Bike trip to Pondicherry - a photo blog

"A Picture Speaks 1000 Words"
This is my first photo blog. This trip was very short so I thought that I should put a few pics of my trip and let them explain this bike trip.

One Friday night, I was working late in office. At 3 am, I saw Anshul coming to office for TP (time pass). This is a great habit of AnshulG to do TP in office very very late at night. And favorite TP that hour: watching videos (esp. Malgudi days) or playing some silly computer game. Luckily, I had finished my work by then; so we left for a tea without knowing any place which would open that time of night. After riding about 100mts, we decided to go to pondy. Anshul had been to pondy on bike erlier, but I had not gone ever.

We packed our bags and left for the trip, a one day trip. Rest of the story will be explained through pictures taken on the way:

Two Bikers on the street

VGP (amusement park) On the Way

An upcoming dance festival @ Mahabalipuram

Famous statue art of Mahabalipuram (now Mamallapuram)

Day or Night, it's all about light

a Pond on the way to Pondy

Sun brings the fun

Doesn't it entice to speed up???

a random beach on ECR

Matri-Mandir in Auroville

Le café @ Promenade, one of the best place for breakfast

French War Memorial in the background

Eglise de Notre Dame des Anges

The church from inside

Raj Niwas, Governor's house

Rendezvous, the most famous restaurant in Pondi

It is actually very frightening. @ Crocodile bank on the way back

That is a real python, but a two year old kid

Have you seen so many crocs from so close?

The sunset on the way back

This was my short one day trip which was mainly consisting of riding a bike. But still a fun since East Cost Road (ECR) is itself a fun to ride/drive on. It is the longest road along the sea in India.

A long drive to Vellore

On Saturday, I along with my cousin, जीजाजी and my niece went for a long drive to Vellore, which is 140 km from Chennai on the Chennai-Bangalore highway. There is a Golden Temple (Southwala) at Sripuram, 8 km from Vellore.

We took about 2 hours in reaching Vellore from the border of Chennai, though it took us an hour in touching the border. We first went to the golden temple where photography was not allowed. The temple is in huge area with big garden and a star shaped pathway around it. They made us walk a full round of the garden before entering in the main temple. We took special entry pass, which wasn't too crowded but still it took us 2 hours to come out and you can imagine what happened to our feet in the sun.

In the afternoon we headed towards Vellore for lunch. As per my habit I had taken some printouts but didn't read them; it had some articles about 'places to eat'. On the way we found a decent hotel: Surabhi International. They had two different restaurants for veg and non-veg. After entering, I read those articles and found that there was one more restaurant down the lane named Darling, which had amazing food especially steak and sizlers. But that article was only talking about non-veg and we had already given the order so we stayed back. The food (tandoori) was decent in Surabhi and even the hotel was looking good.

Then we headed to the only fort in Vellore, which had only the outer boundary wall with moat. There was boating available but we didn't have time. We took a walk under the trees and with the cool breeze. It was a nice place for picnic. There was a museum and a church in the periphery of the fort. We did some photography and then we headed back to Chennai.

Vellore is about midway from Chennai and Bangalore. The drive is very nice which makes this place so easy to visit. For people from these metros, it is a nice place for picnic and has a temple too for your spiritual needs. But mind you this temple is made (or say covered) of gold and has idol of goddess Mahalakshmi.

The disaster trip: Journey to Kanyakumari

सह-लेखक: Vikas and Saubeer.

This trip and this blog entry both are very special. The trip is special in negative sense but the blog is in positive sense (hopefully). Trip is special because out of 59 hours of my travel I was in town only for 19 hours, and rest of the time we were in the journey. It took 26 hours in the bus from Chennai to Kanyakumari (KK) and 14 hours by train in return. The blog is special because it has been co-authored by my fellow travellers of the trip: Vikas (Sharma, the one in the Kodai trip) and Saubeer (Mann, who made the statue shrink back).

This is the first time I am co-authoring so instead of doing काट-छाँट I am adding their part as they have given. At the end I will continue it and finish the trip. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment on it. And pleassseeee do not read what they have written about me and the blue sentences are my comments.

Vikas narrates:
3 folks and one mission, Kanyakumari, the southern most point of the country.

On the very Friday we were to leave, it became quite clear in the afternoon that it was not going to be an easy ride to Kanyakumari. The rain gods were mad, at 2.00 pm it was so overcast, it seemed we are in the middle of the night, and the city was flooded like I have never seen before. Cut to 6.30 pm, I and Ashish leave the office for our house, to get the bags packed and set off. We meet Saubeer on the main road after 20 minutes. And it’s from here on that we start on the path of the common misery and ordeal that awaited us.

Its raining moderately and we are looking for an auto to take us to Koyembedu bus stand. But where the hell are the autowallas, few that were coming our way wanted a fortune for the trip, and we weren’t exactly a group of prince, so we couldn't afford it and hence plan B. Plan B was to go to T-nagar bus stand and catch a bus to Koyembedu, oh, that’s simple. So we take an auto to T-nagar, bus stand and enquire about bus to Koyembedu. And to our surprise there is a Volvo Super f#$%ing deluxe AC bus, Man, is this CHENNAI or New York????, but all excitement was just for a fleeting moment. The bus was jam packed, however we somehow sneak in with our luggage. Now there is absolutely no space for a soul. We move, not exactly move, we stand and the bus crawls and I am definitely positive we did overtake three pedestrians. Ok, it wasn’t that bad but the traffic was really horrible. We were progressing at a snail pace and the driver at his wish kept on picking up passengers in the bus. He was actually very generous when it came to females or married women. None of them on the road were left disappointed, all of them were in the bus. So the load factor kept on increasing and the AC bus turned into a stinking enclosure with hardly an inch to move.

