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.

Bangalore (KA) to Kodaikanal (TN) - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Karur - Dindigul - Batlagundu - Kodaikanal.

Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) drive by couple Harsha Sharma and Dushyant Mishra in Maruti Ertiga in December 2018

2018-12- to Wednesday, 2018-12-26 at 3.30pm.

15 days, 14 nights.

3 nights in hotel/hostel.

11 nights in the car.

Total 6632 km.

295 litre of diesel consumed by Maruti Ertiga.

Total fuel cost ₹19,701.

Avg per litre cost ₹66.78.

Overall average of Ertiga 22.48 kmpl.
Best average 25.5 kmpl.
Worst average 19.3 kmpl.

Overall cost per km driven ₹2.97

Total food cost for food in restaurant - ₹6392

Per day food cost ₹426

Total stay cost ₹6456

Per night stay cost ₹461.

Toll was paid using Fast Tag, will have to check how much we paid.

442 km driven per day. Total cost of the trip is approximately ₹47,000. This doesn't include any shopping.

Couple driving Bangalore to Mumbai killed after ramming car behind truck at 5am on 2018-12-23

Bengaluru couple dead in a car crash on Mumbai-Pune Expressway; their two sons escape unhurt.
A family of four was headed to Mumbai from Bengaluru when their car crashed into a truck. The couple was declared dead on arrival by the hospital authorities while their two sons were discharged after treatment for minor injuries.
Ankit Bhupendra Singh Tugh (35), and his wife Sanjana (30) were headed to Dadar in Mumbai to Tugh's parents' place for Christmas with their two sons in tow. Their two kids aged seven and four miraculously escaped unhurt while their parents tragically died on the spot.
The accident happened on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday, 2018-12-23 around five in the morning. Tugh was driving the car and his wife, Sanjana was sitting in the passenger seat beside him. Their children were in the back seat when the car rammed into a truck which had reduced its speed suddenly. Their car got stuck to the truck from behind and the truck driver kept on driving with the wrecked car for almost a kilometre and a half. He realised what had actually happened when there was a loud sound of the car detaching from the truck. The scared driver ran away from the accident spot.
The hospital authorities said that the couple could have been saved if they would have been brought to the hospital earlier.
The driver has been booked under rash and negligent driving and other sections of the IPC have been filed against him by the Panvel Taluka police authorities.
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#NoPlannedNightDriving
#ChildrenOrphaned
#StopTheRitualisticRIP

Biker from Kolar district burnt alive after colliding with bus on 2018-12-26

Neeraj (20), a resident of Vivekanand Nagar of Bangarpet, Kolar district, Karnataka is the unfortunate bike rider who lost his life in this tragic accident on Wednesday, 2018-12-26 morning.
A private bus which came from the opposite side collided with the bike. Due to the impact of the collision, the petrol tank of the bike caught fire and Neeraj was burnt alive within minutes.
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# road accident

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.

Bangalore to Chikmagalur (KA) drive during Christmas 2018

Spent Christmas weekend driving in the hills of Malenadu and visited the following places with Chikmagalur as the base.

1. Deviramma Temple, Chikmagaluru
2. Annapurnashewari Temple, Hornadu
3. Kalaseshwara Temple, Kalasa
4. Amba Teertha, Kalasa
5. Vasishta Teertha, Kalasa
6. Mallikarjuna Temple, Hirenallur
7. Hoysaleshwara Temple, Halebeedu
8. Veeranarayana Temple, Belavadi

𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬:

Bangalore - Chikmagalur: Nothing new here to update. Great roads and the distance can easily be covered in 4 hours of sedate driving

Chikmagalur - Mudigere - Kottigehara: Apart from the patchy roads in Hale mudigere and some culvert construction in Mudigere - Kottigehara stretch, roads are decent double roads

Kottigehara - Kalasa - Hornadu: Good to very good twisties. Distance on 48 kms covered in about 75 minutes.

Kalasa - Vasishta Teertha: Just follow gmaps and take the road behind the kalaseshwara temple to reach the bridge.

Kalasa - Amba Teertha: Take the mud road next to prince of kalasa and follow the mud trail to amba teertha. Its almost 3 km of nonexistent  to very bad roads and doable only in a hatchback or SUV. Sedans will find it very difficult to negotiate the furrowed surface as large stretches are hardened mud tracks.

Chikmagalur - Kadur: Decent 2L roads with a small bad stretch around sakrepatna

Kadur - Hirenallur: Beautiful tarmac 2L road on which you can do tripple digit speeds without any effort.

