First road trip Friday afternoon last weekend. Had wound up work early, and was getting the urge to take out the Bison (decided to call her that, since my trip was full of Gaurs... I do know that India doesn’t have bisons, but I somehow didn’t want to call her Bos Gaurus). Asked my wife whether she could join for a spur-of-the-moment trip, but she declined because she had some office work on Saturday. So wife and daughter stayed home.
Finished calls by 4:45, and packed the bags in 15 min. Changed the lens on my camera, put camera charger and the other lens inside, had some black coffee and said goodbye. Wasted 5 minutes cleaning my boots and the driver’s mat after I stepped on some fruit that had fallen from the tree beside our house (the whole road was full of fallen, ripe fruit – and I hadn’t bothered to watch my step). This is why I am glad that I had opted for rubber mats. Besides, during the trip, at least 10 times I had to get on the vehicle after walking on muddy/wet surfaces.
5:15 PM – filled diesel, withdrew money. The 4-wheeled started its journey to meet its 4-legged brethren.
I usually go to Masinagudi, but that forest checkpost closes at 8 PM, so this time I decided to stay at Bandipur. From where I stay, I can take a short cut to NICE Road. Reached NICE Road in 20 min, and then started cruising. Was trying hard to vary RPMs and not take her over 2500, but once or twice I touched 2700-2800. She is a great cruiser, as I keep mentioning. Reached Mysore Road quickly, and then it was the usual drive. I hate overtaking from the left, but there is no other option on Mysore Road if you want to pass slow mobbing buses and trucks. I haven’t see this north of Bangalore e.g. on the Pune Highway, and have found North Indian highways more disciplined in terms of slower traffic (long distance trucks and buses) travelling on the left lane. Anyway, this time more big vehicles were giving way to me – one advantage of driving the Fortuner.
It soon started raining – and raining heavily in spurts. The Bison handled the situation much better than my SX4 – the vehicle felt sure on wet roads decent speeds. I usually reach the Gundlepet Cafe Coffee Day in 3.5 hours from my house, but this time it took more time because of my self-imposed speed limit, and the rain. I was surprised to see a number of wineshops open after Mysore. I stopped at a pretty shady looking one to stock-up for the nights. The loitering and weaving blokes in front of the shop – a few kms before Nanjangud –were about surprised to see a Fortuner stop in front, and a single guy get down. It was pretty dark, and I got a few funny looks. Anyway, after some shoulder pushing, I got my stuff and drove off.
I always perk up after I cross Nanjandud. The road is great, and the scenery is beautiful. This time, it was pouring, and there were very few vehicles. Empty dark road, the Bison on high beam, thunder and lightning every few seconds, wiper on high speed, hundreds of frogs hopping across the road (due to rain) – makes one come alive. I reached Bandipur around 9. I would have loved to take a drive inside if I had reached earlier, but they don’t allow traffic inside the forest after 9. On the way, I had decided to stay at Jungle Lodges, mainly for the bundled safaris. Usually weekends are fully booked, but I walked in, was lucky to find vacancy, and managed to waive of the single occupancy charge after negotiating with the manager (the room would have gone empty otherwise).
So this is what I see after entering the room – covering one entire wall:
Last edited by Amartya : 10th October 2010 at 02:43.
Reason: Corrected some minor typos.
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