Plan was to visit Mysore and the surrounding places on one of the weekends. I opted for a self driven travel on our Hyundai Santro since ours is a small family consisting of mom, dad, wifey and myself. It was the occasion of a full moon day and we were told in the previous visit about the special deities being performed at Nimishamba temple near Srirangapatna on that special day. Mom was eager to visit the temple on that full moon day and hence well planned in advance as it coincided with weekend. On one of the working days before that weekend, our car was taken for a wash and wheel alignment by my brother in law. We started early in the morning around 5 am from our home.
Since there was absolutely zero traffic on roads, it was a pleasure to drive in the cool morning. The grip of the alloy wheels with tubeless tyre was formidable on the well maintained Mysore-Bangalore Road. K & N performance filter was providing absolutely great driving experience as usual. I have been thoroughly enjoying the long drives since we bought this car 15 months back, I have driven it over 11,000+ kms! Though it is an A2 segment car, I have no complaints about the performance or the mileage. 
Given the well maintained conditions of the car, I was easily hitting 100kmph mark pretty often. I don’t exceed that limit on our highways though! By the time sun could spill his light on our way, we had reached Mandya already. Stopped for a coffee and mom was busy buying fresh flowers. Around 7:30 am we were at the Nimishamba temple. The temple was already crowded and more over it was a Sunday. Upon completing the rituals there we had our breakfast en-route to Somanathapura. Though the roads aren’t that great to reach Somanathapura from Mysore, I was driving at speeds not exceeding 60kmph.
You can read about Somanathapura Keshava temple architecture in my previous post along with the photos. After admiring all the feast for eyes there, it was 2pm when we reached Mysore again. We had lunch in a good hotel over there and continued our journey towards ‘Chamundi Hills’ – the iconic symbol of Mysore apart from the palace. Since we visited the Mysore Zoo, Palace, St. Philomina’s church etc., in our last visit, we skipped them all and decided to cover the remaining places. The temperature was too hot indicating the arrival of summer. We had a blessing darshan of Goddess ‘Chamundeshwari’ and around 4:30pm we were on the curvy roads to get back to Mysore city. 
Our plan was to visit Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) – Brindavan Gardens. In less than 5 minutes from the time we started at hill top, a two wheeler overtook me and gave indication that the right wheel at the back was wobbling!
Though I didn’t feel any jerks nor any limping sense from inside, parked my car to one of the sides on road. When I carefully inspected the tyre, found that one out of the four nut caps was missing! I kept wondering to myself how the hell could I drive for some 220+ kms by then since morning without this nut cap. I am pretty sure, it can’t disappear just like that. May be when the car was taken for wheel alignment, the mechanics out there might have forgotten to put one of the missing nut cap back. There is no other possibility that it could go missing. With no other option in hand, tightened the remaining 3 nut caps fullest to my strength and continued my driving. Mom and Dad were terribly concerned since we had a long distance to cover to reach back Bangalore. All my efforts to find a mechanic on a sunday evening went in vain and not even one spare parts shop was open. Called up my mechanic to evaluate the next course of my action. He laughed at me and said just tighten the remaining 3 nuts and you can easily drive all the way to Bombay and come back without any trouble. 
With his confidence, we drove all the way to KRS and a nice time out there enjoying the colorful water fountains. It was already 8:00pm by the time we came out of Brindavan Gardens.
Dad wasn’t interested in favor of me driving through night, thanks to the missing nut cap! So we decided to halt overnight at one of the lodges in Srirangapatna. Even I was tired because of the summer hot temparatures. Had a good sleep and started around 6am to return back to Bangalore and reached the destination by 9 am. On the same day evening, went to an authorized Hyundai spare parts & service center. Purchased the cap nut and got it fitted in the missing slot. The cost of the nut is Rs 114/-. It may sound silly but the fact is, fear overtakes the mind when in doubt in a not so familiar domain. What a pity! a nut can change your plans. Now I understand the common slang ‘going nuts‘ much better!
Ad-it-i says
hahaha… now thats an experience!!!!
Once we frnds were returning back from Pune to mumbai via expressway.. and suddenly near some cross section one dog came in our way and to avoid him my frnd had to bring car to creeching halt from 150kmph to zero in flat 12 secs..!!! and boss… the rubber smell of burnt tyres after that!!! yuckss!!! one helluva ride , we almost thought we would spin off the road ..!!! but i guess ford fiesta has much better road grip!!!