Halebeedu - Belavadi: Decent 2L road with lots of trees and farms all around

Belavadi - Kalasapura - Kaimara - Chikmagalur: Decent 2L stretch dotted with small villages. Do watch out for the occasional speed breakers and mad red bus drivers

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬:

Hirenallur has been on the to do list for a while now and finally managed to find some time on Sunday evening to drive down to the temple. Chikmagalur - Sakrepatna - Kadur is ok roads with some bad sections after sakrepatna. Kadur - Hirenallur is beautiful tarmac with fields and trees all around. That section of the road is so good that at one point I was doing 110 kmph and I didn’t realize I was going that fast on a 2L road for many minutes. The temple as such is a relatively small but decently maintained example of Hoysala architecture. More details can be found https://www.teamgsquare.com/2013/10/hoysala-mallikarjuna-temple-hirenallur.html

No introductions needed to the Halebeedu temple. This again was one of the temples that has been on the list for a while but we stayed away because of the crowd. 24th Dec morning wasn’t really a good time to visit as the temple was jam packed with busloads of school kids and tourists. Somehow managed to distance myself from the chaos around me and soak in some of the beautiful carvings engraved on the wall and ceilings. Someday I plan to get there before sunrise and spend a lot of time with all the stories carved in stone.

Some pics from the trip.
1. Veeranarayana Temple, Belavadi. 

2. Enroute to Belavadi Temple. 

3. Hoysaleshwara Temple, Halebeedu - awe inspiring facade. 

4. Hoysaleshwara Temple, Halebeedu. 

5. Mallikarjuna Temple, Hirenallur. 

6. Fog enroute to Kalasa. 

Text & photo credit: Ravinder Janakiraman.

Trivandrum (KL) to Munnar (KL) - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Trivandrum - Kottayam - Muvattupuzha - Kothamangalam - Adimali - Munnar.

Road trip to St. Lawrence Church, Attur, near Karkala (55 kms from Mangalore)

St. Lawrence Shrine or Attur Church is a Roman Catholic church in Karkala, Karnataka. It was built in 1759 and is purported to be the site of many miracles. It is by characterized its Attur Jatre or Attur Festival.
Attur Church is situated on the outskirts of Karkala in Karnataka, #India. 😊

Route:
Option 1: Mangalore - Moodbidri - Karkala via NH169 = 53 kms.
Option 2: Mangalore - Padubidri (via NH66) northwards drive along the west coast and thereafter Padubidri - Karkala (via SH1) = 60 kms.

Photo & text credit: @justsimple411
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#MustVisit
#MustSee

'Indian Roadie Preferred Hotel' brands near Gangani at Garbeta and Chandrakona Road

Hotel Sonajhuri, Chargora, (2 kms from Gangani), Garbeta.

Hotel Parimal Kanan,  Chandrakona Road (17 kms from Garbeta) .... ambiance is better than the other hotels in Garbeta.

Star Lodge, Garbeta.
Appayan Lodge, Garbeta.
Shyam Bhawan, Garbeta.

Saikat Bishnu, the erstwhile utterly ungrateful IndianRoadie member

Saikat Bishnu, a nouveau rich cheap medicine seller in Khardaha, North 24 Parganas district (in the northern fringes of Kolkata) had been ejected from IndianRoadie (in mid May 2016) for his misdemeanors. He usurped lots of benefits from IndianRoadie during his days in the forum.
After being blocked from the forum, I have found him talking/ writing/ trolling unsubstantiated nonsense in other forums/ platforms on numerous occasions (the latest being on 2018-12-15). 

It was Saikat who would call me up at odd hours and seek driving tips/ suggestions from me. He has gone to the extent of mentioning that it was me who used to disturb (not, help) him. 

He bought a White coloured Mahindra Scorpio around March or April 2015. He would call me up every 2nd day and tell me that his 'new acquisition would be blessed if only I touched it'. A couple of months later, another well regarded gentleman from Mumbai, a great roadie visited Kolkata. The guy met him & told him the same words. Saikat has been writing a whole lot of nonsense about the other gentleman, too.

It's now my open challenge to the uncouth rogue to swear by his little daughter that every word that he has been uttering against me everywhere are NOT fabricated. He should have the courage to list out all the benefits that he derived from Indian Roadie and myself till mid mid-2016.

Women dragged out of cars at night and gangraped in Murthal in February 2016

Haryana goons dragged stranded women to fields, gangraped them near Murthal.

Unidentified goons attacked vehicles and commuters going towards the Delhi NCR. Reports said that at least 10 women were pulled out from cars, molested, stripped and raped by the goons.

Murthal (on NH1) is one destination Delhiites make impromptu travel plans to - be it for long drives or for Sukhdev Dhaba's delicious food.

