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Day 8 – 12 : Tryst with the King of Ranthambore and back to Buribana via Delhi

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We were out of the hotel in Udaipur after breakfast at 8.30 am. We were looking at a long drive of over 400 km today. We first took NH 27 going to Jaipur– and we had rocky - hilly landscape with dry deciduous forest for the first part. We drove past Chittorgarh the original capital of the Mewar kings which was about 100 km from Udaipur. Then after 100 more kilometres at a place called Bijolia we went off this road for about 45 km through state highway 29. We then descended into a green bowl with a shimmering lake at the bottom. We drove along the base of this bowl till we joined NH 52 going towards Jaipur. This road had lots of palash trees in bloom. The landscape was dotted with the bright orange trees. After and 25 km we branched off east on NH 148D. This was an NH but it was not a dual carriageway. The road had little traffic so maintaining a steady speed of 80 kph was not difficult. 68 km later we branched off further east onto NH 552. This too was not dual carriage way. Howeve...
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Day 6 and 7: Onward to Udaipur the City of Lakes and Palaces

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We had an early complimentary breakfast and set off from our hotel in Baroda at 8.05 am. We were out of the city in 20 mins and then for the next 90 km we drove on National Expressway 1 (NE1). This Expressway had been made earlier, so it has only 2 lanes on either side. The traffic was heavy and a little chaotic with cars and truck often occupying the 3rd emergency lane as well. It was disconcerting for me because I tend to go by the rule book and we would often be stuck behind rumbling trucks. The speed limit was a lower 100 kmph compared to the 120 of NE4. Highway to Udaipur : Welcome to Rajasthan A little before Ahmedabad we exited on to NH 48 to bypass the city. Suddenly we were flagged down by the police. All cars with out of state numbers were being stopped. There was a more than thorough checking of our bags and even purses and toilet cases. Gujarat is a dry state so I could understand their anxiety in terms of bootlegging of alcohol. But the police seemed to be also intent on...
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Day 5 - Baroda : Exploring the legacy of Sayajirao

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Today was our break day and time to explore Baroda, now officially known as Vadodara. Even though both of us had been to Baroda earlier we had never visited it as tourists. We knew little beyond the fact that several institutions in Baroda seemed to be named after Maharaja Sayajirao like the MS University. Our one-day halt in the city was quite enlightening in terms of getting to know more about this gentleman-king who now seems to me as much a renaissance man as any other in 19 th Century India. We should have heard more about him since he appears to be as benevolent a ruler as could be. I am sure there are warts, but these seem to be well hidden for now.  Baroda Museum Sayajirao III was an adopted son of Maharani Jamnabai. She had recently been widowed and was looking for an appropriate boy of the Gaekwad to adopt as her son, who would later be king. She sent word around and Gaekwads from all over came to Baroda to stake their claim. The queen was taken in by the confidence of t...
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Annual Winter Migration : From Nainital To Goa and back by road

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Onward to Goa This year we decided that I will drive down to Goa for our Annual migration in late November. We usually hire a car for the period we are there, a boring grey Maruti Swift. But this year we would have our distinctive turquoise blue Tata Nexon with us. I was a little hesitant to drive down all the way, nearly 2500 without a co-driver so I asked my friend and colleague Satish whether he would consider coming along with me for the drive. Satish and I had taken a couple of driving tours for work in the last year, and he had shown an interest to go on a longer drive. Satish agreed and the planning began. It was agreed that Susheela would also drive down and they would have a small holiday with us in Goa before they returned. Jashodhara unfortunately couldn’t come with us because of earlier engagements, and she flew down to Goa and was there to welcome us when we reached. Our route down to Benaulim in Goa was straightforward. We left Buribana on the 28 th of November 2024 and ...
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From the Mountains to the Sea

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Day 1 - Buribana to Indirapuram, Ghaziabad We would be leaving home in Buribana for nearly four months so we didn’t want to be in a hurry. The plan was to leave at 9.00 and after loading up we left more or less on time at 9:13. Since fuel was low we filled up at the first petrol pump near Bhimtal. A symbol popped up on the display near the Ranibagh bridge. Checking the tyre pressure we found it was low and so filled up air, and the symbol disappeared. It was much later Pantnagar when the symbol came up again we realised it was a puncture. At our regular place Udipiwala at Kathgodam we had some Lassi and Chach and too a comfort break.  At 12:00 noon we set off for Delhi via the Haldwani bypass. The new highway through Lalkuan and Pantnagar was now ready and we decided to take that instead of the regular Tanda route which goes through Haldwani.  Here we stopped for puncture repair, and we realised two Phillips screws had embedded in the tyre and to be screwed out. The Highway ...
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Day 4: Catching up with old friends

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Today's drive included a stop over at Vedchi near Surat in Gujarat where our friends Umadi and Surendra live with their daughter Dua. We left Hill Zill a little before 9 am because they couldn't provide us breakfast before that. We drove back the way we came for some distance. At some point we quietly slipped in Gujarat. Then we merged back on to the Ahmedabad Mumbai Highway but a little further north from where we had left it last evening. In the morning the Highway was less cluttered with lumbering and thundering trucks weaving across the lanes so we were able to drive at a steady clip. This portion of the Highway was in better repair than what we had driven through yesterday. We drove for 75 km on this Highway. The next 35 kilometres was through rural Gujarat. First with mangoes and sugarcane. We drove through state highways, major district roads and some of the drive was through even smaller village roads. But I must admit even the village roads were in good shape. A little...
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Day 3 : Bhaja – The Hidden Jewel

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The day could be divided into two clear parts. The first was our astounding visit to the Bhaja caves. We had to choose between Bhaja and Karla, and Diya reminded us that Dalrymple had described the beauty of Bhaja as rivalling that of the caves at Petra. Since the caves opened at 9.00am and our room came with complementary breakfast, we asked for an early breakfast and went off to see भजे लोणी as it is called in Marathis. Both Bhaja and Karla caves are roughly 10 kilometers from Lonavla and on either side of one of the several Mumbai – Pune highways. At a place called Karla (not the caves) we turned off the road towards Bhaja caves, We reached the Bhaja village around 9.30 am. There were several cars travelling with us and we thought they too carried tourists visiting Bhaja, but that was not so. There was a temple in the Bhaja village which drew more visitors than the caves. We knew we would have to climb some distance from the road, but we were not sure where the path began because ...
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