9th May 2009, 18:29
| #61 |
| BANNED Join Date: May 2009 Location: Pune
Posts: 234
Thanked: 0 Times
| |
|
| |
|
9th May 2009, 18:42
| #62 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
|
|
|
9th May 2009, 22:03
| #63 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Barhi to Isri Smooth sailing all the way, till we got near Isri Bazar. Now, this is one section where the expressway is incomplete, and one gets off the dual carriageway onto the old highway. One short stretch first, then a longer stretch of about 15 km through Isri Bazar town itself and across a level crossing.   Look at the narrow bridge. Two trucks can't pass abreast of each other.  The old highway in Bihar was narrower than the old highway in UP, and here's a picture from the Allahabad section for comparison.  And of course, where the road is a little wider, there are handicapped beggars in the middle of the road. They've never been run over, I'm sure, or else they wouldn't be a permanent feature. I've seen this exactly at the same place on this highway over the last 20 years. I guess someday I'll stop and ask what the story behind this strange form of begging is...  And elsewhere there's this lunatic tractor with TMT bars sticking out the back, ready to poke you in the eye.  And so we drove slowly into Isri Bazar, and the slow-moving traffic increased.   Of course, there was this level crossing, and it had to be closed.    The reason for that last photo was to show the surface of the road across the rail tracks. There has been some major roadwork done here over the last 5 months, because on my last trip in Jan. '09, we managed to go through this section with great difficulty. The tracks were exposed, there were deep potholes, and I was very worried about taking the heavily loaded car across this point. I had considered making everyone get out and then drive across this patch. But under the circumstances it was a piece of cake. Phew!!! Last edited by SS-Traveller : 9th May 2009 at 22:08. |
|
|  (2)
Thanks
|
|
10th May 2009, 01:03
| #64 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Hungry... where's lunch? By now, you will have figured out what suckers for food we are - especially when travelling by road! It so happened that I had lost track of an old favourite dhaba of mine, the New Khalsa Dhaba, when the expressway came up. I really wanted to find that place for our lunch stop. I remembered it was located a little east of the turn-off for Dhanbad, at Govindpur. So we really slowed down to a crawl after that crossing. No dhaba. Had it been pulled down? Something called the New Khalsa Complex met our collective eyes. From dhaba to real estate development? Our faces fell. Well, we'd have to try our luck elsewhere, I guess. Another km down the road, and there it was! A new two-storey building, not the shed I remembered.   Easy to spot, with a signboard on the median.  Also the elaborate signboard (though freshly painted), detailing distances to various points on either side of the highway from that place. I remembered this from ever so long ago.  And the benevolent Sardarji at the cash counter, without whom a dhaba is never a real dhaba.  The backlit menu is a new feature.  The food was excellent as expected - naan and chicken curry for us. I wanted stuffed 'paranthas' (used to be their best preparation even 10 years ago), but they don't make it during lunch. Also, there was superb 'lassi'.  Half an hour well spent. The sun outside was shining hot and bright. WB, here we come! Little did we realize what the weather gods had in store for us. Last edited by SS-Traveller : 10th May 2009 at 01:05. |
|
| (2)
Thanks
|
|
10th May 2009, 12:26
| #65 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Durgapur/Calcutta/Pune
Posts: 2,169
Thanked: 869 Times
| |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 14:08
| #66 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Into Bengal - and home Thank you AyAn. Your wish is about to be fulfilled...  Entering Bengal from Jharkhand means going over a bridge jammed with parked trucks. We're going home. Even this house is going home!  And finally we were across the barriers of the octroi check post. Took us 15 minutes. In 1996, I've been stuck here for 8 hours. Radical improvement, I must say.  Everyone is wished goodbye... but look what the goodbye message says!  . 'Dharti se aapko shubh bida'... Goodbye from Earth. That was actually a very close cropped look  , and the trees and the truck opportunely covered the 'Jharkhand ki...' bit. Crossed the Jharkhand-Bengal border at 3 pm. Was pleasantly surprised to find comparatively empty roads. Must be the heat and the ongoing IPL matches. This was a Sunday! Siesta time too... This was at Durgapur. AyAn, your territory!  