Excellent piece of writing. Good Work.
I once did a 2200 Km from Bangalore to Delhi via, 4 National highways, 7 states and 1 accident and one near spectacular accident. 10 months old SWIFT, my 3 bags (luggage) and me and 3.5 days, thats all I had to complete the journey.
I started the journey with a partial map (showing only upto Jabalpur), then I decided I will ask from someone. First day I reached Hyderabad after driving some 550 odd kms and halted there for the night. For the first day drive I was bored to death, backache, neck pain and I wanted to go back. But going back was not an option since when you cover 25% of your journey you don't go back !! The next day I started as early as 7 AM (did a bit of exercise), drank lots of water and embarked. Reached Nagpur the same day (travelled only 6 hours), did not take much stress..pretty much upto this point I was confident that I will make it up. By the way this was in 2007 - July the great Andhra and North Maharashtra flood was happening, I did saw some broken pools and long Q's of trucks and passenger vehicles. The water was flowing on the brim of the National Highways. Paramilitary everywhere. The 3rd day i started from Nagpur and when all my problems started. The roads till Jabalpur was excellent, but after that I wanted to take a shortcut (using state highway to reach Bhopal) but wasted a hell lot of time. Before Jabalpur there is a small town called Seoni (Just before Lakhnadon) in MP, wanted to take a SH, drove for sometime and then realised the road was turning into a muddy road and then no road at all, only bullock carts and Jeeps were moving. I realised my swift was getting deeper and deeper into the mud, did a quick U and back to NH7. While I was coming back I was saved from an accident but the way it was averted was spectacular and could have been a Maruti ad for sure. A deer was running in to my car from right side (it was about to cross me) I did not have time to slow or stop, instead sped up and saw the deer jumping over my car. Muds form it's paws dropped on my windshield. I was wondering what if the deer was not clever enough to jump, or what if it was a small deer who could not jump so high, it would have been a sure shot collision. Anyways reached the NH way and proceeded further to Jabalpur, where I took lunch and started to look for a map. I could not find one so called my (fiance - now my wife) and told her do you have a India map, she said yes. Ok look for the closest way to reach delhi, she said there are 2, one Jabalpur-Sagar-Jhansi and the other Jabalpur to Katni and then to Jhansi. I decided to take the sagar road and proceeded. That day it was raining as if it will never rain again in that region. Torrential rain and visibility less than 100 metres, anyways till Maharajpur no issues, but then the road turned ugly (SH that intersects NH 75 on North and NH12 on south). Potholes, my bumper touched ground atleast 7-8 times, the road was damn so bad. Once I reached Sagar it was evening and my silver swift turned into deep brown. I somehow did not feel safe in Sagar (or rather did not find a suitable lodging), my mistake I should have stayed..read on.
When I left Sagar outer limits it was 6:30 PM I had 10 ltrs of petrol approx left in the tank and only Rs 112 in pocket (but loaded with loads of credit cards). I could not find an atm (only one SBI but they accept only SBI ATM card). This made me realise that in rural parts of India the scenario is completely different, you can hardly get to see Axis, ICICI bank etc. They must be there but not so common. Anyways by 7PM I realised by fuel needle (is doing a Kaata lagaa !!!), its just about below EMPTY
Reached a Petrol pump 35 kms from Sagar, when I flashed my Credit card they said they dont accept credit card...I asked why?? No highway petrol bunk accepts credit or debit cards.
I was laughing to death considering my situation. Where am I, where have I landed, what am I doing here. I decided to go further to see if there are any PB offerign me to use my credit card. Another 15-16 kms nopes, they also dont accept, finally I filled up petrol worth Rs 112/- (yes 3 more ltrs as petrol was 40.65), which means another 45 kms added to my tank (phew) which was enough to reach Jhansi. The road from Sagar to Jhansi was good, sometimes it was fields all around, sometimes dense forest, thats when I thought GOD please dont stop my car now (This is UP + Forest), I will never come ill-equipped next time. Reached Jhansi at 11 in the night. That day I started form Nagpur reached Jhansi driving 13 hours with 1.5 hours halt at Jabalpur.
Jhansi royal Hotel provided me respite with their hospitality but pretty much dirty rooms. Anyways next morning I knew its not more than 7-8 hours drive to Delhi. I was happy and started off again. Within 2 hours reached Gwalior, and then to Agra. While going towards agra there was a stupid Jeep 9which did not have a side-view mirror came in front of my and slowed down. I could not stop in time and hit the car at a speed of 90Km/hr, the jeep was around 70...the impact was low because I jammed my brakes hard...anyways all I knew was the jeep went down the side of the road straight to the field. I received a small jerk but the car was stabled. I was happy and a proud owner of my car as I saw the car was moving smooth with no problem at all. After sometime I heard a taktaktak soun. Stopped, got down and saw headlights dangling, left side fendor bended inside and bonnet shifted. Removed all the debris and started off again. Reached the same day to Delhi via Mathura with only one headlamp on. I reached Delhi at 8:30 PM because of the Ghaziabad Delhi road Jam. My learning ---->
- Exercise while you are driving (simple neck exercise)
- Have atleast 20-25 hours of music. Different genres. not repeatetive
- carry lots of water and biscuits and chips
- take a break every 2-3 hours
- Carry enough cash till next destination (major city)
- dont rely on credit cards. Urban and Rural India there is a huge difference
- extra tire
- always get the car cleaned at the hotel where you are staying to avoid mud deposition
- always fill the sprinkler tank filled with water
- Always have a map woith you, if not be dependent on your wife, friends, parents etc, but have a good mobile connection
- talk to yourself often while driving
- carry all paperworks
- avoid flashy dress or glasses or reveal anything that says you are loaded with money
- avoid taking state highways
- Let me know next time if you want to do a Bangalore to Shimla via Lucknow
By the way near jabalpur i was chased by Police. I did not stop, because I was alone, out-of-state registration (Had KA on number plate), Travelling on NOC, little money on me, and I dont trust police in inknown territories.