[Ravveendrra]

I did say that I tried gamely to capture the magic of the NTPC Barkeshwar plant rising out of the darkness. It is a little initmidating when I have to post pics taken by me alongside those posted by ace lensmen like Nazim and Arun but here I go.

Barkeshwar:










After a restful night in the nice Sarada lodge we left at the crack of dawn, heading for Siliguri. The road just after Siuri resembled a war-zone with a broken surface and deep craters. We picked our way along till we turned onto NH34. A little after the junction we saw a Hyderabad Dhabha, complete with a few AP regd trucks. That was too tempting a sight and we pulled in to have a breakfast of absolutely brilliant parathas. The mustard fields with their bright yellow had been catching our attention for a while so we gave in to temptation and snapped a few pics of the field behind the Hyderabad Dhaba (owned by some truckkie from AP!).

The mustard fields conjured up in my mind, visions of all the fish and meat that will be cooked as well as all the pickles that will be made, using it!















B'fast done, we trundled along to Malda (trundling was the only thing we could do considering the narrow road and slow moving traffic on it). In Malda, while we were stuck in a jam we spotted these beauties:











Jr. only managed to get this bit of the mighty Ganga at the Farraka Barrage.





Cheers,

[Ravveendrra]

Total distance covered by us = 7234 km

No. of days = 16

Total Diesel consumed = 484.23 litres

Overall FE returned by the car = 14.939 kmpl

Total money on fuel = Rs.19498/-

Data gleaned from the GPS:
(N.B. none of us are very familar with the workings of the GPS so we did leave it off for about 500 km and we might have deleted a fair bit of data. The total distance, times and stoppage times are not accurate.)

Top speed recorded = 183

Moving avg. = 54.1 kmph

Overall avg. speed incl 44 hours of stops = 40.1 kmph

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I seem to attract guys who love to jump in front of me when I am driving. After Srikakulam there was this guy on a blue tractor with a trailor clipping along in the opposite direction on his side of the road. So far so good. Now what I did not know is that the tractor driver is the brother of a particular auto driver in Ghanpur, who is rather well known to the Hyd. TBHPians. Just before we would have crossed each other, the tractor drivers genetic coding made him take a U turn through the divider without slowing down! Here I was hurtling along at well over a ton headed straight for the tractor. Decision time - cut gears, brake and try to stop or brake, cut gears and move to the extreme left to avoid the tractor. Decision made, I brake hard (more for the sound effect), cut gears, and cut to the left lane. Mission accomplished, I have crossed the tractor without any mishap. The tractor driver heard the car braking and the sound of the engine doing its bit to slow it down and first stops dead, then he gives a silly grin and moves to the left lane. I might have driven off but no, being the mule headed person I am, I decide to engage reverse and move back to block the tractor trapping him between the car and the edge of the road. Now, all in the family of the Oscar winning auto driver are quick thinkers, so this brother on the tractor hangs his head, raises his hands and says "Sorry saar. Sorry ayyipoyindi, sorry saar." Which would translate into Sorry Sir, sorry happened. I am sorry for that. Hmm the use of 'sorry' in the place of 'mistake' left me speechless and I decided to wave my hand and get on my way.

One question raised at a TBHP meet last night was: How much did it cost us? Well at a guesstimate, we think it came to Rs.27K per head all inclusive, i.e. fuel, tolls, accomodation, food etc. as well as some odds and ends we bought for the trip. The only thing not included are the laundry bills, souvenirs and gifts we bought.

Cheers,

[Sutripta]

Hey guys,
Your driving is faster than your blogging. You have not yet reached Siliguri. When are you going to reach Tawang?!

Sutripta

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

One question raised at a TBHP meet last night was: How much did it cost us? Well at a guesstimate, we think it came to Rs.27K per head all inclusive, i.e. fuel, tolls, accomodation, food etc. as well as some odds and ends we bought for the trip. The only thing not included are the laundry bills, souvenirs and gifts we bought.

Cheers,

Ravvs garu, One thing that I forgot to ask yesterday was that how much toll did you pay between Vijaywada and Kolkata on the GQ. Its almost Re.1/Km on the Delhi - Mumbai section of GQ

[Ravveendrra]

From the 'devil may care' attitude in AP, to the slightly sullen and decidedly discontented look in Orissa we passed into WB where the dominant attitude seems to be - "The Universe rightfully belongs to me, how come no one has handed it over to me yet?"

