The Day 8 started early for us. We got up by 6:00 AM as we had a long distance to cover ahead of us. Our original plan of reaching Varanasi via Lucknow required us to travel close to 900 KM. I went to get the car from the place we had parked the previous night so that we could load our luggage. I was shocked to see that our car was surrounded by at least 5 cars on all sides. Apparently this is an expected thing in Delhi.
Sreejith and my brother in law, Nitin arrived to help me out and we finally got out of the maze by 7:30. Having been delayed a little we thought we will try to make up for it on the way. Boy, were we wrong on this one. It took us a good 2-2.5 hours just to get out of NCR. Maybe the entire Delhi decided to travel to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. I can't think of any other reason for the kind of traffic we saw on our way. Anyways, what it ensured was that we would not be able to cover the distance we had earlier imagined.
We decided to skip Lucknow and with that went our dreams, of having Tunde Kebabs and Biryani, in smoke. We then aimed to reach Varanasi by 9 PM. The byepass of Kanpur and Allahabad greatly helped us in achieving this revised target. Both those roads are really good reasons to skip these cities :). The Allahabad by-pass appeared to be a newly constructed road with hardly any traffic.
We reached Varanasi by 8-8:30 PM and stayed in the first hotel of our trip so far. The hotel was booked by my wife, Nitika, just a couple of hours before we arrived. We checked out the lanes around the hotel for some time and had Rabri and Lassi while we were at it. Needless to say, they were both very good. After that we arrived in our Hotel and after a few adventures with the airconditioning of the rooms there, we finally got our well deserved rest.
We would be leaving for Kolkata on Day 9. Hopefully this plan would not have to be delayed for any reason whatsoever.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
26-03-2010
Having been to Chandni Chowk on the previous day and eaten whatever we could lay our sights on there, we decided to take it a little easy on Day 7. Our original plan was to visit Delhi Haat opposite INA Market and do some shopping there and then visit the Akshardham Temple. But before all this Sreejith and I decided to visit the Azadpur Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market in the morning.
We reached the market at about 8-8:30 AM. The trucks were all arriving from different parts of the country carrying Fruits and Vegetables. Each truck was normally carrying only one type of fruit or vegetable. We first visited the Vegetable Market and then the Fruit Market. The market is so huge that we could see only a small portion of it in the 2 hours that we spend there.
Sreejith took a lot pictures and was attracting a lot interest from the buyers. sellers and the labourers there. They thought of him as journalist and were mostly happy about their pictures being clicked assuming that they would appear in some Newspaper or some News channel. A couple of them were shy and only one seemed to have taken offense. He questioned us, suspecting us of being journalists, trying to show the plight of poor labourers there. But once he was sure that it was just as part of some hobby he got all pally with Sreejith and even posed for a snap.
After the eventful morning we headed towards the Delhi Haat were we would meet Vinay, who had spent the night at his cousin's place. Our day was pretty much downhill from here on. I won't describe the details but we ended up spending huge amount of money without much of our mistake. The reasons varied from sudden pot hole on an express way to a brake applied half a second too late. But the worst part was the amount of time we ended up spending waiting for the repairs.
This meant we had to skip Akshardham and even the Delhi Haat was nothing but quick lunch for us. The lunch itself was also a experience for us. I liked the food, Vinay was OK with it but Sreejith did not enjoy it at all. We did not buy anything there as we found most of the things unreasonably priced.
We reached the market at about 8-8:30 AM. The trucks were all arriving from different parts of the country carrying Fruits and Vegetables. Each truck was normally carrying only one type of fruit or vegetable. We first visited the Vegetable Market and then the Fruit Market. The market is so huge that we could see only a small portion of it in the 2 hours that we spend there.
Sreejith took a lot pictures and was attracting a lot interest from the buyers. sellers and the labourers there. They thought of him as journalist and were mostly happy about their pictures being clicked assuming that they would appear in some Newspaper or some News channel. A couple of them were shy and only one seemed to have taken offense. He questioned us, suspecting us of being journalists, trying to show the plight of poor labourers there. But once he was sure that it was just as part of some hobby he got all pally with Sreejith and even posed for a snap.
After the eventful morning we headed towards the Delhi Haat were we would meet Vinay, who had spent the night at his cousin's place. Our day was pretty much downhill from here on. I won't describe the details but we ended up spending huge amount of money without much of our mistake. The reasons varied from sudden pot hole on an express way to a brake applied half a second too late. But the worst part was the amount of time we ended up spending waiting for the repairs.
