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Travelogues
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A little bit of background:
Although the XUV5OO evokes a feeling of instant love or hate when people see it for the first time, the owners just love their XUVs despite niggles if any. What started out as networking to get quick answers to niggles, evolved into a group of like-minded owners who are not only passionate about their cars and maintaining them well, but also love to drive and travel. Social media platforms like FB/WA and a forum like Team-BHP made life easier for exchanging notes with other knowledgeable owners. Friendships bloomed over time. Drove with the Mumbai XUV folks a few times and it is always amazing fun. Kids and spouses started joining over a period of time. The Chakan plant visit about 5 years back provided an opportunity to meet more XUV owners from other parts of the country. As they say in Hindi "log judte gaye, karwaan banta gaya" (loosely translated to "More people kept on joining, and the caravan started forming").
After the Chakan visit, a first real interstate drive-cum-meet was arranged in early 2018 at a small resort in Colva, South Goa. People from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Mumbai, Kolhapur joined with their families and bonded over 1.5 days. Then there was a similar meet in monsoon to Palakkad, which I couldn't attend. Around end of 2018, the planning started for the next interstate meet and initially few places on the East coast were explored to encourage participation from that region. Eventually looking at convenience of most people who had already confirmed for the meet, the location was finalized as Kundapura in coastal Karnataka. Although I have done KA drive trips a couple of times, I had never heard of Kundapura. But, over time I have learnt to trust the folks who were organizing this.. Anil, Dev, Suhas (DBHPian mpksuhas), Avinash (BHPian ABirnale), Ajay Cherian (BHPian), Ramki (BHPian) and Adithya Ramesh (an encyclopedia on routes). While I got super-busy at work in early 2019, these folks were meticulously planning every minute detail including dates, hotel/resort booking, detailed plan for the 3 day meet, drive circuit, lunch arrangements on drive circuit etc etc.
It was just two of us from Mumbai this time, Sumit (BHPian SumitDongerkery) and me. His as well as my family had opted out due to various other commitments. Mumbai/Thane to Kundapura is 800+ kms and there was no point taking 2 vehicles for such a distant destination. So finally, I decided to keep my XUV at home and join Sumit in his 2012 white XUV5OO which has done close to 1.2 lakh kms.
Here are a couple of pics before I start what is going to be essentially a photologue with an overdose of XUV pics :D
Day 1 - Saturday. After getting a sleep of 1.5 hrs, I woke up and got ready for a 12 hrs drive. Sumit was dot on time. At 4:30AM, we were already out of Mumbai. I have never sat in the passenger seat of the XUV5OO for more than 10 minutes. So riding shotgun with Sumit was a bit weird at the beginning, with me reaching out to the imaginary brake in the passenger foot-well a few times. Although I have driven with Sumit during a couple of drives earlier, experiencing his driving from the passenger seat was quite a revelation. The kind of average speed he manages to maintain and his amazing control over his XUV is really something. Soon discussions on a thousand topics ensued and before we knew we had pulled over at a small nice place in Karad for breakfast. After the misal-pav had settled in my tummy, the sleep-deprived body soon gave up and I excused myself for a power-nap.
Sumit kept on munching miles like nobody's business and soon we took the exit from NH4 towards Yellapur-Ankola. Road condition deteriorated and regular unmarked speed-bumps reduced the average speed. By this time, the Bangalore based participants were well on their way to Kundapura and we were getting updates about 2 convoys from Bangalore. Dr Manoj who was supposed to join in from Kolhapur, had checked in the night before. Had a slightly late, but delicious local thali lunch at Hotel Pandurang at Kumta. A few more shameless power-naps later, after clocking 12 hrs on road, around 4:30pm, we were at the Meridian Bay Resort just outside Kundapura.
The Bangalore convoys had already reached and even enjoyed lunch at a famous local eatery called Shetty Lunch home. The super-efficient organizing team had ensured that the room-allocation was done already and the check-in was quick without any confusion. Claimed the room, got freshened up and started for small drive that was planned for the evening. Bumped into Firose (BHPian Fundagenie), Ajith and Sanju in the lobby. We headed back towards NH17, crossed it and then drove towards the sea. First meet-up point was the Kodi lighthouse and then the plan was to watch the sunset from the Kodi Delta point. We drove parallel to the sea and soon reached the lighthouse following the circuit map that was shared. Met the rest of the gang at the lighthouse.
I guess, enough English. Let the pics do the talking now.
Canopy on the way to the lighthouse
The lighthouse
Views from lighthouse:
Backwater stretches visible from the top.
The plan was to go to that point later for enjoying the sunset.
The setting sun had already started shining gold on the sea.
The ladder to the highest section of the lighthouse. Was a bit scary going down.
The spiral inside the lighthouse.
