Driving across the country has always been a dream for me, though more of the backpacking variety where you have a month off and
travel from one place to another with no real aim in mind, just generally experiencing the country all around. Well I did get to achieve one part of that dream, of driving from Mumbai to Delhi over three days in my Maruti Ritz:). Took me a year to learn driving enough to go driving cross-country, but then did it finally:). And what an experience it was!
Anyways, it was a three day driving trip from one corner of the country to another, driving about 25-30 hours over the three days and hitting peak speeds of 155 kmph (yes, on Indian roads, with a small car and a not so experienced driver)! Maximum average speed was 120 kmph, covering 93 kms in 45 mins, but details to come later:). The drive materialised when I was shifting my luggage from Mumbai to Delhi, where I packed all my luggage somehow into my car and off we went on the long dreamt of long drive.
Needless to say, it was an awesome time, across roads on and on, with the landscape outside changing constantly. The people, the attitudes, the colours, the roads and (even) the road sense keeps changing all the way...
The first day of the drive was from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, about 550 kms. The start from Mumbai was quite bad actually, halfway upto Baroda. The roads were being constructed at many places, work going on flyovers to avoid bottlenecks and there were many trucks blocking the road due to accidents.
There were jams every 5 mins, because of accidents on the way and the only way of getting out of those jams was to cross onto the other side of the road and drive opposite the traffic till you cross the jam and then get back to the right side of the road. People who regularly drive on this route would do this shift automatically, and you just need to follow them. For the first time though, its a bit scary initially but you learn as you drive!! And it does save you a lot of time! In fact, the first three hours of the drive, we barely covered 100 kms!
But then onwards, the traffic eased out and reaching Ahmedabad wasn't tough. The best part of the drive was Baroda to Ahmedabad on the expressway; straight road till wherever you can see with no diversions and very limited traffic! Its a drivers paradise, a dream come true. I finished the 93 kms on this stretch in 45 mins flat. And I did not even drive too fast! This part of the drive actually improves the average speed, and we had covered the 550 kms in about 7-8 hours types.
Landscape was non-descript in Maharashtra, gradually changing
while you drive into Gujarat; you get a sense of prosperity as you drive in Gujarat. People on the whole seemed richer, and the infrastructure also much better. The landscape though becomes a bit more dry while in Gujarat.
One thing you always look forward to while on such cross country drives are the meals at some dhaba on the way, tasty food for unbeleivable prices. The same was true on this drive too, lunch for a person at 100 Rupees per person!! And a full tasty meal, with dal and sabzi and lassi and what-not. It feels so unreal that such rates still do exist in India, feels more weird after staying in towns and cities of the country.
The next day we drove from Ahmedabad to Nasirabad (in Rajasthan). The distance was again some 550 kms or so, but felt a lot less this day. This was in fact the best day of the drive, awesome 4-6 laned roads most of the way, disciplined traffic, you get to drive fast and straight, with not many cars on the roads. Just perfect! Bliss! A dream come true for any driver, especially someone who more often got to drive only in Mumbai. This part of the drive, average speeds of 70 kmph were so easy to achieve on this stretch...
We also stopped at Chittorgarh on the way, we had so much time during the day! And also visited the Mayur factory in the middle of nowhere selling products at factory rates! This day of the drive was a dream, I actually don't remember much of it.. Just press the accelerator and off you fly off.. Such roads are present in India is something our parents would not have been able to imagine in their times! I finally did understand on this day what the Golden Quadrilateral project was all about..
Vegetation changes on the way too. While is was green in Maharashtra, turns slightly dry in Gujarat and completely yellow in Rajasthan with stone hills on both sides of the road.
Another thing you will notice is that, there are a lot more temples visible while in Gujarat, a lot of them being Jain temples. In Rajasthan, the colours increase with the women wearing very very bright clothes and being visible from far. Also you will see gradually, the prosperity of Gujarat vanish as you enter Rajasthan, people seem a lot poorer and undeveloped in Rajasthan than the states just crossed.
The last day of the drive was to be the shortest, about 400 or so kms from Nasirabad to Delhi. Part of the drive from Nasirabad to Jaipur we covered fast. About the same average speeds of 70 kmph, the same bare and dry desert landscape with empty roads, some mountains breaking the monotony of the landscape and the colourful dresses of the Rajasthani women. Was a pleasure again to drive through this part, and to prepare for what we were to experience thereafter!
Thereafter, Jaipur to Delhi was a nightmare! We took 7.5 hours to complete the 250 kms between the two cities. There were two major jams on the way, taking an hour each, where you barely cover 2-3 kms in one hour!! The only way out was to get onto the service roads where you try to beat the traffic. And if you are a first time driver on this road, you would not know what you need to do! Was a completely chaotic and terrible day to drive!
Also by this time as you are approaching Delhi, there are more and more truck drivers from Haryana on the road, so the discipline of the drivers also goes kaput. There are just no more rules being followed:))).
The problem in this stretch is partially the construction taking place everywhere. The other problem are the trucks parked on the road leading to multiple traffic jams. Can't they be controlled a bit? Also, the trucks dont really follow rules of driving on the left side lanes and not the fastest one. That also slows down the traffic a lot.
On the whole, the road quality is mostly good in this stretch, though hajaar constructions going on on the way.
Also, there are countless tolls on the way, you encounter some 8-10 a day! Also while driving on the highway I realised, you can learn driving but it is the experience which gives you the edge. At places with no traffic on the road, I drove fast and overtook lots of vehicles. It was more at the crowded places that I wasn't able to do that. At that point having driven for many years makes the difference, of being able to overtake maximum vehicles. Anyways I had started my learning:)
One thing I regret though is not taking photos along the way, of what I saw, maybe thats for the next time:)