I was in an awkward position with my luggage in one hand and the other hand tightly holding onto the bars in the bus, and there is this elderly gentleman falling on to me. He was facing the other side, and I was tall enough to have a look at his bald head. I really feel sorry for my left hand which was molested as it was royally pressed against the old gentleman’s backside (read a%#). It seemed like an eternity, the bus kept on moving but never felt like reaching Koyembedu. And this is exactly when I made a statement to Saubeer “It can’t get worse than this”. To my dismay, there was someone up there, who was hell-bent on proving me wrong not once but so many times during the next 24 hours. The bus was cruising through the waters on the road and suddenly there is this jolt and water came bursting into the bus. Yes you are right, into the bus.

Ashish was lucky, he was standing on sort of a podium, and was wearing floaters too. Unlucky as we were, me and Saubeer, our shoes were completely drenched and I could feel water inside my shoes, the socks were completely wet. So much so for the Volvo AC bus. Now that wasn’t the end of it. The bus was stuck in the jam and was heading nowhere, so we decided to get off in between around a km and half from the bus stand.

Water water everywhere, not a small piece of land to walk. We are on the road and Mr Ashish wikimapia Bansal guides us that the bus stand is on the other side of the road. We are crossing the road, and there is this divider 2-3 feet high, we climb it with the bags in our hands, and we start walking on it, thinking it’s not a bad idea to walk on, as everything else seemed to be immersed in water. Also, it wasn’t a cake walk, there were bushes and trees planted in between the divider, so what we had to do was to walk right on the edge of it. My adidas shoes do have a funny kinda sole, it makes a screeching noise while walking when wet but what I was more concerned with was it tends to skid a lot on wet surface. I was failing to keep pace with Ashish and Saubeer who seemed to have mastered the skill. Hence I decided to walk a bit fast, though still cautiously. Also, the huge trucks and buses zooming past us from both sides, weren’t really helping the cause. As all good things come to an end, so did this walk. We get down and enquire and realize that we need to go left now, and what do we see there, no surprises… water and more water.

The whole journey looked doomed to me now, there was no way on the earth that we are walking through this shit. You really have to trade your ego to cross the road wading through the knee length level water. However, we gear up to the task, fold our jeans, remember our gods and then we start thinking, in that order. There is this bus crossing the road and Ashish almost convinces us to board the bus just to cross the road and then again back to our feet. However, me and Saubeer are a bit apprehensive. We are good rule abiding Chennai citizens, we don’t travel without paying for the tickets. So ultimately, we decide on the more doable option, an auto. Luckily, we get it right on the very first go, a rarity, and we hop into it.

The three of us in the auto with feet tucked up in order to avoid any further water damage, we resembled kangaroos. Finally, as we were destined to, after an eventful journey, we reach Koyembedu bus stand. By this time I was totally disoriented, and the little excitement if that was there, wasn’t reflecting. Luckily, the other two chaps still seemed in good spirits, they started doing rounds and enquiring about buses to Kanyakumari or Madurai. As fate would have it, there was a bus to Kanyakumari, but it left sometime back. Meets expectations, I would say. After checking the bus fares and a thorough competitor analysis, these guys narrow it down to a travel agent and we get three tickets to ourselves for Madurai. And, hence the trip was on.

After a Volvo AC bus for one bus stand to another within a city to dingy deluxe bus from one city to another, it couldn’t have been more ironical. And no surprises again, we get the best seats in the house, at the very end. Come on, atleast one thing…for the love of god, atleast one thing should go right, but no. Reluctantly, we take it. Somebody up there was really mad at us. Me and Saubeer sit together, I take the window seat and Ashish takes up the one on the other side.

Oh btw, in all the hassle, the three of us didn’t even have our dinner. We are sitting in the bus and waiting for it to move. But everything in life doesn’t come easy, be patient. Not because you should, because you don’t have any other option. At last the bus starts and so does the melodrama, which we were so afraid of. It’s an inherent risk that comes along with any bus journey in the Tam land. The Tamil cinema. It was miracle in itself, we were witnessing a tamil movie, which was ages ahead, which was way better than matrix in the action sequences, Spielberg couldn’t have directed it so well, damn Brad Pitt, this guy was the dude of all the dudes. Only small problem was, hell, we aren’t interested in watching it. But it seemed the bus was carrying a set of passengers with a hearing problem, and the speakers were blasting all the way. Long live the guy who was responsible for the pirated DVD, we didn’t have to suffer long and it got stuck.

It’s around 11.15 pm and it’s been more than an hour and we have hardly covered 500 meters, the bus is stuck in the jam, it’s excruciatingly painful to see the bus crawl centimeters. But things were to get worse. The bus goes hits a hole in the road, shakes a bit, tilts on the left hand side and the engine shuts. The driver tries to start the engine, but it seems we weren’t the only one deprived of luck. Things were only getting worse since I made the legendary statement, “things can’t get worse than this”. Now, we are in the middle of the road stuck in the jam and the bus aint moving. Wow.

After getting rid of all the hope that the bus is going to start soon, we come out of the bus after sometime. Hungry as we were, we did scout for any shops nearby, but that really wasn’t one of our best days. I try to convince the other guys that it would be a nice idea to head home now instead of Kanyakumari as it’s already too late. Saubeer somewhat agreed to it, but the traveler and explorer in Ashish didn’t give up. So I gave up, and agonizingly waited and waited and waited. We witness the jam clear up and all the buses make their way through the road, except ours, which is still somewhat struggling to come into action.

I was just hoping that the bus never starts, we are reimbursed our money and we head home. Wishful thinking! But on that day anything I said or thought had to be proved wrong, somebody was royally pissed off with me. Its 2.00 am and the bus starts, wow. It’s the nail in the coffin, the journey begins once again. Guess what now, the jam that cleared up while our bus was stuck, but now is again right in place, just as to bless our journey going forth. We take another 45 minutes to hit a clean road, a highway. The bus must have hit a speed of 60-70 kms per hour. And I swear it didn’t take me more than a minute to doze off. We had already seen too much for a day and we wished that tomorrow would be new day.

