Chennai to Kanyakumari drive via East Coast Road (ECR) in January 2018

Pharma company manager, Harish got transferred to South India in end 2017.

In January 2018, he drove his Honda Amaze from Chennai to Kanyakumari via East Coast Road (ECR) in 3 days for an overview of the market.
Day 1: Chennai - Pondicherry.
Day 2: Pondicherry - Rameshwaram.
Day 3: Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari.

The route was as follows:
Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Karaikal - Velanganni - Vedaranyam - Kodiyakkarai - Rameshwaram - Thiruchendur - Uvari - Kudankulam - Kanyakumari.

Our friend found the entire coastal route quite scenic.

Although a double lane road with no median divider almost throughout, the road surface was pretty decent. At most stretches it was difficult to exceed 80 kmph.
Some of the towns and their vicinity had high density of cycles and two-wheelers traffic spilling over to the main carriageway. It needed some amount of negotiation skills and a lot of patience. However, in general, traffic on the coastal road is sparse.

Kia Carnival delivery from Chennai showroom goes horribly wrong

 

Delivery of brand new Kia Carnival on 2020-06-20 went terribly wrong. 

Kia Motors, Thoraipakkam on OMR, Chennai on Saturday, 2020-06-20. 

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* Mishap And Calamity

More stricter implementation of lockdown rules in Tamilnadu w.e.f 2020-04-26

Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur, and some more towns in Tamilnadu are going in for total lockdown for a couple of days w.e.f Sunday, 2020-04-26 as an intensive measure to check the spread of Coronavirus.
Dear Indian Roadie page fans and group members, please Stay At Home for your own good and for the safety of your dear ones.
Kindly read all the attachments (4 pages). 

Chennai (TN) to Pune (MH) to Chennai - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Drove Chennai - Pune - Chennai in the last week of December 2018.

Chennai to Vellore - potholes have surfaced plus heavy traffic (toll for this road is a licensed fraud)
Vellore to Krishnagiri - Awesome roads as always
Krishnagiri to Electronic city - good roads

Nice road - Nice !

Electronic City to Tumkur - 2 lane with heavy truck and misc traffic

Tumkur to Chitradurga - awesome roads

Chitradurga to Dharwad - 6 laning in progress - lot of diversions and uneven tarmac. Watch out for speed/car breakers.

Hubli-Dharwad - 2 lane "highway" for which toll of 70 Rs is promptly collected (no Fastag option) Got stuck due to a trailer accident.

Belagum - Kolhapur - good roads

Kolhapur to Satara - good roads but watch out for wrong side driving, crazy bikers & tractors - thankfully the tractors (most of them) have a big reflective cloth

Satara to Pune - Not so good roads

Lot of food options once you get into MH - similary lot of food options even in the TN side. The KA side seemed to have lesser options (or maybe it wasnt as well advertised)

Fastag -  MH doesnt have dedicated lines, most of the lines are hybrid. KA - though they have separate lane, not enforced - saw this being enforced only in the Ranipet - Hosur section. Toll collection took time though the lines weren't lengthy  - Govt should re-introduce or enforce dedicated lines.

Saw police cars at various places in KA but didn't seem to intercept anyone - possibly they are now e-challaning.

MH cops stopped outstation cars (got stopped both ways) and check for documents esp PUC.

Stayed at Hotel Naveen Regency, Chitradurga, a good hotel with spacious rooms, during the return journey.

Content courtesy: P. Krishnamurthy.

Chennai - Srisailam - Hyderabad - Chennai road trip

Madhumita Santra completed her third road trip by car (second inter-state drive) in October 2018.
Covered 1461 km of road in 6 days. Longest distance covered in a day was 668 km in 13hrs with breaks.

Day 1: Chennai - Srisailam;

Day 2: Srisailam Temple and Site Trip; Srisailam - Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad;

Day 3: - Ramoji Film City Tour;

Day 4: Ramoji Film City - Hyderabad main City, Golkonda Fort, Paradise Biriyani, Lumbini Park;

Day 5: Hyderabad local sites - Charminar, Hussain Sagar, Prasads Big Screen (IMAX), Local Shopping;

Day 6: Hyderabad - Chennai.

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S - 2017-10-21 - Day 8 - Bangalore to Chennai

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S.

Day 8 - 2017-10-21 - Bangalore to Chennai
Ride route: Banglaore - Nandi Hills - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Chennai.
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Total distance covered in the 8 days of South Coastal Expedition: 3100 kms.

