FINAL - ALL - FOUR TRIPS - OF - 1999.

FINAL -  ALL  -  FOUR TRIPS - OF - 1999.

In July 1999 from Nagpur we were Posted to Bangalore.  So we had gone on posting in our new Maruti 800 car.

1999 - FOUR TRIPS. Click on each layer one by one for better viewing.
While re-employed, in July 1999 we were posted from Nagpur to Hq Training Command at Bangalore. Tenure of re-employment was up to November 1999, Even if I got extension re-employment at Bangalore was not going to exceed year and half due age and re-employment limit.,
We had purchased a new Maruti 800 in March 1999.Decided to go on posting by rosd in new car,
This was our first long distance trip.
Before this, never in my life had I under taken Any trip in our car.
I had no knowledge of and was totally ignorant about advances in engine technology.I had noticed drivers of Fiat and Ambassador cars open their car bonnets to cool the engine on long drives.
So after travelling for 2 odd hours ,when we stopped for breakfast,I too opened the bonnet to cool the engine . Could not understand why were giving me strange looks :)

Nagpur -  Secunderabad -  bangalore Was our first trip.
At that time had no idea that with this beginning we will travel all over India. Literally , during the next eight years or so
Trip to Bangalore on posting was first trip of 1999. I was released from re-employment on 31 Dec 99.
While posted in Bangalore,we did three more trips in 1999.
1. TRIP 1. NAGPUR - SECUNDERABAD - BANGALORE.
2. TRIP 2. NANDI HILL. At Layer One.
3. TRIP 3. SRI RANGAPATTANAM - MYSORE.
4. TRIP 4. WELLINGTON - OOTY VIA MYSORE. 

Trip 4. BANGALORE - WELLINGTON - OOTY , via MYSORE. 27 NOVEMBER - 02 DECEMBER 1999.

Ravi was doing Staff College in 1999. Jiji was also staying with him. Since our move to Bangalore he had been calling us. By the end of November we knew that we were not getting extension but instead of 30 Nov we were going to be released from re-employment on 31 December 1999.

Decided to visit Ravi at Wellington. While there did a day trip to Oooty with Jiji and Rachana.

While returning dropped in T Pradip Shetty's Place. Anjail had to go to Bangalore so gave her lift to Bangalore. However we decided to visit giant statue of Bahubali at Sharvanbealagola.

Did the trip 27 Nov to 03 Dec 99.

Went to Wellington via Mysore , Bandipore /Madumala Wild Life sanctuary Portion of the Wild Lifesanctuary in  Karnatakais called  Bandipore and the portion in TamilNadu is known as Madumala Wild Life Century.Approaching the hills was scary. It looked like a vertical wall. My first encounter with such steep       "ghat "road.                                             

It was wonderful visiting DSSC after 1978 when we had done the course. Tremendous changes . This time there were no two wheelers only cars !!! HUGE parking place . 

Had good time .Did a day trip to Ooty with Jiji . Route not shown  Not shown in the map.to avoid clutter. However photos have been uploaded in the map.

Returned to Bangalore on 02 December.  Return to Bangalore from Pradip house, Anjali took a lift and was with us, .which was via Sharvanbelagola.  

To see all the Bangalore photos from Jun 99 to Dec 99, go to Album 16  

Here is the map of the trip.

Trip Three 0f 1999 - Sri Rangapatna - Mysore . 11 - 12 septebmer.

Trip Three of 1999 - Srirangapatna -  Mysore . 11  - 12 Sptember.

Ajeet had gone  back by September 1999 when we moved in our PQ 172/2 near Training Command Golf course. Vrinda used to drop in on week ends. Once there was along weekend so decided to go to Srirangapattnam of Tipu Sultan fame and Mysore. Did a trip to these places from 11 to 13 September took an opportunity to visit Pradip Shetty who had a farm and a farm house near Mysore.

On reaching Srirangapatna we kept asking locals what should we see. Drove according to their directions. Starting from a piont wher Tipu Sulta died we saw following places. Photo captions cover information about them in detail. 
1. Tippu's Death place.
Engraving on the plaque says, "Tipus body was found here" 
2. Obelisk Srirangapatna Fort. 
Images in from search for "Obelisk Srirangapatnam Fort." Reveals are totally different from the image we see in this photo .
3. Tipu Sultan Prayer Mosque.
Masjid-i-Ala or Jama Masjid was built by Tipu Sultan between 1786 – 87.
4. Tomb Of Tipu Sultan.
Muslim mausoleum at the centre of a landscaped garden, holding the graves of Tippu Sultan, his father Hyder Ali, and his mother Fakr-Un-Nisa. It was built by Tippu Sultan to house the graves of his parents. The British allowed Tippu to be buried here after his death in the Siege of Srirangapatna in 1799
Daria Daulat Bagh.
5. Daria Daulat Bagh (literally "Garden of the Sea of Wealth') OR Tipu's Summer palace.
is a palace situated in the city of Srirangapatna, near Mysore in southern India. It is mostly made out of teakwood.
6. Triveni Sangam
This is a popular picnic spot and is a beautiful place.
7. Shri Ranganath Swami Temple.
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple,Dedicated to Lord Vishnu,
Tipu's Summer palace,
From here we left for Chamundeshwari Temple , Mysore,

