[kartikkumar]

So it happened that a quick breakfast meet was arranged and the turn out on a Sunday morning was quite impressive. Having originally said no to veg food early on a Sunday morning, prefering the warmth of blankets over me, I ended up going after what turned out to be a very interesting and pleasant night.

Given this isn't a thread to reflect on the performance of the car suffice to say she behaved really well, I drove rather fast on the NICE road and all else with the car was fine.

Venue: Pavithra's Idly Hotel in Tumkur.
Location: On the main road, can't be missed.
Landmark: Far too many cars parked on either side of the highway on the curve to the left, 500 mts from the second toll gate on NH4.
Attendees: akroy, benbsb29 and better half, lukeskywalker and better half, patchyboy and better half, jaguar, tadu, jay, mclaren1885 and yours truly.

Verdict: Excellent thatte idly's, hot crisp and very desirable vadas, rich but very tasty dosas, average tea.

Now for the pics. Low res pics for faster upload. Let me know if I need to put up better quality pics.

Lukeskywalker + better half


Tadu and benbsb29



Jay, tadu and benbsb29



Most of the lot



Jaguar



akroy and benbsb29





Lukeskywalker



After an agonizing wait of over 20 minutes, the food arrived



tadu was very very hungry!!!



5 minutes later the plates were empty



The mandatory group photo. Thanks patchyboy for the tripod.

[Lukeskywalker]

A good meet at such short notice, guys were of the opinion that the meet would have had more attendees had there been a separate thread rather than in the quick meets @ bangy section.

The guys and gals who attended were:
Akroy
Jaguar
Benbsb29 with spouse
Lukeskywalker with spouse (CC)
Kartik kumar
Jay
Mclaren1885
Tadukuttan
Patchyboy with spouse

Akroy pls put up the report, the idlies were yummy after an agonizing wait for over 20 mins. We had to wait an equal amount of time for a place to stand as well.

Patchyboy and myself went ahead to visit Devarayanadurga after the meet and spent some time clicking snaps of mostly simians there before returning to Bangalore for lunch.

Thanks for a wonderful morning guys, you guys looked as fresh as any of us even after spending an interesting night out.
Regards,
Hari.

[theMAG]

Kartik! Whats happened to you? I see hair.

Big Bend! Have you really lost weight or is that the various nuances of photography playing trick?

Abhi - you really look like the cat that ate the canary - nice to see such a contented man again.

Tadu - I'm glad to see you're in good spirits after being dumped by the curvaceous S-drives !

Nice to see everyone else and having quality time at that.

[tadukuttan]

Was great meeting you all! Been an awfully long time since we met most of you, that is why we thought we will extend the night drive to include breakfast with you. Thanks for organizing...

And nice Idlis, although I wish that place was a little more organized with their service. Attracting the attention of a waiter there is no mean job!

Originally Posted by theMAG

Tadu - I'm glad to see you're in good spirits after being dumped by the curvaceous S-drives !

I eventually managed to escape their (evil)grip, or rather, lack of it.

[Lukeskywalker]

Cause
The posting of Thatte Idly pics at Kyathsandra near Tumkur in my travelogue last week.
Showcause
Planning a breakfast drive to savour those idlies.
Effect
The actual decision to drive out on Sunday morning was taken sometime saturday. I smsed guys who's numbers I had stored, Akroy advised me to put up a post on the drive. I put up a post on the quick meets @ Bangy thread. There were only a couple of confirmed participants, some of the 'never miss a meet' members were travelling on account of the holidays.

The Drive and Meet
Woke up to Benny's sms asking if the meet was on. It was indeed. I asked him to join up with Akroy as he knew the route. Akroy, Benny and Jaguar came to Yelahanka in two Ikons.
We had decided to take the Yelahanka-Doddaballapur-Dobbspet-Kyathsandra route to avoid the Namma Metro fiasco happening on the Peenya route.
We were off by 7 am and had a brief stopover at Doddaballapur railway station for a hot cuppa. Mclaren, who was supposed to be picked up by Akroy had gone awol from the previous night itself. When called he told that he would join us directly at Tumkur along with Tadukuttan and Jay.

8am, we were at the Toll Plaza just before Tumkur, met up with Mclaren, Tadu, Jay and Kartikkumar. We drove the half kilometre to the idly hotel to be greeted by a huge pile of cars. There was no place to park let alone sit inside the hotel. We hung around till we could corner a table outside and then it was time to make Mclaren run around and order as he was the 'loyal' customer at the place since his childhood.

The idlies arrived and we fell upon them ravenously, repeat orders flowed thick and fast only to be matched by the ever diminishing jug of chutney. I have personally never passed a single jug around a table so many times in any meet. Then the Dosas arrived, we ate out of greed rather than hunger, but then even greed has an end we realised. Completely sated we
asked for the bill. It was all of 520 rupees for the twelve of us.

Meanwhile it was only Kartikkumar's camera doing duty as the rest of us were happy just to eat rather than shoot. The pictures are already posted.

Post the heavy breakfast most of the people had to return back due to prior commitments or due to long 'overnight' absence from their respective homes. Patchyboy, who was the last to join us indignantly told me that he had not driven 100kms on a Sunday morning just to eat idlies, no matter how tasty. So, Patchyboy and I along with our respective 'Best' halves decided to check out Devarayanadurga which was about 20 kms away from Tumkur.
There are two places about 20 kms away from Tumkur, namely Namada Chilume which is a natural spring and Devarayanadurga, which is a temple atop a hill. Both these are separated by about 5 kms.
The rest is a pictorial. I'll be putting this here rather than in a separate travelogue as it was a consequence of the meet.

