This is continuation of My Coorg Wedding Drive
I had never driven in the night for such a long distance. Initially I wanted to leave Coorg by 10pm; but then Ds father suggested early morning.According to me I needed at least 6 hours to reach Bangalore ( bus takes more than 8 hours). Hence to reach Bangalore by 7am ( to be in office by 8am) I had to leave at least by 2am. By the time all the rituals got over it was 10pm. We returned to hotel by 10.30pm. Guys had already started to make full use of Coorgie culture.I just sat along with them but did have a single drop. We spoke until 12 midnight. I was tired but not sleepy thanks to a good afternoon’s sleep at Ds house. But then I decided to sleep for two before I start. By that time both MK and Manoj were asleep.

My clock (mobile) started buzzing at 2am.I was kind in sleep but got up and went to bathroom to wash face. Manoj also got up ( others were still chatting) to fill the water bottle for me.I came down to my car. Made sure my water bottle and enough eateries are there on the left seat. Also checked the deo and rod below my seat.Took out the CD to play. Manoj told me to drive slowly and to call him/anand once a while.But I had decided to drive fast to keep myself awake. I was sure I would fall asleep if I drive say at 50KM/Hr. Took some cash from the near by ATM and started.

I was more scared about loosing the way than sleeping. Anybody who knows me know how bad I am at remembering the road. Well it was just this morning so I almost knew every patch of the road. Any Bangalore or Mysore bus would increase my confidence. The route was pretty straight forward.After half an hour drive I called Andy back to let him know everything was OK and they can go to sleep.

The road was very narrow, Initially I tried to adjust with available place when ever there was a big vehicle. But then I could not; There were very few vehicles coming from opposite and hence I started to pull the vehicle completely to the side and stop.That helped my eyes too as I didn’t have to concentrate much.

Lays and loud singing helped me a lot. I never realized that I knew the complete lyrics of ‘e dil’ (Parades). That is one song I always liked when I was driving.After an hours drive I got adjusted to Night drive

• If there is a big vehicle and if its a single lane pull to side
• stop looking at the opposite vehicle and started concentrating at edge of the road
• Dim the headlights when following a two wheeler
• Dim the lights for opposite small vehicles like car or jeep

But never reduce the speed. I think the average speed was about 80KM/hr. The road was not that good hence reduced average speed.

There is this area where you enter the jungle. See the picture below taken during the day. I saw some dark object on the road.Headlights of wagon-r is not enough for jungle. Around 20 ft from the object I realized it was elephant. I didn’t know what to do.I dimmed the lights to reduce the attraction. I wanted to get down and take a picture.But didn’t have enough guts. Staying inside the car with seat belt on is more secure. After 2 minutes the elephant moved out of road and I continued.

Place where I met Elephant Hosted on Zooomr

Around 4:30 I reached Mysore.I had to either take a bypass or go through city. I took bypass; its around 15KM I suppose; I was kind of lost. Empty roads through semi
developed city. At last I joined back to Mysore road. From there it was 120KM/hr consistent. There was a taxi guy in front of me going at the same speed; I just followed him.
Around 5:30 I reached our regular coffee day at Channapattana. Called Manoj; they were still awake and shocked by the news that I reached Blore. I had my regular lathe and slept in the car for half an hour. From there to my home took 1.5 hours.Reached home at 7am on time. Was in office by 8am. At 9 started writing the production move scripts.

Copyright and Disclosure: (C) Thejesh GN 2007 .The views expressed on this site are mine (Thejesh GN) alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.And I (Thejesh GN) am not responsible for comments logged by readers.