2009
13
There can be many ways to go from one place to another. Road, Air, Rail and the Waterways. We are just concerned about ‘road’ here so will junk the other three happily.
Round One
Not long ago I used to be a Hyderabadi, or a person who stays in Hyderabad, India and behaves in a certain way. Going to Pondicherry was something I attempted first from Hyderabad, and that too with success and ‘on road’. Hopped in a Volvo from Hyderabad and landed up at Kalasipalayam bus station near Majestic in Bangalore. Did I mention that I really did not plan the trip through? I guess I did not. So here I was, at Kalasipalayam, wondering what or how to get till Pondicherry from here. The only people I knew in Bangalore at that point of time, were In Pondicherry waiting for me. Kind of futile to go looking for a place to stay in this expensive place after that. I also had the option of going straight to Chennai from Hyderabad and then get to Pondicherry. Wonder why I did not do that!
Kalasipalayam is a place where you get things easily. First thing I needed after the overnight travel was to freshen up, visit the loo, take a shower etc. Even before that I needed to sort out the whole travel plan which at this point was kind of haywire. Went from ticket shop to ticket shop, and nothing was available before late evening. At this point I realized that the bast bet for me was Karnataka State Transport. Got myself a ticket, which was not easy, had to get an agent who could then go and get the ticket. Now that the agent was off to get My Ticket, I had time to do the rest, freshen up, loo, bath etc. Finding a loo was the next challenge, finding one large enough to park my bag and take a bath was bigger challenge, finding one that was clean was impossible.
Did what I had to do, did a few rounds of the shopping / office complexes nearby and located a toilet large enough to park my bags and take a shower. Got hold of a guy to get it cleaned, once done I sent him off to get the State Transport Bus Ticket. He is a local to that area and will not have to face harassment from the agents as well. Plus he gets to make a harmless extra buck. In one hours time I was all set with a ticket, bathed, shaved to hit the road. This was summer so a RayBan was mandatory. Once in the bus I parked myself firmly on a central driver side seat next to a window and just tried to merge with the people around. Although no one understood a word that I could speak (Hindi, Bengali and Little Gujarati) still they tried and so did I. Found a lot of fellows that were making the Journey all the way. The present NH7 (Hosur to Krishnagiri) was getting constructed in those days and the ride was bumpy with one diversion after the other. State transport buses stop generously and for longer duration and getting a Tea every now and then with Wada Sambar was great. Starting at 8 AM, the bus took a staggering 12 hours to reach Pondicherry. The route map is on the attached image.
The road from Bangalore to Krishnagiri
Round Two
This was a year after that. And this time I took the most non-interactive option of Road Travel from Bangalore. I got into a Volvo from Sharma Travels and I travelled cocooned in Air Conditioned Luxury till Pondicherry without even realizing when or where the Bus made a stop. This was a very boring ride from a Road Trip point of view. From comfort point of view it was great. Given the circumstances, don’t remember much apart from getting into the bus and getting off the bus early next morning. But who wants to travel this way!
The main difference from Round One was, people knew how to communicate with me, but somehow no one (including me) made any effort.
From Bangalore, the tricky turn off to Pondicherry on NH66 is after Krishnagiri
While coming back, there is a confusing left at Tandivanam. Best is to ask for Tandivanam and be prepared.
Round Three (Holi, 2008)
What I did not mention in the first two rounds is that in the first one I was going to meet my Girlfriend, in the second I was going to meet her parents. In the third one, we were married and were going to the Bank on a Saturday. On reaching the bank we realized that it was a holiday and well, it was shut. I work from home and have little or no clue about public holidays, most of my clients work from home as well.
While coming back, there is a confusing left at Tandivanam. Best is to ask for Tandivanam and be prepared. So here we were, a perfect saturday morning, around 10 AM and the only thing we had planned for was not possible. Got back home and decided to head for Pondicherry. Grabbed the Map Book, and the Copy of 52 Weekend Getaways and headed off after filling the tank. Bang, and 11 30 AM we were crossing Silk Board Junction and were on a crowded Hosur Road. Once you cross Attibeli on this road, things ease out a lot, and speeds become a lot faster. There are two reasons for this, One: it was a holiday and there were very few vehicles on the road. Two: The going is mostly downhill and the car just glides on. Before we knew it, we were at the Toll Gate and asking for directions. The chap at the collection booth was very helpful, somehow they all are, he clearly said go over the first Flyover and under the second. Turn left and immediately take the First Right. Did exactly that and was on the Krishnagiri Chennai road. Although the road looked very inviting, we had to take a right almost immediately onto NH66.
