2009
9
Now that Bangalore has an Airport thats near Hyderabad and the same for Hyderabad is near Bangalore, what best way to beat the boredom than to drive down. Plus you get free transport when you reach there.
Onward (4th Sept, 2008)
Now, there are many who have written on this route on Team -Bhp and other blogs and claim that they finished the whole thing in 8+ hours, one way that is. Which is entirely possible if you take very minimal breaks and drive almost continuously. Else, a leisurely drive will cost you about 11 hours and will be a lot less stressful. Plus you can stop at all the small towns on the way and sample Indis, Vada Sambar, Coffee, Tea and the occasional Mutton Curry, Fish Pulusu and Rice. We took the second option. Travelers were two bachelors, one of them driving, the other putting the camera to use, and the DJ. A stereo equipped with an iPod is mandatory on such long rides as they can get very very boring otherwise.
NH7 and the route till Hyderabad from Bangalore. (Image Screenshot: Courtesy Google Maps)
I started out pre dawn at about 3 AM, by 4 I was picking up my friend near Mekri Circle, and by 5 we were through with Bangalore and well away from Devanahalli Airport. There was rain, the road had frequent diversions, and the onslaught of Volvos coming from the other side didn’t leave much for us to see of the road. Now both of us were practically watching the road, driver on the right and passenger on the left. A little after sunrise, things got a lot better, speeds were up from the 60 we were managing till about 110 kmph. Going was good and the first Tea Stop came about real fast.
Tea stop a little after sunrise on NH7
The state of the road is quite pathetic wherever work has not been completed. It is possible to drive a couple of kilometers only to realize that you are supposed to travel on the wrong side. lack of oncoming traffic makes it difficult to judge where one has to take a dievrsion.
Roads were moderately good, they had finished at least one side of the surface but we were still prone to on-coming traffic. The good thing is, traffic is minimal on this road during daytime. Anantpur came up fast in about 3 hours, about 10 AM. Tea, little food and restart. We were also on a tight meeting deadline, so avoided any unnecessary photographic stops.
A pink temple about 140 Kms from Bangalore
A little ghat section comes up after Anantpur and before Gooty, where managing high speeds are possible. A Logan, probably a regular on the road was cruising and we tucked behind. But unknown roads and the suddenly popping ‘XL Potholes’ told us to back off. It’s not worth the risk, after all we had to come back with the same car. Gooty came up in the next 1.5 hours. There are plenty of places to eat here, specially at the NH63 and NH7 junction. Mutton, Rice and Fish is a possibility. Look for a Dhaba on your left right after crossing the junction, the food is good, the name of the Dhaba was not there. The place looks like a ‘Xerox Shop’ from outside, but opens up nicely once you are in. Very easy to miss, and misinterpret the place.
Rest of the route was pure mile crunching, Kurnool came up fast. Navigating out of Kurnool took a while, we were on some wrong road.
Mehboobnagar comes up soon after, the roads are nothing to write home about, but good. The NH7 work being complete in most sections makes it a lot easier. There are parts where you drive on the old NH7 and things can get a little scary there. We saw some large size potholes that were good enough to hide an Alto / 800 comfortably. It was already about 1 PM at this time. By the time we crossed Shamshabad Airport turn off, it was 1.30. No regrets, it was still a good drive, and neither of us were tired. Thanks to ample amount of signage, navigating through Hyderabad was a breeze. Plus the fact that I stayed there for about 6 years helped.
Reached target in Somajiguda at 3 PM. Got ready and drove off for the meetings.
Rest is simple, meet people, eat Biriyani, have Haleem, it was pre Eid. Crash out and get up by 4 AM. Yep 4, coz we wanted to avoid the Volvos shining their glossy bulbs at us.
The ride back (5th Sept, 2008)
This went like how we expected, except that we got a little delayed at start and got out only by 5 AM. Filled gas, topped up. Headed out of the city, again was not a major issue as roads and signage (although in a state of construction) were well directed. First stop was right after the turn off for Shamshabad Airport. Tea, Idli, well only tea happened. Idli was not yet out of the oven. Continued out, and faced some extreme truck traffic till Mehboobnagar. No worries, there was enough music on the pod and enough places to stop by for the idli and vada sambar, we did exactly that. By the time were out of Mehboobnagar, it was almost 8 AM. That was some slow going.
The next few hundred kilometers went fast, this time we knew the roads and were extremely confident.
Except for stops to attend to nature’s call at a Dhaba, stop to shoot the scenery and the ‘devoid of any human’ road. (see attached panorama)
Panorama of NH7 under construction. The car is parked on the un-constructed side of the road. When this is done, it will be a pleasure to drive till Hyderabad from Bangalore
Gooty was our stop for lunch which came up at about 12, Mutton, Fish, Rice etc followed. It did take us a while to locate a good place to eat. Food was good and highly recommended at any Dhaba near this crossing.
After lunch the going got a little tiring. The front driver side window switch malfunctioned (Ford Fusion) when we re going towards Hyderabad. While coming back it completely gave up. As a result we were stuck with the AC on all the time. Not that it would effect the already Frugal mileage, but it was kind of irritating to not have the option. 2 hours later and after many tried to make the window work, we passed Anantpur. We desperately tried locating coffee / tea places but were completely un-successful in doing so. Thankfully the semi completed roads after Anantpur were a breeze to drive. With nothing in the car except for the 2 people, we were able to hit 160+ speeds between each diversion (about 2 – 3 Km gaps). This was fun for the driver (me) and not so much for the passenger, who was by this time in the middle of full-on business emailing with his mobile phone (and taking photos at the same time).
The road is a gem where it is almost complete. White marking were still not in place (Sept, 08) but once they are, it will be like road-heaven.
There was one problem while coming back, we did not compensate for the AC and absolutely forgot to fill the tank somewhere in the middle. As a result, while approaching Bangalore, the reserve lights came up. Now that’s nothing unusual as the car still holds about 10 liters. Which should translate to about 160 – 180 Km on the highway. But my mad runs between diversion to diversion testing the 0 – 100 in 11 seconds (Go Fida!) part saw to it that it lasted just about 110 Km, which was Hebbal Flyover. It kind of felt like the AXN Ad a while back which said “Need that buzz!”.
Filled up on Bellari road after Hebbal Flyover, at about 4 PM and headed home after dropping my friend off at Mekri Circle. The rest of Bangalore took a drastic 3 hours and I was home by 7 PM.
Verdict: Lets do this again.
(Photos: Srikanth Vellore, Shubhodeep Das)