The Road to Devarayanadurga


Route through the Jungle


In the Jungle




The Ladies discuss the cobras in McL's farm while Patchyboy aims


The Sign


The Entrance to Namada Chilume


Welcome to Namada Chilume


Arre Yaar!!


Some Deer


Lil Fella


Jeez!! He Got Me!!


Quick Gun Murugan


Nandi


The Spring


The story behind this spring is that when Lord Rama and family were in exile he wanted water to apply vermilion, seeing no water source around he shot an arrow into the ground and Lo he had water.

Patchyboy making a wish while his missus makes sure he makes the right one!!

Spot the coin he's tossed

OTR Spot for cars...


...and for People


...to continue

[snaronikar]

I missed this surely. Luke and guys good pics. I would have come but I had a very severe stomach problem.

[Lukeskywalker]

The winding Road to Devarayanadurga


Man N Beast in the Jungle


Ab Hum Kya Kare??


The Supermarket @ Devarayanadurga


The temple perched atop the hill

We did not climb up the one hundred odd steps to the temple though we were sure it would be a magnificient view from the top, will have to do it next time.

The panoramic views around from the hill


The Lake'Heart'

Note the heart shaped lake

A Happy Pose


It was a beautiful day for a drive and thankfully the rain gods took a break, we were done for the day by about 12 noon and we started back for Bangalore, we had to take the road thru hell on our way back as my wife had some work in Malleswaram, the four of us had a nice lunch at Viking in Malleswaram before parting ways.

Destination Details:

Namada Chilume or Devarayanadurga are about 85 kms from Yelahanka, add another 20 kms if travelling from Central Bangalore.

Good roads mostly with very few bad patches.

No good meal options in terms of restaurants, nearest town is Tumkur which is about 20 kms away.

Small shops selling knick knacks and short eats.

Carrying food is also not recommended on account of the large monkey population which are quite aggressive.

Thanks and regards,
Hari.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Wow guys, looks like everyone had fun.

Sad i could'nt make it, not really aware of this meet.

Bangy guys i think we need to make one directory of Bangy T-BHP'ians.

Will come in handy for coming meets so nobody misses the events.

[benbsb29]

Nice set of pics. They've come out quite well, with a lot of naturality.

Originally Posted by theMAG

Kartik! Whats happened to you? I see hair.

Among the first questions i posed his way, when i saw him! Said his barber was actually looking out for him. :P

Originally Posted by theMAG

Big Bend! Have you really lost weight or is that the various nuances of photography playing trick?

All i would say is Kartik is a good photographer.

Originally Posted by theMAG

Abhi - you really look like the cat that ate the canary - nice to see such a contented man again.

Abhi was among the first to say he was full. SAid he had completed brunch.

Originally Posted by tadukuttan

Was great meeting you all! Been an awfully long time since we met most of you, that is why we thought we will extend the night drive to include breakfast with you. Thanks for organizing...

It was a pleasant surprise to meet up with Tadu and Jay after what seemed like a long time. That they along with Rahul were up since the previous night didnt really surprise me.

Considering how the meet was called at such short notice, it was good to see a decent turnout. For better visibility when organizing, we should have a new thread for a meet.

It was nice to meet up with all who turned up, and a special mention to Hari who organized, and also launched the whole plan thanks to pics of the iddlies.

On the way back, we had Jaguar (Ramesh) and Abhi for company. Also spotted a Range Rover which literally bulldozed its way ahead of Jag's Ikon. Shall put up a pic of the same later on.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

On the way back, we had Jaguar (Ramesh) and Abhi for company. Also spotted a Range Rover which literally bulldozed its way ahead of Jag's Ikon. Shall put up a pic of the same later on.

Did you see an indicab that almost crashed on to me from behind while I was trying to overtake a KSRTC bus? An idiotic bunch of cabbies were in that car.

- Jag

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

The temple perched atop the hill

Is that the Jain temple atop a hill thats roughly opposite the Industrial Estate before Tumkur? I've climbed up the hill quite a few times (never went into the temple - they had some rules) when I was in Tumkur for about 2 months a long time ago and have very fond memories of the place.

[khan_sultan]

uummmm.. looks like you all had a 'plate full' of fun. the pictures of the idli's are making me hungry early morning.

Good turnout too -- considering the short notice. Goes on to indicate how passionate Bangy T-BHPians are for meets/drives/food.

Cheers,

[akroy]

Excellent writeup Hari. I need to do a Devnarayandurga drive again just for the sake of breakfast at Pavithra.

It was great drive and needless to say amazing breakfast. My personal thanks to Ramesh (jaguar) for a nice drive on his Ikon.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Abhi was among the first to say he was full. Said he had completed brunch.

Ya Benny, indeed I didnot have my lunch. Just had some fruits.
I was literally sleeping off in the car in the return journey.

Originally Posted by theMAG

Abhi - you really look like the cat that ate the canary - nice to see such a contented man again.

Thanks Maggie, the breakfast indeed was sumptuous!!
Post MOD we dont see you in Tbhp meets more often now!! How come?

Abhi

[hillram]

Awesome pics guys..U seem to have had a ball of time.Those breakfast pics has made my tongue twirl..Good Show

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by akroy

Thanks Maggie, the breakfast indeed was sumptuous!!
Post MOD we dont see you in Tbhp meets more often now!! How come?

Abhi

Well, around the same time I became Mod, job responsibilities have changed too. Essentially, my social life is dead with the new elevated work profile.