I had thought about driving to the Indore in my own car for my wedding but had kept the plan to myself for the fear of it raising unnecessary hue & cry within my family. My would-be-wife was in Delhi 2 days before I was scheduled to take up this road journey, all on my own this time, and we went around shopping for the whole day. I had convinced her (as well as my other family members) that one of my friends is accompanying me for this drive and thus they should not worry much. I knew in my heart that I'll have to be extra careful as this would be my first drive to Indore via NH-3 and also for the reason that I am going to be all alone this time.
Here is the quick route map of NH-3 that I had taken to reach Indore from Agra
Start early and reach Indore within safe time limits was something I had decided to stick to and thus I went to bed early but I must admit that I could not have a very sound sleep. However, what ever amount of sleep I had was enough for me to wake up at 4:30 AM, get ready and leave my apartment at around 5:30 AM in the morning. I withdrew some (read extra) money and once again checked all the four wheels to make sure nothing was signalling for an upcoming trouble and set off on Gurgaon - Faridabad road. Since it was still dark and the road was in a very good condition, it did not take much time before I hit Faridabad and with some efforts of trying to navigate my way around within Faridabad, I hit the Mathura Road at around 6:30 AM. I was enjoying the drive cruising at more-than-average speed as sun had just started illuminating the day and morning weather seemed so comforting. Traffic still not being bad added to my mood. I seriously hoped to cover Faridabad - Agra part of my journey in a zipping fashion - little did I know about what next 2-hours had in store for me.
After having driven for around 2 hours, I stopped at a dhaba for some breakfast and you may call it my adventurous instinct that I ordered for an aaloo paratha with curd and a chai. The paratha was not great but managed to dump half of it into my hungry-from-last-night stomach but tea was really good which I certainly relished. After settling the bill and buying a few bottles of packaged drinking water, I set off again for my journey ahead. I must have driven for 15-20 minutes or so when I started to feel fog in the air which kept getting denser with every kilo metre I drove. I could quite realized when it became so dense that my milo meter was showing that I was barely crawling at an speed of less than 20 KMH as opposed to what I was doing nearly an hour back. It was such a dense fog that I decided to turn off the music so that my 100% focus was to save myself from any untoward incident. At least twice, I applied breaks before just having rammed into the lorry ahead of me. There was a time when I started to feel that I should have taken the advice of travelling via train more seriously than I did.
After having driven in such a condition for almost 45 minutes, weather cleared up and things started to look better. I thanked god and pressing the throttle harder on the clearer stretch felt relieving. In no time I was very close to Agra and the city limits had started but I kept driving at a speed to cover up for the lost time. I looked at my watch and exclaimed - ohh my god!!! It's already 10:30 and I am yet to cross Agra. I must driver faster to cover up more - was the only thought that came to my mind. But yet again - within no time of having entered the Agra city, I was made to realize (rather re-realize) that road trips in our country can be so unpredictable
My car came to a halt at the end of a trail of many other vehicle with no sign of them moving in near future. Upon enquiry, I came to know that people were protesting for something and had blocked the road as part of their protest. Having born in India, one understands that such protests (read chakka-jaam) are part of life but I certainly did not it to be part of my this journey. Already running late on my schedule and the knowledge of possible anxiety that the delay in my arrival in Indore can cause back home, I was desperate to find an alternative route to get out of Agra and be on NH-3 as quickly possible. I asked a passer-by for help and explained him that I have to go a long distance, My SOS plea did not go waste and he seemed to be ready to help but not knowing instantaneously how, he first wanted me to take a U-turn and facilitate that by negotiating with other drivers on my behalf. I was amused at his leadership qualities and thanked my starts to have chosen the right man for seeking help. I was not sure as yet if it was his natural attitude of helping others or there is going to be cost for the same. Desperate I was, up to 100-200 Rupees would not have made the deal look bad. Anyways, I managed to take a U-turn and after consulting few other people around, this gentleman came to me and explained that I will have to drive towards the Delhi for around 15 Kilo Metres and then take Agra By-pass and keep driving on it until I hit NH-3. I also realized that he was truly trying to help me. I thanked him (and to my stars yet again) and set off for my search to locate the by-pass which I found after asking a few more times.
