A compilation from all road trips so far on Picassa on a Map. Looks like the central and northern parts need to be travelled. It’s good that Picassa allows you to upload photos and assign approximate locations for them as well if some of them are not geo tagged. Works well to give a complete picture.

Screen Grab from google showing places visited so far.

Part # F5C412au140W from Belkin - Another thing for those long drives.

Belkin : AC Anywhere DC – AC Inverter.

Running out of power is a thing of the past with the AC Anywhere. Simply plug the unit into any 12-volt DC vehicle cigarette lighter socket and the AC Anywhere converts your vehicle’s battery power to 230 volts AC (common household current.) The AC Anywhere is perfect for charging batteries for your mobile phone, portable computer, electric shaver, TV/VCR, or virtually any device while travelling. The AC Anywhere inverter features a convenient On/Off switch and fuse protection along with an audible alarm that sounds if the vehicle battery voltage drops to 10.6 volts DC.

This sure would be a great product to have on long roadtrips where your camera keeps running out of battery.

This was prevalent a few years back in and around Bangalore but not so much now. The strategy involved in more than one biker crowding around a car boxing it in and forcing it to stop. In most cases the bikers started up with a petty fight on how badly the driver was driving and how they were almost hit by the car. In truth, it’s just a delay tactic to buy time and get their associated to gather.

Once the whole team is assembled they move into action by taking money, credit and debit cards and the car itself with all belongings like laptops and bags in it.

How to avoid?

1. Well there is no set practice to avoid such a thing but it is best to avoid getting boxed in by bikers or cars on empty roads. How you do it is completely up to you.

Strategy 2

In a dark alley you may find a person lying on the road with a cycle and another asking for help claiming that they were hit. In most cases the person lying down will be moaning and shouting as if injured. If you do happen to stop, there is a chance that you would be sprung on by their accomplices and robbed of your car and another valuables.

How to avoid?

1. Do not stop, just slow down enough to judge the situation up close and then move forward. Set enough distance between yourself and the scene and then look back to confirm.

What if they are genuine?

It is possible that you land up neglecting a genuine victim in the process of saving your own skin. If you wait at a distance and look back, and the streets are empty, the fake fellows will regroup and re-strategize after you have passed them. If they are still down, then they are probably genuine.

No need to take a chance, you can be a good samaritan when you see someone in broad daylight. This time, just drive on and report to the nearest traffic constable.

If you are reversing out of a parking lot and suddenly see a paper stuck to your rear windscreen, chances are there are car jackers lurking around. You will probably notice the paper after starting the car and then looking in the mirror. In a hurry you would get out of the car to remove that paper as it’s obstructing your view. This would be the moment they car jackers would pounce and take your car away.

In all probability you would have left your wallet, purse, cellphone etc. in the car and by now they will all be with the car jackers leaving you completely stranded.

How to avoid?

1. If possible, park reversed so that you do not need to reverse out when leaving the lot. It will cost a lot of time but will help in the longer run.
2. If at all you have to reverse and there is a paper at the back obstructing your view, lock the doors and do not get out. Reverse and drive away and stop somewhere else to get rid of the paper.

Strategy 2:

People may throw eggs on your windshield when you are driving by. In a hurry you many want to use the wiper water spray to get rid of it. But, the warm water and egg white will invariably create a paste that would completely obstruct your vision and force you to stop and clean the mess. This is the time the car jackers can attack and take control of your vehicle.

How to avoid?

1. Do not use the wiper spray until you are certain that you are in a safe area to get down and clean the mess.

(Via Security in Wipro)

The problem would look like this

Cop: “Stop, come out, I have to smell you!!”

Seriously!!

The cop asks: “Where are you headed?”
Me: “Margaon, Goa”
Cop: “Where from?”
Me: “Bangalore, Karnataka”
Cop: “Ok go”

I start the car and was about to head off into the rain when he violently slaps on the car and screams “Stop, stop, stop”

Cop (pointing to the child seat): “What’s that?”
Me: “A child safety seat!” I expect these guys to know such stuff these days, my mistake.
Cop: “Aur usme kya hai? (And what’s in it?)”
Me (pointing to the already very visible child): “A child!!”

Cops: “Where are you going?”
Me: “I am traveling with my wife, driving back to bangalore from Pondichery”..
Cops (pointing at my wife): “Then who is this?”

What really can one say to that!

The start got delayed from 6 AM till 8 AM and further till 830 after the little one decided to stall us. Then we ran back and got the gifts which were for the marriage that we were headed to attend. Two cars were tricky to begin with and I had my doubts trying to maintain pace with the Indica, which came through soon enough. So I let the Indica start at 8 AM. 830 start meant that we were in the thick of Hosur road IT traffic. Senseless directions by BBMP to keep to the service lane to go till Hosur were ridiculous, simply because there was no service lane after a point of time. What’s the use of such a drastic notice I do not know.

Food stop right after Dharmapuri

Car was not tanked up so the search for IOCL Extra Premium started soon after we hit clear roads. Found one gas station and filled the car to the brim. Now we were all set to get till Thrissur on 1 tank, I knew that was easy to do. Bt traveling with mom, wife kid can be a lot of unexpected fun, things spill in the car and you have to stop every now and then for a clean up.

Had asked the Indica driver to wait near the turn off towards Chennai. He had done so. We reached that spot just 15 minutes after them. Needless to say that all FE went out of the rear window the moment we hit NH7 empty patches, all 6 inviting lanes of it towards Krishnagiri. And yes, we were in 5th and above the 3400 RPM mark for most of the time. AC on and windows rolled up. It was a hot and humid day today on top of that.

At Krishnagiri, asked the driver to stop at the nearest Dhaba possible so that the old folks could stretch and relax a bit. I took off, and despite keeping a light foot on the throttle, the Indica just lagged behind. I realized how inept I am at keeping the car permanently below 80 at all times. Gave up and went on.

Found a decent looking Dhaba but the Indica failed to spot us. Called them, and the driver said there is a good eating post right after Dharmapuri on the right hand side of the road. Got in, started off, caught up with the Indica, leaned the chair back and got into relaxed mode. Eating cake, lays etc. Stuck to the left lane and let everything pass by. Soon this place came up and we stopped for some good old Idli, Vada Sambar, Dosa, the works. Took very long to get through all that. Then there was a photo session with the grandparents and the kid. Started off after one and half hours. Going was slow as the Indica guy knew the turn off point towards Mettur.

The route from Bangalore to Thrissur. Map courtesy Google.

After the turn off, the roads are a bit messy. They are no longer 4 lanes and a median, instead they are 2 lanes and things hurling at each other at breakneck speed. Stayed behind the Indica for a while but that was not helping. The ride was too jarring at such low speeds. Went off ahead and started finding my own road. Had a print of that Map with me so was confident of finding the appropriate turns. Did not have any problems, except that now the other car was way behind and out of touch. Stopped, decided to wait, take a walk, asked everyone else to do the same as well.

Saw the Indica pass by after about 10 minutes. Started another 10 minutes after that in the same direction. The roads were lovely, the scenery was pretty and there was not much of a traffic (initially). Soon it became a little crowded. The numbers were about 3 vehicles to overtake every 5 minutes, which gets a bit tiring very soon. You cannot go slow as the chap in front of you is too slow. You cannot go fast as you do not have enough time and space to pull a 4th gear overtake. Solution is to drop down and zip out. In fact, stuck behind a regular bus, it was hard to maintain 4th gear most of the times.

Got a call from my father in the Indica that they were 30 Kms from Coimbatore. They had no idea where we were. We were 40 Kms from Coimbatore at the same time. Pressed on to catch up with them. Passed Coimbatore only to realize that they were still in the process of crossing it. That’s how bad the miss-match was between the two cars.

Went straight on till I got into Kerala and stopped at a respectable tourism Dhaba. Some photos, walks, general loitering later, the Indica arrived. Everyone had their fries and tea coffee. We started off a good one and half hour after we had arrived. The sun was coming down fast, the road got even narrower, and the sun was right in the eye on the East – West straight road. Indica soon got left behind and I decided not to really keep pace with it. It was really testing my patience by this time.

The Coimbatore – Palakkad – Thrissur section is crowded with trucks headed to and from Chennai to Cochin. Its a mess, specially at dusk when the headlamps come on. By this time I had a Gray fusion ahead to keep pace with. Unladen, it soon disappeared as it looked like it was on familiar roads, not to worry, now I had a CRV to give me company right behind our tail. I was surprised at how long the car takes to shoot off after an overtake, probably an Auto Tranny.

I must admit that at this point, things were very rash, I really wanted to actually be in that Indica instead of this at it would readily go slow and not demand such finesse from the right foot prodding the pedal. At 70 and in 3rd, you are in dangerous territory as any push on the Pedal would make the car lunge forward. At 70 and in 4th, you are way out of the power-band to attempt any serious overtaking with delicate timing. I chose 3rd.

