Hi,
I am back from the trip to Allahabad. Here are my observations:
The best way from Bangalore is via Varanasi(BLR->DEL, DEL->Varanasi).
From Varanasi airport, there are 2 routes - the bad road and the average road. The bad road will take you about 3 hours from Varanasi airport(called babatpur airport as well) to Allahabad. The average road goes through the Varanasi town and will take you about 4 hours because you will be stuck in Varanasi town for about 45 minutes(and route is longer as well). So pick and choose.
I figured out that it takes about 12 hours door to door from Bangalore to Allahabad and that is the best we can do.
The road conditions were surprising for me.
- if you are from Bangalore, think rules are very religiously followed in bangalore because they were not on the Varanasi -> Allahabad highway.
Both sides of the divider are good to go in any direction(I learnt this and some of my colleagues from abroad were obviously shocked).
If you are on the correct side of the road, and do not give way to a local truck or tempo, coming on the wrong side, he has the right to curse you, not you at him.
The general level of tolerance is higher as people are used to honking, vehicles passing a few millimeters from you etc. At one of the left turns in Varanasi, the cabdriver brushed somebody's shoulder. I was concerned - the cab driver was not and neither was the pedestrian. In Bangalore, that would have been a fight.
In Bangalore, we move inches close to pedestrians, in Varanasi/Allahabad, this measurement is in centimeters or millimeters.
The road conditions: They are decent on some stretches and pathetic on some others. But if you have driven aound enough around Bangalore, you would have encountered all these variants, so no cause for concern. The cause for concern would be some of the differences in driving rules
e.g. If somebody is waiting at a divider, and you are high speed, the person would still turn in front of you. People cross even highways without looking.
Thats all for now. |