Sharing thoughts and experience...

Back to blogging after a gap of 5 years..  Relocated outside of India and not found enough time to do the blogs.  To be honest, I should say that I lost interest in blogging after the relocation.  I thought it is better to keep this hobby alive to keep the inner myself happy. My native place is Kumbakonam and have a blog on the various route options from Bangalore to Kumbakonam.  It is time from Chennai to Kumbakonam route options. The Regular Route : Chennai - Tindivanam - Vikravaandi - Panruti - Vadalur - Sethiyathoppu - Anaikarai - Kumbakonam (283 kms, 7 hrs with 30 - 45 mins break) This is the shortest route to Kumbakonam.  This was a scenic route before and was disappointed to see that all the trees are down now, making way for a 4 lane road from Vikravandi to Kumbakonam.  Another great advantage of the route is that you will get fresh produce like cashew fruits, Guava fruits from the nearby farms.  Vendors who use to sell below the tree sh...

I have been in Bangalore for 7 years now and I need to visit Kumbakonam (my native) at least 4 times a year for the last few years.  I have tried multiple route to my native and thought of sharing them here. Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Musiri - Trichy - Tanjore - Kumbakonam This has been my main route till 2012.  It is 4-lane till Namakkal and you have to cut through Namakkal to catch the Trichy road.  Namakkal to Trichy via Musiri is not the best road for low hung cars.  The condition of the road is unpredictable as the road top layer goes off quite often because of the heavy sand lorry traffic.  Trichy to Tanjore is a nice four lane road.  Tanjore to Kumbakonam road cuts through many town and villages and the 40 odd kms will take more than one hour to cover.  Road condition is also not good.  Total kms will be around 430-440 from Bangalore to Kumbakonam in this route.  It will take about 8 to 9 hours for the travel. Bangalore - Kr...

By end of March,  we, family of three friends were planning for a trip.  To avoid travelling in multiple cars, we were on a lookout for a bigger car which can accommodate all three families.  We preferred self drive cars than the taxis/cab just to avoid giving one seat to the cab driver.  We got to know about ZoomCars during that time. Though we could not use Zoom's service at that time, I have been a regular visitor to zoom's website (zoomcar.in) on a regular basis.  My desire to rent a car from Zoom has grown with time and finally got a chance to rent one in May.  Zoom offered a mouth watering discount for my first booking and I booked the car the next day after seeing the email. I have rented Vento and City so far and I am a happy customer of Zoom Cars.  Vehicles were available on time and the condition of vehicles were also good.  Looking forward to try some more zoom cars in the future. Pros : Renting process is simple and straight f...

There is no renewal as such for passport nowadays. They are re-issuing a new passport within a year of the expiry date of the passport. As usual, there are two ways to get this new passport - Tatkaal and Normal. In Normal procedure, one has to wait for close to a month to get the passport. The passport will be issued only after the police verification. If there is no change of address during re-issue, then I think it may be issued little earlier. I went through Tatkaal procedure and I want to change my address in the passport. As per the document finder, required documents are the old passport and atleast one address proof. But I have seen that the people at the first counter are asking for more than one proof. Another thing I understand after visiting PSK (Passport Seva Kendra) is that for any personal particulars changes in the passport we need to give a proof. For eg, Since I am married now, the new passport should have my correct martial status whether I am interested in ch...

In January 2012, I started planning for a trip some where near by bangalore for couple of days. This trip is primarily to take my newly married brother & his wife out. Initially decided to go to Yercaud as it is possible two day destination trip. After confirming with my brother, booked two rooms in one of the resort in Yercaud. While casually browsing through the internet, got to know about Coorg district in Karnataka. Coorg has been in my list for quite a while. So, decided to dig more on the travel details for Coorg. Coorg seems to be possible destination for us and hence started finalizing the home stays. I got a big list of home stays and finally decided on "Victorian Veranadaz" near Kadagadal in Madikeri. Mode of Travel : Road, My car i20. No of people - 4 adults + 1 kid. No of days - 3 days Se started the journey at 6 AM from Bangalore. I took the Nice room to reach Mysore road. Mysore road as usual is full of traffic and could not do much of speed. We...

Bangalore to Ooty Trip Car : Zen Estilo Odo reading at the start : 17784 Date: 20th June 2009 Travel members: Me, My wife and My 8 month old Kid. I am planning this trip for almost two months ago. I planned to go to Ooty with my Parents when they were here in May. We could not do it because of my brother's tight vacation schedule. So, I have decided do it with my wife and kid. Initially, I planned it with one of my friend. He agreed and then later he could not make it bcoz of some family function in his native place. Finally it is up to me to decide the place to stay, the duration of the stay and travel plan. I have planned it on 27th of June but changed it to 20th for some personal reasons. I have gone through lot of travelogues, reviews and other details on the internet for the travel, hotels and the sights in Ooty. First decision made - Travel start date 20th June 2009. My hotel search starts and...