In the last week of December 2018 I was sitting idle at home. Had full week of vacation and nothing much to do at home. So I decided to go to Pondicherry from Bangalore for a 2 day trip with family.  The plan got finalized at a short notice and I started looking for some decent hotel. Due to vacation season there was too much rush in Pondicherry and all the hotels were either fully booked for new year or room tariffs were unusually high. Finally got a room for 2 nights in a decent hotel near to promenade at 3 times the usual price 😥. Distance to Pondicherry from Bangalore is around 310 kilometers by road. I had planned to drive.  If you look at Google Maps then it will suggest the shortest route which is : Bangalore->Hosur->Krishnagiri->Chengam->Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry I decided to trust google maps and took this route. Map showed total 6 hours to reach Pondicherry from Bangalore.  We started early at 6:30AM on Thursd