Day 0:
This was a well planned trip more so because of the wedding
we were attending. Mangalore has long been a plan for a drive and visit the nearby
places; however we wanted to do the same post monsoon to enjoy the beauty of
the place. Since the wedding happened in May we decided we will just drive it
down for a couple of days.
Started home at 04:15 AM on a Saturday morning. Since it was
a new route we were driving to, we were not much aware of the traffic
conditions of the route. We wanted to start early so that we reach the city
before dusk. The idea was to cover as much distance possible to stop for a
break. Unexpectedly as we were nearing Vellore there was some humming sound we
started to hear from the left side of the car. It initially started when the
vehicle was moving on a left curve and slowly happened to come even with the
vehicle going on straight roads. It caused a lot of worry and distraction as
the noise levels started to increase. It was more so worrying because we make
it a point to check the car completely before heading to the highway and in
spite of doing it this noise was something very disturbing.
I called my friend who also owns a garage to check with him
and we were contemplating if it was the wheel bearing getting weak or any mis
alignment or if it was because of the new set of tyres that we changed just a
week before the trip. It was rather confusing since this was happening for the
first time in all our drives and the sound kept increasing with speed and at
one point of time started coming at very low speed too.
We found a hotel en route to Krishnagiri and stopped for a
short 15 min break, assessed the wheel condition, had a coffee and decided to
move on. The noise initially was not there and started all over again. I was
searching for any company authorized centres in Hosur so that we could get the
vehicle checked as we were worried about taking the risk of driving such a long
distance with this constant noise that kept fluctuating.
We stopped for breakfast at Hotel Saravana Bhavan in
Krishnagiri at 07:45 AM. Took a half hour break and resumed our journey at
08:15 AM.
I finally decided to call upon chief H V Kumar and pinged
him not wanting to disturb. Then till about a certain distance there was no
noise and everything seemed perfect. However I spoke to him and explained the
noise and he was in turn explaining the possibilities of the noise. He was
talking about air passing through the hair like edges on the new tyres, or the
outer cap of the wheel being not fitted well, or the mud flaps not in good
condition or any small crack in the rubber, etc etc. He clearly explained that
if it was a wheel bearing problem it would be there irrespective of the speed
of the vehicle and since the noise was fluctuating we could rule out that
option.
Our next halt was after Nelamangala. (11:15 AM to 11:30 AM) We
stopped at a small joint on the highway and while I was checking the tyres once
again I got reminded of HVK mentioning about mud flaps. I saw the mud flap
being loose on the left rear side and pulled it and threw it. We resumed our
journey and found a significant drop in the noise however there was still
little noise here and there.
I asked my husband to stop the vehicle for a moment and
pulled out the front mud flap too and wanted to see if that helped. Bingo!!!
After that there was no noise. So all this confusion was because of the air
passing through which created a complete chaos for us for almost 3 odd
hours. I was happy I spoke to HVK. If
not for his idea we would have wasted our time diagnosing nothing at the
service centre in Mangalore and wasted out time.
Our next stop was for lunch for half hour at Sakleshpura
just before the ghats started. (Between 01:20 PM to 01:50 PM)
We had a simple meal and resumed our journey and went non
stop till we reached Mangalore. Reached our destination at 04:50 PM.
Had to attend the function and we decided to take a rick for
the short distance instead of driving in an unknown city after a long drive.
The function was held in a hall inside Sri Gokarnatheshwara
temple, Kudroli. It was a beautifully maintained temple and it was glittering
in golden colour. It was more of a tourist attraction than of a temple. Had to
call it a day post dinner.
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| The beautiful two laned roads towards Mangalore |
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| Beautiful glittering Kudroli Gokarnath temple |
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| The huge fountain inside the temple |
Day 1:
Woke up late after a good much needed sleep. The first half
of the day went for the wedding. In the evening decided to visit one of the
beaches in Mangalore and zeroed in on TannirBhavi beach which was supposed to
be best to view the sunset. We had to take the NH 17 and deviate a little to
reach the beach. We reached around 05:15 PM. Being the west coast the sun was
no where seeming to go down. We had a nice stroll along the beach before the
crowd came in and were ready to shoot the sun going down.
It was a beauty watching the sunset as we do not get that
opportunity very often.
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| The Tannirbhavi beach - Sheer beauty |
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| There he goes! Waiting to go down - finally at 06:50 PM |
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| He does look beautiful when he sets!! |
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| And he is gone finally |
Day 2:
Started early and drove towards Udupi. NH 17 was the route.
It was about 60 odd kms from Mangalore towards the north.
Reached Udupi in an hour with all the diversions due to 4
lane work going on. The temple was relatively empty as it was a Monday morning.
Had a quick breakfast in one of the small resto inside the mutt area and went
for the darshan. Darshan was quick and then we walked around the temple area
for a while. Having read about this hotel Mithra Samaj inside the Mutt complex
we decided to try it out. I would say it is not as great as it is exaggerated
about. The service was poor even it being a Monday morning and sparse crowd.
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| View of the Udupi Mutt |
We were contemplating between visiting Murudeshwar which was
100 Kms north of Udupi or Bekal fort that was 120 Kms south of Udupi but half
way to Mangalore. Finally decided we would keep the return shorter and decided
upon Bekal fort, and started our drive at 09:30 AM. Assuming we were going on
the NH throughout we didn’t bother checking the road conditions. Between Udupi
till the KA border the roads were the same, motor able however with diversions
due to 4 lane work happening.
Once we entered KA – KL border the roads were 2 laned till
Kasaragod and it was beautiful, however there was lot of traffic.
Post Kasaragod, the NH diverted through a smaller route and
it led on to some completely muddy tracks where roads didn’t exist at all for a
distance of almost 15 – 20 Kms. That distance took us almost an hour and
fifteen minutes to complete. It was extremely frustrating as there was no work
going on and no roads either. We cursed ourselves for having decided to visit
the Bekal.
By the time we entered Bekal it was 12:50 PM. We were
already tired because of the drive however still managed to see the fort and
click some pictures.
The non existent roads on a NH
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| Entrance to the Fort |
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| This was supposed to be the observation tower where they got the entire view of the coast and the neighboring cities! |
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| View of the coast from the Fort |
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| The fort walls |
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| A huge well inside the fort |
Once again we had to get ourselves ready for a nightmarish
drive along the same route to reach Mangalore. We stopped by at Kasaragod for
lunch and headed towards our destination to give ourselves a much needed rest.
Day 3:
Left Mangalore at 05:30 AM and reached home at 05:45 PM with
an hour and half break in between.
It was a little painful in the morning as all of the private
buses were entering Mangalore at that time and they were coming at killing
speeds.
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