Routes:
Day 1 : (ECR) Kolathur (Chennai) - Marina - Mahabalipuram - Puducherry - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Karaikal - Velankani - Nagapattinam - Thondi - Rameshwaram
Day 2 : (ECR)Rameshwaram - Dhanuskodi - Thoothkudi - Thiruchendur - Uravi - Kanyakumari
Day 3 : (WCR) Kanyakumari - Periyakadu - Colachel Beach - Poovar - Kovalam - Thrivandrum
Day 4 : (WCR) Thrivandrum (Padmanabaswami Temple) - Varkala(Beach - Cliff - Black beach) - Kollam -Chavara - Purakkad - Allepey (Beach)- Eranakulam
Day 5 : (WCR) Eranakulam - Fort Kochi - Vypin - Cherai beach - Guruvayur - Pannai - Tanur - Calicut - Mahe - Talassery
Day 6 : (WCR - Inner Karnataka) Thalassery - Kannur - Bekal Fort - Kappil beach - Kasargod - Sullia - Madikeri - Mysuru
Day 7 : Mysuru - Chamundi hills - Bengaluru
Day 8 : Bengaluru - Nandi Hills - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Chennai

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S - 2017-10-14 - Day 1 - Chennai to Rameshwaram

South Coastal Expedition by Shivaprasad S.

Day 1 - 2017-10-14 - Chennai to Rameshwaram.
Ride route: Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry (Puducherry) - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Velankinni Beach - Pamban Bridge - Rameshwaram.
Distance: 750 kms.
Ride time: 5.30am to 8.00pm.
Remarks: After Cuddalore stopped for 2 hrs for a power-nap.

Ride to Gandikota from Chennai by Rohit Karmakar & friends in December 2016

Chennai - Gandikota - Chennai ride by Rohit Karmakar & friends in December 2016.

Onward journey route: Chennai - Nellore - Prodattur - Jammalamadugu - Gandikota.
Travel time during onward ride: 7 hrs without halts.

Return journey route: Gandikota - Jammalamadugu - Prodattur - Mydukur - Kadapa - Renigunta - Chennai.

Pathetic after sales service experience of Volkswagen Passat in Chennai

The after Sales service of high end VW (Volkswagen) vehicles viz. VW Passat and VW Toureg is really pathetic in terms of availability of spares and even the people who work seems to lack technical expertise in servicing these top end vehicles citing that these come as CBU and hence the spares need to come from the parent company in Germany, leave alone the cost sometimes they misdiagnose and the owner bears the brunt and I say on a average it takes 4 working days even to carry out the easiest work on these cars and SUV.

To share my story I request all in the forum to patiently read my story of disappointment.

I purchased a VW Passat 2010 in the month of September with a sense of pride and joy, but little did I know that I am going to see lots of tough time getting my after Sales services in future. As a passionate roadie I liked to take my VW Passat only on long highway trips and I was extremely happy with the performance and reliability of the car. Then to start with the problems my rear a/c vent Louvre broke and for getting it replaced after 45 days of delivery I had to wait for 90 days and end up paying 12k. Then each services done every year made my car unavailable for 6 days on average and costed nearly 22-32k depending on any wearable parts and consumables. Then as my car is on a very low mileage done, I was frustrated with the unavailable parts like even wiper blades and headlight washers pump and brake pads. Little did I bother about the cost and delay, but lastly when I left my vehicle for a job of hissing sound from the rear wheel and the scoring in the disc I personally told the person to change the brake pads and also to look into the suspension for a rattling noise, they delivered the car with the same problem persisting, then as a very loyal client I went again and left the vehicle and they carried out the job but they changed the wheel disc rotor and brake pads and all work was done and I was happy with the same, but all after 3 visits to the workshop and each costing me 30k. Today the final bill was 41k with a total mileage of 28k in the odometer.

Friends I appeal to all to share similar experience with VW and I really want to proceed with some action as I see that even if a part is fine they change the assembly in full. In this regard I think VW owners are facing real challenge.
I am going to mail the same to the parent VW company in Germany.

This is my story but I love my Passat and enjoy my drive.

(Verbatim as reported on #CarrotNStick by Dr. Sridhar Chellappan from Chennai on 2016-11-23 evening).