Nice picture "frame"
Sumit with his superbly maintained 2012 XUV5OO.
It was dark by the time we were back to the Resort.
After some time spent in the room relaxing, it was time for dinner which was arranged by the pool side.
Anil welcomed everyone and gave a brief history about the group and the drives. Everyone introduced themselves and shared stories about their XUVs.
The dinner items were all exclusive local delicacies. It was a fun discussion with lot of old and new members over dinner.
Adithya spoke about the drive circuit for next day and the convoy rules to follow, before we called it a night.
After 13-14 hrs in a car, slept like a log only to wake up at 6am to this view from the room. All the missing XUVs had joined the parking lot. See that beauty in the extreme left?
Yes, there was a Porsche in the parking lot.
XUV's bathing in warm morning sunlight.
That's Avinash's orange cheetah with "tailgating preventer" attached at the back. :)
Breakfast on 2nd floor. Me and Sumit joined Avinash and family at the table.
Firose, Ajith and his friend.
Ajay Cherian sharing a light moment with Anil.
Guess who is the guy in the black tee! Answer in the next pic!
That's Rajith in the navy-blue tee, who had joined the gang during the night.
Rajesh catching up on some messages while Anil and Sanju look on.
After a leisurely breakfast, I set out on foot to explore the property. This is the pool-side where we had dinner the night before.
The Washington Monument - Kundapura edition. :D
Powersport ATV
XUVs and more XUVs all over the parking....
...glistening in the morning sunlight.
Climbed up a small tower to get a nice vantage point, but realized that most XUVs were getting blocked by the tree line.
So clicked a pic of these blue-tailed bee-eaters and came down.
There is a helipad in the property and the recce team had noted that down as a good spot for group photos. Here you can see Suhas rounding up the XUVs from parking lot, encouraging them to move to the helipad.
I had started missing my Duma by now. So pulled out this from my bag.
I got into Sumit's XUV and just a couple of minutes later the helipad got in sight.
Rajith's dashing entry at the helipad. I anyways have a soft-corner for red XUVs from first generation.
XUV looks menacing in black. You can't mess with a black XUV and we had two!
Avi's son contributed his Land Rover Defender for this shot.
Both the scale models had pullback action. I asked Avi's son if he wants to race, but he opted out! :)
My XUV OO5 (I mean the scale model :D) looking scared with Ajay's plush gen looming large in the background.
See the numbers on the windshields? Those were the position numbers in the convoy for the long drive circuit on Sunday. Suhas, Anil and a few more stayed back on Saturday night after the dinner and finished the numbering during the night itself. Hats off to the dedication and commitment of the organizing team!
Have to say the OnePlus6's portrait mode does a decent job at creating a bokeh. Here's a comparison. The pic above has been shot with my D90 DSLR and the pic below has been shot with the OP6. Not bad, huh? BUT, given a choice, I would any day pick up the DSLR as it allows me much finer control over depth of field.
Another pic from the OP6, this time in normal mode.
Headlights ON!
Firose rounded up all the participants for drone shots.
The BIG XUV family admiring the small wonder at the center of the white H on ground.
A lineup of 14 XUVs and their proud owners.
The lineup - from another angle.
Smiling faces!
That's Shreyas (a BHPian) and his father on the left, posing with their first-Gen silver XUV which is in a beautiful condition.
With a lot of perfectionists in the group (me included), it took us some good 30 minutes to line up the XUVs with uniform gap in between. They also took care of the sequence so that dark colored XUVs are not next to each other.
The helipad is huge and from eye-level there is only so much you get to see. The real fun is watching the lineup from the Phantom's eyes! Here are a few pics from the drone:
1-2-3... JUMP!
"Plan" (from plan and elevation):
We spent almost an hour at the helipad, much more than planned. Adithya and the enthu team had chalked out a elaborate drive circuit of about 200kms. First part of the circuit was to head to the hills, take the Hulikal ghat and reach a scenic spot on the Mani reservoir.
It was already 10am on Sunday. By the time we started to roll, the sleepy town had already started to wake up.
That's' Suhas setting a comfortable pace.
14 XUVs could have been too big a convoy, so there were 2 separate convoys with a gap in between.
It must have been pretty amusing for the guy on the bike to see 7 XUVs in a line.
Shreyas in his #4 was right behind us, followed by Anand, Ajith, Rajith and Thiru.
Pics clicked through Sumit's hatch window. Please excuse shake, rear-wiper and printed heater coil. :)
Blurry pic, but there is a point. See how the Baleno has one wheel off the tarmac although Shreyas did not try to bully him in any way and even kept a large gap while overtaking? That is what is called as "road presence"!
Crossed a river somewhere in between.
The nice open winding road was a proof that the recce team had done its job perfectly.
Cheetah not scared of mad elephant on the road.