Things got really messy after this. Every single small bike, car, auto coming from the other side was shining full beams of 100+ watt lamps at us making it impossible to see what’s behind them. I passed a truck as I could spot a bike coming from the other side from its headlamps. The moment I gunned the 1.6 in 3rd, a truck right behind the bike switched on its headlamps (he never had them on). This got a bit messy with me brushing the front left nose on the truck tyre in front, light rub and no damage. Enough was enough, switched on all lamps and just drove on.

“When in Rome, do as Romans do”

Now that I was on high beams, even though 60 watts each, the Fogs and the High Beams can blind anything in the front forcing them to slow down, move away or dip beam in the hope that I would comply. Worked very well and soon after the white on green said “Thrissur, 6KM on the right”. After taking the right at some awkwardly unmarked junction and continuing on for another 6 KM, we were safe and set in the Hotel rooms. The Indica arrived about 30 minutes later, the driver looking equally hassled. Touch down, 640 PM.

Start to end time of 10 hrs with breaks (for Fusion) of about 4 hours (ridiculous). FE was not great either as I was mostly in 2nd, 3rd after Coimbatore. I think its 460 Kms and a full tank of Gas, thats 10+ with AC.

Checked in. Checked for wifi. And there was one, not belonging to the Hotel though, but some generic open network of some good soul.

On our way to Chavakkad from Thrissur (another post, later)

The Return

As always, the initial plan to start early and return back never worked. We had to attend a lunch and then start on our way back. Since it was 10 Kms out of Thrissur and on NH47, I decided to pack everyone in and check out from the hotel and continue straight on after the lunch.

By the time we started it was 230 PM, getting the cars out of narrow lanes on the outskirts was a challenge, but did not take much time. It did take a lot of reversing the car.

The Indica promptly stopped for some diesel at the next available pump. I had tanked up the Fusion 2 days back and had done about 120km so I was not in a hurry to tank up again. In fact I was pretty confident on doing the distance without having to stop for gas. Tall order as we were going to have the AC on all the time (kid and grandmom), and NH47 is not a very 5th gear friendly road. If you check the accidents thread on Team BHP, its got a lot from this particular road that connects Chennai and Cochin. Two ports and lots of trucks with barely enough space to fit two trucks.

General landscape after Coimbatore

A solitary tree next to the road

Within no time we were up to speed. Given the road condition, the amount of traffic and the Indica I was in no mood to exceed the 80 kmph mark. Assumed that it would be the speed limit as well. I was wrong, soon I was stopped by a couple of cops with a speed cam, they claimed I was doing 90 kmph, the speedo was definitely showing stuff around 80, and their claim was that in was a 70 kmph zone. Did not wish to waste my time, paid the Rs 300/- and got on my way. Maintained 80 even after that, wondering at what speeds I was actually taking the bends on NH4 on the Pune trip where the speedo showed 140 kmph.

By this time the Indica was lagging far far behind. Stopped for a tea to dilute the effects of a heavy lunch. Waited for about 10 – 15 minutes and yet the Indica never caught up. Simply headed on.

Things went by much faster after that (still at 80, occasionally hitting 90 to overtake), Coimbatore bypass came and things were looking up. The road condition improves from here till Bhavani.

Cat in the System

Just about to get off the newly constructed section of NH47 from Bhavani, halfway till Coimbatore, a cat pounced in front of the car without warning. Braking hard meant that the Sumo behind me would never stop and hit me, braked soft, dropped the speed to about 30 kmph before hitting the cat, never know what happened to that poor fellow but pretty sure it never went under our wheels. A km down some fellows on a bike flagged us down saying there were things dangling. Not surprised I went to the front fearing another major damage, found the center cladding under the bumper dangling. Ripped it off and put it in the boot and drove on for another few kms to stop for some tea.

The Indica finally caught up with us. There was a short pit stop without tea and we took off for Dharmapuri for a dinner stop.

The Route

I was not familiar with the route as SH20 from Bhavani, all the way till Thoppur through Mettur was unknown territory with signages only in Tamil. My only hope was to follow the Indica. Unfortunately started a little late and got stuck behind some tractor trailers trying to make turns. Costed us time and the pilot car for the section. Decided to just drive off and use the local GPS (the chai guy).

Stopped at Poolampatti for some coffee, and chatted up with the shop owner. Turns out he stays in Vijayanagar, and was helping out folks on his holidays at the family shop. Got detailed directions. Picked up speed after Mettur doing 80 – 90 kmph on the now empty SH 20. By 930 we landed up at the dhaba right outside Dharmapuri. Dinner followed and we stopped for about an hour.

Last leg

The last leg was fast. The lovely golden quadrilateral is hardly populated by anything in these areas and locals prefer to avoid the toll road. Result was a steady 100 – 110 without stressing the car at 2500 RPM and 5th. Truck traffic got thicker after Krishnagiri occasionally bogging us down in 2nd but overall time was good, things were looking under control to reach home by 1130.

The kid lost it soon after and got extremely cranky for reasons completely unknown. This made us stop a couple of times trying to figure out the problem while finally the Indica was ahead and we were trailing. Reached home at 1200 midnight after almost 10 hours on the road.

The Fuel

Yep, the car never needed refueling till we stopped and left the car idling outside our house. I normally do that after very long drives. Thats 460 Kms of return and 120 kms of local travel in and around Thrissur. A total of 580 kms + 6 kms in Bangalore done in 38 liters when I got it back to the Auto Cut level at a Gas Station. That’s 15.4 kmpl with AC on at all times and less than perfect roads.

Shortcoming were the lights on the less than perfect NH47 from Palakkad till Thrissur (while going) and SH20 from Bhavai till Thoppur (while coming back). I really wished that the car had a headlamp that it deserved instead of guessing where the next bump or pothole might be. In is not an issue with the wattage, but how everyone else manages to blind you without any effort. The other problem is when you have a good throw on the high-beam, your visibility up front gets highly compromised forcing you to switch on the Fog Lamps. This in turn illuminates almost everything around making the foreground (objects nearer) much brighter than the background (objects far away), a balance is somehow missing.

Overall a good outing. Heading off to Puttaparthi on 16th morning and returning the same day. That’s next.

That aside.

The idea then was to avoid all modes of public transport and head to Mumbai from Bangalore. The car was the only answer.

Onward Road Condition

(See attached Map)

Road conditions from Bangalore to Tumkur is good only after Neelamangala. We started early at about 3 AM but still managed to get bogged down by insane truck traffic on Tumkur road. I did have this half baked idea to take NICE road and get out faster, but somehow picking up a friend from Sarjapur road and then traveling half a world around Bangalore did not make sense at that time.

At 6 AM, still sitting at a Cafe Coffee Day outside Tumkur made a lot of sense of the NICE road plan. The Mytas Construction going at a less than desired pace, the section from Yeshvanthpur till Neelamangala is exceptionally bad. Anyone taking this road should try and avoid it at all costs. Taking the NICE road will save you some time, but only ‘Some’.

The Route taken from Bangalore till Mumbai.

At about 630 AM we headed out straight into Tumkur. Had read on online Forums that the condition of the Tumkur Bypass was less than ordinary. We tried to avoid that and went through the city instead. That took some more time than usually needed. The rain and mud helped as well.

After about 45 minutes and out of Tumkur, we punched the gas on the nicely laid out NH4 before us. Road conditions from Tumkur till Chitradurga is excellent. Toll gates are there to thank for the better roads. It’s definitely a welcome change after the harrowing experience through Tumkur and Neelamangala.

This does change drastically after Chitradurga. But that later.

The Diversion

A possible route to Pune and Mumbai also exists via NH13 and Solapur, which happens to intersect NH4 (and actually merge for a while) on this route. At some parts of this section, the signage does read as NH13 and that was enough to prompt us to stop and ask for directions (from probably the worst guy ever). The direction to Pune was for the Solapur route, and that meant that we were headed on NH13 instead of NH4 for the next few minutes crossing about 20 odd kilometers. Realizing the problem, we promptly stopped, turned around and headed back to find NH4, did not take long, gave dirts to the chai wala who thought otherwise and continued.

The Bad stuff

The section of road from Davangere (after Chitradurga) till Ranebennur on NH4 is exceptionally bad. It actually makes you like Swine Flu (or any other disease) better than the road travel. The construction of NH4 on this sections is stopped, half done, stalled etc. Not a single section of the road is either un-touched and left as it was old, or complete as it should be. The 60 odd kms feel like a million. You also feel like personally killing the next guy collecting toll at the next booth.

And the good stuff

Well if that toll booth comes, what comes with it are excellent roads after Ranebennur. Things start to fly. Haveri till Hubli, the roads improve further. The Hubli – Dharwad bypass is excellent, though only 2 lanes and no median. Things after Dharwad are a dream run. Although we managed to cross Dharwad at about 2 PM, Pune came up easy by 5 PM. And then there was Mumbai – Pune expressway. By 9 PM we were sipping tea in a Hotel Room and planning our next day.

The Return Path

We did not want to experiment much. There were two drivers and I had to be in Bangalore by next morning. After finishing our meeting somewhere deep inside Mumbai, we headed out. By this time it was already 4 PM, which surely meant that a complete night drive was in store. The first leg was my turn.