The Chamundeshwari Temple is a Hindu temple located on the top of Chamundi Hills about 13 km from the palace city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka in India. The temple was named after Chamundeshwari or Durga, the fierce form of Shakti, a tutelary deity held in reverence for centuries by Mysore
Maharajas.
The Chamundeshwari Temple is considered as a Shakti Peetha and one among the 18 Maha Shakti Peethas. It is known as Krouncha Pitham as the region was known in Puranic times as Krouncha Puri.

From Here went to Pradip Setty's Farm House

Pradip Shetty had a farm house in Mysore. Before returning to Bangalore, made a flying visit to Pradip Shetty farm house . He had made beautiful house, not of modern structure full of concrete and steel but with rooms in a rectangle with stone paved central courtyard. Roof of Mangalore tiles and lot of solid teal pillars and beams. It was beautiful merging beautifully with surrounding rural landscape and coconut plantations.
He had coconut plantation with about 400 odd coconut plants. He was also growing aromatic grasses like citronella, Lemongrass, Palmarosa, etc. Had a still and was extracting oils of thee grasses by distillation. Apparently in great demand by perfume, soaps and agartabbi industries.
Had a wonderful time left next day. His son partha, studying medicine in Bangalore took a lift with us .

Returned to Bangalore via Vrinadavn gardens,                                       

Trip Two of 1999 - Bangalore - Nandi Hill Trip. 21 Aug 1999 .

Trip Two of 1999 - Bangalore -  Nandi Hill Trip. 21 Aug.

We were staying in. Temp Accommodation, Trg Cmd.
Ajeet was still with us. Most probably His first stay in on one room accommodation after leaving from Shillong. Good experience to face a bit of hardships.
Vrudna was in Bangalore finishing her architecture apprentice. Used to call her over on holidays.
Decided to go to Nandi Hills on one of the holiday when Vrunda had come over.
Nandi Hills, or Nandidurg, is a hill fortress in the south Indian state of Karnataka. Tipu Sultan Fort, a summer retreat of the namesake 18th-century ruler, features stone carvings and wall paintings. Prisoners are said to have been thrown to their death from Tipu’s Drop, now known for its panoramic views. Local Hindu temples include the hilltop Yoga Nandeeshwara Temple, guarded by a huge statue of a bull (nandi).

Nandi Hills is an ancient hill fortress built by Ganga Dynasty and later enlarged and strengthened by Tipu Sultan in southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bengaluru. The hills are near the town of Nandi. In traditional belief, the hills are the origin of the Arkavathy river. Ponnaiyar River, Palar River, Papagni and Penna River. Watching the sunrise at Nandi Hills is popular with tourists.
Elevation:1,478 m

Made the trip on 21 Went in the morning and returned by afternoon evening.

Trip One of 1999 - NAGPUR - BANGALORE - 07JUL - 14 JUL

 Trip  One of 1999 - NAGPUR - BANGALORE - 07JUL - 14 JUL 

My reemployment at HQ Maintenance Command was to expire in November 1999 . By June of 1999 I had already asked for an extension of one year . However as I had already completed 5 years of re employment so the chances of getting another extension were rather remote ! However to our surprise my posting came to Hq Training Command Bangalore in that month. During those days there were rumors that in cases where Air Hq did not want to give extension to an officer without saying so in so many words, he was posted out to a faraway place. This automatically solved the problem of extension, as in most of the cases the officer did not want to move away from his selected place of re-employment and quit on his own :-)

So far as I was concerned , I was not playing the share market , doing side business in real estate or share brokerage during working hours, a routine practice with quite q few number of officers particularly those posted at Delhi . We had no school going kids and no overriding interest in staying at Nagpur so there was nothing holding us back from proceeding on posting! In any case we had decided that I would do my work to the best of my ability and not willingly let go of the IAF, unless they did not want me no more and said so in so many words with reasons as to why !

