8th July 2017, 13:16
| #136 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 331
Thanked: 57 Times
| |
|
| |
|
10th July 2017, 09:04
| #137 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread How was the drive guys? Where is the report and pictures?  Quote:
Giri : Any initial thoughts on July 22nd Drive + Lunch? I would recommend the drive to start from Fisherman's Wharf and drive till Decathlon. Stop for pictures and then drive back to the lunch location which I recommend to be Prost Bajaj Sa'ab : Does it sound good? Others please chime in as well with your ideas and confirmations for July 22nd lunch meet | |
|
|
|
10th July 2017, 14:50
| #138 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: KA, TS
Posts: 620
Thanked: 880 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Lots of pics and reports have been shared on the WhatsApp group. Since Dheepak was the "official photographer" of the trip, we will wait for him to consolidate and upload the pics here. Please stay tuned .Overall, it was a fantastic day. Started early in the morning, pretty much everybody was there on time (as per "Nawabi" standards. I was late by only 25 mins). The drive and the planning was simply flawless. Even though the awesome roads were inviting for a pedal to the metal kind of drive, everybody "behaved" well and drove as a convoy of 6 cars. It was interesting that out of the 6 cars, 4 were automatic transmission. The destination itself was a bit of a downer. Not that I had great expectations, but the steep hike of hundreds of steps had all of us panting on the way back. Added to that was the hot and humid weather with very less shade. But the company made the picnic worthwhile. We found a spot that was away from the hustle and were able to dip our feet in the water for sometime. After the hike back to the car, I gobbled on couple of home made sandwiches. Food and AC were life savers. The drive back was quick. I think the humidity and sweat made me restless, and I was raring to just get back home. We stopped by a "Singh is King" dhaba where the rest of the group had lunch. We said our goodbyes at around 7pm at a dhaba near Bhiknoor toll plaza, and it was almost 9 by the time we reached home. On the way I had to stop by to get an ice cream for my son (Dheepak would know why  ).It was a day well spent, meeting people and making new friends. Hopefully this was just a start and we have regular meetups!! |
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 01:36
| #139 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 80
Thanked: 87 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread  Total Kms: 558 Kms Total Tolls: 645/- [160 (ORR) + 485 (5 on NH44) Avg Speed: 65 km/h Drive Time: 8:34hrs Time spent with TBHP folks: PRICELESS!!!! For everything else there's TBHP Forum  Backdrop: Due to travel and other commitments hadn't been too active this year and once I found some time mid of last month, check this thread for any updates. See the message of a Whatsapp group created by dheepak10 and send a PM on June 25th especially after seeing "No forwards sent in this group" in the post. Oh, how much Whatsapp has spoilt us. Get added to a world of like minded freaks in Hyderabad. After initial intros and catching up with few known faces, threw a spark (idea of a drive) into the haystack (group) to see what happens. Man, it caught fire big time and the messages kept bombarding furiously debating about places, what day etc.. Soon some folks show their interest and it goes on this thread next day. Talk about quick execution. From there on it was a matter of deciding on the place and tagging other members to see if they are interested. We finally end up with 6 participants as Arun_kun (Arun) had to dropout due to his kid being under the weather, and ecosport_rules (Dr.Kumar) who was tentative couldn't make it due to his better half being under the weather too. The Day: Being an early start, started at 6.15AM hoping to reach the Meetup point Classic Dhaba by 7.10AM as per Google Maps prediction. Hit the Outer Ring Road (ORR) within 6 kms and gave the Engine a good morning workout of getting into cruise mode for the long drive ahead in the day. Boy oh Boy, sense the early morning workout of cruising in 5th gear for good traffic uninhabited stretches seemed to have inspired it and I end up reaching the meetup point bang at 7AM. Google Maps too proudly displays the "Reached Early by" message. Sometimes I wonder, if Google folks too predict with extra buffer times just to showcase they are accurate most of the time like how airlines do with Arrival timings for On-Time performance awards. Wanted to grab a quick coffee only to notice the Dhaba was closed. Google, you were so wrong about the timings of this Dhaba though. It ain't Open 24 hrs!! Hoping it may open soon and to while away time while rest of folks arrive, wake up an hidden "trying to be" photographer in me and try visualizing how to get the cars parked, how to click pics, the angles, the light etc.. The passerby's must have wondered what I was doing by squatting, kneeling etc. at different angles and trying to click the car with a closed Dhaba background. All these antics resulted in a test shot below of my steed with my phone. Disclaimer: No SLR's were harmed during the making of this shot and so Pro Photographers, pardon me if you are critical of this shot.  