Got out of Mumbai in the next 2 hours and reached Pune by 8 PM, although we wanted to have dinner but the impending danger of Swine Flu made us drive all the way till outskirts of Satara in the next hour for some chicken. Swines were not on the menu.

Zip zap

Great roads combined with zero traffic and the occasional sleepy toll booth and patrol guy meant that we were already getting ready for the Ranebennur till Davangere battle by first signs of Sunlight. 4 AM driver change went off smoothly, I have this 4 AM and 4 PM problem when I just have to grab that 1 hour nap, after which I am ok for the next whole day (although not recommended)

By 9 AM we were about to get into Tumkur when we dogged down by a stray jumping though the median, the dog survived, the car, even though I braked, took a hit on the bumper and all the pedestrian safety stuff worked and showed the crumple zones. First hit in so many KMs of highway drives.

Worried by the crack and the delayed entry into Bangalore, we still managed to miss the NICE road and landed in extreme traffic accentuated by rain from the previous night. But no point going into details of that. After dropping my friend at Sarjapur Road, I was home by 1 PM, it had taken us longer to get into Bangalore that actually get out of Mumbai and travel till Dharwad.

Next time, take the NICE road.

Sivanasamudram Waterfall Panoramic view

How do we get there?

Very simple actually. Somehow get to Kanakpura road from Bangalore. If you are residing in South Bangalore, half the job is done. Getting to Kanakpura road from south Bangalore is a breeze. But if you are from North Bangalore or from satellite towns like Yelahanka, things are a little bit more tricky. On a weekday I would recommend the Outer Ring Road for a problem and misdirection free ride till Kanakpura road. This would be a long ride, so start early. You can also take the shorter route through the city but that will be plagued by extensive one-ways and too many traffic signals.

Once on Kanakpura road

Once you are on Kanakpura road, just head out. The road is also known as NH 209 and can take you all the way to Coimbatore. But then we are not going all the way there. The road has been recently redone from its earlier painful self. It’s a beautiful 2 lane road sans a lane divider and very minimal traffic. It also has excellent twists and turns, and a good surface to test your driving skills if you want to.

Kanakpura Road, the good sections. Some sections are still getting done and may be painful.

Lone standing rock / hill on Kanakpura Road, looks like a good place to try some rock climbing.

Once officially outside Bangalore, the road takes you through mini forests, orchards, grape farms, various other farms, flower fields, picturesque hill tops and what not. Overall, a beautiful drive. The distance to Sivanasamudram is about 120 Km. You will pass through Harohalli and reach Kanakpura Town, where some tricky one way through the town bus stop has to be navigated through. The details are there in the adjoining map (thanks to Google).

Right after the small detour, you will be faced with a Y junction with a dubious tourism board pointing nowhere in particular (they might have changed that). Keep to the right at the Y junction and continue on NH209.

Navigating through Kanakpura

Pass through small place called Halagur and reach Malavalli. On reaching Malavalli, the NH209 bends sharp to right at 90° and continues on. Do not turn left or you will head towards Mysore. After this things get a little bit more extensive and detailed. A few kilometers down (about 5km) after the turn you will see a board on your left pointing to the waterfalls. Get into the road and continue straight till you reach a toll gate kind of place where someone may ask you for money. Why I say ‘may’ is because I have been there a few times and only sometimes they have asked for some fees. Once inside, you would have reached the power station.

Asia’s second hydro-electric power station after shimshapura, is located at the waterfall and is still functional. This station was commissioned by theDiwan of Mysore, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer. The electricity produced here was initially used in the Kolar Gold Fields. Thus, Kolar Gold Fields became the first town in Asia to get hydro electricity.

- Wikipedia

If you are interested in the power station, you can dig up more information by just following the various links in the quote. But, if you are not, then drive straight till the power station, turn right (you may need to ask for this direction, else look for signage) pointing to Gaganachukki and Barahchukki, thats the name of the two falls.

Rest is easy, you will reach the place. A simpler method is to follow the mad rush of tourist taxis headed in the same direction.

Getting to the viewing gallery through the power station. Route is approximation from satellite imagery.

The place is a dead end. Your car, bike, SUV wont go any further and sit in the parking lot (open space under nature’s umbrella). You will have to take the staircase from here on to get to the viewing gallery. On a good day, right after the rains, you can feel the water spray till here. Note that the viewing gallery is almost half a kilometer away from the actual waterfall if not more. The view is worth the drive in almost any weather.

This place earlier used to have small vendors selling inane stuff and fool items. In recent years they have been removed in favor of a Karnataka Tourism run restaurant, managed by Bengalis and serving North Indian Food. Needless to say, the results are not that good. I would suggest carrying your own food.

If you do carry your own food, please do not dump the plastic bags there itself, as 90% of the educated population do. Do the place a favor, preserve it by carrying all that junk back.

Once you are done with this place, there is more. When you are at the viewing gallery, you will realize that there is a way to get even closer to the foot of the waterfall by getting to the other side of the river. Get back out on NH209 and continue further out. You will cross a bridge eventually and then come to a T junction, turn left and continue straight on. If lost, ask for the Durgah. Yep, it’s a religious place and this however has more options in terms of junk food than the other side. Get there, there is ample amount of place to park the vehicle. Get on your feet and explore the waterfall up close. From the word go, you will be stunned by the deafening road of water gushing down hundreds of feet so close.

While returning, chances are you will be tired, not from the drive, but from climbing up and down so many stairs which you probably are not used to. It will also probably be dark by the time you start back. The best way to handle Kanakpura road in the night is by not getting on it.

Getting to the other side

The Picnic Spot

Come to the junction on NH209 where you took a hard left while going, this time don’t turn and continue straight through Malavalli town. Maintain absolutely straight direction and soon you will reach Bangalore – Mysore Expressway touching it a little before Mandya Town. Turn right and head towards Bangalore. If you want a coffee break, there is one right there on your left on the expressway right after you get on it.

Enjoy and drive safe. More info on Wikipedia

The Hoysaleshwara Temple at Halebidu

That’s when you get on your horse and get out, in our case, “Horse Power”

Halebidu is located in Hassan District, Karnataka, India. Halebidu (which was previously called Dorasamudra or Dwarasamudra) was the regal capital of the Hoysala Empire in the 12th century. It is home to one of the best examples of Hoysala architecture in the ornate Hoysaleswara and Kedareswara temples.

Well that’s what Wikipedia or Wiki Travel has to say about it, and they are not much off the mark when they say “best example”. It is probably The Best if not, at least one of the Top 5 Architecture pieces of India (that includes The Taj as well, mind it).

Getting to Halebidu (or Halebid, as known in english)

Its fairly simple. Get to the North of Bangalore and get on NH4 headed towards Tumkur. For this you definitely need to start really early as the road can be a pain after 7AM. Our plans to start early did not materialize with a baby in tow. Nevertheless, we were off and out passing Yashvanthpura Railway station and Metro Cash and Carry on NH4 by about 7AM. The road has a major bottle neck at the Outer Ring Road crossing near Peenya. Crossing this bottle neck takes a while even when there is no traffic on road. You an blame it on Bangalore’s town planners who managed to create a “Staggered” junction for the ORR and NH4, so that vehicles that want to continue on the ORR will have to turn right, get on to NH4 and then turn left after a 100 meters, pain.

Be careful of the ORR crossing marked in a circle, and remember to take a Left at Neelamangala

Leave that behind and you are technically out of Bangalore and headed straight towards Tumkur. But then that’s where you are not going, you are headed to Hassan on NH48, the same road that snakes through the infamous Shiradi Ghats and gets into Mangalore. To get on this road you will have to turn left at a non desrcript junction on NH4 at Neelamangala. Yes, its easy to miss, and if you do not watch out, you will hit the Toll Road to Tumkur and forget that you ever had to take a turn. Why? well the Toll Road is a picturesque one and you will love every minute that you spend on it.

We missed the junction and got on to the Toll Road.

The Toll Gate after Neelamangala, if you have reached this spot, then you have already missed the turn.

Once on this road, we were ecstatic and went on driving the next 15 Km to reach a Cafe Coffee Day. Finished with the staple dose of Cilantro Sandwich and Cappuccino, we headed off and reached Tumkur, only to realize that “Opps! We were to take a left turn somewhere!!”

The view from Cafe Coffee Day on the Tumkur Toll Road. Easily one of the best maintained roads.

Headed back, and as luck would have it, Neelamangala is about 500 meters from the start of the toll road and we got to the much awaited Left. After the left, NH48 is not as bad it  is made out to be, its a perfect two way road with near perfect surface and guard rails on both sides. The road is also marked clearly for lanes and shoulder, we knew it then that even if we got delayed, driving back in the night will not be a major issue.

(Our return Path is not described in this post. Its easy to get back to Bangalore from Hassan as long as you hit the right road. Traffic is more after sunset on NH48)

Word of advice: If you are headed to Halebidu via Hassan, take a left turn at Neelamangala. If you miss that turn, wait for the Toll Gate, turn back and take the right. You can ask the chaps at the Toll Gate for direction as well.

