[tonrag]

We visited the 400 plus year old Synagogue.

[tonrag]

A drive through Ernakulam to show my wife some of my old haunts was next. In the early seventies, I had learnt how to ride a cycle on the roads of Ernakulam and remembered a time when Shanmukham Road abutted the backwaters. Now, the seascape of Ernakulam has been changed beyond recognition through land reclamation and bridges crossing the lagoons.

[Rudra Sen]

Lovely read. Like to see this car as soon as possible.

tonrag, do not cut and paste replies from other application. But if it's a must then preview replies to edit those tags before posting.

[Jaggu]

I knew what was coming up when i read the first para, so ignored the thread till noon today. And phew! that is one hell of a journey that you took up!

I had the trip in the opposite direction few year prior to your journey, in an old beaten up amby with a failing matador engine (no comparisons here to Swami's adventure) BUT that itself felt like a big adventure for me. We took 3.5 days to make it from TVM to BLR coz half the time i was working on the car parked by the side of the road, everything that could go wrong did go wrong in our trip lol.

But Swamy on the other hand has performed so flawless and your narration has got us glued to the monitors!

Count me in Rudra if Tonrag gives an appointment

EDIT: Just gave this thread a 5 star rating

[vintagepoint5]

Hi Tonrag, when we can have Morris, MG tales like your Austin-7. Hope to hear interesting write up soon. You also mentioned somewhere your experience with Morris-10M, look forward to hear all soon.

Good luck!

[tonrag]

Thanks, immensely for the appreciation! Sorry for the tags that appear. Put it down to the fact that I'm still a little uncertain about the techniques of posting. I'll ensure that doesn't happen again, Rudra. Am traveling now and I'll post the next installment shortly.

[Majic]

Tonrag, the narrative is excellent, Swami i believe has proved his worth, looking forward to the remaining episodes, i hope you would have a spiritful narrative with the Morris also coming. Cheers in good spirit

[tonrag]

Long journeys are when you realize how important it is for everybody to work as a team. My wife and I had worked our pattern to a nicety. Though she is a late riser, we invariably make an early start. The trick is for me to wake up early, tiptoe through my morning routine and wake her up at the very last moment possible. When my son was young, we usually bundled him into the back of the car and allowed him to sleep for some time more.

Though we made our customary early start from Ernakulam, the air was hot, still and heavy. We drove with the hood down, it was claustrophobic with it up. We made good time and by the time the sun was climbing, we were past Trissur and near Vadakanchery. The usual imprint of Kerala on the tourist’s mind are the backwaters, but the laterite belts of mid and northern Kerala are equally pretty. Our car made the climb through the small ghat section south of Palakkad with ease; the engine had nicely warmed up and sounded reluctant to be switched off. The head bolt continued to leak a bit of oil, but we just ignored it and kept on. The shaking radiator core and the clattering fan were the only mechanical irritations that we had to deal with.

[tonrag]

At a small copse beside the road, we stopped for a picnic breakfast, the usual car checks and a snooze.

[tonrag]

The border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Palghat pass is dramatic for the way the scenery changes. We passed through the wooded forest of Valayar and then crossed the river of the same name into Tamil Nadu. The road stretched beyond as a treeless black ribbon, shimmering in the heat, with a few brilliantly russet Gulmohurs providing sparse shade.

[tonrag]

By now we were exhausted and silent, with only the whine and grumble of the Austin engine for company. A brief stopover for petrol was all we required, before we reached Bhavani.

Naah! Thumbs down! We prefer Austins!

[tonrag]

Past Bhavani, the weather was a little cooler due to the proximity of the Cauvery, but the pitted road slowed us to a crawl. We reached Mettur in the late afternoon, to a delicious saapaad comprising of a volcano of fluffy rice, with a lava flow of sambar. A cold shower followed, and then we collapsed into bed like a trio of pythons.

[sudev]

ROFLOL - Thumbs down picture: You have uncanny knack of capturing even the smallest things to make this gem of a read. Yup thumbs down it is for Servo.

[hotstuff]

Tonrag, any thread that makes me switch on the laptop at 8 am on a Sunday morning to check for updates is indeed a 5 star thread... So rated this as such!

Originally Posted by tonrag

... I wasn't able to convert the video from a .dat file to a .flv file, which can be posted on Youtube.

- A .dat file is actually a .avi file in disguise. [I am referring to the .dat file you would find in VCDs.]

[1] Change the extension of the file from .dat to .avi first.

[2] You can use a freeware tool like Avidemux - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com to do some simple editing and convert the video into .flv / .mpg or any other format,

* YouTube prefers .mpg or .mp4 formats.
* Check this page for details on how to upload to YouTube : YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.#

[tonrag]

The early morning start from Mettur worked to our advantage. It was actually a little chilly and we had to wrap up till the sun came out. The road from Dharmapuri to Bangalore only climbs imperceptibly, except for a stretch near Thoppur, where one can get stuck between the long line of trucks struggling up the hill. Of course, I am speaking of a decade back; now the four laning has eliminated this bottleneck. The road gets prettier closer to Krishnagiri. We stopped to pick up mangoes, which we loaded in the footwell of the rear seat. The front seats were a tight fit now, with a lot of luggage shoehorned in.