This meant we had to skip Akshardham and even the Delhi Haat was nothing but quick lunch for us. The lunch itself was also a experience for us. I liked the food, Vinay was OK with it but Sreejith did not enjoy it at all. We did not buy anything there as we found most of the things unreasonably priced.
Friday, March 26, 2010
25-03-2010
Day 6 started with a lot of anticipation. This was the day when we would be visiting the famed Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. We started the day a little lazily. After a having a hearty breakfast we rested a little, giving our stomachs some rest before the assault which it would have to stand in the coming few hours.
We started at about 2:30 PM and took the Metro to Chandni Chowk. Our first stop were Dahi Bhalle (known as Dahi Vada at many places) at Natraj. Its very close to the Metro Station. Those were the best Dahi Bhalle's (Vadas) we had ever had. The taste cannot be described and needs to be experienced first hand.
After the Dahi Bhalle's we went to Parathe Wali Gali. Its same lane that houses two Paratha places which are both more than 135 years old. We had Aloo, Dal, Paneer and Mirchi Paratha there. Next we had some amazing Lassi in Kullarhs (cup/glasses made of clay). The cold Lassi was the perfect way to counter the spicy and hot Parathas.
Sreejith then wanted to check out the famous eatery Karim's near Jama Masjid. After asking for directions from various people we finally found the place. Sreejith ordered some Burre Kebabs and enjoyed them thoroughly. He would have wanted to have more but there wasn't any space for it. From there we went back the Dariba Kalan Lane to have some Jalebis. The shop there is actually named 'Old & Famous Jalebi Wala'. The Jalebis there were big and soft and not like the usual Jalebis.
After satisfying our food hunger we went to the the Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib to satisfy our Spiritual quest (yeah, you believe us right). There while depositing our shoes, we were called inside by a gentleman who showed us a group of some other gentlemen who were cleaning/polishing the shoes and sandals that were being deposited there. Apparently most of these were millionaires, performing Seva, a concept of 'selfless service' practiced by Sikhs. After that we entered the Gurudwara and sat there for a while. We met the gentleman again inside who then gave a little historical background of this place and it's Guru.
We had a few drinks of what is called Banta. After the refreshing drinks we headed to a very old perfume shop named after a person called Gulab Singh. We bought same amazing smelling perfumes like Khus, Gulab, Jasmine, etc... We then took a Metro to CP. There we had a bottle of milk at Keventers. Then, me Sreejith headed back home and Vinay took a rick to his cousin's place.
Day 6 was in all a culinary journey for us. The day exceeded all our expectation and our guess is is that it will be one of the most memorable days of this trip.
We started at about 2:30 PM and took the Metro to Chandni Chowk. Our first stop were Dahi Bhalle (known as Dahi Vada at many places) at Natraj. Its very close to the Metro Station. Those were the best Dahi Bhalle's (Vadas) we had ever had. The taste cannot be described and needs to be experienced first hand.
After the Dahi Bhalle's we went to Parathe Wali Gali. Its same lane that houses two Paratha places which are both more than 135 years old. We had Aloo, Dal, Paneer and Mirchi Paratha there. Next we had some amazing Lassi in Kullarhs (cup/glasses made of clay). The cold Lassi was the perfect way to counter the spicy and hot Parathas.
Sreejith then wanted to check out the famous eatery Karim's near Jama Masjid. After asking for directions from various people we finally found the place. Sreejith ordered some Burre Kebabs and enjoyed them thoroughly. He would have wanted to have more but there wasn't any space for it. From there we went back the Dariba Kalan Lane to have some Jalebis. The shop there is actually named 'Old & Famous Jalebi Wala'. The Jalebis there were big and soft and not like the usual Jalebis.
After satisfying our food hunger we went to the the Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib to satisfy our Spiritual quest (yeah, you believe us right). There while depositing our shoes, we were called inside by a gentleman who showed us a group of some other gentlemen who were cleaning/polishing the shoes and sandals that were being deposited there. Apparently most of these were millionaires, performing Seva, a concept of 'selfless service' practiced by Sikhs. After that we entered the Gurudwara and sat there for a while. We met the gentleman again inside who then gave a little historical background of this place and it's Guru.
We had a few drinks of what is called Banta. After the refreshing drinks we headed to a very old perfume shop named after a person called Gulab Singh. We bought same amazing smelling perfumes like Khus, Gulab, Jasmine, etc... We then took a Metro to CP. There we had a bottle of milk at Keventers. Then, me Sreejith headed back home and Vinay took a rick to his cousin's place.
