Travelogue

Well, happy to be back to the blogging days. I'll try to give you a glimpse of the experience I had for one week, during my insane road trip from Kerala all the way to New Delhi, in my Maruthi Zen LX.

Day 1 (15th Oct,'09)
The day started at 5.30AM, and the car left Trichur, Kerala by 8.00AM. First day's target was to reach Bangalore by dusk. The roads allowed us to keep a consistent 60-80km/h during the early hours, and as planned we would not raise to the triple figures on our journey for the sake of my 10yr old companion. We reached Salem by noon and had lunch from a highway 'kerala restaurant'. Since the roads in Tamil Nadu were excellent, we could cover good distance in less time and managed to reach Bangalore city by 7.00pm, and then got stuck in traffic mayhem. Some luck helped and a timely left turn from the highway helped me find a decent place for stay at Madivala. The trip meter read 504km.

Bangalore City is a likable place except for its traffic and under construction roads. The city is quite well structured and public are also quite literate and well mannered.

Day 2
Our destination for the day was Hyderabad, which was 570km away. The route was clear- to take the NH3 via Kurnool. According to our plan, this would be the longest single day route on our trip. We started off by 7.15am And the majority of the roads were excellent too. About 120km from Bangalore and the last 200km from Kurnool to Hyderabad are superior 4-lane expressways and the rest of it being under construction. The only thing which would haunt you is the lack of civilization along this path. Its like people went to these places only to build roads and never saw that place again. Many sections are deserted and sometimes you may not find markers for more than 50km which might be quite awkward at times, mind you you are travelling on a National Highway.
We could reach Hyderabad city outskirts by 7pm. We headed towards Nampally, where we found a decent place for stay. At Hyd, people on their two wheelers were absolutely crazy. Except for Hyderabad city, traffic was quite unregulated in other parts . People understood Hindi quite well and that was enough. :)

Day 3:
(17/10/09)
Day started at 7.15AM, and we left Hyderabad city by around 8.45. Destination Nagpur. This was one of the worst sections of the entire journey. Most of the sections of NH7 were under construction and at some places roads literally disappeared, with only some heavy trucks and our car travelling on pure gravel and mud. Nevertheless, we managed to cover a good 490km by dusk. Vinit, my Xth classmate, arranged stay at his place and i was blessed to be a part of Aarti n pooja for Diwali. Had some really nice Dal-rice and sweets and wished him Happy B'day the next day as well. !! Really that was divine intervention- that his b'day and diwali happened to be on consecutive days and i could be a part of both.....
Next day, we left nagpur by 9AM and headed towards Bhopal.

Day4 :
The roads were average-above average kind of. Although not convincing most of the time, the whole landscape and meadows through which the roads shaped up enthralled me. At most of the places you would find people/ vehicles or something which would make you feel a part this world. Mind the cattle/livestock which are on the roads/sides. They have equal priority when it comes to sharing roads.
Since the distance was less, there was no need to rush. But the latter part of the section was a mix of average-below average-poor roads. Anyone of these could pop up any minute.
After reaching Bhopal by 6pm, we headed straight towards Bhopal railway station, where we found a decent place for stay right in front of the station. The day ended with some good roti-sabji from a near by restaurant. Distance covered was 350km

Day 5:
Mission Gwalior (ga-va-liyar , thats how many people pronounced it!!). We hit the roads by 9.00AM and could cover good distance in short time. The roads were above average when it came to quality and width wise it was 2-lane. The cool thing was the roads were accompanied with rich flora and fauna alongside them. This made the day's trip pretty pleasant. Gwalior town was reached in 9 hours and I halted at a hotel near railway station. Total distance covered was 420km.
I really wished to have a map of Delhi city, but I was wandering through the Gwalior streets in vain, as no cafe would be open after 7pm it seems. People on two wheelers were absolutely insane, and I witnessed many bikers riding on a half a foot high footpath just as if they would do it anywhere else.
After my unsuccessful search for a cyber cafe, I finally got to my bed by 10.pm

Day 6:( Grand Finale ) 20/10/09
Destination : New Delhi

Oh gosh. It was an awesome feeling. I would be making it to the capital city, which would mark the successful end of a six day marathon. We set off by 9 AM and our plan was to visit the Taj on our way. The roads were beautiful and except for some very short stretches of lame patches, we could keep a consistent 80kays per hour and this enabled us to reach Agra by around 12.00Noon. We visited the Taj Mahal ( how marvelous she is... !) and left Agra by 3.00PM, with only another 200 more kms to make. The roads were pretty excellent but for some traffic.
By 6.30Pm, we reached the outskirts of Faridabad.
From there onwards, the journey was filled with so much of luck and chance that I really doubted divine intervention for the second time. My target was to reach the South Extension of AIIMS, from where dad would accompany us. Though it took us some time to reach there, the route we took to reach there still remains a mystery. So many left turns and right turns, majestic fly-overs, oh god this metro city really took a toll on us for some time.
From there, we took the outer ring road towards Wazirpur, from which we diverted towards Rohini, which was my final destination.
And home by 9.30PM.
Was a relieved person.
'We' mentioned above includes me, my CD player, my buddy Maruti Zen LX . And quite strictly so. Thank you.