NH48 to Hassan and Mangalore snakes though central Karnataka

After Neelamangala

NH48 is a paradise to drive on till Hassan. The road is well laid, has clear markers and turns very gently every now and then. Most parts are lined with trees and green fields. maintaining speeds north of a ton is not difficult. Although you need to be careful at places where the road climbs and then dips down. Visibility of oncoming traffic is zero at these places and any amount of Honking or Blinking will go unnoticed by even the best.

NH48 to Hassan after the left turn at Neelamangala

Green, green, green

Very soon you will pass Solur, Kunigal, Yadiyur, Hirisave (important if you want to visit Shravan Belgola), Channaraypatna, and you are in Hassan. The road rarely looses composure, except for parts where it is being constructed or widenend. But that’s minimal damage.

In Hassan

Once you are in Hassan, or little before Hassan, you have to turn right to get on the state highway to get to Halebid. This again is a nondescript turn and very easy to miss. Not to worry though as you can do the same through Hassan town as well. You won’t lose much time here. Plus, there will be a lot of tourist taxis and buses that are headed in the same direction and it’s easy to just follow them. Make sure they are approximately headed in the same direction though, chances are 90% tourist vehicles will be headed to Halebidu.

You need to be on SH57 to head to Halebidu. The roads are clearly marked on milestones, finding the right one should not be a challenge.

The road is narrow will very little scope to overtake. Take SH57 from Hassan and then SH58 from Bellur

State Highway 57

SH57 from Hassan till Bellur

A large lake / reservoir lined with Windmills

You can either take a little offroad route via village roads as shown in the Map or go a little bit around via Bellur and on NH58 till Halebidu. Both ways its fine, the road quality is nothing great but the scenery around it is. Each spot is like a Picture Postcard. The road twists and turns through villages and fields over small rivers and next to large lakes. The road is very narrow and overtaking something can become a challenge here.

If you are stuck behind a bus or a slow moving Sumo, stop and wait for sometime. Let the view clear and then continue on. This way you will have enough field of vision to enjoy the surrounding. You can also use some spare horse power and offroading capabilities of your ride to overtake the slow one, but its not recommended.

Once you reach Halebidu, its easy to find the temple. It’s just about the only thing there and finding a parking nearby is a breeze. Park the car, avoid the local salesmen and women trying to sell various replicas of the statues and get into the temple compound.

Another closeup of the Temple

More about the temple is here

Photographs: Aparajita Ghosh, Shubhodeep Das. Maps: Courtesy Google.

Don’t.

I know this sounds funny, but for the person who is new to Indian Highways, this is one suggestion he should follow. This would help is conserving fuel and energy for the trip.

Put down your foot on the gas only when you know that you don’t have to take it off.

This is a normal (also nominal) distribution of traffic on Indian Highways. Cars on the right. Trucks on the left. Two wheelers that are not too fast on the extreme left shoulder. But it's equally possible to have someone come right at you on the wrong side of the road in a Tractor.

What about trucks and buses?

Overtake them, in all likelihood, they will be on the outer lane and the inner lane will be free for you. If its not free, just signal with your high beams and you will be given way. It’s the other variety, the private cars and cabs that you do not overtake.

Why?

Simple. A cab runs these routes more often than you or I would. As a result, they will be more accustomed to the twists and turns and hidden speed-breakers and bad patches. Get tucked in behind such a vehicle doing speeds that you probably would like to maintain. Follow this fellow from a safe distance and you will suddenly see that you are more relaxed, and you are doing better time. The brunt of road traffic get sliced through this ‘Pilot Car’ which you are following, including people and animal traffic. If you are traveling at night, only follow the vehicle if it has all its tail lamps and braking lights in place.

Carry your own food

The answer is not that simple. If you are blessed with a weak stomach, it is best to avoid roadside food and carry your own. But what can you carry?

Do note the fact that you will be driving and eating even though you would like to avoid that. Do also note that anything you carry should require minimal water usage to wash your hands after the meal. This brings us to easy consumables like Cake, Potato Wafers, Samosas, Kachodi etc.. these are food items that are primarily dry, devoid of any greasy watery content and easy to wash off after a meal. The next set would consist of Frankies, Patties, and other such fried stuff with stuffing in them. They also require minimal water usage to wash your hands.

A road side shop serving Aloo Bhajji and Mirchi Bhajji few Kilometers outside Vishakhapatnam

Duration of travel

The food you carry should last you the complete duration of travel without requiring refrigeration (unless you are fitted with a small fridge in your car). Avoid anything too oily as they tend to go stale very fast, very soon. Apart from going stale, they also emanate smell and in closed quarters of a vehicle that can get very annoying. So divide your food in parts that will last longer and those that will last shorter. Start with the ones that are more likely to go stale, and remainder to consume later.

Making a sandwitch

This requires time, and patience while traveling. Not to mention the ‘good parking space’ without any disturbance or danger from other traffic. Carrying Tuna, Cucumber, and other such ‘Sandwitchy’ ingredients is a good idea for the first day. Boiled eggs are great as well. They can last upto 2 days complete if left undisturbed in a cool dark place. Once you stop, chop some, fill in the bread slices and munch on. You can carry mustard and mayonnaise but they have the spill risk.

The roadside guy

If you do not have a weak stomach, then the roadside guy is ideal. Most arterial roads will have the regular supply of Aloo Bhajji (A fry made with stuffed potato), Mirchi Bhajji (same with mirchi or chilli), Aloo Puri (A curry made out of potato with Puri) and in Southern India you get ample supply of Idli and Vada Sambar. Not all are going to be tasty, but chances are 70% of them will be worth it, you will have to try your luck. Keep a bottled mineral water handy after the meal as it is likely to be spicy as well. In case you experience an unrest in your stomach after the food, have lots of water.. chances are, you will be ok.

The Punjabi Dhaba

A Dhaba is a roadside shack that serves food. A Punjabi Dhaba is one that serves North Indian food, like Butter Chicken and Roti with Dal. 90% of these are good targets for affordable food. If you happen to spot one, turn around and go back, it will be worth a shot. In extreme situations where bottled water is not available, go for a Cola or a Lime drink. It will help tone down the spicy nature of the food. The food will be served with a healthy helping of Onions, don’t worry about bad breath, have them.. they will help ward of the heat in summer (which we have 3 seasons of).

Eat well, drink lots of water!!

1. A Compass. This is absolute necessity on highways as detours are almost always un-expected and are always through narrow winding village roads. A compass will help you in these situations to maintain bearings. A GPS may or maynot help, as most of these by-lanes on the highway are uncharted, and mostly un-paved.
2. A Windscreen Wash and Shine. These are available at almost any local auto dealer. And they are helpful. A lot of mud will be thrown on your windscreen from Trucks in front of you and Passing Vehicles. If you have a washer fitted in your car, chances are that will run dry in 200 Kms. Carry extra and refill, specially if you are driving through Dusk or Dawn.
3. One small set of folding table and chairs. Not an absolute must, but if you do want to experience the occasional Alu Puri from a nearby dhaba. This is the best option to have along. Just unfold and you have your own private eatery right next to the highway.
4. Tubeless tires and a puncture repair kit. This is just a matter of choice and peace of mind. Tubeless tires are more resistant to the occasional rogue nail and thorn than the regular Tube Tires. A puncture repair kit allows you to fix that nail easily without running to a repair shop.
5. Water. Carry lots of water when you travel. Either filtered or mineral. Ideal way to carry is in a Plastic Jerrican. A 20 Liter or 2 x 10 Liter is enough for a 1000 Km trip. Water available locally may or may not suit everyone’s city stomachs easily.
6. Get a Local Newspaper. If you are venturing out from one state to the other, get a Local Newspaper of that area as soon as you enter. It gives a good idea of any Political disturbance or Bandh that may foil your plans for the day.
7. Cash and Change for Toll. Any major highway in India is Toll Operated. You will pass at least one Toll Booth in 100 Kms. The Toll value ranges from Rs 30 to Rs 70 one way for a four wheeler. Having change speeds up the process, having cash is mandatory. Calculate about Rs 50 for every 100 Km you travel. Also be prepared to surprise RTO tax collection booths on the highway. This is not necessary for vehicles passing through a state, but it never hurts to be prepared. Tax Value is based on the weight of the vehicle and can vary from Rs 600 – Rs 1200 for a four wheeler.
8. A Map with Highway Numbers clearly marked. It is not necessary that the Map has to be accurate. But it is necessary to have a map with all the road names and numbers marked clearly. Indian Highways are named in Single digits for main roads and three digits for its Bypass or tertiary roads. (Like NH7 and NH207 here). TTK Roadmaps are good to navigate around cities.
9. A Torch. Absolute necessity if you are traveling in the night. The highways do not have any illumination what-so-ever. If anything does go wrong with the vehicle, you will definitely need one to get to the bottom of the problem. Its also a good tool to attract attention in case of trouble.
10. Cash for Gas. Although ATMs and Gas Stations that take credit cards are common in city limits, on highways they are very rare. Maintaining the same brand of fuel is necessary to maintain a better mileage and overall sanity of the engine. Carry some cash extra for those emergency fills. Do not carry too much extra. The chances of theft are very real as well.

