Purple Cheetah brought me and wife safely and comfortably to our Chennai Royapettah home at 4:05 am today after an adventurous trip of 1868.8 km. We had left our Bangalore Basaveswara Nagar home at 10:25 pm last night.
The route:
The statistics:
The accident:
The 3 Waterfalls:
The restoration:
Now the details.
We had left our Chennai home on 19 August 2014 at 4:10 am in Purple Cheetah and reached TVS BP pump at Trichy bypass at 8:30 am for refuelling. Later, we breakfasted at Shri Sangeetha and continued our journey to Kutralam, which was our first stop-over.
While driving on the deadly 2-laned Madurai bypass road, an auto-rickshaw going in front of me stopped abruptly on the road. I too stopped well behind the auto-rickshaw as I could not overtake it since a bus was coming from the opposite direction. I honked continuously and the auto-rickshaw moved to the shoulder. I started driving Purple Cheetah in the first gear, when I heard a bang from behind. I told my wife that we were hit. I parked Purple Cheetah on the shoulder and came out. A private bus that was tailing Purple Cheetah rear-ended it. The driver explained to me that he too stopped in time, but was hit from behind by an Innova, pushing the bus to hit Purple Cheetah. So, it was a mini pile-up involving 3 vehicles. Thank god, Purple Cheetah was moving in the first gear; otherwise, the damage would have been more. I pointed out to the drivers of the bus and Innova that hitting from behind was their mistake resulting from tailing the front vehicle. One of them called police and a police sub-inspector [PSI] reached the spot on his bike. We all explained our versions. The PSI scoulded the other two drivers and asked all of us to come to the police station.
We reached Perungudi police station, which was on the way. The lady inspector heard our versions. She informed me that if I lodged a complaint against the bus driver, FIR would be filed. But, I told her that I was not interested in pursuing the case as I was on a holiday trip and did not want to waste any more time on this issue. She then wanted me to give a written statement to that effect, which I did and continued with our trip.
We lunched at Rajapalayam and reached Kutralam by 4:30 pm. We checked into Dalavoi House near the main falls. Later, we visited the main falls and bathed there, which refreshed us fully, erasing the shock due the accident.
Next day [20 August 2014], we bathed at the main falls again, checked out of the hotel and proceeded to Palaruvi, where we bathed again.
We continued our journey to Poovar via Thenmala, Kulathupuzha, Nedumangad, Thiruvananthapuram and Kovalam. We reached Club Mahindra, Poovar at 7 pm. Here is
my review of this property.
Next day [21 August 2014] morning, I swam to my heart's content in the swimming pool after many years. After a well-earned, sumptuous breakfast buffet, we checked out at 12 noon and headed to Thirparappu waterfalls, where I bathed again for about half-hour. Of all the three waterfalls, I would rate Thirparappu the best because of quantum of water and force and very less crowd.
Then, our return journey started. Originally, we were scheduled to return to Chennai. But, I changed the destination to Bangalore just to get Purple Cheetah back to its original shape. I took Kulasekaram>Aralvaimozhi>Vadakkankulam route to reach NH 7 totally avoiding Nagercoil. We had our evening tiffin at Arya's at Satthur bypass and reached Bangalore home non-stop at 1 am on 22 August 2014.
I handed over Purple Cheetah to Sai Colorium at 9:30 am on 22 August 2014 and got it back yesterday afternoon at 1 pm. The bill amounted to ₹16 k including replacement of RHS tail lamp assembly. Since the no-claim bonus I enjoy is almost the same, I decided not to claim insurance. Purple Cheetah got back its original shape and colour, thanks to Sai Colorium.
Now, Purple Cheetah is ready for the second free service.