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(spoiler alert - No pics for the travelogue. the couple of poor-quality ones shot with my phone are not really worth posting)
"Mishra, you will have to head to Chennai within the next couple of hours!"
"And there goes my weekend for a toss!", I thought to myself. It was almost 7 pm on a seemingly dull Friday and I was logging off - that's when my manager's words boomed out loud, signalling me into one of the empty cabins. I followed him inside and a spartan brefing session followed. I was supposed to coordinate with our clients as a SPOC for an event and I was supposed to be there the next morning at 8 AM sharp. I would have to meet Blah blah for further course of action and would prepare blah blah report...the breifing went on for a good 15 minutes.
"Any questions?"
"Can I take my bike?"
"Are you mad?"
I knew I wasn't
I collected the required paperwork, headed off home for a transformation from the everyday riding gear to proper touring gear, packed the necessary tit-bits, and a set of extra clothes into my nifty mini-panniers and thumbed the starter at 8:30. I had a bit of route planning to do - as I needed to collect some documents from one of my colleagues who stayed at RT Nagar, off K R Puram - which meant taking the Hosur Road was out of question. I would have to take the Chittoor route. I reached my colleague's place sometime 9 PM to collect the documents. He suggested finishing dinner at his place but it was too early, and I didn't want to start off with a heavy tummy. We had a quick snack at one of the bakeries, and it was the wrong side of 9:30 when I finally hit the highway. A couple of minor jams, and very soon I was cruising effortlessly, speeding past the darkness. A couple of bullying Scorpios apart, the road was mostly peaceful and free and it was an efforless cruise till Mulbagal. But I was mostly unprepared for what followed next.
A few kilometers off Mulbagal was a heavily dug-up, single lane stretch which really got on my nerves. Blinded with high-beams from oncoming traffic, struggling for grip on the loose gravel and bullied by SUVs overtaking like madmen, it was probably one of the most treacherous sections of the route. 10 kms of that torturous stretch took up a significant chunk of my time as well as my mental composure and when I finally reached a strip of smooth tarmac, I pulled over for a much needed break to ease off the pent-up anger before I hit the road again. The highway had now shrunk itself to a single-lane road and it was definitely not the most reassuring thing to ride on, though the sparse traffic after Mulbagal kept things easy for me and I kept up a pace of 85kph till Palamaner, where i stopped for Dinner.
I pulled over at a very beautiful dhaba laid out nicely inside a big garden with individual tables housed in dimly lit small hutments in the garden. Food was good and afforable, and the service was quick. After a light dinner and a much needed boost of caffeine, I headed off in the direction marked "Chennai". If I kept a good, steady pace, I should be there in 2 hours, I calculated. It was just past midnight, and I had a working day ahead of me.
The road I took, as I found out later, took me via Gudiyattam to Vellore before joining the Expressway to Chennai. The stretch of road from Palamaner to Gudiyattam was again single-lane, but with no visible vehicular traffic, it turned out to be a smooth, but lonely ride. There were a couple of the occasional KSRTC buses which would make themselves visible as a red triangle in the distance and would disppear in the RVM in seconds. And an occasional truck trudging along. The loneliness soon became a spooky feeling as the road starting curving around through some dense foliage. Knowing that the roads would remain mostly dark and empty, I increased my pace to get rid of the spooky feeling and very soon, I was enjoying the dark, curving roads at 100kph.
The old adage of "Never ride faster than your lights" came as a glaring reminder to me when an almost-invisible tuk-tuk surfaced out of nowhere in the darkness and I had to hit my brakes real hard and swerve to avoid it. More than a narrow side-swipe, it was a big eye-popper for me. Was i sleepy? Were my eyes fatigued? or was I grossly overconfident? I figured out that the last option was more apt, and decided to stick to a more comfy pace, cruising at 75 kph till I hit the expressway at Vellore somewhere around 1:30 AM, where I had another coffee break before speeding off on the brightly-lit wide expressway till Chennai.
It was 2:45 AM when I finally rolled off the highway towards Porur and a twenty-minute cruising later, found a decently comfortable hotel to check into. I last recall looking at the clock on my phone and reading 3:42 AM.
Day-2
Barely three hours into my sleep, I was awaken rather rudely by a telephone ringing loudly. It was the over-hospitable room service, asking if I needed a Tea of a Coffee. Damn, I needed some more sleep! I asked him to "call me later" which he unfortunately heard as 'Coffee and Water" - and he was on my door in 15 minutes buzzing repeatedly. A grumpy start to a day is usually not a good sign - but on this occasion, it turned out to be a lifesaver, as DLF IT park was quite some distance away, and that early wake-up ensured that I was there 15 minutes early, navigating the confusing layout and searching for the right block.
The event stretched late into the afternoon. It was almost 3:45 when I left the office. I had skipped breakfast in a haste to reach on time and was surviving on water since morning. My eyes were sore and sleepy. I yearned for the hotel bed. But wait - I was visiting Chennai after a full five years, no less. I wanted to revisit those days, those memories. My old office at Guindy. The Mount Road. Marina Beach. Elliots beach. My erstwhile PG at Velachery. I had to make the best out of this godsent opportunity. Ordering some burgers at MarryBrown - a KFC-ripoff fast food joint, I began chalking my plans. I had the hotel till 3AM on Sunday - so I'd spend the rest of the evening revisiting Chennai, retire early, wake up at 3 and head towards Bangalore. That's precisely what I did. Finishing the burgers, I headed off towards Guindy.
