Photo Travelogue :
Read first part - Here
1ST RETURN TRIP
On 28thJune, I started my 1st return journey. I had puri-bhaji lunch near Nashik. It was monsoon time in Maharashtra so entire road till I reached MP was rainy and cool with lots of dramatic cloudy patterns in the skies keeping me constant company. Although it was difficult to drive in the rains, I simply loved it. However, once I reached MP reality hit bad. It was so hot and sunny rest of the trip, that I felt very uncomfortable inside the car...esp at night halts. I had a fan, but it wasn't enough. And to make matters worse, I was wearing warm clothes because it was so pleasant when I had left Maharashtra. My trip was spent cursing the heat. I halted the first night near Indore. In Guna, the next day, it was blazing hot when I halted in noon. I passed through Shivpuri when it was still day time and saw the shrubby forest all the way till Jhansi. It wasn't as scary during day time. Because of the heat, I had sped my car like crazy. Just before Jhansi though, at dusk, I missed the right turn, and nearly took off to Delhi by mistake. In Orai, I finally halted the night near a toll plaza dhaba, but, the dhaba guy kept coming and knocked at my car door. I was parked bit away from it, but still they pestered me. I realized, dhabas don't allow parking anywhere near them, as there is a constant flow of trucks. They have a system of flashing flash-lights at trucks to indicate that there was a dhaba nearby. Anyhow, I decided to move and moved to the other side of the plaza where it was quiet and no one disturbed. During day time I crossed Kanpur.
I reached Lucknow by noon. UP police stopped my car seeing my solar panel, but, they let me go eventually, when I told them I had too long a journey to complete. I had lunch at a dhaba near lucknow. By night I had reached Gorakhpur outskirts. I halted at a toll, but, some mosquito entered my car and didnt let me sleep. So I decided to drive instead. I crossed Gopalganj and Muzaffarpur and finally halted near Darbhanga. I had tried halting near another dhaba, but, again they kept knocking, so I simply drove on. In Bihar, the temperature was not as torturous and had somewhat cooled off, because, it was raining in the northeast too. I tried bihari 'lithi-chole' at a tea stall, it was not-to-my-taste; the tea was good though.. I drove through Araria and then onto Bahadurganj, where I went the wrong road, but thankfully realised my mistake in time, and got back on track. That road was under works, so, had to go around and around at some points. Towards evening I reached Siliguri and got trapped inside the city's traffic. It was a headache asking for directions to Fulbari from where I was supposed to go to New Jalpaiguri. Its advisible, to take the highway instead. Asking several traffic police, I finally reached the Fulbari junction, where one needs to go straight to the Bangladesh border. There's another road on left that goes towards NJP. I had roti sabji, then continued with my journey. It was raining heavily and I could barely see in the rain. I was driving through the forests to reach Hashimara. It was a scene straight out of a horror flick. The lighning made the trees look scarier., and the road that took forever. Somehow, I reached Hashimara, but, I continued driving. Maybe, I loved the thrill. Till I reached Srirampur I kept driving. I rested a while and then again started. This time I didn't let my mother know that I was coming, I kept it as a secret and she definitely was surprised to see me when I reached early morning.
route 1 - crossing Araria in Bihar and entering West Bengal...
2ND RETURN TRIP
On 20th April, early morning I started driving for Guwahati. I had dum-aloo and naan lunch near Nashik at a rather posh dhaba ( full of customers ) and drove till Mhow toll plaza where I stopped couple of meters from the toll plaza. MP police disturbed me and kept knocking my car at intervals. I was in no mood to respond so ignored them. Its a dacoit zone, so, I guess they were suspicious. Early morning too I saw them looking at my car suspiciously. One even said - 'aare, yeh toh female hai', lol. This journey was interesting too and full of incidents. On this trip, I avoided stopping anywhere near dhabas at night, instead, I stopped at toll plazas where no one disturbed. So, my next night was near Darbhanga toll plaza and journey resumed the next morning. In Bihar, after crossing Araria, I had taken the Thakurganj road at first, but, because of jams in the little towns I drove back to the highway and went the Purnea road instead which was far better. I reached WB and drove the night with little gaps in between. I reached home early morning.
lets go mirzapur...
but, some food first...
thats vindhyachal in my rear view...
route 2 - indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Rewa, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Arah, Danapur, Muzaffarpur...