I kept driving on that by-pass which seemingly was a good road to start with though had many humps, speed breakers (and they truly were speed breakers with their massive size) as they are popularly known in India. Since I had already lost quite some time, I wanted to be 100% sure that I was on the right path and pulled my car in front of a person standing by the road side. He quickly grabbed the opportunity and requested that I gave him the lift as he was going the same route and he can guide me as well. I weighed my options and forced my mind (be positive was the theme) to think that it was win-win situation for both (I had no options too, I guess) and opened the door. He sat in and my real by-pass journey started thereafter. Within 15 minutes, the tar disappeared from the road and in another 15 minutes, the road itself. Yes - I am not overwhelmed with emotions but road (in urban language) ceased to exist. It did not take long for me to realize that I was in for some real roadie-like adventure ahead. I kept asking the guy about how long we'll have to drive on this stretch and his answer did not change for around good 30 minutes - "jyada nahi bacha hai" and all I kept thinking was that I (or my car) should not pass-out before the by-pass comes to an end. In all honesty, I can claim that it was worst stretch on which I have forced my car to prove it's worth so far. Just before I was about to lose all my hopes of making on time to Indore, I hit a highway which was NH-3 indeed and took the right turn and started cruising again. Except an under-construction fly-over, nothing else forced me to reduce my speed until Dholpur where I dropped the guy politely declining his offer to take the fare and a cup of tea.
In no time, I crossed Morena and only time I had to stop was for paying at toll booths. I could not locate the by-pass in Gwalior and thus had to traverse through the city of Gwalior which really proved to be very painful. Coming out of Gwalior was relief again but it was already 1:40 PM. I started to speed up and not-so-heavy traffic helped in doing so. I stopped for few minutes to have a quick chat with Shubhra and then continued with my drive. I kept driving enjoying the beauty of Chambal region. It was not very different from the picture that all bollywood movies had presented when I was a teenager. With ravines on both the sides and interesting bends on the road, drive was amusing. It was more so because my music player had lost it's FM connection and the only CD I had in the dashboard cabinet was not good enough to be heard on trip like this. I had started feeling hungry as the aaloo-paratha had given up it's resistance. A focused 1.5 hours drive made me hit Shivpuri where I pulled up my car at a dhaba yet again for a quick lunch. It was a not-so-busy-place and I thought I would be served quickly and thus would save some time. I had quick daal-fry and a couple of tandoori rotis with some salad and raita, paid the bill and set off yet again, thinking will only stop once now before Indore to get my car fuelled up again. I knew I had covered around 60% of the distance by then and will require focused driving to be home at a reasonable time.
Again empty stretches on the road helped me accelerate a bit and I covered around 192 KMs until Biora in around 2 and half hours and pulled up again to have a quick cup of tea. There was a baarat from the bheel community having break at the same tea shop and childish face of groom forced me to ask his age in casual chat while sipping my tea. He shyly replied - 14. I appreciated the difference of perspective yet again in life. The resemblance was that I was going to get married too but the age difference clearly made it look like two different schools of thought for the same mile stone in life, If I can put it that way.
I knew I still had around 180 Kilo Metres drive left and that did not give any more time for a further chat with groom or baarat and I was behind the wheels again and surely to stop just once before hitting home. It was on this stretch that I made my only mistake of this trip. I was trying to over-take a truck which refused to slow down and I mis-judges the speed of an oncoming truck from the opposite direction and in no time I realized that I can be in deep trouble. Breaking the speed and getting behind the truck I was trying to over-take was not an option anymore as that would have taken more time and thus decided to accelerate to car's limit and complete the over-take. Luckily, the driver of oncoming truck was more accommodating and slowed down a bit and I was past the truck in zip. I learnt my lesson but manage to be home with that being only mistake for a long drive of this kind. It made me feel happy, not that I discounted the error I had committed as errors like that may not leave anything to repent.
