I make a trip home every month – January
was an exception, where I went home every weekend. After my last trip home, I
was immediately searching for tickets for my next trip. A couple of services
were up on my list of “to be tried” services. One of them was Kallada Tours
& Travels’ Volvo service to Ernakulam via Kozhikode. I don’t want to reveal
the others – but looks like some of them would remain on the list forever. I
zeroed in on the Kallada bus via Kozhikode and checked their website – but only
the last row seats remained open for booking online! I was sure that the other
seats were blocked – not really sold out. Headed to their office on a Sunday,
and got the ticket booking through the office – interestingly, the bus was
completely empty at that time – mine was the first ticket to be booked! About a
week before the journey, the bus was opened for online reservation – the bus
filled up in no time!
February
15, 2013:
It was one very busy day at office –
thankfully, traffic on Bannerghatta road was light and that helped me reach
home by around 1800hrs. I spent some time browsing the internet, and later
packed my dinner for that night, and got ready to head out. I left home around
1900hrs, and hired a rick to head straight to the Kallada office at Madiwala
Checkpost – their new office. The rick driver took a very crude road – I almost
broke my back by the time the rick got on to good roads. I was dropped outside
the Kallada office at around 1940hrs. I headed to the office and got my
boarding pass. Chatted with the people there for some time – they were proudly
showing the brochure of Scania, which was shot outside the very same office.
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| My bus: KA-01-AB-1361 (Photo from Archives) |
My bus for the journey – KA-01-AB-1361 was
already parked outside the office, but boarding hadn’t started. The engine was
switched on around 1950hrs. The pick-up van from the old office came shortly
after that – once the pick-up came, they started boarding. There were lots of
people for this bus in that pick-up van. Boarding was over by around 2000hrs
itself. They came around to check tickets at around 2005hrs – quite early by
Kallada standards. But a few more passengers were yet to turn up – we continued
our wait for them. We finally got moving at 2018hrs – three minutes late. We
had about 20 passengers on board from here. Interestingly, traffic was light
till we reached Minerva circle – the opposite side was jammed almost
throughout, though. Beyond Minerva circle, traffic slowed down to a crawl – especially
as we neared the intersection of TSP Road. It was jammed beyond that – after a
lot of crawl, we finally reached Kalasipalayam Market bus station (2049hrs).
The cop standing at the beginning of Albert Victor Road would not permit the
bus to enter the road – the Kallada office is on AV Road.
The driver kept pleading to the cop to let
us pass – but he wouldn’t accept the pleas. Finally the bus driver had no
option but to take another round. The
traffic along the road had increased exponentially by now. After the long
round, we reached back at AV Road, in front of the Kallada office, at 2108hrs –
about 23 minutes late. The bus filled up here – we had 48/48 seats as we were
signalled to start from Kalasipalya. The office guy signed off the trip chart,
and informed the crew that there were no pick-ups from Mysore or elsewhere. We
started off at 2117hrs. It was then a painful crawl through TSP Road, to reach
Sirsi Circle. Mysore road had a lot of traffic – but the traffic was moving. I
remember seeing Kengeri TTMC – but dozed off even before we passed NICE road. I
woke up when the cleaner announced a 10 minute break for dinner – the time was
2242hrs. I got off the bus and had a short stroll. Switched on the GPS to find
the location – we were past Channapatna now. We were joined by a couple of
Kannur bound private buses and a KeSRTC Super Express to Kannur.
We started off after dinner at 2300hrs. I
slept off soon after the bus started. I had a fairly nice sleep – woke up when
the bus stopped at Hunsur for some checking – did not notice the time. I
remember the bus hitting a bad patch past Hunsur, on the Gonikoppa route. I
dozed off as the bus rocked hard passing through the inexistent roads. The bus
did make some rattling sound at this point. I woke up when the bus stopped
again – in fact, the bus was stationary when I woke up. The time was past
0247hrs then – rubbed by eyes straining to read a board a little away – the
board read “Forest Check Post – Kutta”. OMG! We were already at the Kerala
border!! We were still in Karnataka though. There was so issue between the crew
and the people sitting in the check-post – the standoff continued for quite
some time. In the meantime, the Bangalore-Kalpetta Super fast of KeSRTC
overtook us and went. We started off at 0314hrs.
I pulled out by spectacles now and remained
alert to see how the bus handles the forest route. The roads were narrow and
winding – the bus was handling all the curves brilliantly. There was narrow
bridge on the way – the bridge had a perfect 90-deg approach, and the bridge
was just wide enough for the bus. The driver managed to get the bus past
without hitting anywhere – guess the guy was a regular on the route. The bus
was stopped by the forest guys again at the exit gate – the crew had a tough time
convincing the people to open the gates – the crew kept saying that the bus was
full, and requested him to let the bus through so that he could drop the
passengers on time. From the conversation, I understood that it was related to
some money the crew had to pay to let
the bus through. The conversations continued for about ten minutes.
