Day 4 : April 6, 2013  

The previous night we had slept at 4:00 at a petrol bunk on Karnal road. Ashok’s non-stop driving from had helped us to cover up a good amount of the distance. Even then, we were supposed to have checked in at The Club Mahindra resort at Mashobra the previous morning. But due to the two breakdowns, one in Bangalore and hte other in Guna, we had lost one day and had to call and inform the resort that we would report the next day.

We woke up in our Scorpio at 6:30 am and after freshening up as best as we could we tried starting the Scorpio to just hear eerie deafening silence. It was a big blow to us and just when we thought that we had overcome a major obstacle, here we had another one staring at our face within a few hours. Just then two good Samaritans came out of the Petrol

Bunk office and told us that we had kept the lights on the previous night and slept. They had come to tell us but saw that we were sleeping too deeply and did not want to disturb us. They sweetly offered to push the car and assured us that with two pushes it would start. Push they did, with Apsara, Amrita and me joined in the fun. Just as they had predicted, with two pushes the Scorpio started and we were on our way. Alas! I forgot to take the pictures of both the petrol bunk and the two good souls and remembered only after we had crossed a good 50 kms.

1^st Toll Stop         : Karnal                 : Rs.90

We stopped at Mayur Dhabha on Karnal Road. Had very good chai and got up to proceed with our journey. Our adventures were not yet done with us. Ashok threw the Scorpio keys to Apsara and she missed and it fell. When Ashok tried to open the door it let out the burglar alarm and the Autocop had got spoilt. Every time we tried to start, the Autocop would go on. The entire dhabha of people were continuing with their work totally unfazed and nonchalant to our predicament. I am sure being located on the highway, they must have seen every kind of auto trouble on this planet. Just as Ashok was wondering what to do and calling the Mahindra people in Guna and in Bangalore, I went to the petrol bunk next door and tried to see if there are any mechanics available there. There were a few puncher guys but no electrical guys. As I was explaining our situation to the fellow there, a milk man with large milk cans strapped to his bike gave me a card of a Car accessories showroom with the mobile numbers of the mechanic and Ashok called him. He told Ashok what to do over the phone and the car started. We all scrambled into the car and set out immediately. We decided not to stop anywhere as it would be extremely risky if that car did not start again.

2^nd Toll Stop        : GMR Chandigarh to Ambala      : Rs.31

We could see the mountains and were thrilled to bits. We started cruising along on Chandigarh - Ambala road.

3^rd Toll Stop        : Panchkula         : Rs.25

11:00 AM             : Himalayan Express Highway

The roads are too beautiful. 4-lane world standard road again by the Jaypee group. Both the Yamuna Express Highway and the Himalayan Express Highway are their projects and they have done a wonderful job of giving world standard roads to us. Driving on these roads is sheer pleasure and you do not experience any fatigue on these roads however long you drive. Hopefully they can lobby with the Madhya Pradesh government and build similar expressways in MP also.

11:30 am              : Solan

The view was breath taking and all the green, step farming and charming towns, quaint little villages and hamlets on the way were very beautiful. We were amazed at the cleanliness on the way and the Himachal Pradesh had done a wonderful job of keeping crass commercialisation at bay by not allowing non Himachalis to own property on the hills. Also, because plastic is not allowed and banned in Himachal Pradesh, we did not find any plastic bags, covers, Lays and Kurkure packets and plastic bottles. We passed by Solan ay 11.30 am. Solan is called the “Mushroom Capital of India. It is a beautiful city and we passed by the Jaypee University.

12:30 am              : Shimla

We reached Shimla and drove through the town. We were finally glad and heaved a sigh of relief for finally having made it to our destination after three and a half days. We passed by the Central Potato Research Institute and the HP Agricultural University both of which had some very beautiful garden and landscaping. The HP University is also beautiful. We passé the Mahindra Motors Showroom and were glad at the sight.

12:55     : Dalli Tunnel      : Mashobra 6 km

We reached the Club Mahindra Resort at Mashobra at 1:30 and checked in to great relief. The Autocop alarm went off many times nad we realised “Houston we have a problem” moment had arrived again. After having bath and freshening up we had very tasty and sumptuous lunch at the resort restaurant. Ashok called the local Mahindra Motors guys and asked them to send a mechanic over to rectify our remote key problem. As he had driven non-stop for almost 22 hours with just a 2 hour sleep, he was dead tierd and went off to sleep and asked me to deal with the mechanics. They arrived at 5:30 and disabled the Autocop and made the key manual controlled. We would have to lock and open manually every time and check each and every door each and every time we parked the car. But that option was much better than having the car’s alarm go on every time we stopped and also not knowing whether the car would start again. I asked the resort people to get the car washed and finally settled in to enjoy my short stay in Shimla.