The next day is bright and sunny, in contrast to the weather in Chennai, when we left. Good it was that it did dry up our wet socks overnight, which were hanging by on the rear of the front seat. The bus stops somewhere for snacks and Ashish gets down to get us some breakfast. Me and Saubeer had a good excuse of not getting down, we didn’t want to put on the shoes. It was good for Ashish too, he had the wonderful opportunity to have his favourite drink in peace, Naariyal Paani. We had vadas and pakodas for breakfast, and it was so oily that after eating if I run hands through my hair and comb it. I would be a perfect mumma’s boy. But, empty stomach since the last night, we found it quite delectable. After a few hours the bus stops again and Ashish’s fetish for Naariyal pani continues. We ask him to get some namkeen for us, he hunts for it and goes far off. The bus starts and heads off, without a few passengers. Saubeer starts yelling stop stop and I join in too. It only stops after a 100 meters. We see the passengers running to the bus in a hurry but the last of the passengers is walking nonchalantly down to the bus, who else, but Mr Ashish.

After a long journey, which made me felt as if I celebrated my last birthday on the bus itself, we reach Madurai. It’s around 1.00 pm. We head off to the bus stand to catch a bus to Kanyakumari. We take tickets for the 1.30 pm bus, we look around for some decent eatery to have lunch, oh, but we have left the thing called ‘luck’ back home. So we act fast and get ourselves a few apples and two bread cakes, chocolate and vanilla flavours. We board the bus, and we realize we have been duped by the guy who sold us the tickets. Anyway, the seats aren’t much comfortable, no pushback, but the weather turns to be our perfect saviour. It was overcast, with a cool breeze flowing around.

It was one of the healthiest lunch we had in sometime. We somehow manage to wash the apples through the bus window. After, two apples each, we felt complete. We savour the cakes later on and I am already thinking about dinner now. One sumptuous meal is all I am thinking of, its been 24 hrs we haven’t had a proper meal. These guys already planning to roam around Kanyakumari a bit and then have dinner. The first half of this bus journey goes off pretty well, and then ticks in the agonizing wait. Its around 7.30 pm, the bus comes to a dead end one stop before Kanyakumari and we change buses again. We don’t pay the conductor as we already have a bus ticket till Kanyakumari. Our happiness sees no limit, when we see those little Kanyakumari milestones pass by. Finally, on your feet, Ladies and Gentleman, we reach Kanyakumari.

That was from Vikas. Hold your breath now Saubeer will tell you his style of story, nah adventure:

Saubeer talks:
The (UN)Planned? Adventure

DAY 1
18:30 Hrs - The markets had not witnessed a good day, with the overall index falling 11%, with the gloomy outlook reciprocated in the dark weather outside. The cats & dogs have just barely stopped dropping from the heavens, and its time to head out. The only problem is there is no f#$%ing booking on the trains, the buses, and I can’t believe this (even after extensively searching for the Kanyakumari specials) – no hotel booking. No problem, we decide to take the auto to the Koyambedu (I know, all kind of weird names will come up), but as all good things end up in $#!t, none of the dear m%#$@#fu%$ers are ready to go anywhere near our first destination. So we stand like 3 hicks in the light rain on the road, waving to every auto empty or full. And finally one of them decides to drop us off to the T-Nagar bus stand (which is like 1.5 km from our office). With no choice left, we take him up on his offer, and the journey is on the road!!!!!

19:20 Hrs – we reach the T-nagar bus stand with no idea whether we’ll be able to get a bus to Koyambedu (I really hate saying this word again and again). But our trusty guide Ashish tells us that there is in fact a bus plying from here to Koyambedu (here I go again!) and we get into the bus most jam packed on the bus terminus, but praise the holy god, it’s an AC service. So there we are crammed in a bus running at 2x its capacity (if only the flights could also be run this way, you’re pushing the guy next to you, while holding on during the take offs, there’s a thought. Could reduce a lot of their losses, and help them to reduce air fares without a hoot for ATFs. I’m planning to take the LCC model to a whole new ground breaking level here! Mallya here I come). But for the moment we are still in the bus which is trying really hard to bread the speed barrier for the slowest f#$%ing time set on any trip. In all fairness to the driver, 1 feet rain water clogging all the roads, the holes in the roads, and the smaller vehicles holding up the proceedings hardly were a help.
Ashish was lucky to be standing on a small pedestal in the bus, as he missed the beautiful experience of all the sewer water coming into the bus, yes, inside the bus, even with the roads closed, while Vikas and I enjoyed (the wet-wet feeling) having our shoes and socks completely soaked. And the bus is still going at 10 Km an hour. Finally about an hour later we decided it was enough as the bus was not moving at all in the traffic, so we got down and hiked it for 15 minutes, trying to avoid all the water once again, which was not quite easy to do. Our trusty guide (more like a brilliant hound with an extraordinary nose for direction) Ashish led us onwards, till we hit another long stretch of swimming pool on the road. We were standing right there at the crossroads, and we decided to jump into the next empty auto; Vikas and I were in no mood to treat our shoddy feet to another taste of the water. So we sat in the auto for a 300 meter journey with our feet up to avoid the splashing water from all sides.