Elizabeth says
Oh this was really scary…I can understand the concern of your parents…Guess I will need to check my father’s car before every ride from now on-wards…
Mohan says
Following a checklist is always good to have a nice journey 🙂 Thanks for dropping by!
Pooja says
wow scary..
you hv taught me a valuable lesson..
i am not allowed to drive so far from the city yet.. but whenever i do i am going to take all the necessary precautions..
thanks.
Mohan says
Oh yeah! one has to learn from other’s mistakes 😉 Not everyone gets a chance to commit all the mistakes 🙂
Milana says
One of the things that can get you really bothered on a long journey is the condition of the vehicle you are in. On our way to Coorg my husband realized that there was something wrong with the wheel alignment and we had no other option than to continue like that. It is a terrible mood spoiler when something like this happens.
Mohan says
That is very true! This is my first ever such a scary drive 😉
Deepa Gopal says
Hey Mohan
There’s something awaiting you in my blog. Pls do share my happiness and festive spirit…
Regds
Deepa
Mohan says
Thanks Deepa! Saw the award. Congratulations to you too 🙂
Shaunak says
Speaking of nutcaps, you have an award on my blog! 😀 Drop by!
Mohan says
Thank you Shaunak! I have already visited your post in the morning and a left a comment there too. Thanks a bunch 🙂
lostworld says
Now I know what & where is a nutcap 😉 Thanks for that most informative pic!
Mohan says
hehehe… even i didn’t know the exact name of that part until my mechanic told me 😉 Now not only me, but all my blog readers know about it 😀
Saraswathan says
Mohan, I always check my car thoroughly when taking delivery after an Overhaul from the service center and invariably notice something or other needing attention. In my case it used to be 1 or 2 hub caps missing! Happy you had a safe drive back home.
Mohan says
That is really weird! I think it is time for me to follow the same suite as well 🙂
Sunitha says
Its scary.. overrall what i got to know from this it to check all the tyres and nuts properly before going for long drive. thnks fr the post..
Mohan says
That is an absolute checklist item going forward 🙂
Chitra Nayak says
That was a nice narration. Enjoyed travelling with you.
Mohan says
Thank you!
Nalini Hebbar says
Fear is the key…in this case the nut cap!!!
The statue you posted is on the Chamundi hill…of Narakasura, I think…I lived in Mysore when I was 4 and thought the statue was huge, reaching the heavens …and then when I visited it as an adult, I was amazed to find it to be about 20 feet in height…It was I who grew up!!! LOL
Mohan says
LOL… that nut made me go nuts for sure 🙂
Shruti says
That must have been scary!!
Glad everything worked out ok even though there was a slight change of plans. 🙂
Mohan says
Yeah.. me too happy about it.
Shrinidhi Hande says
Hmm… may be I should plan to carry some spare nuts next time…
Mohan says
I have no clue how it got missed… still a mystery. Prevention is better for sure. But ensuring everything is fine before heading should be good enough.
kavita says
A car servicing now and then is good for the car as well as the safety of the owner .The surprising thing is why this was not detected while wheel alignment .Hey, we too own the same car …my daughter and the car age the same i.e. a little over six yrs.
Mohan says
That took me over by surprise too… Nice to know that.
Vineeta says
Oh thats scary!! And I wonder.. if the tyre wobbles, wont you get to knw while driving.. thats even more scarier!!! I guess first thing today I will do is to check the nuts of my car 😀 😀
Mohan says
Good doubt.. the fact is I have the Mag Wheels which are atleast twice the width of normal tyres. So, the grip on road would be more and hence I couldn’t notice the wobble. Not only today, but now that would be part of my routine check before heading over to any distant place 🙂
Shaunak says
Hahaha…I remember driving on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at about 160 kmph when my friend whose car it was suddenly said he’d forgotten to tighten the nuts of the rear wheel. I got SO scared!
But then we found out they were tight enough, so were all like “phew!” 😀
Driving long distances brings it’s own share of stories and experiences.
Mohan says
Absolutely true… I get to learn something new every time I drive on national highways 🙂