[samarjitdhar]

Well this travelogue was long overdue and have been wanting to put it up for so long now but for lack of time and sometimes motivation

It happened in January this year when my sister was visiting us from the US and my parents wanted to make a trip to Jamshedpur with the whole family to check on our locked house as well as take care of some logistics for the house. Winter was nice and cold in these parts, just the way I like it and any excuse to get out of the house was thoroughly welcome. Jamshedpur is the place where I grew up and went to school and always has special memories naturally. Bagheera, my Vento had still not gotten enough shares of its truly deserved highway runs so at the mention of a trip to Jamshedpur I jumped at the opportunity of visiting my yesteryear home town once again, this time by road. To be fair I have done a drive from Jamshedpur to Kolkata only once and that too in the rear seat and the experience back then I think in 2009 left a very bad taste in my mouth. The roads till Baharagora on NH33 were so bad that I had developed a morbid fear of the route.

Hence my research started for alternate routes to Jamshedpur. I started consulting some of the veterans who have frequently driven in these areas like Sutripta da, Sudipto da and Rahul da who came up with some valuable insight about the roads. Many thanks to all of you. I finally decided I would take the longer route through NH2 through Durgapur, Bankura, Purulia and Chandil till Jamshedpur. My last experience with NH33 from Chandil till Jamshedpur was good so I was hoping that the additional kilometers in the chosen route can be made up with uninterrupted driving through some nice roads without having to travel through lunar landscapes. Little did I know what was in store for me.

So this is how the final route looked like.


Most of this route had been not explored much by a lot of folks including TBHP members. So there was no way of getting current information about road conditions, travel restrictions, etc. But I still decided to take a chance on the expectations that roads through West Bengal should be much better than those in Jharkhand. I had read some recent travelogues on other forums about NH33 through Baharagora and learnt that it is still a car breaker and bone re-setter. An SUV maybe which I did not have but definitely not a car. It was a tossup between 104 kms of known car-breaker roads with about 45 kms of unknown roads in Jharkhand. Besides the roads on this chosen route form the only major connectivity for key towns in the western part of WB hence they probably wouldn't be too broken. So with hope in our souls we set forth on the morning of 25th Jan, 2012 towards Jamshedpur with our usual delayed start at 8:30 AM.

We took the Kona expressway thus the 2nd Hooghly bridge and luckily didn't face a lot of traffic on a generally busy Wednesday morning.

As is customary for every travelogue going through this bridge to post a photo of this bridge.


By 9:30 AM we took our first break on NH2 for a quick breakfast. Breakfast took away 30 minutes and we were on our way again to cross the dreaded Panagarh just before Durgapur. We reached Panagarh at around 11ish and was shocked to find the trucks lined up from at least 2/3 kms ahead of Panagarh. There goes our schedule. With a sinking feeling I like a good road user queued up behind the trucks. Just then I notice all the other passenger cars (privately owned and commercial ones) start to going down the other (wrong) lane which was empty because traffic was held up from the other side too. All the cars started overtaking the stalled trucks and moved ahead and naturally I followed them. This turned out to be an excellent idea as by ducking in and out the stalled trucks as the traffic moved forward at a snail's pace I had crossed Panagarh in 15 minutes flat . The best way to cross Panagarh quickly in my opinion. But this can be only done during the day when visibility of the road and the traffic is absolutely clear. This is not a stunt to be tried during night which will be fraught with lots of dangers.

Crossing Panagarh let me reach Durgapur by 11:30 AM making up some lost time and we took the turn towards Bankura from Muchipara on NH2 which didn't turn out to be a very good idea. This road although bypasses the station traffic runs across the railway tracks where one has to stop. Moreover they are constructing a flyover now for this route over the railway track which held up traffic as we waited for a train to cross.



Once the flyover is completed which is God knows when, this should be the preferred route to get to Bankura from NH2. Till then one should perhaps stick to the road that goes by the railway station. Though this is slightly longer but there is little chance of getting stuck as there is a flyover over the railway tracks on this road. Well it wasn't that bad, we were soon on SH9 after crossing Durgapur Barrage and all of us were pleasantly surprised with the condition of the roads to Bankura. This road runs through the Beliatore Reserve Forest and I couldn't find a single pot hole or even a crack in this entire stretch. Here are a couple of pictures of SH9. Speeds hit 100 a few times and I was able to drive @ 80 on an average. This was by far the best stretch on this route as it turned out.





