[Gannu_1]

First things first - the car turned one year old yesterday. How time flies! It was on this day last year, I drove her home and it has been an amazing journey thereafter. We celebrated her first birthday by giving her a thorough wash and wipe followed by a small puja in the morn before I drove her to work.



I tied the knot last month and instead of going home by flight, I chose to drive down in the GT. I don’t regret that decision, not even after spending close to 4k for tolls, over 11k for fuel and then some for the shelter, food and misc. expenses. It was an expensive affair but at the end of it, it was all worth it. I just loved all the trips we undertook. And with a partner who loves traveling, the joy doubles!

So when I first put up this idea to my parents over the phone, I recall the conversation went something like this:

Me: I am planning to drive down to Palakkad from Surat for the wedding trip. It might take a couple of days or 3 at the most.

Mom: Are you crazy? What if the car gets stranded in the middle of nowhere? Where will you stay? What if you fall sleepy while driving? How will your wife accompany you on your way back? Do you think her parents will allow that? Am never letting you do that!

(Mothers will always be mothers! Always concerned about their children no matter how old we grow up. Well, I respect that but at times I’ve felt it goes overboard!)

Me: *silence*

Dad: Are you sure about this?

Me: Yes daddy. I’ve been thinking of a road trip like this for a long time. I won’t get a better opportunity in a long time.

Dad: OK. Do you want me to send Mahesh along?

(Mahesh is our trusty old family chauffeur who has been with us for the last 2 decades. He has a proven track record right from a rickshaw (which he uses today to commute school children) to a 407 which he used to transport goods for his employer.)

Me: I never thought of that! That would be awesome!

Dad: Alright I’ll speak to him. You’ll have to book his train tickets.

(Fathers are awesome!)

And thus, we drove down.

And as far as the wedding trip goes, we concluded the trip last Friday. Let me just say, the trip was darn awesome - absolutely no hiccups anywhere. The car didn’t throw any tantrums, none of us fell sick during the course of our trips, we did not hit any blockades anywhere (save for a hartal at Idukki district which made us wait for 15 minutes), all in all we had a fantastic and a memorable trip.

Let me share some snaps, information and tidbits - where we drove to, the place, the events, people around etc. The drive from Surat to Palakkad has been already covered in the last page (post #329, previous page) so I’ll skip those parts but do have a look in case you missed it. We had an awesome drive covering 850+ km a day, starting the drive early morn. For the rest of the experience last month, read on.

September 9, Tuesday - Started from Surat at 3:30 AM (gotta love early morning drives!), paused for lunch at Satara around 12 PM and reached Hubli around 6 PM.

Next stop - Palakkad.

September 10, Wednesday - Started from Hubli at 5:15 AM, paused for lunch at Salem outskirts around 2:30 PM and reached Palakkad around 7:30 PM. Parents were already standing outside the house to receive me and I was overjoyed to meet them after a long time.

September 11, Thursday - Washed the car and got the upholstery changed. I was put under under house arrest and wasn’t allowed to wander outside. Palakkad doesn’t have much to offer anyway compared to Thrissur and Cochin so that’s there. Fortunately, Sons of Anarchy’s final season (S7) had begun airing and I caught up with the season premiere.

September 12, Friday - Planned to drive to Madurai to pick up my sister and her family but we sent the Dzire instead along with the driver. I wasn’t too confident on sending my car what with her super naughty children going all crazy once they step inside the car! The house arrest continued.

September 13, Saturday - Had to do a few errands with dad. Arrangements were made for the stage/home/car décor, reception catering and finalizing the menu etc.

September 14, Sunday - The last 24 hours I shall spend as a bachelor. My best friend and ex-roomie Moorthy arrived at Palakkad. Many relatives had come to see the groom and the setup (as a part of the traditional wedding culture here). Got the car pressure washed from a service station and dropped her at an FNG for some detailing.

The décor guy arrived later that night to dress the car up for the occasion.

Next stop - Malappuram.