Complete list of pre-2010 National Highways in India (old numbers)

List of National Highways in India (old numbers) 
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NH1 (km. 456) – Delhi to Amritsar and Indo-Pak Border
NH1A (km. 663) – Jalandhar to Uri
NH1B (km. 274) – Batote to Khanbal
NH1C (km. 8) – Domel to Katra
NH1D (km. 422) – Srinagar to Kargil to Leh
NH2 (km. 1,465) – Delhi to Dankuni
NH2A (km. 25) – Sikandra to Bhognipur
NH2B (km. 52) – Bardhaman to Bolpur
NH3 (km. 1,161) – Agra to Mumbai
NH4 (km. 1,235) – Junction With NH3 near Thane to Chennai
NH4A (km. 153) – Belgaum to Panaji
NH4B (km. 27) – Nhava Sheva to Palaspe
NH5 (km. 1,533) – Junction with NH6 near Baharagora to Chennai
NH5A (km. 77) – Junction with NH5 near Haridaspur to Paradip Port
NH6 (km. 1,949) – Hazira to Kolkata
NH7 (km. 2,369) – Varanasi to Kanyakumari
NH7A (km. 51) – Palayamkottai to Tuticorin Port
NH8 (km. 1,428) – Delhi to Mumbai
NH8A (km. 473) – Ahmedabad to Mandvi
NH8B (km. 206) – Bamanbore to porbunder
NH8C (km. 46) – Childo to Sarkhej
NH8D (km. 127) – Jetpur to Somnath
NH8E (km. 220) – Somnath to Bhavnagar
NH NE1 (km. 93) – Ahmedabad to Vadodara Expressway
NH9 (km. 841) – Pune to Machillipatnam
NH 10 (km. 403) – Delhi to Fazilka and Indo-Pak Border
NH11 (km. 582) – Agra to Bikaner
NH11A (km. 145) – Manoharpur to Kothum
NH11B (km. 180) – Lalsot to Dholpur
NH12 (km. 890) – Jabalpur to Jaipur
NH12A (km. 333) – Jabalpur to Jhansi
NH13 (km. 691) – Solapur to Mangalore
NH14 (km. 450) – Beawar to Radhanpur
NH15 (km. 1,526) – Pathankot to Samakhiali
NH16 (km. 460) – Nizamabad to Jagdalpur
NH17 (km. 1,269) – Panvel to Chavakkad and North Paravur Junction with NH47 near Edapally at Kochi
NH17A (km. 19) – Junction with NH17 near Cortalim to Murmugao
NH17B (km. 40) – Ponda Verna to Vasco
NH18 (km. 369) – Junction with NH7 near Kurnool and Nandyal to Cuddapah and Junction with NH 4 near Chittoor
NH18A (km. 50) – Puthalapattu to Tirupati
NH19 (km. 240) – Ghazipur to Patna
NH20 (km. 220) – Pathankot to Mandi
NH21 (km. 323) – Junction with NH 22 near Chandigarh to Manali
NH21A (km. 65) – Pinjore to Swarghat
NH22 (km. 459) – Ambala to Indo China Border near Shipkila
NH23 (km. 459) – Chas to Talcher and Junction with NH 42
NH24 (km. 438) – Delhi to Lucknow
NH24A (km. 17) – Bakshi Ka Talab to Chenhat (NH 28)
NH25 (km. 352) – Lucknow to Shivpuri
NH25A (km. 31) – 19 (NH 25) to Bakshi Ka Talab
NH26 (km. 396) – Jhansi to Lakhnadon
NH27 (km. 93) – Allahabad to Mangawan
NH28 (km. 570) – Junction with NH 31 Near Barauni and Muzaffarpur to Lucknow
NH28A (km. 68) – Junction With NH 28 near Pipra to Indo and Nepal Border
NH28B (km. 121) – Chhapra to Bagaha and Junction with 28A at Chapwa
NH28C (km. 184) – Barabanki to Indo and Nepal Border
NH29 (km. 196) – Gorakhpur to Varanasi
