Bliss

Hello people, so here comes the story of my road trip from Madras to New Delhi. This part of the story starts from Chennai and reaches Mumbai.

The Story: The D-Day had arrived for the trip and I felt good that morning, mentally prepared for the 2700 Km drive. I gotta admit didn’t know so many people around me would be worried. A lot of ‘em were scared I should say. Anyway, the plan like I had mentioned earlier, is quite simple, Chennai to Bangalore, then Bangalore to Kolahpur, Kolapur to Mumbai. Just that there was a small change. I initially hadn’t planned to halt in Bangalore, but as it turned out I had to.

So on Day 1, I drove the familiar roads from Chennai to Bangalore and stayed the rest of the day at Anoops. I was a little tired at the end of the say after the drive, but I’ll tell you, it was just the pressure. Not the drive. I’ll tell you why later. So, the next morning, I leave Bangalore at about 5:30 am and headed straight to Kolahpur. The roads were pretty good, mostly 3 lane roads, and huge median in between. As long as you could drive your vehicle well, you needn’t worry too much.  If you’re driving alone, I’ll tell you music is the best company. Make sure you have loads of ‘em. With about a couple 5 minute stops just to stretch my legs, one lunch break and 20 minutes power nap, I reached Kolapur by about 3:00 pm. Didn’t stop, just continued to Pune. Reached Pune by about 6:10 pm.  Filled my tank at a bunk and again took a power nap for about 1/2 hour.

I was really trying to decide if I should continue to Mumbai or find a place to stay in Pune and leave tomorrow, because trip until Pune was quite good. But about 50 km out from Pune until I reach Pune the traffic was as busy as a normal main road traffic in a city. Really! And one more ting, For about 20 kms from Hubli, its a normal single lane driving with no median in between. You gotta b carefull driving that stretch. Coming back to Pune, so the last 50 kms of entering Pune was a bitch. However, I had the eye on the prize, that is to reach Mumbai and I know I can take rest for an extra day once I reach Vineet’s place. It was kind of a good and a bad decision.

As per Vineet’s advice I took the Mumbai toll expressway when driving from Pune to Mumbai and boy was that Awesome! The Mumbai Pune Express way is an awesome road with FIVE lanes and very less traffic. I breezed thru that 120 Kms in about 1 hour 15 minutes. They’ve thrown in a few nice curves, couple’a tunnels and made it an interesting drive. Reached Mumbai City by about 10:30 pm.

And then finding Vineet’s house took me a good 1 and 1/2 hours. I got lost at least twice, but I’m not going to going to those details and bitch about it now. But you just need to know, this happened because I initially drove past a turn, that brings me into the right direction because Vineet was taking a bloody Dump! He wasn’t answering my phone when I called him about that turn. Anyway, I reached his place by 12:00 am and well, drank for the total 1,300 km drive so far!

Observations:

1)  A total of about 2 accidents on the road. a)  A truck was kind of hanging by a single wheel(front right wheel) while the rest were outside the road. Not sure how the driver managed that. b) A straight forward car hitting a car from behind right in front of a speed breaker.

2) 2 Road kills, both of ‘em dogs.

3) Idiots come in all sizes and shapes. Trucks not using indicators, cars not following lanes, bus drivers thinking they are driving a a mini van. As long as we are have a eye out on all the vehicles within our proximity thats all that matters.

4) One advice – You could drive on the highway at any speed (completely dictated by your confidence), however make sure you don’t overtake a vehicle with over 110/120 kmph. This is basically to make sure you can bring down your car to under 20kmph immediately if need be without causing much or any damage to anyone. Also there is no need to overtake anyone driving over that speed anyway. Also if you don’t have ABS, don’t even try long distances. It really does save life! Twice for me.

Interesting Observations:

1) After Bangalore, mine was the only TN vehicle on the road until Mumbai!

2) BMWs and Audis easily get intimidated when you take them over or keep up with them for a long time. They try and look at you when they overtake you. He he…