I was en-route to Bhopal M.P(India) to meet my brothers… It was 10.30 pm & I was sleeping..(you see..night grips faster on long distant Indian train journeys). suddenly the phone rings..it was one of my brother..he asked my whereabouts…”Am I seated comfortably?”, “Did I have food”…well I was a bit puzzled if it’s a prank?..all well wid him? He hung up saying will catch u tom at the station..We used to have loads of fun when we stayed together in Mumbai.. I had a clue at the back of mind that this trip is gonna be lot of fun..Still I was puzzled but slept over thinking whats in store for me?
Chaai! Chaaai! Chaai! The wake up alarm rings…these buggers never let u sleep in peace…but there is no fun without these chaai walas in trains. The train was on time; I reached Bhopal. One of my bro had cme to receive me. We hugged each other as we had met after a very lonnnnnng time. He drove me back to his home… We had breakfast..We were chatting, cracking jokes.. All of a sudden he told me be prepared for a surprise..HUH!! what surprise???? I asked. You will come to know soon was his reply… I knew it thers something fishy.
The door bell rings & thers my other bro wid his family(My bhabhi & a cutest neice)…he broke the news at last that we goin to KOTA a city in Rajasthan(India) &&& we are driving all the way…320Kms one way. OKAAAAAY so this is what it was. All my bags are packed & am ready to go.. We left in a Santro(a small car). The drive was scenic, we bid adieu to the lakes of Bhopal. We were chatting about all different things like food, movies etc. Driving on the hiway is fun for sure. The cutest bundle of joy(my niece) was equally excited to see Cows, Dogs, Sheeps etc. The road was good till now thanks to MP tourism…truly MP gajab hai…
We stopped at MP tourism restaurant on the way for lunch.. Food was goood… Post this checkpoint the JOY ride begins..
The roads were so pathetic that it seemed that we landed on MARS…suddenly we started speaking Martian Language š
We reached a junction point & we discussed on which route should we follow? Route 1. Suggested by my bros friend (as it was a MEGA hiway)or Route 2. Google maps.. We came to a conclusion that we need to follow Route 1 due to obvious reasons MEGA HIWAY. My bro n bhabhi shared a story how they followed the Google Maps for Mc Donalds in UK & it drove them to a DEAD END… So Route 1 it was…We continued & now i was Driving.
Fucking it was my BAAAAAD DAY… the worst roads continued for approx 2hrs n we drove just 50 Kms…WTF!! Those 50Kms seemed infinite. Then my bro says it seems U R A BAD LUCK…le me drive n thn u see the condition of the roads…I handed over the car to him to drive…he drove for like 300 mts & trust me guys the road was smooth as silk. I cursed my luck…We were damn tired driving but the road seemed never ending. It was 5pm already we had left home around 12.15pm. We thought we would reach KOTA & sip tea in peace by 6pm. whats wrong wid Rajasthan Tourism. Is this how u say PADHARO SAA??? But one thing for sure this small car that we were driving has turned into a mini 4×4 supporting us all thru the bad roads. Truly deserves an applause.
It was time to say GOOD BYE DAY. It was dark by now
Now the test for real driving skill starts. The Trailers & Truck drivers were equally bad as the roads of Rajasthan. They drive in full beam. We reached the So Called MEGA Hiway…they charged us Rs 50 as toll for comuting through the hiway; but the roads near the TOLL Booth itself was the worst road of all. The road continued to show its true colors with unexpected road cuts, Man holes(yeah i wont call them POT holes).
On the way we decided that we would goin to Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary at night or early morning (4am)
Some how we reached bhabhi’s house…It took us 8hours to rch..but the tiredness was gone when we entered this Mind blowing residential colony of Chambal Fertilizers.. The climate was cool. We reached home freshned up & finally the sip of TEA was so refreshing along with Rajasthani Kachori. Aaooo Maara Desss yummmmyyyy
We all were casually chatting . The dinner was ready & we were ready for another round of food.
Had a sumptuous dinner…Yummmmyyyyyy. We had a good walk post dinner & came home n crashed for the day…it was raining thru the night
Good Morning!! The climate in the morning was pleasant. Freshened up & sat on the breakfast table.. It was poha time. I relished the poha; more things started pouring in our plates such as Pyaaz ke Kachori & Gobi Ke pakode i was complete stuffed. Bhabhi’s house has a vegetable plantation in their backyard. We spotted Peacock in their backyard.. The little bundle of JOY was over excited to see these birds.
They also have a guava tree…we plucked fresh Guava..it was fun…Time was running out & we needed to leave for bhopal. So we packed our bags & left for bhopal. Same mini 4×4 but a different route(Route2 – Google Maps) this time. We spotted Camel herd on our way back home.
We were driving very close to the Railway Tracks. We had qualified as a rally drivers by now.
There were many cows on the middle of the hiway. Looks like these cows were trained to bang against our car.. Like those suicide bombers wherein all compensation would be paid to their families after their death. So we had to dodge our way. Hush!! we reached bhopal by 7pm…it took us close to 6hrs to rch as we didnt stop over for lunch.
But I must say that the this rode was a JOY RIDE indeed.
We three brothers beered-up ourselves at night & CRASHED for the day.
Wanderers Blog 
Very articulate Sai, I never imagined you had such a great knack for writing and of course the ability to capture all the events so meticulously. Way to go Bro!!!
It was indeed a joy ride. Next time lets push the envelope further and we will take our mini 4×4 to Leh š