The Westside Story – XIX – Day 16

15 days ago, we woke up in Bangalore. 15 days after that we woke up in a different city almost everyday!! 15 days later we woke up in Dilli. Our first day in Delhi, we were late for breakfast!! We kept Danish’s mom waiting since 0800 hrs!! Sorry aunty…

We headed out around 1000 hrs to Red Fort. We drove from Gurgaon to Delhi and picked up Vidushi. We then caught the metro and were set to leave. But we got diverted by a Mc Donalds on the way and stopped for fries and a softy. We had to have our official trip food even in Delhi :D

Red Fort is massive on the inside! I’ve always seen it from outside and always thought it was just a long rectangle, in reality, it’s really huge!
Red fort was built by Shah Jahan. And it’s got quite a few Mahal’s inside the fort. There is a museum as well.

The ticketing is quite weird here. At the entrance, you will have to pay Rs. 5 for entry and Rs. 10 for the Museum. The guard at the main gate will tear all the tickets together. Remember not to throw them away because the guard at the museum will check the other half of the torn museum tickets!!! We almost had to leave without visiting the museum because the half tickets got lost in Danish’s deep pockets full of you-know-what = JUNK!!!! ;D

Anyway, after Red Fort we headed to the heart of Chandini Chowk (Dilli 6) to a Paranthe walli gulli for the yummiest paranthas!! They were in at least 25 various flavours for around Rs 25 each. Probably 2 should fill a person. It was good fun since the place is tiny, if someone stretches too much he might punch a guy 2 tables away in the face, and the service is literally on the go! Your order is taken by a boy who is walking from one table to another and just happens to look at you! He’ll jerk his head up as a form of questioning you, and you just have to keep your order ready else wait for the next guy to give you time! :D

Danish had left by the end of the meal to pick Saher Punjab and drop her to Gurgaon, so the 4 of us took a cycle rickshaw and headed to Jama Masjid!! The ride through Chandini Chowk was amusing! J I felt like a tourist looking at the bustling city with a road as narrow as one lane used for oncoming traffic as well, with the electric wires hanging so low, I’d have been able to do a Mowgli on one of them had I just stuck my hand up!

Our luck this time ran out and we were at the Masjid just as the time for Namaz had started! We weren’t allowed in, so we decided to head to Janpath to shop for a bit.

We caught another rickshaw to the metro and hurried away to shop! After an hour or so, we met Danish at India Gate and had Mother Dairy chocolate chip ice-creams and went home!

I met some of my colleagues, who’re more of friends and less of colleagues, for an amazing Thai dinner and then went clubbing to a place called Buzz. Here is when I saw the real difference between Bangalore and Delhi.

Both cities have a very different outlook and if they’d merge it’d be like Shangri-La. More about it later!

The Westside Story – XVIII – Day 15

We left Jaipur at 1040 hrs. This was the last day of travel. And quite depressing! :( We got ready and said goodbye to the last Mess we’d be staying at!

According to plan, we were supposed to continue to take NH 8 and we’d Delhi, but somehow we saw ourselves on NH 11C!!! We searched frantically in our Eicher Map and we found NH 11A and NH 11B, but no sign of a NH 11C!! But we decided to continue on the road since it was a good road, didn’t have much traffic and showed us the same distance to Delhi as we had anticipated on NH 8.
Soon, after 51.1 kms we joined NH 8 at 1250 hrs, when Delhi was 220 kms away!

We reached Kotputli at around 113.1 kms.

At 135 kms we reached Behror around 1423 hrs.

We stopped in a roadside dhaba type place called Muskaan Midway. We ate, almost shopped and headed out again. We reached Haryana border around 1610 hrs, 163.7 kms.

Once we reached Gurgaon, we headed to Danish’s place. And straight from there, we headed to a theatre to watch the first day one-of-the-first shows of Delhi-6!

If this was a movie review site and I was a movie critic, I’d have given you the review of the movie, but since it isn’t, I won’t.

Over and Out!

The Westside Story – XVII – Day 14

Jaipur. Pink City. The Maharaja Jai Singh in 1878 ordered all the buildings facing the main road to be painted pink in order to welcome the Prince of Wales.

We headed out of our Mess around 1030 hrs to our first stop – Hawa Mahal. This place is known as such due to the number of windows in this palace – there are 394 windows in this one palace! This entire palace was built only for the Queens and their attendees. During the Purdah system, the women weren’t allowed outside in public. This Mahal was built so that the queens could see processions and any festivals that were held through the many windows. There is a passageway that leads from the City Palace to Hawa Mahal only so that the queens could go from one place to another without being seen!

The City Palace is still the residence of the current Maharaja who is very very old. Half the palace is his place of stay and the other half has been turned into a museum. When the Maharaja is staying in the palace or when he is in Jaipur, there are 2 flags that are hoisted up otherwise there is just one.

The City Palace is huge, and there are multiple museums inside. There is also a City Palace coffee shop where we headed straight! :P This place will take at least 3 hours of your time if you want to go through it properly.

While we were there, the place looked even more colourful and nice because there was the shooting going on for a Salman Khan movie!! :D Sadly, we didn’t see Salman Khan :P But the enormity of ONE SCENE of a movie was quite surprising!! There’s so much that goes into it!!

After the City Palace, we skipped Jantar Mantar, and went to Nahargarh Fort. The story of this fort was that Maharaja Madho Singh had 9 wives and he built a fort with 9 identical houses for each of his wives!! Quite picturesque and would have been a lot of fun to plat hide and seek in!!

We had to give up Danish’s license because Kudu hadn’t got his seat belt on and we refused to pay the bribe of Rs. 200. We had to pick up his license from the cop station the next day and pay a fine of Rs 300!
After the fort, we headed to Choki Dhani and had a blast! This a must visit for anyone going to Jaipur!!

The Westside Story – XVI – Day 13

Our 13th day on the road! And after a long time, this was going to be one long drive! We left out Mess at 0530 hrs. The passengers passed out 5 minutes into the journey!! I woke up around 0700 hrs and realized Danish was the only one awake and driving with all windows rolled up!! The car was beginning to get stuffy, albeit warm, and that was not a good way to keep the driver alert and attentive!! By 0715 almost everyone was awake – except for JJ, of course!! If she was in the car – she was asleep! I can’t remember a single time when she’d be awake for more than 50 kms! ;D

At 137.2 kms 0740 hrs, we decided to stop over at a Dhaba for a much needed breakfast! But for some unknown reason, the very un-fussy girls (JJ and I) just took a look at the place and weren’t hungry anymore!! :P But the boys ordered 4 aloo paranthas, and when they came, we weren’t able to resist the urge to dig in! J The food was good and after a much needed rest, decided to head out, but with me at the wheel..!

We pretty much stuck to NH 8 the entire while, except when we took a left to Ajmer at 275 kms at 1100 hrs. We headed straight to Akbar’s fort which was under maintenance and we weren’t allowed to go around the fort. We did manage to gain entry into a museum of sorts which is nothing short of ridiculous! The paintings put up are intricate and nice but the boards put under them to explain each painting are hilarious and steal the spotlight from them! Forgetable!

I learnt 2 things in Ajmer! Okay 3…

You will not find any toilets in public places! There is one central complex called . Apart from that you’d have to make do with walking into hotels and using their toilets without availing their services!
There is usually a huge 2-3 storied building in most parts of a city (in Rajasthan) that are used for giving water for people to drink! These buildings are called a “Peeyau” and that’s the only purpose of such a huge building!
If you don’t watch your back in the tiny roads of these cities, you will end up fracturing a leg!! The traffic is bad and the drivers inconsiderate! Or at least that’s how it seems to an outsider! But the local people looked immune to scooters bumping into them and people rubbing shoulders with everybody else!!

We then headed to the famous Dargah in the midst of Ajmer- The dargah of Khawaja Moin-ud-din-Chishti. This was for the experience of Ajmer! A narrow lane lined with shops on both sides for over half a km, selling things ranging from flowers to handkerchiefs to coconuts! But the rush of human traffic is overwhelming! People actually live there, so you have the rush of daily activity and the craziness of a regular day mixing with the madness of tourists!

Once we reached the mosque we had to go in 2’s since we weren’t allowed to take cameras inside (strangely, every other mosque we’d gone to allowed us to do so) so Kudu and I guarded the camera and shoes while JJ and Danish went in. After waiting for over 20 min, we went in. This mosque has 3 mosques inside it and one Dargah. One mosque was built by Shah Jahan, one by Aurangazeb and one by someone whose name none of us could understand!!

Famished, we headed in search of a place to eat. We were a bit tired after being awake since 0430 in the morning! This is when we got into a neat discussion about table manners! Turns out, all parents go to a school where they are taught about what they will teach their children!! And the parents pass out of that school with a book of phrases that are used to tame children around the world – these words of wisdom are used on the poor, unassuming children and are similar, word-to-word!!!! :D

After lunch, we got conned! It was like it was on the agenda : Step one – Eat food. Step two : Head to Dargah. Step three : Get conned!

We went to Targarh which has on a hill and has a dargah on top. We were stopped at the base of the hill by a group of men on bikes. We were wary but stopped anyway. They told us that they were from the department of tourism and they were designated there to guide tourists like us to the Dargah and show them around for no fee! We figured this was a good deal. Bad move!

