GUWAHATI TO BOMBAY ( MUMBAI ) - MY EPIC ROAD TRIP VIA MARUTI ALTO AND CAR CAMPING - DAY 2 - BAROBASHA ( WB ) TO SILIGURI ( WB )

Photo Travelogue :
Read first part - Here!


1ST TRIP

I woke up and saw my surroundings. I was parked near the bus stop and in day light I got better understanding of where I was. I washed my face and ate the left over pizza that I had, and an apple. I also understood why the man was knocking my window the previous night. The water bag that I carried on my roof was leaking, and there was a pool of water gathered in the rear of my car near the wheel. Since this trip I was travelling slow, I started driving at almost 10 am. I crossed the Aiipurduar section and jumped traffic. A blue uniformed WB cop came running and demanded 100 bucks as fine. I was in no mood to pay him ( although it was my mistake, I didn't see the red light because of a huge truck in front of me ). I told him to send me an online challan, but, he let me go ( maybe he wanted to pocket that 100 bucks himseklf. The rule I follow - no matter you are at fault or not, always ask for an online challan and also, never hand over physical copy of driving licence and RC ). This part of the journey I really enjoyed because, the views were most awesome. I turned to reach the elusive Hashimara which was about 30 odd kms, but took forever to reach. WB had too many police checks; and the roads, although national highway, was very narrow at most places. And the frequent high and oddly built speed breakers were most annoying. Hmph!
the road to alipurduar from barobasha...





I crossed forests after forests ( before and also after Hashimara ) in this route and my excitement knew no bounds. Buxa, Jagdalpara, Gorumara, Chapramani, Mahananda forests etc...and tea gardens so many of them. By noon, I had still not reached Hashimara, I decided to have my lunch of ready-to-eat food. I opened my butane stove to warm up my rice and chole. Half way on this route, there's a split in the road and one side goes all the way to Phuentsholing town in Bhutan border. Although I was tempted to turn towards Bhutan too, I concentrated to reach Hashimara.






tea gardens...

cooking in the wild...err warming up my ready-to-eats...


I had parked my car on side of the road that had tea gardens on both sides. As I ate lunch, I saw several tea-pluckers at work. It was a blissful moment. I toyed the thought of halting the night there itself, but, reluctantly I moved on and finally reached Hashimara. Once I crossed it, more forests and tea gardens followed. Mere 30 kms distance took me almost three hours to reach. But I loved it, as I was in no hurry.

forests galore...love highways that run through thick forests...

To go the Sevoke route, I had to go via Mal Bazar town and had to ask directions at several places. Police too stopped me few times as roof-carriers are not allowed in West Bengal. In one traffic check, they wanted to ask questions etc, but, I was like 'hey..let me go..I have to reach Siliguri before dark'. After showing RC they did let me go...but asked several questions like 'why I was going alone, where was I going, why was I travelling etc etc'..I told them 'I bought this car to travel, people travel in cars thats why they buy a car'. Phew! I can't blame them, because, they hardly see a female driving all alone in those parts of the country much less go on a cross-country solo road trip. They must've thought me crazy. Insipte of these annoying cops appearing in the little towns, I enjoyed thoroughy. I reached Kalimpong district after which a steep climb followed. Then, I reached the historical 'coronation bridge' that connects India to the NE. It was breathtaking but I had to make a quick exit, as there was lots of traffic on this narrow bridge, and cops were making each car pass fast without stopping. I did manage to stop little away and caught glimpse of the bridge atop the Teesta river which gave company for quite a whie untill I started decending. Last forest on this route before I reached Siliguri was the dense Mahananda.
the impressive 'coronation bridge' at Sevoke, WB...