I was at home around 8:00 PM which could be considered a reasonable time. I felt satisfied by making it on time despite of the sequence of events that happened earlier in the day.
Ant bhala to sab bhala :-)
Here is the quick route map of NH-3 that I had taken to reach Indore from Agra
Start early and reach Indore within safe time limits was something I had decided to stick to and thus I went to bed early but I must admit that I could not have a very sound sleep. However, what ever amount of sleep I had was enough for me to wake up at 4:30 AM, get ready and leave my apartment at around 5:30 AM in the morning. I withdrew some (read extra) money and once again checked all the four wheels to make sure nothing was signalling for an upcoming trouble and set off on Gurgaon - Faridabad road. Since it was still dark and the road was in a very good condition, it did not take much time before I hit Faridabad and with some efforts of trying to navigate my way around within Faridabad, I hit the Mathura Road at around 6:30 AM. I was enjoying the drive cruising at more-than-average speed as sun had just started illuminating the day and morning weather seemed so comforting. Traffic still not being bad added to my mood. I seriously hoped to cover Faridabad - Agra part of my journey in a zipping fashion - little did I know about what next 2-hours had in store for me.
After having driven for around 2 hours, I stopped at a dhaba for some breakfast and you may call it my adventurous instinct that I ordered for an aaloo paratha with curd and a chai. The paratha was not great but managed to dump half of it into my hungry-from-last-night stomach but tea was really good which I certainly relished. After settling the bill and buying a few bottles of packaged drinking water, I set off again for my journey ahead. I must have driven for 15-20 minutes or so when I started to feel fog in the air which kept getting denser with every kilo metre I drove. I could quite realized when it became so dense that my milo meter was showing that I was barely crawling at an speed of less than 20 KMH as opposed to what I was doing nearly an hour back. It was such a dense fog that I decided to turn off the music so that my 100% focus was to save myself from any untoward incident. At least twice, I applied breaks before just having rammed into the lorry ahead of me. There was a time when I started to feel that I should have taken the advice of travelling via train more seriously than I did.
After having driven in such a condition for almost 45 minutes, weather cleared up and things started to look better. I thanked god and pressing the throttle harder on the clearer stretch felt relieving. In no time I was very close to Agra and the city limits had started but I kept driving at a speed to cover up for the lost time. I looked at my watch and exclaimed - ohh my god!!! It's already 10:30 and I am yet to cross Agra. I must driver faster to cover up more - was the only thought that came to my mind. But yet again - within no time of having entered the Agra city, I was made to realize (rather re-realize) that road trips in our country can be so unpredictable
My car came to a halt at the end of a trail of many other vehicle with no sign of them moving in near future. Upon enquiry, I came to know that people were protesting for something and had blocked the road as part of their protest. Having born in India, one understands that such protests (read chakka-jaam) are part of life but I certainly did not it to be part of my this journey. Already running late on my schedule and the knowledge of possible anxiety that the delay in my arrival in Indore can cause back home, I was desperate to find an alternative route to get out of Agra and be on NH-3 as quickly possible. I asked a passer-by for help and explained him that I have to go a long distance, My SOS plea did not go waste and he seemed to be ready to help but not knowing instantaneously how, he first wanted me to take a U-turn and facilitate that by negotiating with other drivers on my behalf. I was amused at his leadership qualities and thanked my starts to have chosen the right man for seeking help. I was not sure as yet if it was his natural attitude of helping others or there is going to be cost for the same. Desperate I was, up to 100-200 Rupees would not have made the deal look bad. Anyways, I managed to take a U-turn and after consulting few other people around, this gentleman came to me and explained that I will have to drive towards the Delhi for around 15 Kilo Metres and then take Agra By-pass and keep driving on it until I hit NH-3. I also realized that he was truly trying to help me. I thanked him (and to my stars yet again) and set off for my search to locate the by-pass which I found after asking a few more times.