Day 6 was in all a culinary journey for us. The day exceeded all our expectation and our guess is is that it will be one of the most memorable days of this trip.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
24-03-2010
After all the shopping and eating of Day 4, Day 5 started a little late at 8:30. We had our breakfast, got ready, packed our bags, said our goodbyes to Masi and Masaji and headed towards Delhi. The plan was to see Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal, Amer Fort and Nahargarh Fort on the way.
Hawa Mahal is in the old city. We drove past it and took a few pictures. Next we stopped at the Jal Mahal for a few more pics and then headed towards the hills for Amer and Nahargarh Forts. On our way saw a man dressed in whites waving at us. It turned out that he was a guide named Birbal. We decided to take his services and took him in our car.
He took us first to Amer Fort. He first showed us the biggest Canon in the world, Jaivan, with a range of 22 miles. It has been fired only once till now, and that too for testing. Legend has it that man who fired it died due to the sound of the explosion. It has never been used again because the fort has never been attacked (no wonder). After this he showed us the museums and the different parts of the forts were Royals stayed at different time of the year. If I were to describe everything it would run into pages so I'll keep the descriptions out.
Next we headed to Nahargarh. Nahargarh Fort was constructed to keep a watch on Jaipur which had started growing towards the other side. The highlight of this Fort are the nine rooms constructed for the nine special Queens. The nine rooms were constructed in exactly the same way so that the Queens would not complain of partiality towards any one particular Queen.
We finally headed towards Delhi at 2:30 PM. We stopped for lunch in between and reached Delhi by 7 in the evening. In Delhi we would be staying at my in-law's place in Shalimar Bagh. Though we had just had a heavy lunch a couple of hours back we were greeted with more food. After giving our stomachs a little rest we headed to Netaji Subhash Place. We tried the Aloo Tikki at BTW there. Even though I've had Tikki at this place umpteen number of times, I can't seem to get enough of it. After the Tikki's we headed for some Kulfi. We had multiple flavours of Kulfi: Rose Petal, Black Currant, Sugarcane, Chiku and Kewra water.
We then headed back home, caught a few glimpses of the IPL match and headed towards our beds thus finishing Day 5 of the trip . Day 6 is one of the most anticipated days of the trip as we plan to go to Chandni Chowk on this day and taste all its delicacies. We might even visit Akshardham if time permits. Will keep you guys posted here.
Hawa Mahal is in the old city. We drove past it and took a few pictures. Next we stopped at the Jal Mahal for a few more pics and then headed towards the hills for Amer and Nahargarh Forts. On our way saw a man dressed in whites waving at us. It turned out that he was a guide named Birbal. We decided to take his services and took him in our car.
He took us first to Amer Fort. He first showed us the biggest Canon in the world, Jaivan, with a range of 22 miles. It has been fired only once till now, and that too for testing. Legend has it that man who fired it died due to the sound of the explosion. It has never been used again because the fort has never been attacked (no wonder). After this he showed us the museums and the different parts of the forts were Royals stayed at different time of the year. If I were to describe everything it would run into pages so I'll keep the descriptions out.
Next we headed to Nahargarh. Nahargarh Fort was constructed to keep a watch on Jaipur which had started growing towards the other side. The highlight of this Fort are the nine rooms constructed for the nine special Queens. The nine rooms were constructed in exactly the same way so that the Queens would not complain of partiality towards any one particular Queen.
We finally headed towards Delhi at 2:30 PM. We stopped for lunch in between and reached Delhi by 7 in the evening. In Delhi we would be staying at my in-law's place in Shalimar Bagh. Though we had just had a heavy lunch a couple of hours back we were greeted with more food. After giving our stomachs a little rest we headed to Netaji Subhash Place. We tried the Aloo Tikki at BTW there. Even though I've had Tikki at this place umpteen number of times, I can't seem to get enough of it. After the Tikki's we headed for some Kulfi. We had multiple flavours of Kulfi: Rose Petal, Black Currant, Sugarcane, Chiku and Kewra water.
