pondi trip

Petrol may become still more expensive, roads will get even more crowded, the air will become more polluted and one day you too will get old…just to realize that things were much better when you were young. The idea was not to take the stock of things which have been lost or things which will be lost, but to live the day doing what you love the most. Again a long weekend was around the corner with nothing new to do.

It was my wish to have a trip to Pondichery on bike. I got a YES from my friend Arun and after that, I didn't have to think too much to say OK for the trip. Soon I was busy charting the route, searching for lodging & places to visit. As we had 4 days, we decided to visit Mahabalipuram also. And then sms were send with a single line question...''The trip is on…r u in?'' Many friend called up to inform that they may join. Who all are coming, which route we are taking, where we are going to stay...nothing was clear except for the fact that coming Oct 2nd, I am going to Pondy & Mahabs…just cant wait to ride on the ECR.

One day before the trip, I got a clear picture of the things, which was something like this:

Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Kancheepuram-Mahabs-Pondy-Tindivanam-Gingee-Tiruvannamalai-Chengam-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.

Plan: Reach Mahabs & stay there for a night, head towards Pondy by evening through ECR on day 2, roam around in Pondy & stay there on day 3. Head back home on day 4.

No of Riders: 2
No of Bikes: 1 (Yes, No one else joined us because of their monotonous life's routines)

Journey begins…all again !
First day of the trip is always the same...full of excitement & josh ! We had packed our entire luggage into 2 Army jute bags, which were hanged & tightly tied on both sides of our bike. All set & we started riding towards EC by 7 am. Odometer showed a reading of 11385 Kms at the beginning of the trip. Crossed EC to reach Hosur, stopped there to buy water. Now begins the favorite part of the trip. The Hosur-Krishnagiri highway. It's an excellent stretch of road with turns, bends and scenic landscape all around. The chemistry between the bike and tarmac is such that, they seems to be talking to each other. We stopped at Ghar Dhaba. Restaurant was good but too much crowded. I couldn't believe that people are willing to stand in an hour long queue for a masala dosa. As neither of us had that kind of patience, we decided to move on. Just after taking a left turn towards Vellore, we stopped at a small roadside food corner. Believe me, the food was simply great. Back on the road after breakfast, we were heading towards Vellore. The roads from here, throughout our journey were in superb condition I must agree but…it was boring. There is nothing much to see, to enjoy. You have straight stretch of road and our speedometer struck at a constant speed.

Finally reached Kanchipuram. A city of thousand temples & silk. Here the number of shops selling silk products will exceed everything else in the city. As I was going home for diwali so decided to do some serious shopping. It's was so confusing and I ended up at some 2 hours in getting in & out of almost all the shops in the vicinity. I was scared of Arun as he was looking at me like he want to drag me till Pondi on back of his back with those saris. But he said nothing by his mouth and hands... Lucky Me!. This was the time when we thought of a small change in the plan. Deviating from the lines already drawn is always fun…after all riding a bullet is something similar. Instead of going to Mahabs, we thought we will head towards Chennai. Decided to stay with Arun's uncle there and head towards Mahabs next day morning. we called up his uncle to inform him about the grand homecoming of his nephew. After having lunch from Kanchipuram, we were back on NH4 heading towards Chennai. Reached there by 4pm, our firststop. Took some time in finding out his uncle's place as he had been there only once & that too not on bike. After getting fresh, we decided to check out the hot & happening Chennai. When I said hot…I really mean it. But this time weather was not that hot either. Went to Marina beach...man it's crowded like Kumbh mela and was smelling like a dock yard. I asked my elder brother to meet us at a point in our way and decided to meet outside Chennai Central Railway station. Went there not only to meet him but also for handing over the consignment of silk saris which I had purchased, as he was also going home for diwali and i dont want to carry that BUNDLE with me on my trip.. ;-)!! After roaming around for sometime, we were back at Arun's uncle's place. we had done some 400 plus kms and was happy for the day.