Day 3 of the Great Indian Road Trip to the Himalayas with the Roadaasura and the Beast

Day 3 - April 5, 2013

Guna to Karnal

3:55 pm to 3:55 am

The day dawned early for us. As we were very tired the previous night we slept like logs in Hotel Sara that we had checked into the previous night. The Hotel was very good and comfortable. We got up a little late at 7:00 am and got ready. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and Ashok set out to the Rishab Auto the service centre of Mahindra motors in Guna. Ashok’s friend Anand who is the DGM of India Garage had called his counterpart, Archana Dixit at Guna and intimated her about the urgency of the situation. Both her and the works Manager Ankit Pachauri took special interest in our situation and started work on our car with all the mechanics at their disposal.

Me, Apsara and Amrita stayed in the hotel room. I took the time available to post my first day’s post on fb.
It was 2:30 pm and Ashok called to tell us to have lunch. We had packed and were all set to leave. So we went to the restaurant and had very tasty lunch and also got some lunch packed for Ashok. We checked out of the hotel and brought all the luggage downstairs and sat down to wait for Ashok.  Ashok returned with the car at 3:50 and we finally set out of Guna at 3:55.

Again we were driving through the crazy MP roads. The two-laned roads that had no road divider. People walking on the roads, sitting on the roads. Trucks and buses. I noticed that the number of private cars was very less throughout MP as compared to other states. I wondered whether the state of roads was the reason for hte less number of private cars or the less number of private cars was the reason for the state of the roads.

We encountered quite a few traffic jams that were very peacefully sorted out by the MP walas. Whenever there was a traffic jam, there was no honking as is common in Bangalore, no shouting, no fights, did not see any traffic policemen or regular policemen. The people, usually a tempo driver or a truck driver or an auto driver took the initiative and the traffic jam would get moving slowly but surely.

5:45 pm                : Gwalior 117 km away

6:00 pm                : Gwalior 105 km away

1^st Fuel fill up stop            : 43.87 lts             : Rs. 2349.67       Trip metre 1995 km

8:40 pm                : Crossed Gwalior             : roads are still bad          : Agra 104 kms away

9:20 pm                : Agra 64 kms away          : Roads are amazing now. 4-lane with divider.

Finally we were back on 4-lane roads. The roads had road divider. There were signs at regular intervals and reflectors and early warning systems. We were finally relieved to be out of the mess that we had inadvertently got into from Adilabad and were in for the past 48 hours.

10:00 pm              : Agra 27 kms away

10:20 pm              : Had very tasty Kulfi at Agra

we were so happy to finally be o good roads that we decided to celebrate by eating some Kulfi. We found a very nice Kulti cart and had two Kulfis each as a mark of victory over uncertainty and unpredictability.

11:15 pm              : Entered Yamuna Express Highway         : Delhi 197 kms away

11:20                     : Toll Stop            : Rs. 320

It was beautiful to drive through the Yamuna Express Highway. It is a 6-lane international standard highway and a sheer beauty to drive on. We were cruising along and Ashok surprisingly maintained a steady 100 km/hr because the signs kept reminding at regular intervals that the speed limit was 100 km/hr. Ashok was getting sleepy and the kids were fast asleep on the back seat. I kept cracking lame jokes and kept a chatter going to keep Ashok awake.

When it became really unbearable, he stopped at the exit point. We ate the left-over food from Hotel Sara. It was still tasty and the kids also woke up to have a share of their bite as well. Suddenly three dogs came charging out of nowhere smelling the food and we had to keep shooing them away continuously. It was surprising to see dogs on Yamuna Express Highway.

We started again and soon entered Delhi at 2:15 pm.

2:30 am                : Fuel fill up         : 34.74 lts             : Rs. 1684             : Trip mileage 2418

Navigating through Delhi was tough as we had to drive through Delhi to reach the Karnal – Chandigarh highway. We crossed Delhi at around 3.30 pm and drove on the Karnal road. We started hunting for a hotel to stay and found that all the ones on the highway were full and did not have any rooms. Ashok was really sleepy and could not drive any more. After the Shock absorber spring breaking episode at Bangalore and the Alloy wheel breaking episode at Guna, we had the third road trip experience. Ashok drove into a petrol bunk and parked the car under bright lights. At 4:00 am we closed all the windows and locked the doors and slept in the petrol bunk.

