My Experience of Road Journey from Sirsa (Haryana) to Bangalore (Karnataka)

Once I got my marching orders in Oct 10, it was time to plan my travel from Sirsa to Bangalore. As I had just picked up a new SUV recently (read Tata Safari Dicor EX), my heart was all eager to drive by road, though other suggestions like sending the new SUV by truck also came up for discussion. But in the last, the heart won over mind and we commenced our journey by road from Sirsa to Bangalore, estimated to be about 2600 Kms as per preliminary research done with Google Maps.

All eager to set course

Final moments at VIP Cottage at Sirsa

Prayers before hitting the road

The Plan.
While contemplating to hit the road, I extensively searched the net and collected the data, mainly with the help of Google Maps and Map My India websites. While Google Maps is a good site, Map My India has more details as it is available commercially in India. The whole journey from Sirsa to Bangalore was broken down into convenient halts starting from  Delhi, Kanchausi, Satna, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad and then finally reaching Bangalore. The esitamted expenditure on fuel was worked out to be around Rs. 10,000/- based on 2600 Kms with an average fuel efficiency of 10 Kms per liter @ Rs. 37/- per liter of fuel. We planned to drive only during the day and rest at nights. We planned dispatch our luggage by truck by 31 Oct 10 so that we could leave early in the morning on 01 Nov 10.

The Journey.
The first sigh of relief was that we could send our luggage on planned day (31 Oct 10) and truck was out of the Main Gate by late afternoon. However, as we handed over the house and shifted to VIP Suit at Officers' Mess, the exhaustion took over and all of us slept like dead log. The lethargy was so much that we decided to postpone our departure by a day (to 02 Nov). We had been generous in keeping personal stuff aside to carry it with us in car, not realizing that even space in our new SUV can run short. The next hurdle was to accommodate all the stuff inside car and still keep the rear view clear. The evening was spent in packing and re-packing bags so that the excessive luggage could fit inside the car leaving just enough space of kids to spread legs and keeping just enough space to see the vehicles approaching from rear. I had to use all my skills to finally close the rear door of the car.

As the departure was delayed by a day, we decided to skip stay at Delhi and directly reach Kanchausi so that we did not loose out on our stay with parents. We planned to finally leave Sirsa on 02 Nov 10 at 0400 h so that we could reach during day light. We got up in time and NCE Madan Lal also arrived in time to serve tea and collect the final mess bill.

Day 1 (02 Nov 10).  We finally set course at 0400 h from Sirsa. Once we started every thing seemed to be reminding us of so many good things / times that we shared at Sirsa. We thought of stopping at every building to take pictures, but then decided to continue. We were finally stopped at the Main Gate when the guard quickly ran inside rest room and woke up Cpl Kundan (IAF/P) who came running to pay his final compliments before we departed. And then we finally rolled out of Mcdonalds look alike gate of Air Force Station Sirsa.

 Our hearts actually were very heavy while leaving this beautiful place where we had spent some wonderful time. The reading in my odometer was just little over 1000 kms. The road weas empty so we just flew to Rohtak. From Rohtak we decided to turn towards Jhajjar and join NH 2 (Delhi-Kolkatta) near Palwal so that we could avoid congestion of Delhi.  Just after driving few kilometers on this road, we realized that we had made a terrible mistake. The road almost did not exist and its remains were mainly used by heavy traffic as turcks were not allowed inside NCR during day and this connecting road was only connection between Haryana and NH2. We had horrifying time negotiating moon like path-wholes on the road. We almost thought that the new SUV may actually breakdown and our journey may not be as enjoyable as we had thought. As music stopped and sun started shining brightly, the tempers inside car also rose and we had a little family fight as well. Nothing seemed to go our way. Absence of Dhaba / roadside restaurant shops also added to our woes. As if this much was not enough for us, we took a wrong turn near Bilaspur and turned towards Gurgaon on NH8. By the time we realised the mistake, the traffic and the road barriers did not allow us to take U turn. We had to travel to Gurgaon and then take turn for Sohna on our way to NH2 near Palwal.

So finally we hit NH 2 around 1200 h. Once we reached NH2 the journey was enjoyable and very comfortable. We stopped at Mcdonells near Mathura to have lunch and then hit the road to complete remaining part of our journey. Due to time that we lost in the morning, we could reach Kanchausi only around 1900 h. It was fully dark when we reached Kanchausi. Generally parents fall asleep by that time, but they were awake and waiting for us. Every one was so happy to meet each other after a long time. I never realised when I fell asleep after going to the bed that night. We had driven just about 800 kms on day one.

Visit to Deokali Temple.

While we enjoyed our stay at Kanchausi, we decided to give entire family ride in our new possession and took them to Deokali Temple near Auraiya. I visited this temple after many many years and that too with entire family. As it was not a day of any festival, there were not very many people in temple. We could peacefully visit the temple and also spent some time in front of the Shiva statue. Papa, Mummy and Bua Ji were very happy.

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deokali Temple Auraiya

Deepawali at Kanchausi.


Next few days were very relaxing and enjoyable. Papa, Mummny, Bua Ji, Namita and kids were very happy. While ladies caught up on lost gossip, I met friends and slept to my heart's contents.

Tanav trying his hand in Head Massage

Deepawali Pooja

Deepawali Pooja

Deepawali Pooja

Crackers

Crackers

Deepawali Pooja

Technical Problem with My New Safari Dicor.

We also went on rides to nearby places during our stay at Kanchausi. While we were coming back from one such ride, the engine power suddenly dropped and an error message was flashing in the dash board. My heart sank and I really did not know what to do in such a remote place. Next day I spoke to TATA Safari's much boasted helpline with lots of expectations. But the response from Tata Safari helpline was extremely disappointing. Like many other places, Tatas have set up this helpline with a bunch of sub-standard telephone attendants who are poorly educated and lack basic common sense in handling issues.

Left with no choice, I decided to slowly drive the SUV to Kanpur where I could get it attended in authorised workshop. Before I did that I decided to start the engine couple of times and give full race. It seemed to have worked and while I drove to Kanpur on 08 Nov 10 slowly, the engine performed to its potential. The vehicle was attended at Society Motors and the vehicle was diagnosed not to have any major issues. There was some error in computer system of the vehicle which was quickly fixed. The vehicle was professionally attended to and I was fully satisfied with the work. 

Day 2 (08 Nov 10).

Day 3 (09 Nov 10).  We finally left Satna at 1400 h and started towards Jabalpur. As we had driven on this road about six months earlier, I was confident that the journey would be fine. The journey from Satna to Maihar was fine, the road was good though little narrow. However the road after Maihar till Jabalpur had actually deteriorated significantly and it was motorable in patches. We took little over five hours to cover a distance of about 200 kms. The average speed itself indicate the state of the road.

To be continued.......