Here are a couple of videos for SH9 which will give you a generic idea of the speeds I could drive. Also you can notice hardly any undulations on the road. It was butter smooth. Even traffic was fairly low by all standards allowing us to make quick progress.

Super smooth SH9 - YouTube

Smooth SH9 Continued - YouTube

Bankura came up at around 12:30 PM where we got waylaid a bit missing the Bankura bypass which allows one to get on to NH60A without having to get into Bankura town. Another mistake I made was follow Google maps like a sucker which was about to take the car through the river instead of a non-existent bridge.

Note to travelers: As you approach Bankura, through SH9 instead of going straight, take slight left which will take you over the new bridge and then turn right immediately after the bridge to get on to the Bankura bypass. This will take you straight to NH60A if your destination is Purulia or beyond.

However we did want to pick up some paper plates for our packed lunch hence made a quick stop in the outskirts of Bankura for around 15 minutes and we were on our way soon towards Purulia through NH60A. It is this road I was a little bit apprehensive about but this too turned out to be an excellent one. Apart for about a kilometer and a half of broken stretches just after Bankura and very few potholes which were totally manageable the entire stretch allows one to maintain good speeds right until Purulia. I actually averaged around 70-80 again on this stretch till Purulia.

The broken stretch on NH60A right after Bankura


NH60A after Bankura soon becomes smooth and pretty scenic too.


Greenery all around


Tree lined roads


Beautiful trees by the road.


NH60A remained true to its smooth character


And we reached the outskirts of Purulia by 1:45 PM. Covered quite some distance quickly due to beautiful roads such as this. Actually when I was studying in college in Durgapur some time ago, I was a regular on this route by bus and back then the roads used to be pretty bad. All my apprehensions about this route were now laid to rest.


Our happiness at the progress made us take a break for lunch of homecooked biriyani while Bagheera took a well deserved rest by the road.


Lunch was a matter of another 45 minutes and by 2:30 PM we were on our way again. Trying to cross Purulia became another challenge as we had to enter the main town and go through some heavy traffic. The other option was to go well outside the town and continue north till one gets on NH32 (Dhanbad-Purulia-Tata road) and then again turn south to continue towards Jamshedpur. We somehow managed to make way through Purulia town and in another 15 minutes we were on NH32 going towards Chandil where the road meets NH33. The condition of NH32 was also pretty good though not as smooth as NH60A but I still could maintain speeds of 60-70 KMPH on an average.

NH32 after Purulia


Nice and wide as well as pretty smooth


Such were the spirits, that in less than an hour later we had already closed Balarampur where incidentally we saw one of those mine protected vehicles manufactured by M&M. This place had pretty high Maoist infestation till recent times and driving on this route at night is a strict no no. During the day this stretch is pretty safe and you can drive easily without being interrupted or hassled except for the occasional request for a Rs 10 contribution for Saraswati Puja which was a few days away from that day. Maoists generally do not harass civilians or locals unless they suspect you have some connection with the government or law enforcement. Also they seem to have better intelligence about movements of the cops and know when and how to target them. Having said all this, the activities of the Maoists have come down drastically in these parts of West Bengal and one can drive in these parts without any worry. Well back to the story.

We were now hurtling down NH32 happy that we made the right decision about the route and hoped to make it home by 4:30 PM with absolutely no stress or damage to the car. We were now near the WB-JH border around 20 kms from Chandil and it was about 3:15 PM only. How long would another 45 odd kms take? Little did I know .....