On this day Ashok became ROADAASURA from Monster Driver.

Day 2 of The Great Indian Road Trip with the Monster Driver and The Beast

Day 2: April 4, Nagpur to Guna - 600 kms

Check out of Hotel Majestic Manor, Nagpur        : 7:10 am

Hotel tariff                                                            : Rs. 3710

Starting meter trip reading                                     : 125191 km

 The day 2 of our great road trip began on a very good note. We got up early and had a complimentary breakfast of very good tea and toast and started at 7:30 sharp from Nagpur. The previous night we had discussed with the waiter at the Dwaraka hotel about which of the two routes is a better route for us to take to Delhi, the route via Jabalpur or the route via Bhopal. He had suggested that we go through the Bhopal route because the roads are better and the roads on the Jabalpur route are undergoing construction and are difficult. We were reminded of our drive from Adilabad to Nagpur through bad roads and decided to take the Bhopal route.

We set out from the hotel with great enthusiasm as Ashok had

done 1200 kms the previous day and the previous day’s drive was fresh in our minds and we were hopeful to repeat the performance and reach Delhi itself by that night.

1^st Fuel Fill  : 8:13 am : Koradi Rd, Nagpur         : 34.67 lts  : Rs. 1870 : meter reading 125210

9:07 am  : Bhopal 286 kms away   : crossed Maharashtra and entered MP

Alas! Our hopes were dashed to smithereens as soon we realised that the road in Madhya Pradesh are not as good as the roads in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. All the roads in Madhya Pradesh are just two lane roads and do not have a road divider. The roads pass through all the towns, villages and hamlets. They do not have proper signage or the markers nad reflective stickers. In short the roads are twenty to twenty five years behind the roads of the rest of India.

9:30 am                : Agra 805 kms away      

The traffic sense of the people is also very poor. You find a tractor charging at you suddenly. It was very surprising to see people sitting on their haunches at the edge of the road with total disdain to the moving traffic and absolutely no fear of being mowed down by a bus or a lorry. The vehicular traffic, people and animals keep criss-crossing on the roads making it very difficult to negotiate through the traffic. I was surprised to see a large number of calves throughout MP. You will find cows on the roads in regular intervals. There are far lesser number of private cars and vehicles as compared to other states. But the truck traffic seemed to be far greater due to the narrow roads.

10: 15 am             : Beetul 46 kms : Bhopal 223 km

11:00 am              : Brief stop at the Rukmini Balaji Mandir, Beetul

Just as we were slowly beginning to get disappointed by the road conditions in MP we came to a town called Beetul where we came across a Rukmini Balaji Mandir We dashed into the temple for a quick darshan and started on our journey hoping to hit the 4-lane highway or the 6-lane highway at the earliest. The road after Beetul did not have any potholes and was smooth. But it was still a two lane road with no road divider.

11.45am               :  Witnessed a gruesome road accident

At about 11.45 we saw a gruesome accident where a water tanker had hit two people travelling on a bike.

None of the two wheeler riders in MP wear a helmet. There is a wonderful saying in Hindi ‘Sar salaamat to pagdi hazaar’. Both the riders had passed away on the spot. A crowd was gathering around and we would have been stranded there for hours. But Ashok got down a dried up pond to the left where a vehicular path was visible and bypassed the crowd and climbed back to the road.

Our phones were running out of charge and the charging points in our Scorpio were not working. Amrita figured out a way to charge all our phones through our laptops. Apsara was the navigator and she used both our traditional foldable map from TTK and the Google maps very efficiently to give directions to Ashok.

We did not come across a single toll booth throughout the day. That is when we realised that toll booths are good as they mean that the roads are good and they are 4-lane or 6-lane roads. So from now on we decided that we will feel happy each time we see a toll booth and pay the toll without complaining.

12:20     : Bhopal 109 kms away                   : roads continue to be really bad

2:00        : at Obaidulgunj                                : roads are horrible

2:25        : by passing Sagar and heading towards Bhopal  : hope roads are better

2:30        : Lunch break     : Hotel Jay Kay resort      : very tasty dal chawal roti

2^nd Fuel stop       : Bhopal

We took directions from the security person at the resort and from many people on the highway. Finally one elderly chacha advised us not to go via Indore but to take the route via Dewas. That would be NH 86 and then we will meet NH 3 at Delhi. Roads continued to be bad and narrow and frustrating.