But it's election time, and not everyone can enjoy siestas! The red flags are watching you everywhere. The Reds have upgraded - flags of satin material everywhere, glistening in the sun; not too many cotton flags apparent. Posters printed, not hand-painted.  And then we swept into Panagarh and the double carriageway ended. But who cares? The view all around makes any auto buff happy. This was easily the Mecca of car-modders in Eastern and North-East India, when I lived in Kolkata. I am not sure how people look upon Panagarh today, but perhaps members from Bengal can throw some light. The Indian Army's vehicle scrapyard, and take your pick of whatever you want. One tonne Nissan with a Hanuman on the door?  Truck cabins? Shaktimans? Water tankers?    Old tyres? Rims? Axles and diffs? Just junk?    Mera Bullet kab ayega?  Want really heavy stuff? How about a roadroller? Or even make your own road, with road-laying machinery?  Heck, you can even pick up this brand-new, unregistered modded and stylized Sports Bolero in red, with low roof and raked-back windscreen. Cd figures: 0.25 only! Off-road special - runs with wheels on or off the road. Selector inside for 4WD and NWD (no-wheel drive)...  Panagarh left behind, back on the expressway, and appetite whetted. More food wanted! Where else but Shaktigarh and its inimitably famous 'lengchas' and 'makha shondesh'...   And freshly fried 'pakoras' to go with the tea.  The skies were suddenly starting to look ominous, with dark clouds and a cool breeze starting up suddenly.  40 km away from Dankuni, the storm hit us. A full force nor'wester, the 'kaalboishakhi' as it is called in Bengal, with gale-force crosswinds at speeds of 80 - 100 km/h (as reported in the news), and pouring rain. We were travelling through flat, open terrain, and the fully loaded car swayed and twitched. It drifted across the lanes and needed constant steering correction. Visibility was poor. The roads were slick. Mad drivers overtook us from all sides at 100 km/h while I slowed down to less than 60. Just one picture to record the moments...  And then we were home. Kolkata. At 7:15 pm. The rain continued, leaving puddles on the streets.  A massive power outage all over the city left us in the dark till 3 am. predatorwheelz and his wife graciously turned up to meet me late in the night, in their finery, on the way back from attending a wedding. Unfortunate that I couldn't invite them to come in, because of the waterlogging in front of the house, and the stifling humidity without fans inside. Met adc too, he had come over 2 days later. Thank you, adc, PW and BT, for taking the trouble of meeting up. Next roadtrip coming up: Delhi-Pune on NH-8. Ten days to go. THE END. Last edited by SS-Traveller : 10th May 2009 at 14:16. |
|
| (3)
Thanks
|
|
10th May 2009, 16:06
| #67 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 750
Thanked: 91 Times
| kept me glued and best part is the eateries on the way |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 17:40
| #68 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
Eager to see another travelogue on the Del - Pune route. I think that will be on the CRDi Abhi | |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 22:27
| #69 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Durgapur/Calcutta/Pune
Posts: 2,169
Thanked: 869 Times
| |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 23:00
| #70 | ||||
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
| ||||
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 23:33
| #71 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Durgapur/Calcutta/Pune
Posts: 2,169
Thanked: 869 Times
| NH 2 rocks! i have some good pics,but they don't seem to upload.Saktigarh's strewn with 'langcha' shops. All inter-city buses stop there for a break!       Last edited by Rehaan : 13th March 2020 at 11:31. Reason: Old post, but editing it to fix a small problem with mobile page formatting :) |
|
| (1)
Thanks
|
| |
|
10th May 2009, 23:44
| #72 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
| |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 23:47
| #73 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Durgapur/Calcutta/Pune
Posts: 2,169
Thanked: 869 Times
| |
|
|
|
10th May 2009, 23:56
| #74 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio
Posts: 596
Thanked: 25 Times
| |
|
|
|
11th May 2009, 00:08
| #75 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
See how the stomach rules!!! And yes, that was the end - of the trip and the pics from it. | |
|
|
 |
Most Viewed