Within 5 minutes, Speedmunster (Bishu) shows up in his Black Scorpio and with his Scorpio having its tank full, he is eager to get loaded up too as plan was for folks arriving early can have breakfast while waiting for others. With no option at Classic Dhaba, we decide to go on a breakfast hunt. Thanks Bishu, for ruining all my photo op visualizations I did earlier and looking like a lunatic to passerby's. Just kidding!! We find a decent fast food joint Darshini nearby and send the message across to the group about the change in meetup location. Dheepak10 (Dheepak) shows up in his Balenno in a few minutes and most of us finish breakfast while the rest continued to arrive. With the clock ticking 7.45AM, shifu(shubham), psn(Pathik) arrive in their respective rides, Vento and Cruze. Just as we are about to leave as a group, drvhplyevraftr (Sivakuru) arrives in his XUV5oo. [OT: Yes, I know, I too don't have an idea of what Sivakuru's TBHP handle name means or how you pronounce it. Please post those questions to him]. He was supposed to catch us up at Divya Resort & Restaurant but guess he made his XUV5oo justify the cheetah tag. Btw all of them arrived with their +1, +1/2 in tag but using only these guys name to make my life easier. So we start off the drive as a group just a few minutes late and then begins the fun. Perfect sequence of Convoy driving, swapping of car positions when one wants to lead or stay in some other position. Sync up after every Toll Booth to get the convoy going again in case someone got left behind. Its been a while since I have been a part of convoy driving. Used to do this in the US with the lane driving, limited speeds, no idiotic guys cutting in front of you with no indicator whatsoever and expecting us to have sixth sense or telepathy of their next move. So it was good fun to be doing it again and felt like driving in one of those VIP convoys where all you hear when standing outside is "Zuppp Zuppp". Please envision it guys, couldn't find a better word to describe it. Was the last trailing car for a few times just to watch the entire convoy with the clear pitch black tar roads with no undulations and worth the Toll amount paid for. After having few drivers cut me off from the convoy, decide to swap positions than being the last car. You see, hatchbacks don't have the intimidation factor like what a Scorpio or a XUV5oo have in one's rear view mirror. No wonder all these politicians choose Scorpios, Fortuner, Innova's as their rides. After few swaps of positions, decide to be the lead car and rush past the others and make my intentions clear. Whether they understood or just wanted a Ferrari Red Color Car lead them is a different matter. Being the lead car, had to keep a lookout for the convoy in the rear view mirror to make sure I haven't left them behind. Got to admit, it is fun to see when taking a curve with all the cars following in unison. In some curves, I would switch to the right lane just to see the convoy behind take the turn in the left lane in unison. Brought back memories of childhood of peeping through the sleeper class window during a curve to see the loco and the rest of the train follow. Still get that excitement during train rides except that AC Class doesn't give you the experience of what a sleeper class does. Coming back, I so wished I had a co-passenger to grab a pic of these moments and other such moments. We reach the stopover place Divya Resort by about 9AM and get going on the breakfast for folks who haven't had one. Breakfast was Ok with standard fare and nothing much to write about. Then we do the compulsory photo shoot of all the cars.  L to R: Shifu's Vento, Bishu's Scorpio, self Punto, Siva's XUV5oo, dheepak10;s Baleno, psn's Cruze. 4 out of the 6 i.e. Vento, Scorpio, Baleno and Cruze were Auto trannies to which came Shifu's comment "Desh badal raha hai" [The Country is changing] The way to the falls is absolute bliss. Smooth tarmac, not many village crossings, not much of truck traffic or any traffic either and what else can you ask for a perfect drive. A screen grab of the road condition from my dashcam video. Ignore the screen reflections and quality, as I didn't realize I had changed the lens position while changing the SD Card and forgot to reset the video quality back to 1080p (was experimenting with lower quality earlier evening to see how it comes out). If only I had a co-passenger to click better pics. Hopefully, others will upload better one if they have.  