21:00 Hrs – we finally reach the famed KOYAMBEDU bus stand, where we should have been an hour back atleast. So we decide to approach the touts for the bus tickets, and, well no surprise, there are no tickets available for KK, the only thing available is Madurai, which we are told is like 5 hours from KK. We try a few of the tour operators in the shops and it’s a f#$%ing cartel, no seats for KK. So we take the only available non-a/c seat for Madurai, and get the last seats, literally the last ones! And we wait for the next 45 minutes for the bus to get filled up enjoying the humidity after the rains and donating our blood for the poor hungry mosquitoes. (why did we take last seats it the bus was not full? Because now the bus owner was not filling the seats but aisle)

22:00 Hrs – finally the driver decides he’s good and ready to put his foot to the accelerator and we’re offffffffff, well once again trying to match a snail’s pace, covering a whole km in an hour. And just when you think that the bus ride couldn’t be more enjoyable – the unthinkable happens – the only hole that scores of vehicles ahead of us had avoided, well our brilliant driver decides to test that one with the wheels of our bus. No surprise, the tyre gets wedged in the hole and the engine gives way. The driver tries in vain time after time to resuscitate the engine, but it just won’t start up. So there we are stranded right in the middle of the road, with traffic moving slowly and slowly around us as the driver calls for backup. The backup arrives in the form of a motorcycle bearing the mechanic, who tinkers around for 20 minutes and he too decides that the bus is not going anywhere for some time. And then inexplicably the mechanic and driver both ride off into the twilight on the bike, leaving all of us stranded there. And all of this reminds us that we were supposed to eat something, it's been since more than 8 hours since we ingested anything, and in all our running around, we had skipped dinner altogether. But like all amazing places in south India, nothing is open after 9:30. we roam around here and there, but the only thing that is open at this hour is the police station, and none of us is crazy enough (YET!) to go inside there and break bread with them.
So we wait with growling stomachs with the return of the driver, and this was the time that our unified front started to show chinks of weakness – 3 different views surfaced from 3 minds, the first one (Vikas) spelling out that we call for call cab and get ourselves back to our beds in dear city Chennai, the second one (Ashish) asking us to wait for some more time and then decide, and the third one (Saubeer) saying that we head back to the bus stand 1 km back and get a bus to Pondicherry (which would be a 2 hour bus journey) for the morning. Well, we decided to go with the second view for the time being, and the mechanic did come back with some spare piece of machinery which he replaced, and praise the lord, the slumber-fed beast that was to transport us to Madurai roared back to life.

DAY 2
01:30 Hrs – its already 130 in the morning on day 2 and we’re still very much within the city limits, so I guess the trip is going well. With empty stomachs and the back seat ride with all the holes in the road not helping, sleep is not easy to come, though Vikas is enjoying a deep slumber and Ashish is also tucked in the other corner beside a fat chap. Eyelids finally drift closer and closer, till its 4 hours later and the bus makes its first pit stop at a highway-side recluse. When I say recluse, I meant a place for, well, I forgot I was sleepy, I just remember I went to the bathroom, did I pee? Don’t remember, and we picked up some biscuits to nibble on. And then we were back on the metal chariot that was our ride.

06:00 Hrs – I wake up, am never able to sleep for long periods of time on bus rides. Ashish and Vikas are still very much in dreamland, but the weather outside looks awesome, dark clouds still there bringing a little smell of the rain and damp soil. We’re still going through the never ending road, took a few snaps and finally rested back on my (is it still there?) spine.

10:00 Hrs – The bus driver makes a second pit stop in some town, don’t ask me the name, almost all the boards on the shops are in a language long forgotten by my ancestors (if they ever used it). Vikas and I had not intention to get off into the blazing sun, so it was up to Ashish to get us some food (and they said to me that it was because of the wet socks). He was the only one who had the sense to wear floaters while we picked out shoes with mile long laces for the trip. So we had a hearty breakfast of some pakodas and Ashish downed his third coconut water of the journey. The first base camp, that is Madurai, is still 70 odd km away, which we reckon we can reach in another couple of hours, so we sit back and try to enjoy ourselves with the beautiful scenery, rather the lack of it. All I could see were hilltops in the distance, but the terrain was no heavenly lush green, just a light green.

12:00 Hrs – The driver decides he needs to earn a little bit more commission for this trip so he makes a third pit stop, and Ashish decides that it is time for a fourth Coconut water (झूठ I had only 3 in toto). While he is down, we’ve asked him to pick up something salty to sink our teeth into. But before Ashish can come back to the bus, it has somehow started to move, or is it my imagination? We scream at the driver to stop the roll forward, which he decides to do after 100 metres. And we’re looking back at where mister Ashish is, and we can see no sign of the chap. We do see another couple running towards the bus, but still no Ashish, and then you catch sight of, can it really be true, Ashish, MINUS the packet of chips he was supposed to pick up. And on top of that, he is walking like a leisurely walk in the park, until he sees the bus, when he breaks into a little jog (imagine me jogging in the tamland sun with unfastened sandals, poor soul). So, we’re still three out of three on the journey.
But the fun is far from over, as the driver decides he needs to take a break and hands over the steering wheel to his assistant, while he comes and sits next to Ashish, the seat having been vacated in the meantime. You can distinctly smell the booze that the driver had been drinking, and this is the guy who had been driving us for the past 12 hrs or so. I suddenly felt safe knowing that his assistant was driving, but that moment was short lived, as, half an hour later, the driver gets up and takes over the wheel again. We carry on for another half an hour of bumpy ride, only this time I’m holding on tightly to the sides of the seat, holding on for dear life, in the know that any moment now the driver could decide to reach behind his seat with both his hands to get that unfinished bottle and leave the bus on auto pilot. At times like this I get somewhat philosophical, and the question of religion and the presence of a higher power comes to mind. I can clearly see god and Lucifer sitting side by side betting over whether we will make it to our destination or not. I can see the wry smile on the dark one’s face, but I wonder Has god really bet on our winning, ‘cos I don’t see any help from his side, or maybe the bet is what is the point at which we’ll give up and turn back or kill one of us. Hmm, the last thought does come to the mind.