3^rd Fuel Stop       : 4:45 pm              : Rs. 2237             : 41.68 lts             : meter reading 125572

On NH 3               : Gwalior 405 kms away

4:35 pm                : Gwalior 386 kms away

7:20                        : Toll plaza           : Guna                   : Rs.20   : Gwalior 200 km away

Just as we paid the toll and proceed towards Gwalior, we reached the end of road and a sharp left turn of a perpendicular road. It was dark and Ashok missed the huge road divider and the car went over the road divider. We heard the noise of metal rubbing against concrete. Thankfully as Ashok was driving at less than 55 kms/hr, he was able to bring the car down but he soon realised that he does not have control over the steering wheel.

It was a devastating moment for Ashok and Apsara. Both of them began to see our vacation coming to an end right in front of their eyes. I kept telling them to calm down and just take the car to the side and stop. We were in the middle of nowhere, on the outskirts of Guna, in pitch darkness. Ashok took a slow u-turn and brought the car to a halt by the side of the road. We got out of the car and removed the torches out and started figuring out what to do. Ashok was still in shock and I was consoling both Ashok and Apsara.

After a few moments we realised that since Guna is a large constituency of Jyotiraditya Scindia, it must have a Mahindra Motors. We googled and Amrita found that there was a Rishab motors in Guna. Ashok called Just Dial adn got the phone number and immediately called them. He spoke to Ankit Pachauri the Works Manager and explained the situation to him. Akhil was about to leave for the day and so he told Ashok to leave the car by the side of the road and leave and he would look into the matter the next day. But Ashok explained to him that he has family with him. Akhil immediately said that he would come there with his team at the earliest.

The Road Divider

We had to wait for an hour for the team to arrive which was sixty anxious minutes. On the bright side I was able to see so many stars in the sky due to the pitch darkness and wanted to do some star gazing and study of the constellations. But I knew that if I had mentioned it at that point in time, all the three would have boxed me left, right and centre. Finally, it was like seeing water in a desert when we saw the Mahindra vehicle arrive with Akhil and his team of 4 mechanics. They quickly changed the tyre to the spare tyre and Akhil drove us himself to the Mahindra Motors service centre. He assured us that they would fix the vehicle first thing in the morning as a top priority.

We checked into Hotel Sara and slept like lgs as we were drained both physically and emotionally.  We were not sure whether we would be able to proceed with our trip the next day.

Day 1 of The Great Indian Road Trip with the Monster Driver and The Beast

 Day 1: April 3, 2013 – Bengaluru to Nagpur – 1200 kms

The day began early at 3:30 AM. We got up, had coffee and quickly loaded all our gear into the Scorpio and left on schedule at 5.15.

Just as we crossed the toll booth on Airport road, we crossed a large hump and heard a loud noise of the kind that w e hear when a Kinetic Honda goes over a hump. We kept hearing it for two more kilometres. Ashok, the diligent driver he is, did not want to proceed further without getting it thoroughly checked and examined by a mechanic. We stopped by the side and everyone was hit by a wave of disappointment. Ashok started saying that lets go back home and make flight bookings and leave by flight tomorrow. I kept insisting that let us get this repaired and see how big the damage is and how long it will take to get this checked.

Ashok started waking people up and calling the mechanic who had serviced our vehicle, the guys who did the wheel alignment and their higher ups. The India Garage people told us to come to Sireesh Motors @ Yelahanka which was close by and he would send a mobile repair vehicle. We drove up to Sireesh Auto and waited for 2 hours when Ashok kept getting more and more frustrated because the mobile vehicle guys were not coming soon enough for him.  The first mechanic of Sireesh Motors arrived at 8:00 am and seeing him was like seeing a beautiful sunrise. He took a round in the vehicle and after examining the vehicle immediately declared that the problem is minor and the spring of the shock absorber has got cut and it can be set right in 45 mins or 1 hr.

But we had to wait for Sireesh Auto to open so that we could get it done which would be at 9:00. It lead to more frustrating moments for Ashok. The mobile repair vehicle also arrived with the two mechanics. Even they gave the same verdict about the vehicle. As soon as Sireesh Motors opened, all of them got done to work and changed the spring within no time while we waited in the visitor’s lounge watching Munna Bhai and we were on the road at 10.15.

We were crusing on Bellary/Hyderabad road NH 7. Ashok started screaming ‘JAI’ to all the Gods, Vajpayee Thatha and the National Highways Authorities, Mahindra Motors, Scorpio and anyone else he could think of. We were delayed by 5 hours but our trip was on and we were excited to be on the roads again. The roads were all 6 lane roads throughout and Ashok did a continuous 140 km/hr to 145 km/hr continuouslt and we were clearing hundreds of kilometres at the blink of the eye.

