First Long Drive from Chennai to Trichy.

Unexpectedly I got an opportunity to drive from Chennai to Trichy, with family - My friend, little friends, Mama and Athai. A couple of days before the actual journey when I drove around the city, I found it a bit difficult to drive, due to the heavy traffic and I started feeling tired after every trip. I also started getting news from native about en-queries like whether I have prior experience, whether I will manage, whether I know the intricacies of driving for more than 4 hours, etc. But I have to agree that these queries at one point of time, made me a little frightened, and for a moment thought about getting a driver for driving from Chennai to Trichy.

But with blind guts, but believing my will power, I declared to my friend "Mun vaicha kaala pin vaikka matten..."(Will not withdraw my decision for any reason...). She was also happy to know my firm decision to drive. Two days before the actual journey, I called up my friend Aravind, who frequently drives from Chennai to Karur to know about the general guidelines to be followed and precautions to be taken. The main thing he pointed to me was to take a 5 minutes break after every 1 hour. Earlier I was planning to take a 5-minutes break after every 1.5 hours. He also added that we can drive continuously without taking any break, but after reaching the destination we will start feeling very tired. Also he advised not to eat heavily before or during the journey, as we may fall asleep if we do so. But later, I forgot this point, and as usual had a heavy breakfast on the way during the journey :-), more about it later.

On the day before the journey I wanted to simulate the actual scenario (as one could expect from a software engineer, by profession :-)...). We had decided to start from home at 4:30 early in the morning. So on the previous day I woke up at 4:30 to check if I am able to be alert and awake. All else were sleeping in home, so, after taking bath, I took a Sujatha's novel and started reading it. After 40 minutes, I started feeling so tired and sleepy that I was not able to be awake any more. It could be due to the novel I read, since reading requires more effort. So, around 5:30 I started sleeping. When I woke up at around 7:30, I declared that the time of journey is postponed to 6:00 am, since the simulation failed. But my friend told that I will not sleep while driving since all will be around and will be talking to each-other. But still to be on the safer side, I told that lets target for 5:30, so that we can start at least by 6:00 am.

The previous night, while going to bed, I told my friend to wake me as the last person and that too after everyone is ready. But I woke up as the first person around 4:45 in the morning, probably due to anxiety. I went out and wiped the car once will a soft cloth. Then took bath, and by this time all are ready. I had earlier filled a pen drive will our favorite songs for listening on the way. Then after getting ready, I brought the car near the main door and I and Mama started keeping the luggage inside the dicky. Then we locked the home and we all boarded. Then, I kept the 4 limes, one each under each wheel, and lit a camphor placing it on top of a coconut and rotated it thrice to the left and thrice to the right, standing in front of the car and facing the car. Then, I broke the coconut on the road. To our surprise it broke exactly into 2 halves.

I occupied the driver's seat, put on the belt, prayed to God and started driving. Halted in-front of the nearby Vinayaka temple to pray for a couple of seconds and the journey started. I took all the short-cuts, until we came out the city to Tambaram. My friend and little friends were singing and happy. Till that time I was driving at 50 to 60 kmph. After hitting the highway at Gooduvanchery, I raised to 80 and drove for another half an hour. After crossing the SRM university, it was time for halt. I stopped under a tree on the main road and took a small break.

Then started again and continued to drive at 80 to 90 kmpl for the next one hour. By this time it was time for breakfast, and we stopped on a roadside motel for breakfast. It was a small one and mostly lorry drivers were having breakfast there. Since its our first trip, we didnt know which motel to take, so we selected this one randomly. But the people there were kind and the service was good. As it was around 9:00 am, the items were getting over one by one and so we got only idlis, poori with sambhar(masala over). I had 4 idlis and 2 poori's, forgetting Aravind's advice to eat less during the journey. The breakfast was good and we had a good time there. I called up Appa and informed our position. He asked the speed at which I am driving. I told him that its around 80 to 100 kmph. Based on that it seems that they assumed that we will reach home around 2:00 pm. Even my friend came to the conclusion that we will be reaching home around 1:00 pm. But the end, everyone's calculation failed.

At a toll plaza

 By now I got used to the highway driving and raised the speed to see if I am able to control. I raised up to 120, and kept driving between 100 to 120 kmph. Was able to control the car comfortably at that speed. Then I further raised to 135 and then to 140 kmph. At this speed, we were passing ahead of all the vehicles. At this speed I noticed that while changing from one lane to another, the vehicle was dragging a bit forward and then moving the other lane, and also its not moving to the other lane at the point that I had assumed, but it was happening after that. All these were clear indications that the vehicle is not under our control, and in case of emergency, I may not be able to control the vehicle properly. So, finally decided to stick to the safe controllable speed of 110 to 120 kmpl. Rest of the journey continued at this speed and we reached home at 12:00 noon, to everyone's surprise. We halted twice after this, once for fuelling and once for a short break of 5 minutes, where we clicked pictures.

I honked from outside on reaching home, but no one came out. After repeated honking, Mom and sister came and they were surprised to see us at that time. Mom said that she expected us around 2:00 pm and sister was expecting us around 4:00 pm :-).

That concluded that my long drive in car from Chennai and Trichy. From now on no one can ask me whether I have long driving experience or whether I know the intricacies of long driving. Yes, somehow I got that first time experience :-).

- Pavala.