Bangalore, Friday 11:30 PM:
Me and two of my friends are on a 'post work' Fri evening meet as usual, couple of drinks down, finishing dinner, at Koramangala. Folks are planning a drive to Chikmanglur in two weeks, people, logistics etc being discussed.
Me suddenly- "How about we drive down to Ooty right now, drive through jungle at night.... sounds interesting?"
At once my idea is turned down by all saying I'm crazy & drunk.
I think.....& bring it up again in 10 mins, "I'm leaving now to Ooty, Who amongst you is ready? It'll be fun guys...lets go!"
Folks are somehow turned on & agree. Wow!!
I then think...We are three, who else can we pick up.....thinkin....Ohh yes..We call up another friend & tell him to be ready in 30 mins. We are coming to pick him & we are going to Ooty...Hurray!!!
We have no clothes, no travel kit, no nothing. I tank up at a station near Jayanagar & proceed towards Kanakapura road to pick my 4th friend. He is waiting on the road with his bag.
He looks at us & says - "Whats up guys? Zyada chad gayi hai kya?" & gets in to the car. I proceed towards NICE road to Mysore.
We are in Mysore by 2.30 AM. What speed did I drive at! All are awake & fine & decide to proceed. Near Gundlupet, folks start feeling sleepy. So we decide to park the car off the main road & rest. In no time, I hear snoring... most have already slept off! I push back my seat a bit & try to get some sleep.
We wake up at around 6 am, get out for some tea, buy some buscuits & start driving. What a wonderful & scenic drive it was through the forest!
We saw many animals on our way too.
We were in Ooty seraching for a hotel by 9 am. Called up one of my frineds in Kotagiri, says hard to get accomodationa as its season time (May). We roam around for a while & manage to find some decent place. We check in.
We were particular that we get back to Bangalore the same day. Then why the hell did we go to Ooty in the first place??
We freshen up & check out in 3 hrs! We are starving. I drive to a restaurant near by. What was the name...yes.. 'Biryani House' I think.
We order for Egg Biryani. Was it good? You bet! It was one of the best Biryanis I've ever had. We hogged till we were done.
It looked like we drove all the way to Ooty to have Biryani from this place!
We then head back to Bangalore. Crap, I take the longer route since the shortcut was marked a 'One Way'. This road was under repar too, so vehicles queued up etc took us looooong time to reach Bandipur & in turn delayed the whole return journey.
We reached Mysore by 6 pm, dropped one of my friends at his house & headed towards Bangalore.
I was home by 10 pm after dropping all. Hmm. yes it was a good one indeed..except for my 'broken' back.
Oh, and the car was my Baleno & we did the whole trip in a tank full.
None of us carried a Cam, so some odd shots from mobile phones below: