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| 1. The KPN Travels office in Shantinagar is a busy area, as it's situated right next to the government bus terminal. Much more interesting to pounce on space on the entrance step and plant your rear there as you wait for your transport to arrive, instead of that depressing and poorly ventilated waiting area in the office. |
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| 2. But these guys usually leave on time, and we were soon on Hosur Road, making our way towards er, Hosur. |
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| 3. It's actually quite amazing how quick these newer buses move, and they sure ain't Swedish. Quite amazing too how quick the drivers engage with any defiant road user in their path with a generous blast of eardrum-retiring air horn music. Tamil Nadu State cousins are no match. But Nan-AC sleeper buses are the way to go, because the kunjus AC bus operators often instruct drivers to turn off the air con in the night, and non-flower-esque odours and claustrophobhia will be upon you rather urgently... |
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| 4. Window pan. |
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| 5. Always keep an eye out for idiots going the wrong way on the highway - how they have the guts to put their, and more importantly, our,lives on the line will always be hard to understand (and bloody change too). |
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| 6. Dinner break usually happens around 10 pm near Krishnagiri, but I always try and carry a whole dose of Fanoos Jumbos for sustenance whenever I head home. |
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| 7. Going up around the bend. |
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| 8. Someone approaching from behind for the overtake down the main straight. |
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| 9. Not sure where this is exactly, though we were approaching Salem, and I was hoping for a nicotene fix... |
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| 10. ...but cigarettes take a toll on you, so don't ever start smoking. |
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| 11. One begins climbing up the Palani Ghat road around 6 in the morning, so it's a real treat to wake up to. The KSRTC buses don't use this route - they come up the other ghat road after turning off the National Highway at Dindigul. |
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| 12. And after almost two hours of climbing the hills, one finally hits the spot. Ma normally waits here at the lake junction for me, such is my brat life. |
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| 13. Time always flies when you're having a good time, I don't know where a whole month went. Actually I do, but let's not get into the details... Aisle be bach, Kodi. This is how a sleeper bus is usually set up inside - a 2+1 berth combination. Never make the mistake of booking a double berth if you're travelling alone, or someone else's arms, legs, and distinguishable smells will cosy up when the lights go out. |
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| 14. The best single berth in the bus was mine this time, second from the front and on the lower level. There's plenty of space even for the longer-legged - a far cry from our days of regular-seat buses where getting jammed behind some impolite moron-who-reclines-his-seat-and-jams-your-knees-for-the-whole-night was always part of the itinerary. |
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| 15. Fruit stalls the SRS Nan-AC sleeper bus - it's a good service, but be wary of service cancellations when the bus isn't booked to the company's satisfaction. |
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| 16. This is the commanding view bus drivers have, no wonder blinding headlights are never a problem for them, they're so high up above the rest. |
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| 17. The driver was easily at ninety clicks on this section of the narrow highway after descending the ghats, and leading to Palani town. |
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| 18. Free advertising. I know, right? |
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| 19. The Audicity of it all, but it's all good to add one ring when you're the King. I put one Kings, obviously. |
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| 20. Dinner at Dharapuram is usually around 10 again - pure traveller class Tamil Nadu vegetarian items are your only bet, so don't expect Kadai Chicken and Butter Naans on this journey. |
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| 21. Driver cabins have come a long, long way over the last decade or so, but the rear-conditioned driver's seat seems to have skipped evolution. That shifter, however, is better shaped than several car gear knobs in the market. |
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| 22. The driver couldn't wait to get On The Road Agaiyin - here's a standard overtake despite the oncoming vehicle. Might is right with bright headlight. |
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| 23. And another passing manoeuvre, this time around a corner. But this was nowhere near as worrying as the previous one... |
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| 24. Almost Salem now, and about time to grab a couple of hours shut-eye before the bus pulled up at Silk Board Junction, at a realistic time of around 4 in the morning. |
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| 25. The usual final extension into your sleep deprivation occurs if you can't get through to Ola and have to endure the auto rickshaw driver's staggering rip-off for the journey home - it often costs a third of your entire bus ticket to get under your roof! Ah well, grateful to have this here mine, at the time of penning the piece. This wasn't 4 am, he he, but you get the picture... |
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| I began humming Pink Floyd because I was On The Turning Away from Sathya's. No, I didn't, but oh well... |
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| ...there stood a Maruti totaller and an energetic Kinetic a little distance away. |
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| The totali-tea-rian 800 did not mind her picture taken despite the little ale in my exhale, but the Kinetic thought I was a lunatic. |
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| So I walked on down the road, and was to be reminded of how so many of us Lived And Let Hyundai even back then. He was old and grey and wise, and solemnly told me all his counterparts today still can't argue the case of his space. I had to agree. |
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| We've still got plenty Xing, yelled a younger brother from down the street a little further... |
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| It took me back a couple of months, when I ran into an iconic rock star on the side of another road, but on a night just like tonight. |
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| He said to me, "I'm Simon, but You Can Call Me PAL." And only because I told him his black bumper and headlight rims brought back fond memories of my childhood customisation dreams. |
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| Snap back to nightlife, back to reality. I was almost home now, when there stood an Omni between a green and a lean tree. |
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| I tried to chat, but he didn't say much. "Keep walking", he snapped, "And next time, don't do the talking. Po da!" "Omni po da!", I responded, and ran all the way home. |
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Bangalore was left behind on Wednesday morning, and we were pleasantly surprised by the ease with which we were able to begin clocking highway miles, as the traffic unchararacteristingly thinned out soon after Silk Board junction. |
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The four-speed automatic transmission makes the SUV thirsty, but kudos to Honda's attention to occupant safety even way back when - a passenger airbag is standard fare. |
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South India's steel city's two roundabouts kindly allowed us through without the usual hold-ups, we breezed through Salem and took the turn-off towards Dindigul. It's a big exit, but not marked too well, so GP-yes... |
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Follow me on Tweeter. |
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| ANH7, too, still grooves to Planet Funk's Chase The Sun. |
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| One crosses the Kaveri before Karur, and it was nice to see the river's waters running fairly deep. |
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| Why stop at chasing the sun when the clouds want to race as well... |
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| All this was too much for Jack Sparrow to miss, so the Pirates of the Caribbean decided to show up as well. |
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| Trees a cloud. |
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Driving a Honda CR-V on a good highway is always a pleasure, with the commanding driver's seating position, great visibility, and relatively decent performance from the 2.0-litre mill. But where it really stands out is the spectacular handling, which is what makes Honda Honda. |
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| Petrol pumped up kicks. |
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| Home in the range. Time for the aircon to go off because 'natural cooling' will soon be more than enough. |
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| Manjalar Dam it. Is. |
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| A hill road will always throw up surprises, so you need to be extremely careful in the ghats. There's a cow taking the racing line around this corner... |
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| ...and setting herself up for the entry into the next... |
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| High rises, the Kodaikanal way. We wish this were always true, but rampant development is adding more and more concrete to the landscape. |
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| Oh well, the curves will always treat those that respect them. |
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| Almost Perumalmalai, and Anand's driving and the sun's lighting duties were winding up for the day. |
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| And after seven hours on the road, our Kodaikanal International School's Bendy Field was chosen as communications HQ to set up the night's social activities. Because we were brought up well... |
