Long Drive To Mantralaya in My Baleno

[nagendrafreddie]

It took literally 6 to 7 months for my family to decide that we go to Mantralaya by car. We were tossing between bus, car and train and finally decided to go by car 20 days before the journey. No accommodation was booked in prior. When we enquired about the accommodation with mutt management, they informed that there is no advance booking option available. They informed that the rooms will be allotted on availability basis. We decided to move on with hopes that we can rely on private hotels if the Mutt fails to provide us accommodation.

We had multiple roots to reach our destination. I wanted to rely on the best possible route to avoid traffic congestion and have a comfort journey. Apart from me; all the 4 people who were travelling had crossed 60 barriers.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

The plan was to leave early morning at 5AM on 25th of January 2014. I usually plan in such a way that we leave home as early as possible in the morning so that we can avoid the city traffic. I washed my vehicle couple of days before and parked it safely. The vehicle had run only few Kilometers after the service. The oil filter, Air filter and Break shoes were changed during the recent servicing. So I didn’t have any doubts about the vehicle condition.

The only challenge was to drive fully loaded beast without scratching my chassis (Due to its low ground clearance).

 

[nagendrafreddie]

As planned we left home exactly at 5:00 AM on 25th Jan. It was tough drive till Devanahalli airport due to reckless cab drivers, fog, poor stock headlights. I could not even cross 60kmph until I crossed Devanahalli Airport. After we paid the first toll near Devanahalli, I realized the beauty of NH7.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

We stopped after the first Toll gate near Devanahalli. We took 5 minutes break and started our journey further.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

After the first break here, I experienced the beauty of NH7. There were hardly few vehicles except huge Lorries who maintained 100% lane discipline. It was a blissful driving till we reached Ananthpur junction. I was able to drive in 130 to 140 without any hurdles. With my powerful engine overtaking was a cakewalk. Around 8:30 AM we stopped near a junction after Ananthpur where we have to take deviation towards a place called Gooty.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

The real pain started from now. It’s a single lane road. We often found invisible road humps, Potholes, Reckless drivers, Two wheelers who rush without number plate, Paddy grains spread on the middle of the roads etc etc.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

The toughest job was to handle the irresponsible, unethical drivers who overtake from left and stop right ahead. Nobody follows road rules here. 50% of two wheelers move without number plate. I didn’t see even a single person wearing helmet. People take right turn / U turn without looking what’s behind them. People don’t wait for you to pass. They just overtake you from the narrowest left corner.
Finally around 12:05 we reached the holy spot Mantralaya. We approached the reception of one of the lodges maintained by Mutt. We were asked to wait for 30 minutes so that a room will be provided. I asked receptionist if the vehicle can be parked inside the lodge premises. He said we can very well park it anywhere within the compound. Within 5 minutes we were allotted a room. I was amazed that the room rent was just 200Rs per day. Same condition room in other places would cost us not less than 1000 Rs.

We took rest for 10 to 15 minutes. We changed our attires and visited Sri Guru Raghavendra Swamy mutt. It was crowded and maintained so well. With lacs of people visiting the place every day, I certainly appreciate the maintenance. We had darshan without any hurdles and had the best lunch (Prasadam) of my life from Mutt.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

Few more pictures are attached near the outskirts of mutt.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

The Odo read 382 Kms when we reached Mantralaya. On the way, I had to bump my chassis at many places. We decided to opt for a different route while returning. This time we planned to go via Gundkal so that we can avoid patchy roads. The plan was to leave next day morning.

We went to temple once again to have darshan. Tungabadra river is completely forbidden.

Number of people travelling: 5 people including me with 4 senior citizens

Total distance to cover: 784 kms (Up and down)

Number of drivers: 1 (Me)

Vehicle information: Maruti Suzuki Baleno VXI

Vehicle condition: 98,000 Kms driven, Recently serviced by RNS, New set of tyres ,

 

[nagendrafreddie]

To be continued

 

[saroya]

Hello friend ! Very nice detailed review with beautiful pictures .
Your car looks very nice.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

Thank you very much Saroya

Well, With all this said, the plan was to stay at Mantralaya on 26th and return on 27th. But it was said that, its not a good decision to leave the holy spot on Ekadashi. Finally we decided to leave Mantralaya on 26th Morning. We went to Darshan once again early morning. Had coffee in a near by hotel. We left Mantralaya exactly at 8:15 AM on 26th Jan. Now, we opted to go via Gundkal just to avoid bumpy roads. The biggest challenge here was to handle the narrow paths.

The initial few kms (20 kms) was bliss. I had another challenge facing ahead of me.
The narrow roads with deep mud roads on either side. I could not cross 60 Kms per hour due to a huge lorry moving ahead. Ofcourse the lorry driver was always ready to give me the way but with the less ground clearance, overtaking him on that deep holes on either sides was almost impossible. I had to follow him for almost 3.5 hours without loosing my patience. It was a challenge for my driving skills to give way to the oncoming vehicles. Most of the APSRTC and KSRTC buses did not trouble me much. They hit the mud road towards their left without causing any trouble. Some local travellers troubled me testing my driving skills in that narrow road.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

We reached the placed called Adoni and had our breakfast. This place was as congested as you can imagine. I could not capture pictures in this traffic. Once again I had to face the irresponsible drivers, Bullock carts, cyclists and motorist. For couple of kms I just could not take my foot from clutch and break. Finally we reached better roads and once again reached Gooty.

Here are some more pictures of narrow but beautiful road that came on our way. That is the lorry I had to follow for almost 150 kms (3.5 hours) without an opportunity to overtake.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

This long, slow journey had made us sick. The fuel gauge was dipping down. I stopped once again at the petrol pump at Gooty. I knew the rest of the journey is going to be free way. We had little bit of snacks that we had carried. filled our fuel tank and went ahead.

 

[nagendrafreddie]

Further journey from Gooty was blissfull enough to cruise at the speed between 120 to 140 kmph. Finally we stopped at Kamat Hotel near Bhagepalli and had our lunch around 4:30 PM.

Once we left the spot, there were traffic police waiting to treat me near Devanahalli. I was clocked at 110 Kmph and I had to pay 200 Rs to them unnecessarily. Without caring much I progressed my journey safe enough to reach home and rest.