A Drive To The Mountains
- Vidhi Aggarwal
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Gemini - I am a beginner driver. Please suggest a suitable route from Bangalore to Ooty and Coonoor .
Gemini’s Response - Two routes. One that took 6 hours and another 7+. The 7+ hrs one was less steeper.
And I saved those in our group.
Plan - We want to take a trip. Everyone has a job. Good thing! And we can’t take leaves. Cool! Some of us even have exams. Cool! Nikalte hain weekend par, laptop le jaayenge, phir dekhenge.
So, why did I want to go to Ooty in peak summers?
It’s a hill station for one! Two, everyone had been there, except me! Well, the other such place is Goa (I hope you are listening Krishna Ji)
So, somehow, I convinced my brother (well, now I have to onboard my bhabhi to onboard him, which is way easier than before :D).
My sister is always in for a trip. So, that is sorted.
So, 5 of us.. My mom(Anu), my sister (Sanchi), bhai (Golu) and bhabhi (Guddu) and me.. On a trip! I just felt bad for my brother, stuck between 4 young girls. :/
My job, to get my car serviced for the drive.
My sister’s– to figure out stays.
My brother’s - Everything, just come to start with!
And next day, we are off.
Saturday
1st stop - Mysore
We started on Saturday afternoon and reached Mysore. Booked a stay on the way. That is how impromptu trips are! It turned out to be a spacious and cozy 2 BHK. Quite to my taste.
Sunday
Drive to Coonoor
Recently, my mum has also started driving. So, she tried her hand! We all agreed, the more drivers, the better. :D She tried our car for the first time. An automatic moves by itself unlike a manual and she pressed the accelerator and we just stopped a few inches before banging into the roadside tree. Typical new driver scenes. We decided she needs a few more classes with her instructor for an automatic. :p
After a quick breakfast on the way, we started off from Mysore. I was put behind the wheel so others could pick and book the next stay.
Mysore happens to be a planned city. Wide roads, very few vehicles. Just one vehicle spewing smoke can make a beautiful road unbreathable. You cannot open your windows, cannot take in the weather.
Quick notes - We should really ban diesel and petrol vehicles. Nowadays electric cars are good as well. Especially for the city! I'll have to Gemini to check if electric cars are good enough for mountains. Turns out, yes. Well, this one I got petrol being on the conservative side and listening to people who call electric- a junkbox because of the battery weight, but the next one is electric for sure.
We finally got a stay in Kotagiri. Which was close by, a less commercial town. Looked good, nestled in a tea estate.
Once the stay was booked and I was done driving at <80 on highways, Golu took the wheel and now we moved much faster and reached Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary. Saw elephants crossing, beech ki maang waale Salman Khan fans monkeys, a lot of deer.
The photogenic and GenZ folks took pictures and videos. The not so techy ones enjoyed the views and relied on the in house photographers for the pictures.
And here comes the twist. Somehow, even after putting on the longer less steeper route we took some wrong turn, possibly because we lost network for sometime. And ended up on the one with 36 hairpin bends. Sanchi very sportingly said, she will drive. Now, Sanchi is driving, I am in the passenger seat. My brother is behind in between. With each of his hands on our seats and eyes pinned on the road more than Sanchi.
I was still pleasantly surprised that Sanchi drove us from Bandipur to Kotagiri. With just a few instructions from Golu. And when she parked in the stay and got out, it was breathtaking. You could sit anywhere and just breathe here for hours. Humans have always been fond of mountains. Nature humbles you. When you see vast expanses of forests, just created by God, the natural air, water, simple life, it awakens that primal feeling of just being.
Kotagiri Stay
We had a beautiful wooden penthouse, all to ourselves. And very friendly staff. After settling in the rooms, we went for a snack. A very tiny elderly lady, should be at least 70, made us tea! She was elderly but so energetic and friendly. She couldn’t understand Hindi or English and we couldn’t understand Tamil. But still we communicated. Seeing such women gives me goals. I want to grow old to be like them. That level of energy, life and simplicity.
The property manager made us amazing toasts. We ate so much that there was no space left for dinner. :D
After retiring to our penthouse, we stayed up to chat on how long we could stay. Everyone had office the next day, my sister had summer vacations (some perks of being a teacher). Finally, we decided to head back the next day while visiting places on the way. :(
Monday
Back To Bangalore
The next day, mom woke up before the sun to see the sunrise. By the time we woke up she had been around the entire estate and even the adjoining places. Then she took one more round with me. And I got to see a tea factory, tea plantations, mushroom farms. Sanchi relaxed in the balcony and Golu and Guddu enjoyed their time :D
Did you know?
“Chai patti” is not naturally occurring. Those small round balls we call chai patti are made from leaves. Till now I thought “chai patti” was a naturally occurring seed of a tea plant. But nope, I was surprised to see it actually is processed tea leaves.
We bought some tea from the estate, had breakfast. Guddu collected some flowers and made cute crafts. Anu got a wood log from the factory as a momento. We all took pictures and checked out.
Drive Back
Since Sanchi had driven yesterday in the mountains, it gave me some confidence that I too could, so I asked to drive today. I had to show confidence in myself to be granted that permission! And then I said, nahi chalegi to de doongi!
It was doable! Just steep roads so harder to keep in your lane! Uphill hairpin bends seemed to put pressure on the engine! And you had to take longer turns, ideally as long as you could! That was the toughest part for me, because it felt like there was no space ahead for turning but there was.
Going downhill was fun. I never drove above 25 going uphill, downhill, it reached 40 on its own. And controlling the steering here was fun. Like going on a ride in a car!
After a few hours when my brother took to driving, I realised we could go 40-50 uphill also. :D It felt like a roadways bus when he drove. My sister joked saying - Golu, agar darr lage to mujhe de diyo. Mujhe darr lagega to Manu ko de doongi. Manu ko lagega to Mummy ko. And mummy ko lagega to Saloni ko. :D
It was so fast, we almost missed the “Highfield Tea Factory”
I had come across this name while searching for tea and chocolate factories. So, we stopped and checked that out. It was huge. This time, we had a tour of the tea factory, chocolate making process and some essential oils manufacturing.
My agenda for the trip was done after I had bought all types of teas and chocolates. Essential oils are just complementary. And the x factor is estates. Now I was good with going back to Bangalore.
On the way back, my family made me realise how I had yet again helped the sales folks meet their sales targets for the year and would be crowned customer of the year.
Sanchi put on a different route for return from Salem for a change of scenery. And it was a highway.
Then Golu said, let’s just punch in Bangalore without stops.
And then the maps did their magic again. At around 7, for a shorter route we started climbing another path with 27 hairpin bends. Only this time it was night. And it was Sanchi behind the wheel again.
Iss baar uske bhi paseene choot gaye. Hum sab ke bhi to be honest but “Salud” she did it. With heavy duty trucks coming down from the opposite side, very narrow roads, very less light, she drove all the way uphill. Sanchi driving, me on the passenger’s seat, Golu behind between us, all of our eyes pinned on the road. The network gave up, and mummy was reciting Hanuman Chalisa. Guddu had picked up a seat where the front view was blocked. So, we couldn’t tell how scared she was.
Once we reached some plains, all of us stretched for a while, had some snacks.
It was almost 2 AM when we reached home. 3 days, just driving.
And hence, this trip would only qualify as “A Drive to Remember”
This trip has reduced my fervour for teas and flavoured teas! Since I saw it is not naturally occurring and needs processing!
Good things it did, it has increased my comfort with driving and hopefully has made me more mentally comfortable to drive around. touchwood
Best thing it has done – It has made me think ahead from managed farmlands to estates. 😀
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