NH30 (km. 230) – Junction with NH 2 near Mohania and Patna to Bakhtiarpur
NH30A (km. 65) – Fatuha to Barh
NH31 (km. 1,125) – Junction with NH 2 near Barhi & Bakhtiarpur to Charali & Amingaon Junction with NH 37
NH31A (km. 92) – Sevok to Gangtok
NH31B (km. 19) – North Salmara to Junction with NH 37 near Jogighopa
NH31C (km. 235) – Near Galgalia to Sidili and Junction with NH 31 near Bijni
NH32 (km. 179) – Junction with NH 2 near Gobindpur and Dhanbad to Jamshedpur
NH33 (km. 352) – Junction with NH 2 near Barhi to Jamshedpur Junction with NH 6 near Baharagora
NH34 (km. 443) – Junction with NH 31 near Dalkhola and Baharampur to Dum Dum
NH35 (km. 61) – Barasat to Petrapole on India and Bangladesh border
NH36 (km. 170) – Nowgong to Dimapur (Manipur Road)
NH37 (km. 680) – Junction with NH 1B near Goalpara and Guwahati to Saikhoaghat
NH37A (km. 23) – Kuarital to Junction with NH52 near Tezpur
NH38 (km. 54) – Makum to Lekhapani
NH39 (km. 436) – Numaligarh to Palel and Indo Burma Border
NH40 (km. 216) – Jorabat to Indo-Bangladesh Border near Dawki and Jowai
NH41 (km. 51) – Junction with NH6 near Kolaghat to Haldia Port
NH42 (km. 261) – Junction with NH6 Sambalpur to Junction with NH5 at Manguli near Cuttack via Angul, Dhenkanal
NH43 (km. 551) – Raipur to Jagdalpur and Vizianagaram Junction with NH5 near Natavalasa
NH44 (km. 630) – Shillong to Sabroom
NH44A (km. 230) – Aizawl to Manu
NH45 (km. 387) – Chennai to Theni
NH45A (km. 190) – Villupuram to Nagapattinam
NH45B (km. 257) – Trichy to Tuticorin
NH45C (km. 159) – The highway starting from its junction with NH67 near Thanjavur and connecting Kumbakonam to Panruti and terminates near Vikravandi on NH45
NH46 (km. 132) – Krishnagiri to Ranipet
NH47 (km. 640) – Salem to Kanyakumari
NH 47A (km. 6) – Junction with NH47 at Kundanoor to Willington Island in Kochi
NH47C (km. 17) – Junction with NH47 at Kalamassery to Vallarpadom ICTT in Kochi
NH48 (km. 328) – Bangalore to Mangalore
NH49 (km. 440) – Kochi to Dhanushkodi
NH50 (km. 192) – Nasik to Junction with NH4 near Pune
NH51 (km. 149) – Paikan to Dalu
NH52 (km. 850) – Baihata to Tezu and Sitapani Junction with NH37 near Saikhoaghat
NH52A (km. 57) – Banderdewa to Gohpur
NH52B (km. 31) – Kulajan to Dibrugarh
NH53 (km. 320) – Junction with NH 44 near Badarpur and Jirighat to Imphal
NH54 (km. 850) – Dabaka to Tuipang
NH54A (km. 9) – Theriat to Lunglei
NH54B (km. 27) – Venus Saddle to Saiha
NH55 (km. 77) – Siliguri to Darjeeling
NH56 (km. 285) – Lucknow to Varanasi
NH56A (km. 13) – Chenhat (NH 28) to 16 (NH 56)
NH56B (km. 19) – 15 (NH 56) to 6 (NH 25)
NH57 (km. 310) – Muzaffarpur to Purnea
NH57A (km. 15) – Junction of NH57 near Forbesganj to Jogbani
NH58 (km. 538) – Delhi to Mana Pass
NH59 (km. 350) – Ahmedabad to Indore
NH59A (km. 264) – Indore to Betul 