They told us to go up and wait for one of them to follow us on his bike. We reached on top and this guy led us into a house where he made us take our shoes off and go inside the house and fold our hands in front of a picture we had no idea what it was! He went on to talk really fast and move with the speed of light without giving us a chance to question and ponder! Suddenly it seemed like he was telling us that we had to buy a white cloth – it was mandatory – as an offering to the Dargah! We were contemplating when he made it seem like he’d do us a favour and make the decision for us – he yelled out to his counterpart “jaa, inko 300 walla de de, aur 50 ke phool bhi”. Within seconds we had a basket with a white cloth and flowers thrust on top of Danish’s head and the “guide” was leading us into the Dargah!!

This is the funniest part – The priest inside tells us tales of how anyone who makes a contribution to the Dargah can ask for a wish and it will most definitely come true!! He made us put our heads under the white cloth that we’d bought and muttered something that sounded like he was invoking the spirits to bless us :P They had the audacity to ask us for more contributions! This time we’d had enough time under the cloth to figure this out and say NO! The cloth that we’d “bought”, got put into a basket (which most definitely will be sold to another gullible tourist)!

What a racket!

We then headed to a memorial built for Prithvi Raj Chauhan. This was at the foot of the hill on which the conning Durgah was, and the quiet serenity was a pleasant contrast to the fast-smooth talker of a guide we’d followed!

We headed to Pushkar where we stopped at the only Brahma temple in the world! Apparently, he was cursed that he would never have a temple due to some sin he had committed, and even this temple is not really his. This story needs to be verified!!

We left Pushkar at 1815 hrs and hit bad bad truck traffic! We eventually reached Jaipur after taking the maximum number of U-turns in one night as compared to the entire trip!
We were exhausted and all of us passed out!

The Westside Story – XV – Udaipur – Day 12

We woke up to a beautiful misty morning in the cantonment and treated ourselves to some hot and tasty aloo paranthas. After that we headed out to the city palace museum which seemed as though it was the central point around which the entire city of Udaipur has been built. Testimony to this fact is that all the places to see in and around Udaipur lie within a 5 to 6 km radius of the city palace museum. Udaipur, with its narrow, steep and curving lanes is by far the most colorful place I have been to on this trip. The multitude of colors and patterns makes one feel as though one is looking at the entire city through a kaleidoscope! J Even the people here are so colorful.Guess when Rajasthan was being created (or painted) god was a little too generous with the colors!! PS: We spotted the first packet of Uncle Chipps today!! :D Paid an entry fee of Rs. 50 per head and another 50 bucks for the car park and another 200 bucks for the camera. Bit on the higher side, but that’s the way it is here. Everything is so beautiful and all of it costs to see. All the palaces are maintained by HRH group of hotels and that’s why the steep prices for entry tickets and such. For example, a 10 minute boat ride to the Jagmandir lake palace /hotel cost each one of us Rs. 300 + Rs. 25 for entry… L The Rajputs have, from time immemorial, been known for their valor and bravery and the city palace museum narrates just that with its paintings, weaponry and not to forget, the palace itself. The view from the palace windows is like looking at a picture postcard. Most of the windows face the lake which has two more palaces build on islands, with beautiful hills for background. There is another museum called the crystal palace by the lakeside which again charges Rs. 325 as entry fee!! L Wiser from our experience at hard rock café in Mumbai, we decided to give this one a pass J Had lunch at the Jagmandir palace hotel, in the middle of the lake. J Prices are on the higher side but we were really hungry to bother about that and moreover the food was finger lickin good J J One quite interesting fact about the City Palace is that it has been owned by the Mewar dynasty since it was established! This dynasty is the longest serving dynasty in the world!! We headed back to the city palace museum and from there to the monsoon palace of Sajjangarh. Situated on a hill, this is probably the highest point in Udaipur, giving one a birds eye view of the entire city. Originally proposed to contain 13 floors, this one ended up having only five floors. As we had to head back to do some shopping and catch the “Sound and Lights” show at the city palace museum, we did not spend much time here. On the way back we stopped over at the vintage car museum that houses the car collection of the current Maha Rana. Here again there is an entry fee of Rs 100 that includes the privilege to see and touch around 18-20 of the Maharana’s vintage cars, jeeps, truck, schoolbus and some horse carriages J If you are too tired doing all of this there is a cold drink to be had at the end of it J We then set off to do some shopping. We had to breeze through the shops since this being the wedding season, most of the shops down their shutters by 8:00 PM. Danish and I left for the city palace museum to catch the Sound and light show, leaving Lee and JJ behind to shop all they want J J . The Sound and Light show is the star attraction for tourists in Udaipur. The entire history of Mewar, a bloody one at that is narrated with sound bytes and lights placed strategically on the palace front. Lee and JJ joined us 10 minutes into the show with a bag full of merchandise. J The one hour long show left us with a lot more understanding of Mewar and its gritty rulers. We stopped over at a trinket shop and bought some really cool stuff! We got a good deal as it was closing time and the shopkeeper wanted to get rid of us somehow J but make some money at the same time.. J Had dinner at a nearby hotel and then headed back to the cantt to get some much needed sleep if we were to head out to Jaipur at 0500 next day J

The Westside story – XIV

We were an excited lot when we bid our goodbye’s to the land of dhoklas. Even though JJ was feeling feverish, she too was looking forward to Udaipur like the rest of us. All of us had heard about the opulence of the Udaipuri palaces. Now, we would get to experience it first hand. We left around 1445 hrs, after allowing JJ and Sam to rest!

The directions were easy – just catch the NH 8 and head towards Himmatnagar!

Before crossing Himatnagar, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer (in line with Gandhinagar) at 1515 hrs and 2768.6 total km reading from Bangalore. :D Quite the historic moment – even though we can never be sure of the accuracy of our recording, considering the ToC is an imaginary line and all, but we have used as much logic and thought as anyone can, so safely assume that we are right!

We came across one toll gate before reaching Himatnagar at 1553 hrs at 71.7 km reading. We stopped over at a roadside pseudo Dhaba, where we had masala “dhosa” :D and other stuff to eat and drink, after which I took over driving!

Another toll plaza later, you enter Rajasthan at 122.4 kms, 1720 hrs.

The moment you crosss over to Rajasthan from the Gujarat border a welcome sign which is modeled on a fort almost immediately catches your eye. This was only to be the start of what lay ahead for us in Rajasthan.

The roads are so good and there’s hardly any traffic, although the roads do start winding up as you enter the Aravali Hills, there is not much of a challenge. Without good music and fun co-passengers, this road is bound to get boring! You literally drive with one foot pressed on the accelerator and…that’s all there is to it!! :D It’s fun to zip around but after a while you begin to wish you had some obstacles like in a video game ;D!!

We crossed Kherwada at 1800 hrs and 164.8 km reading. I stopped driving at 185 kms and 1825 hrs because according to Danish, “his back was beginning to ache sitting in the passenger seat” when the truth was I knew he had noticed that it was getting dark and there was some truck traffic beginning to show signs of life, and he didn’t want me to drive through those treacherous conditions ;D!!

By the time we reached the cantonment dusk had set in completely and we decided to call it a day after dinner since we needed to recharge ourselves with a good night’s sleep. Before hitting the sack however, we listed out the places to visit, come tomorrow.

The Westside Story XIII – Ahmedabad

The day at Ahmedabad started not so early! We were quite happy catching up on our sleep!! Considering we left around 1100 hrs, we were able to cover only 4 places of significance! We headed out to Sabarmati Ashram. The place is the humble abode of Gandhi from 1917. He had founded another ashram before this at a place called Kochrab in 1915 which he had to abandon because of the plague epidemic apparently. He started his famous Dandi March in 1930 when he pledged he wouldn’t return till “complete independence” wasn’t achieved!

The ashram has been converted to a museum and part of it remains an ashram where the teachings of Gandhi and the art of yarn spinning is still taught! The museum gave me the impression that Gandhi was an extremist in thought and action. But I guess you can’t be a moderate if you want to excite an entire nation and result it into a nation-wide movement fighting for freedom, giving up their entire lives for this movement.

Sabarmati House (where he lived) is plain, humble and empty. What I found weirdest was the fact that Gandhi had his own room and Kasturba (his wife) had a separate room to herself! There was another building not too far from the house, with 2 rooms, for Vinodha bhai (his guru) and Meera (a German – I think – who was an ardent fan of Gandhi and had come to live with him wherever he went!).

After spending the entire afternoon here, we headed to the City Museum! We were in for a rude shock! The museum was pathetically handled, guarded and promoted! The museum was closed on an “open” day! The reason – there was a wedding happening in the complex and “the children were a menace”!! We had to fight with the guards to open it!

After it was opened, it was a good experience! The information available was varied! About Ahmedabad, the historic significance of this city during independence, lots of photographs and some paintings! We also came across Emperor Jehangir’s letter granting trade permission in India! This was the beginning of the greatest and the worst chapter of Indian history!!

Our next stop was probably tantamount with what we had been doing all through our trip – we went to another mosque. :D Ahmedshah’s mosque. As usual, very beautiful but very much the same architecture as the Jama Masjid in Champaner. Here the signature minarets on the top of the mosque were missing, possibly because of proper preservation!
Having been to so many mosques, there are a couple of tips you pick up that aren’t written on sign boards :
- Never walk in front of someone kneeling on the ground, praying. This is because they’re not supposed to bow down in front of anyone but Allah and take it very offensively!
- Women are supposed to cover their heads inside the mosque and in Dargah’s.
- Wear something that covers your knees.
- There is a separate room upstairs for women to pray in. These rooms have small meshed windows that have such intricate designs, making it a beautiful sight but also very difficult to see inside the rooms – kinda like the point ain’t it!
- You’ve got to take your shoes off! So try not to wear sneakers!!