We then headed back home, caught a few glimpses of the IPL match and headed towards our beds thus finishing Day 5 of the trip . Day 6 is one of the most anticipated days of the trip as we plan to go to Chandni Chowk on this day and taste all its delicacies. We might even visit Akshardham if time permits. Will keep you guys posted here.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
23-03-2010
Day 4 started early for us. Sreejith and I got up at 6:00 AM because we had to pick up my friend Ravi, (Ravi and I've been friends since the time my memory goes and my memory goes back till 1982) who was arriving in Jaipur from Bikaner and had a flight to catch at 6 in the evening. After picking him up from the station our GPS took us around Jaipur back to the place we were staying (the GPS was configured to take us via the route with lesser traffic so it took the by-pass).
After taking in a shower we had another elaborate breakfast. Our meals have started to become so elaborate that I will no longer attempt to count them or name them. I'll just post a picture of each of them whenever I have time. After the hearty breakfast the four us went into to the city for some shopping. Vinay and Ravi got themselves some really cool shades from Shopper's Stop at GT.
After GT we went to Johri Bazaar, the oldest market in Jaipur, and all its pink shops. Sreejith bought some bangles, dress material and Jooti for his wife and a couple of Ghagra-Cholis for his daughter (he is like the perfect Husband/Father, isn't he?). Just to ensure that my wife does not get back to me on this, I would like to say that he spent 4 times the money on his Jooti than he did for his wife's. I would never do anything like that :). Ravi too got a few dresses for his kids.
In between all this shopping we had lots of cool (literally) stuff. We had Kulfis and Golas at GT and had glasses of Nimbu Pani and Jal Jeera on the road side at Johri Bazaar. Our lunch was at very well-known place called LMB. Vinay and Ravi had Shahi and Rajasthani thali respectively. Sreejith had his favourite Roti and Dal. I just had a glass of Lassi for lunch (I was preparing myself for the evening).
We then headed towards the Airport to drop Ravi. After dropping him and saying our goodbyes we went back for a shower to get some relief from the heat and refresh ourselves. We took some rest and then went to probably the biggest non historical attraction of Jaipur: Chokhi Dhani.
How does one describe Chokhi Dhani? Well, let me try. Chokhi Dhani is like a typical Rajasthani village, or at least the way it was supposed to be. To be more specific its like a village during the festive time with a mela (fair) visiting it. You had everything happening there: from puppet shows to traditional song and dance. From camel rides to elephant rides. From bow and arrows to air guns. From bullock cart rides to horse cart rides. From mazes to joy rides to champi tel malish (head message) to magic shows to almost anything that was a mode of entertainment during centuries gone past.
Last but not the least was the food. And there was lots of it. Every possible Rajasthani dish was there to be had. Bajara, Makai and Wheat Rotis. Dal and Kadhi. Gutta, Aloo Pyanz and Gobi Mattar Subzi. Kair Sangri, Chawla, Chanch, Kichda, the list was endless. And all this was with lots of butter and Ghee. I ate my heart out (now you realize why I had only Lassi for lunch :)). Sreejith seems to enjoy food from this part of the world. He seems to have been a Gujarati or Rajasthani (or both) in his past lives. By the way Sreejith and I both drank the extra Ghee left in our bowls (I've done this before but it was the first time for Sreejith). Vinay who has been digestively challenged for the last couple of days was a little more cautious.
With this our Day 4 for the journey came to an end. This was the first of our rest days with no long drives, we drove only within the city. Tomorrow we will be back on the roads on our way to the National Capital.
After taking in a shower we had another elaborate breakfast. Our meals have started to become so elaborate that I will no longer attempt to count them or name them. I'll just post a picture of each of them whenever I have time. After the hearty breakfast the four us went into to the city for some shopping. Vinay and Ravi got themselves some really cool shades from Shopper's Stop at GT.
After GT we went to Johri Bazaar, the oldest market in Jaipur, and all its pink shops. Sreejith bought some bangles, dress material and Jooti for his wife and a couple of Ghagra-Cholis for his daughter (he is like the perfect Husband/Father, isn't he?). Just to ensure that my wife does not get back to me on this, I would like to say that he spent 4 times the money on his Jooti than he did for his wife's. I would never do anything like that :). Ravi too got a few dresses for his kids.
In between all this shopping we had lots of cool (literally) stuff. We had Kulfis and Golas at GT and had glasses of Nimbu Pani and Jal Jeera on the road side at Johri Bazaar. Our lunch was at very well-known place called LMB. Vinay and Ravi had Shahi and Rajasthani thali respectively. Sreejith had his favourite Roti and Dal. I just had a glass of Lassi for lunch (I was preparing myself for the evening).
We then headed towards the Airport to drop Ravi. After dropping him and saying our goodbyes we went back for a shower to get some relief from the heat and refresh ourselves. We took some rest and then went to probably the biggest non historical attraction of Jaipur: Chokhi Dhani.
