Previous : Day 4 – Asansol to Siliguri

It was just 5AM and the day had already broken. Welcome to North East it said. At the distance we could see the mighty Himalayas.

The cold / fever starting feeling had left me. Perhaps it was fatigue and a good night’s rest helped.

Morning again it became a 7:30 AM start. Just couldn’t push the team to even a 6:30 AM start. The host messaged us that Sunday everything is locked down in Shillong and we have to be in quarantine till the tests come out.

We stopped at a grocery before leaving Siliguri and stocked up on the usual junk food – bread, jam, noodles etc.

We left Siliguri and immediately entered a beautiful green stretch – a road we went on in Oct 2018 – when we went to Sikkim. We stopped to stare at Teesta. My earlier memory of it was Green water, but now it was all brown.

There was no stopping at Assam Border and we rolled into Assam. First time ever – for all of us – to come this far into North East of India.

It was all plains till we reached Guwhati. Stretch was quite boring. We listened to interview of Vivek. One of my favourite comedians who had passed away.

While passing Guwahati I called Miran from our team – was just checking on him – he asked for our co-ordinates and he was just 5 minutes away. We decided to meet. He greeted us with a traditional Assamese welcome.

After saying bye to Miran, we started towards Shillong, and missed a turn. While taking an U-turn, noticed the name of the Dhaba at the exact spot was called U-turn Dhaba.

We passed the Meghalaya border and spotted Police stopping all vehicles and directing to the testing centre.

We spent close to 1.5 hours – registration, payment, sample collection, waiting for the receipt – and finally we were off the testing centre.

It took another hour to reach our final destination. It was around 11:30ish I think – the longest road trip we had ever taken in the beautiful country of ours.

Muuwah to my India.

Previous – Day 3 – Bhubaneshwar to Asansol

We left Asansol and pointed Google to Siliguri. Did not have any breakfast, thought will have it on the way some where – but there were none. I was not expecting an Udupi – but still there was not a single decent one. We had a few Mishti and I ate it up. Felt an odd feeling – too much sugar on empty stomach.

We entered Jharkand, and then Bihar. Somewhere before crossing Ganges we stopped at a restaurant and packed Roti and Paneer Sabzi. The drive was not fun. It was a single lane, and the lorries looked dangerous and were driven very fast. The lorries down south do not go this fast.

On the bridge had a close call where one of these fast lorries was overtaking dangerously and was approaching quite fast into our side – and had to hit a hard brake to stop.

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We reached Siliguri around evening – and found a place to stay in Loft hotel. Somewhere while entering Siliguri I was bragging – Coco did not get caught all these days and lo and behold – the owner was in the Reception and spotted Coco.

San had to convince them and said if anything breaks we will pay for it. They let it pass. The Loft hotel was neat. One of the better ones in Siliguri.

I was feeling that odd feeling I get before start of a fever. Could be the 4 days of travel, I was not sure. So ordered Hot and Sour Chicken Soup – my goto anytime I get on the onset of a cold / fever, P ordered Noodles as usual – and we had it in the room.

Next : Day 5 Siliguri to Shillong

Previous : Bangalore – Shillong Road Trip Day 2

We left Bhubaneshwar around 7:30 AM. It takes time for us to get ready – in a way it is good, because I get time to do Shambhavi – it keeps me alert throughout the day.

I was excited crossing Mahanadhi – during my college days, once the train has left Bhubaneshwar I will take the suitcase and go stand at the train door. Cuttack was some 30 minutes from Bhubaneshwar.

It was an anti climax. I could only see little bit of water – cars do not give great view for the river. Trains are the best. I got reminded of the last meeting with my father – on the train platform. Reminded of the last journey with him – I was entering my 3rd year. He was doing his Dad duty – do not stop after graduating. Get an MBA degree – he said. I was quietly nodding. Doing my duty as my son. Was reminiscing it with San.

We crossed Cuttack and got into a boring stretch. It was almost touching 39 degrees, and there were lot of diversions. We will be driving on the wrong side of the road at times.

Then we crossed into West Bengal. Just a small board which said welcome to West Bengal. There were lot of green paddy fields and we stopped at one of them, drank it all in and had the food we packed from the hotel – Aaloo Paratha and Veg Sandwich. It was really good.

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We left NH16 and got into single roads. Lot of oncoming traffic but roads were quite good. Went through couple of foresty areas and villages. Reached Durgapur around 6ish, and decided to drive further and stay at Asansol – apparently the 2nd largest city in West Bengal.

Checked into Asansol International. San and I stepped out to get Mishti – Kheer Kodombo is my all time favourite, and an Egg roll for myself, Chicken Noodles for Puttu and Mutton Biryani for San. And Mountain Dew – Prithvi was on top of the world.

We switched off the light and were trying to sleep, and suddenly a light flashed near the Bathroom. Prithvi gave a shriek. I went to examine and it was all dark. I thought perhaps the bathroom switch had a loose connection.

Then when I was turning back saw the light turn on – it was from the closet. Apparently coco was running around and had triggered the light. I closed the closet room and we all had a laugh.

Next : Day 4 Asansol to Siliguri

Previous : Day 1 – Bangalore to Rajahmundry

I woke up and did Shambhavi as we all got ready. By 7:30 AM we were out.

Right opposite the place where we stayed there was a coffee shop. Felt like having coffee , but did not express my intention – we had decided to stay away from these impulses. Later after we left Rajahmundry San said – wish we got coffee near the place we stayed.