After Ahmedshah’s mosque, we headed for lunch to a place mentioned in Lonely Planet! But after searching for around half an hour, driving through a crazy bazaar and maddeningly hungry, we decided to stop over at any place that looked decent! This bazaar was a nightmare for the driver, but was great fun for passengers! We stopped at a small joint that looked like it was fine (because it had an a/c)! The food was good but we were charged for 4 “nons” and 2 “cocks” :D (4 naans and 2 cokes!). We got a copy of the bill for memory! :D

After lunch we headed to the Shaking Minarets. These minarets are just 2 very well designed minarets that used to shake when pushed hard!! But probably to preserve it, that has been disallowed to the public. You could tell that this place is frequented by tourists because as soon as we reached the place and stepped out of the car, we were surrounded by little kids. And the second we whipped out the camera, they swamped us to take their pictures!!! They were very cute and we didn’t mind obliging at all..! They all tried showing off their talents to us! We identified a SRK in the group and an Indian idol!! :D

We went to the Jama Masjid very briefly as we had to try and beat the closing time of Akshardhama temple of what we were told is 1830 hrs. The Jama Masjid here is huger than any we had seen earlier and was beautiful as usual! There was a water place in the middle of the Masjid. The architecture was the same as all other Mosques, although for the second time today, we saw the minarets missing!

The hunt for Akshardhama temple (a Swamy Narayan temple) was nothing less than a high speed car chase! We looked like we were part of the popular reality show on AXN “Survivor” and our next clue was at the temple! :D One tip: any kind of electronic items are not allowed inside – phones, cameras, ipods, cd players – so keep them all in your car before entering! Once inside the gates, we had to go through an elaborate security check. The man at the counter will yell out “Belt, wallet, chabbi, chillard, chain”! All these items need to be kept in a tray and you have to pass through a metal detector. Once on the other side, take your belongings and head inside the massive building that looks really amazing at night. The real closing timings are 2030 hrs, so try going after dark to capture the beauty of the place!

Doing a friend a favour, we headed to a restaurant called “Bawarchi” on Drive In road. Also met another friend who studies in IIM A there. I didn’t know this, but here’s an interesting fact – did you know that in most restaurants and showrooms in Amhedabad, IIM A students get a default 10% discount!! The restaurant is a pure veg restaurant but the food is good! Try it out if you have the time!

The Westside story –XII

We left Kribco township finding our way to Bharuch. We bypassed Surat, unlike last evening when we drove through the mad traffic at Surat

We headed to the ONGC chau-rastha and took a left on SH-168. This was the first good highway I drove on after entring Gujrat.
It was slightly chilly and misty in parts but it became warmer as soon as the sun was a little higher up.
We headed on to SH-6, following signboards and asking for directions to Bharuch. We were running really low on fuel and we could find any pumps on this strech for quite a while. We crossed Olpad and headed on to Kim using NH-224.Managed to find a pump after a not-so-good road. (Was kind of like the Gaganbavda-Kohlapur strech we did)

Took a left for Ankleswar (SH-65) and reached Ankelswhar at 0900hrs, 74 Kms after we left Kribco Township, Surat.

We headed on to cross the Naramda river (SH-64). It was completed in 1870-it’s a narrow 1.5 lane bridge (used as two lane bridge J heheh)

We reached Bharuch around 0945 hrs -83.1 Kms from Kitco.

Bharuch had a “majestic fort on a small hill” overlooking the Narmada river-atleast that’s what we read.
Enter Bharuch and people don’t know of any fort…..Hmm…..Not good.
So we took directions to the Jama masjid instead, which was the only other place mentioned in our guide book

It was easier to get to Jama Masjid, because atleast SOME people had heard of it. Driving through the narrow lanes of Bharuch we were suddenly climbing a small hill…..but there was no fort.

We reached the Jama Masjid, built in the 15th Century. It is a beautiful masjd built of stone and has fine intricate carvings- but saldy photography was not allowed.

We spent some time there, and spoke to a family who lived next door about the fort. They too,were clueless and we decided to give up and head to the next place on our list – Champaner.

On the way back from Bharuch, we made our first traffic violation for the trip. Apparently in Gujrat, all three and four wheelers are to have an anti glare sticker on the right headlamp. We tried to reason with the policewala but to no avail. So we decided it was best to pay the fine of Rs. 100.

We stopped over to have breakfast at “Thakur Restaurant” in Bharuch town which by the way wasn’t such a great decision considering the hygiene of the place.

We had no other choice but to go there as most of the other restaurants in town are not open for breakfast and it was too early to have lunch. We then continued on our way towards Baroda via Champaner and Pavagadh. We hit NH-8 at 1135 hrs which is around 7 kms from Bharuch.

We continued on NH-8 for another 80 kms and took a right turn towards Champaner and Pavagadh at 1340 hrs on to SH-87 which is an expressway. JJ took over the wheel from here and after a 33 km drive we reached Halol from where we took a right onto SH-5 towards Champaner which is 7 kms away.

Pavagadh is the hill and at the base of the hill lies Champaner, both of which are unesco world heritage sites. Champaner was the capital city of Gujarat when Chauhan-Rajputs were at the throne. There is quite a disturbing story about this place. When Champaner was taken over by a Sultan Mahmood Begara, the Rajputs committed jauhar, a ritual mass suicide in the face of defeat. We had lunch at Hotel Hansraj, which serves authentic Punjabi and Gujrati disheez ( the semblance with disease wasn’t enough to dissuade us from having lunch there, which was not bad) The after effects though were felt the next day in Ahmedabad when Lee started doing what looked like Bhangra steps inside the car.

We took a cable car a.k.a “Udan Khatola” to the top of the hill where a 11th century ruins of a jain temple called the LakuLesha and a relatively newer temple of goddess Kali are present. We decide to give the Kali temple a skip as the udan khatola is not available after 5:00 PM. We dashed out to see the Lakulesha temple which is in the centre of a tiny water tank. This temple is very small compared to the others that we have been to on the trip.

We took a look from the outside and darted back to catch the Udan Khatola. On the way back brave duo, that’s Lee and Danish were much comfortable than what they were on the way up to the hill, holding hands and saying their prayers and self assuring that “nothing is going to happen” and “its not that bad” and “theres a net below” and the likes.. :-P J

Anywho, We had a self imposed deadline of 1800 hrs to leave Pavagadh and as usual, we didn’t stick to it coz by the time we were back from the hill, it was well past 1800. We then went inside the fortress at the base of the hill, which encompasses a couple of villages. Apart from the imposing entrance to the fort, a beautiful mosque called Sahar ki Masjid, with its beautiful minarets and lush green lawns is a sight to behold. Though it is architecturally similar to the mosque in Bharuch, this one is a much bigger mosque and much better maintained, obviously due to its world heritage site status. We proceeded to take a look at the Jama-Masjid which is even bigger than the Sahar ki masjid and more beautiful. We tried to find the Kewda masjid and the Nagina masjid which we were told are situated in a wooded area. Since we were already getting late and we had to reach Ahmedabad for dinner, we bid our goodbye’s to Champaner and Pavagadh.

We traced the same route on the way back to hit the NH-8 and then the amazing Mahatma Gandhi expressway at 1933 hrs. We were consistently clocking 110-115 kmph and the 90 odd km drive seemed really short. We spotted a Maruti Swift behind a police vehicle which had the emergency lights on and both travelling at exactly 100 kmph, the speed limit on the Expressway. The law abiding citizens that we are, we decided not to overtake both vehicles and we too lifted our foot off the accelerator a little to go at 100 kmph behind the Swift. J Apparently the Swift was waiting for us to overtake the police vehicle and if we didn’t get pulled over for over speeding, he too would follow suit which by the way, was exactly what we were hoping for with a slight reversal of roles. J :-P The cat and mouse game continued for another 5 minutes or so before coming to an end by an Indigo that zipped past all three of us at way over the speed limit. J We thought an hot pursuit would ensue when the police vehicle started pickin up speed but that did not last long as the police vehicle went back to its original speed. This made us a little more brave and we overtook the police vehicle finally.

We took a left off the expressway towards Gandhinagar at 2025 hrs. We reached the gandhinagar toll plaza at 2030 hrs and just when we started to feel lost, we met two uncle jis in a white Indica, who volunteered to show us the way to airport. Oh, and by the way one of them bore an uncanny resemblance to Narendra Modi and the other to Sahib Singh Verma :)
After driving for about 24 kms, We took a right at the airport circle to reach Hanuman Camp at 2145 hrs which was the place that we were going to stay at for the next two days. We were hungry as wolves when we got there and decided to dig into dinner and we had to go pick up Sam from the airport who by the way took took double the time than we did to reach Ahmedabad though he was on the same expressway 30 minutes before us but on a bus.. :)

We sat and chit-chatted for a bit and then taught our anonymous travellers a game how to play Kothpeece and finally called it a day around 0300hrs!!! ----Not good !!! :)

(--By Anonymous traveller 2) :)

The Westside Story – XI - Mumbai to Surat

Until now we have travelled NH 206, NH 4, and NH 4A and NH 17. But now onwards, we’re gonna be hugging NH 8 all the way to Delhi!! This seemed somewhat symbolic and slightly disturbing because this marks the beginning of the end of our trip!! L

We still have exactly 7 days to go and this is when we’re going to be doing Rajasthan majorly and as much as we can of Delhi.

