An all pilgrimage travelogue.

[rohittunga]

Since my BE exams were over and had 1 month of time to kill before joining a software company, my mom suddenly wanted me to visit all the temples that she could recollect and get their blessings before joining work.

I was just given the list of temples and now had to complete the puzzle so that we can visit all the places in the best possible manner.
So here is the overall route plan
Bangalore-Madurai-Tiruchuli-Devipattinam-Rameshwaram-Nagapattinam-Pondicherry-Tiruvannamalai-Bangalore.

So here is the list of all temples that I have covered in 2 days

Day 1:
1) Meenakshi temple, Madurai
2) Ramana Mandira, Madurai
3) Sundara Mandira, Tiruchuli
4) Nava Pasha Temple,Devipattinam
5) Rameshwaram

Day 2:
1) Rameshwaram (temples which we didn't visit on Day 1)
2) Nagapattinam (2 temples there)
3) Auroville
4) Ramanashram, Tiruvannamalai
5) Arunachala temple, Tiruvannamalai.

Vital Stats:
Number of days : 2
Number of passengers : 5
Total km covered : 1566 km
Overall FE : 25.6 kmpl
Best FE : 31.7 kmpl

All these stats are just MID information.

Brief Description of travelogue:

DAY 1:

We made it a point to leave bangalore at 3:00 am sharp (i.e be at silk board at 3:00 am). But its easier said than done.Eventually left our homes at 3:15 am, which isn't bad for 3 time consuming ladies

We wanted to drive all the way till Madurai and then have breakfast. Followed the excellent NH7 and pretty soon Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem were passed. Tamil Nadu might collect more toll money from you than Karnataka but in return you'll get extremely well paved 4-lane highways. All nifty little towns nicely by-passed.

Some pics of the magnificent NH7






The result of such excellent roads. That was how much the fuel gauge moved at Madurai.


Sharp 9:30 am we entered Madurai town. Took almost 1hr to reach the temple. Had breakfast and then went for darshan of the Meenakshi temple. Within the courtyard of the temple was another temple called Ramana Mandira.
Some snaps of the temples in Madurai.

[rohittunga]

Some pictures of temple at madurai

















At 12:15pm we decided to move out of Madurai and go to our next destination which was Tiruchuli. I was expecting the road to be a 2 lane road but I was wrong. For 50% of the journey was done on a 4-lane road that goes all the way to Tuticorin. By 1:30 pm we were at this quaint little town called Tiruchuli. Had darshan and lunch there.

Pics









At 2:30 pm we left this place and headed to Devipattinam which is on the east coast and was 150 km away. This time it was a simple 2-lane road but was very smooth indeed. After devipattinam we went all the way to Rameshwaram, stopping only at the beautiful Pambam bridge.











The breathtaking Pamban Bridge. Shimmering in all its beauty.









Dusty but still very pretty !

[ampere]

Wow! What FE figures are they! Fantastic. How did the beast hold?
And that is one amazing number of temples you covered in two days!

How was the overall comfort in the car for the entire journey?

[airguitar]

Wow, that's stupendous! It's never easy to drive at crushing speeds over that distance. I did Kanchipuram and back ( about 590 kms ) recently in 8.5 hours of total drive time and couldn't wake up the next day..

[B.R.S.Rao]

Amazing about FE figures! You must be a great & sensible driver.
Good luck and regards.

[rohittunga]

Cont...


We were in Rameshwaram by 4:30 pm which was much earlier than anticipated. So we decided to visit all other near by temples before visiting the main temple.
The first was Kodandaramar temple. The drive upto the temple is absolutely stunning. Just a small piece of road and water surrounding both sides. Its a must visit place according to me

Next we wanted to go to Dhanushkoti, but couldn't because there weren't too many people for the maxicabs to drive there. Instead we just spent time at the parking lot and played in the bay of bengal.
The route towards Dhanushkoti is arrow straight. The road surface is brilliant everywhere. After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the pristine beaches, we headed back to our rooms and called it a day.








I love this picture






Just look at the sizes of the mobile towers against the doordarshan tower





Day 2 :

We woke up at 4 am so that we could take bath from the 22 wells inside the main temple. Fortunately our hotel was just 200 meters from temple.By 7:00 am we bid goodbye to Rameshwaram and headed to Nagapattinam

Final pictures of the Pamban bridge. This time during sunrise.





We were now on the ECR. This was the first time I had been to these places. The one thing in common everywhere was horrible sticky weather (41 deg at nagapattinam) and mind blowing roads and the ECR was no different. The distance to Nagapattinam was 210 km and was covered in just 4 hrs.

It was here that I achieved my best FE thus far. Driving at a steady 70 kmph and 90 km later, I was able to achieve 31.7kmpl without AC of course. Later it became too hot and we did switch on the AC. Even so I was easily getting more than 25 kmpl.

After visiting the temples at Nagapattinam we finally were heading to Pondicherry. We had to pass through Karaikal which I didn't know that it belonged to Pondicherry. No wonder there were so many liquor shops at the border.