Strict convoy discipline, NO overtaking! So it was always Suhas's red XUV in front us. I anyways love red XUVs!
The
"Optimus Prime" scaring the hell out of a kido on the bicycle.
We leave the small villages behind and the scenery improves.
Bad road. No problem.
You can see all the owners in this pic
That's Sumit, visibly quite happy with the drive so far.
A quick stop for Captain to catch up (he had a puncture in the morning).
Finally at the Mani reservoir.
Sumit checking out the lineup from his ORVM.
Beautiful spot, almost touching the water! The lineup for another photoshoot starts forming.
First 3...
..then 5...
.. and then all 14!
That's Shreyas, the "Ringmaster" !
Dronacharya getting ready to unleash the drone.
The 18 inchers on Ajay Cherian's Copper plush-gen XUV look really fab.
Because of school, work and other commitments, about half the XUVs had to leave to Bangalore post lunch. So we bid goodbye to the entire 2nd convoy and started with the last leg of the drive circuit.
Suhas leaving a dust storm behind.
Another spot, another dust cloud...
..and we were almost blinded for a few moments.
Heading for the last spot for the day - the Kundadri sunset point.
Suhas leading the way
Narrow road climbing and turning sharply. It was amazing fun with Sumit chasing Suhas on the hairpin bends.
A little bit of exercise and we reached the sunset point....
.. where we had another round of chat.
The sunset at Kundadri marked the end of the drive. We traced our route back to the resort.
The dinner at the Meridian was a simpler affair with a smaller group as we rekindled the day's memories. Had a long return journey ahead of us, so retired to the room a bit early with hundreds of unforgettable memories.
Next day morning, post an early breakfast with Anil, we set out again to Mumbai.
The Porsche was gone, but there was a gang of Harleys that had checked in over the night.
Picked up some "sweet" memories on the way back.
Sumit ensured that we crossed Pune before it become chaotic and then we drove into the sunset.
<The End>
I request BHPians mpkSuhas, ABirnale, SumitDongerkery, Shrk_18 (Shreyas), AjayCherian and Fundagenie (Firose) to contribute to the log.
Awesome report SDP. Fantastic snaps with footnotes provided for a gripping read. Till the time I went through the thread, I hadn't known that Adithya Ramesh was part of the organising team. Pleasantly surprised! That guy is a walking map network for sure.
By the way, amongst the group drives by the XUV owners group (TORC as we call it), you forgot to mention the Ladakh drive. :D
Thanks for the log SDP, superb set of pics. :thumbs up
I got more pics of my XUV over last weekend, compared to previous 4 years of ownership thanks to you.
Few pics from my side.
Shiradi ghat is a pleasure to drive after concreting work is done.
UVA Meridian at Kundapura is a superb property. Loved the place.
Anils XUV making a stylish entry to helipad. As SDP mentioned, black XUV's are a looker. Black was considered seriously by me during my car purchase days. However, dropped the plan since those days black XUV's used to have beige interiors. In comparison Tuscan red had dark color interiors.
A TBHPian who shall remain unnamed performing some strange ritual in front of a line up of XUV's :D
Parting shot- Rajits & Thirus XUV's on our way back to Bangalore.
For those wondering of the angle of the pic, it was taken by my wife sitting in front passenger seat through ORVM while I was overtaking a truck (part of the truck can be seen in the pic)
Thanks SDP for lovely photologue! Like you mentioned this is just another group of vehicles owners - and the similarity ends there. The group has moved on to beyond just XUVs. We started journey with legendary niggles sorting mission and that built the camaraderie between many folks across the nation - most bhpians and ex-service folks. I still remember my frantic followup with you and others for solving the HID shadow problem in the low beam (and its still same today, thanks to M&M design).
We did a fantastic Ladakh drive in 2017 with the XUVs from same group and it was fun. There is a travelogue on this in this very forum.
Coming to this very trip - fortunate to be part of O team and met many folks first time on this trip. The excitement was so high that even after landing from overseas into Bangalore by 1am, I was still energetic to catch up with group at resort in Kundapura. Also thanks to work that allows to choose 180 degree flatbed for relaxed journey.
I took the different route to reach destination unlike rest of the cars from Bangalore. I took Tumkur - Hiriyur - Hosadurga - Bhadra - Agumbe route. And it was bliss - devoid of the traffic mess and super smooth black tarmac! Owing to school schedule and work, I had to return on the same route on Sunday evening but I enjoyed every moment being with the group.
I didn't get much opportunity to click pictures and it wasn't worth too when we had pro members at it :D But whatever I clicked, here they are:
The road:
Pit stop near Bhadra dam enroute to resort:
River in its glory even during February:
This click was tempting, we love water:
Always fancied this place but never had chance to stop and take a pic - kids were excited, they see Malgudi days even today:
The Kodi beach near kundapura, its serene to watch sunset from here:
Very few moments you get to spend like this:
At mani reservoir while group was lining up cars for photo shoot, i sneaked out a quick picture of Orange Cheetah:
Inspired by the helipad drone shot, my son did this when we reached home - he is mighty impressed:
Thanks again for such a wonderful trip and TBHp that helped me connect to these friends!