We started out of our Nest at 0530 hrs and were quite unfamiliar with the roads at this unearthly hour! I never understood it when my mum, very well in the know of the roads, would lose her way either before sunrise or after sunset!! But now I do, as the roads do look terrifically different!!

We crossed Marine Drive, which is beautiful when it’s lit up!! After heading towards Navi Mumbai, we caught on to the NH 8.

We crossed 3 toll plaza’s on this road, and although the roads are good, the trucks make driving hell! The possibility of zipping past one of them and heading right into another is very high and serves no purpose, so waiting and having an excellent navigator (this time it’s ST and not me!! :P) is important! Although all these trucks and traffic didn’t seem to bother a merc who overtook all of us and zipped passed everyone without a blink of an eye!! :P

We reached Manor at 0727hrs, 109.2 kms and touched the Gujarat border at 0825hrs at 173.8 kms!

Between Mumbai and Surat we had decided to take a detour to Daman and Dandi. Without these two places, we’d have reached Surat in half a day! But somewhere around 7 am we could hear hour horn fade! Danish, defending Waldo (the car :D) to the end) denied any of it and blamed our hearing on our age and growing old and infrequent trips to the ENT!! But soon when the horn faded totally we decided to get it done at the first stop itself – Daman!

We reached Vapi town at 0837 hrs at 187.2 km and Daman at 0855 hrs at 194 kms. We were all ravenous by this time and HAD to stop for grub before any kind of touring! We searched and searched and asked and asked scores of people where “Sea face road” was and no one could tell us where exactly. They’d just point in the direction right ahead of them and vaguely wave their hands about! Even when we were ON Sea Face Road we were told to take a U-turn and head East! But luckily we spotted the words written on the address of some shop and realized we were at the right place!

We stopped over for breakfast at 0915 hrs and 203 kms, at a restaurant called “Daman Delite”, also listed in Lonely Planet as “the best restaurant of Daman”!! And we all agree!!

The breakfast buffet was good, the service was awesome, Danish had 9 omelettes to order and the rest of us just gave way to manners and gobbled the yummy alu parathas, eggs, suji halwa etc!
All for Rs. 49/- only!! Heh heh!

We also visited the Nani Fort which is now a school and Moti Fort which has got a beautiful church in the premises of Infant Jesus.

We were on our way, hornless, at 1130 hrs and stopped at a Maruti Service Station – Car Zone, on Daman – Vapi road to get our horn repaired. This is where Danish’s elaborate planning for this trip came in handy! Danish had made a list of all Maruti Service Stations along the roads we were going to travel on. :D

The horn-less-ness was not low battery or anything serious, but just a lose connection. The mechanic just opened the hood and adjusted something and we were on our way out in fifteen minutes!

After Vapi, we reached Pirdi at 1240 hrs and 239.9 kms, where we realized that there isn’t much between these two places! No shops, no houses!

We crossed Chikhli and turned left towards Dandi at 1330 and 296.4 kms. The road to Dandi is being tarred and resulted in bad roads for the moment! We suspected a flat twice during this 22 kms to Dandi!

We were all so exhausted after tough drive that all we could think of us food! The minute we parked, we headed to a small snack place across the beach. And from there for a dekko of the beach, which is beautiful, and then to a museum! This museum was originally a house belonging to *update later**. Gandhi was around 60 years old when he undertook this 241 mile long march from Amhedabad to Dandi. This was part of the non-cooperation movement against the British, revolting against the tax imposed for Indians on the salt produced here. The information and the sheer experience of just being there is phenomenal!! :D

We then continued on an uneventful journey to Surat. Ok, uneventful is untrue!! We got LOST!!! We were supposed to take a left turn towards Sachin, but we chose to follow the arrows towards NH 8 and landed up on the opposite side of Surat!

This city is loud, brash, rude and dirty! But, the people are helpful..!

Goodnight….

The Westside Story – X : Back to amchi Mumbai (well not really amchi)

As Murphy’s law would have it, the number of hindrances that come your way are directly proportional to the urgency of the task that your are taking up. As I have said before, there were bed bugs, and our smart-ass bus driver decided to bypass the expressway and got us stuck in the middle of nowhere for more than 3 hours. I was supposed to reach Mumbai at 7:00 am, but ended up reaching at 11:00 am and missing out on Haji Ali Dargah, which the rest of my west side buddies went to. They tell me it is not that great a place, n the sea around it stinks. But I am not sure whether they said that to console me or it was actually not that good. I met the gang at the Nehru Planetarium, not before visiting the Nehru Science centre and then walking up to Nehru planetarium, which is like 3 kms away. Tough to get directions when both the places have the same name, Nehru centre. L By the time I reached there I was totally drained out by the journey and the fact that I went directly to Nehru centre without having bath or even a change of clothes did not make it any more comfortable. A quick snack at the Nehru centre (where everything costs Rs. 10 more than the M.R.P for some unknown reason) recharged me completely and I was excited about seeing the rest of the place and not just the snack counter at the canteen J

The Nehru centre is situated in Worli and is a window to the entire order of events leading upto India’s independence. The men (and women), their thoughts and the means they adopted to make India what she is today, all of it depicted in chronological order. The main theme of the gallery-cum-museum though is the life of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, his life and his association with India, pre and post-Independence. There are numerous family photographs, including ones of Indira Gandhi as a young girl. One can’t help but stand in awe when one reads about the lives of the men and women who gave their entire lives in the only hope that their future generations may enjoy freedom. There is a small section on the human evolution too, a cave model with models of the tools used in those ages and all of this has been made that extra bit funky by the sounds that are played inside the cave. We got so engrossed in the photographs and the write-ups that we did not realize it was already around 2:00 PM. Couldn’t help but think that if history was taught in schools like the way we have experienced it on this trip, it would not end up as just another subject to study, blurt out on the answer paper and then be forgotten.

We took a taxi from the Nehru centre to Lower Parel and then a train to Mahim. I could see why the local trains are called the lifeline of Mumbai. What takes more than an hour on road takes about 15-20 minutes by the local train, the best way to travel in Mumbai if one wants to save on time and not care too much about personal comfort. Take care of your belongings and be nimble on your feet is the advice that I would like to give you in case you happen to board a local train in Mumbai. Reached Mahim in about 10 minutes and then walked up to the Mahim beach to see the Mahim fort.
Travel advisory: Mahim beach stinks and the fort has been taken over by slum dwellers.
(Guess I need not mention anymore about Mahim fort)

Though disappointed at the sad state of Mahim fort and the apathy of the administration towards it, the girls were excited to do more than a bit of shopping and hence we headed out to Linking Road in Bandra on a taxi. We had lunch at a nearby mall which had a weird payment system. Two suggestions to them:

Hungry people are angry people, don’t make them run around for food.
We are there to eat and not get a prepaid recharge. It would help if you guys modelled your payment system in line with the former instead of the latter.
Two observations about Linking Road:
1. If you’re a guy who doesn’t cross dress over the weekends, this place isn’t for you
2. If you’re a girl, then voila, you are in shopping haven :)
Make that three:
3. If you’re a hungry guy with a girl, get yourself something to eat before you come here, lest you can feed yourself jus looking at spaghetti tops :)

We ended up shopping till 6:00 PM. The girls managed to find quite a few bargains and me, I just bought myself a bottle of cool mineral water and cooler sugarcane juice.. :(

We then took the train to Charni Road which is very close to Chowpatty. Chowpatty is a chilled out place by the beach with views of Marine drive and its well lit skyscrapers :) We posed in for a couple of pics but Lee’s cam was in Night shot mode, and it took ages for the shutter to open n close which did not make things any easier for us, and most of the pics came out blurred. After gobbling down on Bhelpuri and gulping down on sprite, we proceeded to get a dose of some rock at the Hard Rock Café, next to the Bombay Dyeing mill compound in Lower Parel. We landed there at the wrong day of the week. Since every Thursday the Hard Rock Café has a special show of sorts and they charge a premium for customers on Thursday. The entry fee in itself was Rs. 500 (cover charge not included) we decided to go ahead with it for kick sake. The food wasn’t that great but the ambience is mind blowing. All the rock star memorabilia over the ages have been nicely framed all over the walls of the Café. It was getting late already and since we had to set out for Daman at 5:00 the next morning, we decided to call it a day and reached our NEST in a taxi at around 11:00 PM

(By Anonymous traveller 2)

The Westside Story IX – Ellora

Music ushered in a new day as we were getting ready for another day of touring at Aurangabad. We were more excited about the breakfast (the food served at the mess was just fab ) than the day that lay ahead :P We had yummy veg patties and tea for breakfast and headed out at 1030 hrs, quite unknowingly, for what was going to be one of the best days of our trip so far in terms of the quality of content, pound for pound!! Read on…

Ellora is at a distance of 34 km from Aurangabad. We called upon Abdul, the cab guy who’d taken us to Ajanta yesterday and reached the caves of Ellora by 1100 hrs. We were lucky enough to spot Amod Basole, a Govt. of India approved guide and asked him to show us around. A well read person, this choice of the right guide made all the difference in our tour of the Ellora caves !