I told Prithvi – see – if I was communicative enough – Mummy would also said, yeah I also feel like having – and we could have had nice hot coffee.

Plan was to have the bread and jam we had packed – on the way. San was driving – it was her pre-standup time. I found a descent restaurant. We decided to stop there.

This place was called the One Food court. It is part of a resort but on the highway.We parcelled Masala Dosa and Guntur Idly for lunch. Standing in the parking lot we finished up bread.

San continued her standup, while I drove. We entered Vishakhpatnam around lunch time, and got caught in traffic. After crossing Vizag, filled the tank – FT3. The petrol here was Rs.94 per litre.

We saw some interesting statues on the way.

P gave his finger to Coco to bite, and she slept off biting his fingers.

After leaving Vishakapatnam we were looking for a shade to have our lunch. I spotted a small dirt road going on the side, and went in. There was a nice shade. We setup shop and had our packed lunch.

We entered Orissa around evening. There was no checkpoint nor checking for RT PCR test. We could have skipped the test.

I was however excited about seeing Chilika lake close. We took a small detour to a viewing spot – they had set it up nicely so we could kind of walk into the lake. There were a few visitors like us – but the place looked deserted. In pre-covid times this would have been a busy spot.

We had to fill the tank again – FT4. The price was around Rs. 92 I think. And entered Bhubaneshwar around night 7:30 PM. Last I had come to Bhubaneshwar around 1992 I think – that’s like 30 years ago.

We had booked in Hotel Pushpak – in the heart of the city. It was a good place. We ordered Pasta for Prithvi and an Egg Roll for us – it was fantastic.

Next : Day 3 – Bhubaneshwar to Asansol

Previous : The Preparation

The trip officially started from Indira Nagar, near to Lab Genius around 7:30 AM.

We crossed KR Puram bridge and took the old Madras road. Pretty soon we crossed the point where we had been once to go to a temple – Vakkaleri Markendeshwar Temple – little off Kolar.

Officially we have entered – the never been on road this part onwards – zone. We have made umpteen trips to Coimbatore and Chennai – it will always be via Hosur.

San took over, as she said she will attend her standups – which were from 10:30 AM onwards. I noticed she was driving in an unusual manner.  I thought perhaps she had not had her breakfast or perhaps was a bit sleepy. Later she said she was trying to conserve petrol. Thank God she didn’t do that after that.

Over the years being on the passenger side, have developed a knack to notice when San is driving in her usual rhythm. One bad habit of her is she will not give the controls, even when she is tired. So this time I introduced the protocol – every 2 hours let us keep swapping. Anyway we did not strictly follow it.

We stopped around 9:30 AM to have breakfast. Idly, Sambhaar and Chutney. Then resumed journey. I started driving as San’s standups were on.

We were somewhere near Tirupati – when her 2nd standup was in progress. The participants were from Romania, Dubai, Bangalore and on a highway near Tirupati. The outside temperature was close to 38 degrees. We spotted a fork – right would have taken to Vellore and Chennai, and left towards Vijayawada. I joked, let us change the plan. No one bothered answering. I took the left.

The roads were fine till now. We crossed Nellore and found the place to be quite posh. Lot of highway restaurants, all posh ones – not like the A2Bs – with a basketball court and a transparent seating area etc. – post covid have to come this side to check these places.

Did a full tank now. FT-1. It was Rs.96 per litre.

There was some election and police were stopping cars and checking. We hurriedly put on our masks, but no one stopped us.

We started searching for a good shade on the highway. Found lot of lorries parked to the left, and found one. Amma had packed lunch – we gobbled it gladly.

Cocoa went under the seat. I think the highway noise of the vehicles zooming past us was getting on her nerves. Took some effort to coax her back into her bag.

Then we got some fantastic 3 laners, cement topped. Also the bridges in Andhra I noticed had a nice slow gradient. Never have I seen such gentle sloped bridges. Good for the lorries carrying tons of goods – they can climb them without much reduction on their speed.

Then it started raining. It was a heavy downpour. Exactly around this time San got a call from one of her team mates. She was resigning.

I was focussing on following an Innova which was driving at a decent speed and over hearing San’s side of the discussion.

When we started I had put Vijayawada as destination. Google said 7:30 PM as ETA. However the ETA improved to 5:30 PM . Google uses 80 KMPH speed limit, so I think we made good time. Also we ensured our stops were very short. So we changed the destination to Rajahmundry.

The rain stopped and we entered Vijayawada. We crossed Krishna river. Remembered my college days when I used to take Coramendal express – it was the fastest of all trains to Kolkata. It will start from Chennai and the very next stop will be Vijayawada. It was a nostalgic feeling crossing Krishna river.

We filled the tank FT2 and San took over. We crossed Godavari and reached a hotel we had booked when we were crossing Vijayawada.

The place did not look sanitised enough. First San went in and sprayed all the door knobs and usual places we might touch. Then she laid out the bedsheet and towels on the pillow.

Then we went down and smuggled cocoa in along with our suitcases – so they will not suspect.

It got cold with the AC, and we had one measly blanket ( we had packed away whatever the hotel had given ). Night I switched off the AC  and it got quite stuffy. Had a fitful sleep. For tomorrow we should at least use the blanket the hotel provides.

Next : Day2 – Rajahmundry to Bhubaneshwar