September 15, Monday - The wedding day and also happens to be Janmashtami! I woke up at 5 AM that day, was a bit tensed and kept wandering around the home greeting relatives and guestsand guiding the caterers. As per our Hindu traditions, we give the dakshina to the elderlies at home and get their blessings.

In the meantime, the car was parked outside our home all dressed up and ready for the occasion:





Curious eyes found the GJ number plate of the car a bit amusing and some of them were a bit surprised to know we drove all the way to Palakkad from here.

The wedding was at Malappuram so we started from Palakkad around 8 AM taking the Cherpulassery route (Palakkad - Mundur - Kongad - Kadampazhipuram - Cherpulassery - Thootha - Angadipuram - Malappuram) and reached the mandap around 10:30 AM. In the meantime, the bride had arrived at the mandap in her brother’s immaculately kept Tuscan Wine Punto:



The Punto is his daily driver and has clocked 35k in less than 12 months *lump in the throat*:



A set of tires and brake pads changed, two scheduled services completed, and he loves his ride as much as I do! He is an amazing driver. Anyways, moving on, the wedding was concluded around 2 PM and the couple drove back to Palakkad immediately after lunch. We reached Palakkad around 4 PM. There were some traditional rituals yet to be completed before calling it a day.

September 16, Tuesday - The wedding reception day! Hosted by the groom’s side, this was scheduled to be held at Palakkad later in the evening. We went to a Siva temple located nearby and offered prayers. The bouquet attached at the bonnet showed signs of drying up due to the heat of the bonnet. So the older bouquet was replaced with a fresh one in the evening.

At the reception hall:



The reception concluded that night and we had arranged a small party at our home for my close friends.

September 17, Wednesday - Now begins all the traveling and roaming around part!

As per Kerala’s Hindu traditions, after the marriage, the couple is expected to visit our respective ancestral temples, our ancestral homes, close relatives’ homes, have a meal or two and maybe stay there overnight. There is a problem however. If we were to announce our arrival beforehand, they would plan for a huge meal with several dozen dishes and expect us to gorge everything! But we didn’t do that. We chose to do a surprise visit instead, had light meals with the usual tea and snacks and left. However, we weren’t lucky everywhere.

At Mangottukavu (Athipotta, Alathur dist.), our ancestral temple:



At my father’s ancestral home (please excuse the pink shade!):



Got to love the location! Located at a small hillock, the home is surrounded by rubber and pepper plantations. They also have a small livestock shed in the house which dates back to my great grandpa’s era. This is the lone building here which hasn’t been demolished and reconstructed. The rest were constructed from scratch.

Way to the home:



There is no proper road that leads to the home still since the local panchayat is not willing to build a road due to the only house in the locality there.

Mrs. Moo gives company to the car while she was parked outside another home:



After visiting a bunch of places that day, we retired back to our home later that evening.

Next stop - Malappuram.

September 18, Thursday -We are mostly done with visiting the groom's side relatives. Now comes the bride's side which is Malappuram and the adjoining areas. We had a quick breakfast, set the location on the GPS of my phone and departed Palakkad. We reached Malappuram around 11 AM, went to the local Panchayat office to complete the marriage certificate related formalities and visited some relatives' places nearby.

Next stop - Madurai (via Palakkad).

September 19, Friday - We departed from Malappuram after having breakfast to our Palakkad residence, had a quick lunch, packed some clothes and left for Madurai. We usually prefer the Pollachi - Udumalpet - Oddanchatram - Dindigul route when we head to Madurai.

We crossed the windmills en route:



And went around the Palani temple (in the background of the snap below):



We reached Madurai around 7 PM, had a sumptuous dinner and took rest.

September 20, Saturday - We visited the Meenakshi Amman Kovil in the morn, had a good darshan and left for Palakkad after lunch. We reached Palakkad around 8 PM and were really tired to do any cooking so dined from Hotel Kapilavasthu, reached home, packed our clothes for the big trip starting the next day and crashed.

Next stop - Alleppey.