WB is a fascinating and varied state. The parts bordering Orissa are rather dry and flat. As one goes past CCU there are more water bodies and the land is more undulating. One can imagine the splendour of Bengal in the days gone by, there are remnants of that past grandeur and rare hints of the riches of a bygone era.

The road from Jhaleshwar is a dream, however one chap in Khakhi (from the RTA) decided to stop us on one nice long stretch. When I stopped, he ambled over - clearly unhappy that I made him walk. He then proceeded to ask us where we were from and where we were going. I guess he expected CCU or some such destination in WB. When we told him we were headed to Arunachal Pradesh and that we were merely passing through WB, he seemed a little disappointed / crestfallen and made an expression as if to say - "When you have WB, why do you want to go anywhere else?" Point taken sir, next year perhaps, we will do Darjeeling and other bits in WB. He then got onto his official duties and asked for my DL & RC. I handed them over. He then asked for insurance and he got that too. He looked at the insurance papers in his hand - his eyes got a new life in them and he said "Not xerox - only original". Ok, sure, the orginals went out the window to him. Now he seemed genuinely disappointed and gave me a very deprecating look, passed over the original insurance papers and dismissed me with a disgusted look (no doubt muttering sotto voce: what idiots from out of state, do not even know the basic rules of the game. I ask for originals and he hands me over the originals, does he not know that he is supposed to cower and grovel and beg to be let off. Does he not know that the only original I am interested in has a portrait of Gandhiji). Meanwhile I was in splits - every paper I had handed him were the scan and print variety, the Driving license, the Registration Certificate, everything. Only difference was the DL and RC were colour prints while the insurance was a B&W print.

Once we turn onto NH6 (Bombay Road) as it is known locally, the traffic increases and gets thicker as one approaches CCU. NH 6 merges into NH2 seamlessly and the main indication that we are on NH2 is that the traffic has increased even more. When we were going towards Panagarh that evening, there was an endless line of lights going towards Kolkata. The NH2 or Delhi Road or Durgapur Expressway is an excellent road and traffic keeps moving steadily till Panagarh town. Panagarh bazar is a bottleneck and part of it is caused by the turnoff taking us to the North.

Once onto NH34 at Moregram, the road is good and of decent width. The lush fields, canals, streams, rivers, lakes and railway lines give us enough to look at. What is more entertaining than the varied landscape is the local transport. The way those poor trekkers are packed with commuters is a wonder. The people seem to have learnt the art of fitting themselves into 1 sq.in of space and are quite happy travelling by lodging a little toe into some toehold anywhere. One guy of course did not need any hold and was merrily cruising along standing on the bonnet! Arun and I stared at him with mouths agape (then Arun recovered enough to grab a shot of him with his camera).

The road narrows as one nears Malda. We were proceeding along this bit with a canal on our right when we spot a pile-up of traffic in front, buses and lorries lined up neatly in the left lane and slowly, rickshaws, taxis and cars forming a line in the right (wrong) lane. We proceeded to slowly get to the head of the queue by judiciously sqeezing throgh gaps on the wrong side of the road when we are passed by an Amby overtaking us at full clip on the shoulder of the road which resembled a 4X4 challenge track. Reminded us of the Ambys are capable of and Arun immediately got an idea for a project - Why not build a 4X4 Amby. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Soon we found the cause for the jam. A lorry had fallen into the canal and was being pulled up & towed away. Soon after the mishap stricken lorry was towed past us I happened to notice a sudden movement under a lorry heading in the opposite direction and to my horror saw his prop shaft fall to the ground. Well, I guess that meant that the jam would not clear in a hurry and people were stuck till the second lorry was towed away too (there is no space on the side of the road to push it aside).

Once past the congested Malda we proceeded past Raigunj and stopped outside the Kulik bird sanctuary. The helpful local tea/garam doodh wala told us not to waste our time and money by going into the sanctuary as there were no birds, this not being the season. Since we were not interested in watching the love-birds transported by 2 wheels that seem to haunt the place in the off season we got going after a cup of tea and some biscuits.

