Bro when it’s you, life’s always gonna be a dashing ride! - Part 2

23.12.2011 Dawn
One mobile started ringing at 04:26 AM and the other at 04:28 AM. For most of the familiar readers, it’ll be easy to guess which one was which. Excitedly, we both jumped out of our respective beds. Yes, we would be driving today! Ultra slept for a while while I got ready. Mom and Dad had already woken up and mom was making VangiBath (popular rice dish) early in the morning. We had packed most of our clothes and there was a little bit of hurry in the last minute charging the camera and mobiles, some last minute packing, etc. Ultra was the last to get ready and by the time he got ready at 5:15 AM, the rest of us had some coffee, which he doesn’t like to have anyway. We put all the luggage in the dicky of the car. The audio speaker deck was creating problems for large bags to be stuffed, but somehow we had managed to fit them all.


23.12.2011 5:33 AM
We planned to start at 5:30 in the morning and it was exactly 5:30 when we locked the main door and sat in the car. It was a cold, December morning and we had to close all the windows to feel comfortable inside. However, the sunrise was still faraway and we had to drive for sometime with headlights. I had this experience before so I wanted Ultra to start it off. And he did! This was the route which we had to cover:

Tumkur --> Davangere --> Hubli --> Ankola --> Karwar --> Goa border --> Madgaon --> Ponda --> Ramnath temple

Route map - click to enlarge

So, we had chosen a little circuitous route instead of a direct one and this was not without reason – many bloggers on the site had warned that the road would be very bad if we had taken the shorter route without going till Hubli. We planned to reach the temple by evening.

23.12.2011 5:45 AM

We were on the NICE road by now and Ultra was already doing speeds of 80-100 km/h. I was just sitting in the navigator’s seat and trying to help if needed by warning. We kept saying ‘Quick but safe’ to each other. But we knew we had to cruise through the city limits as early as possible to avoid the morning traffic. Although we thought we could do it, there were many toll booths on the way. Our first target was to get on NH4 and then touch Tumkur by 6:45…

driving with headlights at dawn

23.12.2011 6:40 AM
Well, we had made it almost near Tumkur but the city traffic was a little heavy. So, we would just barely make it to the bye-pass at 6:45. The dense fog before sunrise was not helping either. It would be cold if we opened the windows, but the fog would cover the windshield and reduce visibility if we dint. The AC directed towards to the windshield helped a bit but not totally. Dad and Mom had taken the backseat. As usual, Dad had forgotten the ear cap and was asking mom for the sweater and we both laughed remembering the numerous times that had happened before. Whoever said familiarity breeds contempt! It doesn’t! In fact, you start loving the familiarity and start yearning for it. We laugh that it is too familiar, but deep down, we develop a liking for it and miss it when we don’t get it. Isn’t it?


23.12.2011 8:00 AM
The sun was out now and it was already 2.5 hours since we left home. The excitement of getting up early, packing and hitting the road had slowly sunk in. We were cruising at 80-110 kmph consistently except for the toll booths where we had to shell out some 150 rupees already for as many kilometers covered. Mom and Dad were already dozing off after the initial high. Ultra was still going steady. It seems he had made ‘Quick but safe’ his mantra of the day. Some scenes like this were on offer to our eyes:

tractors on truck

Quick but safe :)

23.12.2011 9:00 AM
The hunger pangs had set in and we kept searching for the Kamat Upachar on the highway. We had crossed Chitradurga already. Mom kept saying we will have VangiBath which she had packed. The name of Vangibath excited our hunger pangs even more. We thought we will go to a nice restaurant on the highway instead of leaving the highway to get into any city. It was 225kms when we stopped on the parking lane for a quick loo break for the first time. Ultra had driven all the time. As soon as we came back from behind the bushes (:p), we saw that mom had already opened the Vangibath and started eating. None of us could control either and we gobbled it up in no time. We were good to go after that and I took over from Ultra to drive on. By 9:30, we reached the Davangere byepass and most of us were still hungry. So, we decided to get inside the town for to have the famous ‘butter dosas’.

It was a long way into the city and we struggled to find a decent restaurant till we reached the city limits. We got into some restaurant and ate heartily. By the time we finished and got out of there and back on the highway, it was already 10:10 AM. We had to make up for the lost time. I drove on and hit 80 right away. Ultra went to the backseat to take some rest…

continued in part 3 here