The roads were in excellent shape post
Kutta – it was winding and somewhat narrow as well. We stopped at the Kerala
incoming check post – but no issues, the bus was allowed through. The roads got
wider as we proceeded towards Kattikulam. I remembered my drive through the
route in 2011 – it’s a beautiful route all way through. We reached Kattikulam
at 0340hrs – a short stop – about 5 minutes – to get the papers cleared by the
RTO, and we were through. I slept soon after we passed Kattikulam. I had an
undisturbed sleep all the time till the cleaner called out passengers alighting
at Kalpetta. We stopped outside Kalpetta new Bus station at 0424hrs – about 5-6
passengers got off, and we got moving at 0426hrs. I dozed off again – did not
even realise when we ran past Wayanad pass (Thamarassery ghat).
I woke up when the bus stopped again to
drop passengers – we were at Kozhikode bypass now – at Malaparamba junction (0605hrs)
About 4 passengers got off and we continued our run. The bus went through
Mavoor road, and stopped again outside Kozhikode mofussil bus station –
0611hrs. This was a fairly long halt – about 30 passengers got off. We started
off at 0616hrs, and headed to the Kallada office on MM Ali road. We reached the
office at 0618hrs – a couple more passengers got off. The crew went to get the
chart signed, while some passengers took a stroll outside. I was still sleepy,
and hence remained in my seat. We started off at 0625hrs. There were just 5
passengers now! One passenger each to Chelari, Kuttipuram, Triparayar,
Kodungallur (yours truly) and Ernakulam (a poor passenger who mistook this bus
for a direct bus) respectively were onboard now. I dozed for some more time,
but woke up by the time we reached Feroke.
Roads started getting crowded by now – we
couldn’t do great speeds anymore. Made a brief halt at Chelari to drop a
passenger (0654hrs) and got moving immediately. I loved the way the bus passed
the mini-ghat section past Valanchery. The driver in good control of the bus,
and he maintained fairly good speeds as well. We stopped at Kuttipuram to drop
a passenger (0749hrs). Beyond Kuttipuram, we entered one of the best roads in
Kerala – the well maintained Kuttipuram-Perumbilavu State highway. The driver
hit three digit speeds on a couple of occasions in this section. We passed
Kunnamkulam at around 0810hrs, and Guruvayur around 0840hrs. I was enjoying the
ride in a multi-axle bus on a route that I’ve frequent umpteen times in my car.
I loved the way this bus passed through the narrow roads. We reached Thriprayar
around 0905hrs – a passenger got off here. I called up home and arranged a
pick-up from Kodungallur. The ever familiar places along the route – Valapad,
Chentrapinni, Moonnupeedika, Perinjanam, Mathilakam, SN Puram, Kothaparambu...
went past.
I moved to the first row seat now – all set
to get off. The bus had two passenger, two drivers and an attendant on board
now! As the bus neared Kodungallur, the attendant came to call me – I requested
them to drop me a little away from the bus station – the politely accepted my
request. I was dropped outside the old Mogul Theatre in Kodungallur at 0931hrs
– and the red monster rushed ahead for its last 40kms to Ernakulam, with one
passenger and three crews on board! I was really excited to travel through the
route in a multi-axle bus.
End remarks: The bus, KA-01-AB-1361, had about 2.25lakh
kms on the odo. I had travelled in the same bus twice earlier – once when the
bus was fairly new, and once after the bus clocked about a lakh kms. This bus
was on the Bangalore-Kodungallur route earlier – the bus still continues to
visit Kodungallur every other day now. Like almost every other Kallada bus,
this one too was kept in really good shape. There were occasional rattles, but
that can be forgiven for the kind of roads this bus runs through. The
end-to-end ride took 13h13m – for about 560kms. It’s surely on the higher side,
but acceptable since the bus runs through about 75% two-lane roads, with a good
ghat section thrown in. The arrival at Kodungallur was an hour late compared to
the announced arrival time – we lost quite some time in the forest, and this
delayed our arrival at Kozhikode – by now traffic built up, and kept delaying
us. I loved the service – the crew were well behaved – spoke very politely to
passengers and were accommodating of passenger requests. In short, I loved the
ride – I am unlikely to take this route again, since a shorter option is
available. But, I may take this bus again if I am heading to Kozhikode, or when
I have lots of time.
Facilities:
Blankets: Yes
Water Bottle: No
Snacks: No
Ratings:
Maintenance (including cleanliness): 5/5
Punctuality: 4/5
Staff Behaviour: 5/5
Overall: 4.25/5
Will I take this service again: Its an
excellent option for people looking at a convenient overnight connection
between Bangalore and Kozhikode. I’ll surely take them if I need to travel on
the route again.
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