[samarjitdhar]

About 10 kms after Balarampur WB ends and JH starts clearly identified by a police check post and a totally broken "Welcome to Jharkhand" signage. NH32 as if by magic or design assumes a completely different character right from this point much like that broken "Welcome to Jharkhand" signage. It is as if I just moved on to a totally different highway such was the accuracy. The somewhat smooth nature of NH32 completely vanished and large potholes and broken tarmac started to greet us. The broken roads continued all the way towards Chandil and average speeds dropped to around 20-30 and continued to go lower . Just to make things more interesting this road winds around without any rhyme and reason crossing the same railway track maybe 5-6 times for no godforsaken reason. Every time there was a railway crossing I encountered enormous humps that made the car bottom out though not too badly. Who knew there were drag races happening in this part of the world hence these mammoth humps. Though we were lucky that we didn't get stuck in any of these crossings except the last one.

My sister who was the official photographer and videographer on this trip using my cell phone camera, was too stunned to take pictures of the broken stretch here as soon as it started. We were literally craning our necks forward all the time to make out all the craters and broken patches throughout this stretch. Only at the railway crossing where we got stuck I could take these two pictures. This was just before we reached Chandil town.





The same broken state of affairs continued as we crossed Chandil and finally were relieved to get on NH33 finally. It was already 4:30 PM and we covered only about 20 kms in an hour or so. We were hoping at least NH33 will be good at least at letting us cover the lost time. Our hopes were soon dashed.

As we entered NH33 through Chandil it only flattered to deceive. Its a very picturesque drive otherwise with the Dalma hills on one side.

NH33 flattered only to deceive


View of Dalma hills


If we thought we had seen bad roads on NH32, NH33 broke all records. Utterly broken roads greeted us where you could not even locate the tarmac with a microscope . Speeds soon dropped to 5-10 KMPH and we were trudging behind this truck for some time.

"Chachi Nau Ton Chacha Tanatan"


My sister was aghast at the conditions having just landed from the US and being driven through such roads though to be fair when she was in India before leaving for the US she had never taken road trips before. She tried her best to stay stable and take this shot.


I told her switch to the video mode to record the calamity on NH33. Here is the video.

NH33 Horror - YouTube

Forget tarmac, deal with the pot holes was the motto and this last stretch of around 25 kms took us 1.5 hours. It was only by 6 PM we could reach home after navigating through some manageable evening traffic in Jamshedpur.


The next day I went out to catch up with some memories and run errands for dad. It was pleasing to see that VW had presence in Jamshedpur. They better have coz all cars who do highway runs here would need help. Folks planning trips in and around Jamshedpur will find use for the phone nos.


Though this was the only Vento I saw during my stay in Jamshedpur.


Quite understandably lots of Vernas.


For those who might be interested, here is the KML file for the trip. I was still learning to use the MMI device and only managed to start the recording from somewhere on NH2.
Kolkata-Jamshedpur.kml

The next 3 days went in trying to figure out what should be the return route. I didn't want to take the car again through that royally broken route. There had to be another way out. Going through Baharagora and enduring 104 kms of similar roads were out of question. Most of the next 3 days I spent peering through all maps and my MMI device, making calls who might have taken alternate routes. That story is up next.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[ninjatalli]

Nice TL! The roads of Jampot usually have a different story to say at different times of the year. Last I remember the route from Chandil to Jamshedpur was in pretty good shape (have crossed 100+ speeds on a bike on these roads), while at other times the NH33 highway has been in really bad shape.

Do post pictures of Jampot if you have taken any - for all matters, I am not able to figure out where that last picture was taken - my best guess would be somewhere near Bistupur, although I feel I'm pretty off the target!

OT: I wonder why the showroom is put up in Adityapur. Wouldn't the majority of the target segment be pretty far off?!!

Edit : Saw the video - that road has gone to the dogs!

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Nice TL! The roads of Jampot usually have a different story to say at different times of the year. Last I remember the route from Chandil to Jamshedpur was in pretty good shape (have crossed 100+ speeds on a bike on these roads), while at other times the NH33 highway has been in really bad shape.

One of the reasons I took this route because I too thought Chandil->Jamshedpur shouldn't be tough except for the occasional bad patch. Frankly I was not ready for what I experienced. I have heard that recently repairs have been again made on this stretch. No clue about NH32 till Chandil. The JH government is facing tremendous issues making sure there is adequate security for NHAI to work on major highways like NH75 and NH33. This apart from the royal robbery executed by Madhu Koda till now. As a result most of the state and local highways outside Jamshedpur have horror stories. I will cover some of them on the return trip.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Do post pictures of Jampot if you have taken any - for all matters, I am not able to figure out where that last picture was taken - my best guess would be somewhere near Bistupur, although I feel I'm pretty off the target!

