Bangalore to Gurgaon Road trip #RashtriyaRoadTrip

These are the statistics from a Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip I recently did with a good friend. Stats done by him and so was most of the driving.

Start: 1st Nov 2013 - 4 am (Nice Road Toll)
Finish: 3rd Nov 2013 - 3pm
Distance Traveled: 2680 KMs
Car: Maruti Esteem VXi 2007
Fuel Consumed: 207 Liters Petrol
Average: 13 KMPL

Total Trip Time: 59 Hrs.
Night Halt : 17 Hours (Nasik & Udaipur)
Road Site Halts (for B/F, Lunch, Dinner /Fuel / Tea / Bio breaks and Tolls): 12 Hrs
Total Driving Time : 30 Hrs
Average Speed : 2680/42 = 64 KM/Hr
Driving Speed Average: 2680/30 = 89 KM / Hr
Highest Speed for a considerable Stretch : 160 Kms / Hr ( some sections of Baroda - Ahmedabad, Chittorgarh-Bhilwara & Kishangarh-Jaipur)
Slowest Speed for a considerable strech : 20Km/Hr (Wani to Mahrashtra -Gujarat Border)

States Traveled Across: 5 (Karnataka / Maharashtra / Gujarat / Rajasthan / Haryana)
No. of Districts: 
No. of Tolls: 39
Access Controlled Expressway: 1 (NE-1 between Baroda- Ahmedabad)
National Highways: 9 (NH-4, NH-50, NH-360, NH-8, NH-8A, NH-8C, NH-76, NH-79, NH-79A)
State Highways: 6 (Maharashtra: SH-30 & SH-17, Gujarat: SH-9. SH-15, SH-177 & SH-703)
City Roads: 3 (Kolhapur, Pune, Nasik and Ahmedabad)

Tunnels Crossed: 2 (Kasara - Pune & Pune Byepass)
Major Rivers Crossed: 21 (Tungabhadra, Malaprabha, Krishna, Markandeya, Hiranyakeshi, Vedganga, Panchaganga, Koyna, Neera, Kadwa, Ambica, Bhima, Mindhola, Tapi, Narmada, Vishwamitri, Mahisagar, Sabarmati, Gambhiri, Banas, Mansi )

Route Taken: 
Bangalore (E-city) - Nice Road - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davangere Byepass - Ranebennur - Devaragudda - Haveri Byepass - Hubli Dharwar Byepass - Belgaum Byepass - Tavandi - Kolhapur - Karad - Satara - Kasara - Pune - Pimpri - Bhosari - Peth - Sangamner - Sinnar - Devlali - Nasik - Ozar -Vani - Saputara - Waghai - Vansada - Kharel - Navsar- Surat Byepass - Ankleshwar - Bharuch - Baroda - Ahmedabad - Gandhinagar - Chiloda - Pranij - Himmatnagar - Shamlaji - Ratanpur - Bicchiwara - Kherwara - Rishabhdev - Udaipur - Mangalwar - Chittorgarh Byepass - Bhilwara Byepass - Nasirabad - Kishangarh - Jaipur Byepass - Manoharpur - Shahpura - Kotputli - Behror - Neemrana - Dharuhera - Manesar – Gurgaon

These are some of the photos from this Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip

These are some experiences and memories from this Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip!

Random experiences are what make a great road trip, but being stuck in traffic before your journey starts, is one best avoided! So time your start to avoid traffic.

Take along enough water, but don't overdo the snacks. If you are really into the roadtrip you wouldn't snack much anyway. 

When you're not driving catch up on your sleep. Never know when you might be required at the wheel.

Avoid Dhabhas where buses are parked. They would take too long to serve.

Try to taste the local delicacies while on your way. Kolhapuri mutton for example. Gujarat is a dry and mostly vegetarian state (just saying).

Knock Out beer is the best beer in this country.

Maharashtra has the worst roads among the so-called developed states in the country. But if you feel like kissing the tarmac as soon as you enter Gujarat, just remember Karnataka, AP and TN also have good roads (mostly)!

Something happens to vehicles when they enter Gujarat. They lose the ability to pick a lane and stay in it. They are constantly straddle two lanes and block your way.

The country side across India is beautiful. There are so many places you can stop to get magnificent views.

Ten years back, Delhi started expanding westward towards Gurgaon. Today, its knocking on the Rajasthan border at Bhivadi. In the next 20 years, Lahore could be a Delhi suburb!

It is not about the car you drive, but how you drive it. Before you upgrade your car, ask yourself if you made the most of your current one.

I leave you with this gem from a truck bumper, "Duniya ka sabse bada rog, kya kahenge log"

Drive safe!

The day that would live in infamy

It would have stumped Gandhi,
Nehru would have wept silly,
Patel would have hung his head in shame,
Bose...I wonder what Bose would have done...

It was the day when M.F.Hussein renounced his Indian citizenship and became a citizen of Qatar. I'm not sure that if any or all of the aforementioned gentlemen would have been fans of his art. But what I am sure of is that this is not the India that they had fought for, two of them had died for.

Hundreds of Sikhs were burnt in '84 but we tread on. Thousands of Muslims have been plundered and massacred many times since Independence, but somehow we still went on. Hindus themselves, have killed each other more than a thousand times in the name of caste since independence, yet we were able to go on. We have managed to carve out a political constituency and ideology on all sides of these tragedies. And our country has flourished under a veneer of democracy that we flaunt as a trophy at our lesser democratic neighbours. Flawed as this is, it only takes a cursory peek at our neighbours to realize how blessed we are.