The exit off the highway and into the falls is a narrow village road. They had a surprise police check right after the highway exit and taking a right that leads to the waterfalls. Every car was checked to see if any alcohol was being carried. There was an incident of drowning few days earlier and so this checks were being made I believe. Being the Solo guy in the car, came for special scrutiny with the cop asking if I was sure there isn't any alcohol anywhere in the car and what I was doing coming all alone. When I mention I am part of the group of 6 cars, comes the double whammy question " Then why you driving alone and why you guys came in so many cars". Now, how do you explain the concept of long drives and that you can get your kicks not only from alcohol but also by driving  Tell him something on similar lines and he lets go with a smile. Phew!! What all perceptions you got to live with being a bachelor. The check immediately after taking a right turn from the feeder road of the highway.  After driving through some "just enough for 2 vehicles" road, we enter a small section where the entire stretch is covered with tree cover. It was beautiful. A low quality pic again from dashcam just to get the essence.  Being a Sunday, there was quite a rush with the parking lot almost full and we had to park at different spots available. Couldn't get a spot to accommodate all of us in one stretch.  To reach the falls, there is a hike of about over a hundred steps with some of them being steep inclines. Getting down was all easy-peasy with the excitement and though the falls was not really what we were expecting, it was ok with the breeze blowing and the group finding a good secluded spot to just sit, relax, wet their feet. Spend a good amount of time and after clicking a few pics, decide to head back. Ascending the steps turns out to be a challenge with the humidity sapping the energy of everyone. Slowly but steadily, everyone makes it through in a fair amount of time to reach the entry of the stairs where the rest of group is waiting. On the way to the parking lot, indulge in some "wanna be" Kwality Walls ice cream brand "Dairy Milk". Such was the humidity and the energy sapping weather,no one cared rather dared to think about the brand. Grabbing a few chilled drinks and some stuff to munch on, we start the return journey to find a decent lunch spot as there isn't much available at the falls. Some folks did carry lunch as everyone was aware of food options being limited at the spot. Special credits to the Cake made by Siva's better half that was the show stealer when having the snacks. Stop by at "Singh is King" Dhaba to be treated with the typical Dhaba rotis, Dal fry, Paneer, Butter Chicken and Lassi/ Buttermilk.  Drive back was quick with one final stopover at a Dhaba after the last but one Toll Booth (Bhiknoor Toll Plaza) for tea/coffee and say goodbyes and recollect some good memories of the drive and plan of when to do the next one. Reach home by 8.32PM and click the speedometer readings to grab the statistical data of the drive. All good things comes to an end they say and so did this drive meet. However, every end is a new beginning and here's wishing many more such drive meets and may this Hydeez group resurrect again!! Cheers!!! P.S: Missed clicking some pics of the group near the falls, stopover points etc.. as others were clicking them. Will let them share those pics. Last edited by manas_270 : 11th July 2017 at 01:41. |
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 09:22
| #140 | ||
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Mississauga, ON
Posts: 351
Thanked: 550 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Quote:
 Quote:
Since the day was detailed nicely by Manas_270 and Shifu, things are easy for me - I'll just let the pics do the talking. The first stop after Medchal to get acquainted (Some of us had met earlier in the lunch meet; Pathik (PSN) and I had been on a drive earlier). Every toll plaza had a similar pit-stop to regroup  Divya Resorts and restaurant is the place where we actually got introduced properly to each other over breakfast.  And this includes a mandatory drive meet pic of all the rides   The drive was excellent - it was great to drive in a convoy of 6 cars. The roads were excellent throughout and the last 10 km of ghat section was fun as well. Special mention about Shubham (Shifu) - sedate in the morning and blazing in the return trip. Here's a couple of pics at the falls. Ojas and Malhar giving the 'Cheese' for the pic  Whatever little water was there was captured in the pics below   And the group pic before leaving the falls  Singh is King Dhaba was the lunch stop. Shifu powered by sandwiches and I powered by Khichdi, didnt have much at the lunch stop, but the others got served Cheetah butter masala (or that's what the bill said instead of Chicken).  The final stop was for tea and plans on future drives for a good hour before we said our goodbyes and parted. A day well-spent, full of memories to be cherished. Pic credit: Siva (drvhplyevraftr) and myself! And as Giri (Manas_270) had mentioned - "No DSLRs were harmed in the making"! | ||
