It was the Independence day weekend and we finally took out our i-20 for a spur of the moment road trip. The husband was totally fried at work having turned an entrepreneur recently. He did not mind being the only driver as long as we got out of Mumbai for a few days. Somewhere....Anywhere....
Rushed home, threw in a few things into a bag and set out...No Reservations...
Pondicherry had been on my mind from a long time and August seemed to be a fairly decent time weather wise for the East Coast in India. The plan was fairly ambitious. Mumbai - Bangalore - Pondicherry and back in 5 days.
A total of just about 3000 kms. Phew...
We were blessed with absolutely brilliant weather throughout the trip except a couple of thunderstorms in and out of Bangalore. Azure blue skies, powder puff clouds and brilliant roads. The NH4 from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore is almost complete except a 100-200 km stretch in Karnataka. The incomplete stretch is pretty bad and needs to be covered in broad daylight with all eyes on the road. Otherwise the NH4 is a dream to drive on (or so says the husband).
The trip started with a fairly eventless drive from Mumbai - Kolhapur - Bangalore if you can cal getting lost in Kolhapur city at midnight with not a soul in sight as eventless. Bangalore was anything but that. Good wine, Home food, couple of converts for the next leg of the road trip and almost setting out for Pondicherry at 2 am in a pouring thunderstorm because the boys were convinced that they were sober.
Pondicherry was a different story with a hotel situation arising out of the occassion of Independence day and Aurobindo's birthday, something which we had completely unaware of. Apparently we were not the only ones who thought of Pondicherry that weekend. The city was jam packed with no hotel rooms to be had for any amount of money or anything else. It was either the car if it rained or the promenade if it didn't. We did happen to find a nice new hotel with brand new smelling rooms just before we gave up.
The next two days were spent gallivanting in and around Pondicherry, ECR and Mahabalipuram. Some great car games, one of which involved thinking of all Hindi words beginning with "Kh" for some reason. Two marvellous balmy days by the sea. Overall the food in Pondicherry was a letdown though. Nothing compared to the hype.
In fact the best meal we had was at this place along the ECR on the way to Mahabalipuram from Pondy. The yummiest south indian breakfast served very lovingly.
The drive back (We covered Bangalore - Mumbai, 1000Kms in 14 hours) was a zip.
We were told that we are crazy to attempt this trip in 5 days. 5days of being on the road, exhilarating speeds and vistas, beautiful beaches and sunrises and some great highway food. It took us more than 5 days to recover from the body aches and more than 5 days to convince my parents to take me back as their daughter. But it was worth every second.
Don't take my word for it. Try it yourself...
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