The monoliths of Ellora exhibit the architectural influences of three religions – Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, perhaps not necessarily in that order.
We headed, first, towards Cave No. 26 – The Kailash Temple. This temple supposedly took around 200 years to build. That’s around ten generations of artisans, planners and perhaps even the The vision, the planning and the patience that perhaps went into the building of this temple is unimaginable in the human scheme of things. But as we witnessed, it apparently is possible. The artisans of those times, as explained by our guide, followed two approaches of monolith design – “cut-out“ and “cut-in”. The Ajanta caves are an example of the cut out style, where a vertical surface of the rock is exposed and the interiors are carved out of this rock by cutting into it. The Ellora caves, on the other hand are an example of the cut in design, i.e. carve out the entire structure top down. This apparently is more complicated than the cut-out style and the reason why Ellora caves are more awe inspiring than the Ajanta caves, though both of them are monolithic structures. The Kailash temple is a magnificent example of the skill and intelligence of the artisans of those times ! An intricately designed chariot carrying the Shiva Linga symbolizes the presence of Shiva on the mountains of Kailash. Tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata apart from carvings of animals like the elephants, lions. etc. are etched on the monolithic stone.

Our interest growing now, we visited the various Buddhist caves and our guide gave us a brief insight into Buddhism and its founder Gautam Buddha. The Viharas here, were mainly halls meant for meditation and teaching with adjoining rooms for the gurus to stay. Cave no. 14, which is a Chaitya, has a huge statue of Buddha in “Pralamba Padasana” (Seated with legs stretched out) position. Apart from being the marvellous piece of architecture that this Chaitya is, its most interesting feature is its acoustics. As Amod (our guide) chanted Buddha mantra, the Chaitya was filled with a soothing calmness… The Imagineering, if I may call it so, is a perfect example of the intellectual and artistic abilities of the people from those ages… makes you wonder…”what are mikes for when well designed acoustics can do the job ?”

The Jain temples, located at a distance of around 2km from the Ellora caves, are another exhibition of fine craftsmanship of those times! A characteristic feature of all Jain temples is the presence of 2 assistants of Mahaveer…a man on the left called Mathanga sitting on an elephant and a woman on the right called Siddapara sitting on a lion. Some of the carvings show a blend of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cultures.

This concluded our tour of Ellora. We paid Rs.600 (the rates are mentioned on the back of the ‘guide’ ID card) and I must say it well worth the money!!! So, 2 things to keep in mind here – always take a guide along unless you’re are a learned history student/professor yourself and choose the right guide! :D

We then had lunch at the Ellora restaurant and headed towards Daulatabad. On our way, we decided to peep into a Himroo handloom shop. The prices were outrageous and after showing them a bill of our previous buy at Painthani weaving centre, we managed to get a saree at our price with a reduction of Rs.1000 ! J

Aurangabad still has the essence of the Mughal kingdom of India what with so many ‘Darwazas’ or fort entrances flanking the entire place! One of the forts that has still survived is the Daulatabad fort. Another awe inspiring and a must visit place !

The Daulatabad Fort is an excellent example of the defensive strategies and township planning of those ages. The fortress is a maze of pitch-dark alleys, hidden traps and steep staircases (of course with more than a pinch of bat stench added to it). The trek uphill was a bit tiring but well worth the effort. The view from the top of the hill was breathtaking.

After this we headed out to see the tomb of Aurangzeb, the last Moghul in Khuldabad. An interesting piece of trivia here, though he was the shehenshah of Hindustan, he lived a very simple life. Never took one penny from the royal treasury, almost bordering on an obsession with simplicity, he ordered that his tomb be constructed out of the money that he had earned stitching skull caps(that’s 14 rupiah and 12 annas) and that he be buried at the feet of his spiritual guru. Some lesson in simplicity and humility this. As Amod says, problem with history is that it paints a person either in black or in white. All that we knew of Aurangzeb was that he was an emperor not fit enough to be in the shoes of his predecessors. As we know it now, it apparently isn’t entirely true and his tomb stands testimony to this fact.

In stark contrast, his wife’s tomb, the Bibi ka Maqbara, that was constructed by his son, Ahmed Shah Zafar resembles the Taj (built at an expense of around 3 crore rupiah), if not in the enormity, the spirit. Though only the dome and front door of the monument are made of marble, rest being plaster, the beauty and serenity of the place stands out !
This tomb was built at a cost of around 5 lakh rupiah. Couldn’t help but wonder that if you are a man, the spending doesn’t just stop when your woman dies. :-P We did not have much time left to spend at the Bibi ka maqbara as I had to catch a bus to Bombay and the rest of the gang had to catch the 21:35 Nandigram express. So we told the girls the train was at 9:00 in an effort to get them to hustle. The plan worked to a T but when the girls did find out about it they were furious with Danish and threatened to get back at him (these included threats of physical violence directed against him as well) when the opportunity would present itself. So much for a day filled with messages of non-violence and peace. :-P As I boarded the bus to Mumbai, the Buddha chants kept resounding in my head and if not for the bed bugs and the 3 hour traffic jam, I would have reached Mumbai at 7:00 am the next day.

In spite of all the trouble in the bus, It was a day well worth it! Am told the rest of them had a much faster and comfortable journey back to Mumbai.

(By Anonymous Traveller 2)

The Westside story VIII – Ajanta Caves

Here goes, my second post for this blog…..

After a night of disturbed sleep I got up at 0300 hrs. We were scheduled to reach Aurangabad, around 0400 hrs. We got off at Aurangabad station at 0430 hrs and managed to get an auto to the army mess booked.

It took us a bit of time to freshen up and have breakfast, so we decided to arrange a cab. The bhaiyas at the mess were clued up about these things, and got a cab to our rooms at 0900hrs for Rs 1,200 bucks- for the entire day.

Ajanta Caves are closed on Mondays, while Ellora is closed on Tuesdays.

Left for the 105 Kms away Ajanta caves around 0930 and were there by 1100. The highway (Maharastra SH-8) is a two lane road, with a few rough patches. The highway continues on to Jalgaon. Toll of Rs 18, a few Kms after Aurnagabad.

Once at Ajanta (or Ajintha as the Marathi signboards along the highway said), we got our car parking ticket (Rs 15) and individual entry tickets for Rs 7/person.
A walk through the car park towards the Bus Bay- for the 4 Km shuttle service to the caves takes you to 12-15 small kiosks selling all kinds of “touristy” stuff – Water, Bags,Post cards,Guides, VCDs, Stones, Art work. Food items are of course, over the MRP. Threats of speaking to MTDC and complaining were in vain- I really should follow this up.

Anyway, once our tickets were checked, we found a few Green “Maharastra Unlimited” tourist buses, packed with tourists. It’s an 8 minute drive up, to the caves-a we saw some school kids walking up to the caves though.

By the way, the Rs 7 tickets bought at the bas just get you to the bus bay! Once at the bus stand you need to buy your ticket on the shuttle bus service (Rs 7/person), and once on the top you still need to pick up tickets for the caves (Rs 10/person) + Rs 5 for “lighting” per “group” …hmm!! – and why they don’t do all tickets at once, I don’t know!!

There is a small MTDC Restaurant near the ticket counters and there are Palkhi’s available for people who cannot climb the slightly steep stairs leading up to the caves.

There are 30 caves at Ajanta- not all of them are accessible/open/complete. It is advisable to take a tour guide on top, unless you have a pictorial guide book for the caves. We got an over-priced tour guide for Rs 400 who showed us around the “important caves” , the “famous paintings” etc :)

I have only word for the Ajanta caves- fantastic. The way the caves would have been cut through solid rock nearly 2000 years ago is beyond my imagination.
Avoid Ajanta in the summers- You’ll be vaporised.

After spending around two and half hours at the caves we headed back and had lunch at the MTDC restaurant. Don’t bother going through the menu- half the things are unavailable and the rest take a “lot of time”. All you can be assured of are the “thalis” . Have them-they aren’t bad! :)

Walked to the bus bay and caught a shuttle back to the car parking. Though, muthana slept through the short 4 Kms bus journey she managed to break the straps of BOTH her slippers…..!! :D The whole of Ajanta Caves could not do to her slippers what she did to them in sleep mode!
Anyway, we managed to find a mochi near the car parking and we headed back to Aurnabgabad. We left around 1630 and we were there at Aurnagabad by 1830.

We headed to a place called “Panchakki” which literally means “Water wheel”. It was used to grind grain by rotating a big fan powered by gushing water from a series of canals drawing water from river.

After browsing through a few shops close by we drove through Auragabad (It wasn’t as small a city as I thought-has quite a bit of traffic, 70 second red lights, Big Bazzar (: )) , Vishal Megamart etc!) and headed to a handloom shop and picked up a few things. We saw a few Himroo Sarees being weaved – a single saree takes months or sometimes even a year to complete! (Weaver pic)
Its amazing how these guys manage to weave complex patterns without error and perfect symmetry.

After the handloom shop we headed to a place for dinner- “Tandoor” was our pick.
I don’t why the theme of the restaurant was Egyptian when we’re at such a historic place as Aurangabad- but anyway the foods okay and not too expensive.

We were done by dinner by 2130 hrs, headed to the mess, and had a chat before retiring for night around 2355 hrs.

- By Danish Contractor

The Westside story VII – the Mumbai Madness

Awakening in a huge room, we were greeted by a monotonous whirl of the fan, the warmth of the blanket and systematic intake and exhale of each other’s breath! And we were just so tired, waking up was the toughest thing to do. But for the past 3 days we had been waking up at 3 and driving off into the night, and so our bodies trained to do just that, automatically woke up by 7.

