Road trip to Hogenakkal

To start this entry....I would like to acknowledge that I cannot and can never pronounce Hogenakkal the way its meant to be. For the purpose of simplicity lets call the place Hoge.

Of the many items on my to-do list of this India trip, road-tripping ranks at the top...
So my two buddies (lets call them Hunkster and Seaman) and I decided on a short one day trip to Hoge.

We left Blore a 7:30am planning to reach Hoge by noon. Packed with all the usual stuff (8 pack RB, potato chips etc..) we embarked on the fun journey of 180km to Hoge.

We took the new EC flyover towards Hosur and as usual I was overspeeding.....and feeling proud that my 3Cyl, 800cc Alto could do 100kmh without losing traction (thank you Michellin tubeless). Taking the off-ramp we dove into a crowd of buses, cars, scooters and some three-wheelers, locally called tempo's, which I really cannot categorize as road-worthy!!

As if I had just entered Hell and been possessed by one of the local abusive demons....I started swearing at all the chaos around me! Hunkster and Seaman tried to compose me.....and after much difficulty I was exorcised....I swore not to swear till 10am......the logic being ...."subah ko gaali nahi dete" (no abusing in the morning).....

The road beyond Hosur was awesome.....4 lanes of pure beauty cutting through hills and farms....with a 10 foot divider between lanes.....it felt as if I was back in Canada/US and held a valid driving license...

Hunkster was the onboard DJ/Photographer/Navigtor while Seaman provided some back seat humor. Although I must argue that taking random pictures of cow's, trees and other foliage do not count as sane photography. Reaching Krishnagiri, we decided to stop at a local restraunt (lets call it ABC since I do not remember the actual name.....which was, I think, ADR ??) for some idly, dosa, vada, sambhar!!! The suprising thing was we saw a couple of American's having idly,dosa, vada, sambhar on banana leaves with their hands, while we used spoons! Cross-cultural experience? You bet!

We topped ourselves with some Kaapi (local lingo for Coffee) and set forth towards Dharmapuri. Averaging around 100kph in an Alto felt sublime....I wished I was driving a V6...that would be awesome....

We were supposed to make a rght at Dharmapuri towards Hoge. We were checking our handy GPS, and it was indicating that we had missed our exit. As most people, I too thought the GPS was not able to indicate a proper location. 10km further, we realised that we had overshot the turn-off. Lesson: do not question the GPS...it has a higher IQ than us! An about turn we did, back towards the local state highway...and in 15min we were there.....thank you L&T for constructing such a wonderful road !!

We reached Hoge at noon. Hot and humid it was. After paying multiple parking charges(2 state governments, bribes, wh0re fund ? etc.) we proceeded towards Hoge. With no infrastructure, people using the water to wash clothes and while some other people destroyed the beauty by bathing in the waterfall, I was ready to go back. After spending an hour there and after hearing my constant complaining, Hunkster and Seaman agreed to return home, complaining that all I wanted to do was drive and visiting Hoge was the excuse. Right they were.....hope they will come along for the next road trip!

On the return journey we stopped back again at ABC to have some Kaapi. What??!!?? no discount for regular customers????

Back in Blore around 4pm, Hunkster and Seaman complained that the trip was over too quick........and I drove too fast....

Next, GOA and back in a day? what say people!?