September 21, Sunday – Now begins our mini honeymoon trip (if you could say so!). Since it was just the two of us, we had minimal luggage - a backpack and a small cabin trolley. Stowed them in the boot, had a quick breakfast and we departed for Alleppeya.k.a The Venice of the East. The roads were bad until Alathur ridden with potholes and diversions but were better after that. All the speedcams were glaringly visible mounted on poles in the median so we limited the speeds to under 80 kmph. We reached Alleppey around 10:45 AM.

We had a houseboat booked from 12 PM to 9 AM and had to check-in around 11 AM. Our acquaintance was Mr. Johni Thomas and we rendezvoused with him as planned, parked the car inside a compound adjacent to the boat jetty and boarded the boat. The belongings were kept in our bedroom, we had our welcome drink and sat in the boat’s open deck. The boat started from the jetty around 12 PM and thus, the journey began.

The brilliance of the Vembanad and Punnamada backwaters can be seen here:













And this is how the boat is fueled mid-way:



Since fishing nets are deployed in the evening, houseboats cannot sail in the backwaters and have to be berthed along a coast. We had our houseboat berthed near a small island overlooking paddy fields and caught an amazing glimpse of the sunrise and sunset.

Sunset:



We had the dinner in the boat cooked by the chef in a small galley located at the AFT of the boat. Menu – rice, fish curry, fish fry, dal, chapattis, traditional chicken curry, curd and rasam.

Next stop - Cochin (after disembarking the boat).

[Contd. in the next post; running out of the 30 image upload limit]

[Gannu_1]

September 22, Monday – I woke up around 6:30 AM and caught a glimpse of the beautiful sunrise:





The boat resumed the trip around 8 AM and we reached the jetty at 9 AM. Got to the car and we drove back to Cochin since my wife had to give an online test. We reached Cochin around 11 AM, had our lunch at a small restaurant located next to the High Court (Food Court; serves heavenly spring rolls and beef curry!) and I dropped my wife at the test center. Half an hour later, BHPian naveen.raju arrived at the Marine Drive and we drove to Abad Plaza’s coffee shop located at the MG Road. We sat there and chatted for a while over a cup of coffee. After the test was done with, we did some shopping, had dinner at a friend’s place and stayed at Vytilla.

Next stop - Thekkadi.

September 23,Tuesday - We woke up at 5 AM and started for Thekkadi. Route chosen - Thrippunithura - Kolenchery - Muvatupuzha - Karimannoor - Idukki - Kattapana - Kumily - Thekkady. The roads were in good condition contrary to what I had expected and had plenty of sharp bends and turns. We loved the drive since we did it very sedately taking ample breaks in between. Besides, this was the first time I was taking the car along these roads so we were being extra careful.



We reached Thekkady by noon and checked into our cottage at the Club Mahindra resorts.







The resort was located close to the Periyar Tiger Reserve and we spent the evening wandering inside the national park but it started pouring all of a sudden so we walked back.



We had a buffet dinner in the evening and crashed.

Next stop - Munnar.

September 24, Wednesday - Woke up late around 7 AM, had the buffet breakfast and left for Munnar around 8:30 AM. There’s only one route to Munnar from Thekkady which is pretty much straightforward. We reached Munnar around noon, checked into the Club Mahindra resort which was located atop a small hillock.



The view from our room's balcony was jaw dropping:



After lunch, it started pouring heavily and the clouds reduced the visibility badly so we didn't wander out. We spent the rest of the day inside our room and thought of venturing out the next day.

September 25, Thursday - Woke up around 7 AM, had breakfast and we set out in a local cab since the driver had a better idea about the places here. Munnar's vistas were just amazing and we wish we had more time at our disposal.







We bought some souvenirs for our close friends and relatives, some green tea which was manufactured by the Kanan Devan factory here, some home-made chocolates and left for the room. Packed our bags, had dinner and crashed. We had a long drive ahead of us tomorrow.

Next stop - Calicut.

September 26, Friday - We woke up around 5 AM and found a small piece of paper slipped into our room through the door. It read, "Local political parties have called for a 24 hour hartal in Idukki district in support of the hunger strike observed by Mr. X due to the Mullaperiyar Issue verdict. Travelers are advised to plan their trips suitably." Now this caught us out of the blue! But we had to leave anyhow so we checked out and left Munnar around 6 AM. Dawn was slowly setting in.

