[normally_crazy]

Disclaimer - I am not good with names, so I will mostly not remember the names of the places we crossed. Also I did not have the camera in my hands and we actually did not click a lot of pictures.

A friend (Srikant) was getting married in Hyderabad and he wanted us to be there for his wedding. His brother (Shridhar) had already reached Hyderabad from London and he called me and Chetan.

Shridhar - When are you guys reaching here ?
Me - Will let you know mate. We have to work out our schedules and holiday dates.
Shridhar - Do confirm fast.

Me - Shall we fly ?
Chetan - No I have vertigo
Me - What ? You don’t have to stand on the roof of the plane !
Chetan - No man – I am not comfortable in the plane and besides both the airports in Mumbai and Hyderabad are more than an hour away.
Me - True – so now what ?
Chetan - Lets go by Volvo, leave at night and early morning in Hyderabad.
Me (grinning) - I find Volvo’s more unsafe than planes
Chetan - So then – train ?
Me (now smiling) - Trains take too long and no booking we have
Chetan - Why are you smiling ?
Me - Lets drive down
Chetan ( smiling broadly ) -Ok lets do it – it’s been long we have done anything like that.

We call Shridhar. Tring Tring.

Me - Shri, we will reach on the 28th afternoon.
Shridhar - When does your plane land ?
Me - Chetan has vertigo so no planes for us
Shridhar - Then bus ?
Me - No bus – I find them too dangerous
Shridhar - What natak you guys have - so how are you reaching here ? Which train ?
Me - No train – we are driving down
Shridhar - You guys are nuts
Me - Yes we are

The plan was to leave Chembur at 2 pm on 27th Feb and pick up Chetan from Hinjewadi at 4 pm as we had to cross the city to reach the Solapur road. I did not want to get stuck in the notorious Pune traffic.

Fate intervened and I finally managed to leave at 345 pm. Quite a chilled out drive but I hit a jam near the Taloja flyover. Some ad film was being shot and they had closed out the flyover. Since we were going below the flyover – I decided to tank up from that well known pump. A delay of 10 minutes.

After hitting the xpressway – it was a cool drive right upto Hinjewadi flyover from where I was directed on phone by Chetan to his office. I reach there at 525 pm and he is already down ready with his bags.

Off we go – a long trip after ages with only the 2 of us. This is going to be fun.

My vRS which took us to Hyderabad and back.

[vnabhi]

Wow, a VRS!
Good alternative to flying indeed. Keep 'em coming.

[mobike008]

Hmmm, i can smell a nice travelogue brewing. And, a pretty good teaser too of my favorite car.

[planet_rocker]

lovely - just let me know when is it coming up - i will have to re-schedule my work accordingly.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

NC,

Congratulations for writing first travelogue from you on team-bhp.

When you asked about hyd route in route queries, first question came in my mind is,
'' will NC write a travelogue?''.

And here it goes.

Waiting for more.

And i hope, you will be as fast posting your travelogue as your best........,you know what,........VRS.

[pulsar56]

And NC visited Hyderabad and is back in Mumbai.

NC also wanted to meet the HYD-TBHP Folks and we were planning to take you to Nizam Club for Dinner!

[maddy42]

Hyd is actually overnight from mumbai right. Makes a nice driving destination.

So now NC is also into travelling after movies. Great one there nc. Waiting for more as it looks like fun

[normally_crazy]

Sorry guys - was out on another travelogue.

Will continue late afternoon.

[Ardy]

Good teaser ... Look forward to the travelogue ...

I have done one trip on this stretch on my vRS as well ... Unfortunately, I guess I was at the wrong time of the day for Pune-Mumbai expressway to be able to work the beast under the hood of a vRS ..

[normally_crazy]

From my place to Hinjewadi - it is exactly 128 kms and I reached in 100 minutes actual driving time was 90 minutes.

We left from Hinjewadi and went over the flyover towards Pune railway station. I had earlier spoken to Shrivz to get the directions for getting onto the Solapur road. The only problem was that we had left Hinjewadi at 550 pm and I was sure to get huge jams on the way.

Anyways we travel to towards the Solapur road - watching the small time netas and their HUGE billboards along the way. And very soon we reach the Pune railway station. A signal after that I take a right and go over the flyover towards Inox and after the flyover I take the 2nd left turn into an Army area. I am SHOCKED - I found no traffic at all and we were literally breezing through the heart of Pune. As we finish going through the Army area - I see a board that says Solapur and we turn left. The time is 625 pm. We have reached the Solapur road from Hinjewadi in 35 minutes flat (22.8 kms). I was elated !!

There is traffic on the Solapur road because of those bus lanes made by the PMC - I cannot understand how they can make bus lanes in the right most lane and leave just 2 lanes for the other vehicles. We make slow progress with trucks and 2 wheelers doing most of the damage. As we reach further away from the city, the traffic starts to thin out. I get into a BP pump to check my tyre pressure. We inquire for some good hotels to grab a bite on the way. Off we go again.

10 kms have passed and Chetan asks me if I have a valid PUC certificate. I check and find that the PUC has expired 5 days ago. We decide to stop at the next PUC center we find and get it done. We see a PUC board at a HP pump and drive straight in. After 10 minutes we have a valid PUC and off we go again.