Yet there is no solace for this 96 yr old man. There is no constituency that he could provide, that might interest anyone. Once upon a time, he was an interesting man to hate and whose art could be trashed with great media publicity. But now, that art of trashing has lost its media mileage.

Now he is just a sorry testament to what sometimes looks to be an oxymoron "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;"

One man we fail and its a slap on my Indian face that he chose to find freedom elsewhere. Lets be upfront about this. Indian art is not going to die because MF Hussein decided to be a Qatari. Its not even a drop in the ocean that is India. Nothing died, except even if only by a little bit, the idea of India.

The Legality of Homosexuality

Most of America is riled up by this and most of India is indifferent to it! And apparently the Govt of India is very confused by it!

So what do I think about it?

1. Do you approve of homosexuality? - Its not for me to approve. Its an individual choice of human beings.

2. If today you were to have a family, what would my reaction be if my son declares he is gay? - I would be very baffled but have no choice but to accept it. But would be even more worried as to how he would charter his life going forward. I'm not sure how prejudiced society is about this and how it would affect him.

3. Do you think gays are weirdos? - No. They are normal people. Have a sexual preference I do not agree with. There was a time when I did think they were weirdos. But I did get to know a gay person, during my hostel days. His conduct and attitude changed my world-view towards gay people and,I suspect, also those of a lot of friends of mine.

4. Do you think homosexuality should be decriminalised? - I dunno.

5. Why not? You seemed to have a pretty liberal viewpoint in Q's 1-3? - Bottomline is if homosexuality is made legal, it would open up the avenue of a gay dude hitting on me. That really does creep me out. And worst part is that legally it would be ok for him to do that. The very thought gives me the creeps. So while I'm ok homosexuality being legal I want no part to play in it.

6. Duh, you realise how lousy that statement was? - Yeah. But welcome to the real world. If the majority, has the power over someone's fate, it would exercise it in its favour, no matter how minuscule the logic or flimsy the argument. Why do you think racism has lasted so long?

7. But history would judge you as a bigot. You're ok with that? - Who do you think writes history?

8. Dude we are getting sidetracked. There has to be a way out. You clearly are not a homophobe, yet you are unwittingly aligning yourself to them. What's the compromise?
- Hmmm, well if all gay people promise not to hit on straight people, then homosexuality can be legalised.

9. What??! - Yes they should give God Promise.

Elections Are Done

The people of India have spoken and they have shown the world, Democracy Rocks. High Five to all those with the indelible ink on your middle/index fingers!

But some people you can't keep out. They may be out of touch with reality, but with their excellent flair for words, fancy degrees and penchant for covering their asses, they still ply their trade as though nothing happened. No I'm not talking about the MBA's responsible for the recession...I'm talking about the GREAT INDIAN MEDIA

Not one, repeat not one, of this elite, shameless tribe got their prediction right on who would garner how many seats. Thank God the Election Commission cut down those opinion/exit polls. Imagine, the waste of investor money in the hands of these imbeciles in recessionary times. I'm not going to single out any single media person/outlet, as they have all proven to be equally incompetent. Now that we are done with the pre-election incompetency, let's get to the post election, "covering their ass" bit.

Today you have them propounding numerous theories as to why the Congress did so well - Rahul Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh, NREGA etc etc

a] Rahul Gandhi - Ain't these the same tribe who were panning his naivete in trying to send out feelers to Nitish Kumar, Jayalalithaa and the Left. Goes to show, Rahul himself wasn't sure they wud do well but atleast he was game enough to try.

b] Dr. Manmohan Singh - Apparently the press believes that the people of India have learnt to respect his honesty and sincerity and have re-elected him. Errr, it thats so why didn't they know of it before the elections. If somone is so wildly popular amongst the masses, the press should know, right?

c] NREGA - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Its the pro-poor scheme that has set the Indian countryside on fire, or so it would seem if u read the papers today. Interestingly the Congress party itself didn't think it was any great shakes. They mentioned it only 3 times in their manifesto on the 8th page. If hindsight is 20:20, for our media, it is laser vision!

The Indian General Elections have not only given the Congress a mandate, apparently it was a mandate beyond our shores as well. The Sri Lankan Army took it as a mandate to go ahead and shoot Prabhakaran. Yep..we care more for our free color TV's and one rupee rice, Eelam can go to hell. More on this later..

One of the biggest losers of these elections are the terrorists. Terrorism, by its very concept, is the art of influencing governments with high profile attacks that strike fear into the hearts of the people. When the people, themselves, don't care then of what use is terrorism? People of India, it seems, care for the Govt doing an earnest job or appear to do an earnest job of it. [Congress shud thank Chidambaram for this, flying shoe notwithstanding]. People care more for what the Government does that affects their daily lives. If terror were, to shake this country, it has to be much more widespread. In a country of India's size, that means all out war.

The elections also saw the Left lose a substantial part of their clout. They got whacked by Didi in Bengal and were united in commiting political suicide in Kerala. Post the elections, the Left politburo had a meeting and discovered there is still a place where they have 100% acceptability and had swept the elections. They decided to emigrate en masse to this promised land and applied to the Soviet Union for travel facilitation. The Russian embassy sent a "Sorry we do not exist anymore note" along with a Judo video of Vladimir Putin. Then they applied to the Chinese, who don't respond to losers. Then they tried their luck with Comrade Castro, who sent them a book from Hugo Chavez. By then, the kebabwala at Gol Market informed them that their promised land is in Indian territory and does not require a Visa. So off they went, led by Mr and Mrs Karat, who rival the Obamas as the most handsome first couple, to their promised land where they won 2 out of 2 LS seats - Tripura.