Bang on target. It is Bistupur. I am assuming spent quite some time in Jamshedpur, hence the familiarity. Will hunt for some other pictures if I have them from this trip. Most of the time I was busy peering through maps or making inquiries to make it back to Kolkata. At one point the discussion was about having the car carried on a truck till Baharagora and then making the rest of the journey.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

OT: I wonder why the showroom is put up in Adityapur. Wouldn't the majority of the target segment be pretty far off?!!

Don't think it would be that far in Adityapur. Jamshedpur is one of the fastest growing cities now and I read recently Forum Projects have just opened up a huge mall in Adityapur.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Bang on target. It is Bistupur. I am assuming spent quite some time in Jamshedpur, hence the familiarity.

Not too long, just two years, but two beautiful years. With my ever faithful pulsar, and a decently sufficient amount of free time, I have gone into almost every nook & corner of Jampot (including most of the Tata areas, the industrial areas of Adityapur, and most of the outer areas). In fact I used to roam all over the city even at 11-12 in the night, making trips to the station (just for a drive and a cup of tea!) completely dis-regarding the naxal issues that were always spoken of.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Don't think it would be that far in Adityapur. Jamshedpur is one of the fastest growing cities now and I read recently Forum Projects have just opened up a huge mall in Adityapur.

Nice! A visit to Jampot is to be planned I guess. The Adityapur I have seen was pretty un-developed! How I wish I could plan to get the Vento till there like you could.

Will wait for the rest of your TL eagerly!

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

dis-regarding the naxal issues that were always spoken of.

Actually naxals generally don't harm civilians unless they suspect you are spying on them. Now I hope this statement does not come out as if I am sympathizing with them. Message to Central Bureau of Incompetence, if you are reading this, I am not a naxal sympathizer .

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Nice! A visit to Jampot is to be planned I guess. The Adityapur I have seen was pretty un-developed! How I wish I could plan to get the Vento till there like you could.

If you want to, you would have to somehow hit NH2 and then come down through Ranchi. The roads I heard are pretty good and surely it will be a nice experience. Bring your blue lady with you. It will love the roads. NH6 after Sambalpur is a total disaster and you already know about the horrors of NH33. So this route is a strict no-no.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Will wait for the rest of your TL eagerly!

He he, now I need to kick myself in the back before lethargy sets in again

[samarjitdhar]

Here goes the story of the Great Escape from Jamshedpur. Who am I kidding. As much as I love that city, I had to get back to work and the only thought haunting my mind those 3 days I was there was how to get back to Kolkata. While I was peering through my MMI GPS for possible alternate routes, dad was busy querying human GPS's for ideas to make way to Kolkata with the least risk of damage to the car. We even discussed hiring a tow truck to take us till Baharagora and then continuing our journey on NH6 . Yeah such was the condition of NH33 both ways east and west of Jamshedpur. Any road trip becomes very irritating when you have to drive lunar landscapes without having the pleasure of landing on the moon.

I was finally getting some ideas going through the MMI GPS (Google maps had already bailed out on me and was mostly clueless about these routes) about a route that cut right across some dense forests of Jharkhand and heavily Maoist infested areas but needed confirmation from the human GPS's dad was consulting. This route went through a place called Patamda which lay on the other side of the Chandil Dalma Elephant Reserve and would take us by a manmade lake Dimna lake. Everyone from Jamshedpur can identify with Dimna Lake, a favorite haunt for picnics besides being the main water supply for the entire city of Jamshedpur and adjoining areas. When we were in school it was a favorite place for school and dad's office picnics and generally a nice place to hang out. It also now has facilities for water sports which has been added recently. After crossing Patamda one had to turn towards Bandwan and go parallel to the elephant reserve without going into it but again taking a left going towards a place called Khatra (which didn't really pose much khatra) and finally landing into Bankura. After Bankura it was the usual route that we had taken before that is SH9-NH2 to Kolkata. This route though a bit complex does reduce the kilometers to be taken in Jharkhand (with the general assumption I made that all roads in Jharkhand were broken) and landed within West Bengal quickly after Patamda. Also I knew that till Patamda, the Tatas would have some hand in maintaining the roads so most of it would be good and the amount of broken roads to be encountered should be considerably less. The rest of the roads in West Bengal should be manageable.

