Hyd-Goa-Hyd Trip: Gulp Terror!! for the Thrill

[btirthankar]

We did Hyderabad-Goa-Hyderabad and I am aware of similar threads. But Guys, this is different. I don’t want to write long stories as I am very tired and so will only put basic facts in points:


Though the Sholapur route is good, I took the alternative route as I wanted to explore and it came out to be a nightmare. The NH7 is a mess and so is Bellapur-Hubli and that’s the reason we took so much time while going. I’ll say the road was so bad that it was terrifying. At one point I had to take to the farmland to reach Bellapur as the road was so cratered.


Hyderabad-Goa Route:
Hyderabad-Shamshabad-Gooty-Bellary-Hospet-Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar-Panji-Mapusa
Start: 14 Jun 08 |9 am
End: 15 Jun 08 | 6 am
Distance: 930 Kms


Goa-Hyderabad:
Mapusa-Sawantwadi-Sholapur-Hyderabad
Start: 16 Jun 08 |9 pm
End: 17 Jun 08 | 3 pm
Distance: 740 Kms

[btirthankar]

We all learn from our mistakes, so took the Sholapur route while returning. This time there were two terrors waiting. One was the blinding fog at Amboli Ghat at the dead of the night. It was so difficult that I had to crawl the vehicle at lowest possible speeds in 1st Gear. No wonder there were very few vehicles at the dead of the night.


Next incident was actually nerve-wrecking and I am still recovering from its hallucinations. It was 30 kms from Zahirabad while returning at 12 pm or so. The roads were neat and clear and so was the weather. I was doing 100kmph something. There were no vehicles behind me.


Just saw a sadhu-baba in saffron walking o n the right side of the road. Now what I am going to describe happened in less than a minute.


> Sadhu heard my car approaching
> Sadhu picked up apple-sized rock
> Sadhu hurled stone straight at my car’s windshield with all might
> I braked dead stop and missed its trajectory!!
> The stone landed few yards ahead of me
> Just after braking I accelerated vigorously
> Now I passed the sadhu on my right and saw him pick another stone!!
> while accelerating looked back and saw him hurl it at the back of car
> suddenly I could see 4 trucks from the opposite side screech to a halt seeing all this.
> I sped away in time
> Phew!

Guys don’t imagine that I had honked or something. The fellow just had heard my car approaching alone from the sound and he was on the other side of the road and walking towards the same direction as I was.

[vnabhi]

Gosh, what a nightmare! That sadhu seems to have a dog's instinct. Normally dogs chase vehicles that resemble the one that hit their kith and kin.
Looks like the sadhu had a bad time with an Innova in the past. Or was he mentally retarded?

[btirthankar]

300 Pictures. Why else would I dedicate an entire evening in posting the best out of them?

[bottle]

great pics so far, waiting for the rest

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by bottle

great pics so far, waiting for the rest

Sorry, that night pic was of Hubli and not Hospet

[btirthankar]

We stayed at Vagator Beach. Drank to the full, Made merry, Listened to best of Music at the beach.

It was off season - crowdless and the Sea was rough.

[kutlee]

There is wonderful route tried and trusted for GOA. i appreciate your spirit though!!
Good pics and tagging. Keep your stories coming...

[vkochar]

Wonderful !! Very Nice Comments on the Pics. The 2nd Last pic ROck & Surf is too good. The waves look stunning.

Ooh Boy, I really wanna be in Goa. After reading Sam's travelogue & now yours, I so wanna be there.

Wifey, Are you Listening ??

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Gosh, what a nightmare! That sadhu seems to have a dog's instinct. Normally dogs chase vehicles that resemble the one that hit their kith and kin.
Looks like the sadhu had a bad time with an Innova in the past. Or was he mentally retarded?

whether dog or mental.. it was like the worst nightmare coming true had I not had forseen and reacted on my instincts.

Originally Posted by btirthankar

Sorry, that night pic was of Hubli and not Hospet

Again.. it is Bellary and not Bellapur

[akroy]

Nice pictorial Tirthankar and ya NH63 from Gooty to Hubli is like bad, more bad, worse kind. Well, the sadhu episode is the worst nightmare can anyone expect.

Hope you had a lot of fun with biwi and saali (i suppose??).
Eager to see some more pictorials, mainly of your return journey.

Abhi

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by akroy

Nice pictorial Tirthankar and ya NH63 from Gooty to Hubli is like bad, more bad, worse kind. Well, the sadhu episode is the worst nightmare can anyone expect.

Hope you had a lot of fun with biwi and saali (i suppose??).
Eager to see some more pictorials, mainly of your return journey.

Abhi

Yes it was an ordeal. Thats my wifeys colleague - Miss Kerala 2006.

[Sam Kapasi]

Any ordeal is worth it if it ends in Goa.

Originally Posted by btirthankar

Thats my wifeys colleague - Miss Kerala 2006.

She's very pretty.

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Any ordeal is worth it if it ends in Goa.


She's very pretty.

We will tour Goa again in September for the love of it.

Some more pictures here.

[dadu]

Nice travelogue, good pictures with pretty faces

The episode with the Sadhu was scary though and could have dampned the whole trip if the stone would have hit the windshield.

Btw, did you drive continuosly or took some break inbetween ??