A tanker in front of us. I somehow have a talent to stop right behind them at toll gates.
Leaving the toll gate behind
NH66
NH66 is not one of those swanky Golden Quadrilateral roads. Its just a simple basic National Highway. It does not have a lane divider, does not have the white markings at most places, and has very little population around it as well. What it is though is a gem of the track to drive on. The road was perfect for an unladen heavy hatch doing 3 digit speeds. Also for the fact that there was hardly any traffic from either direction on the road. At around 2 PM, Tiruvannamali came up, we stopped at the first available road side shop and sampled Fish Curry and Rice. All charged and slightly heavy, we headed on and reached Pondicherry at around 4 30 PM.
On NH66. Gives an idea of the road.
Pondicherry
After battling the minor city traffic we headed off to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, parked the vehicle nearby and continued on foot. Thats the best way to roam about within Pondicherry. If you have to go a little outside, you can always hire a Kinetic or a Scooty of take your own vehicle. After a darshan at the Ashram, we headed to the beach, had some Gol Guppas, some Chat, and did all the Beach Things that we don’t get to do in Bangalore. At 7 30 we called it a day and started heading back.
Looking for a parking spot in Pondicherry
Pondicherry has a lot of Good (bordering on very good) places to stay near the Beach road. These are mostly 3 – 4 Floors of small hotels with ample amount of amenities to let you live and enjoy the city. Not very expensive either. You can also opt for staying at the Ashram Guest house, but that would surely need advance booking and known contacts within the Ashram.
Heading Back
We had our doubts weather we will find our way back in the dark or not. Weather we will be tired to drive back and may have to stay over and head off only the next day. We had many questions. Decided that after a few Kilometers we will have the answer anyway. heading back we were not alone. There was a Hyundai Accent before us who clearly was local (number plate) and I decided to follow him happily shielded from the task of navigating hard. There was a problem though, the fellow in the Accent would brake at almost any light that he saw on the horizon and so did we. After about 50 times of such false alarm, I decided to get ahead and make my own track. Overtaking the Accent was a breeze, just went behind him (not too close as he could brake again) and blinked. As expected, he did not move out of the way but braked, I took this opportunity to pass him from the Right and say goodbye. The next 70 Km was calm. It was us, the Music from the iPod playing though an irritating FM transmitter, still it was good. And there was moonlight, from a Full Moon. The drive was getting better but we were loosing time trying to travel on unknown roads. Though we were faster than when sitting behind the Accent, we were not as fast as we had hoped to be.
A blink on the rear view gave me the shudders. Have I been traveling so slow that the Accent actually caught up with us?
Nope, this was a Maroon Innova with a Yellow Number Plate. Yesss!!! This was our answer to make up on lost time. I let the Innova pass and quietly tucked in behind him. He was fast and doing healthy 100 + speeds on roads that were obviously well known to him. We dod not follow too close, but maintained enough distance to just have his tail lamps visible to us. A lot of fast Mile Crunching went on and we were back in Tiruvannamali, this time for Dinner.
After having a basic dinner and tea, we were back on the road. The Innova was no where to be found, but we kept up the momentum never the less. The sparsely populated roads were now deserted and absolutely dark. Nature paid us a visit soon after. To my horror the car was filled with Large Ants near the driver area and we had to get them cleaned out. We stopped and soon were questioned by Police Patrol. They asked us not to stop on the deserted section and only stop after reaching Krishnagiri, which was a few Kilometers away. We cleaned up good at Krishnagiri and topped up Tea and Coffee, and headed straight out.
Barring minimal truck traffic, the road was empty till about Attibeli where a lot of Large Trucks carrying windmill components were blocking most of the road. This delayed us a bit but not much. At around 1245 we were at our doorstep.