Turned right at Dalkola (Is this in WB or Bihar) and stopped soon after at a Ghar Dhabha for Diesel and lunch. The Diesel was fine, the food was not and by evening we were feeling some uneasiness in the stomach.

The broad dual carriageway NH31 was a relief after the narrow NH34. There are several places where the NH31 is barely a 2 lane single carriageway. From the looks of it, the approach ramps to two overbridges/flyovers collapsed as soon as they were built or even before they were completed and these two places are serious bottlenecks. Our progress though was quite fast and we were soon in Bagdogra and looking forward to checking into the hotel in Siliguri before nightfall. These hopes were soon dashed to the ground as we ran into a huge mass of traffic that moved at a snails pace, if at all and we checked into the hotel only after 7.00 p.m.

The Central Plaza in Siliguri is very conveniently located just off the NH31. The rooms are just about adequate. The food in the restaurant is quite decent and their rossogollas are great. The staff are least helpful and their tagline seems to be "It is not my job".

ADC and family came in around 2.00 a.m. and we promised to catch up sometime in the morning. In the morning ADC had a whale of a surprise for us. All of us were invited to his cousin's house for breakfast. I was quite speechless, I had communicated with ADC over PMs and the phone a few times, I met him for the first time in my life at 2.00 a.m. that morning and his cousin (who had no idea who we were) had invited us home for breakfast at 7.00! What a breakfast it was, the board was truly groaning under the weight of that delicious spread. Hungry travellers that we were, starved for home cooked food, tempted by that sumptuous fare - we tucked in shamelessly. ADC's cousin and family must think we are absolute gluttons. I take this opportunity to thank on behalf of all of us, that wonderful family for welcoming us, four strangers, so warmly into their home for a real feast.

That was not the only warm surprise in store for us that day. Over the previous day or two Sutripta sir had been in touch and was trying to co-ordinate things between him and us, so that we could meet him somewhere near Jalpaiguri. I SMSed him as soon as we finished b'fast and we met him within the hour, just past a level crossing after Jalpaiguri. What an honour it was, to be met so early in the morning at some point on a highway not close to either his home or ours. Sutripta sir, we are truly touched by your gesture and shall forever cherish it. Thanks also for giving us so much guidance and help.

In our minds, Siliguri was some kind of a watershed. We expected that the scenery would change after that, we also expected the journey to be different as well as the driving. We were not disappointed. Perhaps I should take a break now and let Nazim do the honours with the pics.

Cheers,

[btirthankar]

I caught up with Team AP2AP on 21st December 2009. Our plan was accurately coordinated to the last 30 seconds.







We met 1 km from the Vidyasagar Setu Junction on NH6 where we had a quick photo session. I was sharing with them my feelings about the roads they have just been travelling on from Hyderabad.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

Sutripta sir, we are truly touched by your gesture and shall forever cherish it. Thanks also for giving us so much guidance and help.
Cheers,

Hi,
Thanks for your appreciation. As I said, you are guests in our part of the world. So anytime again.

Regards
Sutripta

[Ravveendrra]

Bellies full, we followed ADC in his TMT and got out of Siliguri pretty quick at that early hour. Once we were past Jalpaiguri we kept our eyes peeled for Sutripta sir. We saw him waiting for us immediately after a level crossing. We pulled over and said hello to the master of the matrix bound on either end by NH31 and NH 31C. One look at our car and he gave us rapid fire directions on the best road to take to Tezpur after having co-related the GC of the Laura to the current condition of the various roads. I must say that he really has the real time information on the condition of roads between Siliguri and Tezpur and all points between and his choice of steed in those parts says a lot about them, he chooses to drive an Amby and soon we found out why!

We had to drop off ADC's cousin near Mathabanga and we were reluctant to veer off the course given to us by Sutripta sir. One look at the map however convinced us to do it as Mathabanga was right on the B'desh border and this meant that we were likely to see something new and unique.

