Sunday, August 23, 2009

The South Indian Road Trip Project. - An update!

5 days in all. Actually 4.5 days. Covered, 1073km. Coimbatore - Ooty - Mysore - Bangalore - Coimbatore. Me the driver and few other co-passengers. Learnt quite a few things.

1. My car is actually very good! Not once did I face a single minor problem!

2. The road from Ooty to Gudalur is a great piece of driving stretch. Not the flat out kind, but the well laid mountain road kind.

3. The road from the Karnataka Border to Mysore is crap. Its even quite bewildering because it has several speed bumps continuously. there were 7 at one stretch which had the Fiat Linea in front of us prancing like a wild horse!

4. The 4 lane highway from Mysore to Bangalore is great. Ignoring the speed bumps in the first 10-20km stretch. Its got several Cafe Coffee Day's, a Barista and even a 24x7 Mcdonalds! :D Makes for a great weekend driving trip!

5. Bangalore is truly becoming an international city. the infrastructural development that has happened and is happening is amazing. The roads leading to the airport are well paved and well light at night. No Autorickshaws! :D (rubbing hands in gleee) or motorcycle traffic. Hence all traffic is doing 60kmph plus. Thus giving faint reminders of driving to the airport in Singapore. Reach the airport and you see an amazing glass facade, Metallic Green Renault Logans as taxis or Big red Volvos as city shuttles. Sexy man! is all I can think!

6. The drive back to Coimbatore from Bangalore was even more fun! 300km of nearly arrow straight or nice curved, 4 lane highways! Kept an avg speed of 100kph! Infact they seem to be testing out interactive, real time digital displays over the highways as well! I've seen those being used to give traffic updates to drivers abroad! It will be amazing if such a system became active here too! Currently they just display warning messages about how you should drive safely! :P

I took 6 hours to reach Coimbatore from bangalore, inspite of the fast highway. Reason behind this being, getting out of Bangalore took me quite some time and the last 60 kilometres before you reach the 6 lane road at Nilambur near Coimbatore is still a 2 lane road. I guess the Bangalore traffic issue might be solved with the current flyovers under construction, but I don't see any respite from the 2 lane highway because there doesnt seem to be any construction activity happening as yet! TN govt! please, construct the road soon! :(

Monday, August 10, 2009

Walking in the rain

10 P.M.- Friday - N.H. 47

A lone light shone in the distance. As Raghu walked on in the light drizzle, the distant light grew in intensity. It was an open shop; a rarity at this time on this stretch of road. Raghu consciously avoided the light, staying in the shadows on the other side of the tarmac and carried on forward.

5 A.M. - Saturday - J.A Terminus

He entered the bus terminus as discreetly as possible, attracting minimal attention to himself. The strict fitness regime and endurance training had clearly proven useful in the 40 mile walk. He boarded the bus and seated himself in the corner at the end. It had always been his preferred seat on his regular commute and today was no different. The bus started filling in with harried farmers, workers, travellers and the like. The diesel rattled to live accompanied by the shrill whistle of the conductor. As the bus trundled off, Raghu handed out a crisp Twenty Rupee note towards the conductor. The conductor looked up quizically. "Munnar". 5 hours of twisty mountain roads had begun.

10 A.M. - Munnar

An incessant drizzle characterised the welcome drill of Munnar as Raghu alighted. He walked out of the Terminus into the mist. Around the corner stood her Scirocco - GA 04 S 6577. An Unmistakable fiery red. Raghu hopped into the passenger seat and locked the door. "So much for subtlety". "We do what we can", She said, looking at him and smiling. She pressed the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. Silence was exchanged for sometime, as she drove on and Raghu stared into the mist which enveloped all, around them. It had been quite a month.


To be Continued....

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Had I ever gotten anywhere near writing, this would most probably have been my entry to the Bloggerati competition, but as you can see, it's no where near that. Just a teaser of sorts, hardly covers 3 paragraphs. Hopefully I'll have it ready soon...
Let me know if it by any chance sounds like an enticing teaser or a collection of random words.. :P