At the breakfast table, amidst questions of “What do we do today” and “Where first” and statements like “You’re ugly” and “Why were you born!” (4 days together, 24X7, kinda get to you ;D), we were pleasantly interrupted by an elderly gentleman sitting at a table across us. Col. Khurana from the armed forces, was quite amused by our conversation and decided to show us around the army club while we still bantered about where and what!

We first had to settle the matter of being able to park the car in the Nest for 2 days while we roamed Aurangabad. Upon asking earlier we were turned down flat by the guy at the reception!! But now with our new friend – Khurana uncle ;D – we decided to take another shot. And sure enough, he jumped to our defence and helped us out by getting us to talk to the AQ (Col. Joshi). Danish made me talk “because being a girl helps!!”. Anyway, Col. Joshi was quite helpful and ultimately (after a little persuasion and name dropping) we got to leave the car there with the assurance that “even though Joshi saab said that we will not take any responsibility for the car and the stuff, it’s our duty to do so. So please don’t worry!” :D

The army club was awesome as usual! And AT1 and AT2 were quite amazed by the sight! J The golf course was sea facing, the lawns perfectly manicured, the bar was open at 1100 hrs, the swimming pool was a dream, the pool table looked inviting through the window, etc..! Well, Danish and I both are unanimous about the fact that being an Army kid the best kind of kid to be :D

After we had a couple of (soft) drinks at the club, we headed out in a bus to Regal Cinema. (Pic taken). The first place we headed to was Phillips. This is a European and Oriental works of art collection. Amazing maps of the country and around dating as early as the 17th century are available for a fee affordable by the king of Nepal. I mean, we buy maps for a buck a sheet (at least in the good old days when we were in school) and these range from 2200 to 4000 bucks! But I guess for a collectors item, it’s quite nominal.

Now.

This is when we started walking! And from now to dinner, that’s all we did – walk!
But I’m not complaining! This place is a walker’s paradise! The British architecture and some before the Brits came to India are just plain beautiful. I just wanted to keep taking pictures of every angle of every building!
This I say purely as my point of view – the fact that these buildings are being used as government offices and post offices and the high court makes me cringe! I hate that. But it’s just me!

We walked down Madame Cama road and then Veer Nariman Road. We were visitors to the Mumbai University, the Mumbai High Court and Hutatma Chowk, the flora fountain,Horniman Circle, Old Customs house road-don’t miss the painting on the wall next to “Elephant Gate” of the Naval station.

We continued walking and headed towards Apollo Bunder near the Gateway of India and the Taj Hotel. Though built for King George VII on his visit to India in 1911, we looked at it in light of the 26/11 attacks….”they were here”, the fire brigade was here, “the NSG stood there” ……

The Taj gateway (Old building) was closed and it had barricades saying “ ”…

We had our train to catch at 2100hrs and it was already 1930….we caught a cab and headed back to the “nest”, freshened up and checked out.
Caught a cab to VT or CST as its known now and grabbed a bite at McDonalds. Reached the station well in time around 2045 hrs and boarded out train- Devagirgi Express to Aurangabad from Platform 14. The train departed on time, and before we knew it, we were on our berths, sleeping our tiredness away.

The Westside story-VI

Our day started out with an annoying symphony!! Danish’s alarm!! But we had made a very wise decision of not leaving at 5 in the morning and catching an hour’s more sleep so the symphony wasn’t so bad! ;D

We said our teary farewells to Rohan and the other guys at Baga (teary because Goa is my paradise – I will definitely spend at least one year of my life working in Goa) and headed out at 6 20 a.m.. We had to go to north Goa and head towards Tirakol fort. This was the fifth time I was traveling on this road on this trip! Insane! :P

The way out of Goa is to catch NH 17. Heading towards Tirakol, we took a right turn at a junction where the right would lead us to Mapusa and the left takes you to Anjuna beach. This was all being navigated by the expert navigator – me! Now, keeping my modesty to the minimum, I have a couple of incidents that make me retract the above statements!
On our way to Mapusa, we came to a fork in the road and Danish took the correct turn, but I made us turn around and convinced everyone that we had to take a U-turn and head towards a cliff! Luckily we stopped in time :P
Eicher should be sued!! Will explain why later in this post, but for now, they made me look like a fool! They have their “r” and “n” printed so close to each other, it looks like an “m”. So when I stuck my head out and yelled out to people crossing the road “Where is Pemem??” and they looked at me like I’d spoken Martian, it’s coz the name of the place is PeRNem!!

After Mapusa, we reached NH 17 and passed Pernem as well. But the Goan border on NH 17 doesn’t pass through Pernem as shown in the map, but through Patradevi which we passed at 0700 hrs at 42 km.

At 43 kms, we reached a sign that said “Welcome to Maharashtra” :) Our 3rd state in 3 days!! There was a War Memorial on this no man’s land!

At 47.8 kms, there is another check post where some cars were checked for booze. We sailed through…

At 51 kms, 0715 hrs we hit the Ghats section that slowed us down considerably, but it didn’t last too long. We had chosen to take this route after careful deliberation of the political scenario and kind of road we’d hit. There are numerous alternatives that Danish checked online and on forums.

Now, the part why I think Eicher should be sued :P We have an Eicher map (2008 edition) which told us that Pernem is on the border, which it’s not. Then the road we actually took (through Patradevi – also NH 17) is not shown on the map! This road goes next to Savantvadi and reaches Kudal at 74 km reading (0740 hrs) as opposed to going through Vangurla as shown on the map.

We reached Kankauli at 109.8 kms at 0809 hrs.

At 133.8 kms (0830 hrs) we took a right turn at Talere towards Gaganbadva which is 33 kms after the turn off, this turn is unmarked. At this point we were doing an average of 66kmph which isn’t too great in terms of gaining time. This road took us off NH 17 and onto SH 115. This was the answer to our prayers as this road is really good, shady, empty, not too winding and uninhabited!

One thing you will notice the second you enter Maharashtra is that everything…EVERYTHING…is in Hindi!! The names of places on the milestones, the signboards, the names of shops, the hoardings, even “sale” is in Hindi!! (Picture taken)

There is a railway crossing at Vaibhabvadi at 146 km reading where we lost 5 valuable minutes! It is interesting to note how on a tight schedule the tiniest things became the biggest nuisances!!

At 154.3 kms, we reached a checkpost where the officer there stopped us the minute he saw an “HR” registration!! He flagged us down by yelling “Haryana!”. We stopped and his questions to us were “Where are you coming from, and where are you headed?".Once he got to know we were coming from Goa, all he asked us was "Kitni bottles hai?"!!!Luckily both of being the perfect Indians upholding the ultimate Indian culture, don’t drink, of course. :P And then headed out again!

At 115 kms, there is some serious hilly terrain on SH 115!! Our assumption is that we’re heading up the famous Indian plateau.

At 165 kms we hit a plain region again! Very suddenly! We must have been on top of the plateau as we could make out that we were still pretty high up in altitude!

At 166 kms, at 0915 hrs, we took a right at Gaganbadva towards Kolhapur.

At 190 kms, 28 kms to Kolhapur, the Nehru topis and orange farmer turbans with dhotis have started!! It’s so amazing to see the sudden variations in customs and costumes within a small radius of 10 kms!

At 199 kms, 0950 hrs, we reach a village called Kule. It’s a very busy village and the roads ain’t that great. We drop to 45-50 kmph..

We finally reach Kolhapur at 220.8 kms, 1025 hrs, and god, this town is bustling with chaos! There are no directions in this town and there are too many people! And the auto rickshaws have hard tops!!

At 226.6 kms, at 1040 hrs we took a left from Kolhapur to reach NH 4 which is the Bombay-Bangalore highway or “Banglore-Pune Mahamarg” as written on the signboard!! (Pic taken)

At 1052 hrs, 240 kms, we reached our first toll gate for the day at the Kolhapur – Pune expressway! Rs 23!

256 kms, 1109 hrs – Islampur.

269.9 kms, 1114 hrs, Samat Garden for brunch! Lovely service and the alu parathas merited a re-order! We stopped for 45 mins and headed out by 1200 hrs.

291 kms, 1212 hrs, we reached Karad.

304.9 kms, 1220 hrs, we reached another toll plaza where the toll paid earlier did not stand good! We shelled out another Rs 47.

341.3 kms, 1247 hrs, we reached Satara. The roads are good and we made good time!

1300 hrs, 357 kms, toll gate – Rs 25.

1320 hrs, 387 kms, toll gate – Rs 45.

1350 hrs, 435.3 kms, toll gate – Rs 45.

1410 hrs, 443 kms, reached Pune.

1435 hrs, 467.6 kms, taken left on NH 4 heading towards Hinjewadi.

Took over driving at 1437 hrs, 469.7 kms – On the Pune-Mumbai expressway.

579.4 kms, expressway stops!! This entire road is without a pothole and is a 6 lane smooth drive. The road is made of concrete and there are signs on the side which warn you not to over speed and go beyond 80 kmph as their chances of overheating of your tyres and tyre bursts are high! Hence we stayed under the limit (which is the toughest thing to do on such a phenomenal road) and cruised along! Literally pulled back our seats and played some music and lounged our way out of this expressway into the active city of Mumbai!!!

We took another 25-30 kms after entering Mumbai passing through Chembur-> Sion -> Dadar -> to reach Colaba and find our Nest at 1730 hrs.