13:00 Hrs – we finally hit Madurai, and I’m glad enough to kiss the ground. We enquire for a bus to KK and the tout sells us a ticket for a semi-deluxe bus (it eventually turned out that the only add-on that the semi-deluxe had relative to the normal buses was a small extension of the seat which served as a head rest). (I tell you one amazing thing: We were standing for the govt. bus but that tout came and sold the ticket (rs.91) of same bus in 140 rupees. Could you believe three MBAs were fooled by a hardly graduate man? The worst of it: the govt bus we inquired about was going to KK but this bus, tout made us sit in, dropped us a town before KK) We picked up 6 apples (health always comes first) and two cakes (junk food, though second, is equally important) for the 5 hour journey ahead. The bus finally leaves at 14:00 hrs and sit back for the fun filled ride, but apparently there is not much to do, we eat the 6 apples and the cakes and have a drink of the heavenly water and miraculously fall asleep counting the peacocks outside.

17:30 Hrs – The first pit stop for this bus ride, we should be there in another half hour, but the distance seems to have gotten bigger, as the conductor tells us that there is still a couple of hours atleast left. Its close to 24 hours since we left the office yesterday and it still is nowhere near the place we want to be at. You can feel the cool damp air outside, and it starts raining as well, just what you need, if it continues to rain, we can’t even go out to look for a hotel room, which incidentally we haven’t booked.

I’m looking out at the big windmills now, and the picture of Don Quixote on Rozinante comes to mind, but even the old Don would’ve been too tired to do anything if he had a rickety bus for his steed for 24 hours. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, we’re there, hold it the board says Nagercoil, not KK, what the f#$% is going on? Well, it seems that the driver has decided that he will take up a siesta, even though it is way past afternoon. So we stop at 8 pm in the night at the Nagercoil bus stand, and then we go ahead and board our fourth bus for the journey. But this time we have come full circle, we are doing the exact same thing that we did on the first bus ride, sitting and watching the bus move slowly through the city, but to be fair, this city is not that big, neither is it flooded. So we make good progress, and its only one more hour to cover the 15 kms between the two towns.

22:00 Hrs – Success, we’re in KK, and would you believe it, the street lights are working here and some shops are open, god is gracious to us right now. But then again, we’ve no booking at all, so we do another few minutes of walking till we reach Hotel “Savitree”, the double room seems about okay so we take it for the day. And surprise surprise, the hotel’s in-house restaurant also servers north Indian food, (even gujarati, the board outside it proclaimed in bold letters). We were the only people in the place at that time, it was almost the time that the sleep clock of all the inhabitants in South India commands for a slumber. We ordered paranthas in true north Indian style and some daal, ecstatic to being able to find something to eat at this time, and that too North Indian (none of was particularly inclined to go for any of the dosas that we had fled from in Chennai), but the pleasure was short lived as the waiter came back and informed us that the ‘tandoor’ was closed for the day. So it was plain chapattis, but as you can expect, they were a far cry from the ones made up North and the daal was, well it was different, not like Maggi tomato ketchup though. It was barely edible, but if you’ve lived on 2 apples some soft cake and some biscuits for more than 28 hours, you’ll find even turd laced with frosting the best treat ever (Okay, maybe this last metaphor was a bit too much!!). It was close to 10 by the time we were through with dinner and Vikas and I decided to take a look around while Ashish decided to take care of all the coconut water that he was storing in his stomach. Another 15 minutes and we were out to enjoy the beautiful KK in all its glory, okay a little weird to go out at this time when there is absolutely no soul on the road, but after having traveled so long, I was really in no mood to even wait to change before exploring a little bit of this city.
The wind was laced with a few drops of the rain that was dropping just so lightly that there was no need to open the umbrellas we were carrying, so we had a little photo session in front of the lighthouse. Then we headed to the southern most tip of Indian mainland, the temple of Kumari Amman, the path leading up to it still had a few headlights, the shops all had the covers down, and the beach right next to it looked totally beautiful. The combination of the dark sky, the sound of the rushing waves, the cool wind (it was rather a gushing gale which could tip a little child over, refreshing nevertheless), just the openness that you could feel as you gazed out into the dark see standing out near the tip.

Here ends the description by Saubeer. Now I reduce your boredom and will not start from scratch but will continue from where Saubeer left.

In my words:

My mobile rang; it was 5.30 am on the Sunday morning. We had only half a day to see KK town because of the train at 5 in the evening. As planned we got up early to see the sun rise. But our bad luck, due to rain there was no sun. It was in a way nice because the whole day it was cloudy and we enjoyed roaming around in that weather. We got up and got ready to go to the Vivekananda rock but for our amazement it was also closed due to rough sea. I saw a long jetty and we decided to go on that. Our trek of approximately 1 km started. We went to the very end of it where we were right in front of the statue of Thiruvalluvar. It was the perfect place to take a snap of the statue.

After doing a photo session we went to the ferry boarding point again and thankfully it started working. We visited Vivekananda rock, The statue was closed due to maintenance work. That was really a beautiful and calm place with only sounds of waves. I could spend a whole day there, but my list of places to visit was long. So we left with the first ferry available. Then we went to the southern most point to see three seas from one place. We went past Kumari temple and I wanted to go in but other two शर्मीले बंधु didn't want to take their shirt off (including vest). It is a tradition, or say rule, of the temple that man goes topless. Please be spiritual enough not to fantisize about a holy place like temple.

Finally we were at the place, the southern-most tip, the place to see three seas in three directions.


Suddenly it started raining but not heavy enough to stop us. We went to Gandhi Memorial and decided to the photography from outside only. Next to it there was sun rise view tower which was of no use for us due to rain and clouds but still we climbed up. The view was awesome. The small and less crowded city was looking too good in that cloudy day. We saw a church far away on the shore, our next stop. We were just passing time and enjoying the cool weather with the nice sound of waves. On the beach we saw shooting of a Tamil song by an aunty. By the time we reached the church it was 2 pm and we felt hunger. There was no place to see near by other than the fort which was about 5 km away. We were not keen in going out of the town so we thought of having the lunch and resting for some time. On the way back to our hotel we also visited a Aqua World, an exhibition of different sea creatures including piranha. For returning back to Chennai we had a train booking and our train was at 5 pm. While getting back too we saw some nice scenic views.