It was almost twilight when I crossed Sevoke town. The road was so crowded that I could barely move the car. Thankfully, a cop gave me directions towards Siliguri and how to each Fulbari/ Bagdogra without much questions. It helped as I told them I had to go to Darbhanga in Bihar. By the time I reached Siliguri, it was dark and I simply followed other cars, having no clue about the roads as such. There was a section where there was a 'road diversion' due to repair works. I panicked a bit lest I reach some place else, thankfully, I reached the main city amid signs that said 'Bagdogra'. In my mind, I had to cross Bagdogra to reach the end point of Siliguri, so, kept driving. But it was so late, I had to pull over in a side. I saw a huge flyover near Fulbari junction and decided to stop. It was 6pm, so, decided to rest for the night. At night however, several police knocked on my door and told me to go to the lighted section of the road as I was alone. I told them I was waiting for a friend who'd join me in the morning - a blatant lie, lol. I had parked in a dark spot. So, although, I didn't like the suggestion, I complied as I didn't want to fight with police of a different state at night. It was bit noisy, so, my sleep was rather disturbed.


2BD & 3RD TRIP - I skipped this route in my 2nd and 3rd trip.

On 2nd trip, I continued my journey from Hashimara, but avoided going the Sevoke route, instead, took a turn at Birpara towards Dhupguri. I had breakfast by the road-side of ready to eat poha near the railway line that runs alongside a jungle. I reached Siliguri around 11.30am and could see the snow capped Himalayan Peaks from such distance. It was quite amazing. i bypassed siliguri town from Fulbari, and drove to Ghoshpukur ( there's a certain left-turn one needs to take to skip Siliguri ). A traffic cop who asked for my PUC at the stop showed me the direction. The highways were a pleasure to drive here as they are newly built and quite broad. After I reached Ghoshpukur, I left the express- way, to take the state highway towards Araria. After crossing Naxalbari, whiie going towards Thakurganj, I took wrong road and reached a place called Panitanki. The road was so narrow, unlike the last time that alarm bells started ringing in my head. I asked few passing ladies, and they told me I left Thakurganj way behind. I turned my car and drove back to the chowk where I had taken the wrong route. Finally, a person showed me the correct way.





This time, this patch was memorable ( for all kinds of weird as well as bit scary reasons ) because as I was headiing towards Araria, I saw long line of trucks and cars waiting from opposite direction. But, I was the only one driving in my direction. I didn't notice it first, until, I saw several tyres burning in middle of the road. I reached a place where a crowd was gathered. People with bows and arrows stopped my car shouting slogans. They said, someone died due to negligence of the road workers so nobody was allowed to go ahead. Their demand was fifty lakhs from the authorities. They told me to take some other local road. I was alarmed as I didn't know any other way. I talked to them, and they came batch by batch - arguing and refusing to let me. It was quite scary. Some of them did understand that I was on a long trip, so, ultimately they did let me go past the barrier. I was so relieved because at one point I had almost lost all hope. They were quite stubborn. But as I was the only car, perhaps, thats why they let me in. It was evening when I crossed the very busy Araria and crossed its toll plaza at amost 6pm or so. At first I parked in front of some closed shops, but, a person from another open shop further away kept knocking in my door. Every few minutes he'd come and knock. Atlast, I got out and gave him a piece of my mind for disturbing. He was like, why are you parked so long. I told him its none of his business, and I'll be parked whole night if I wanted. Few other people came and told me to stay put. However, I decided to go and ultimately when I went past a school I decided to stop for the day near it, under a huge tree. Bihar police did come knocking, but, I assured I was okay and they let me stay. Throughout the night...they were parked little away, keeping an eye I suppose.


In my 3rd trip, I had skipped Hashimara altogether and went on the short-cut route via Alipurduar main town -Falakata and Dhupguri to reach New Jaipaiguri. It was the fastest of all my three trips and I reached NJP on the first day itself. I rested the night at the toll plaza. The journey started early and this time I was mindful not to go the Araria route ( never! after all those bows and arrows drama in my previous trip ). Instead of leaving the highway at Ghoshpukur, I continued on it to reach Islampur, Kishanganj, and then finally Purnea. Its a longer stretch than Araria, but, it was a good drive. This trip was fastest of the previous two, so I reached Gopalganj on 2nd day itself.


The Dooars or Duars, are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India and southern Bhutan that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin. The Coronation Bridge, also known as the Sevoke Roadway Bridge, in West Bengal, India, spans across the Teesta River, connecting the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The bridge is a part of the National Highway 17 [NH 31 ( wiki ). Linking to Skywatch & MyWorldThruMyCameraLens
Address : Barobasha, Alipurduar, Hashimara, Birpara, Dhupguri, New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri.
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