The East Coast Ride…
Second day started with a light drizzle in the morning. But thankfully it didn't rain thereafter. I was more than eager to sail through the East Coast Road. Started at around 9am. Plan was to reach Mahabs by afternoon & Pondy by evening. Took the beach road to enter the ECR. It's a single lane highway with traffic flowing towards both the sides & without any dividers in between. But the road has been maintained so well that you will disappointed if you start searching for pot hole to ensure that you are still riding on Indian roads. You will have beach on one side of road for your company & beautiful country side on the other. It was like a sweet dream for every biker. We stopped at Covelong beach & Croc Bank on our way. It was great. Enjoying the ride we reached Mahabs or Mamallapuram by 2pm. Arjuna's Penance was the first place which we visited there. The 108 year old Lighthouse standing with poise, a huge oval rock known as Krishna's Butter Ball defying gravity by not rolling down a steep hill side were simply amazing. Then it was lunch time. After which we went to the famous Shore temple. It has been a mute, tireless sentinel of the shore for the past 1300 years. It's an architectural masterpiece. I came across a poster which read : ''Mamallapuram - 60 Kms & 1300 years away from Chennai''. How true it was. This small town was our second pit stop on ECR. By 4:30pm we were done with Mahabs & were heading towards Pondy. After reaching Pondy, there were two things for us to do. One to enjoy the night at the beach & to find a place to sleep. As no rooms were reserved in advance, I was not sure where or whether we will be getting a room. People were flowing into Pondy in tons as it was a long weekend. After searching every nook & corner of Pondy for almost 2 hours, we were lucky enough to get a room. The room was pretty decent. Got fresh & went to Velu's Military Hotel for a really heavy dinner. Food was good.

After the dinner, took out the bike & headed towards the Serenity beach. It was around 10pm when we reached there. The beach road was full of people taking a walk, enjoying the breeze or simply sitting & doing nothing. As the name suggest you will be able to find calm & silence on this shore even though it was crowded. The beach road is 1.5 Kms long with beach on one side & many hotels, restaurants & offices on the other. Before going back to the hotel, we would have ridden at least 3-4 times from one end to the other. Magic of this place fascinated us like anything that we decided to be there again before sunrise next day. Went back to room and signed off for the day.

The French connection… revisited
Arun was up with the first ring of the alarmas he was die-ing to catch the sun in full action with a beautiful beach in the foreground. Few people are very dedicated, I appreciate that. Like Me who had alarm ringing from 2 cell phones but still showing atmost dedication to my sleep.( I love that part of MINE). Without any guilty feeling, Arun kicked me out of my dream world. Got ready and were on the beach by 5:30.

It was still dark but could see the light coming across behind the horizon. Yes he was on his way. After walking for few minutes, we were standing with our eyes fixed on the horizon. But soon we were disappointed. Sun came out properly but behind the clouds...fully camouflaged ! That was googly of the day. But still we enjoyed the morning walk on the beach. Took some snaps on my K750I cell(thats the only camera, we had)& again ridded on the beach road. What I saw in the dark, the night before was looking even better in the morning. People meditating, doing yoga or talking a brisk walk…it was so peaceful. I decided to explore the streets and by lanes near the beach road.
Here every thing had a European touch. The churches, restaurants, street names, the building…their color, architecture, names everything…! There was something special about the aura of this place. Time had just frozen here and it was so beautiful. After the early morning ride, we were back in the hotel room.

POA for the day was to visit the Shri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondichery Museum & finally Auroville. As there was enough time, we decided to start the ride a bit late. I was resting on the bed watching the TV…that's it. I was out for an hour. When I got up it was raining…again. But by the time we got ready, the rain had stopped and by the time we started our ride sun was out in full strength. I was happy.

We headed towards the Ashram after breakfast. Next was the museum. On display were the findings of Arikamedu, a flourishing port city which got lost in the history. A township which lost its trade, wealth & finally its glory before becoming a play ground for archeologist to plow out things, which doesn't make much sense to normal eyes. Again reiterating the fact that whatever has been gained has to be lost some day…nothing remains forever. That was thought for the day ! Out of the museum by 12 noon and back to the present time, we were faced with a little confusion. Only place left for us to visit was Auroville, which was 10 kms north of Pondy town. As we had the entire evening with nothing to do, there were 2 options: Ride back to Pondy after visiting Auroville, stay there & head back home next day or head back to Bangalore, after Auroville. We didn't do either of them, rather decided to go back to Chennai. Call it home sickness of Arun or our excitement of ECR ride or whatever.

Came back to hotel, packed our bags & zipped towards Auroville. We were at Auroville by 1pm. It's a universal township, where people from different nationalities, faiths and beliefs, can live in peace and harmony. It was closed for lunch, had to wait for some times for seeing the golden sphere, the Matri Mandir. Started the ride towards Chennai by 3:30pm, stopping at all the spots on ECR where we couldn't stop while heading towards Pondy. Riding back on the ECR was marvelous. The odometer showed a reading of 12021.5 Kms while starting from Auroville and it the showed the same till Bangalore as the speedometer cable broke on the way. We were home after a long struggle with Chennai's traffic. It was time to unwind for the day.

Time to say Goodbye

Once again it was time to say goodbye & head back home. Packed our bags, tied them back on the bike. We started the ride by 10:30am. Stopped for fuel & were back on the track. We took the same route, the same good old highway. Stopped at Hosur for lunch. By 5pm we were back in Bangalore…thrill, ecstasy, bliss everything ends here & back to normal life (normal life...? don't have any idea why we call it so).