In the middle of night we didn’t find any other travelers except the truck guys who were traveling all the way. We filled fuel in outskirts of the city and filled our water cans. We were heading towards Jaipur and we could feel winding flowing at 40 C. It was little tough coming from Subzero temp couple of days before and then to drive in extreme heat.
We didn’t have a disappointing start in Golden Quadilateral, right from delhi the roads were wonderful and the best thing was it was continuing. After driving for couple of hours in lonely dark road we reached jaipur. We initially thought we would spend few hours in Jaipur to visit the forts but apparently it too early in the day and we had thousands of kms to travel.
We crossed jaipur and headed towards Ajmeer. We could still feel the warmth even after maximum airconditioner running. As highway was good we didn’t have any problem covering good amount of distance. We didn’t have any direction issues as there were plenty of sign boards to guide us. We were close to Ajmeer and we took a diversion which was not that convincing for us. We weren’t sure if we were still on the golden quadrilateral. We thought we will take a break for hour , so that we might get company early in the morning .
We happily enjoyed the quick nap in our magic car and in no time we could feel the early light. After catching a quip nap for an hour we headed towards Ahmedabad. Morning was little breezy and that wasn’t a bad idea to drive without Air condition. After driving for good couple of hours we were now enjoying the Sand storm ride. Heavy winds were carrying good amount of sand across the roads, lack of houses and villages made even worse.
Covering distance was not an issue now, we were clocking an average 100 plus Kms and we were crossing villages and town in no time. It was time to refuel and we though we would also take a small break for chai. After filling fuel and getting fresh we had chai. We also had to sip couple of Nimbu Pani to reduce last night’s hang over. We were again on road driving towards Gujurat. We spotted many villagers who wearing colorful turbans and sari engaged in their on work as we headed further.
Golden quadrilateral was going strong so did we. We reached outskirts of Ahemabad in the evening. We thought of having some food as it was already 4 in the clock . We had already driving more than 10 hours for the day and we knew we would be driving all the way. Interestingly we couldn’t find a good Dhaba in place like Ahmedabad. By the time we reached the city most of the restaurants were closed for lunch and they might no open for couple of hours.
We saw many Pav Bhaji guys preparing veggie for their Bhaji and we knew it wouldn’t be ready even in an hour. We were exhausted by now just because of food. We would have tired not less than 10 restaurants before, we though of just having few loafs of bread. Thinking of given a last try we headed towards a restaurant in corner of the road. When we asked if we would get something to eat, the barer discouragingly said we would only get south India. He didn’t expect such a big smile from us , we were then inside the restaurant waiting for our dosa’s. We couldn’t wait to see the Masala Dosa to be in our table , even when we had completed the Sambar idli’s. It wasn’t a bad choice to have dosa, infact anyways would have served us at that time.
With no problem ahead we were heading towards other part of Gujurat. We had immense faith in Modi that we knew the roads wouldn’t be bad. We crossed many towns along the highways and were driving around 140 Km per hour in Surat- Mumbai highway. The beauty of golden quadrilateral was so good that we didn’t mind even to take a small break. We covered 100 plus kms in less than 45 min, That was so encouraging that after driving only for few hours we covered many hundred kilometers.
We had a late night dinner in one of the Dhaba in outscripts of Mumbai, Yes we were close to the Master city now. With numerous options to eat we didn’t have problem to get couple of roti and panner. After dinner we headed towards Mumbai. Our wonderful drive was halted by rouge truck drivers who have covered all the 4 lane of the road. Crossing hundreds of truck took more than an hour for mere 10 kms. This made us to think of next message what we should carry during our trip . “Highway Driving Etiquettes” is what we would focus on our next trip hopefully we get good sponsorship.
We initially thought of enjoying some late night Chat in Juhu Chowpatty and have a drive over new bandra- worli sealink. That was never a good idea , we finally decided to take bye pass through Thane and take the magnificent Mumbai-Pune highway. After getting helps form many police guys we managed to catch right highway and we reached the Mumbai-Pune highway. The toll was little high obviously we didn’t mind to enjoy the ride. We again clocked 130 plus and got indulged in small rallies. We didn’t get carried away to drive fast as still we had to drive a long way.
We reached pune in early hours and were struggling to get the Sholapur highway. By now we got convinced that we would reach hyd by end of day. It was already more than 3 days on road and also we have covered 3000 kms. With guidance of old uncle’s who were enjoying their morning walk we managed to reach main pune city. Trying to head to Sholapur highway we ended up in an one way were energetic police guys were ready to catch us. They were infact too early for a Saturday anyways they were enjoying the saying of Early birds get their worms.
They asked for Vivek’s licence and started arguing that it was not him in the photos. Even as we managed to convince that the photo was taken 10 years before still they wouldn’t believe. With no option of reversing our age we agreed to pay 100 bucks and headed further. We took a 15 min nap in Sholapur highway as sun was directly hitting on us.
By now we have left golden quadrilateral, if we had similar roads all over India it would really be an incredible India. The much promised Silver cross project doesn’t seem to have happened as we were heading in under construction single road. By this time our average speed has come down to 60’s.
We thought of having some Maharastrian Poha and chai in side by Dhaba . We weren’t lucky, we had to walk after chai as Poha took more than 40 min to be prepared, We still wonder why it took so much time. We managed to drive in not so good road but we covered good amount of distance. After driving all through the day we were in outskirts of the city.
We felt that we should probably take a sabbatical from our current job and continue our journey. We reached outskirts of Hyderabad and halted at a Dhaba to have a late lunch. It wasn’t bad to taste pappu after many days. We were again on the road heading towards Hyderabad which was by now only couple of hundred kms away.
Crowded vehicles with their annoying horn welcomed us in the city. We were able to spot many vehicles which we going in all 360 Degrees and all possible direction. Finally it was time to break from our trip. Vivek and Amit would end their trip in Hyderabad whereas rupesh still had to drive to Chennai.
Rupesh was planning to drive the same night which would make 4 plus continuous nights on the road only difference he would not have a company. After having a good bath after many days laziness started to crib and Rupesh decided to halt for a day before heading Chennai. We met some common friends and had dinner in spicy village from where our trip started.
Rupesh started early in the morning next day driving alone to Chennai. He had done hyd- Chennai many times but this was different, He was driving back after 8000 plus kms. Interestingly he ended up in a small collision outskirts of the city. A learner who was just getting used to his car collided with our darling that too in a signal . Hearing that we have clocked 8000 plus kms and didn’t even have dent, the learner readily agreed to bear the damage cost. We were little worried that our beloved darling was hurt, Anyways he didn’t have any problem before reaching his home.
After coming back to office which seemed like a school annual vacation rejoining we called each other to check. The first thing was about our next trip, yes we are planning our next trip. Next time could be even bigger or a similar trip but all we need is another source of income because the current job wouldnt take us
Amazing drive guys-
ReplyDeleteimpressed with your narration of 8000 plus kms drive to Pangong.
Please tell us about your next adventure..
Where had you been?