Carry a Camera to capture all the moments. Most highways have 80% picture postcard value during ideal weather like Monsoon. Enjoy the drive!

Here’s how you can minimize the damage to your time from the Notorious Bangalore Traffic during the daytime.

Approach from NH7

A little outside of Bangalore is Chikka Ballapur, leave NH7 at this junction and get on to the regular (non 4 lane) NH207. Created as a bypass long back, the NH207 runs alongside Bangalore touching NH4 at Hoskote and through Sarjapur finally touching NH7 again at Attibele after Electronic City. The road is fairly well maintained and has very little traffic during the daytime.

Turn into NH207, at Chikka Ballapur and continue till Attibele to get back on NH7 avoiding Bangalore completely

Approaching from North – West on NH4

If you are approaching from NH4 in the North, chances of avoiding traffic completely is minimal. However you can minimize the damage by getting on to the Ring Road right after crossing Peenya Industrial Area. Continue on the Ring Road till Marathalli Junction. Take a left here and get onto NH207 to avoid the Hosur road construction zone completely and get back on NH7 at Attibele.

Turn on to Ring Road after Peenya Industrial Area and continue straight till Marathalli Junction. Take a left to get on to NH207 near Varthur lake. Areas marked in dark circles are heavy traffic zones.

If you do have to get into the city. The recommended time will be before 7 AM and after 11 PM. Anything in between can cause a lot of time, specially if the roads are unknown to you.

Any other tips on avoiding and bypassing Bangalore are welcome.

Round One

Not long ago I used to be a Hyderabadi, or a person who stays in Hyderabad, India and behaves in a certain way. Going to Pondicherry was something I attempted first from Hyderabad, and that too with success and ‘on road’. Hopped in a Volvo from Hyderabad and landed up at Kalasipalayam bus station near Majestic in Bangalore. Did I mention that I really did not plan the trip through? I guess I did not. So here I was, at Kalasipalayam, wondering what or how to get till Pondicherry from here. The only people I knew in Bangalore at that point of time, were In Pondicherry waiting for me. Kind of futile to go looking for a place to stay in this expensive place after that. I also had the option of going straight to Chennai from Hyderabad and then get to Pondicherry. Wonder why I did not do that!

Kalasipalayam is a place where you get things easily. First thing I needed after the overnight travel was to freshen up, visit the loo, take a shower etc. Even before that I needed to sort out the whole travel plan which at this point was kind of haywire. Went from ticket shop to ticket shop, and nothing was available before late evening. At this point I realized that the bast bet for me was Karnataka State Transport. Got myself a ticket, which was not easy, had to get an agent who could then go and get the ticket. Now that the agent was off to get My Ticket, I had time to do the rest, freshen up, loo, bath etc. Finding a loo was the next challenge, finding one large enough to park my bag and take a bath was bigger challenge, finding one that was clean was impossible.

Did what I had to do, did a few rounds of the shopping / office complexes nearby and located a toilet large enough to park my bags and take a shower. Got hold of a guy to get it cleaned, once done I sent him off to get the State Transport Bus Ticket. He is a local to that area and will not have to face harassment from the agents as well. Plus he gets to make a harmless extra buck. In one hours time I was all set with a ticket, bathed, shaved to hit the road. This was summer so a RayBan was mandatory. Once in the bus I parked myself firmly on a central driver side seat next to a window and just tried to merge with the people around. Although no one understood a word that I could speak (Hindi, Bengali and Little Gujarati) still they tried and so did I. Found a lot of fellows that were making the Journey all the way. The present NH7 (Hosur to Krishnagiri) was getting constructed in those days and the ride was bumpy with one diversion after the other. State transport buses stop generously and for longer duration and getting a Tea every now and then with Wada Sambar was great. Starting at 8 AM, the bus took a staggering 12 hours to reach Pondicherry. The route map is on the attached image.

The road from Bangalore to Krishnagiri

Round Two

This was a year after that. And this time I took the most non-interactive option of Road Travel from Bangalore. I got into a Volvo from Sharma Travels and I travelled cocooned in Air Conditioned Luxury till Pondicherry without even realizing when or where the Bus made a stop. This was a very boring ride from a Road Trip point of view. From comfort point of view it was great. Given the circumstances, don’t remember much apart from getting into the bus and getting off the bus early next morning. But who wants to travel this way!

The main difference from Round One was, people knew how to communicate with me, but somehow no one (including me) made any effort.

From Bangalore, the tricky turn off to Pondicherry on NH66 is after Krishnagiri

While coming back, there is a confusing left at Tandivanam. Best is to ask for Tandivanam and be prepared.

Round Three (Holi, 2008)

What I did not mention in the first two rounds is that in the first one I was going to meet my Girlfriend, in the second I was going to meet her parents. In the third one, we were married and were going to the Bank on a Saturday. On reaching the bank we realized that it was a holiday and well, it was shut. I work from home and have little or no clue about public holidays, most of my clients work from home as well.

While coming back, there is a confusing left at Tandivanam. Best is to ask for Tandivanam and be prepared. So here we were, a perfect saturday morning, around 10 AM and the only thing we had planned for was not possible. Got back home and decided to head for Pondicherry. Grabbed the Map Book, and the Copy of 52 Weekend Getaways and headed off after filling the tank. Bang, and 11 30 AM we were crossing Silk Board Junction and were on a crowded Hosur Road. Once you cross Attibeli on this road, things ease out a lot, and speeds become a lot faster. There are two reasons for this, One: it was a holiday and there were very few vehicles on the road. Two: The going is mostly downhill and the car just glides on. Before we knew it, we were at the Toll Gate and asking for directions. The chap at the collection booth was very helpful, somehow they all are, he clearly said go over the first Flyover and under the second. Turn left and immediately take the First Right. Did exactly that and was on the Krishnagiri Chennai road. Although the road looked very inviting, we had to take a right almost immediately onto NH66.

A tanker in front of us. I somehow have a talent to stop right behind them at toll gates.

Leaving the toll gate behind

NH66

NH66 is not one of those swanky Golden Quadrilateral roads. Its just a simple basic National Highway. It does not have a lane divider, does not have the white markings at most places, and has very little population around it as well. What it is though is a gem of the track to drive on. The road was perfect for an unladen heavy hatch doing 3 digit speeds. Also for the fact that there was hardly any traffic from either direction on the road. At around 2 PM, Tiruvannamali came up, we stopped at the first available road side shop and sampled Fish Curry and Rice. All charged and slightly heavy, we headed on and reached Pondicherry at around 4 30 PM.

On NH66. Gives an idea of the road.

Pondicherry

After battling the minor city traffic we headed off to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, parked the vehicle nearby and continued on foot. Thats the best way to roam about within Pondicherry. If you have to go a little outside, you can always hire a Kinetic or a Scooty of take your own vehicle. After a darshan at the Ashram, we headed to the beach, had some Gol Guppas, some Chat, and did all the Beach Things that we don’t get to do in Bangalore. At 7 30 we called it a day and started heading back.

Looking for a parking spot in Pondicherry

Pondicherry has a lot of Good (bordering on very good) places to stay near the Beach road. These are mostly 3 – 4 Floors of small hotels with ample amount of amenities to let you live and enjoy the city. Not very expensive either. You can also opt for staying at the Ashram Guest house, but that would surely need advance booking and known contacts within the Ashram.

Heading Back

We had our doubts weather we will find our way back in the dark or not. Weather we will be tired to drive back and may have to stay over and head off only the next day. We had many questions. Decided that after a few Kilometers we will have the answer anyway. heading back we were not alone. There was a Hyundai Accent before us who clearly was local (number plate) and I decided to follow him happily shielded from the task of navigating hard. There was a problem though, the fellow in the Accent would brake at almost any light that he saw on the horizon and so did we. After about 50 times of such false alarm, I decided to get ahead and make my own track. Overtaking the Accent was a breeze, just went behind him (not too close as he could brake again) and blinked. As expected, he did not move out of the way but braked, I took this opportunity to pass him from the Right and say goodbye. The next 70 Km was calm. It was us, the Music from the iPod playing though an irritating FM transmitter, still it was good. And there was moonlight, from a Full Moon. The drive was getting better but we were loosing time trying to travel on unknown roads. Though we were faster than when sitting behind the Accent, we were not as fast as we had hoped to be.

A blink on the rear view gave me the shudders. Have I been traveling so slow that the Accent actually caught up with us?

Nope, this was a Maroon Innova with a Yellow Number Plate. Yesss!!! This was our answer to make up on lost time. I let the Innova pass and quietly tucked in behind him. He was fast and doing healthy 100 + speeds on roads that were obviously well known to him. We dod not follow too close, but maintained enough distance to just have his tail lamps visible to us. A lot of fast Mile Crunching went on and we were back in Tiruvannamali, this time for Dinner.
After having a basic dinner and tea, we were back on the road. The Innova was no where to be found, but we kept up the momentum never the less. The sparsely populated roads were now deserted and absolutely dark. Nature paid us a visit soon after. To my horror the car was filled with Large Ants near the driver area and we had to get them cleaned out. We stopped and soon were questioned by Police Patrol. They asked us not to stop on the deserted section and only stop after reaching Krishnagiri, which was a few Kilometers away. We cleaned up good at Krishnagiri and topped up Tea and Coffee, and headed straight out.