Trip Summary:
Start Point : Trichur, Kerala
End Point : New Delhi, Delhi
Total Distance covered :2700+ km
Route :
1. Trichur- Palghat - Coimbatore - Salem -Bangalore(NH47, NH7 )
2. Bangalore- Anantpur - Kurnool - Hyderabad (NH7)
3. Hyderabad - Nirmal - Adilabad - Nagpur (NH7)
4. Nagpur -Pandurna -Beitul - Itarsi - Hoshangabad -Bhopal (NH69)
5.Bhopal - Narsingharh- Biaora - Guna- Shivpuri- Gwalior(NH 3)
6. Gwalior- Agra- Mathura- New Delhi(NH 2)

Total fuel : Rs 9000+ (Mileage 15)
Total toll : Rs 465
Total food + stay : ( depends on no. of persons and taste , any way per day a min 600)

Places of Stay :
Bangalore : Hotel Mass Residency, Madivala( its a good one)
Hyderabad : Hotel Imperial, Nampally( You can find loads of hotels at Nampally)
Bhopal : Hotel Pukhraj, Opp. Habib Ganj Railway Station
Gwalior : Hotel Mascot, Near overbridge near railway station


Advice 1. Make sure you have enough no. of good songs / cds/ dvds. AC is a must.
Advice 2. Auto/ taxi drivers are a good source of information. Mind them.
Advice 3. Best place to find a stay should be near the railway station !

Chelsea, you deserved better!!

After a series of shocking decisions, the final nail on the coffin was laid by Iniesta when he scored the 93' screamer which steered Barcelona to Rome for the UEFA champions league finals, 2009. Surely the result would have been other way around, but for some horrendous refereeing and some immature reactions from fellow Chelsea players after the match..
A soccer match played between two world class football clubs and in such a noteworthy tournament really deserved far better officials than the ones who were incharge. They played down four critical decisions, two of them being one hundred and one percent in favour of the hosts at the Stamford Bridge on 6th May. The match ended 1-1, with Barca moving forward on away goal.

Chat with a bus-driver

I was standing in a queue at the railway station to get a ticket to Kuttippuram, and this man approached me ,and requested to get one for him as well. The person at the counter didn't have a change for the 100Rs bill I had given him, neither did we. So he adjusted both the tickets from the same note(now hell with him! I thought ) and my stranger friend now owed me his ticket's cost.
Oh god.. Now I have to keep an eye on him till I get my money back.. That he doesnt get away...
He suggested that he would pay me after getting a tea inside the train( so that he can ask for a change.. So we waited, together, for the train to arrive....
See how much trouble you can get into if you are not having a change at the right time..!

Now the story begins.I got to know more about him. This man, Shaju, earned his wages by driving his( I mean his boss') Thrissur-Kannur private limited stop bus, daily.
He had a wife and two children at home. I inquired more and learned that his roots drew back from a very poor family. After dropping out of school from 6th std, he had worked at a workshop and later managed to become a lorry-driver. After his marriage, he got a job as a bus-driver. When asked he was going today, he told me that he had to settle an accident case in the court at Tirur. He had very narrowly escaped death that day, he remembers...

He went on bragging about this and that, though I found most of it interesting, and also told me about his daily wages as well.If the bus collected Rs 100 per day, Rs 6 was for the driver, 4 for the conductor and 2 for the cleaner. So he says, with an average collection of 14k-18k per day, he got around 1000 bucks per day, when multiplied by 25 working days, gave him more than what Infosys and Wipro promise to give. WOW..!

But he also mentions the high level of risk involved in their profession. When at the steering wheel, he is responsible for all the lives clinging behind him. He has to make it to the destination in the specified time, not late, nor early. Just seconds difference would spark a feud with the drivers/conductors of other buses running according to their respective time schedules. And the terrain of our roads needs a special mention as well. From water logging to dry patches, boulders to vegetation, everything can be found here. To drive in these extreme conditions without tiredness/sleep is real hectic. And overloaded buses would mean extra care while manipulating sharp curves and overtaking, because momentum and inertia could call for a disaster if anything goes out of control.

So he says after a tiring long day, he spends most of his income at the bars and beverage shops, thriving for liquor. All these bad habits(everything you can imagine), he says, is a part and parcel in their profession.! He was advising me not to get hold these bad habits, and all this time he was taking out a pinch of Hans in his hands, pressing(pressurizing) it, and inserting it in somewhere his mouth. Amazing personality.
I am telling you, the thing smells yuck...

Also he asked me " Da nee endu padikua.." I replied, "Engineering ".
" ee engineeringil endokeya padipikua ?"
" Chetta nammukku schoolil okke science ,maths angane kore subjects ille? athu pole engineeringil Electronics Computer angane oro vibhagangal undu.. Njan computer science aanu padikunne...."
Well how else could I make this man understand.. suggestion ?

My journey ended at Kuttippuram :). Thats all. Thank you for listening my bla bla bla.




PS : Chewing tobacco is injurious to health
PS.2 : I got my money back :)

Who Am I ?

Freaky question ain't ? Well not that freaky you might be thinking. 

A conversation quoted here :

Me : Da, where had you been ?

Bro : To the temple yaa.. Mom insisted. 

Me : Ok.. answer me.

Bro : ??

Me : Where do we live ?

Bro : Of course Thrissur.

Me: Where is it ?

Bro : WHAT ?

Me : I mean where is Thrissur ?

Bro : Kerala.

Me : ????

Bro : India... Asia... World.... Earth...

       : Anymore you want ?

Me : Yes

Bro: Well....... arghh........ Solar system..

Me : more...

Bro : Milky way galaxy

       : UNIVERSE...

Where is this Universe? WHERE  ? Why does it exist ? Why does it have LIFE ? Who designed the universe ?  ( ALMIGHTY ? Who ? ) 

Why did he create humans ? 

Why do we exist ? Why should we exist ? Any purpose to this Universe ?

Who are we ?

Lord Shiva asked this question... Swami Vivekanda asked the same... Now I am asking you...

Who Am I ?