Bangalore (ka) -> Kottayam (kl)

hi,
this blog may prove informative for all those first timers on the road in their new cars.

The BLR-KTYM trip via road was planned well in advance, taking into consideration that i will be driving a maruthi wagonR. the only option i had!

We(my wife and I) had a total of 650km one way and upon heavy calculations and the occasional brain fuses, we estimated the amount of fuel required to zip us across to ktym will be 1 full tank (33 liters) of pure shell rip off! why shell? i wanted the car to be in top running condition, not offering up any bad coughs along the way. I had not reason to look into the other maintainence of this car, since it was just 3 months old from stock. We push'd back the seats converting the 4 door into a coupe. which ment, loads of leg space and room to move about. Our bags were convinently pack off in the huge boot of this car. Hooked up our google-GPS (courtesy HTC) to the satallite suspended far above in space and .....

We started off on a wed early morning around 4, planning to cross or reach salem before the SUN warms the tarmac. since we live in whitefield, we took the shortcut via varthur - attibele route to hit the hosur highway. this road is dark and lonely at night/early mornings and there are no sign boards showin the way, unless you have the gps mapping to help you navigate.
I expected the roads to be clear and open, but that was not the case. as the truck drivers had the same intentions we did. stuck in a slow moving traffic at 5am in the morning till electronic city, and then it was a 3 open lane maddness! we had to make up for lost time. since we were in traffic for nearly 1 hr. Ripping at a speed of 100k for the first time the WagonR (WR) felt smooth and at ease. we reached hosur in 30mins and from there krishnagiri on a superb highway that nearly put my well slept wife, to sleep!! We eventually reached Salem by 10am, had breakfast on the go as I wanted to cross coimbatore before noon. But that was not to be, on reaching salem which is the transport-cargo hub for tamilnadu we took some time-off in enjoying the different glamours of the city.
(yea! ok we got lost) : /

After refreshing the GPS and asking a few lost souls on the road the heading to coimbatore, we finally hit the road again, this time in the right direction. after enjoying the smooth highway till salem this road was a far cry. filled with traffic and gutted with potholes, we were losing time and crusing at an agonizing speed of 30km/hr. : (
Chugging along behind ruthless bus drivers, trying to overtake the mindless truckies and at the same time avoiding the oncoming traffic which is mainly, trucks and buses. i took this all into my stride and pleaded with my inner spirits to see it thru the eyes of jack in the game NFS. It helps!!

Before you know, we were out of the highspeed traffic maddness and past the Bhavani dam area, and eased into a normal traffic mode. By this time it was 1pm and HOTT!! the A/C working in level 2 and blinders on all 4 windows did ease the heat inside the cabin. we had lunch on the go, yea i'm an expert in eating while driving and reached coimbatore bypass by 3pm. The scenery is quick to change in the TN outback, but awesome to see loads of space in the form of open land and large farm areas. From the kovai bypass the sector to palghat was pretty ok with new road consturctions happening in certain areas, this road seemed less travelled and an oppertunity to make up for loss time. i gunned it, we reached waylar check post in 45mins. the scenery changed from brown open land to lush green tropical forest (thats home)ah! and no space ........ the roads got narrower and the houses n trees seemed like there were on the road itself. 30mins into kerala we got puller over by the cops (typical) for not wearing seatbelts. since our veh registration was KA, and me in shorts and tees. I must have given the SI of police and non-mallu look. anyways, i spoke in english (on intention by my granny) on how the traffic sence in KA and TN is awefull and how well the efficient Kerala Police is keep the moral and securty in this beautiful State. We were on the road in 5 mins, no tips just a warning and no seatbelt required.
Moving at a pace were i saw joggers and cyclist zipping bye we reached trissure and by this time the clock ticked 5:30. I wanted to be in kottayam by 8pm just in time to order the infamous kerala parotta from kana restaurent. We hit the bypass again not entering into trissure or ernakulam cities. instead of takin the customary route of EKM-KTYM via vaikom, we stuck to the HWay and reached Chertala by 7pm and raining hard, which cooled of our hot engines and our souls.
From chertala it was the inner roads not even the state highway, please use this road only if you know the language and can drive in crampped roads. this route took us thru the beautiful backwaters of kumarakom and nostalgia creeped in. The fuel gauge indicator was now will in the red. with no proper fuel pumps on this route, we kept going at a normal fuel saver mode. and reached ktym central by 8:10pm. I got ma parcel and did a vistory lap around this small city and headed home (remember the fuel gauge is still in da red). I finally switched of the engine at 8:45pm.
overall, i expected it to be a tiring and backbreaking trip, but i was proved otherwise. we sat up late inthe night as if any other night. Nxt morning, I took it to the local maruthi outlet to have its first free service........
i hope reading this was as exciting as the experience we had, now we are looking forward on a BLR->KTYM trip via munnar... which has to be interesting takin on account now our car will have run close to 10,000km and past the 10 month marker.
See ya soon..
cheers!
JTG