[hondadude]

Originally Posted by Hurrycane12

Way to go "Famous Five", Amazing drive you guys have had; Just read the entire log book of 20 pages in one go you guys sure had lot fun.

Can someone point to the post which has the log book. I would love to read it as well.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hondadude

Can someone point to the post which has the log book. I would love to read it as well.

Log Book is not yet uploaded - will be finalised and uploaded over the weekend...hopefully.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

....and from Madras, after struggling through city jams from Madhavaram (via the Ring Road) to Maduravoyal for the Poonamalle meet (took us 1 hour), we spend a relaxed 1 hour with pykmsrikanth, eating "tiffin" and having our cars washed. Leaving there at 605 pm, stopping over to have tea at Hotel Rosin at Ambur for 30 minutes, we were in Bangalore Marthahalli at only 1145 pm. 365 kms in 7.45 minutes.

Umm, we left at 6:20 pm after filling diesel next to Motel Highway.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hrag

Umm, we left at 6:20 pm after filling diesel next to Motel Highway.

Perfect, dada! Bang on.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

or in Palki (Not knowing english word of Palki).

The English word is palanquin. But I suppose it's okay to call it palki. I hope I don't sound like an English teacher.

@ Anuj - please tell me something about that region - we saw a line of streetside shops on the side of the road selling swords, kripans and spears and other forms of iron arms. It seemed the shops have Sikh (possibly truck drivers) as target customers. Could you please throw some light on this? Because such a cluster of streetside shops seemed very unique and strange. I have never seen such a cluster. Is there any Sikh pilgrimage spot in that area?
There were some 40/50 shops on either side of the road. Not a single customer.
I regret I didn't stop to find out more because by the time I thought I would stop, the shops had disappeared. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere before Dumri (from Kolkata side) on the highway.

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

....
@ Anuj - please tell me something about that region - we saw a line of streetside shops on the side of the road selling swords, kripans and spears and other forms of iron arms. It seemed the shops have Sikh (possibly truck drivers) as target customers. Could you please throw some light on this? Because such a cluster of streetside shops seemed very unique and strange. I have never seen such a cluster. Is there any Sikh pilgrimage spot in that area?
There were some 40/50 shops on either side of the road. Not a single customer.
I regret I didn't stop to find out more because by the time I thought I would stop, the shops had disappeared. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere before Dumri (from Kolkata side) on the highway.

Is this the kind of shop you talking about. We also saw some 20+ shops of this kind around the same stretch. :-)



PS: Such shops are also there around chittorgarh in Rajasthan -- selling all kind of lathis/swords/weapons :-)

[hvkumar]

SS, the way I was driving, even if a Jumbo jet had landed in the other side of the road, I would have missed it - I doubt I would have noticed this fancy stuff which you have photographed!

But I did see the Chittorgarh shops and was thankful that you guys did not demand to stop to shop, we would lost 30 minutes on the crucial Day 2 when we had to reach as close to Delhi as possible.

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Log Book is not yet uploaded - will be finalised and uploaded over the weekend...hopefully.

Thanks much. Will wait for it.

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

....was thankful that you guys did not demand to stop to shop, we would lost 30 minutes on the crucial Day 2 ....

The only reason for not stopping/shopping was that if we had these arms in our vehicle (and assume that each one of us bought 1 sword/lathi etc each from Chittorgarh/Dumri) and police check happened, then we would all still be on the GQ.

The police would have for sure thought us to be the folks who do the GQ run -- only to supply arms all over the country

Cheers,

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

The only reason for not stopping/shopping was that if we had these arms in our vehicle (and assume that each one of us bought 1 sword/lathi etc each from Chittorgarh/Dumri) and police check happened, then we would all still be on the GQ.

The police would have for sure thought us to be the folks who do the GQ run -- only to supply arms all over the country

Cheers,

Yes, SS just articulated our lingering fear during the trip - what the hell are TN and MH SUVs doing in DL, JH and WB? And that too, both the cars have hardly anyone in them (3 in the Safari, 2 in the Scorpio). So, imagine telling a cop, "Saar, we are doing GQ...", so we had invented stories of going from Delhi-Agra, Varanasi-Calcutta, Nellore-Madras and so on, so that we don't scare off any unwary cop who does interrogate us on the way. Luckily, we were stopped only once, near Kanpur, and luckily, even as the cop was checking the Scorpio out, he was startled by a passing VIP motorcade that he shooed us off.

[gowda79]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

SS, the way I was driving, even if a Jumbo jet had landed in the other side of the road, I would have missed it - I doubt I would have noticed this fancy stuff which you have photographed!

That apart, the Scorpio must have stopped 15-20 minutes extra, waiting for the Safari to catch up.
.

Dada that's why you had to wait for the Safari everytime, they were enjoying the ride and taking pictures and keeping in mind the destiny to cover the GQ in 6 days.

What Say HRAG & KHAN ??? Am i Right

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Is this the kind of shop you talking about. We also saw some 20+ shops of this kind around the same stretch. :-)

Attachment 87133

PS: Such shops are also there around chittorgarh in Rajasthan -- selling all kind of lathis/swords/weapons :-)

Yes Khan-bhai. Bang on. I am sure we are talking about the same stretch. Is this pic from the Dumri region or Chittorgarh? Good that you didn't pick up the arms to get caught by the cops !! Anything is possible in today's world. But looking cursorily at the arms I thought they were too rusty to raise the police's suspicion.

[MuraliR]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

SS, the way I was driving, even if a Jumbo jet had landed in the other side of the road, I would have missed it - I doubt I would have noticed this fancy stuff which you have photographed!

Anyways, though you were faster, you had to stop for that 15-20 odd minutes to wait for the safari.

Instead you would have been better off joining them in looking around.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by gowda79

Dada that's why you had to wait for the Safari everytime, could be they were enjoying the ride along with a destiny in mind of covering the GQ in 6 days.

Absolutely!
But hrag is also a mileage freak, whereas I like to burn as much of diesel as possible, and I start having withdrawal symptoms if I have to slow down on a highway as good as the GQ - when the road is wide open, waiting for the car to be driven.

Well, the occasional breaks gave me enough time to collect my soil samples, sort out the change for the toll gates and for MJ (if he was in my car) to take more photos and for Ramky (the other person who travelled with me) to remind me of my promise that he should have a go at the Scorpio wheel!!! (and also enough pause for me to think up one more reason why I should continue to drive, and not he)!

By the way, I could never find out why SS refused to come in the Scorpio throughout, unlike MJ and Ramky who used to alternate between the Scorpio and safari. SS - any flattering answers? (unflattering ones on PM only)

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hondadude

Can someone point to the post which has the log book. I would love to read it as well.

I heard this log book is for circualtion to only people who will be joining in for the GQ Drive of February, spearheaded by Khan.

Will other people also get this log book?



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