I know the description of place is smaller then the travel because our trip was like that. But the feeling of being at the southern most point was more than the pain of the journey.

A break from work, the Kodaikanal trip

It had been so many days and we hadn't done any travelling. 2007 Year end went in studies for Dada (as introduced in the last blog) and me. In Feb'08 I went to US whereas Dada and Vikas went home thus got a small break only. So we hadn't gone out for long and Chennai started being HOTTER again. In April, we decided to have a trip to some hill station nearby.

This time it were Dada, Vikas and me who wanted to go and decided to go to Kodaikanal. We got two more companions: Anshul and Abhimanyu (Dua, GIM batch-mate working in Chennai, we call him Abhi). We were not getting the train bookings so we hired a taxi: Tavera. We all left our houses and got on the car by 9.30 pm, fully packed with all the required items. In addition to that our Abhi added a big packet when we stopped at the petrol pump. Our journey began.

It took us approximately 3 hours to cross Chennai city because of the traffic even at that time of the night. At 6 in the morning we reached a village and stopped for about an hour for tea and water (for the car). There we came to know that we were late and it would take 3/4 hours more to reach Kodai. Vikas heard that the scene of sunrise in Kodai is very beautiful but when we were standing there that time only the sun was up so we missed on that chance.

The hill starts just 43 km before Kodai where we stopped for नारियल पानी and got energy for the hilly ride. On the way in the hills there was a small point from where we get a nice view of lake. Dada, Vikas and I took our cameras so we stopped there and did first lot of photography.

We reached Kodai at around 1 pm and checked into a cottage at J's Heritage Resort, which was booked by Dada. It was a nice cottage with bed capacity for 6 and a kitchen. We got ready and went for lunch towards the market. Near the famous Kurinji Andavar temple we found a small coffee shop who was serving snacks too. The food we ate there was best of all the food we had in Kodai. The cheese omelette was amazing at that shop.

The manager of the hotel guided us about the sightseeing in Kodai and gave us a card. The card listed 14 places in such manner that we could cover all in one big round of kodai. We got on to our taxi and started the sightseeing. The first place we all wanted to visit was Kodai lake so we went there but could come back the whole day.

The lake is situated in the center of the town and has a circumference of approx. 6 km. We first went for row boating then we took cycles on rent. There was a nice system of cycles on rent for 1 hour in only Rs. 10 and go for cycling around the lake. Cycling was one of the best experience because its scenic route and it took us to old school days. Anshul and I took a limousine cycle which both of us were riding the first time. Then we went for skating and tried our balancing skills at the skating rink. I fell off once while racing against Vikas.

For the evening Dada had arranged for a campfire at the resort along with a buffet dinner. We were only five and were very tired too so could not sit at the campfire for long so we went for sleep quickly.

Second day we thought of covering most of the places listed in the small card given by resort manager. We came to know about the Brijam lake which is the most beautiful place in Kodai but we need a pass from the governement to go there. So we dropped it and moved ahead. We had hard time making the driver understand what we wanted and he didn't know the place too well. The first point given in the card was Coaker's walk and we kept asking for it. We saw Bryant park but was looking so crowded that we left it and went ahead. On the way to next point we saw so many vehicles on the way so we also stopped and came to know that it was pine forest, famous for its valley.

We then went to pillar's rock where a long rock is standing without any support and looks like a pillar. Vikas was looking for suicide point which nobody knew at that place. We kept going on that route. All places were very far from each other. On the way we saw golf course and Green Valley View. We got down there and came to know that it was the point which Vikas was looking for so eagerly: Suicide point.

We had covered almost all the sights except Coaker's walk which we went at the last. I felt it to be the best place in Kodai. It was a platform on a side of mountain overlooking the valley. One can have a amazing view of the Nilgiri range and towns far off. Smaller hills with shadows of small designer clouds were looking looking simply awsome.

After finishing all the points in the list we went for lunch. The driver took us to the main circle in the city, in front of Kodaikanal Inter'l School, a 100 year old school with students from different countries. We went a nice looking restaurant opposite the school. The food was soooooo bad that we could not even figure out what was served on the plate. It was about 4 pm and we thought of leaving by 5.30 from there so that we could reach home early morning on Monday and could reach offices well in time. We bought pastries and pizza from the famous burger shop: Pastry Corner.

We packed and picked our luggage from the cottage and checked out. We left the town right away so that we could spend some time at the waterfall on the way back. In approximately one hour we reached the waterfall - Silver Cascade. It was a nice small waterfall. We spent around half an hour taking lots of photos of that. By the time we left the moon appeared and we enjoyed few hours of moon light drive in the hills.

The unplanned travel - The Ooty-Coonoor trip on May 01, 2008

People are afraid of the unknown; they want everything under control। Is it that they are afraid of facing the unknown or not ready to face the unknown?

The Planning

Monday April 21, 2008. Dada (Manas Kishore Sarkar, GIM batch-mate and now my flat-mate and colleague) comes and asks “what is the plan of the May 1^st? Are we going anywhere or not? If not then I will better go home rather than to stay here.” May first is on Thursday and if we take Friday off then we can have a long weekend of four days. We are not only suffering from work but also the heat so can't miss even a single chance. Till now Only Dada and I are there for the travel and places thought of are Munnar, Ooty and Coorg.

Vikas (Sharma, my second batch-mate, flat-mate and colleague) doesn't like outings very frequently and Gadia (Anshul Gadia, a TAPMI pass-out and my colleague and sector mate) can join us only on the weekend but only if we are going to Munnar since he had been to other two places.

I ask Ankur (Jaiswal, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore, likes to be called Viper and people say so but with W ) if he is free on the weekend of May third and he can take leave on second May. He says, "Ya, its a good plan but will come only when there is a group of atleast 6 ppl."