We thought about the posting. In the best of circumstances, that is if my extension for another year comes through I would then retire from The IAF from Bangalore in November 2000 maximum an year and half stay at that place . In the worst case scenerio I would retire in November 1999 that is after a stay of five months . Under these circumstances we decided to go on posting with least amount of luggage and go by car . It was a daring decision as I had never driven our maruti more then 40 odd kilometers beyond Nagpur and Priti had not driven even that much !! Our complete luggage consisted of 4 packing cases and one TV which we sent off to Bangalore . Priti's niece was married to a Naval Officer who was doing a course at that time at CDM in Secundrabad . Hyderabad being half way we decided to spend couple of days with them before proceeding to Bangalore .

Then the preparations for the car journey began . Got the maps studied the distances and asked various people about road condition, places to stay etc . We asked experienced travelers if we have to break journey and stay overnight on the way to Hyderabad . We were assured that reaching Hyderabad from Nagpur on the same day was no problem at all . In fact we met one odd fellow who claimed to have made the journey all the way to Bangalore in one go as they had some emergency at home. After so many positive feedbacks we we were assured and started feeling confident that "yes" , may be we can make it to Hyderabad on the same day without any hitches ." Now , after all these years and having trapised all over India in our car we feel that all those ghuta hua travelers must have had a good laugh at our anxiety fears . Any way with all these experienced travelers we discussed the sun rise , sunset timings and also the discussed the best time to start . Due to bad habits of most of the Indian drivers and particularly of long distance truck drivers to drive with head lights on full beam I used to be almost blinded and found it most difficult to see the road ahead and on many an occasion had almost gone in a ditch or hit some thing by the road side . So It was decided to drive only during day light hours and call it a day & make night halt at which ever place we were before it became dark and made use of head light necessary . So the rule followed was start as soon as it becomes sufficient light in the morning and stop at any place before sunset . It was a wise decision which was to be followed in all future journeys.

During my morning walks I started going earlier just to check light conditions during dawn and day break to arrive at our wheels roll time ( starting time to the un-initiated ).

Finally the departure date as decided approached.

We started our journeyas planned 0n 07 Jul 99.
Thus started our saga of our car trips all over India.

For photographs in Album 16 from Jun to Dec 1999 go here 

View Nagpur - Bangalore , June 1999 . in a larger map

PRELUDE TO THE CAR JOURNIES !

During our serving days we never had the pleasure nor the problems of owning a car . It is not that we did not have the need for it . With two growing sons and only a Vijay Super as a mode of transportation at Shillong , a four wheeler was definitely a necessity , but those were the days when other necessecities had priority over owning a car !

After retirement we settled down in Nagpur and when the younger son got admission in an aided engineering college , without capitation fee we were quite happy and used the dough ( kept aside for that very purpose , in case we ever had to pay the capitation fee ) , for buying a second hand Fiat for 55,000/bucks . Now with both the sons away and only two of us around the "necessity" part of the car was no longer an overriding factor.It was got for the convenience and the pleasurable part of it . What we had not bargained for was the problem part of it .

The engine used to over heat even after a small distance . As rectification we changed the four bladed radiator fan for five bladed one . It did not help much . Then the radiator it self was changed with a copper tubing radiator .

The battery was always down . It was difficult to get manpower for a push start at any and all places or times . So dynamo was replaced with an alternator . During our limited distances drives those problems did not bother us after these rectifications but they were spread over long period of time and had taken considerable amount of cash :-( .

At speeds above 45 kmph the nose wheels ( front wheels for the uninitiated) used to "shimmy" badly and the steering wheel used to vibrate and shake uncontrollably . Reducing speed was the only solution . No matter what we tried and how much we spent ,we could never get rid of this snag as long as we had that car .

In the mean time what with re-employment , pension , both sons away and one son earning , our finances were , for the first time in our memory , looking up . So , finally when the problem parts of the car far out weighed the pleasure part , we sold it off for a princely sum of 23,000/ bucks and actually considered ourselves lucky to have got that price !! With improved finances , a bit of bank loan and those 23,000/ bucks we got a base model brand new Maruti 800 car through the canteen on the 10 th of May 1998. It was a car from one of the very first lots to be received in Nagpur to be fitted with "catalytic converter" for better emission standards .The "pilots notes"("user manual" to the uninitiated )were replete with warning that "ONLY UN-LEADED " petrol to be used to prevent damage to the "catalytic converter" .{ a new one cost about 10 - 15000/- :-( } Those days un-laded petrol was not easily available any where as only few petrol pumps and that too only in bigger cities stocked the un-leaded petrol . It became quite common to hear people asking "where is un-leaded fuel available" , not to find the answer,but to boast to all within hearing range that he / she had latest model of Maruti 800 :-). The boasting was not misplaced . What a difference between our Fiat & this maruti ! It was like chalk & cheese !!!

It was the very first brand new car we had ever owned . I was 56 years old when that happened. Today the officers are owning better and bigger cars and that too at much younger age !!

We did not know it then , but this car was to bring us lots of pleasure and adventures !!

Velu.