SOME STATISTICS

STARTING METER READING        : 123990 Kms

1^st Diesel filling                                  : 33.26 lts             : Rs. 1736             : @ 5.20 AM on 3/4/13

1^st TOLL PAID                                      : Devanahalli      : Rs. 20                  : 3 times because of the breakdown

2^nd Toll                                                  : Bagepalli            : Rs.50                   : 11.15 am

As we were approaching Pennkonda, Andra Pradesh, the sun was reaching its zenith and the hear was searing. But the Air Conditioner in the car was keeping us cool and we were guzzling bottles after bottles of chilled water which I had carried along with me. Mt mother in law had made us yummy chapathis with a smearing of tomato and onion spicy sauce. We were all hungry and we gobbled up the chapathi rolls as though we had not seen food for eons. The music system was blaring out some hit music of all languages which Apsara had downloaded. We had a minor glitch with the music system as well as the displayed stopped working. But the DJs Apsara and Amrita figured out a way of navigating through their ipods and iphones.

Just as everything was looking perfect, our stomachs full, music in the background, Car flying like a rocket and it was 11.35, there was a stoppage at Pennakonda as there was a political protest. The Telugu Desam party workers had gheraoed a local MLA and they had all squatted on the road and were not allowing any traffic to pass. A smart local Policeman came up and explained that there was a political protest and we could not go further. Ashok launched into chaste Andhra Telugu and explained about our trip to him. He in turn explained about what was going on and assured us that they have been given permission for 30 minutes and 20 minutes more was left and that he would flag us off first as soon as it was over. The local SI and Commisioner were also present to ensure that there was no violence and things went on smoothly. Now all we had to do wait those 20 minutes which started looming large on our heads as though it was 20 hours. I was reminded of Einstein’s wonderful explanation about theory of relativity “when a beautiful girl is near you, 10 hours seem like 10 seconds but when you are sitting on a hot plate, 10 secs seem like 10 years”. Just as we were into a heated up debate about Telangana politics, the good police officers waved us on and we were once again cruising along with great glee and a whoopee! War cry.

The signage on board said ‘New Delhi 1882 kms’ which looked so close yet so far...

3^rd Toll   : Ananthpur        : Rs.90   : @ 12.40 pm      : 214 km in 2 hr 25 mins with the 20 min stoppage

                                                               

The signage on board said ‘Hyderabad 340 kms’ looks like we can have tea at Hyderabad

4^th Toll   : Karegalli                                   : Rs.80

5^th Toll   : Dronachalam or Dhomne           : Rs. 80                  : 1:25 pm

The signage on board said ‘Hyderabad 247 kms’. Bypassing Kurnool @ 1.50 pm. Did 105 kms in 70 mins.

6^th Toll                               : Kurnool              : Rs. 75                 : 1:50 pm

2^nd Diesel Fill up                : 50.30 lts             : Rs. 2610             : Milage reading 124441

The signage on board said ‘Nagpur 675 kms’, ‘Hyderabad 155 kms’

7^th Toll   : Rs. 51  : 2.50 pm

2:55 pm Hyderabad just 100 km away. 2:57 Hosarpet. 3:00 Hyderabad just 95 km away. 3:15 Hyderabad just 70 km away. 3:20 Hyderabad just 60 km away!!!!!

8^th Toll                   : Rs. 53                 : Raikal                                                  : 3.21

Reached Hyderabad at 3:45 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nagpur 515 km away. 

9^th Toll                   : Rs. 40                  : ORR Pedda Golconda                   : 5:15 pm              : Nagpur 501 km

Stopped at Medak Dist, Manoharabad, Sri Atithi restaurant at PSR Auction Yard. Had lovely gobi manchurian, paneer pakoda, veg fried rice and veg Manchurian. They served us very hot and tasty tea which rejuvenated us all and we were raring to get to Nagpur. 5:35 started from Manoharabad.

10^th Toll     : Rs. 105   : Medak   : 5.37 pm              : Nagpur 370 km

Crossed a town called Sadashivnagar. Were remembering Bangalore and also Anu, Prerna and Ashutosh who are from Sadashivnagar.

