press it on your walky and you're on.

The counter gives this to you for a limited time. (forget whether it was two hours or three) By which time you have to come back to the entrance. Indians have to submit a photo ID (I had to handover my drivers licence) and Foreigners their passport, which one gets back once you handover the audio equipment. Great fun.

By now we'd experienced three forts, two of mughal origins and one of rajput. Culturally very different and I would go to the extent of saying radical. The Mughals prided in their oppulence and spent lavishly in detailing and designing the facade. The rajputs? Well, they did have their own style, but the class was missing. And somehow, I got the impression that the forts here meant places where one defended oneself and was kind of a warzone. Therefore the fort emanated that warring feel. And the second aspect, was that the scale was not the same levels as the Mughals. Probably not comparing an apple to an apple, but the differences obvious.

This fort had a cafe, a rooftop restaurant, which in the evening gives a birds eye night view of town (other parts of the fort close by 6 PM.) We binged the bugger all food at the cafe and made our way into town. And oh, my trusty camera started giving some problems had to fix it. The entire tour of Ummaid Bhavan Palace and the dusk safari in this town could not be captured due to this.

Jodhpur had experienced the extreme period of famine and drought and this had been aparently a long un. This palace project was taken up to give employment to people! the palace is built on one million square feet of space built with a sandstone variety called Chittar sandstone, that impacts on the very looks.

You have three parts to the Palace. After the long drive and the uphill climb and the shopping run, we were fazed out. So we just chilled around for a bit around the amazing Central Rotunda, the cupola rising to a hundred and five feet high and the Ramayana murals... Absolutely no pictures this was disappointment galore. Could not get a shop that could fix it... I had some serious engineering work to do back at the hotel.

Yet another bad recommendation from the Lonely Planet, the food at Newtons is completely pathetic and it costs a bomb to boot. While we wanted to stay over the next day here, this place, its pseudo victorian shit gave us the creeps. While the world partied, we crawled into the sheets tired, but feeling good about the adventure so far. It had been 4 days on the road so far and we had covered three places... at 12 in the night, the cheering in town woke me up. Good time to wish wifey Happy Birthday she was the lady saved my soul at least! And, guess what she asked me for a gift? Well lets get outa here to the dessert in the morning and not stay over this dump!

That was that. The pictures of Jodhpur? Click here.

December 23, 2006. Onward bound towards Jaipur and Pushkar – 380 Kms

Today was the day for the local breakfast. Yummm piping hot jalebi’s and kachori’s with subzi on the roadside. Both of us hogged like … well hogs!

Before we set out on NH 11 towards Jaipur. Uneventful drive on bad roads apart from a local cop somewhere close to Jaipur wanted to book me in (read get his morning dose of money) for not wearing a seat belt when I asked him for directions to Jaipur town. The proverbial finger was shown to him and we went on our way.

By the way, the roads do get better as you approach Rajasthan. So does the landscape around you, looks of people, the accent in the Hindi they speak, the tone (which is warm, friendly and helpful) and of course a whiff of chilli pakodas on the highway dhabas…

Jaipur the Pink City is dirty pink. And its chaotic and choc a bloc with traffic. Of course if we had more time in hand and planned to stay here much in advance we would’ve stayed to see the couple of forts around… but this time it was meant for a drive through only… the single stop was to pick up the chilly pakodas which were the most amazing ones I’ve had in a long time.

Jaipur – Pushkar a most boring drive. Decent roads, a few detours and we were in the village which housed the only temple of the god of creation Bramha.

The very entry into this town gives a calm serene feeling. Nestled amidst the aravali hills and the starting point of the Thar dessert, this place was out of the world. The New Park Hotel was further out of this world right at the foot hills. Breathtaking views and amazingly calm.

After a quick refresh and lucky sourcing of a friendly guide. What we saw around town, the ghats, the sunset, the dessert, the Sanskrit school, the Temple, the Israelis, The trippers, Blues café..

We had a live show to boot.

what was this mix? A paradise for the worshippers and trippers alike? An evening walk into the dessert sands with the chill coming down was felt invigorating. The first experience of drastic temperature rises and falls begins…

Just footnote. Whoever said drinking, smoking and intoxication is prohibited was bullshitting! You get it all. Just ask your hotel bell boy!

Crash out for next morning’s trip to Jodhpur. Long and eventful day. Great places visited. For the pictures click here.

December 23, 2006. Cold and Misty and dazzling. A morning we shall never forget!

The Taj at sunrise, especially if its a misty morning has to be experienced to be believed. Right from the entrance to the compound to the portal which is the gateway to the Worlds most romantic symbol of love ... you can almost feel the tug at your heart as the sun slowly makes headway in the mist...

While the perfection of the place zaps you. The imperfection of bad maintanence hits you in the face yet again. The pool is brackish green, the fountains drained and the flowing water is completely dirty!