Women commuters were harassed and even raped near Murthal in Haryana. Vehicles with women passengers were stopped on the National Highway 1 during the early hours of Monday, and women were dragged to nearby fields where they were raped, reported The Tribune.

The Haryana Police, however, dismissed the report as rumour, but eyewitnesses say at least 10 women were sexually assaulted. To make things worse, victims and their family members were advised by the district officials not to report the incident so as to safeguard their 'honour'.

The report throws more light on what exactly happened - 30-odd goons attacked commuters travelling towards Delhi-NCR, set their vehicles ablaze, pulled out women who couldn't flee the car, stripped them and raped. They laid nude in the fields till the time men who accompanied them could find them. The residents of Hassanpur and Kurad rushed to bring clothes and blankets for the victims.

A witness who wanted to keep his identity confidential told The Tribune, "Three women were taken to Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba and united with their families in the presence of senior police officers. They appeared lifeless. District officials who arrived there, instead of investigating the matter, persuaded the families to take the women home. Many were provided transport."

Sukhdev Dhaba was targeted by the goons and tried to set the eatery on fire, but were resisted by the villagers from Hassanpur and Kurad. These people have been camping at the dhaba since Sunday.

Elders from these villages, Hari Krishan of Kurad and Zile Singh of Hassanpur, said there is no point talking about the incident "as the police are sure to shield the criminals and nobody, not even the locals, are safe."

Another dhaba owner, Jai Bhagwan, said four women took refuge inside a water tank near his dhaba. Many victims say senior officers dissuaded them from complaining as "what happened can not be undone". A senior IPS officer rubbished all this as rumours and requested media houses to refrain writing about these incidents.

Source: India Today dated 2016-02-24. 

Location of Heritage Foods dairy plant & Parlour at Bayyavaram village, near Anakapalle crossing on NH16 in Andhra Pradesh

Given an opportunity, I'd love to drive in excess of 900 kms all the way from Kolkata to the Heritage Foods dairy plant in Bayyavaram village, Andhra Pradesh (beyond Visakhapatnam) and it's adjoining milk parlour only to sample the wide variants of Kalakands, Shikanjis, Flavored Milk, Creamy Ice Creams to fulfill my desire.

Vizag is 850 kms from Kolkata.

The Heritage Foods dairy Plant & Parlour at Bayyavaram village on NH16 is exactly 28 kms south of the Vizag Steel Plant arch-gate.
The said Parlour is 7 kms south of Anakapalle crossing, where there's a flyover which takes heavy trucks towards Vizag city bypass.

For roadies traveling from Chennai/ Bangalore/ Hyderabad/ Vijaywada, it would be worthwhile to mention that the Heritage Foods dairy Plant & Parlour at Bayyavaram village on NH16 in Andhra Pradesh is exactly 338 kms north of Benz Circle and 335 kms north of The Kay Hotel crossing in Vijaywada. It is 71 kms north of the south gate of the temple town of Annavaram.

Old Mahindra Jeep being used as home roof at Sonam Wangchuk's Himalayan Institute of Alternatives

Old Mahindra Jeep used as home roof in Ladakh institute leaves Anand Mahindra impressed.

The pictures in which an old Mahindra Jeep has been used as a home roof are from the Sonam Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives and are creating a lot of interest on Twitter. Here's why the idea has generated a lot of interest of Twitter. Anand Mahindra reacted by tweeting about it. 

You must have come across a number of innovations on the internet and some of them are indeed worth noticing. Now Anand Mahindra is one such personality who keeps motivating the creative talent and leaves no stone unturned in appreciating and supporting such people time to time. Mahindra's chief recently got a set of images by his friend in which an old Mahindra Jeep can be seen being used as a home roof. Applauding the effort, Anand Mahindra took it to Twitter and tweeted "Well this will compete with our auto-shredding venture but it’s far more creative!” The said pictures are from the Sonam Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives. In Delhi NCR, where cars having over 15-years of age won't be allowed to ply on the roads, the aforementioned institute has indeed set an example of how such cars can be used innovatively.

The idea has generated a lot of interest on Twitter and for obvious reasons, many people are appreciating the effort. The Sonam Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives is famous due to the fact that nothing gets discarded here and hence, it believes in pure recycling. Multiple studies have proved that vehicles more than 15 years of age lead to serious air pollution. Hence, there has been a huge debate on how such vehicles need to be recycled or the waste generated from them need to be disposed off in a way that should ensure that there is minimal harm to the environment.

Source: Financial Express dated 2018-12-16.