Barring minimal truck traffic, the road was empty till about Attibeli where a lot of Large Trucks carrying windmill components were blocking most of the road. This delayed us a bit but not much. At around 1245 we were at our doorstep.

There are two types of roads in india. The roads that are currently under repair. The roads that desperately need repair.
- Times of India

Yes, this is a Karnataka Road. And a pleasure to be on.

No, that's not a garden, that's the NH4 after Neelamangala and before Tumkur. Again, no less than a garden.

The situation is offcourse not that bad. Over time the roads have improved and here’s a quicklist of few out of Bangalore.

• Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri (After Attebele Junction) NH7
• Bangalore – Mysore Road SH17
• Bangalore – Tumkur Toll Road (after Neelamangala) NH4
• Bangalore – Neelamangala – Hassan Road (few Kms out of Neelamangala) NH48
• Kanakpura Road (in parts) NH209
• Mangalore – Kushalnagar SH88
• Krishnagiri – Vellore – Chennai NH46 – NH4

Well, at least there are some good roads here, there sure is more in AP.

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)

Started off, a little late for a long drive, and a little too early for lunch. Took the outer ring road from Banerghata road and continued straight till Mysore road (SH17). Uneventful till here. The next idea was to get out a little bit and locate a place to eat. There was one pre-condition, it should be a new place and not some place we have already dined at. Sounds simple enough. The SH17 is a paradise for road lovers. Very little traffic being the yearend, we were nearing Maddur in almost little or no time. The Cafe Coffee Day near Maddur has been my favorite pit stop for a long time now. For a few reasons:

• It has a well allocated large parking space.
• It has other adjoining places to eat regular desi stuff.
• It has a petrol pump nearby.

On the ‘cons’ side, it’s on the wrong side of the highway so you will have to follow the directions, pass Cafe Coffee Day, take a U-Turn avoiding vehicles coming at you at ludicrous speeds, and then get to the coffee.

Map of the roads taken.

We did the coffee bit, it’s become like a OCD to stop there. We did not eat at the adjoining places like Kamath (a few kilometers down), or the one right to it, MTR. We have eaten there a million times.

So we went on, take a U-turn and back towards Mysore.

As we were reaching Maddur town, something terrible came up. There was some political disturbance in Mandya and it was a Bandh. Which meant we could either turn back or take the road from Maddur to Malavalli (on Kanakpura Road, NH209) or head back. Took the first option and went on. Reached Malavalli after battling the traffic which was diverted from the wide Mysore road to this narrow by road. From Malavalli turned towards Mysore and went on till we touched Mysore ring road. Now that this is not a major highway, there were obviously very little places to eat here. Except for one, but we had stopped there once and did not want a repeat. Mysore came up fast, ring road was empty in the afternoon, we started back towards SH17 just in case if we do not find a place, we will head back to Kamath.

Take the KRS road from SH17 onto SH88 and avoid getting into Mysore

Cities in Karnataka have the best of signage, at least Bangalore and Mysore do have. A nice large green board came up which said Madikeri straight, turn right for Bangalore. This was crunchtime, had been to Madikeri earlier but did not drive till there. We had taken a bypass right after Srirangapatna on KRS road connecting SH88 (Mysuru to Madikeri and beyond). Did the right thing, did not want to waste anymore time on a wasted day, when the light turned green, went straight ahead towards SH88. Soon we came at a junction west of Mysore with SH88 pointing right, took that and found a reasonable Dhaba about 10 Kms into the ride.

Ate.

Rain washed roads near Kushalnagar on the 2nd trip

Went on, passed Hunsur, passed Kushalnagar, and we were in Madikeri by about 5 PM with the sun fading out on the december sky. Now its a day away from New Years eve and almost all the places in a place like Madikeri are booked. Had a large tea, ate some more, and found a small little ‘Home Stay’ to spend the night. Parked the car and went about on foot checking out the place. We actually got to see 90% of the places while we were hunting for the Home Stay. Ate, slept, paid the chap as I intended to leave as soon as possible in the morning, what with all the pending work in Bangalore. Got up at 4 AM, now all the places to sea were empty, plus the weather was a lot better off than a polluted evening. Started out of the city by about 630 AM. Faced a little fog, a little of Kushalnagar and the tricky ‘One Way’ in the middle of the town. It was morning and I could reverse out in next to zero traffic. (why is later?)

Way out early in the morning with the sun rising

Morning Fog after Madikeri

Honsur came up very soon. We stopped for chai and I asked in my broken best Kannada, “Tea, Place to See, Good”, the guy smiled, then laughed, then said (in Kannada) “Don’t miss Nagerhole, Irpu”. Out came “52 weekend getaways” book from the glove box and we were charting new roads. Turned into Hunsur town, filled up gas and went right through Nagerhole National Park (Also called Rajiv Gandhi National Park). This is truly a beautiful road. A narrow snake, not so well finished, and almost never travelled, snaking tile a python / anaconda though thick forest. Its also a staggering 30 – 40 Kms through the forest. Occasionally one can spot a deer, small bear, and various other wildlife that I may need a picture dictionary to recognize. In one word lovely.

Nagerhole National Park, somewhere in there is this forest officer's office.

Crossed the National Park, they checked the bumpers at the gate, to verify weather we played a ‘Salman Khan’ on a Black Buck.

In one word, pure hell was unleashed soon after. The road became narrow, we could touch boundary walls on both sides of the road with our hands stretched out of the vehicle. It became a little worse. Then we got some good food. Then it became it’s worst possible and we reached Irpu falls. Walked up the falls, saw it, great view. Also, to all those people who take their clothes off and wear an underwear and jump into any waterfall they find, “Guys, you are neither Mandakini, nor is it cool to wear an underwear in public, unless you are Superman or David Hasslehoff (from Baywatch). Also, you need a physique to do that, not a potbelly which hides the only piece of clothing you are wearing.”

Falls was good, situation around was pathetic.

People bathing at Irpu Falls

We headed back. Did not take the Nagerhole Route Back as vehicles are not allowed to ply through the forest after 6 PM. Took the road via Ponnampet. Potholes were larger, so large that bandits can hide in them and rob you. We were tailing an Optra at this point which was increasingly getting slower, and slower and slower. I don’t blame them, I could see the car bottom at every pothole that they crossed, ouch!!. At this time we decided to pass him, honked, blinked, while passing he stopped us and asked if there was another option other than this road. Gave him the bad news and my sympathies. Once you pass Ponnampet, the road improves and becomes a part of the SH88B. What a relief, followed the rest to the route back till SH17 and back to Bangalore.

Part Deux

Abbey Falls

Exactly a year later, took the same roads and landed up at a home stay (pre planned) right after Suntikoppa, near Madikeri. Vindhya’s. They have great food, and enough place for 6 people. We were 4 plus 1 toddler and 1 infant. Worked fine. The idea was to stay, see the elephants at Dubare, eat Momos near Bylakuppe and head back the next day after seeing Abbey Falls.

Some Map (approximate) of the detour taken. Good detour. Ask for directions to Suntikoppa once officially on SH27

The story of wrong turns starts right after we had visited Abbey Falls. We were to take a left on reaching SH88, but we managed to take it a little early on SH27. See in Google. But this was a mistake I would like everyone to make, as SH27 is a much more beautiful and winding road than the SH88 can ever be. Only problem was, we were fast running out of Gas. Both the cars (WagonR and Fusion) were nearing fuel zero, a stop soon made it clear that we were on a long wrong way around to Suntikoppa where the next pump is. Fuel crisis aside, this is one of the best roads to take to get to Abbey Falls instead of the truck infested SH88. Suntikoppa came up after 50 + kilometers, and insane amount of good winding roads. Filled up the cars and headed to Bangalore.

Places to stay near Madikeri

Forest Flower. Nani Estate, Horoor Post, Sunticoppa Telephone No: 08272- 239332

Honey Pot Homes. Email: enquiries[AT]honeypothomes[DOT]com, Website

Jade Hills. Kaloor Road, Galibeedu Village, Madikeri – 571201. landline: 08272-651268

Vindhyas. Kedakal, Sunticoppa, Kodagu District, Telephone No. : 08272-239145

The plan was simple. Get from Kolkata to Kharagpur (spend somehow less time at Kolaghat), hit the GQ to Balasore, continue till Puri and do a night hault. As we know, plans are plans and reality is something totally different.

3 AM Start

Wanted to have a similar pre dawn start, but saying bye bye to everyone and packing the extra luggage that we accumulated in Raurkela and Kolkata took a while. We got out of the house at 4AM. An hour late and yet not too shabby. 5.10 AM we reached Kolaghat, this time I was hell bent upon avoiding and smarting the traffic there. Turns out the approach to Kolaghat Bridge from Kolkata side has very little shoulder space, and we were stuck. The time it took for us to reach the next gap in the median was a staggering 4 hours. The moment I got that, was on the opposite lane like a regular cabbie and crossed the next 4 Kms in a giffy. Yes, we were stuck behind 4 Kms and 3 Lanes of Truck traffic.