The foggy mornings in Munnar:





At Neriamangalam, we met a block and the local parties had stopped the vehicles due to the protest. We waited for 15 minutes and were let through when the vehicles started piling up. Calicut was a long drive from Munnar and we took the route via Thrissur - Kechery. We reached there around 3:30 PM.

Our relatives took us to the beach and then it was dinner time! If you are a non-vegetarian, there are 2 restaurants in Calicut that shouldn't be missed - Paragon and Sagar. We chose to go to Paragon and had a nice sumptuous dinner from there.



Reached home and took rest. We were too tired after an 8h+ long drive.

Next stop - Malappuram.

September 27, Saturday - We drove to Malappuram once again to complete the marriage certificate related formalities, got the certificate from the local Panchayat office, wandered around, had some shawarmas for dinner, came home and crashed.

Next stop - Palakkad.

September 28, Sunday - We started from Malappuram around 10 AM, reached Palakkad for lunch, packed some clothes, put the old clothes for laundry, had a 1 hour nap and we started.

Next stop - Guruvayur.

We reached Guruvayur around 5:30 PM, checked into the bank's holiday home, changed our clothes and left for the temple. We had a good darshan, took the prasad from the counter, had a good dinner and slept.

September 29, Monday - Having driven all the way here, I wanted to get a puja done for the car. So woke up at 5:30 AM and washed the car using a bucket and some rag clothes (how I wish I had some microfiber towels inside the car!), took a quick shower and we left for the temple.

The puja being done:



After the puja was done, we had breakfast and left for my mother's ancestral home - Peringottukurissi where my grandmother resides and was eagerly waiting for us. We reached there for lunch, had a very traditional meal, took rest for a while and left for our home.

Mother's ancestral home (dad is behind the wheel):



We reached Palakkad in the evening. One last day remains before we depart for Surat.

September 30, Tuesday - We started packing our belongings and there was so much luggage. The boot was filled to the brim. We had a quiet dinner at home that day and went to sleep.

Next stop - Tumkur.

October 1, Wednesday - Departure day!

With a very heavy heart and tears in my eyes, I bid bye to my parents and we were about to set out. But something wasn't right. We couldn't find the car's keyfob!We frantically began searching the entire house right from the laundry bucket to the garbage bins to the cupboards, table drawers and kitchen racks but we couldn't trace it. It was as if the car didn't want to leave Palakkad! And then it struck me - I was spreading a turkey towel in the rear seatback of the car after folding it that morning. Could the key have fallen there when the seatback was folded? I folded the seat and bingo! The keyfob was hiding right there. And thus, we left Palakkad for Tumkur.

Spotted this BHPian at Chalageri toll booth:



We reached Tumkur by sundown and checked into the hotel.

Next stop - Pune.

October 2, Thursday - We left Tumkur at 7 AM.

Spotted this truck with a heart-touching message (no, not the dipper at night one; the one below that) painted on the rear:



And this monster which sped past us at the outskirts of Pune:



We reached Pune by 7:30 PM and checked into our friend’s apartment at Bavdhan.

Final stop - Surat.

October 3, Friday - We left Pune at 7:30 AM and reached Surat at 2:30 PM.

At the end of the trip, 5657 km was covered in under 25 days and the odo stands at 19686 km.



This detergent box was a mini toolkit which was assembled before we started the trip and was always present in the boot of the car:



The tools that were stuffed into this detergent box:



Another DIY coming up - Morimoto D2S HID projectors. My good friend Sreejith who had been to Michigan, US as a part of his 20-day MBA program, happily carried the Morimoto projector kit with him when he returned and handed it over to me when we met. A much wanted upgrade to the stock headlamps and we intend to take up this DIY shortly. My CC was charged Rs. 22,232 for the kit.

