Monday, May 23, 2005

My Rides : Trip -I; Tirupati

Tirupati

Ahem! Who doesn't like to go for long drives. Of course not many like to go for long rides (on Motorcycles that is). But I like to share my experience with many people here who would be interested in long rides. As far as drives are concerned, that series will be a separate one. My first drive was a one-bike-two-riders trip. This series - "My Rides" are those sweet memories of my bike trips.

Where - Tirupati and Back

Total Distance - 600 Kms. (300 Kms. one way)

Vehicle - Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber (2000 model)

Total Expenditure - Rs. 2200/- (Rs. 1100/- per head)

Travel Duration - Aug 15 to Aug 17, 2002 (3 days)

Route Map - Yelahanka - Vijaypura - Vemagal - H-Cross - Kolar - Mulbagal - Nangali - Palamner - Chittoor - Tirupati - Alipiri - Tirumala.

Eat outs - Deepika Dhaba, Bheema's Hotel, Annapoorneshwari, Bheema's Deluxe.

Pilots - Nitin S. Bharadwaj, Retesh Gowda G.

Tour Diary:

Day 1:- On the Indian Independance Day, we left Yelahanka, Bangalore for our very first long ride expedition. The thrill was so much that we stopped near our college, 7 Kms. from Yelahanka. We went to our usual adda, "Uncle Angadi" as we call it. There we collected some batteries and a head-band to keep our ear-phones in place under our helmets. Then we started off from there along with a route map to Tirupati, the Temple Town. Lots of Breaks went all the way upto Mulbagal, 100 Kms. off Bangalore. After Mulbagal, near the Karnataka - Andhra border, we managed to find ourselves a suitable Dhaba at Noon. We stopped there and after 1 hour of pigging, we managed to pile a bill of Rs. 85/- including 2 phone calls. We reached Tirupati at around 5 PM. Too late after starting off at 8 AM. We booked a hotel room at Rs. 150/- per 24 Hours. We unloaded all our luggages and went for tiffin. Again another round of shameless hogging. This time, at Bheema's Hotel(Not the deluxe one in basement), the bill was around Rs. 160/-. Next, we called up home and took a 2 Ltr. Fanta bottle to spend our night.

Day 2:- We woke up very early; at around 10 AM. We managed to do our usual routine of morning chores. Listen to music, dig our ears and nose. Finally, at around 10:30, brushed our teeth and left for breakfast. A very mean city, Tirupati couldn't cope with our never-ending hunger. At Rs. 80/- bill, our stomach was in no-way touched by breakfast. We had a cuppa tea in our usual moosh-wala tea bunker. Went back and took bath at 1 PM. Then went to Bheema's Deluxe hotel and again literally stuffed our tummies for nearly 3600 seconds. We went back and slept, knowing that Darshan is at 8 PM. Woke up at 6:45 PM. 22 Kilometers of Ghat Roads separate us from the 7 PM queue. I rode like a lunatic to reach Hill-top Tirumala at 7:10 PM. With our disgusting Telugu, we compromised with a Cop and parked in the temple authorities' parking lot. Entered the queue at 7:25. We were out at 9:30 after a 20 minute Darshan behind some handicapped. Thank them and God Bless them! We set out at 10 PM back to Tirupati and again, 20 minutes was all it took to reach foot-hills, of course with the smoking brakes of the bikes. Phew!! Some riding that was...No Dinner as we still had the Bheema's food working in our tummies. Settled with 1 Laddu.

Day 3:- Committed to start back to Bangalore by 5 AM. Hence woke up early again. This time at 9:30 AM. Packed up the baggage and again, started off for Bangalore, at 10 PM. Another zippy ride. We rode and rode until the same Dhaba reminded us that we hadn't eaten a decent meal for 24 Hours now. Stopped again in the Dhaba at 1 PM and made a bill of Rs. 85/- only for food. We regained our journey and reached Bangalore at 4 PM. Some improvement in terms of Race-pace...errr... Journey duration compared to onward journey. We can never forget this journey in our life-time. This being the start of a biker maniac's adventure life.

Next Trip: The Sahyaadris

Try This: Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein (Apache Indian)

5 comments:

oremuna said...

I had a similar drive,

Hyderabad --> Nagarjuna Sagar --> maacarla --> SriSailam --> Hyderabad

600kms, three days.


It was unforgettable.

ps: on Pulser 150 CC

Akshay said...

kool good to know u r still doing ur biking god bless!

Nitin said...

@ Kiran
Biking is Fun. Blogging those bike trips, even funnier. But I still have many crazy trips to be put up on the blogs. Maybe U'll be shocked at our trips

@ Akshay
Man!! This is a marvellous activity. Who can forgive/forget it!!

Unknown said...

Its very wonderful information about tirupati trip and tirupati Hotels Accommodation.Thanks for the information.After reading this i have planed to visit tiruapti.Awesome post.

Nitin said...

@grand,

Although you have places known from this travelogue, the prices you have seen are almost 8 years old. Hence, consider the prices to be twice as much.

Glad you found this blog useful.

--Nitin