My First Long drive

Keeping up with my promise of travelogues, here I start the first of the series and most recent one. Coincidentally it is another of "My First" series.

Though I had started driving a car almost a year and a half back, I never got a chance to take it for a long drive. Mainly due to reluctance and fear from wife/parents, I was held back in indulging in this pleasure. Earlier I had a Tata Nano which added to the apprehension of being a small car incapable of doing long drives.

Coming to Bangalore and owning a Toyota Etios Liva gave me a glimpse of the long drive that I could embark upon. My hometown is 450kms from here and many of my acquaintances have done a road trip from Bangalore to Palakkad. Even my dad has done it many times. Plans for driving down to Palakkad had been on the cards but they were thwarted by fate.

So when I got a chance of taking my friend's family to Mysore, I grabbed the opportunity. Saturday morning 6AM was fixed for departure. Driver - only me. Navigator - my friend's dad (though a navigator was not needed). Passengers - 3 ladies

Early mornings is the only time of the day when it is fun driving on Bangalore roads. It took me just half an hr to hit Bannerghatta road starting from Horamavu. It typically takes an hr and a half. Taking the ramp of Nice Road after the toll gate at Bannerghatta road, I joined a spectacular 6 lane highway. A bypass connecting 5 major highways coming to Bangalore, the Nice Road is as nice as its name. Smooth, straight and the best way to avoid Bangalore city if you are switching from one NH to another.

15km in 10min at a top speed of 140kmph. I was reminded of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. I had hit my previous maximum of 100kmph on my Nano.

Exiting on to Mysore road, we drive into another 4 lane highway. Smooth drive. Early morning sun. Cool breeze. Lots of greenery. This highway cuts across lots of small towns and reminded me of the drive on NH47 between Thrissur and Aluva.

I had estimated the journey to be 4-5 hrs. But light traffic and good road cut it short to 3.5 including a pit stop of half an hr for breakfast. The pit stop was at "Thatta Idli Hotel" at Bidadi. As the name suggests they only serve Thatta Idli - Idli of the size of a quarter plate, a Kannadiga speciality. It was served hot with palya - you can also call it aaloo masala. To go with the super soft thatta idli was crisp daal vada and tea/coffee.

Refreshing!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IIT VIRASAT 2006 - SPIC MACAY

SPIC MACAY - Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth It is one of the societies that I have appreciated the most in IIT. The best thing about SPIC MACAY is the IIT VIRASAT festival that is organised every year. It is a week long programme where eminent artists of Indian Classical music and dance perform in IIT campus. A festival that gives us an exposure to the pure forms of music and dance (the film music, albums and rock are all modified versions of the classical form). In the year 2004, I was first exposed to SPIC MACAY during the VIRASAT festival. I attended almost all the events, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last year, I missed all the events primarily because of lack of company. (I hate going alone). That being the background about SPIC MACAY and me, let us now see how it all changed this year. IIT VIRASAT 2006, was held from 27th Feb to 10th March. As usual there were notices of weekly meetings. Each of these contained an appeal for volunteers t...
Read more

Tea in a teapot

If I had fought And not got caught I would have taught My little tot Rather than rot In a prison so hot. I resolved that I ought To find a slot For an escape plot When the gaurds would not Fire a gunshot. Help, I sought From the General's daught Whom I thought Was a sexpot. Either she forgot Or did boycott But I waited a lot at the fixed spot. Tired, I got Ready for a bloodshot When I bethought That I was on a cot And my mom had brought Tea in a teapot.
Read more

Whats on the menu

How many times have we looked at the right hand side of the menu card before ordering a dish? A recent observation during one of my trips to a restaurant is that we tend to look at the price tag associated with what we order (even though very not very conscious about it). And then this idea came up. A concept restaurant where the menu has items segregated in categories. There is a minimum price tag associated with each category and a maximum. Exact cost of the dish that you order is not given on the menu. Open your heart and order your meal and worry about the bill when it comes up. To add some more spice to this, the cost of each item shall not be fixed. It varies in real time depending upon the demand for that dish. If an item is ordered by many the cost goes up (as it shows that it is a popular dish here, it could be our speciality too). As technology advances and we have digital menu, we can give the customers the listing of the items in the menu according to this stati...
Read more