How does one describe Chokhi Dhani? Well, let me try. Chokhi Dhani is like a typical Rajasthani village, or at least the way it was supposed to be. To be more specific its like a village during the festive time with a mela (fair) visiting it. You had everything happening there: from puppet shows to traditional song and dance. From camel rides to elephant rides. From bow and arrows to air guns. From bullock cart rides to horse cart rides. From mazes to joy rides to champi tel malish (head message) to magic shows to almost anything that was a mode of entertainment during centuries gone past.
Last but not the least was the food. And there was lots of it. Every possible Rajasthani dish was there to be had. Bajara, Makai and Wheat Rotis. Dal and Kadhi. Gutta, Aloo Pyanz and Gobi Mattar Subzi. Kair Sangri, Chawla, Chanch, Kichda, the list was endless. And all this was with lots of butter and Ghee. I ate my heart out (now you realize why I had only Lassi for lunch :)). Sreejith seems to enjoy food from this part of the world. He seems to have been a Gujarati or Rajasthani (or both) in his past lives. By the way Sreejith and I both drank the extra Ghee left in our bowls (I've done this before but it was the first time for Sreejith). Vinay who has been digestively challenged for the last couple of days was a little more cautious.
With this our Day 4 for the journey came to an end. This was the first of our rest days with no long drives, we drove only within the city. Tomorrow we will be back on the roads on our way to the National Capital.
Monday, March 22, 2010
22-03-2010
The third day of our trip started at 8 in the morning. We started our day with some tea and Newspapers (I don't drink tea, so it was just Newspaper for me). Vishal Bhaiya, my cousin, who stays close to Nidhi Didi's place picked me up for a cup of coffee and some snacks at his place. I was back in 30 mins and took a shower before starting with our breakfast.
And boy what a Breakfast it was. We had like...let me count, 15 dishes to choose from. But we did not make any choices; we had them ALL. This was by far the best meal we've had in this trip and one of our best Breakfast ever. They were all mostly the typical Gujarati dishes, the ones Kareena Kapoor describes in 3 Idiots.....Fafada, Dhokla, etc...
We ate till our stomachs were full, then filled up our liver, then the kidneys, in fact we ready to trade our brains so that we could fill up our heads too, but decided against it. With tears in our eyes we finally had to part with our food. We then packed our stuff, said our goodbyes, had a brief stop at Sanjay Jijaji's office to write yesterday's blog and then were on are way to Jaipur but not before visiting Sabarmati Ashram and the Dada Hari Vav (Stepwell).
Sabarmati Ashram was quite, green and a very peaceful place on the banks of the river Sabarmati. 
We saw a few historical pictures, Gandhi's house were few of his belongings are still kept and then lazed around a little next to the Sabarmati river.
From there we went to the Dada Hari Vav. A very interesting historical monument but in total ruins. A sad example of what years of neglect can do to a marvelous structure. The fact that it's still standing has a lot do with the engineering that was put behind it when it was constructed. After exploring the well we were invited by Moulvi Mohammed Ibrahim to the tomb and Mosque next to the well. He gave us a historical background of the entire place. He has been looking after this place for the last 40 years.
After this we set towards the next leg of our journey. We started at around 3:00 PM and had to cover close to 650 KM to reach Jaipur.
We reached the outskirts of Udaipur by 5:30 PM. We had our worst meal of the trip yet at restaurant in a resort there. By 6:30 we were back on the roads and then the first time during our trip our GPS let us down. Instead of showing us the Golden Quadrilateral it took us to the older highway. We realized the mistake and by the time we could be back on the GQ it was already 7:30. Jaipur was still more than 400 KM away and we had to reach Jaipur on this day cause I had to catch with a friend who was traveling through Jaipur only because I insisted.
I drove like crazy (crazier than even Vinay) and almost non stop to arrive at Jaipur by 12:15 AM in the night. Masi and Masaji were waiting for us there. Also awaiting us was a nice spread of dinner. The day that started with amazing food ended similarly.
We saw a few historical pictures, Gandhi's house were few of his belongings are still kept and then lazed around a little next to the Sabarmati river.From there we went to the Dada Hari Vav. A very interesting historical monument but in total ruins. A sad example of what years of neglect can do to a marvelous structure. The fact that it's still standing has a lot do with the engineering that was put behind it when it was constructed. After exploring the well we were invited by Moulvi Mohammed Ibrahim to the tomb and Mosque next to the well. He gave us a historical background of the entire place. He has been looking after this place for the last 40 years.
