Memorable Monsoon Drive..

Few weeks back (September 2010), we drove to New Delhi from Bangalore and Back. Over the fifteen days in the middle of the monsoon we drove close to 6000 kms. It was an adventurousness and enriching drive. Onward we drove on the country side via Madhya Pradesh (MP). In MP we traveled on NH3 touching Indore, Shivpuri and Gwalior. (The route)

Onward Route

I must say that the drive was quite an experience. To start with we visited the historic town of chitradurga and reached Belgaum. Belgaum is a town for food lovers.Over the three days at Belgaum ,we tried out various chats (Shetty's snack bar), sweets, juices and many local delicacies. Ginger Juice at ramdev's and Solkadi at Rani chenamma circle were just mouth watering.We camped at belgaum for three days and set out for the drive for the next fifteen days. (Photos Ramakrishna Ashrama at Belgaum are here)

   
From Belgaum we reached kolhapur. We had a good darshan of Mahalakshmi and proceeded towards Shirdi. We lost our way at Pune and took a wrong route to Shirdi. Shirdi was crowded than expected. We reached Shirdi at 11 PM after driving for more than 12 hours from Belgaum and we had to wake up at 2:30 AM the following day to get the darshan of Baba. After the darshan of Baba, we visited the Shani shinganapur, the temple of Swambhu or Lord shani. No building in this village have doors. yes, I mean it. No building here have doors.

After the Darshan of Lord shani, we visited The historic city of Aurangabad. We managed to visit the Daulatabad Fort (Photos are here). But we had to Skip ellora and Jyothirling thanks to very very heavy rains. Our bad Experience with the monsoon hit bad roads started from here. Not that roads were good till Shirdi, but at least they were drivable. But after Aurangabad, it was hell all the way till Agra. It was called national Highway, But it is best called "NATIONAL SHAME".

The NH3 Stretch ,Unthinkable Highway

We had planned to reach Indore that night. But roads were simply undrivable. Believe it or no, Our car got stuck in the Slush on the highway somewhere near the border of Maharashtra. It was dark and was raining. so we hit a town called Sendhwa about 100 kms from Indore. My god, the hotel was so dirty and it was impossible to stay there. We were welcomed by an armed security guard. As we dint have a choice, we checked into the hotel at 12 in the night. Yeah we made the impossible POSSIBLE !!!. We got up early the next day and planned to drive up to Gwalior. The road improved and the last 80 kms till Indore was a four lane road. So Gwalior by night was thinkable. But Indore welcomed us with some pot lakes and very heavy rains. We went into the city to get our car checked up. The city was flooded and it was quite annoying and frustrating to drive in the city. We somehow manged to get out and hit the highway. The road from Indore to Agra was Unthinkable. By any standards other than may be that in Afghanistan, this cannot be called as a National Highway.

Throughout Madhya Pradesh we were accompanied by heavy rains and bad roads. NH3 is the only road that connects Gwalior and Indore and the road exists only on paper. In reality it is only Pot lakes and pot wells.

The rural folk in MP, i guess dont understand the meaning of "Development". They call this unbelievable and hopeless roads as "Good" roads (Badiya roads). If these roads are "good" for them, then i guess bad roads do not exist for them. Rural Madhya pradesh is pitiable. Throughout NH3 on Madhya Pradesh, i did not find a school let alone hospital or any other basic facilities. . (I have traveled atleast 60% of karnataka by road. I have found primary schools in the most remote regions of karnataka where even state grid power has failed to reach). People in Rural Madhya pradesh are atleast fifteen years behind their counterparts in Karnataka. Only good thing about the drive in Madhya Pradesh was that the GPRS connectivity on my phone was active. It was 6 in the evening and we had covered just 360 Kms after 13 hours of torturous journey. It was just impossible to reach gwalior. So we checked up on my phone for any hotels close by. We were about 80 kms away from the district of Shivpuri. We covered this 80 kms in about 3 hours accompanied by heavy rain and not to mention some rivulets on the road. In retrospect, this journey was risky. Nonetheless, we reached shivpuri, checked into a relatively descent hotel (to MP standards). We were too tired for the mosquitoes and other insects to disturb us. So like partial dead bodies we slept with cottons in our ears.

Our fate continued the next day all the way till Agra. We had to tread on the progressively worsening roads and once in a way ill tempered people. Anyway, we left Shivpuri at about 7:30AM and reached Gwalior by noon . For a change we were greeted well at the Maruthi service station at Gwalior. After getting the car checked we proceeded towards the Gwalior fort and palace (Photos of Gwalior are here).  We then proceeded towards Agra. We got into some rough with a few localities at Agra but nothing serious. We saw the lovely Taj Mahal and tasted the awesome Agra peta and left to Delhi by 7 :30 PM (Photos of Taj are here ). We reached Mathura by 11 PM. But the traffic jam was so bad that we could leave Ballamgarh only by 1 AM. Finally we reached IIT-Delhi at 2:30 AM. Jai Ho Madhya Pradesh we were expected the previous day by 12 noon. 

I feel that there is a problem in investment ecosystem in India. Madhya pradesh needs far more investment both by Government and private sector. If things go as it is, we will have uncontrolled social unrest in places like Madhya Pradesh.


Nonetheless, We camped at IIT Delhi for a week. We had a series of meetings and demonstrations at IIT-Delhi, ONGC energy center and Solar energy centre at Faridabad.  

While returning, we did not repeat the mistake. We came on the Golden Quadrilateral route via Jaipur, udaipur, Ahmedabad, vadodara, Vapi, Mumbai,Pune, Belgaum and Chitradurga (Return route). Except for a small stretch near Gurgaon and between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, the road was Exemplary.

Return Route

The good monsoons had decorated the highway. Unlike the onward journey, where the monsoon had created lakes on the highway, the monsoons , on the return route had decorated both sides of the highway by lush green vegetation. The border between Rajasthan and Gujrat was in particular a treat to a nature lover.  There were many small water falls on the ghat roads. The early morning drive accomapanied by the golden sunrise was just beyond words. 


Gujrat was as expected. Excellent highways, very hospitable people and lovely food. I could touch 170 KMPH on the Ahmedabad--Vadodara express highway. 


By far, this has been my longest driving experience. It was quite an experience and will be remembered for a long long time. Many thanks to my friends Sundar, Vijay and Rakesh who accompanied me in this trip. 
(Some pictures of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are here)