Anyway to the better things in life, one's not allowed into the Taj wearing shoes. You are given two options. One removed the shoes and walk around (almost impossible in winters) put a unique plastic cover on top of your shoe. We like all wise people opted for the later. Fantastic views the usual posing and picture shooting happened.

The predomianant thoughts in my mind, was it something in Noor Jahan that could be made out as the cause for this creation, or was it a genius in the mind of Shah Jahan that made it happen and then converted it into the theme its been given now? To what extent can we humans go to for someone else? Or is it for a personal dementia to leave behind our names in history.

The next trip straight from the monument was to see what people there called Mini Taj... turned out to be a replica created by some convicts while they were at the jailhouse. And this is just a demo piece for display with lights on! For the album on Taj and Agra in general Click here.

December 22, 2006: Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort and a Southey Meal

Narrow winding lanes, crowded and potholed streets, corner shops selling their wares. That was the route to take before hitting the state roads which become better. Fatehpur Sikri the second capital that did not quite happen for the Mughals. They apparently screwed up on the plumbing.

Pleasant drive continued till I almost had to RAM into a person because he was not getting off the road. This fella quickly became a group of fella who were busy coming to the middle of the road, make you stop and then almost coerce you to take their services as guides. If not you would hear profanities hurled and who knows maybe even your vehicle banged upon!

The kind of rider that I am, I hate intrusions on the road and that too I could sense something amiss almost a 100 mtrs away so I decided to hit the pedal, the Accelerator and not the Brake, Shift to a second gear to make those ^&^@#&s know I meant it and ripped away and then come to a screeching halt ahead to just view which planet these chappies came from… Welcome to tourism in UP!

Anyway, after the heart stopped the palpitations and both of us were in a better state of mind we went ahead towards the Bulund darwaza…

What a creation. Inside was Jama Masjid if you had travelled blindfold into this place straight from Delhi, you'd probably laugh it off . This seemed more peaceful. A decorative tomb of the Emperors advisor and mystic was amazing inside. And so were the chequered one way windows.

Next stop was the fort at Sikri. The famous Tansen’s pedestal for his concerts beats the shit out of modern rock shows. Badly maintained piece of history though. And nothing to beat the different houses for different wives. Hindu, Christian, Muslim… Those guys really had a ball of a time in those days. Trying to weave patterns of thought into each. So while, each mahal cost the same, the dimensions were different, so was the culture woven into the buildings. For instance, the Christian wife had a swimming pool. Can you beat it? For the album click the pictures of the Darwaza.

Bad news came our way today was Friday. The Taj was not available for viewing the whole day! Wish we’d checked this out last afternoon. Anyways the only option was to do the Taj in the Morning and then head on. C’est la vie.

Excusion done, tourist guides negotiated and done with. Head back to Agra town 50 odd kms away…

Hunger pangs after walking around for 5 hours. Break at Agra for lunch, before heading towards the Agra Fort.

What a fort, what a view and how tastefully done. Badly preserved. Here the menace of the guides was not to be found!

Meandered around the fort. Different views inside. And not to beat it different pads for different religions… and a view to the Taj. Apparently, the emperor Shah Jahan had lost it completely and was planning to build a black Taj in vicinity to commemorate himself this time (the white one was in the name of his beloved Noor.) But his son would have nothing of such nonsense and decided to lock him up with a view to the Taj he had already built.

Wow! What excess of wealth can do to you… these guys had some style man. And they were frikkin Looney...

For the pictures of Sikri click here. Agra Fort pictures along with the next post…

The rest of the evening was uneventful, except for the dash to Das Prakash a famous southey joint but here in Agra selling southey meals… well almost there. Not bad we thought but not to be repeated.

December 21, 2006 the day unfolds

Exhaustion symptoms set in... We decided to stay for an extra day at Taj town.

Change of plan in day one! Now that's called flexi! We decided to hole up in the fantastically neat and clean Hotel Amar at Agra. The Lonely Planet ratings seemed to be good. Must follow the book more...

After a the tiring week of chores and winding up that we had to do this was bliss. Who the heck is Mumtaz mate? Time to take a chill pill, unwind and then take a closer look at the place in the evening, so a few slugs of Vodka, a nice warm bath and yuummmm Noor Jahani Meal (as it was called in the menu) unwinding followed.

Evening jaunt around town, hey we went around town twice. Searched around for places to sight the Taj at night. Unfortunately no lights, no moon and no Taj that night. We did however search around for roadside jalebi and kachori and South Indian joints. Found both. Next day seems like a packed one... head back to crash out.

Dec 21, 2006, Ignition time 6:00 AM

First Leg: Towards the Wonder Town Agra. Distance 215 Kms.

Simple directions really. Get out of the DLF phases head towards Faridabad, cut right and then a few turns ahead hit NH 2 straight towards Agra. Taj here we come…

But then, at 6:30 AM on the highway, we were confronted with a 3 metre view of the road. Dense fog all along. This was only the second time in this life that I had encountered this dense a fog on the highway. The first had been a few years back in Bhutan!