3RD RETURN RIP
Early morning on 20th April, I started my 3rd return journey ( my 6th trip in total, to and fro ). I drove through the winding Kasara ghats ( was stuck in a jam for sometime at a perilious incline as well ), and was hoping to take the new Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg; but, at last moment I decided otherwise. Just after Igatpuri one needs to take a right turn to go this road towards Amane. There's also an entry point from Nashik. Since this 'mahamarg' is still relatively new, there are very few rest stops here and the road is quite long with many accident reports. I had lunch just before I reached Nashik, and the dhaba boys enthusiastically prepared a delicious 'dum aloo and butter naan' combo for me. After that I continued ( with few halts ) till I reached Indore exit toll plaza and stopped for the night. Early morning, instead of the Shivpuri route I decided to go via the Jabalpur route, so, took a turn for Bhopal. The sun was at my face the entire morning and I reached Bhopal. The road was okayish and I had my breakfast of Dosa just before I reached Bhopal. One needs to take the Bhopal bypass, but, I had missed it. I had to ask somene and go back. This bypass road was very bumpy and full of craters. I reached Vidhisha, Sagar, Bhojpur, after asking at several places for the exact route to Jabalpur. Some traffic police helped. One needs to drive to Obedullaganj from where one sees the sign towards Jabalpur. I had lunch and also a freak accident here, where my solar panel battery caught fire. When I opened the car door, black smoke was coming from inside. The dhaba guys helped me cut all the wires. From that point, I didn't use the solar panel battery and was dependent on my car battery for all my phone and fan charging. It was quite hot in these parts till I reached Bihar. The road to Jabalpur has two forests ( main being the Satpura ) that one needs to cross and that was the charm in all the stress. It was early evening after crossing Bhedaghat bypass, I reached Jabalpur. As usual, I drove straight towards the city only to realise my mistake and drive the wrong lane back to the right track that went to Rewa via Satna, Katni. Theres a road to Khajuraho as well on this route. The road to Rewa was dugged and treacherous. I reached Rewa and rested the night at it's toll plaza.
Early morning, I took off from Rewa towards Varanasi via Mirzapur. The road was initially very rural, narrow and long, but graduaally became okay. I had to go through the Vindhyachal mountain range towards the other side. The road was broader on other side till Varanasi and beyond. Inside Varanasi, one needs to take a right turn at a certain circular junction towards Mohana, and then another circle towards Arah via Mughal Sarai where I halted for some time near the highway itself. The journey was most stressful at this point onwards. I wanted to take as short cut via Chapra from Arah which proved to be a nightmare.Driving through Arah town, made me swear never to take this route again in my life. After I crossed Arah somehow, ( it was so so messy, narrow and over-crowded, I had taken a state highway ) I asked for directions towards Chapra at a dhaba where I bought some cold drinks. They told me to take the longer Danapur road instead. The Chapra road was lined with trucks that just stopped moving after a while, that too on only one side ( there was construction on the other ), and since they stopped altogether and with trucks coming the opposite way, I was trapped. A scorpion that I was following, came to my rescue. The driver helped me turn my car and drove me back out of the jam till the point from where I took the Danapur route, where again for 1km distance, there was heavy traffic jam for almost over three hours. I made two wrong turns towards patna as well. Anyhow, I got back till the Danapur Rly Stn ( via khargaul chowk ) after which one needs to take the round about flyover, but, cut midway towards JP Setu. It was a thrilling night with lots of wrong turns and roundabouts, but, finally, I was on the Setu and on my way to Hajipur; then, Muzafarpur. There was lot of traffic here as well, I followed some local cars into a very narrow lane and came out of a steep climb to the highway again, to cut traffic. Whew...finally, I reached Muzaffarpur, but, I kept driving until after I reached Darbhanga where I halted the night. Somewhere in between, Bihar police checked my car. One had let me go, but, another was like...'ladies also do bad things'. Bihar is a dry state so they were looking for liquor..I told them Bombay and Guwahati had plenty of liquor shops, I didn't need to smuggle through Bihar. When they searched, I kept taunting them...'aare, kuch mila ki nahi?'
It was crazy driving the next day too. Lot of traffic near Araria chowk but finally skipped and made it to Purnea, after which the nightmare ended ( or maybe not ). After I entered WB, i had lunch at a dhaba and rested a while. The dhaba guy was staring at me throughout. There were also a group of transgenders in the dhaba headed by a female madam. I ate my food and ran from the place. Onward journey, WB police stopped me and demanded to check my car. I was so exhausted that I refused to comply and stayed put in middle of the road for about 40 minutes. There were lot of heated exchanges. I was defiant. They kept banging on my door to open as it was election time. Lady constables along with senior officials came too, but I was like 'STFU, I came all the way from Bombay, if I had anything illegal in my car, it'd have been found out long ago, so, get lost, I'm not opening. Do whatever you want, i'll not move an inch till elections are over'. They were scared to break in too. It was full on tamasha with everyone stopping to look, but, I'd just not budge and refused to open. Ultimately, they did let me go, as I had stopped the whole traffic. At 4pm I was back driving at full speed. I reached Hashimara by late evening and drove the forest road till Barobasha. I halted sometime..and by midnight, I was driving again. At morning I reached home.
And so finally all my trips ended. Will I go on this particular road trip again? Well, after doing it 6 times ( both sides 3 times each ), I'm not that tempted anymore - as I've seen it all, and done it all. Also, the journey can be done only in winter months, when the weather is pleasant. My return trips were horribly hot. However, I must say I enjoyed all my trips. I learnt a lot. Its all about tackling things with full survival mode on. I'd love to do them, but, lets see. Or I might do a road trip some place else too. There are other routes I'd like to explore as well. For solo trips such as mine, one needs to be really brave and street smart. I prepared a lot, analysed a lot, all pros and cons - only after I was convinced that I could do it, I ventured out. So, if any one wants to do it, it is possible, but be disciplined about it and be aware of every detail. Never let your guard down. After my first trip itself, I had got confidence, but I treated each trip as a new trip and prepared as such from scratch.
Address : Araria, Forbesganj, Darbhanga, Jhanjharpur, Muzzafarpur, Gopalganj...
Read next part - Here! Stay tuned for all my road, rail, flight, cruise & walk trips.
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