Owing to Coronavirus Scare, Gurgaon is practically shut down. Since I had just moved there a few months ago from Bengaluru owing to work and now have WFH till the situation improves; it made no sense to stay alone, and made perfect reason to always do a road-trip that I had wished someday I will, after watching Piku.
I made this trip *before* the lock-down.
Dates: 19-20-21 March.
Car: Received my new Honda City ZX CVT iVTech with sunroof (Color: Radiant Red, 4-cylinder, 7-gear automatic, with D & Sports mode). Also got some customization done with extra Bose pads, premium seat leather, leather seats ceramic coating, extra-cushions, ambient lighting, Honda bonnet badge in chrome etc.
Preparation:
- Got my 2nd free servicing done, the car having run like 500 Kms in past 2 months or so. Since I was travelling most of the time, it is parked always!
- Filled tank (40 Litres).
- Packed my bags, some books and all the essential items (hand sanitizers, 4 packets of chips, 4 2Litre bottles, 10K in cash etc), also purchased an AmazonBasics Compact Portable Digital Tyre Inflator for emergencies.
- Fastag on car which is mandatory must now - otherwise the cash lines in most tolls and especially in Mohania and in Dhanbad sections had like hundreds and hundreds of trucks parked. Only Fastag lines were empty and I breezed through each one of them within practically 30-40 seconds (stop, scan, move ahead).
Summary:
Drove through 6 States: Haryana, Delhi, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal.
Total Kms: 1,548 Quick Trick I learnt - at road-breakers, I have to reduce speed to complete 0 to be able to cross; otherwise it hits the belly of the car.
Day1: 19th March, started at 6:22am from Gurgaon.
Route: Gurgaon — Agra — Etawah — Lucknow — RaeBareli — Jaunpur — Varanasi (better via Etawah — Kanpur — Varanasi)
Till RaeBareli roads were fabulous, post which till Jaunpur, roads are under construction. Will avoid this stretch and rather take Kanpur whilst going back.
Hotel in Varanasi: Radisson, Varanasi (had a complete deserted look, no guests, lights switched off, the manager mentioned, I am the first guest to walk in as many as 4-5 days, and no one's there). Having said that, they were kind enough to pack me a basket full of bananas, fruits, one juice can, and some sandwiches.
Time: 15 hrs with 2 breaks.
Distance: 850 Kms
Day2: 20th March, started at 7:30am from Radisson, Varanasi.
Varanasi — Chandauli — Kudra — Dehri — Aurangabad — Dhanbad
Hotel in Dhanbad: Hotel the Castle (very kind hearted people, really took great care of me, food was yummy, and I tipped them Rs. 500/- next morning).
Till Dehri roads were good, post which till Aurangabad, roads had loads of pot holes, and also at stretches there were *no* roads at all; cars were passing through mud-stretches. Was feeling bad for my new car, since it was dancing on the roads
Time: 10 hrs with 2 breaks.
Distance: 430 Kms
Top Speed: 100 Kms/hr
Day3: 21st March, started at 9:00am from Dhanbad Hotel.
Dhanbad — Nirsa — Asansol — Raniganj — Durgapur — Bardhaman — Kolkata (home!!!!!)
Amazing roads after Nirsa, once you hit Asansol. One can easily do 120-140+; but since lots of small small villages, and road-side dhabas, and also famous "langcha stretch" comes in between, I did not drive that fast; rather barely touched 100 at times. Also stopped to buy some amazingly tasty langchas and other sweets for home.
Time: 5.5 hrs with my “langcha” breaks in between.
Distance: 268 Kms
Top Speed: 100 Kms/hr
Expenses:
- Honda Service center - servicing/car polishing/waxing = Rs 6K
- Honda 24/7 Road-side assistance (3-year) = Rs 3K
- 1st 2 tolls = Rs. 500 + 500 = Rs. 1K
- Next set of tolls (all via Fastag) = Rs. (65+65+50+110+85+100+95+75+70+85+85) = Rs. 885
- 2 hotels+food = Rs. 7K
- Petrol: Rs. 6K
Approx = Rs. 24,000/-
Overall, really a great experience.
Hopefully, once the situation improves, and Covid-19 lockdown is over, I have plans to do 2 more trips... one is from Kolkata-Deoghar along with parents to visit Baidyanathdham, and another is Kolkata-Digha and back.