MY NISSAN MAGNITE ALL SET TO FLY
At last the day has come. The plan is to drive solo across India in my Nissan MAGNITE over the next 35 days and clock approximately 13500 kms.
The feeling is exactly like the day before I ran a Marathon. Excitement and apprehension both having a tug of war. The thought of riding across our vast country for the next 30-40 days seeing new places, meeting old friends and connecting with people from different cultures, understanding languages and dialects as they change across states, trying out different cuisines and so much more the thought of which is in itself so exhilarating.
Is my tummy ok? Why is it grumbling so much? Have I taken everything required for the journey? Where did I keep purse? Hope the traffic is less tomorrow. All these unwanted queries and worries gives one the streaks of panic attacks.
Yes, I had prepared well. Yes, in today’s world I will be connected with anyone I want at all times. And yes, I am so thrilled that I have the energy, health, money and moral support of my family on my side. So I am going…..
As expected I didn’t sleep too well last night. Twisting and turning and going through an imaginary road journey with its thrills and problems. Somehow managed to get a few hours of disturbed sleep but was up with the alarm at 5.10am. Quickly got ready, had a hot strong filter coffee and set off at 6.40am. Entered the NICE road and cruised at 80kmph. As I saw the sun rising, the knots in my stomach started twisting. I had actually set off on this wonderful journey at last and what lay ahead of me I didn’t know. So many things were going on in my head. Then I shook myself and decided to just think about the destination more than 600 km away which I had to cover today.
Early morning rides in Bangalore is a breeze but traffic jams can pop up any minute. As I reached Yeshwantpur junction there was a 10 minute long traffic jam already and it was just 7.10 am. Talk about Bangalore traffic.
Soon I was on my way and by about 7.45 I was crossing the international airport. It was after a very long time that I had not turned into the airport road and continued on the Hyderabad highway. Just as I was passing probably past the zero point I saw an aircraft landing with the rising sun just behind it. What a beautiful sight it is - the take off and landing of aircraft. Soon I was crossing the Nandi hills on the left. I’ve never been there but today it looked beautiful with the mist hanging around it. One huge rock just standing out of nowhere.
The Hyderabad Highway is a four lane road with wide dividers. It was great fun to drive on and very very smooth and some light traffic. I noted there were lots of water bodies every few kilometres and small villages which had sprouted around each one of them.
Just short of Bagepalli Toll stopped at a very classy looking SAMARA Veg restaurant. Early morning crowd including many from a couple of tourist buses were already there. Got myself a nice table and had Poori Sabji and Chutney and a cup of coffee for breakfast.
Some things are so funny …. especially the moment we cross the state border. Just after the Bagepalli toll we entered Andhra Pradesh and all the signboards changed instantly. Though I cannot read both Kannada or Telugu scripts, within 50 m one can see the difference in the squigglies of the script.
The other clearly evident change was the support to industrialisation in AP. It is so so so obvious. The moment you cross the toll within 4 to 5 km you can see large tracts of land given to industries and huge factories set up on this rocky patches of land. I saw CSE, Kia Motors Moblis and so many more. In front of one of the factories about 40 to 50 buses were lined up.
Soon I crossed Anantapur and though the road continued to be equally smooth but had more traffic, the scenery had become very rugged with small hillocks all over the place. It’s a very rocky terrain and lots of rock cutting activity on the hillside was also on. The road too had become more winding as well as more ups and downs were there so automatically speed as well as mileage had to reduce but it was still great driving conditions.
Crossed from AP to Telangana at Kurnool. The actual interstate border seemed to be along the Tungabhadra river and soon I crossed a long bridge across the river and immediately after that entered the Kurnool toll.
Soon I came across Kritunga Restaurant and saw a lot of cars parked so decided to stop for an early lunch. And it was simple curd rice and butter milk. I could quickly wrap up lunch and was on my way again. Crossed Krishna river at 1:45 PM. Sadly the river seemed very dry and the bridge across it is very wide. I could well imagine when this river would have been full and why huge farmlands were present on both sides of the river for miles around.
I had got up early in the morning and the curd rice and buttermilk had done the trick. I kind of felt little drowsy at 2:15 about so decided to park under a tree on the main highway and took a power nap of about 25 minutes. Felt really refreshed and immediately took off and Google Maps informed me that I should be able to reach my destination by 1730hrs. At Mahbubnagar, my petrol tank pinged to show that I needed to top up so I stopped and filled up the tank.
At 4:10pm I hit the Nehru Outer Ring Road toll. My cousin had already informed me as to the lanes to be taken to avoid getting into Hyderabad city. Traffic was really crazy there but suddenly I realised that those three lanes for the Outer Ring Road were nearly empty. Went past the toll and the moment I entered after climbing through the clover I noticed how beautifully it had been made. Four wide lanes in either side and speed limit has been given as 120 km/h. It is the first time where I have seen officially speed limit to be 120 and so I took off. Set my speed to 105 and put my MAGNITE on Cruise Control. Other than a few road hogs who continued on the road at 40 km/h I didn’t have to shift gears for the next 38 kms.
Left the Ring Road through Exit 8 and soon joined the maddening evening traffic of Hyderabad. Went straight to my cousin Kumar’s house and spent the next couple of hours chatting with him and Radhika his wife. Chomped down on a few Paneer and Onion Pakodas and flushed it all down with a hot cup of coffee.
Left their place at about 7pm and drove through some thick traffic though not as unruly as Bangalore and reached my niece Shilpa’s place where I will be staying for the next couple of days. I had driven 660 kms in one day. And what am I going to do here? Meet a couple of friends and tag along with my niece as she shows me around Hyderabad, a city I have visited often but have never ever had a chance to see.
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