Here is how the route finally looked like (Google maps has only recently started showing this route. This one is from MMI)


We started fairly early and by 8 PM we were on the outskirts of Jamshedpur this time on the route towards Dimna which was all smooth and good. There is a very small ghat section en route which cuts through the lower Dalma hills and an early winter morning looked beautiful.


The roads were pretty good too


The roads soon became a wide smooth 2 laned one before reaching Dimna lake


We took a quick photo break as the drive brought back fond memories for the family having spent some fun times here. A view of the lake littered as usual by the crowds as it was peak picnic season.


Dalma hills beyond the lake. We would be driving to the other side soon.


The road next to the lake was concrete but very driveable


We were told that the road from here is bad in patches only but way better than NH33 in all respects. Here is a bad patch after crossing Dimna lake on the way to Patamda.


But most of it was pretty smooth and all of us were enjoying the scenic beauty of the drive with the lake on the right and the hills on the right.


Alternated with some manageable bad patches




Road conditions soon improved towards Patamda and it was fun to drive. As you have seen till now, hardly any traffic


We crossed Patamda at around 9 AM where we took a small pit stop for dad to buy some drumstick flowers which is a local delicacy. Road conditions started deteriorating after Patamda.


Very soon we hit the worst stretches of this route. No tarmac, even a water crossing and we were again doing 5-10 KMPH. Thankfully this stretch was only about 2-3 kms and soon we crossed into WB. Road quality improved drastically as we crossed a place called Bandoan and we were now entering not only another part of the Dalma Elephant Reserve but key Maoist territory. No dangers during the day actually. Somehow the road conditions remained to be excellent except for a rare patch or a hump. After NH33 we were fine with such minor inconveniences.

Driving through the Dalma forest after Bandoan.


Somewhere before a place called Jhilimili after Bandoan one has to take a left through this forest route but a little bit more traffic with now passenger buses running and go towards Mukutmanipur which has a huge dam and a favorite tourist destination for many. This route also goes through the same forest and actually over some hills making the drive an absolute fabulous experience. The only issue is that this stretch is a single lane road and can get tricky sometimes with vehicles coming from the other side.

However traffic remained to be low and it was fun to drive again.


The forests by the way were really beautiful.


After this stretch there were a few broken parts but nothing worrisome and we were soon in a place called Ranibandh where we took a breakfast and bio-break. Remember that there are hardly any facilities on this route so we had homemade breakfast in the car and bio-break in a Bharat Shevashram facility who were celebrating Saraswati Puja. It was now almost 10 AM in the morning.

Local girls dressed in saris to celebrate Saraswati Puja @ Ranibandh.


We were soon on our way to Khatra and the roads remained overall good only with some occasional bad patches. We could still drive at average speeds of 60-70.


We reached Khatra soon at around 11 AM but made the mistake of entering this small town which slowed us down a bit. I was still learning the ropes on MMI and should have bypassed this way point which would have taken us through the bypass.

A nice looking tree on the way.


After crossing Khatra we landed up on SH4 briefly and then took SH2 towards Bankura. SH2 towards Bankura was also good with some occasional bad patches. We still could average 60-70 on most parts.


This is just before reaching Bankura.


We reached Bankura by 12:30 PM. That is 4 hours from start compared to the 6 hours it took for us to reach Jamshedpir from Bankura. Obviously we had much better roads to deal with, where around 2-3 kms of non existent tarmac and around 10 kms of broken stretches only. After crossing Bankura through the bypass we were soon on SH9 where we took our lunch break in a very nice restaurant on SH9 about 20 kms from Bankura. The food was good, facilities were clean and highly recommended. This is incidentally the only decent place to have a bite if you are traveling to or from Bankura and need a break. Sorry forgot to take any photos. By 1:30 PM we were done with lunch and were now on familiar territory. SH9 took us to NH2 soon enough and we were now hurtling towards Kolkata. NH2 somehow had very light traffic and crossing Panagarh was a breeze.