Nizamabad       : 6:38 pm  : Nagpur 316 km                               : it is getting dark

3^rd Fuel Filling     : 7:05 pm  : Balgonda  : 54.14 lts   : Driving mileage 816 kms  : filling fuel every 450 kms

11^th Toll    : Rs. 30    : Nirmal               : 7:20 pm

7:51 pm                 : Nagpur 227 km

8:16 pm  : Driving mileage 1000 kms !!!     : 10 hrs

8:21 pm  : Adilabad            : Nagpur 200 km

Our great Indian road saga started from Adilabad. The roads are very bad from Adilabad. It took Ashok 40 mins to navigate 50 kms while up till now he was doing almost 100 kms an hour.

12^th Toll                 : Panderkavada                 : Rs. 30                  : 9.00 pm                              : 150 km to Nagpur

13^th Toll                 : Wander                             : Rs. 50                  9:55 pm                                : 94 km to Nagpur

14^th Toll                 : Berkedi                              : Rs. 80                  : 10:37                                   : 36 km to Nagpur

11:00 pm

I had enquired with one of the professors at VNIT, Nagpur on where to have dinner and where to stay. Based on her suggestion we stopped at a wonderful garden restaurant on the outskirts of Nagpur on the Airport road called “Dwarka”. It is a garden restaurant and has a very spacious and well spread out garden. They have a large car parking and very welcoming atmosphere. There was a big dance party going on and loud music. The play list included many old and new Bollowood hits and some English songs thrown in. It was a very relaxing atmosphere and we had to wait a good 20 to 25 mins for our veg Kolhapuri, Dal Tadka and rotis to arrive. We used up the time to chat with the waiters and enquire about the various routes to take to Delhi. The food was very tasty and we were ravenous. We reached the Hotel Majestic Manor at around 12.30 and it was 1:00 by the time we slept thoroughly exhausted but very happy and satisfied for having done 1200 kms in one day. Thanks to the wonderful roads and Ashok’s superb driving and our never say die attitude.

Total driving time                       : 13 hrs

Total milage                               : 1200 kms

Total number of toll booths         : 14

Total toll amount                        : Rs.834

No of fuel refills                         : 3

Total fuel filled                           : 137.7 lts

Total amount paid                      : Rs. 7253

Total number of stops to refill ourselves    : 2 J     : one chai stop and one dinner stop J

It was all in all a very action packed day filled with drama, suspense, action and comedy. As I switched off the lights to sleep at 1:00 I was humming the song “Yuhi chala oh rahi yuhi chala” from Swades and was into deep slumber within a few seconds....................

The Monster Driver and His Beast on a Great Indian Road Trip with their family - Chapter 1 : Preparations

PREPARATIONS

We are planning a major road trip. Bangalore - Nagpur - Delhi - Shimla - Manali - Jaipur - Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Bangalore in 11 Days. Around India in 11 Days.

No. of travellers - 4
Driver - Ashok
Passengers - Apsara, Amrita and Asha (who can also be an occasional driver, i.e. if the main driver lets her)
Vehicle - Scorpio

The exitement has started. The day Ashok got the reservation to the Club Mahindra Resort at Gables Mashonbra, Shimla called Whispering Pines we decided that we will not go by air but we will drive down. It had always been our dream to do a road trip across India and especially drive on the Golden Quadrilateral which Ashok fondly calls as Vajpayee Thatha road as it was the former Prime Minister of India Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee who initiated the Golden Quadrilateral project and connected India seamless and brought about an economic boom and a travel revolution.

We discussed at length and chalked our a route that we will take. Since AShok is a veteran driver with more than 300000 kms of driving under his belt, he knows the routes and what it takes to drive.

Onward Journey

Wednesday      Apr-03             Bangalore to Nagpur    1069 km

Thursday         Apr-04             Nagpur to Agra              819 km

                                                       Agra to Mathura       58.70 km

                                                      Mathura to Delhi     159 km

Friday              Apr-05             Delhi to Shimla             367 km

Saturday          Apr-06                         Shimla

Sunday            Apr-07                         Shimla

Monday           Apr-08                         Shimla

Tuesday           Apr-09                         Kulu                208 km

Wednesday      Apr-10                         Manali              40 km

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

                                                TOTAL                    2720.70 km

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

The Beast is being made ready. This trusted beast of Ashok 'the monster driver' has done more than one lakh kilometers. Its the safest vehicle. The monster driver loves this beast to death and they have a very special understanding between them like that of a pet (doberman) and its master. Just like a doberman this beast is very loyal to only its one and only monster driver master and one gentle touch is enough for the beast to understand the comands of its master and do his bidding. The beast is getting pruned and oiled. Its being being readied like a bride is readied for her wedding. Wheel alignment, oil changes, AC gas checking, all electrical connection checking etc. The music system will be checked tomorrow on a special request by my daughter.