After this we set towards the next leg of our journey. We started at around 3:00 PM and had to cover close to 650 KM to reach Jaipur.
We reached the outskirts of Udaipur by 5:30 PM. We had our worst meal of the trip yet at restaurant in a resort there. By 6:30 we were back on the roads and then the first time during our trip our GPS let us down. Instead of showing us the Golden Quadrilateral it took us to the older highway. We realized the mistake and by the time we could be back on the GQ it was already 7:30. Jaipur was still more than 400 KM away and we had to reach Jaipur on this day cause I had to catch with a friend who was traveling through Jaipur only because I insisted.I drove like crazy (crazier than even Vinay) and almost non stop to arrive at Jaipur by 12:15 AM in the night. Masi and Masaji were waiting for us there. Also awaiting us was a nice spread of dinner. The day that started with amazing food ended similarly.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
21-03-2010
After a good night's sleep at Vishal's place, we got up by 7:00 AM. We finished all the morning activities including yesterday's blog and left his place at 10:00. We then set out for Vohuman Cafe for breakfast. We reached the place after a little bit of hunting but found it closed on arrival. After this disappointment we decided to continue with our journey and have our breakfast on the way.
Bombay-Pune Expressway was the best stretch of road I've ever driven on.
We averaged close to 120-130 KM/Hr there with highest speed being around 200 KM/Hr. Reached Bombay 12:30 and by the time we could get out of Bombay, it was 2:30 PM. The initial part of the highway after Bombay was under construction and had a lot of traffic.
We had our lunch on the way. It was a Parsi fare. Nice food. After stuffing myself, I headed for the rear sit for an afternoon siesta. Sreejith continued with the drive after that. After negotiating the traffic for sometime he handed over the steering wheel to Vinay. Vinay, who by his own claim had never driven more than 70 KM in a day, was a different beast on the road. The next 2-3 Hrs were what could be best described as 'Road Rash': remember that game where you ride a bike through traffic with zero consideration to rules. He drove like there is no tomorrow. Crisscrossing lanes once every 5 seconds. His rage was finally stopped by a traffic jam before the bridge on Narmada River.
I took over the wheels after that. The jam was at least 6-7 KM queue of mostly trucks and some cars. Having a little experience in driving through such traffic, we took the 4th lane (read the dirt track). Negotiating the sand, stones, pot holes and some errant truck drivers we finally made it through the jam in 1.5 hrs. If we had stuck to the tarred roads it could have easily been 3 hrs.
Once we crossed the bridge it was smooth sailing till Ahmedabad. We once averaged around 120 KM/Hr stopping only to have a light dinner on the way. We reached Nidhi Didi's place by 11:30 in the night. She, her husband Sanjay Jijaji and her son and my nephew, Utkarsh were waiting for us. After taking a shower and chatting with them for a little we crashed into the beds. This was Day 2 of our Bharat Bhraman yatra.
PS:Still no pics guys. Sorry. Will do it in all probabilities once we reach Jaipur.
Bombay-Pune Expressway was the best stretch of road I've ever driven on.
We averaged close to 120-130 KM/Hr there with highest speed being around 200 KM/Hr. Reached Bombay 12:30 and by the time we could get out of Bombay, it was 2:30 PM. The initial part of the highway after Bombay was under construction and had a lot of traffic.We had our lunch on the way. It was a Parsi fare. Nice food. After stuffing myself, I headed for the rear sit for an afternoon siesta. Sreejith continued with the drive after that. After negotiating the traffic for sometime he handed over the steering wheel to Vinay. Vinay, who by his own claim had never driven more than 70 KM in a day, was a different beast on the road. The next 2-3 Hrs were what could be best described as 'Road Rash': remember that game where you ride a bike through traffic with zero consideration to rules. He drove like there is no tomorrow. Crisscrossing lanes once every 5 seconds. His rage was finally stopped by a traffic jam before the bridge on Narmada River.
Once we crossed the bridge it was smooth sailing till Ahmedabad. We once averaged around 120 KM/Hr stopping only to have a light dinner on the way. We reached Nidhi Didi's place by 11:30 in the night. She, her husband Sanjay Jijaji and her son and my nephew, Utkarsh were waiting for us. After taking a shower and chatting with them for a little we crashed into the beds. This was Day 2 of our Bharat Bhraman yatra.
PS:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