Chennai was undergoing a transformation in the form of the upcoming metro and as a result, the entire stretch of road from Guindy to Parry's was in a mess. How I miss the Chennai's Mount Road of 2008 and Bangalore's MG Road of 2005! Thankfully, Chennaiites are a homely bunch - which meant relatively free roads on a Saturday evenings in stark comparison to Bangalore. I continued on the messed-up Anna Salai to Marina beach. A fried fish and some snaps later I rode down the Marine drive to Adyar and reached the Elliots beach at Besant Nagar where I again spent a peaceful 30 minutes reflecting on old memories and remembering old friends. Finally, I took a route via Thiruvanmiyur-SRP-Tharamani to Velachery, crossing the glazed-window gents' PG where I spent a good two years. From Velachery, it was a quick and fast ride to Guindy - DLF - Porur and I was finally back at the hotel at 8PM where I ordered a quick dinner, cleared my bills and hit the sack by 9:30.
Day-3
The phone's alarm buzzed me back to senses at 2:30 AM - a measly 5-hour sleep, but still good enough. I had a hot water shower to awaken my senses and checked out by 3:30. The streets were lonely as I made my way back to the highway. Barely 20 kilometers into the ride, I made a 10-minute halt for coffee and a fuel stop before finally letting the throttle open. The return ride was fast and I maintained a steady 85-90kph till Ambur. I had my second break at Ambur witnessing the sunrise lazily sipping an unforgettable cuppa tea. Beyond Ambur, the expressway was super-inviting. I let the little devil rip it's heart out and it was a happy cruise at 110-120 till Krishnagiri. I had a rather endearing round of peek-a-boo with an Innova packed with kids, occasionally speeding past the kids as they watched me with glum faces, again slowing down to let them pass and witnessing their innocent faces gleaming with laughter. Probably this was the best experience of the entire ride so far
7:30 AM on Sunday morning, and I pulled into the "bikers' hotspot" - the McDonalds' at Shoolagiri where a large group of riders from YRC had assembled for a breakfast ride. There were dozens of R15s lined up in perfect sync, and like most breakfast rides, the riders were busy clicking. One of them came up to me and asked "Are you one of us?"
I wasn't. Yet, I was. I surely didn't belong to any club. But I surely belonged to the fraternity.
"Mishra, you will have to head to Chennai within the next couple of hours!"
"And there goes my weekend for a toss!", I thought to myself. It was almost 7 pm on a seemingly dull Friday and I was logging off - that's when my manager's words boomed out loud, signalling me into one of the empty cabins. I followed him inside and a spartan brefing session followed. I was supposed to coordinate with our clients as a SPOC for an event and I was supposed to be there the next morning at 8 AM sharp. I would have to meet Blah blah for further course of action and would prepare blah blah report...the breifing went on for a good 15 minutes.
"Any questions?"
"Can I take my bike?"
"Are you mad?"
I knew I wasn't
I collected the required paperwork, headed off home for a transformation from the everyday riding gear to proper touring gear, packed the necessary tit-bits, and a set of extra clothes into my nifty mini-panniers and thumbed the starter at 8:30. I had a bit of route planning to do - as I needed to collect some documents from one of my colleagues who stayed at RT Nagar, off K R Puram - which meant taking the Hosur Road was out of question. I would have to take the Chittoor route. I reached my colleague's place sometime 9 PM to collect the documents. He suggested finishing dinner at his place but it was too early, and I didn't want to start off with a heavy tummy. We had a quick snack at one of the bakeries, and it was the wrong side of 9:30 when I finally hit the highway. A couple of minor jams, and very soon I was cruising effortlessly, speeding past the darkness. A couple of bullying Scorpios apart, the road was mostly peaceful and free and it was an efforless cruise till Mulbagal. But I was mostly unprepared for what followed next.
A few kilometers off Mulbagal was a heavily dug-up, single lane stretch which really got on my nerves. Blinded with high-beams from oncoming traffic, struggling for grip on the loose gravel and bullied by SUVs overtaking like madmen, it was probably one of the most treacherous sections of the route. 10 kms of that torturous stretch took up a significant chunk of my time as well as my mental composure and when I finally reached a strip of smooth tarmac, I pulled over for a much needed break to ease off the pent-up anger before I hit the road again. The highway had now shrunk itself to a single-lane road and it was definitely not the most reassuring thing to ride on, though the sparse traffic after Mulbagal kept things easy for me and I kept up a pace of 85kph till Palamaner, where i stopped for Dinner.
I pulled over at a very beautiful dhaba laid out nicely inside a big garden with individual tables housed in dimly lit small hutments in the garden. Food was good and afforable, and the service was quick. After a light dinner and a much needed boost of caffeine, I headed off in the direction marked "Chennai". If I kept a good, steady pace, I should be there in 2 hours, I calculated. It was just past midnight, and I had a working day ahead of me.