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 11:43
| #141 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 91
Thanked: 175 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread My thoughts on the special drive with special people: What made it special for me. 1) My Cruze was not totally perfect, as it started to give an error code 84 and 89 as soon as I touched NH44. Which meant, that the power of the engine would be cut off for the safety of the engine and not allow me to accelerate normally. The entire group rallied around me and drove with me to ensure that if I get into trouble these people are around to help. On the return journey drvhplyevraftr ensured that for the entire journey he was on my tail. If I put blinker for any reason, the entire bunch would regroup to check on my car. Brilliant!!. 2) It felt very safe to drive with these bunch of people. No Mad driving, No cutting. Everyone was maintaining safe speed and distance and each one was ensuring that they had the next car in its rear view mirror at all times. And if perchance anybody was left behind, immediately calls were made to others to stop on the side and let him catch up. 3) No hang ups at all. We stopped wherever we could to eat and to refresh and there was a collective agreement on the place. No complaints, no anger. Just pure camaraderie. 4) Most of us met for the first time, but by the end of the drive, we were all a band of brothers. Families included. Ladies shared cake recipes, kids shared chocolates and toys. 5) The road: boy was it beautiful. Black tarmac surrounded by thick green foliage on both sides. I didn't know such beautiful roads exist. Special mention: The cars: though all the cars ranged from a Hatchback to a SUV and everything in between, they all behaved well. They matched each other on speed and fun. Its been 2 days and I bet all of us are waiting for the next drive already.  |
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 13:01
| #142 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: KA, TS
Posts: 620
Thanked: 880 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Waiting for what's lined up next! | |||
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 15:49
| #143 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Thats a fantastic write-up and pictures by Giri and lovely pictures by Dheepak I see some old faces and some new faces in the pictures and it brings back the memories of our meets since a decade and more Can someone re-post the group picture and give the handle names so we know who is who? Are you all set for another short drive and lunch meet on July 22nd? |
|
|
|
11th July 2017, 20:30
| #144 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 80
Thanked: 87 Times
| Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Quote:
Quote:
 L to R: manas_270(Giri: Grey/white stripes), psn(Pathik & family: Blue stripes), Shifu(shubham &family: Grey T shirt), drvhplyevraftr (Sivakuru & family: US flag T-shirt), Speedmunster (Bishu & family: Blue shirt), dheepak10 (Dheepak & family: Green T shirt) Quote:
Date: July 22nd, Saturday Options: 1. Prost 2. Zero40 3. Heartcup cafe If others have better options, please pitch in Drive Options: 1. Meet up at ORR entrance or Fisherman Wharf's on ISB Road by 10.15AM - 10.30AM 2. Start drive towards RGI airport or towards Mumbai highway sharp at 10.30AM 3. Stopover at some point based on which side we heading, click pics and head back to lunch location by 12.30PM Please pool in with other ideas if you have any. All suggestions accepted | |||
|
|
|
12th July 2017, 09:39
| #145 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: The 2017 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread Thanks for sharing the handle names. Now I can recognize when I meet you folks next Quote:
U]Options: [/u] 1. Prost 2. Zero40 3. Heartcup cafe 4. AB BBQ Gachibowli has a deal on Little App for Rs.692 (Lunch + 2 Mocktails) we can decide on any of above based on the confirmation list. Please add your name to below Confirmed Names 1. Mobike008 2. Manas_270 3. Hyd_Traveller 4. Rajesh Rawal 5. Nellikode 6. Rohit Murari 7. Srimath All, please copy and paste your name to above list Cheers !! | |
|
|
|
13th July 2017, 15:05
| #146 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Hyd, Thrissur
Posts: 404
Thanked: 439 Times
| |
|
|
| |
|
13th July 2017, 17:11
| #147 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: "Luck-City", TS
Posts: 748
Thanked: 398 Times
| |
|
|
|
14th July 2017, 10:13
| #148 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 617
Thanked: 917 Times
| |
|
|
|
14th July 2017, 21:25
| #149 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: "Luck-City", TS
Posts: 748
Thanked: 398 Times
| |
|
|
|
20th July 2017, 08:37
| #150 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | |
|
|
 |
Most Viewed