Coast to Coast 2021: Manamelkudi to Chennai

By 6:30 am, I am ready and all the luggage has been packed on the bike. I head towards the hotel where I had my dinner last night for my morning dose of Tea. It’s bright outside and shops are opening for businesses.

“Chennai” seems doable as I check my google maps for a possible end destination. “Chennai” is marked as I get ready for yet another scenic ride on the eastern coast. I simultaneously drop a message to my biker friend ‘Shiv’ saying that I would be arriving in the evening. A moment later, a reply comes that says he is more than happy to host me. It’s time to enjoy the journey now.

Morning dew settles on the road and makes it just ‘wet’ and it gives a feeling like a freshly paved road. Traffic can hardly be seen and the sun rises slowly on my right. I see villagers getting into their daily work and I enjoy the beautiful scenery all around me. Paddy fields all over.

The morning fog still wrestles with the sun giving the haziness look all around and providing a certain amount of chill in the air. The scene looks something like a ‘dreamy’ situation.

I head towards Vedaranyam passing Muthupet, which is marked on the map. After reaching here, the highway will take a sharp 90 deg to turn up north. I drive on the NH32. I have ridden over 50km since morning and Vedaranyam is still 40kms to go. Crossing Muthupet, the land opens on both sides. Lush greenery dotted with swamps at some location. The road width has reduced but hardly anyone can be seen on the road.

Cruising at a leisurely pace, I reach Vedaranyam at around 8:40 am clocking 100kms since the morning. I now head towards ‘north’ to the next big city of Nagapattinam which is around 50 km.

On the way to Nagapattinam, and I am stopped by these 2 gentlemen riding a Hero Honda Splendour. They seem excited looking at me and want to know more about me. Their excited faces tell me everything, following which they request a ‘selfie’ along with me. They take my “Insta’ handle name and agree to follow me.

About to reach Nagapattinam, and I get to see the first look of the coast since morning. It indeed looks beautiful with all its blue color. A reminder, once again, that I am on a coastal tour of India.

I turn right from Nagore city and take the NH45A highway towards Pondicherry. The roads are the same as in the morning but the traffic seems to be increased a little. The roads also have reduced in width. I ride continuously for yet another hour and force myself to a stop for a hydration break at a roadside stall selling coconuts. The intense sun heat and humidity have drained a lot of fluids inside me. On the contrary, I am also hungry and wish to eat tender coconut flesh. The time is close to 11 am.

The roads are single lane but well paved and so, I am able to keep a constant pace. At around 11:30 am I reach Chidambaran city and am greeted with heavy traffic. I try to escape as soon as possible and head towards the next city of Cuddalore.

It’s a National Highway but looks like a village road. At around noon, I cover 250 km of riding since morning. I quickly take a nature’s break and while I’m off the road, I phone the Royal Enfield Service centre at Pondicherry and book an appointment for my bike. I tell them to service my bike on priority and they agree. This is the 3rd time the bike is entering into service bay during this trip. Cuddalore is still 23 km more to go.

At 1:15 pm, I enter the Rooster Automobiles Royal Enfield Service centre at Pondicherry. Luckily, it is situated not far from the main highway. The team at the RE quickly jump into action as I simultaneously offload all my luggage. It’s a tough task considering the intensity of the heat and humidity. The bike is first washed to get the engine temperature down and then loaded onto the ramp for the oil change.

By 3 pm, I get the bike back full serviced and ready to hit the road again. I thank all the RE service staff before leaving. It’s time to head towards Chennai now.

Chennai sits at 136km and the time is 3:30 pm. As per my calculation, I should reach my friend’s place before it gets dark if such road conditions prevail. I get more excited by the fact that I would get to drive on the most coveted East Coast Road, popularly known as the ECR road which almost kisses the sea in its entirety.

Just before reaching Mahabalipuram, I get stopped at the entrance of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research road. I am totally unaware that this road, which runs parallel to the coast is strictly for the employees. The security staff seem to be interested in my tour and ask me when I will be releasing this part of the episode so that they can watch themselves in the video. I take a different route now towards Mahabalipuram. The time is 5 pm.

A few moments after that, I hit the ECR road which feels like the Autobahn of Germany. The sun is about to go down and the colour gradually changes to orange. I am cruising at around 80kmph with hardly anyone on my side.

The city skyline starts to appear and the traffic starts to pile up. I have put the location of my friend’s house on the map to which it still says 22kms, roughly 80 more minutes of driving at the current pace. The time is 5:45 pm.

It was the peak hour rush traffic due to the closure of office hours and almost all of the people were on the roads. I could see everyone trying to push others back and lead the race. At one point, I saved myself from hitting one rickshaw when he suddenly swerved into my path. We both exchanged glares as there was no common language for communication. I knew I was at the loser end.

Daylight gave into Darkness and here I was, still riding to my intended location. I had clearly misjudged the 22km distance. It was taking me eternity now to reach my destination.

Finally, at 7 pm in the evening, the engine stops and I arrive at my friend’s place. It is a room on the ground floor of a building with private parking. We meet for the 2nd time, the 1st being in Mizoram. I gradually take all the load off the bike as we are engrossed in travel talk. A long night waiting for us to talk about each other’s travel stories.

We head out for dinner later in the evening where I get to eat Chicken Biryani while Shiv resorts to Veg items. It’s a good hearty meal as we walk our way back home feeling heavy.

We spend some time asking each other about our future travel plans. In the heat of the discussion, time just flies away and soon it’s 10:30 pm in the night. The Chennai chapter is coming to an end, and tomorrow I will be resting my head on the pillow in a different state. There is a lot to talk and discuss but time is short. Promising to meet each other soon, we doze off for the night.

Some parts of the road will be familiar to me tomorrow as it was the same route that we had taken during our GQ ride back in 2019.