Looks like I am praying for the Jam to clear. (actually killing a mosquito)

The Kolaghat Bridge - Or the lack of it

Crossed Kolaghat.

The roads were a bliss till we were about to cross into Orissa. A local boy had assaulted a local girl and the local population had blocked the roads and blaming the truckers and cars. huh!!. To me it seemed like a publicity stunt being pulled off by the local youth to get on TV. No sooner the TV channels left after the reporting, the blockade was off and we were on as well.

Orissa

We were stopped at the Orissa border and a man came and demanded for the DL. The illiterate government employee had a look at the Karnataka License and said, “Don’t give the Credit Card, give DL”.. At this I said “It is the DL, if you please, read.”

It seemed every vehicle passing through Orissa had to pay a 6 month temporary road tax. They said they were collecting it because other states like AP, TN and Jharkhand were doing that too. I quietly paid the 800 Bucks and moved on. I hope governments in these states become more organized about such things instead of treating everyone line “Criminals”.

Stop at Cuttack

After the two hold ups we decided we would rather spend the evening and night in Cuttack than venture into Puri.

Places to stay in Cuttack

http://wikitravel.org/en/Cuttack

We got off to a great start in the morning and headed straight to Puri. The next 20 Kms from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar was shrouded in heavy fog. Thanks to great roads, good fog lamps, we did nit have to step down from 80 – 90 Kmph.

The fog thanks to Mahanadi. Was enjoyable drive though.

Puri came up early even after 3 long good stops to enjoy the Green Orissa Countryside.

Green green Orissa

Puri beach

After spending quite a few hours in Puri we headed to Konarak. The road from Puri to Konarak is easily one of the best I have been on. Its a simple highway with perfect banking, perfect surface and it has the sea on one side.

Puri - Konarak highway. Without dispute the best place I have ever parked the car in

Konarak - Puri road. And the sea right next to it.

We left Konarak at about 6 PM and took the state highway till Khurda to get onto the GQ. Chilka was our next stop. The 5 hours that we lost at Kolaghat and 1 more at the blockade bundled our plans to get till Vizag. We stopped at the ‘now usual’ Pantha Nivas and prepared for Vijaywada the next day.

Vizag

No one asked for road tax when we entered AP. Just that I think AP should really ask for taxes as they have the best roads. Vizag came up fast. Lack of signage in the city costed us enormous amount of time. We were disappointed by the quality of service available at beach side food joints as they had easy access to hungry tourists who would almost always eat anything.

Target. Vishakhapattanam. Incidentally, this was the road where we had the puncture while going to Chilka 2 weeks back

Roamed around a little, got out of there soon after and headed to Vijaywada. But we did lose 4 precious hours trying to find things in Vizag. At this point we were seriously considering Rajahmudri as a night halt instead of Vijaywada. On reaching Rajahmundri we decided otherwise, the city seemed shady and avoidable even in the evening and we continued straight till Vijaywada.

Oversized beauties on the road

To Chennai

Roads in AP are the best, (I have not been to Rajasthan lately but heard they are good as well.)

Started at 2PM. Chennai came up easy at about 10PM, navigating out of Chennai was still a pain given the colossal lack of signage. With generous stops after every 100 Kms (literally) we were home in no time. Although, the Krishnagiri – Chennai highway does seem a bit irritating in the night, the overuse of ‘Cat Eyes’ just does not allow you to see anything else on the road, not even the oncoming traffic.

Overall

A great trip. Now that the east coast is done, really looking forward to hitting the west coast.

After a break though.

Photographs: Shubhodeep Das, Aparajita Ghosh

The thing I mentioned about going the extra 120 Km via Sambalpur, well be ditched that idea and decided we can take on these bad roads with the Fusion definitely in broad daylight if we could have managed well in the night while coming. We were absolutely right, even though the roads were extra bad, the car never really complained as such and managed gracefully. I do have photos of this section in the morning.

Size does matter. If you have a steel plant nearby, chances are you will face traffic like this. Navigating around this chap on a bad road with gradient on a foggy morning took all the skills that I had acquired over the last few years.

Barkot

This is the place where one gets to take NH6 which goes all the way from here till Kolkata via Keondjhar and Simlipal National Park. I had heard lots of stories about this road and its status or the lack of it. The fact that this is the main road connecting Mumbai to Kolkata confirms that there will be unusually high truck traffic. Assumption was not wrong, the traffic was high, but very organized and I must say that the truckers do know their road manners. The percentage of private vehicles and cabs in this section was about 0.1, which was good as there were very few surprises.

An industrial sunrise. The panorama, even though high res, cannot really describe it. The bad roads were worth it.

Keondjhar

This bit of Orissa came totally as a surprise to me. I had lived in Kharagpur as a kid and never knew that a few 100 Kms and there was this beautiful ghat and National Park. The road starts winding about 70 Kms into the journey after Barkot and you realize that you are climbing, and that too rapidly on a very busy ghat section. This was the Simplipal National Park and the road quality, as expected, started deteriorating rapidly. Until we came up to sections that were almost un-motorable in a Fusion. I think I should mention here that we did not see any other vehicles other than Sumo, Scorpio, Bolero and Max, one or two locals in Altos do brave the roads, but then again, they are not going the whole distance.

Kid selling Chai at a pit stop

There are roads, then there are bar roads, but this was insane

The scenery was beautiful, the winding roads climbing up and down were scenic. The truckers are really helpful in this section and they do signal you when to pass. Else you are just stuck in second gear behind a gigantic slow moving vehicle. Overtaking opportunities are minimal as NH6 does not have a lane divider or a median, its just got a while marking and rest is up to the skill and the vehicle.

Leaving Orissa

We were hoping for better roads ahead and at this point the road entered Jharkhand.

Our perception of “Bad Road” got redefined once again. People who complain about “Shiradi Ghats”, listen very carefully. This was a complete section of NH6 which had potholes the size of an Alto. This was by far the worst road we were on. Not to mention even the trucks with their gigantic wheel dia had difficulties navigating this. There was a way though. Got on to the muddy shoulder and pressed the pedal, the 15” wheels on the Fusion were meant for this business and we crossed the whole section of about 20 + Kms in less than 2 hours. (achievement, specially as it includes two octroi check posts.)

Bengal

Once in Bengal, we faced our first hurdle right outside Kharagpur. A bridge was being repaired and there was a 2 Km long truck line. I did not wait, since this was a area I have grown up in, I just followed the local ambi and got onto the dirt road running about 100 meters away from the highway. The Zen and WagonR behind us stayed clear, and with god reason too. Soon after I found the ambi stuck, thankfully they moved out of the way and we joined the line of trucks right about at the beginning of the line. At this point I just parked the vehicle and we took a Tea – Cake break.

Greenery greets the eye

The whole thing cleared in 1/2 hours and we were on the GQ roads once again from Kharagpur till Kolkata. We stopped for a quick evening bite, and met up with many injured getting back home from the Coromandal Express crash the earlier evening.

Kolaghat

Now we were 70 Kms away from Kolkata and we reached this “Never Been Repaired” bridge. Its 4 lanes of traffic on each side, its the only entry into Kolkata from South, and this bridge allows only one way traffic for 1 hour. (The new one being constructed right next to it was stuck in litigations) We promptly got stuck in the middle of the mess. Saw some of the locals taking the opposite lane and getting ahead of the trucks, it seems they let cars and smaller vehicles pass easily. But the information was too late as we had to wait till we got onto the next gap in the median. We did not bother, Kid and wife were sleeping in the back, did not want to offroad here and there and wake them up. I took up this opportunity to mingle with the truckers and see what they think of the roads.

The lineup of trucks, 4 Kms long.

From 8 PM till 2 AM we were at this spot.

The traffic was allowed to go at 2 AM and we crossed the next 70 odd kms in 50 minutes and were at home by 3 AM. Approach to Kolkata after the bridge was a breeze. 7 Km after the tollgate on NH6 GQ we got the exit for 2nd Hoogly Bridge Via Kona Expressway. I must say here that Kolkata is way ahead of Bangalore and Chennai in terms of Signage and Road Layout.

Photographs: Shubhodeep Das, Aparajita Ghosh

Car got fitted with tinted windows. Metro Ford did an OK job, but it could have been better.

Actually consulted a vehicle designer on the headlamps and he suggested NOT to upgrade to 100/90 as that would screw up the geometry. The light would be bright but will light up all the wrong places. Also, it will heat up the lamp more and bend the reflector in the long run. Changing to newer bulbs of the OEM variety was a better option as these bulbs loose about 15% brightness every year.

Got a Kenwood KDC MP6539U fitted in the car. Its a single DIN headunit made to handle iPod and data CDs. The audio quality is excellent once set up and fine tuned. Operating the iPod through the in-dash click wheel interface is a bliss. A subwoofer would help boost the audio quality even further.

• Wheel alignment and tyre check was done.
• Car cleaning. Every corner of the car was cleaned to make it feel better. It’s good to start new after a bath.
• All fluids in the vehicle were topped up.
• About 30 pages of Maps were printed with city details to avoid any delays.