The Nest is an Army guest house which is very recent and quite unknown to most even on the premises of Navy Nagar where it is situated. We did a whooping 17kms within Navy Nagar searching for this place!! And even braved sarcastic comments from otherwise composed naval sentries - We were already bothered and tired and hot, we drive up to the sentry and ask him, "Excuse me, Nest kahan par hai?". "Nest??", he asks puzzled. "Haan, Nest. N.E.S.T.", I replied a little too impatiently. "Nest toh paed pe hoga, yahaan kya dhoond rahi hain aap??"!!!

I called up a friend to ask her for directions to Hard Rock cafe (HRC) as it is the original one before a string of them came up in Bangalore and other places. HRC turned out to be in Lower Parel but she told us about the Kala Ghoda festival where she was!! It wasn't too far, so we decided to take a look! :) The theme this time was awareness (i think) because everything there was about "say no to plastics" and "the earth is dying" and a "eradicate gender bias" was thrown in! But it was interesting! Turned out that Kalaghoda festival is an art festival and apart from themes and stalls, you have plays and concerts and sales - books, antiques and clothes! :)

I like! :D

We had our dinner at a place called Delhi Darbar on Causeway, Colaba, which was a little too crowded for the kind of food we had! We waited for around 20 min before getting a table. And oif you order a "roll" in this place it is assumed you're asking for "spring rolls" and not what we're used to in Bangalore!! :D

Aiye, Khatam nahi hua.*****

Yeh hai Mumbhai….more later!!!

While Danish was roaming the city of Old Goa, I decided to join the others in merry making at the beach. Essentially meaning hiring a beach bed, sipping a couple of breezers, and reading a book!! The shacks lining the beach hire multi-purpose waiters. These guys miraculously turn entertainers to masseurs to tattoo artists and back to waiters depending on your needs!!

After an appetizing lunch of amazing rice and prawn curry, fish curry and a sandwich, these guys were adamant on visiting a beach they had read about in the Lonely Planet and we had crossed this morning on our way to Terakol fort - Mandarim beach, another forgotten beach.
So we hopped on to our bikes and headed that way for the third time this trip! But the ride was good, the beach was better and the pictures we managed were the best!! This beach had probably 30 people on its coast ! Danish was to meet us here after his touring but decided to relax at Baga and get a massage instead!

We then reunited at 1930 in the room and started the routine : chill, shower, pack, chill, act like we’re sleeping, chill, try sleeping, talk, sleep!

The westside story V A - Fort Aguada and Old Goa

This is my first post and probably the going to be the only one. The rest went to Mandarim beach while I headed to Fort Aguada. It was too hot, so I took the car (for want of an AC) to Fort Aguada. Had been here earlier, on my last visit, but had reached way too early – 0830 …it was closed! :-/ :)

It’s easy to get to Fort Aguada from Baga, just follow the road signs. Though muttee (Leela Muthana) told me a million times that there isn’t much to see at Aguada (would you believe this was her eighth visit to Goa) , I still had to go see it- There isn’t much to see at Aguada-a light house you cant enter, the fort walls, and a quiet 15 minute drive is all you get.

Spent 15 minutes in the heat and then drove off to Panaji on my way to Old Goa. Old Goa is about 11 Kms from Panaji, and Panaji is approx 8-9 Kms from Aguada.

Old Goa comes on NH4A which connects Panaji with Belgaum (Approx 154 Kms from Panaji). Old Goa as its known now was a major city in the 16th century. The beautiful churches and cathedrals send you back in time. Next to the famous St. Francis Assisi church is an Archeological Museum, which gives you a nice history of Goa from 9th Century AD. The collection of portraits on the 1st floor gives you a feel of what Old Goa was all about. While exiting and going back to the ground floor there are few sketches of Old Goa which MUST NOT be missed. The tell you the about the Goa that is missed by most tourists. (Including our famous 8th time visitor to Goa :))

Other nice places to see are the Church of Saint Cajetan, Viceroy gate, Basilica of Bom Jesus and the SE Cathedral.

One interesting thing I noticed (being a Delhi-ite, you get can tune into a live feed from 102.6 FM Rainbow and eat Mother dairy ice-creams in and around Panaji :) )

I headed back to Baga and sat in one of the shacks helping my self to some Pasta and Coke while I waited for the rest of the guys. They came back around 1930hrs and we came back and freshened up.

More later ….Dasvidanya.

The Westside Story - V B

While Danish was roaming the city of Old Goa, I decided to join the others in merry making at the beach. Essentially meaning hiring a beach bed, sipping a couple of breezers, and reading a book!! The shacks lining the beach hire multi-purpose waiters. These guys miraculously turn entertainers to masseurs to tattoo artists and back to waiters depending on your needs!!

After an appetizing lunch of amazing rice and prawn curry, fish curry and a sandwich, these guys were adamant on visiting a beach they had read about in the Lonely Planet and we had crossed this morning on our way to Terakol fort - Mandarim beach, another forgotten beach.
So we hopped on to our bikes and headed that way for the third time this trip! But the ride was good, the beach was better and the pictures we managed were the best!! This beach had probably 30 people on its coast of say 4 kms (this is all estimated!). Danish was to meet us here after his touring but decided to relax at Baga and get a massage instead!

We then reunited at 1930 in the room and started the routine : chill, shower, pack, chill, act like we’re sleeping, chill, try sleeping, talk, sleep!

The westside story V A - Fort Aguada and Old Goa

This is my first post and probably the going to be the only one. The rest went to Mandarim beach while I headed to Fort Aguada. It was too hot, so I took the car (for want of an AC) to Fort Aguada. Had been here earlier, on my last visit, but had reached way too early – 0830 …it was closed! :-/ :)

It’s easy to get to Fort Aguada from Baga, just follow the road signs. Though muttee (Leela Muthana) told me a million times that there isn’t much to see at Aguada (would you believe this was her eighth visit to Goa) , I still had to go see it- There isn’t much to see at Aguada-a light house you cant enter, the fort walls, and a quiet 15 minute drive is all you get.

Spent 15 minutes in the heat and then drove off to Panaji on my way to Old Goa. Old Goa is about 11 Kms from Panaji, and Panaji is approx 8-9 Kms from Aguada.

Old Goa comes on NH4A which connects Panaji with Belgaum (Approx 154 Kms from Panaji). Old Goa as its known now was a major city in the 16th century. The beautiful churches and cathedrals send you back in time. Next to the famous St. Francis Assisi church is an Archeological Museum, which gives you a nice history of Goa from 9th Century AD. The collection of portraits on the 1st floor gives you a feel of what Old Goa was all about. While exiting and going back to the ground floor there are few sketches of Old Goa which MUST NOT be missed. The tell you the about the Goa that is missed by most tourists. (Including our famous 8th time visitor to Goa :))

Other nice places to see are the Church of Saint Cajetan, Viceroy gate, Basilica of Bom Jesus and the SE Cathedral.

One interesting thing I noticed (being a Delhi-ite, you get can tune into a live feed from 102.6 FM Rainbow and eat Mother dairy ice-creams in and around Panaji :) )

I headed back to Baga and sat in one of the shacks helping my self to some Pasta and Coke while I waited for the rest of the guys. They came back around 1930hrs and we came back and freshened up.

More later ….Dasvidanya.

*a factual representation by Danish Contractor*

The westside story IV

An early night was required. Although we were mentally alert and raring to sit up and chill, we were pretty knocked out by 23:00 hrs…The rest of the party goers, were out at midnight. We had a nice shower and it felt OH-SO-GOOD!!! Soon after, we passed out…:)

The party goers were back by 5 30 in the morning, but we slept through it all!!! We headed to Terakol fort which is around 40 minutes from Baga beach, and is near the Maharashtra border. I say “minutes” and not “kms” since that’s how it is here in Goa. There are no kilometers mentioned in this place!! It’s just directions!!

We left around 09 30 the roads are quite hilly and some stretches are bad, but we hired bikes for 100 bucks per person per day and the roads seemed quite alright. Terakol fort is north Goa so we headed past Anjuna, Arambol (now Harmal), Morjim, Mandarem and slightly beyond.

The fort is on an island and – this is the best part – you take your vehicle, bike or car, on a ferry which takes you to the island. The ferry plies every hour so ensure you plan your visit around that to avoid delays. We got the 11 00 ferry to the island.

The fort is also now a hotel and we had breakfast at the hotel. The view from the lounge is really picturesque!! After pepper steaks and chicken wings, we caught the ferry back at 1200.

Terakol fort is one of the least marketed places of Goa and is a must visit!

We’re back at the room and Danish is headed to Fort Aguada and Old Goa while we all head to another beach!!

More about both stories later!! :)

The Westside Story III

14 35 – 537 km reading: We had a yummy Chinese noodles lunch in an Indian cuisine restaurant – the only way they can make Chinese!! We stayed for an hour and blogged.

The 546 km reading was at the Goa – Karnataka border where we were stopped for a routine check of all “non-Goa” cars. The registration papers were actually a crude colour photocopy but the cops were more interested in extracting an “entry fee” of Rs. 50 than actually checking the authenticity of the papers!! :P

Anyway, we refused to pay the sum, and carried on the way. :)

Danish finally got tired of driving non stop at 606.3 km reading and had reached Margaon (also known as Madgaon) at 16 00 hrs.

I finally got the wheel at Margaon after a break of 45 minutes, where I skillfully maneuvered the car between trucks and annoying two wheelers and safely brought us to Baga beach at 648 kms at 18 00 hrs!!

