First Trip to Pondi- Contee Vs Scorpios hi all, it was my first trip in my Contee (Diesel'96) to Pondichery..
finished exams at 5pm on 23rd, came home at 6pm, packed clothes and
left home at 6:30pm..had to pick 3 friends on the way as per plans
and reached Bommanahalli at 10:30pm..Bangalore's traffic is jus terific
you know..i had 1 friend as a substitute for driving as this was my first
trip and i dint want to strain myself driving to and fro..it was clear i would
drive thru the nite and the day driving was for my friend..Stopped a little
further after Hosur for fuel as fuel is lil cheaper in Tamilnadu(28.46 or so)
than in Karnataka(30.80) and even more cheaper in Pondichery(26.09)
next stop was for dinner at Krishnagiri at 12am and no more
stopovers for the next 300kms i thot..
165 kms drive and i stopped for chai (1:30am)at a place 6kms before Thiruvanavelli..
met a kannadiga so comming from that direction and he said the Highway was
closed at Thriruvanavelli coz of the nite being "PURNIMAE" and there
were thousands of devotees visiting a temple which is on the highway
itself...NO BY PASS ROADS but thru a village we could cross the temple
place i was told..the village road(single road) was also blocked with
busses comming from both the ways..now again we met a Kannadiga
in a Qualis, who visited Pondi often n he suggested we drive thru Trichur or Thrichi i dont
remember the name as all that was on my mind REACH PONDI BEFORE SUNRISE..
we decided to follow the Qualis and jus 5 kms drive we reached another highway..
All were happy that we did a smart thing following this Qualis
and lo we were stuck in a the heart of the same town..Busses, Trucks, cars and
not to forget the YELLO FREAKS- Tamil Nadu Autos, they are Maniacs!!
they would sqeez anywhere if they found a lil space..TERRIBLE..2:30am,
115 kms more to go, and we were stuck. we were hardly 1000meters
away from the road which would deviate to Pondi and this feeling
made us frustrated...4:30am, traffic eases..two hours we were in the
car sitting idle. 4:45am, we manage to squeez n reached the road to pondi..
sipped chai n started the drive..
the roads for the next 25 or 30 kms were best suited for the
Govt. Busses and trucks...NOT FOR LMV's. all this way i drove at max
speed of 25Kms/Per hr. i was pretty scared where i would have my tyres
going flat, good they dint all thru the journey.
reached pondi at 7:45am.. 5hr journey was now 8 1/2 hrs i thot.
got in to a hotel had bath freshened up and left for site-seeing..
now my substitute n my other friend shared driving at Pondi..
Filled fuel in Pondi though there was enough fuel and went searching
for Beach and other places...had breakfast at the beach where the Ghandhi
statue is placed..and next to Auroville-Mantrimandir...8kms from the
town...nice place to visit...next we went to beach, it was scrotching heat n we
changed our plans to start earlier rather than leavin at 10pm as we
could'nt bear the heat out there.
searching for good food was another problem..alas we did find SALEM SPL. BIRYANI.
After lunch we did some shopping and started babk to home..
4:30pm and i was driving...felt drousy after that superb salem biryani,
so i offered my friend to drive..had a solid sleep n woke up at 5:30..stopped for chai
6:15pm we decided our next stop was at Bangalore..cleaned the windshield as they had
enough dust and stsrted our journey.. Contee is really soft n luxurious on highways..she was
doing amazing at steep curves at 75kms speed...all the way found nobody to chase or
was i chased by others..reached the unforgetable town THIRUVANAVELLI n there is a railway
crossing. there was a M800 who chassed me neck to neck and i was
shocked at his driving..me at 75-80kms on contee and i am sure he would have been
pushing hard at around 100 or so..this guy chassed me all the way till Hosur right behind
me...
as we reached Krishnagiri two more Scorpios joined i and they were
chassing eachother badly..it was obvious wen 2 cars of the same makers meet on highways..
i too joined in n fun for me now..the scorpios were initially good but in the streatch i took the place.
believe me the 800 was still tailing me with the scorpios..no idea what speed he was pushing...
had a game time with these scorpios!!!
reached bangalore at 10pm...
on an average the FE was 18+ (Diesel Contee, for luxury and FE!!!) |