My daughters are DJ Apsara and DJ Amrita. Out of about 600 hours of driving time they have divided the timings equally amongst themselves when each of them gets to play their music. So they are busy downloading all kinds of music and I am sure that the entertainment part of the journey will be well taken care of.

I, on my part am checking out all sorts of blogs for different dhabhas on the way and the local cuisine available so that we can taste all the flavors of India. I am more focussed on the breakfast, lunch, dinner and the tea coffee stops. We also will need a lot of water. I have also stocked my medicine supplies with tablets for vomiting, motion sickness, loose motions, stomach aches, fever etc.

Here's to a lot of packing, preparations and lots more exitement.... All set to leave tomorrow ....

101 things I want to do before I die

Right from the time I saw a hindi movie called Dasvidania (Good Bye in Russian) in 2008 starring Vinay Pathak where the main protaganist makes a list of ten things he wants to do before he dies when he is diagonised as sufffering from terminal cancer, I have been reading in many places these kinds of lists of 10 things, 20 things, 30 things and 101 things to do before you die.

Its not about the number of things to be done or whether creating such a list is important or mandatory. The larger issue is that many of us lead our lives making excuses as to why we cannot do the things that we cannot do rather than going about doing them. Also many of us end up leading our lives feeling like victims whose current state of lives is due to the fact that certain things did not happen or they are not able to do certain things etc.

These are all my general perceptions and not the absolute facts or truths.

So to cut a long story short, I had a few things that I wanted to do but it remained as just that, wanting to do and not taking any steps to do it. Most of the things are the adventurous kinds that are easily doable and maybe my idea to list them out is so that I can start ticking them off one by one as done.

The list is in random order and is not listed according to my preferances or choice or what I want the most and am dying for etc. Its listed out in the order in which I remembered.

1. Go trekking 
2. Go Rock climbing
3. Go on a road trip all over our country - Yippee!!!! Doing it from April 3 to April 14
4. Go on a road trip on the golden quadrilateral
5. Run a 42 km marathon - I am on my way to doing this in a couple of years
6. Go trekking in the himalayas
7. Run in the mountains
8. Climb a mountain
9. Sky diving - Inspired by "Zindagi na milegi dobara" and a friend who did it last year
10. Water snorkeling
11. Learn swimming
12. Learn Bollywood dancing from Saroj Khan
13. See a Rock concert
14. See a Metal concert
15. Ride a water scooter
16. Drive a motor bike on a highway
17. Camping out in the woods
18. Go on a long cycling trip with our cycling gang
19. Do a cycling race
20. Get wet in the rain and dance in the rain
21. Learn to speak in Marathi
22. Speak in Tamil correctly
23. Speak in Telugu correctly
24. Learn Gujarathi
25. Learn Sanskrit
26. Bungee Jumping
27. Cliff diving
28. Sing to an audience and get applauded
29. Visit all the places of Rajasthan
30. Visit Gujarat
31. Visit Kanyakumari
32. Skiing
33. Do the AOL Advanced course (Part 2 Course)
34. See snow
35. Go on a long train journey
36. Go back packing
37. Learn Kalaripayattu
38. Take part in a Play
39. Act in a play / TV show / Movie
40. Talk to an audience of 300 - 500 
41. Take a workshop on Indian culture / history / Religion
42. Live in a different city ./ town / village / country for atleast 6 months
43. Plant a tree and watch it grow
44. Grow own vegetables and greens
45. Taste wine and see how it feels
46. Taste champagne
47. Taste beer
48. Taste rum / whiskey
49. Get high
50. Achieve a flat stomach, flat and fit
51. Loose weight and achieve my ideal weight of 58 Kgs
52. Start a business or start something on my own
53. Work in another organisation
54. Have a sleepover with college friends
55. Have a sleepover with school friends
56. Get featured in a TV news item or Newspaper news column
57. Get interviewed by TV or newspaper
58. Visit Amritsar Golden Temple
59. Go to Kashi, Hardwar, Allahabad, Ayodhya and Rishikesh
60. Write a book
61. Write for a magazine
62. Write for a newspaper
63. Railroad trip across Europe in Eurail. 
64. Visit US
65. Learn some latino dance, any form
66. Travel by train from Kanyakumari to Kargil
67. Visit all the North East states of India
68. Travel by train from Arunachal Pradesh to Porbandar
69. Own a very expensive and branded watch.
70. Take part in community cleaning programs like sweeping etc.
71. Take part in a voluntary project that creates some difference like the Clean Hussain Sagar lake project, Clean Kumudavathi river project etc.