NH60 (km. 446) – Balasore to Moregram (Junction at NH 34)
NH61 (km. 240) – Kohima to Jhanji
NH62 (km. 195) – Damra to Dalu
NH63 (km. 432) – Ankola to Gooty
NH64 (km. 256) – Chandigarh to Dabwali
NH65 (km. 690) – Ambala to Pali
NH66 (km. 214) – Pondy to Krishnagiri
NH67 (km. 555) – Nagapattinam to Gundlupet
NH68 (km. 134) – Ulundrupet to Salem
NH69 (km. 350) – Nagpur to Obedullaganj
NH70 (km. 170) – Jalandhar to Mandi
NH71 (km. 307) – Jalandhar to Bawal
NH71A (km. 72) – Rohtak to Panipat
NH71B (km. 74) – Rewari to Palwal
NH72 (km. 200) – Ambala to Haridwar
NH72A (km. 45) – Chhutmalpur to
NH73 (km. 188) – Roorkee to Panchkula
NH74 (km. 300) – Haridwar to Bareilly
NH75 (km. 955) – Gwalior to Ranchi
NH76 (km. 1,007) – Pindwara to Allahabad
NH77 (km. 142) – Hajipur Sonbarsa
NH78 (km. 559) – Katni to Gumla
NH79 (km. 500) – Ajmer to Indore
NH79A (km. 35) – Kishangarh (NH 8) to Nasirbad (NH 79)
NH80 (km. 310) – Mokameh to Farrakka
NH81 (km. 100) – Kora to Malda
NH82 (km. 130) – Gaya to Mokameh
NH83 (km. 130) – Patna to Dhobi
NH84 (km. 60) – Arrah to Buxar
NH85 (km. 95) – Chhapra to Gopalganj
NH86 (km. 674) – Kanpur to Dewas
NH87 (km. 83) – Rampur to Nainital
NH88 (km. 115) – Shimla to Bhawan and NH 20
NH90 (km. 100) – Baran to Aklera
NH91 (km. 405) – Ghaziabad to Kanpur
NH92 (km. 171) – Bhongaon to Gwalior
NH93 (km. 220) – Agra to Moradabad
NH94 (km. 160) – Hrishikesh to Yamunotri
NH95 (km. 225) – Kharar (Chandigarh) to Ferozepur
NH96 (km. 160) – Faizabad to Allahabad
NH97 (km. 45) – Ghazipur to Saiyedraja
NH98 (km. 207) – Patna to Rajhara
NH99 (km. 110) – Dobhi to Chandwa
NH100 (km. 118) – Chatra to Bagodar
NH101 (km. 60) – Chhapra to Mohammadpur
NH102 (km. 80) – Chhapra to Muzaffarpur
NH103 (km. 55) – Hajipur to Mushrigharari
NH104 (km. 160) – Chakia to Narahai
NH105 (km. 66) – Darbhanga to Jaynagar
NH106 (km. 130) – Birpur to Bihpur
NH107 (km. 145) – Maheshkhunt to Purnea
NH108 (km. 127) – Dharasu to Gangotri Dham
NH109 (km. 76) – Rudraprayag to kedarnath Dham
NH110 (km. 89) – Junction with NH98 and Arwal to Ekangarsarai Bihar Sharif and Junction with NH31
NH111 (km. 200) – Bilaspur to Katghora and Ambikapur on NH78
NH112 (km. 343) – Bar Jaitaran to Barmer
NH113 (km. 240) – Nimbahera to Dahod
NH114 (km. 180) – Jodhpur to Pokaran
NH116 (km. 80) – Tonk to Sawai Madhopur
NH117 (km. 119) – Haora to Bakkhali
NH119 (km. 260) – Pauri to Meerut
NH121 (km. 252) – Kashipur to Bubakhal
NH123 (km. 95) – Barkot to Vikasnagar
NH125 (km. 201) – Sitarganj to Pithorgarh
NH150 (km. 700) – Aizwal to Kohima
NH151 (km. 14) – Karimganj to Indo and Bangladesh border
NH152 (km. 40) – Patacharkuchi to Indo and Bhutan Border
NH153 (km. 60) – Ldo to Indo and Myanmar Border
NH154 (km. 180) – Dhaleswar to Kanpui
NH155 (km. 342) – Tuensang to Pfutsero
NH200 (km. 740) – Raipur to Chandikhole
NH201 (km. 310) – Borigumma to Bargarh
NH202 (km. 280) – Hyderabad to Bhopalpatnam
NH203 (km. 59) – Bhubaneswar to Puri
NH204 (km. 974) – Ratnigiri to Nagpur
NH205 (km. 442) – Anantpur to Chennai
NH206 (km. 363) – Tumkur to Honnavar
NH207 (km. 155) – Hosur to Nelamangala
NH208 (km. 206) – Kollam to Thirumangalam (Madurai)
NH209 (km. 456) – Dindigul to Bangalore
NH210 (km. 160) – Trichy to Ramanathapuram
NH211 (km. 400) – Solapur to Dhule
NH212 (km. 250) – Kozhikode to Kollegal
NH213 (km. 130) – Palghat to Kozhikode
NH214 (km. 270) – Kathipudi to Pamarru
NH214A (km. 255) – Digamarru to Ongole
NH215 (km. 348) – Panikoili to Rajamunda
NH216 (km. 80) – Raigarh to Saraipali
NH217 (km. 508) – Raipur to Gopalpur
NH218 (km. 176) – Bijapur to Hubli
NH219 (km. 150) – Madanapalle to Krishnagiri
NH220 (km. 265) – Kollam to Theni
NH221 (km. 329) – Vijaywada to Jagdalpur
NH222 (km. 610) – Kalyan to Nirmal
NH223 (km. 300) – Port Blair to Mayabunder
NH224 (km. 298) – Khordha to Balangir
NH226 (km. 204) – Perambalur to Manamadurai
NH227 (km. 136) – Trichy to Chidambaram
NH228 (km. 374) – Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi
NH229 (km. 1,090) – Tawang to Pasighat
NH230 (km. 82) – Madurai to Thondi
NH231 (km. 169) – Raebareli to Jaunpur
NH 232 (km. 305) – Ambedkarnagar (Tanda) to Banda
NH232A (km. 68) – Unnao to Lalganj (Junction of NH to 32)
NH233 (km. 292) – India to Nepal border and Varanasi
NH234 (km. 780) – Mangalore to Villuppuram
NH235 (km. 66) – Meerut to Bulandshahr