02-Nov-2008 (Sunday)

The “Dark” “Green” Trip

This has been on our minds for a long time. Siddharth, Prakash and I wanted to go there some time, but never came true till yesterday. Prakash was unlucky; Sitting in Helsinki and cursing us for postponing the trip for a long time and now leaving him out.

The trip was decided only on saturday (courtesy Aswin my good old school friend). I was little hesitant since I had to attend office on Monday and I was in a bit of financial crisis . But he was very persuasive and he won over me. I checked with Siddharth and he was ready for it. Aswin and I were gathering couple of other people – Naidu, Naga and Hari (all from school) and with Aravind (from my Kalari class). At last it was Aswin, Siddharth, Naga and I. The idea was to trip to Puduchery (Pondichery) on bike and return in the evening. We planned to meet at Thirvanmiyur bus terminus and start from there at 6:00 am. There was a surprise, very early in the morning, a wake up call from Aswin!! . My mobile showed 4:57 am. After wriggling on the bed for couple of minutes, I woke up and gave Sid and Naga wake up call. They were up.

My first stop was at CIT Nagar to pick Naga. Started from home at around 5:45 am. Aswin was there with Naga already. Another surprise.. though this wasn’t as big as the one – “The Wake up call”. Aswin pillioning Naga, we proceeded towards Thiruvanmiyur. Soon Sid joined us and we started towards Pondy at 6:20 am with brief break for filling up petrol. Our next stop was the toll plaza. We planned to take a photograph; but the security told us not to photograph there. Soon, we settled for photo session in front of “MGM Dizzee World”.

After couple of photos, we started. Sid and Aswin were well ahead of me in distance throughout our trip. Our next stop was at the Muttukadu bridge. Couple of photos there and a place (I don’t know the name). There was a sign board displaying the kms to Pondy and Mahabalipuram. After the photo session there our journey continued. We stopped over at Adyar Ananda Bhavan for our breakfast. I was unable clock more than 65 kph; my bike wasn’t stable. I decided to take Naga with me. Sid and Aswin were easily cruising at 80 kph and more. There was respite for me. After taking Naga, bike was much more stable and I was able to cruise at 80kph and at times 90kph. We took regular breaks to cool down our butts. Aswin’s mom phoned during one of the breaks. Got some good news from her.. she has some girl in her mind for Aswin. We may soon witness Aswin’s marriage God willing.. and also the girl willing. Aswin, please don’t disappoint us; especially your mom. Get married soon.

On Aswin’s idea we were on a small road off ECR expecting to end up at a beach. We returned after seeing the entrance of a beach resort.. couple of people from the village enquiring about it and smirking on hearing our idea.

Next stop was at Mudaliyar Kuppam for boating. We took a pedal boat (which was the one of the few boats within our budget) for half an hour with the sun staring at us. During that, boat got stuck couple of times (it was very shallow) and a passer on the nearby bridge gave us directions to bring back the boat to float. The highlight was, him asking us to get down from the boat and push it forward. It reminded me of a Senthil – Goundamani comedy from a movie. After the boating we decided to waste no more time and go directly to Pondy.

Sid and I

We reached Pondy at around 12:15 pm, just in time at the Manakula vinayagar temple before closure for the afternoon. Our stomach bells rang and we proceeded to Adyar Ananda Bhavan which is very near to the temple. Next visit was to mother’s ashram at 2:15 pm. The samadhi was ornate with flowers. We spent some time taking photographs near the ashram.  By 3:15 pm we decided to start our return journey. After traveling around 6 to 8 km, Aswin remembered of a museum and we went back to visit the museum (a small one). There ends my green part of the journey.

Finally we started our return journey at 5:00 pm. It soon became dark. I had to remove my shades and drive even without my helmet visor. Insects hitting against my face was worse and made the drive bit difficult. I had to be careful with driving due to poor visibility and the insects. Again Aswin and Sid were well ahead of us (Naga and me). The thought of traveling over 100 km in the prevailing condition was overwhelming and I was bit nervous, being my first time on a SH that too at night. There was a brief stop at a check post for verification of the docs. I was driving constantly at 55 kph and a Tata Indica scraping past us sent a shiver down my spine and compounded my nervousness.

The presence of Naga, lifted my spirits and I decided to cover as much distance as possible without a break. Aswin and Sid who were well ahead of us reached Adyar Ananda Bhavan at Mahabalipuram. We were behind by 10 km. I decided to take a break, since my hand and knees were becoming numb after driving continuously for about one and half an hour. We reached Mahabalipuram after 20 mins.. and we had some snacks.

It was 8:30 pm, we continued our journey towards Chennai. I was much more relaxed after the snack and just 54 km to cover. At 9:00 pm we all met at the Toll plaza to say goodbyes.

I dropped Naga near his house and reached home at 10 pm. Ah, my dark part of the trip is over. The trip was a mix of exhilarating and horrifying experience. There was a sense of satisfaction and relief on reaching home after accomplishing the (personal) ordeal.

P.S. Never travel on a highway after sunset.