AUROVILLE MARATHON : February 10, 2013

Distance: 10 km

Time : 1hr : 24mins : 53 secs

It all comes down to that moment in time when it  it does not matter who you are, what you have done or where you have come from or where you are going. You are just in the purity of the moment and just being there. It comes down to experiencing that joy, which I feel is the best form of gratitude and appreciation, at just being there for no rhyme or reason.

On Sunday it was all down to that for me. The training period was so full of ups and downs that the run day was actually quite, calm, relaxed, blissful and  peaceful and quite an anti climax  as compared to all the drama and happenings in the past three months.

I has started the season with a severe pain in my knees and right shin. For several weeks during my training period, I ran with the pain and came back to pain at home. The coaches and the physios (thank and bless both of them) helped me with exercises and tips on how to manage the pain.

We had a set back in my family due to my husband's aunt's demise. After that  I had to rush to Mysore due to my father's hospitalisation and subsequently had to stay back after his unfortunate demise. I missed many training sessions and runs during this period.  But getting back into training helped me to regain focus and also to come back on track. It helped me to not get swept off by emotions but gain some semblance of normalcy over myself. It helped me cope with everything that was going on around me.

I came back to Bangalore and started training and amazingly most of my pain in the knee just vanished. I was feeling better and running stronger with almost no pain at all. It was no short of a miracle and in the famous words of Paulo Coelho it was as if the whole universe was conspiring to help me to run. I felt very positive and said the same to Santhosh and he just shook my hands. I felt on top of this world.

On Thursday, two days before we were supposed to leave for Pondi, I came down with a severe bout of food poisoning caused by the late night dinner the previous night at my favorite north Indian restaurant. All the paneer thikhas masala and roti subjis came out both ways in full watery style again and again. But somehow, I was confident that this will pass and I will be fit the next day. I remembered Samantha Fox's old song "Nothings gonna stop me now".

It was a herculean task to organise a road trip for 100 absolutely insane runners and two very brave hearts took up this daunting task courageously and accomplished it with clock work precision and absolute finesse. The trip to Pondicherry itself was one big party. The bus ride was full of singing, dancing, laughter and enjoyment. After we landed at Pondicherry, we did a little bit of sight seing after lunch and then set out to have the pre race night pasta dinner. It was very tasty and we returned back and crashed early to be up and awake early the next day. 

On the race day, when the whole world was fast asleep, it was a glorious sight to see 100 odd very excited people at 4.30 in the morning very chatty and chirpy.  We all went to the Marathon starting area where the full marathoners had already started running. The half marathoners started their run to loud sheering. We had a wonderful warm up session with music and it was great to shake our hands and legs to 'I gotta feeling, tonight's gonna be a good night'. We were joined by Chief himself which filled us all with a sense of well being and a warm feeling.  

The run was just normal and just like any other training day. I did not actually do or feel anything extraordinary or new. The trail was beautiful and the weather was cloudy and a bit humid. I met a few runners from Bangalore whom I had met on the Bangalore Ultra run and we caught up with each other and exchanged tit bits about our training and other sundry topics. We drank a lot of water and electrolyte and ate a few chikkis. I finished strong and did my personal best time of 1 hr and 24 mins 53 secs. 

I immediately joined Padma who was cheering the runners and started yelling, screaming and shouting and cheering all the runners. We were joined by more runners and we formed a cheering squad and danced to the drum beats. We continued cheering for the next two hours non stop and shouted ourselves hoarse. We cheered almost all the RH runners except Karthik and Sharath. We had to go to have our breakfast as we were told the buses might leave. The return journey in the bus to Bangalore was even more riotous with a lot of games, leg pulling and friendly banter. 

What running has helped me achieve is that sense of freedom being on the trail and running as best as I can or as best as I want to on that given day. That sense of letting myself go and that feeling of lightness that comes with it is what I have discovered. I finally feel that I have arrived and that I have found something. I never knew that I was looking for this or that I was in need of this till I realised that this is what I always wanted to do but did not know about it. So running for me has begun to go way deeper. 

So here's to many many more years of running and improving every day and taking great joy and pleasure in each small victory and each new discovery. here's to many many more moments of euphoria and delirium and pure vivacity and pure bliss.