Dada and i decide that since Munnar is not that big place to visit in 4 days so we should go to Ooty because there is one more place to visit nearby - Coonoor. First two days in Ooty and rest two in Coonoor.

Tuesday April 22, 2008. I check for the bookings of the train and buses to and from Ooty but no room. Everything is full; I check the Tatkal booking for the Nilgiri express from Chennai to Coimbatore. Dada takes the job of advance bookings of the hotel but is very busy so agrees to do it on Friday. He wants to travel in the Nilgiri hill train by any means. I check that also but long waitlist there too. My plan is to take the Nilgiri express from Chennai (MAS) to Metupalayam (MTP) and then take the Nilgiri passenger hill train from MTP to Udhagamandalam (UAM). and back the same way. No jhanjat of bus।

Friday April 25, 2008. I check the tatkal of Nilgiri express and all the night trains from Chennai to Coimbatore, but all are waitlisted. I had no companion other than Dada. No bookings and planning of four days. I get an idea that I have four days of holiday so can also go home. I check the prices of direct flight to Jaipur and these are cheaper than before: only 4800+ now. But मेरे अन्दर का यात्री कहीं ना कहीं कुल्बुल्ली कर रहा था। Secondly I can not say to Dada that i want to go home since when he asked me on Monday then i said that we two could go to visit together thinking that we would get some booking. Am I afraid of unknown???

We decide to check the returning Tatkal booking on Sunday. I am up till 4 in the night of Saturday but could not find any timings of Tatkal booking online. The website says online booking opens at 5 am without specifying the Tatkal booking. I sleep thinking it would be useless to stay awake if Tatkal opens at 8 am.

Its Sunday morning and i wake up at 11 am and when i check the website of IRCTC, I find out that the Nilgiri express is full. Means no booking at all. Luckily i see the Tatkal of Nilgiri passenger from UAM to Coonoor for our travel from Ooty to Coonoor. I booked it for Dada and myself. A start of our Ooty trip has been made.

Monday I get a call from Ankur saying there is holiday in GMR so Anshika (Khaitan, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore) and Shriram (Karthik, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore) can also join us. And if they do then he will also come.

The Doomsday

Wednesday April 30, 2008. Till now Dada have tried atleast 20 hotels but all are full during this weekend which really is scaring us. we get a feel how Ooty is going to look with crowd. I tell Ankur that we have no booking and are going unplanned. He says it will be his first travel without any planning and proper bookings. I hear from Ankur that he tried for bus bookings but didn't get any so will be coming by car. He will leave in the early morning and will reach by afternoon.

In the office I decide to leave by 6.30 and try my luck again for buses. Everyday i had been going to KPN travels in the hope that they start the special bus (as the counter guy said they do sometimes) or they release the VIP booking (which they keep in every bus) so that we get the seat in that. Finally I leave the office at 7 and reach the KPN office opposite my office.

The guy says it will be released by 7.30 and i wait for it. Now i get a hope that finally we will have booking in hand so that we don't have to worry. I wait till 8 to hear that only 1 seat out of 8 odd seats are released and rest are still blocked from head office. B#@$%& H@$$.

Then Dada and i decide to leave KPN and go to Koyambedu bus stand to check out the running buses. We pack our luggage and leave home by 9 pm. When we reach the main road we think of going to KPN the last time and check the seats but all in vain. As we are coming out of KPN travels we see a Fast track taxi dropping some people. I don't know how I get the idea but i ask Dada if he wants to go in that. We ask that guy about the charge for Koyambedu bus stand. He says it will be according to meter. In Chennai we have forgotten what is meter in a taxi. We say OK to the guy and get in.

When we are sitting inside and he got on the driving seat he starts the meter which shows Rs.150.00. The guy says minimum 150 for 6 km and then Rs.14 per km. Dada and I are looking at each other. I ask the driver how far is the bus stand but he says doesn't know. What an amazing taxi driver he is.

We go ahead crossing the traffic jam. One time I am looking at the meter other time I am looking at my watch which is racing with the meter. Approx. 9.40 we reach the Koyembedu bus stand with meter showing 175. We think its ok since we came in an AC vehicle. but the guy says 200. there are small numbers blinking and showing 30 which driver says is for waiting in the traffic jam.

We reach the bus stand and look for the buses. Some brokers standing there give the prices for the Coimbatore bus as 570 and 650 for the semi-sleeper bus. I have seen the price of non AC bus in KPN as 380 so don't accept and start bargaining. We go ahead inside the bus stand and ask almost all the counters but half of the counters don't serve Coimbatore. we only found a guying who takes us to a bus starting for Coim. He also quotes 570 and says its the last bus to Coim. We drop him too and went other side asking for the bus. No bus there too. but suddenly Dada collides with the same guy so we just decide to take the bus. He insists on 570 but we finally end up paying 550 and are happy to do the bargain successfully despite the language barrier.

Our journey starts now.

Thursday May 01, 2008. We reach Coimbatore at 9.00 in the morning. The driver of the bus tells us that we can get the bus to Ooty from the bus stand which is just 10 steps away. We go there and find that thats a local bus stand. Suddenly we see an add of volvo bus to Chennai at 9 pm. We ask for the returning bus of forth May but no seat in that. We drop the tension of returning and continue our journey.

We enter the other bus stand and our eyes widen seeing the longgggg queue for the Ooty bus. It looks as if the whole Tamil Nadu is going to Ooty this time. We have no option so we go and stand in the queue. There comes a taxi provider who says 400 per person for Ooty by Indica. We say 200 per person but he says no so we go ahead in the line. after 10 min another person comes and he directly says 200 per person. Dada and I look at each other with happiness but the guy makes a mistake. He said something 300 hundred which i didn't understand because of Tamil but we understood it as 200 for 1 and 300 for 2. We catch the point and started bargaining but he doesn't accept. We stay in the line. We are really sick of the line and the heat there. Suddenly the guy comes and says 300 is ok and we happily jump out of the line and go towards the Omni.