Upgraded to Kenwood 'made-for-iPod' head unit so that I dont hear Phantom's pets hissing in the background. The Belkin was good, but it did take away a lot from the music experience.

The route map. Just to put the distances in perspective, here is a route map of the whole trip. The green dots are stops for onward and return trip, the only yellow dot is a specific stop for return trip.

First stop was Vijaywada (850 Km), Second one at Chilka (700 Km) and the third Raurkela (450km). Then Raurkela to Kolkata (530 km). Kolkata to Cuttack (405 km). Cuttack to Puri to Konarak to Chilka (240 km). Chilka to Vijaywada (700km) and Vijaywada to Bangalore (850Km)

The Start

The idea was to start a little early and cover as much ground during the time the kid is sleeping. The plan was to cover all known roads very early in the morning (bordering on Night). We got off to a good start at about 1.40 AM from home hoping to hit the clear roads to Krishnagiri a little before daybreak. The results were even better, in 45 minutes we were out of Bangalore, past electronic city and on a road with 10% traffic. We touched Krishnagiri turn-off under the fly-over to Chennai at around 3.30 AM, the roads after this were beautiful, and occasional toll gates were welcome. Driving in the breaking dawn was great and before we knew it, it was 6.30 AM and we were in Sri Perumbudur, looking for directions to get to NH5 in the least complicated manner.

Road through krishnagiri

In Chennai

After entering Chennai, it became a little frustrating to navigate as most roads do not have any signage to guide you to major roads. This continued till about 7.30 AM, at this point I went up to the only Police Patrol that I found to ask him for directions. They were extremely helpful, they clearly said that there is no legible signage that I can follow to reach NH5 and instead offered us a better solution. They escorted us out of the city so that we do not loose any more time.

Sunrise on the road to Chennai

NH5

Right after we found NH5, we stopped for breakfast. Alu-Puri being the choice of the hour. Food was good. Little Luke has his dose of Cerelac, Lactogen and Boiled Apples. We were off. The roads after Chennai keep improving. The plan was to reach either Vijaywada or Vizag by 4PM with healthy amounts of breaks. The 2.5 hours lost navigating Chennai put Vizag out of contention. Target was Vijaywada by 4PM.

Golden Quadrilateral in AP

This section of NH5 is beautiful for driving. Yet it’s equally boring. The roads are devoid of any bends of scenery which tends to make the drive very very boring. We soldiered on bravely, the temperatures were intolerable and the AC and Sun Shades (fitted 2 days before the trip) came in handy.

Average speeds on these roads were high, nearly hundred, as in the next 8 hours we did cover 700 Km with breaks (big long lots of breaks). When we did hit the road, it was with a vengeance and speeds were above 110 Kmph for most times. Peak speeds touched on this stretch was 140 Kmph (did not want to venture any further up with a kid in the car, and long way to go)

The Roads

The roads from Bangalore till Chennai were in one word – Excellent. The roads after Chennai were even better. The highway was 4 lane all the way with clear markings for Bus Bays, Truck Bays, Distances, Turn Offs etc. The road surface was flat, the Banking calculated to 120 kmph and you can actually take them at a little higher speed as well. For early mornings or late nights, they had Cat Eyes placed at strategic points to aid drivers and driving was a bliss.

The youngling seat

We reached Vijaywada a little before 4 PM and went about looking for a place to stay and eat. I had a few ideas from before, thanks to my Movie Industry friends from Andhra. Finding a place to rest took about 30 minutes of our time, and we were all bathed, fed and crashed out by 7 PM.

Places to stay in Vijaywada

Hotel Manorama (moderately good)

Address: 27-38-61, M.G. Road, Vijayawada 520002, India

Hotel Fortune Murali Park (good)

Address: 40-1-28, M.G. Road, Labbipet, Vijayawada 520010.

Onward to Vizag and Bhubaneswar

Got up at my usual driving routine time of 2 AM, got everyone ready to leave by 3AM and was out of Vijaywada clearing all bills by 4 AM. The roads improved. The surface and the quality remained the same but the scenery around was breathtaking, specially early in the morning. This is where we faced a lot of thin fog as well, limiting vision to about 200 meters ahead on a clear road. Speeds dropped to 80 Kmph and I was thanking my stars that I did not upgrade the headlamps to 100/90 Phillips Rally. Well, the 100/90 does illuminate more on a clear night or day break, but it does illuminate more of the fog as observed by the countless Innovas that were traveling the same route. The fog lamps on the Fusion do a great job with the Low beam set at the lowest level to assist it.

Kolkata in Sight

Fog cleared after 20 minutes of travel and the windscreen literally transformed into a picture frame. We were a few Kms from Vizag by this time. In an hour Vizag came up, crossing the city was a pain as there are no bypasses that connect you through. One has to battle the regular 8 AM traffic to get through the city. Once out of Vizag, we continued straight down maintaining speeds of 110 – 130 throughout for hours on. Took breaks of 15 minutes after every 1.5 hrs.

North Andhra Pradesh

Slowly the traffic sense that I was enjoying and was used to by now was thinning away. There were the occasional tractors on the wrong side of the road which slowly increased to people walking in the middle of the road, buses traveling on the wrong side of the road, bikers having a conference in the middle of the road. In fact the road was being used for everything but for traveling. I quietly tucked myself behind a scorpio letting him do all the hard work and following him from a safe 200 meter distance. Speeds were still 90 – 100 kmph.

A pit stop in North Andhra, also the strangest 'Bread Omelette' ever.

The Blowout

Its surprising how a good road when used badly can turn into a disaster. On a clear stretch after Sompet, the rear right tyre met its match and blew out at 120 kmph. Here’s where a heavy car showed its character and did not budge at all from it’s line. The road turned out to be a dead end. Turned back and took a diversion (which can be only found by telepathy). By not the road was the old, pot hole ridden NH5, the directions were missing or blacked out (language issues) and all hell broke loose.

We were officially in Orissa.

Stopped to repair the puncture. The Jack worked but the standard spanner supplied with the Fusion failed badly. In about 4 tries, all the grip got eaten away. With no options left, drove another 100 meters on the flat and stopped at a tyre guy. The guy managed to get the Alloy off the car and fix the Spare. The next part was to fix the destroyed rear right Goodyear. The problem was, this was the first time this chap was seeing a Tubeless. He did some job on the tyre which I did not trust one bit. Decided to sack out at Chilka and travel only the following day.

Chilka lake was beautiful early morning, food was great as well. Recommended - 'Chilka Dhaba' on NH5

Places to stay in Chilka

Pantha Nivas (OTDC)

Location: Opposite Chilka Dhaba, Barakul, (there is another one at Rambha)

Ford Service

The following morning I got the number of Capital Ford on NH5, located on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The Ford call center was very helpful and they were able to provide the correct number in less than 5 minutes. I was in no hurry to leave Chilika as the food was good. We headed out at about 9 AM for Bhubaneswar and next destination was Capital Ford.

On reaching Capital Ford, I was informed that they cannot repair the tyre. They cannot even take the good tyre off the spare and fit it on the alloy. In fact they cannot do anything with the tyre and actually rely for all their tyre work on the roadside chap 100 meters away who neither has a number or a name. I was was amazed.

They did check the vehicle and confirmed that everything was A OK. I did not waste any more time and continued further down to the next reliable tyre guy on NH5. Found one, got the tyre replaced. It was important to have that done as the alloy cannot be fastened in the tyre well. (Surprise!!)

Tyreworks at a local tyre dude in Bhubaneswar after Local Ford gave us a shock!!

Next stop was Raurkela (final destination for our first leg) and we were already late by 8 hrs.

Define Bad Road

The roads thereafter did not help much as none had any signage to indicate what road you were on. Probably a GPS would help, but the shortest route is either un-drivable or under Maoist control. I prefer asking for directions at the next local chai shop in such areas.

The roads became bad. Then worse. I was wondering why the regular crowd of Innovas and Indicas were absent from this particular road. The answer came up about a 100 Kms later with no daylight left and 60 more to go. The road was unthinkable. Imagine a gradient of 30 degrees with no surface and only large boulders to drive on. Imagine this with enough width to fit one truck. The Fusion did not complain and crossed all that was thrown at it with ample grace and attitude.

Extent of damage on some sections of the road. This photo was taken on our return path.

Reached Raurkela about an hour later. It’s surprising that the steel city has only that road connecting it to rest of the civilized world, the other road is taken and under rebel-control. Complacency at it’s best. Note: Even if you take a flight, you either have to travel through bad roads from Bhubaneswar, or Good roads that are under rebel-control from Ranchi.

Ved Vyas near Raurkela

Fords do travel far

On reaching Raurkela I parked in front of the house, only to realize the next day that the Ford parked in front of the next house was from Harpreet Ford, Gurgaon and had travelled an equally long distance to be here.

Onward

We start off for Calcutta on saturday, initially the idea was to take NH6 till Kharagpur, but now I would rather travel 120 Km extra via Sambalpur and take NH5 instead. Lets see!

Photographs: Aparajita Ghosh, Shubhodeep Das