The road from Mainaguri to Mathabanga and onto Cooch Bihar was narrow but smooth with only a few small bad patches. The USP of this road however is the scenic beauty of the route. The road is lined on either side with lush green trees, plants and bamboo which give way to tea plantations. Boards by the BSF dot the route right from Jalpaiguri and serve to remind us about how close we are to the border with Bangladesh. The road from Mainaguri to Mathabanga skirts this border - literally hugging it and gives one the unique opportunity to see tea being plucked in another country - Bangladeshi tea anyone?





As we were about to enter Cooch Bihar we were reminded that we were in 'Bandhland' and some guys parked a bicycle across the road with a flag on it and announced a 2 hour bandh from 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. it was 11.10 am so we were effectively stuck for 2 hours. This bandh however did not include shops so they were all open. I guess this was that particular parties effort to garner the shopkeepers votes - stop passing traffic so that the local shops get some custom. To oblige, I walked around to pick up some fevicol, gave a Rs.100 note and got back some change which included 2 Butanse notes.



Once the designated bandh time passed we passed Cooch Bihar only to get stuck in the mother of all jams in Boxirhat with zillions of trucks blocking our progress. We gamely soldiered on through that mess at the border till a nice chap in a maruti van belonging to the 'Border checking agents association' or something like that pointed out to us a village road that bypasses the border - we had turn left onto the road going to Kamakhyaguri and take the first right off that road, this unpaved road meandered around for a bit through fields and various hamlets and villages before re-joining the main road some 8 km later. But it brought us out at the other side of the border and the jams associated with it.

By the time we reached Cooch Bihar it was obvious that the Laura and the Safari were not meant to drive together. The Safari was much faster on the bad parts of the road and was being held back by the Laura on the bad stretches. On the other hand when the surface was good the Laura was much faster and was being held back by the Safari. ADC also expressed some reservations about the security situation on the road to Tezpur and wanted to stay back in Guwahati. We however wanted to continue to Tezpur so as to avoid an early morning start the next day. So we decided to go at our own pace to our respective destinations for the night.

The road thereafter was good in parts and bad in parts. We reached Uttar Salamara and when Ms. Ellen asked us to make a right turn we asked directions to Guwahati. We were pointed straight. We went straight and went onto the NH31 i.e. the proposed E-W corridor. That road is brilliant in the parts where it is 4 laned, where it is not, it is quite a pain, where work is going i.e. bridges etc. it is a total nightmare. If we had to Ms. Ellen and taken the right turn, we would have got into Guwahati after taking the Goalpara bypass. By taking the Northern road we bypassed Guwahati and continued straight at Baihata Chariali to proceed towards Tezpur. It was dark even as we passed Uttar Salamara and once the chill set in we had to contend with the fog, so thick sometimes that one could barely make out the margin of the road.

Driving in fog with 4200K HIDs is next to impossible, so it was fog lights all the way. If one needed additional illumination one pulled the high beam flasher and held it in the sprung position. Not easy, but managable as speeds were quite low and the roads were almost straight. The fog thickened near and over water bodies, streams and rivers and there were plenty of them. Streams and rivers meant bridges and the second set were still being constructed so we encountered the diversions with their attendant bad surface, mounds of soil rubble etc. in the the thickest fog.




The road from Baihata Chariali to Tezpur is absolutely wonderful and looked beautiful even in the night. Just to be sure, once we were in Baihata Chariali, Arun called his local contacts and we proceeded after we were assured that it was safe to do so. Just past Mangaldoi we stopped for dinner at a Punjabi Dhabha and had dinner. The menu for dinner was what was to become our standard order - Chappaties and plain rice alongwith egg burji or egg curry and dal.

Dinner done, we proceeded to the Hotel KF in Tezpur and gratefully immersed ourselves into its well-appointed and stylish rooms. This was also our designated 'Laundry hotel' so we had to sort it out and keep it ready. This was also where our woolens and warm clothes get taken out so it meant we had a fair bit of work to do. To all the work we reacted by setting a late departure after breakfast. (LOL what we would not do to loll about in bed a little longer in the mornings).

Cheers

[pulsar56]

Thanks to ADC's cousin for the delicious breakfast.

Customary group pic.





Safari & Laura before start of the journey to Tezpur




Leaving Siliguri behind...



Meeting Sutripta



The truck got too tired and decided to take some rest.



Children watching the above spectacle



Some pics of the Bangladesh border.




