Ooty

The traffic is too much on the way so it is taking long time to go only 83 km. We cross Metupalayam then the hills start. The breeze becomes cooler but the feel is not like Kodaikanal. I see one waterfall and start taking the photos. I tried all the angles but could not take a proper photo of it. It took us 3 hours and when we reached Ooty it was 1 pm.

The taxi wala drops us at the station and now the fight for hotel starts. We take an auto and start looking for hotels. We go to many places but all are full. Then we find a hotel which is ok looking but have balcony too with not very high prices: Hotel Raguram. We instantly took it. We go in the rooms and see all over and realize it was not a good decision to take it. but no turning back now. Money has been paid. In one bathroom the WC is broken and in the other the wash basin is not working. one room doesn't have the TV then other room doesn't have the bulb in the bathroom. परवाह इल्लय atleast we have a place to stay in Ooty.

We get ready and go out to have lunch and then head towards Botanical garden. It is sooo crowded that i can't see the garden anymore. We get in and find a side which is closed for Janta so took a few snaps that side.

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I get a call from Ankur saying they have just reached Ooty and taking the snaps somewhere on the way. I just lie down on the grass waiting for him to reach. They reach the garden by 6.30 and we head towards Hotel Monarch to have a coffee at The Willow Hill, the best place in Ooty for coffee and i love it. We have coffee and starters there and then leave for the market outside Botanical Garden. There is a fountain at the circle on the road which is very beautiful. We think of having dinner there first and then of taking snaps but when we finish our dinner and come out the fountain is off. We get back to hotel when Ankur, Anshika and Shriram get a shock after looking at the hotel. Ankur decides to go and find the another hotel in the morning to stay on second day.

Friday May 02, 2008. Ankur wakes up at 7.30 for finding the hotel but nobody else can make it so only Ankur and Anshika go out to find the hotel. When they come back we finally decide to stay back since most of the good places are full and those which have rooms are very expensive. We wake up and get ready to go out to Doddabetta the highest point in Nilgiris. The road to Doddabetta is totally jam packed. A driver of vehicle returning from there tells us that the traffic clearance will take atleast 2 hours. We park our vehicle and start walking. Some how we reach Doddabetta and have a amazing view of Ooty and Mettupalayam. I read in the print out I took of all the places to visit that you can see plains of Coimbatore and Mysore on a clear day and we are lucky that when we are here it is a sunny day. Then we head to wax museum which is really good, a bit small though.

On the way back we stop for lunch at Dhaba Express. Ankur tells that he has seen a hotel near that which is very nice and reasonable too: Hotel Ooty Gate. After getting the energy we move towards the lake. Dada and shriram go for boating. Later Dada, Ankur and I go for kart racing there. By the time we do the kart racing shriram and Anshika go for checking the ticket of hill train in station.

We finish all this by 6.30 so thought of going for a coffee again at some place like willow hill so Ankur gives an idea of Holiday Inn. We all are cursing him but agree without saying a word. We go there and order a coffee. It took late so everybody took something to eat too.

When we come out of the hotel it is 9.30 so we miss photos of that fountain today too. We then go to market and do some shopping. The bangalorians decide to visit Mysore on the last day which is sunday. So we think of leaving on the saturday night. It is of no use for two of us to stay back. Secondly if we can cover coonoor in one day then its better to have sunday for relaxing so that we reach office fully charged up.

Coonoor

Saturday May 03, 2008. Shriram gets up and goes to check general ticket of hill train for himself. Dada and I get ready and go for catching the train of 9.15 to coonoor. Ankur and Anshika will come in car. Shriram gets a second sitting ticket but the line of people for getting on the train is so long that he can only get to stand in the train. The train ride is simply awesome. something for which there are not appropriate words. We reach there in just one hour. Next we have breakfast there and go out to SIMS park. that is a nice park on hill with a pond inside.

We then ask for Lamb's rock and Dolphin Nose. Both the places are on the same road so we go to these places one by one. Lamb's rock is more of tracking path of 500 meters. But Dolphin Nose is the most memorable moment of our trip. the whole way is through nice tea gardens and there is a small waterfall on the way where we took photos.

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When we reach there the sun hides behind clouds and and the weather becomes very nice. We have a नारीअल पानी there and then go inside a tea garden. When we are coming out of it and think of leaving a bunch of cloud comes out of the valley and start rising. It goes past the nearby hill. It is looking really beautiful. We then start back for coonoor since its late and we have to catch the bus for chennai from coimbatore.

We reach coonoor bus stand at 6.30 and the bangalore people go to find a place to stay at night. Dada and i waited for one and a half hours for the bus. There is a broker shouting in Tamil on us and not letting us talk to any taxi person. So many taxis came and accommodated many people there who could speak tamil with that broker. I really felt like killing that guy there. !@#$%*^&

At 8.15 we get a taxi on which again that broker jumps to and starts shouting. but luckily we jump in. We then urges the driver to just drive and he leaves from there. Unluckily the driver takes the route via kotagiri. We reach coimbatore at 10.45 and went to the private bus operators. We get a semi sleeper in 380 but the last seats. Dada says whats there just take it and don't think. Its the time of the bus so the vendor says to stay back. But i give my mobile number and rush for dinner.

The bus ride

I have traveled in every kind of bus and in every kind of seats. But this bus driver is unbelievable. In my last trip to Kodaikanal I could not sleep because the taxi driver was dozing while driving. Today the driver is not letting us sleep. I think he is a fan of Speed Movie. He not only drove the bus like a crazy but also did all kinds of action with the bus. I was in air most of the times upto 6 inches. He was driving the bus in the style that he could manage to throw all the passengers in the air. Thanks to god we safely reach chennai on Sunday morning 9.30. At 10 we are back at home with good memories, nice experiences, new energy, body breaking exhaustion and what not...

Photographs by: Ankur, Manas and myself.

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