Hi Rudra
Thanks for the welcome. Trip stories can be very boring sometimes unless the destination/route is interesting enough. Now Bhubaneshwar-Vizag-Araku is not what I would call interesting drives by any stretch of imagination. I found it difficult to stay awake driving on that GQ.
I would tell you about this short drive of about 40 km in the Darjeeling hills last month.
We reached this place called Tin Dharia from where we were supposed to be escorted to the manager's bungalow of a tea estate (they are officially renting out these to tourists). Tin Dharia is about half way between Siliguri and Darjeeling (those who don't know - Siliguri in the foothills is like Kalka from where the mountains start and Darjeeling is like Shimla). These last legs to the tea estates are notoriously bad, narrow and steep and unless you are experienced enough you should not try them without a 4WD vehicle. I have seen the bad stretches of Raid-De-Himalaya. Believe me, these are several times worse.
So from this place on the highway (from where you are supposed to take the narrow road) I called the manager asking if he could send his driver. He said the driver is gone and no one can come to escort me. I asked him whether it is okay for me to drive this stretch on my own. He said "what car is this?" I said Esteem. He said, "well ......... (long pause) I guess it should be able to come".
I looked at the innocent face of my child sleeping on her mother's lap. Clouds started engulfing us from all around. It was 4 pm or so. It was just a matter of 2 km or so. But something in me said "don't go".
I turned the car around and headed towards Darjeeling.
By this time clouds had literally engulfed us and I could hardly see anything beyond ten feet or so. I stopped for a while and then like my guardian angel a Swaraj Mazda came along which had good tail lights. I started following those two red lights in front of me. Not looking left of right, my vision fixed on those tail lights. Suddenly after a turn the truck vanished into the clouds. I stopped immediately because hardly anything beyond the bonnet was visible. My orientation on the road was dangerous. In fact I couldn't even understand or see exactly how I was positioned on the road. Hazard lights were turned on. My wife got down and started guiding me to park parallel to the side of the road when suddenly another jeep came along and I started chasing him like a drowning man clutching on to a straw. These mountain drivers are amazing. They can drive on those roads with a blindfold on. Little wonder they say that in Darjeeling the best looking girls elope with the drivers. It is really a heroic thing they do. I had or have no shame in following them and I will do the same thing if faced with the same situation again and again.
Luckily I reached my destination (a Tibetan's personal house rented out as a hotel just after Batasia Loop) in one piece. Thanks to those two drivers.
My wife captured some ten minutes of this drive on the camera. When I see it on the TV it doesn't unfortunately look so dangerous. But anyway ..... such is life.
Sudipto |