Trip to Kodaikanal & Madurai

srikanthpotluri · 27th November 2009, 12:33

Hi Team,

This is my first travelogue, obviously inspired by the other logs in here. will try to do my best.

My friend was having a pre-engagement ceremony planned on Sunday 22nd at Madurai. My wifey and I are supposed to attend this.

We brought our Shine (Grande Punto MJD E+) home on Nov 9 and this made a perfect start for us. A long drive to Madurai 900+kms. Obviously we needed to see her performance and enjoy the long drive.

Until Thursday the plan was just to straight drive to Madurai, attend function and back to home. But all got changed when i Google nearby places of Madurai - out of the places that popped up two caught my eye - Kodaikanal & Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Both I haven't been too.

I decided to go for Kodaikanal for now. Instantly called wifey and told her about this and asked her to take leave on Friday. She was not prepared for this and was surprised at the same time very excited

.

So we both took off on Friday. Made plans to stay in Kodaikanal on Friday and Saturday.

We came back home from work on Thursday evening, packed all we can for the 3 day trip and slept by 11:45 PM. Plan was to start early at 5:00 AM from home, but due to lack of sleep and previous day hectic work we could start from home at 6:40 AM only. Good thing was I filled Shine previous night.

Our home being in east tambaram, getting on to GST was pretty easy, though early morning i was surprised by the traffic on roads till Chengalpattu.

gopikb · 27th November 2009, 15:33

Hi Srikanth, A nice start to the travelogue. you own the same car as mine and I am sure you are enjoying every moment of it. By the way, I see the indicator warning lamp glowing in one of the pictures. Did one of your indicator go bad?

srikanthpotluri · 27th November 2009, 17:06

Hello Gopi, yes there was some issue and right indicator stopped working. Got it fixed once i was back.

Some exciting pictures of Shine coming up next.

gopikb · 27th November 2009, 17:41

Thats strange. I had exactly the same right indicator issue in front within a week of taking delivery of the car, but got fixed in 2 minutes at TASS.

samish_g · 27th November 2009, 21:29

Very nice photos Shrikanth. Waiting for the remaining part. By the way what was the problem with the indicator (turn lamp)?

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 10:35

Hi Samish - thank you! all credit goes to my wifey, she is the one taking photos. will post some more today.

problem with the indicator - not sure how it happened, once when i used it - suddenly the error came and it remained, but when i took to the service shop, they had to replace the bulb.

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 11:13

we continued on NH45 and were looking to stop at Reliance A1 plaza just nearby Ulundurpet, but this was closed not sure why, had to take a U Turn and come to Indian Oil bunk, behind this there is a hotel to eat.

Some snaps taken here -

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 12:17

After some nice breakfast at Anantha, we started off to Trichy. We have reached Trichy by 10:15 AM and went to our friends home (ex-boss

). We spent more than 2.5 hours chit chatting, took few snaps of her new born baby and started off to Kodai.

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 12:44

We needed to catch the Dindigul road, we didnt take the bypass since its in a very very bad condition and took the city roads and entered the Dindigul road. This took about 30 mins.

Rest of the road till Dindigul was not at all good, my heart was beating bad as my Shine was getting so much of a bad stretch.

Some snaps till here -

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 13:14

We needed to catch the Dindigul road, we didnt take the bypass since its in a very very bad condition and took the city roads and entered the Dindigul road. This took about 30 mins.

After this the whole distance to Dindigul was just about 60+ kms and this took me more than 1.5 hours, with which you can imagine the road conditions.

Some snaps here -

srikanthpotluri · 30th November 2009, 13:34

Once we have reached Dindigul bypass, we took the road towards Palani, after the first bridge, we took the left service road and took the right under the second bridge towards Vatlagundu.

Once we were on this road, its a heaven, the road is a smooth 2 lane road and is very very scenic.

We stopped at a spot and took snaps of Shine & scenery around -

srikanthpotluri · 7th December 2009, 11:30

I hardly see any comments, not sure if I should continue.

Chevy_lover · 7th December 2009, 12:18

Hey Srikanth, please continue. We would love to see more pics.

hvkumar · 7th December 2009, 12:24

Are signages at Dindigul good for the turn offs to Palani?

gopikb · 7th December 2009, 12:28

Hey Srikanth, I just saw that "Chevy Lover-Lord of travelogues" and "hvkumar - The Great" has spoken. What other testimony do you need for your travelogue? Go ahead and complete your travelogue and I am sure lot of people are just waiting to pour in with the questions. By the way, the pictures of your Punto are GREAT.