A drive is always fun and if it is with friends/like-minded people even greater fun. It was my first XUV5OO Interstate drive and meet with my ever friendly XUV 5OO owners. Have heard lots of fun stories and was honoured to be part of the O Team. I was travelling out of the country a few times in the run-up to the meet, which led me to feel not so great at being able to contribute much to the arrangements. But I was hoping the drive would compensate for it.
I started from North Bangalore on Saturday morning at 5.30 AM and was soon called over by Anand who stays nearby and was also joining in his XUV5OO AT. We often share the AT stories and it has been always nice to get inputs from him. Due to previous day work commitments, we didn’t have a plan to start at the same time. However, as luck would have it, so happened that we were on the road at the same time.
Since the sun was not up and the area was pitch dark, we just exchanged greetings with our tail lamps and headlights. We have not yet seen each other till date but the camaraderie was evident the moment the XUV5OOs hit the Bellary Road to Hebbal. The ATs paired up nicely and we stopped for our first meet at the Lanco Toll on Bengaluru Mangaluru Road. It was nice to meet him for the first time and not just restrict ourselves to messages/phone calls. We used the washroom at the Lanco toll and it was quite good. Meanwhile, we checked the remaining XUV5OO positions and decided to proceed as we had a long drive ahead.
Traffic was just picking up and the XUV5OOs handled it effortlessly. Our initial thoughts were to have breakfast at Sakleshpur which we reset to the Adyar Anand Bhavan, Udayapura. I have had a few drive breakfast previously and this A2B is a good place to have a quick nice breakfast. The washrooms are sufficiently neat, though a bit congested. Sanju and family were already having breakfast when we hopped in. Soon we were joined by two other XUV5OO (Rajesh & Shreyas) joining us for the breakfast.
Fundagenie(Firoze) was sharing his ride along with Rajesh and since we know each other from the past life, I requested him to switch his ride till Mangaluru. We talked about his Ladakh trip, XUV and our past lives.
Soon the BM Road four-lane became dual carriageway but still could make good progress to Mangaluru as traffic was manageable. Shiradi ghats were in superb condition and I let the AT have a good time in the ghats. The last I was in this section was close to 15 years back and had to do 1st gear and 2nd gear in my old Indica V2. Now the roads were all done up and superb. By 12.30 we stopped at Scoops Cafe to refresh ourselves with a quick coffee before heading out for lunch.
I had to collect Priya (my better half) from Mangaluru airport so broke off from the convoy and decided to have lunch with my colleague from Mangaluru. He readily took me to his favourite joint for local delicacies. It was sort of my first time in Mangaluru (as my previous visit to this city was in my early teens).
The infamous Kane
Chicken Ghee Roast of the Canara Coast is a delicacy in itself.
The Kori Roti and its accompaniment. It is sort of staple food in this region. We had variants for lunch and dinner while we were around.
We enjoyed our lunch and decided to head out to Pabbas for their famed ice-creams.
The famous Gudbud(above) and its cousin the Parfait (below)
After the Pabbas it was time to head out to the airport and take a nap.
Priya’s flight arrived earlier than the scheduled time of 5.20 PM and we hit the road to Kundapura. Traffic was bit heavy on NH17 and we had to patiently cross the speed barriers which was in plenty.
We would be missing the Kundapura beach drive but I was happy she could make it to the remaining part. We decided to try a random beach and ended up at Bada Beach before Kaup.
It was a nice empty beach.
We watched the sunset and was on the way to Kundapura. NH17 traffic had eased up and the XUV5OO stock headlights were good enough. We reached by 7.20 PM and we checked into the beautiful resort.
There was ample parking and the ambience was good. It was a very small detour from the NH-17 but was worth every bit of it.
We soon met everyone for dinner and it was really fun to meet up everyone.
The next day we had a good drive around the hills nearby and then to Mani resorvoir, spent the afternoon at Kolavara Heritage with a lavish lunch.
Good to pose with loads of Cheetahs around.
We enjoyed some of the sweets Suhas and Adithya managed to get for us.
We headed back to Bangalore through Koppa - Jayapura - Tarikere - Hosadurga - Hiriyur - Bangalore. The roads were super good and it was fun to drive.
This is a great read, and am sure would've been an awesome experience, what with cheetahs of so many colours and age!!
I'll be interested to join in from Hyderabad for similar adventures - mine is a volcano black W11 (O) AT AWD - but I'm not in WA or FB. A PM would help though :)
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