Oh no.. One more JAM!


deciding on what to do for the next two hours!


The two bicycles on the middle of the road causing the "raasta roko".




Getting out of the jam caused by the 'Raasta Roko'.


The boad bypassing Boxirhat!


Not much fog in the morning (well, relatively)

[Ravveendrra]

Those camels continue to intrigue me. What were they doing there?

Those two notes from Bhutan - I wonder how much they are worth. (Just out of curiosity for I intend to hold them as souvenirs).

Cheers,

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

Those camels continue to intrigue me. What were they doing there?

Those two notes from Bhutan - I wonder how much they are worth. (Just out of curiosity for I intend to hold them as souvenirs).

Cheers,

Great going Ravv, now the travelogue is reaching the part we are all waiting for..

About the Bhutan Ngultrum, its worth exactly the same as India rupees hence its so very common in the bordering areas of WB and Assam.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

The road from Mainaguri to Mathabanga and onto Cooch Bihar was narrow but smooth with only a few small bad patches. The USP of this road however is the scenic beauty of the route. The road is lined on either side with lush green trees, plants and bamboo which give way to tea plantations. Boards by the BSF dot the route right from Jalpaiguri and serve to remind us about how close we are to the border with Bangladesh. The road from Mainaguri to Mathabanga skirts this border - literally hugging it and gives one the unique opportunity to see tea being plucked in another country - Bangladeshi tea anyone?

Actually, the border fence is quite a bit inside India. The tea gardens you see on the other side of the fence are Indian. Unlike estates, these are small holdings converted from food crops to tea, to supply a new breed of tea factories called the bought leaf factories.
The people who live on the other side of the fence have a trying time. There are fixed times when the gate is opened, and they have to pass through if they want to.

By the time we reached Cooch Bihar it was obvious that the Laura and the Safari were not meant to drive together. The Safari was much faster on the bad parts of the road and was being held back by the Laura on the bad stretches. On the other hand when the surface was good the Laura was much faster and was being held back by the Safari.......

The road thereafter was good in parts and bad in parts. We reached Uttar Salamara and when Ms. Ellen asked us to make a right turn we asked directions to Guwahati. We were pointed straight. We went straight and went onto the NH31 i.e. the proposed E-W corridor. That road is brilliant in the parts where it is 4 laned, where it is not, it is quite a pain, where work is going i.e. bridges etc. it is a total nightmare. If we had to Ms. Ellen and taken the right turn, we would have got into Guwahati after taking the Goalpara bypass. By taking the Northern road we bypassed Guwahati and continued straight at Baihata Chariali to proceed towards Tezpur....

Given the nature of the two vehicles, my suggestion was that the Safari take NH31, and the Skoda NH37. I think exactly the opposite happened!

The road from Baihata Chariali to Tezpur is absolutely wonderful and looked beautiful even in the night. Just to be sure, once we were in Baihata Chariali, Arun called his local contacts and we proceeded after we were assured that it was safe to do so. Just past Mangaldoi we stopped for dinner at a Punjabi Dhabha and had dinner. The menu for dinner was what was to become our standard order - Chappaties and plain rice alongwith egg burji or egg curry and dal.

Normally safe. A night super (as the long distance night buses are called) does get robbed once in a while.

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

Those camels continue to intrigue me. What were they doing there?

I would say Bakris in different form. Check your dates of travel!

Regards
Sutripta

[pulsar56]

Our Room at Hotel KF in Tezpur.




Interesting...


Entering Nameri National Park



"The wind in OUR hair..."
While the pot-holes were enjoyed by the Laura. LOL.


Now, who said that a sunroof is useless in India?



The first view of the mighty Himalayas.

[akroy]

Nice pics of NE there pulsar and Raveendra.

For me the group pic with ADC & Sutripta takes the cake. They are indeed the NE highway gurus.
Keep the pics flowing. BTW, didnt expect such a beautiful hotel in Tezpur. The rooms look damn professional.

Abhi

[adzegeek]

Originally Posted by pulsar56

Our Room at Hotel KF in Tezpur.

Now I understand what Ravvendra meant when he said we didnt compromise on hotels ;-). where was the nearly 1K+ sft accomodation?