I got up early at the Deva lodge in Hampi, got ready and avoided the city traffic in Hospet. I ate breakfast at a local cart near the bank's ATM where I stopped -- ate guntha ponganalu -- you make it with Idli flour...it was yum.
The drive from Hospet to Chitradurga is horrible. Guess this was day of difficult riding and bad roads. The bigger NH4 starts at Chitradurga but the highway to Chitradurga is full of potholes, unexpected bumps, speedbreakers, mud, trucks, dust, soot...At one point you drive with the Tungabhadra reservoir on your right...it's there for awhile and then it's all road. Too many trucks.
Chitradurga-Tumkur-Bangalore is one simple, smooth ride. I ate at Kamat's in Tumkur. Was surprised to see a Coffee Day on the highway. I called Ramesh from Tumkur but he couldn't meet and suggested that I take the "Nice Road" or the outer Ring Rd in Bangalore and avoid coming to the city altogether. That's was very good advice. So I took this nice road but it rained and rained and rained on this road. I rode in the rain for awhile and then it got just too difficult. I stopped under a flyover. Made a few phone calls and started to head towards Tamilnadu. There's a point when this Ring Road ends and joins the city before connecting to Hosur Road. That point is muddly, slushy and maha dangerous...it was worse than the road from Manali to Leh...where it's all slushy and the motorcycle could easily, easily skid. I saw a truck stuck between two points...its back and front wheel hanging on the ground and its rear wheels just stuck in between. Horrible...I wondered what B'lore was doing.
The drive to Hosur is filled with traffic, pollution, dust and heat. Bad. After Hosur, the real Tamil Nadu starts. And the state is a beauty. I had different impressions of TN before this ride and it all changed after driving through TN -- it's a cool, pleasant, green state with proud people and a deeply embedded culture. I reached Krishnagiri - surprisingly a town full of Telugu people and stayed at the cleanest lodge in my journey - Amaravathy. I searched for a cyber cafe and did some work that I had to do. Then I ate at Annapoorna - I ate set dosa I remember. Real yum. I was in a daze of travel by then forgetting where I started, what I covered, where I was going...I get into this zone...where I pause my brain and just drive.
Across Amaravathy, I saw a sign to Chennai and then to Salem. I was supposed to go to Salem. A phone call with my dad and then that sign changed my plans -- yet again. I also had a bad head ache that night and I decided that I'd do what I feel like the next morning. I felt a lot better after getting a good night's sleep -- I head to Chennai...250km from there...to spend time with my parents and be with them for Ganapathy festival.
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