Dad only took a break for packing lyangchas @ Shaktigarh for his friend.


By 4:30 PM we were back home after some aggressive driving. It took us 1.5 hours less with almost no damage to the car except for the car scraping 1/2 times in the worst places. I also forgot to record the trip so unfortunately no KML file (I was still learning using the MMI device). Well all of us were happy that we were back successfully to Kolkata and the only damage was the car's a/c air and pollen filter got totally clogged because of the horrible stretches we did towards Jamshedpur.

[ninjatalli]

Oh no! I expected more adventures!

Btw nice to see that you stumbled on that route. We had taken almost the same route when we did a trip to Mukutmanipur, except we took a different route from Bandoan (or Banduan) on the return trip to come via NH33. I remember at that time we were immensely surprised on how the roads improved once we crossed into WB - we actually expected it to get worse! And even though it was peak summer, the ride was wonderful, with untouched rural life completely accessible for us to observe.

Edit: OT Question - Was a trip made to Babuaji for his chai and delicious samosas during the three days at Jampot? Probably the first thing I'll do, if I ever make that trip to the steel city.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Oh no! I expected more adventures!

To be frank with parents accompanying, I was done with having my share of adventures on this trip. Any scraping to Bagheera's underbody was already getting it's share of oohs and ouches

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

remember at that time we were immensely surprised on how the roads improved once we crossed into WB - we actually expected it to get worse!

Roads in WB in recent times are manifold better in condition compared to JH. At least most roads. However about 15-20 years back it was the other way round. But then at that JH was not in existence I think and all of it was Bihar.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Edit: OT Question - Was a trip made to Babuaji for his chai and delicious samosas during the three days at Jampot? Probably the first thing I'll do, if I ever make that trip to the steel city.

Babuaji phenomenon must be much later our times hence I am not too familiar. During our times there was some famous golgappas (panipuris) in Sakchi and masala drink in Bistupur. We could do none of that unfortunately.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Crossing Panagarh let me reach Durgapur by 11:30 AM making up some lost time and we took the turn towards Bankura from Muchipara on NH2 which didn't turn out to be a very good idea. This road although bypasses the station traffic runs across the railway tracks where one has to stop. Moreover they are constructing a flyover now for this route over the railway track which held up traffic as we waited for a train to cross.

I too made the same mistake. On top of that there was confusion and a major jam just before the barrage.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Driving through the Dalma forest after Bandoan.

Isn't Bandon near the WBFDC lodge at Duarsrini? In which case, IIRC, there is a less roundabout route, but which uses NH33 only for a short distance.

Does anyone know of the status of Duarsrini now?

Regards
Sutripta

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

I too made the same mistake. On top of that there was confusion and a major jam just before the barrage.

Generally the barrage doesn't have too much of a jam but there is confusion sometimes I guess with a toll to be paid? I have seen many cars just driving away without paying toll

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Isn't Bandon near the WBFDC lodge at Duarsrini? In which case, IIRC, there is a less roundabout route, but which uses NH33 only for a short distance.

Does anyone know of the status of Duarsrini now?

Yes Sutripta da, it is around 13 kms from Bandoan. This route was also considered and I thought that I might have to drive about 45 kms on NH33 and some more on a local road in Jharkhand. Here is the map below picked up from Wikimapia.



Also didn't get a lot of human feedback about this route and since it is through the denser part of the forest and again deep Maoist country I decided to avoid it. No idea about the WBFDC resort in Duarsini. Not sure how much it is frequented given its desolate and probably risky nature.

[Sutripta]

^^^
So the turn off near Ghatshila? (Another one of weekend drive from Calcutta, now essentially forsaken)

Regards
Sutripta

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

^^^
So the turn off near Ghatshila? (Another one of weekend drive from Calcutta, now essentially forsaken)

Yup Galudih just before Ghatshila and as per the iffy nature of security out there NHAI is in no hurry to repair NH33 as per reports . NH33 from Jamshedpur till Ranchi is being 4 laned I heard.

[BUXX]

^^ ah , a spirited IBMer ! nice trip !