We reached Pondicherry by 4:30 pm. To be honest Pondicherry came out to be a disappointment. May be I was expecting too much from it or too tired. Whatever the reason might be we spent 1 hr on the sea side and deicided to move to Tiruvannamalai.







The route from Pondicherry to Tiruvannamalai was brilliant as usual. They have widened the road to a 4-lane upto Tindivanam beyond which its a 2-lane road. Was in tiruvannamalai by 7:30 and by 8:30 was driving towards the final destination Bengaluru.



But, the road became worse as we approached Krishnagiri. A few km from Krishnagiri, the road resemebled Shiradi ghat. It was that bad. You know towards the end of a journey you tend to become a little careless or rash while tackling those huge potholes. Thats exactly what I did as I scraped the belly of the linea at a crazy railway crossing. That thing is badly designed.
I wasn't even slowing down for potholes now. Fortunately just when I was about to lose my temper, I could see reflectors. And reflectors only mean 1 thing , you are back on the golden quadrilateral. Such a huge relief.

Finally made it Bangalore at 1 in the morning. It was an extremely satisfying trip. About the car, what can I say, even after driving like a kerala bus driver not even a single squeak or rattle. All the car needed was a thorough wash and it was as good as new. The ride quality is just exemplary. Its everything you want in a car. The best all rounder under 10 lakhs.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by B.R.S.Rao

Amazing about FE figures! You must be a great & sensible driver.
Good luck and regards.

Dear Sir, My elder brother has L. Emotion and in the first few thousand kms he was getting 7 to 8 kms/ltrs in city with AC . later they did some jugglary at A.S.S. and it improved to 10 kms/ltr . Now in the city he gets around 14 kms/ltr,after 12000 kms.
And my Alto K 10 is still 11 kms/ltr in city with normal traffic and without AC.
Actually I am struck with this car ,since the A.S.S. are also not understanding how is it possible and how can it be modified or corrected to bring it to at least 15 kms/ltr.Till today it has done 2300kms. Any comments plsss.?

[figo_united]

Wow, those are amazing FE figures!
Thats a lot of places you have covered in 2 days!
Driving on this route is so much fun, reminds me of our trip (4 Friends - 3 States - 2 Bikes - 1 Awesome Trip), although it was not meant to be a piligrimage
btw, good luck with your career , hope you got all the blessings

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Wow, that's stupendous! It's never easy to drive at crushing speeds over that distance. I did Kanchipuram and back ( about 590 kms ) recently in 8.5 hours of total drive time and couldn't wake up the next day..

Driving at high speeds for a long time is very stressful for driver as well as the passengers. However driving at a sedate speed say 80kmph, its not that bad. The only issue here is boredom.

Originally Posted by IQBAL VEERJI

Dear Sir, My elder brother has L. Emotion and in the first few thousand kms he was getting 7 to 8 kms/ltrs in city with AC . later they did some jugglary at A.S.S. and it improved to 10 kms/ltr . Now in the city he gets around 14 kms/ltr,after 12000 kms.
And my Alto K 10 is still 11 kms/ltr in city with normal traffic and without AC.
Actually I am struck with this car ,since the A.S.S. are also not understanding how is it possible and how can it be modified or corrected to bring it to at least 15 kms/ltr.Till today it has done 2300kms. Any comments plsss.?

Now I don't know whether your Linea is a petrol or a diesel. But one thing is that these modern diesel engines are amazingly fuel efficient. Once you settle down to a cruise, they give incredible mileage. Assuming your car is a diesel, getting 7-8 kmpl even in a new car means there is something gravely wrong with the car or its been driven in 1st gear only. Its just not possible to get that fuel consumption.

You can't really compare petrol and diesel with respect to fuel efficiency. There was an article in autocar magazine where they take a ford fiesta diesel and petrol. The best they managed with the diesel was 30+ kmpl and the best they managed in petrol was 20+ kmpl. Keep in mind the test was conducted at a test track.

Originally Posted by B.R.S.Rao

Amazing about FE figures! You must be a great & sensible driver.
Good luck and regards.

Mr Rao, one tends to become a sensible and sedate driver while traveling especially with family

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Thats exactly what I did as I scraped the belly of the linea at a crazy railway crossing. That thing is badly designed.

That railway crossing is at Samalpatti and I do agree that its a crazy one. I barely managed my Fusion and that too with 198mm of clearance!

Its everything you want in a car. The best all rounder under 10 lakhs.

Truly agree. And that is why I am asking those questions on your ownership thread as I would be looking out soon!

[TheARUN]

Excellent travelogue.

Amazing doing so many kilometers in 48 hours, maybe it was the 'high' of exams being over that kept you going.

What about Palani, Sri Rangam and The Big Temple in Thanjavur?

[rohittunga]

By the end of the trip I was so fed up with temples that I warned them that if another temple is visited ,i'll ditch them there and drive home alone
So hopefully i'll be off temple limits for some time to come.