27th November 2009, 12:33	#1
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	Trip to Kodaikanal & Madurai Hi Team, This is my first travelogue, obviously inspired by the other logs in here. will try to do my best. My friend was having a pre-engagement ceremony planned on Sunday 22nd at Madurai. My wifey and I are supposed to attend this. We brought our Shine (Grande Punto MJD E+) home on Nov 9 and this made a perfect start for us. A long drive to Madurai 900+kms. Obviously we needed to see her performance and enjoy the long drive. Until Thursday the plan was just to straight drive to Madurai, attend function and back to home. But all got changed when i Google nearby places of Madurai - out of the places that popped up two caught my eye - Kodaikanal & Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Both I haven't been too. I decided to go for Kodaikanal for now. Instantly called wifey and told her about this and asked her to take leave on Friday. She was not prepared for this and was surprised at the same time very excited . So we both took off on Friday. Made plans to stay in Kodaikanal on Friday and Saturday. We came back home from work on Thursday evening, packed all we can for the 3 day trip and slept by 11:45 PM. Plan was to start early at 5:00 AM from home, but due to lack of sleep and previous day hectic work we could start from home at 6:40 AM only. Good thing was I filled Shine previous night. Our home being in east tambaram, getting on to GST was pretty easy, though early morning i was surprised by the traffic on roads till Chengalpattu. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

27th November 2009, 15:33	#2
gopikb BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 555 Thanked: 393 Times	Hi Srikanth, A nice start to the travelogue. you own the same car as mine and I am sure you are enjoying every moment of it. By the way, I see the indicator warning lamp glowing in one of the pictures. Did one of your indicator go bad?
	() Thanks

27th November 2009, 17:06	#3
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	Hello Gopi, yes there was some issue and right indicator stopped working. Got it fixed once i was back. Some exciting pictures of Shine coming up next.
	() Thanks

27th November 2009, 17:41	#4
gopikb BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 555 Thanked: 393 Times	Thats strange. I had exactly the same right indicator issue in front within a week of taking delivery of the car, but got fixed in 2 minutes at TASS.
	() Thanks

27th November 2009, 21:29	#5
samish_g BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 217 Thanked: 68 Times	Very nice photos Shrikanth. Waiting for the remaining part. By the way what was the problem with the indicator (turn lamp)? Last edited by samish_g : 27th November 2009 at 21:30. Reason: Forgot to ask one question
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 10:35	#6
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	Hi Samish - thank you! all credit goes to my wifey, she is the one taking photos. will post some more today. problem with the indicator - not sure how it happened, once when i used it - suddenly the error came and it remained, but when i took to the service shop, they had to replace the bulb.
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 11:13	#7
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	we continued on NH45 and were looking to stop at Reliance A1 plaza just nearby Ulundurpet, but this was closed not sure why, had to take a U Turn and come to Indian Oil bunk, behind this there is a hotel to eat. Some snaps taken here - Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 12:17	#8
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	After some nice breakfast at Anantha, we started off to Trichy. We have reached Trichy by 10:15 AM and went to our friends home (ex-boss ). We spent more than 2.5 hours chit chatting, took few snaps of her new born baby and started off to Kodai. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 12:44	#9
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	We needed to catch the Dindigul road, we didnt take the bypass since its in a very very bad condition and took the city roads and entered the Dindigul road. This took about 30 mins. Rest of the road till Dindigul was not at all good, my heart was beating bad as my Shine was getting so much of a bad stretch. Some snaps till here -
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 13:14	#10
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	We needed to catch the Dindigul road, we didnt take the bypass since its in a very very bad condition and took the city roads and entered the Dindigul road. This took about 30 mins. After this the whole distance to Dindigul was just about 60+ kms and this took me more than 1.5 hours, with which you can imagine the road conditions. Some snaps here - Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

30th November 2009, 13:34	#11
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	Once we have reached Dindigul bypass, we took the road towards Palani, after the first bridge, we took the left service road and took the right under the second bridge towards Vatlagundu. Once we were on this road, its a heaven, the road is a smooth 2 lane road and is very very scenic. We stopped at a spot and took snaps of Shine & scenery around - Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

7th December 2009, 11:30	#12
srikanthpotluri BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 472 Thanked: 769 Times View My Garage	should i continue. I hardly see any comments, not sure if I should continue.
	() Thanks

7th December 2009, 12:18	#13
Chevy_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Köln Posts: 1,209 Thanked: 130 Times View My Garage	Hey Srikanth, please continue. We would love to see more pics.
	() Thanks

7th December 2009, 12:24	#14
hvkumar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 7,369 Thanked: 3,463 Times	Are signages at Dindigul good for the turn offs to Palani?
	() Thanks

7th December 2009, 12:28	#15
gopikb BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 555 Thanked: 393 Times	Hey Srikanth, I just saw that "Chevy Lover-Lord of travelogues" and "hvkumar - The Great" has spoken. What other testimony do you need for your travelogue? Go ahead and complete your travelogue and I am sure lot of people are just waiting to pour in with the questions. By the way, the pictures of your Punto are GREAT.
	() Thanks