While I was resting, the rest of the gang went to a nearby cafe on MG Marg to grab a bite
Ladies ready for the evening
Nice graffiti work on the walls
MG Marg, Gangtok
Day 4-5 : STUCK in Gangtok
We had a hard time coming from Kolkata to Sikkim this time. We had thought that the return would be better. We hardly knew what was in store for us. All this while, we were hearing about the floods in North Bengal. The train routes were submerged & the services were suspended. From the news we got to know that the roads connecting Kolkata to N.Bengal & Sikkim have gone underwater too.
A few friends of ours were on a trip to Dooars in North Bengal. Their plan was to return one day prior to us. They told us that they went 200 kms on NH34 but could not cross Raigunj as the water level on the road was upto waist level. They had to return back to Siliguri. We knew that the water level wasn't receding so fast so we decided to stay in Gangtok till the situation got better.
We utilized this day by going to Rumtek Monastery
Ready for Rumtek
Posing while Sayantan & Sarmistha were busy clicking the monks
Blackpearl with a monk kid
Prayer wheels
After visiting the monastery, we were again off to The Square, MG Marg for Lunch. The Square is one of our favourite food joints in Gangtok.
Lunch at The Square, MG
The guys came back to the hotel, while the girls went on for some shopping. Dinner was served in the Hotel. Post dinner desserts were consumed in Cafe Live & Loud nearby
Dessert Session
All this while we were in constant touch with our friends who were trying to get back to Kolkata by finding out alternative routes. By this time we had 4 options of coming back to Kolkata
Option 1 : Thru Dalkhola-Purnea-Bhagalpur.....
Rejected because the bridge connecting Dalkhola & Purnea had broken
Option 2 : Thru Siliguri-Araria-Purnea-Bhagalpur....
Rejected because the roads were washed away near Araria
Option 3 : Thru Nepal (Kakdbitta-Biratnagar-Forbesganj-Bhagalpur....)
Rejected because Biratnagar was flooded & the border was closed
We were in touch with Bhpian
Sheel constantly & the above information was verified by him. A lot of thanks to him.
Option 4 : NH 34. The same route which was being tried by our friends for two days now but they had not been successful.
We decided to go to Siliguri & stay there & wait for the window of opportunity to cross the flooded area. We left Gangtok at 10 in the morning. The other team was on their third attempt to try this route. They were around 45 minutes ahead of us on the same route. We thought of following them & give a try ourselves. Bhpian
Uprasenjit was in that team & was dropping location regularly thru all the detours. We were following their footsteps hoping that we made it through.
Around 100kms ahead of Siliguri, we got our first shock. My car started juddering & these warning lights came up.
After a lot of calls to the
ASC & members of
Team Duster India(TDI), it was concluded that one of the injectors has been blocked. We tried flashing the error by disconnecting the battery terminals but the problem didn't resolve. On assurance from ASC, we decided to continue our journey to Malda, where would show the car to the ASC & get it repaired. So, the onward journey on started on 3 cylinders. I had to maintain an rpm between 1500 to 2100 in order to minimize juddering & putting load on the engine. I was driving at 50 kmph for the rest of journey. Ghostrider28 was ahead of me while Blackpearl was behind in order to have a back up if anything else goes wrong.
Soon we started entering the flooded area. I was not sure whether the car will make it through the floods in this conditions. I could not revv to hard to get through.
Starting of flood
Everything underwater
Gradually the water crossings started becoming deeper than the earlier ones. Crossed all of them with fingers crossed. Now the time gap between us & the other team had increased to more than one hour since I could not speed.
The other team informed us about a detour & told us that the water level was pretty high. Two cars from the other team had stalled crossing the stream. I had no hope of crossing it but since I had two more cars along, we approached that crossing. Sun had already bid us goodbye & it was dark. The other team got their cars repaired & were waiting for us on the other side of this section. It was really great of them to wait for our safe passage. There were two back to back crossings with more than 2.5 ft of water. As per plan, Blackpearl would lead in his Thar, which would creat a bow wave & I would follow him behind. Behind me was Ghostrider28.
A short video of the crossing
My headlights went dipped twice underwater. But all three of us made it without any problem.
Meeting the other team(Atish, Gaurab, Abhishek & Prasenjit) just after crossing the stream. No amount of thanks is enough for them. We could only cross this section due to their constant help & route guidance.
Reunion with the other team
We halted at Malda to show the car the next day while the other team proceeded toward Kolkata.
Day 6 : Malda to Kolkata
Got up in the morning & went straight ahead to the service center. As expected, the OBD found out the problem to be Injector 1. Bad fuel was the culprit. Since this was a big job, Malda ASC could not do it at the spot. I spoke to the Head technician there & he assured me tht the car is fit to go till Kolkata albeit in the same manner, that is keeping revvs bewteen 1500-2100 & speed below 60. The staff at Malda ASC was very helpful & attended to my car on priority. We started from Malda at 2 pm.
Team at Malda ready for the final leg
The traffic was less since most roads were closed due to flood. We drove at slow speed towards SH7 & took a break
Teesta(Rasjri) & Meghna
We soon reached NH2 & there was a sigh off relief since we were near home & the roads were good. We reached home at 2200 hrs. The ladies obliged us by making home cooked dinner at our place. The journey had come to an end. Even with so many hurdles all along, this was one of the most memorable time we had.
After all, for a traveler, if you are on the road, you have to be ready for everything.
We all enjoyed this trip lot & hope you guys enjoyed going through the TL as well.
Signing off
Regards,
Pawan