A few kilometers down - I spot a Shell petrol pump and drive in and stop. I wanted to get a can of 1 liter Shell Helix Ultra engine oil 15W50. But they do not have oil. I spot a can of Shell coolant and pick it up. Chetan picks up a bottle of water and a packet of chips - off we go again.

We were cruising along for 30 minutes when it hits me !! Suddenly I have a desperate urge for a bhurji pav !

So for the next few kilometers we stop at every hotel, every roadside dhaba and small stalls asking for bhurji pav- no one has it.

Chetan is getting irritated and wants to smoke and he doesn't have cigarrettes - he is now searching for Classic Milds and I for Bhurji.

Finally at one place, Chetan finds Classic Milds. We park the car and get down and ask him if he has anything to eat.

Haan hai saab !
Kya hai ?
Idli, Vada, Uttapa, Sheera !
Bhurji nahi hai ?
Woh veg hai kya saab ?
Haan !
Kya bol rahe ho saab ?
Aap ke hotel ke board pe non veg nahi milega aisa likha nahi hai - toh bhurji veg hua na ?

They guy is shocked. We ask him what is behind his hotel - he replies it is non-veg kitchen. I ask to him to get me a bhurji.

He comes back and says - bhurji nahi hai.

I feel depressed - seems like eating a bhurji will not be possible now. We now decide to go straight on to Solapur and not stop anywhere.

It's dark now and the truck traffic has increased quite a bit. And as usual everyone coming from the opposite direction has upgraded the bulbs to 130/100 and drive only hi beams. The progress we make is slow. Damn !

I decide on the best solution - get myself a pilot car. I see a yellow number plate Tavera who is driving quite well - not taking un-necessary risks and overtaking is very secure too. I decide to latch on to his back. I make good progress behind him as he seems to know the way. Around 100 - 110 kms pass by peacefully behind the Tavera when he decides to stop for a break. Due to the slow speds we have had to change our dinner place from Solapur to Indapur. We drive into Indapur at 925 pm looking for a decent hotel to eat but the whole town looks asleep.

We find a hotel Ashok (Punjabi Dishes) and order the safest thing in the hotel - dal / rice and mix veg. The food is just about ok.

30 minutes later we are off again - the board says Solapur is 115 kms away. We target 000 hours as arrival in Solapur. A few kms down the line we find that traffic has come to a stop ! We gingerly drive on the right side of the highway and come to a halt behind a ST bus that is 1st in line. The traffic has stopped due to a railway crossing.

5 mins - 10 mins - no sign of a train nor is the gate opening. We are alarmed as we look around us and see that everyone has shut down the engines and people are all over the road - chilling !

Will we make it to Solapur by 0000 hours ?

[Ardy]

Now that's like episode 2 of a soap opera ... :-)

Episode 3 coming soon ... I guess

[pulsar56]

5 mins - 10 mins - no sign of a train nor is the gate opening. We are alarmed as we look around us and see that everyone has shut down the engines and people are all over the road - chilling !

that is a common sight in most of the train signals and more common is to block the whole road resulting in jams!

[ASHISHPALLOD]

A signal after that I take a right and go over the flyover towards Inox and after the flyover I take the [1]2nd left turn into an Army area. I am SHOCKED - I found no traffic at all and [2]we were literally breezing through the heart of Pune. As we finish going through the Army area - I see a board that says Solapur and [3]we turn left.

1] Its saadhu vasvani chowk.
2] Its camp-race corse road.
3] Its wanwadi area/chowk.

There is traffic on the Solapur road because of those bus lanes made by the PMC - I cannot understand how they can make bus lanes in the right most lane and leave just 2 lanes for the other vehicles.

Its called bus rapid transit lane. It is implemented first time in India and currently implemented in Delhi also. Just 2 lanes for other vehicles is the main reason that defeated then ruling party in PMC election.

Due to the slow speeds we have had to change our dinner place from Solapur to Indapur. We drive into Indapur at 925 pm looking for a decent hotel to eat but the whole town looks asleep.

You stopped at Indapur for dinner. Ohh no!

The traffic has stopped due to a railway crossing.

The place is Modnimb.
The track is Latur-Pandharpur broad gauge.

@NC,
You still not reached to Solapur.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

1]
Its called bus rapid transit lane. It is implemented first time in India and currently implemented in Delhi also. Just 2 lanes for other vehicles is the main reason that defeated then ruling party in PMC election.

@NC,
You still not reached to Solapur.

I had the unique pleasure of driving on that lane on my return journey from Mumbai to Hyd a year ago. I did not know that it was a bus lane. When a man in khaki stopped me, I told him I was driving to Hyd, and pointed at the congested lane for normal traffic.I also showed him proof of my journey like petrol bills and toll receipts.
That kind soul allowed me to continue on that dedicated lane, and I had real fun ripping through Pune.
@NC, we are still waiting for part 3. By now several trains must have crossed!

[maddy42]

NC is busy. Movie dekhna hai na. So grab your pepsi and popcorn as i guess over the weekend we will get an update on whether the train has crossed ki nahin;-)

NC bhai where art thou:-)