The road I took, as I found out later, took me via Gudiyattam to Vellore before joining the Expressway to Chennai. The stretch of road from Palamaner to Gudiyattam was again single-lane, but with no visible vehicular traffic, it turned out to be a smooth, but lonely ride. There were a couple of the occasional KSRTC buses which would make themselves visible as a red triangle in the distance and would disppear in the RVM in seconds. And an occasional truck trudging along. The loneliness soon became a spooky feeling as the road starting curving around through some dense foliage. Knowing that the roads would remain mostly dark and empty, I increased my pace to get rid of the spooky feeling and very soon, I was enjoying the dark, curving roads at 100kph.
The old adage of "Never ride faster than your lights" came as a glaring reminder to me when an almost-invisible tuk-tuk surfaced out of nowhere in the darkness and I had to hit my brakes real hard and swerve to avoid it. More than a narrow side-swipe, it was a big eye-popper for me. Was i sleepy? Were my eyes fatigued? or was I grossly overconfident? I figured out that the last option was more apt, and decided to stick to a more comfy pace, cruising at 75 kph till I hit the expressway at Vellore somewhere around 1:30 AM, where I had another coffee break before speeding off on the brightly-lit wide expressway till Chennai.
It was 2:45 AM when I finally rolled off the highway towards Porur and a twenty-minute cruising later, found a decently comfortable hotel to check into. I last recall looking at the clock on my phone and reading 3:42 AM.
Day-2
Barely three hours into my sleep, I was awaken rather rudely by a telephone ringing loudly. It was the over-hospitable room service, asking if I needed a Tea of a Coffee. Damn, I needed some more sleep! I asked him to "call me later" which he unfortunately heard as 'Coffee and Water" - and he was on my door in 15 minutes buzzing repeatedly. A grumpy start to a day is usually not a good sign - but on this occasion, it turned out to be a lifesaver, as DLF IT park was quite some distance away, and that early wake-up ensured that I was there 15 minutes early, navigating the confusing layout and searching for the right block.
The event stretched late into the afternoon. It was almost 3:45 when I left the office. I had skipped breakfast in a haste to reach on time and was surviving on water since morning. My eyes were sore and sleepy. I yearned for the hotel bed. But wait - I was visiting Chennai after a full five years, no less. I wanted to revisit those days, those memories. My old office at Guindy. The Mount Road. Marina Beach. Elliots beach. My erstwhile PG at Velachery. I had to make the best out of this godsent opportunity. Ordering some burgers at MarryBrown - a KFC-ripoff fast food joint, I began chalking my plans. I had the hotel till 3AM on Sunday - so I'd spend the rest of the evening revisiting Chennai, retire early, wake up at 3 and head towards Bangalore. That's precisely what I did. Finishing the burgers, I headed off towards Guindy.
Chennai was undergoing a transformation in the form of the upcoming metro and as a result, the entire stretch of road from Guindy to Parry's was in a mess. How I miss the Chennai's Mount Road of 2008 and Bangalore's MG Road of 2005! Thankfully, Chennaiites are a homely bunch - which meant relatively free roads on a Saturday evenings in stark comparison to Bangalore. I continued on the messed-up Anna Salai to Marina beach. A fried fish and some snaps later I rode down the Marine drive to Adyar and reached the Elliots beach at Besant Nagar where I again spent a peaceful 30 minutes reflecting on old memories and remembering old friends. Finally, I took a route via Thiruvanmiyur-SRP-Tharamani to Velachery, crossing the glazed-window gents' PG where I spent a good two years. From Velachery, it was a quick and fast ride to Guindy - DLF - Porur and I was finally back at the hotel at 8PM where I ordered a quick dinner, cleared my bills and hit the sack by 9:30.
Day-3
The phone's alarm buzzed me back to senses at 2:30 AM - a measly 5-hour sleep, but still good enough. I had a hot water shower to awaken my senses and checked out by 3:30. The streets were lonely as I made my way back to the highway. Barely 20 kilometers into the ride, I made a 10-minute halt for coffee and a fuel stop before finally letting the throttle open. The return ride was fast and I maintained a steady 85-90kph till Ambur. I had my second break at Ambur witnessing the sunrise lazily sipping an unforgettable cuppa tea. Beyond Ambur, the expressway was super-inviting. I let the little devil rip it's heart out and it was a happy cruise at 110-120 till Krishnagiri. I had a rather endearing round of peek-a-boo with an Innova packed with kids, occasionally speeding past the kids as they watched me with glum faces, again slowing down to let them pass and witnessing their innocent faces gleaming with laughter. Probably this was the best experience of the entire ride so far
7:30 AM on Sunday morning, and I pulled into the "bikers' hotspot" - the McDonalds' at Shoolagiri where a large group of riders from YRC had assembled for a breakfast ride. There were dozens of R15s lined up in perfect sync, and like most breakfast rides, the riders were busy clicking. One of them came up to me and asked "Are you one of us?"
I wasn't. Yet, I was. I surely didn't belong to any club. But I surely belonged to the fraternity.
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