Slow traffic and quiet cabin inside car brought out the brat in wifey. She insisted for a break of tea and that too just an hour after start.

Tea in the Mist

Driving through the mist is an experience by itself, especially if you know you have a long way to go but don’t know where this is going to clear. Something like life’s best kept secrets. You know it will and must pass for a clearer view around, but then, the passage is not in your control. And you have all the options available, to stop and wait, to take a risk and drive on at a canter, to follow other vehicles at a distance, to tail gate trucks as the masses claim they are the expert drivers…

I chose to take the plunge by myself, figure out my pace, and kept on to it. When I looked at my speedo, found that I was clocking 60 kms/hr… and also a look at the rear view revealed following cars… so that’s all it takes to gather some reverence!

Break at Mathura. Breakfast the Yankee way. Burgers in the park at Big Macs. Went on to become an uneventful ride into Agra Town. Reach there at 10:30 AM.

Before I forget, we (me and wifey) had this wonderful discussion in the car after seeing a few roadsigns which pointed towards Kolkata. 1,425 Kms… to change the plan and go Kolkata wards or stick to plan! We almost came to a unanimous thought that it might be better to go Kolkata. The thought of MP and bad roads and UP and rowdies changed the route back on course…

The essential Pre-Trip Planning and Prep

The route plan: The most important part of pre-trip contemplation is the route. You obviously talk to people about it. Expect a free advice from the enlightened and the ignorant. How many days to stay in each place, what to see, what to do, what to buy…

I’d already learnt through the years of extensive road travel, that it’s my own gut that tells the best. Add to that a sprinkling of in house wisdom... that one needs to be a bit flexi in attitude on longevity, place, unwinding etc is better than getting fixated and taut about the whole thing. This route plan went through about 9 versions before settling down to version 10 before start. Of course, as life is unpredictable, things did change as we went along.


Self help books on the destinations: Researching for the right travel books to carry is a great job! Trying to find "our kind" of books. We settled for the Lonely Planet (India), Autocar Driving Destinations and a copy of city maps of Agra, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Pune.

Running em in: Without a properly serviced and run in vehicle, you could end up in trouble just when you think you made scot free! So servicing the vehicle at least 10 days before the trip was a must especially this was going to take at least 10 days on route if not more... A test drive of 50 - 60 kms odd a couple of days before you actually start helps a great deal in aligning yourself to the ways of the highway...

A recce of at least the starting 60 odd kms also does help. This helps you get out of city limits and into the right direction at start (in case you're new to the route start point.) Mind you it’s a great feeling when you don’t have to start the bloody morning wondering which way to head out.

Yea this helped a me one heck of a lot. Tyres got changed, Spare fuse sets got purchased, an MP3 player got added, CD’s got burnt by the loads, Brakes adjusted, Interiors completely cleaned up. We had a fresh and fancy free car to alight and rip off.

The Baggage: The clothes for the trip. Yep this is tricky. Winter wear, summer wear, (Winters are chilly up north in India but this changes as on proceeds to the tropics so we had to load up all kinds.) Plus the usual Short eats, Fruits, Drinking Water, Cameras, Films, Batteries, Flares, Carrybags… A huge job list was up action.


The last day before leaving: December 20th was going to our last night at Gurgaon. We were packing our bags and leaving for Bangalore (our home of sorts) for good.

All our stuff packed from home over two days in hectic fashion and taken out by the transport agency. A shack for the night arranged. We left our home in DLF at 8 PM and headed towards our friends place to do the farewell bash.

A concoction of emotions in my mental cauldron that night. Exhaustion from the last few days of hectic activity, a tad sad that we’re leaving this place for good, ecstatic to be headed towards a new life, thrilled to be out on the adventure ahead, romantic getaway from the tedium that life had become…

Hey I was already getting ideas on why not to work!

North to South: Delhi - Rajasthan - Bangalore

The next few posts will delve on this trip right from the pre trip to reaching the destination. Other trip stories once this gets over. Did not feel the urge to write before this and therefore the five month time lag.

Start: December 21, 2006, Gurgaon, DLF IV, 05:30
End: December 30, 2006, Bangalore, Koramangla, 20:00

The Wheels: Hyundai Accent Viva


The Route:
Gurgaon – Agra – Pushkar – Jodhpur – Jaisalmer – Udaipur – Vadodara – Pune – Bangalore

The Map: Given on the left

Total Driving Distance: 4,125 Kms. This includes the common distractions within each of the towns as well as mini journeys to touristy joints et al.

Who am I?

These are about my adventures mostly on the road and a few off it as well...

You must know a couple of things about me.

First, I am crazy about doing the road less traveled ... car and the Royal Enfield Bullet. And second, I love my country. India.

Not forget my dearest wife, who accompanied on all the trips. I know the pains it took for me to convince to take the first real long drive. But then, after that, we share the same passion. Well, you know, maybe she's not as crazy about them, but yea she likes the adventures. Sure.