I kept driving on that by-pass which seemingly was a good road to start with though had many humps, speed breakers (and they truly were speed breakers with their massive size) as they are popularly known in India. Since I had already lost quite some time, I wanted to be 100% sure that I was on the right path and pulled my car in front of a person standing by the road side. He quickly grabbed the opportunity and requested that I gave him the lift as he was going the same route and he can guide me as well. I weighed my options and forced my mind (be positive was the theme) to think that it was win-win situation for both (I had no options too, I guess) and opened the door. He sat in and my real by-pass journey started thereafter. Within 15 minutes, the tar disappeared from the road and in another 15 minutes, the road itself. Yes - I am not overwhelmed with emotions but road (in urban language) ceased to exist. It did not take long for me to realize that I was in for some real roadie-like adventure ahead. I kept asking the guy about how long we'll have to drive on this stretch and his answer did not change for around good 30 minutes - "jyada nahi bacha hai" and all I kept thinking was that I (or my car) should not pass-out before the by-pass comes to an end. In all honesty, I can claim that it was worst stretch on which I have forced my car to prove it's worth so far. Just before I was about to lose all my hopes of making on time to Indore, I hit a highway which was NH-3 indeed and took the right turn and started cruising again. Except an under-construction fly-over, nothing else forced me to reduce my speed until Dholpur where I dropped the guy politely declining his offer to take the fare and a cup of tea.
In no time, I crossed Morena and only time I had to stop was for paying at toll booths. I could not locate the by-pass in Gwalior and thus had to traverse through the city of Gwalior which really proved to be very painful. Coming out of Gwalior was relief again but it was already 1:40 PM. I started to speed up and not-so-heavy traffic helped in doing so. I stopped for few minutes to have a quick chat with Shubhra and then continued with my drive. I kept driving enjoying the beauty of Chambal region. It was not very different from the picture that all bollywood movies had presented when I was a teenager. With ravines on both the sides and interesting bends on the road, drive was amusing. It was more so because my music player had lost it's FM connection and the only CD I had in the dashboard cabinet was not good enough to be heard on trip like this. I had started feeling hungry as the aaloo-paratha had given up it's resistance. A focused 1.5 hours drive made me hit Shivpuri where I pulled up my car at a dhaba yet again for a quick lunch. It was a not-so-busy-place and I thought I would be served quickly and thus would save some time. I had quick daal-fry and a couple of tandoori rotis with some salad and raita, paid the bill and set off yet again, thinking will only stop once now before Indore to get my car fuelled up again. I knew I had covered around 60% of the distance by then and will require focused driving to be home at a reasonable time.
Again empty stretches on the road helped me accelerate a bit and I covered around 192 KMs until Biora in around 2 and half hours and pulled up again to have a quick cup of tea. There was a baarat from the bheel community having break at the same tea shop and childish face of groom forced me to ask his age in casual chat while sipping my tea. He shyly replied - 14. I appreciated the difference of perspective yet again in life. The resemblance was that I was going to get married too but the age difference clearly made it look like two different schools of thought for the same mile stone in life, If I can put it that way.
I knew I still had around 180 Kilo Metres drive left and that did not give any more time for a further chat with groom or baarat and I was behind the wheels again and surely to stop just once before hitting home. It was on this stretch that I made my only mistake of this trip. I was trying to over-take a truck which refused to slow down and I mis-judges the speed of an oncoming truck from the opposite direction and in no time I realized that I can be in deep trouble. Breaking the speed and getting behind the truck I was trying to over-take was not an option anymore as that would have taken more time and thus decided to accelerate to car's limit and complete the over-take. Luckily, the driver of oncoming truck was more accommodating and slowed down a bit and I was past the truck in zip. I learnt my lesson but manage to be home with that being only mistake for a long drive of this kind. It made me feel happy, not that I discounted the error I had committed as errors like that may not leave anything to repent.
I was at home around 8:00 PM which could be considered a reasonable time. I felt satisfied by making it on time despite of the sequence of events that happened earlier in the day.
Ant bhala to sab bhala :-)