The Morimoto D2S kit contents:



Before I conclude, my heartfelt thanks to:

1. HVK Sir - for all the guidance you gave us during the trips and for insta-booking the hotel at Tumkur. Thank you so much Sir.

2. supremeBaleno - for helping us with the contact details for the Alleppey houseboat bookings. Johni uncle was a thorough gentleman - very kind, honest and helpful.

3. naveen.raju - for the mini meet at Cochin. It was nice meeting you buddy. We shall meet when I come to Cochin next time with the rest of the Cochin members and perhaps drive to some place nearby.

4. ampere - for the guidance and pointers for our Surat-Palakkad trip. They were immensely helpful. You rock!

5. My car - for not breaking down during the course of our trips, for not throwing any tantrums, for happily chugging along wherever we went and for the amazing one year that you have spent with me. Loads and loads of love!

6. My parents - for the love, care and support shown by you guys and for allowing me to embark on this trip. One more permission remains to be taken (for the Leh trip next year). All in due time I guess!

7. The Almighty.

That would be all guys. Couple of long posts but I hope you liked the snaps if nothing. Thank you!

[JoseVijay]

Congratulations and wish you the best in your married life. That's a lot of travel you have done while you were down south. You are lucky that you have a partner you loves to travel. I am sure that this trip has instilled hope and confidence in your parent's mind about you, driving such long distances.

[anshurao]

Congratulations, wishing you all the very best. As always, excellent writeup and waiting for you next DIY project.

[Rajeevraj]

Congrats Gannu on your marriage and also on the awesome trip with the GT. Wish you all the best.

[naveen.raju]

Congrats Ganesh and nice meeting you. So made full use of your time in Kerala I hope.

BTW, eagerly waiting for the most awaited DIY. Keep the thread updated!

[dean5545]

With 2 trips done to the south one in May(business trip) and in August(cousin's marriage) can somewhat relate to you!
The NH4 is such a boon. Absolutely fantastic highways.
But what's an issue is the cost of diesel,during my May trip the cost was 60-61 while the August trip diesel costed anyway between 64-66. If it keeps on increasing it will be a difficult task to convince dad then.
Anyways enjoy!
May you lead a happy married life.

[GTO]

Kerala drive posts moved out to a new thread in the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Gannu. Wish the two of you a blissful life together.

Originally Posted by anshurao

waiting for your next DIY project.

Here Gannu gets married...and we're waiting for his next Polo project.

[anshurao]

Originally Posted by GTO

Kerala drive posts moved out to a new thread in the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Gannu. Wish the two of you a blissful life together.



Here Gannu gets married...and we're waiting for his next Polo project.

Did I say polo??
jokes apart, my bad. All the very best Gannu

[saket77]

Congratulations to the newly married couple! And what a way to start! With a road trip!
My best wishes to you two and hope that you three will add thousands of wonderful miles together!

Regards,
Saket

[ampere]

Congrats Gannu. Never realised that trip was last "bachelor's trip"

But what a nice way to welcome some one into your life. A looong road trip! Hope the better half has already got acclimatised to the passenger sear for those long hours on the road!

All the best for a happy married life. And for even more road trips !

[kalpeshc]

Awesome trip report Gannu. And congratulations once again!

Your Polo is going to look awesome after the projector DIY.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Congratz Gannu! Wish you guys a Happy married life and lots of road trips together! Nice trip and write up. Good to see you din't miss Paragon when you visited Calicut. A must for me too every time I land back in Calicut.

Saw many posts above regarding your headlamp DIY. So just curious, you got the headlamps and stuff already with you? Boy, you must be caught between the excitement of having a new life partner and that of a major to-be-done DIY(I guess only DIYers would appreciate the latter )!! LOL Just kidding dude. Have fun!

[Vitalstatistiks]

What a beautiful read first thing in the morning. Lovely pictures. Loved the immaculately maintained ancestral homes, beautiful country side. Kerala is indeed God's own country, envy you

Have a great married life brother.

[khoj]

Hey Gannu_1, congratulations to your better half & yourself.
Wishing you both a blissful married life & great drives in the times ahead.