RoustAbout

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 ...

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 ...

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...