YouTube viewers hate to read or hear the following - "Please don't forget to subscribe, share, like my YouTube channel"

As a senior corporate marketing strategist & a b-school faculty pan-India, let me tell you that extensive research has revealed that people get mad seeing the closing line ...... "please don't forget to subscribe, share, like my YouTube channel".

If your content is good, people will automatically do all that. You don't have to 'beg'!

Ahmedabad (GJ) to Jaisalmer (RJ) - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Best Route For Road Trip, Indian Roadie Preferred Route, Motoring Route, Driving Route from 

Ahmedabad to Jaisalmer 

(Ahmedabad_Jaisalmer): 

 
Ahmedabad (GJ) ---- Adalaj (Gandhinagar) ---- Mehsana ---- Siddhpur ---- Palanpur (intersection of SH41 and NH27) (GJ) ---- Chadotar ---- Badarpura ---- Chandisar ---- Deesa  ---- Banas River Bridge ---- Akhol roundabout ---- Rampura ---- Agthala ---- Lakhani ---- Jetda ---- Tharad (intersection of NH27 and NH68) ---- Nayara Filling Station (Jay Rameshwar Petroleum), Dudhva (GJ) on left ---- Jio BP Filling Station, MQ88+73F, Khoda on right ---- GJ-RJ Khoda border ---- Jio BP Filling Station, NH68, Gardali, RJ on left

----- Sanchore (RJ) (NH68) ---- Siwara ---- Bridge over Luni River ---- Gandhav ---- Bpcl Shree Balaji Petroleum, NH68, Ramji Ka Gol on right ---- Aakli Toll Plaza, NH68 ---- Sundaberi ---- Dhorimana ---- Beniwalsar ---- Barmer ---- Bhadkha ---- Sheo ---- Devaka ---- Devikot ------ Jaisalmer, NH68 (RJ) 

Distances: 

Ahmedabad to Sanchore 
(Ahmedabad_Sanchore) = 273 kms. 

Sanchore to Jaisalmer 
(Sanchore_Jaisalmer) = 295 kms. 

Ahmedabad to Palanpur = 142 kms. 

Palanpur to Deesa = 26 kms. 

Deesa to Tharad = 62 kms. 

Tharad to Sanchore = 43 kms. 

Sanchore to Barmer = 137 kms. 

Barmer to Jaisalmer = 158 kms. 

* Gujarat Trails 

* Rajasthan Trails 

Note: These are user generated best routes. 

Abbreviations in use in Motoring Routes Of India, Indian Roadie Preferred Route, Motoring Route, Driving Route:

RA = Road Ahead.
ROR = Road on Right.
ROL = Road on Left.
NH = National Highway.
SH = State Highway.
NE = National Expressway.  

P.S: 

- Offline Driving Route In One Page 

- Skip Online Navigation Maps 

- Skip Google Maps 

- User Generated Best Routes 

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* Motoring Routes Of India, Best Route For Road Trip are initiatives by Indian Roadie (India's most admired road travel and automotive forum for matured roadies) and Marketingpundit. 

P.S: Search thousands of accurate and best route options for road trips throughout India, Nepal, Bhutan in: 

www.indian-roadie.blogspot.com, 

www.bestrouteforroadtrip.blogspot.com, 

www.facebook.com/MotoringRoutesOfIndia 

Vanlife for 60 days a year makes one pragmatic in life

Lead a vanlife within India for atleast 60 days every year.
Your children, spouse or mate will stop cribbing about the otherwise small issues which we face in daily life.
How will you overcome the predictable hindrances?

Road trip to Joshimath in Uttarakhand during a Chardham drive

Joshimath to Badrinath via landslide prone NH58 = 43 kms.
Joshimath to Govindghat via NH58 for onwards trek to Valley of Flowers = 18 kms.

Sonia Jain with her ride at Mana, the last Indian village in Indian territory, Uttarakhand

Motorcyclist and marketing professional Sonia Jain at Mana, the last Indian village in Indian territory on NH58.
For the uninitiated, the quaint village of Mana is only a couple of kms from the holy Hindu shrine of Badrinath, Uttarakhand.
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#IndianRoadieWomen
#SoniaJain
#Mana
#LastIndianVillage
#Badrinath
#Uttarakhand
#respect

'No planned night driving' neither for fame nor for brickbats

A quintessential fetish of some roadies for 'planned' driving in the night might earn those same people lots of kudos from friends on Facebook and other Social Media platforms if everything goes fine.

However, their dear ones will earn a lot of brickbats if something goes terribly wrong in their 'josh' of demonstrating their driving/ riding prowess.


* No Planned Night Driving
* I Hate Night Driving
* Indian Roadie Safety Tips