Day 5 - Chidambaram - Pondy - Chennai

Map for the day

It was supposed to be a leisure ride back home as it was just 220 kms to reach Chennai via Pondy. And Pondy - Chennai is a stretch any guy from Chennai would have done N number of times! But we did one mistake which costed us a lot of time and another hiccup was my bike giving up in the middle of nowhere 60 kms short of Chennai!

We visited the famours Natarajar temple at Chidambaram, had breakfast, took a tour of the Annamalai University and headed towards Pondy . We crossed border between TN - PY a couple of times before reaching Pondy.

First time entering Pondy from this direction :)





Headed straight to the beach for a customary pic







It was noon when we reached here due to the late start from Chidambaram. Had lunch and took our well known ECR stretch to Chennai. Just after exiting Pondy we saw a sign board to Auroville. Having been to Pondy a number of times never been to Auroville. So headed towards Auroville . Its a narrow road which is full of foreigners riding mopeds and bikes around. We felt like we were in another country! We even asked way to a couple for them. Reached the place and parked our bikes. We had to walk inside the place to reach the spot where meditations would be done. It was a tiring walk under the hot sun before we reached this magnificent structure .





We just saw it from outside as the timing to enter this was over and were informed that only a limited number of people are allowed to enter this structure for meditating in first come first server basis.

Returned back to our bikes and realised Auroville is a place which required more than a day to be spent at and we wasted a lot of time in walking around. It was evening by the time we caught the ECR again to Chennai.





Soon the sun went down and were night riding as we did the past 4 days in the ride! Just before Mahaballipuram while I was overtaking a truck my bike just died! It completely shut down and I didnt have any throttle to complete my overtaking! Somehow managed and pulled over. Luckily I was leading so stopped Sudan and Gughan immediately.

Switched off the ignition and switched it back on . Nothing was happening not even the self check. In fact the RPM needle was stuck at 6k when it died. It was as if there was no battery in the bike. Called Praful who has been always helpful for me in the emergencies. He asked me to check for the fuses. He said if it was one of the fuses then no issues . As there were spares. But if it wasn't them then I should arrange a transport back to Chennai. I didnt want the later to happen! What an unfortunate way to end the ride! Checked the fuses and both were fine. I had an issue with the wiring a year back. So tried to re align the wires and made sure nothing is in contact with metal parts. This worked! My 220 came back to life! But low battery indicator was blinking when I had the headlights on . Didnt want to risk it again so decided to ride with just the pilot lamps and not to use the horn/indicators . Gughan in front and Sudan behind me I was being escorted . We maintained 40kmph throughout this last leg of our journey and safely reached Chennai city limits.

Stopped at Madhya Kailash and bid adieu to each other. Thanked each other for this wonderful ride and parted ways to home.







Phew finally completed this ride log!!! Riding to places is one thing and penning down as a log is another thing! Riding is much much easy and fun! :p