Meanwhile Danish recharged himself with 2 pulpy oranges and a gatorade, at which time he forced the wheel away from my efficient control and undertook the last couple of kms himself!

We reached the beach with the expectation of meeting a couple of friends who had promised us accommodation but they were out for a bout of Karting. So all of us headed to the beach side shacks for a steamy sizzler meal at Lucky Star shack on Baga. The sea was just the right degree of cold and the temperature was just the right degree of warm!
Danish, of course, was a stick in the mud and decided to wear his socks in the beach instead of "dirtying" his well pedicured feet....:P

Now, safe in the comfort of our rooms and the fluffyness of our beds, we sign off for the first day of this trip!!

Asta la vista!

*A factual representation by Leela Muthana*

The Westside story II

Wow!! What a ride…!! Well, drive… The story from earlier:

Our fuel was down to half tank and we had decided on not letting it drop to below that before refueling. I had read somewhere that filling fuel when the tank is half full reduces the amount of fuel that gets evaporated hence increasing mileage… Danish refueled for reasons related to paranoia!! :P He is under therapy for the same or at least should be – I honestly think so!!
On a whole different topic, let me tell you something about this boy. On this trip, he not only came up with the entire road map and places to visit for a 2,900 km journey, he also made a list of all Maruti Service Stations for along this stretch (that’s alright) but he also made a list of cops – not cop stations, COPS – for every 20 km of this 2,900 kms!!! And the night before we left he made me go to a hardware store and buy M-seal “in case the radiator ran a leak” and 8 meters of thick nylon rope “in case the car broke down and we needed to flag another vehicle to help us tow it away!!! :D that’s Danish for you!



There is a bad stretch between the km reading of 319 to 322.

Around 76 km from Shimoga we reached Sagar (356.2 km – 9:45 a.m.). It’s a small town but is well known. We crossed a couple of small villages on the way which makes driving through them precarious – watch out for stray cows, kids, dogs and motorbikes! The road, though, was good most places as we averaged a 80kmph.
Stopped at a place called Chaya Sagar for breakfast.

10 30 – 375 km reading: Reached a fork in the road where left leads us to Talguppa. We took the right and continued to Honavar.

10 40 – 381.1 km reading: The Ghat section begins in a section between Talguppa and Gensoppa, around 64 km Honavar.

– 10 57: We took our first sighting of the mention of Panaji on the boards and milestones!

We saw a bad bus accident on the way. A bus had run off the hill and the passengers were sitting on the side of the road – unhurt but in shock. The bus driver was heard saying “if anything was coming from the front, they’d have been killed for sure”! We tried helping out but in vain. So we headed out again, but with a little more caution.

11 30 – 425.4 km reading: The ghats are getting over. It becomes easier to drive without too much caution and breaking.

11 45 – 444 km reading: Ghats are over. There is actually a sign saying “GHATS OVER” :D But this makes the road hot as hell since there is no tree cover.

11 55 – 446.5 km reading: We reached Honavar. We also finally merged with NH 17.

12 15 – 470 km reading: Bad roads!! Potholes!!

12 25 – 475 km reading: We stopped at a “shady spot” to drink tender coconut water and stretch our legs!! Noticed that most places on this entire stretch has got network.

Ankola is 37 km from Karwar. Road is good except for the adhoc potholes. It’s still really really hot!!!

13 20 – 527 km reading: We see the sea!!!
13 25 – 531 km reading: Truck jams due to the approaching border. A/C is needed to keep away the dust, smoke and heat!! Construction on the road makes it worse!!

13 35 – 533 km reading: Its better :)

Stopped at Karwar for lunch…Silver Gate. Eating Chinese food – not the best!!

More later :)

Wow!! What a ride…!! Well, drive… The story from earlier:

Our fuel was down to half tank and we had decided on not letting it drop to below that before refueling. I had read somewhere that filling fuel when the tank is half full reduces the amount of fuel that gets evaporated hence increasing mileage… Danish refueled for reasons related to paranoia!! :P He is under therapy for the same or at least should be – I honestly think so!!
On a whole different topic, let me tell you something about this boy. On this trip, he not only came up with the entire road map and places to visit for a 2,900 km journey, he also made a list of all Maruti Service Stations for along this stretch (that’s alright) but he also made a list of cops – not cop stations, COPS – for every 20 km of this 2,900 kms!!! And the night before we left he made me go to a hardware store and buy M-seal “in case the radiator ran a leak” and 8 meters of thick nylon rope “in case the car broke down and we needed to f lag another vehicle to help us tow it away!!! :D that’s Danish for you!

(Honavar pic with NH 206 sign board)

There is a bad stretch between the km reading of 319 to 322.

Around 76 km from Shimoga we reached Sagar (356.2 km – 9:45 a.m.). It’s a small town but is well known. We crossed a couple of small villages on the way which makes driving through them precarious – watch out for stray cows, kids, dogs and motorbikes! The road, though, was good most places as we averaged a 80kmph.
Stopped at a place called Chaya Sagar for breakfast.

10 30 – 375 km reading: Reached a fork in the road where left leads us to Talguppa. We took the right and continued to Honavar.

10 40 – 381.1 km reading: The Ghat section begins in a section between Talguppa and Gensoppa, around 64 km Honavar.

(First Panaji photo) – 10 57: We took our first sighting of the mention of Panaji on the boards and milestones!

We saw a bad bus accident on the way. A bus had run off the hill and the passengers were sitting on the side of the road – unhurt but in shock. The bus driver was heard saying “if anything was coming from the front, they’d have been killed for sure”! We tried helping out but in vain. So we headed out again, but with a little more caution.

11 30 – 425.4 km reading: The ghats are getting over. It becomes easier to drive without too much caution and breaking.

11 45 – 444 km reading: Ghats are over. There is actually a sign saying “GHATS OVER” :D But this makes the road hot as hell since there is no tree cover.

11 55 – 446.5 km reading: We reached Honavar. We also finally merged with NH 17.

12 15 – 470 km reading: Bad roads!! Potholes!!

12 25 – 475 km reading: We stopped at a “shady spot” to drink tender coconut water and stretch our legs!! Noticed that most places on this entire stretch has got network.

Ankola is 37 km from Karwar. Road is good except for the adhoc potholes. It’s still really really hot!!!

13 20 – 527 km reading: We see the sea!!! (pic)

13 25 – 531 km reading: Truck jams due to the approaching border. A/C is needed to keep away the dust, smoke and heat!! Construction on the road makes it worse!!

13 35 – 533 km reading: Its better :) (pic of sea/ boats)

Stopped at Karwar for lunch…Silver Gate. Eating Chinese food – not the best!!

More later :)

The Westside Story

Bangalore - Shimoga
The day began at 3 :15 in the morning thanks to Danish’s nagging!! Well, thank god for it else I’d have been blogging this first post at noon and not at 8:00 a.m…!!

Stomach full of Coorg coffee, we left home (Koramangala) at 3 55 and picked everyone up and and headed to IISC (Malleshwaram) to meet another friend we’re not gonna meet for quite a while!! Owing to the empty roads we reached there really soon, met Eshita and left by 4 20, richer by a compass for me (as navigator) and a BMW book for Danish!

We took the Tumkur Road at 4 35, where our speed was limited as we hit truck traffic owing to construction on that road. We learnt soon enough that during night driving it’s always better to tail another vehicle. This helps when the vehicle you are tailing is driving at the same speed or slightly faster than you are and isn’t rash! You get a way out of all the truck traffic by following them and you get to know of all the road bumps well in advance!

After driving for 40.3 km we reached a toll gate and fished out Rs. 23. We made two mistakes :P we were concentrating on the toll gates and trucks we missed the bump a couple of feet away!! We had to screech to a halt but still took it pretty bad! The second mistake we made was to drive away without the toll ticket :P!!!

We reached CCD at 5 15, which is 22 km from the toll gate. The rest rooms are clean and it’s a place you can rest for a bit and replenish yourself with a strong cuppa! We did no such thing! Hey, I have Danish with me! ;D

We reached the second toll gate at 7 15, where we had to pay again! Had we kept the previous toll ticket, we’d have sailed right through!

At 76.3 km (5 30 a.m.) after setting out we came to a fork in the road where we took NH 206 from NH 4 that we were earlier following. Most trucks and heavy vehicles take NH 4 which is why we chose the other one. NH 206 goes through Shimoga-Honnavur-Karwar-Ankola-Madagaon-Panaji. NH 4 goes through Hubli.

By the time we reached a small town called Gubi around 5 50 a.m. (97.2 km), we (read I) was starving. We opened a packet of uncle chips (brought specially over from Delhi).

On the highway you make pseudo friends. These guys last you till quite some time, they overtake, play hide and seek and you miss them when they go away!!! We made our very own friend – KA 19 MB 7799 – Qualis! This “friend” was still with us at 153 km at 6 33 a.m. from Yashwanpur.

We crossed Siddapura at 164 km reading. This was when day broke at 6 45 a.m… this is when we left our Qualis friend wa-ay behind!! *sigh*

215.6 km. 7 23 a.m. – Kadur.

A bad stretch from 252 km to 253. Speeds reduced considerably.

After driving for a while, around 8 15, after Badravati at 274 km reading, we hit a stretch that was beautiful… Blanketed with fog and not too cold at all, it is a really nice drive. Although this might slow you down a bit.

We reached Shimoga at 284 km at 8 26 a.m.

Next post… soon :)