A journey of 320 km from A to B via C (in this case via JT) should not have taken 9 hours, but it did. The diversion to JT took up some time, but what was not anticipated at all was a 1.5 hour traffic block due to an accident. Looked like one or more vehicles had rammed into the barriers on a mild ghat stretch near Chouparan and done some winter-sledding down the hillside. I thanked my stars and my laziness that had inspired me to keep planned driving times within 5-6 hours. Else today we would have been knocking at our Bodh Gaya hotel in the sonorous depths of the night and rousing an irate receptionist to let us inside his gates. Moral of the story - unforeseen delays can happen anywhere on a road trip, and it is sensible to limit the driving plan and keep a couple of hours’ cushion in hand.
Jharkhand starts as soon as we cross Barakar bridge near Maithon, and roads were very good upto Barhi, from where we turned right to have a pop at Jhumri Talailya. Subsequent roads towards Bodh Gaya were a mixture of good and so-so, with a few roadworks throwing a spanner in the wheel of driving pleasure. Our Tata Punch has this cool habit of reaching the pitch of 20 km/l economy as soon as we start cruising on highways, which is very gratifying.
Leaving Asansol (7.15 am):
Usually if we leave around 7.00 am, it is without breakfast, which we have around 9.00 am on the road. But when staying with a loving cousin who believes that the way to her heart is through my stomach, the suggestion of our leaving without breakfast falls on ears deafer than the proverbial adder. She left for her school (she is a teacher) an hour before we left in the morning, with strict admonitions, and it was with heavy hearts and heavier tummies that we bid farewell to my uncle (her father) and rolled out of town.
The previous evening had been a rainy and thundery one. A depression over the Bay had changed its mood once it hit Bengal and had, like an over-enthusiastic TSA at JFK, reached its exploratory finger right up NH19, tickling Asansol quite thoroughly in the process. The morning, consequently, had dawned cool and blissful, and we were quite looking forward to the drive.
Visiting Jhumri Talaiya (11.00 am):
Whether it is an oldie on Radio Ceylon or Vividh Bharti, or the more recent Jagga Jasoos movie, Jhumri Talaiya had featured in many many songs. However, I had never pegged it to be a real place. So when I saw the name pop up next to a reservoir just 10 kms off our route to Bodh Gaya, we fed the destination gleefully into our GPS.
Let me tell you two things that we found interesting in this 88,000 population town.
One, it is an education hub. We saw a locality, slightly outside the transactional busi-ness of the JT town, that had 3 international schools and 20 coaching centres, including residential ones, that were promising meteoric career paths.
Two, although the reservoir is a meandering one, with road and rail bridges crossing it, we also hunted out the Tilaya Dam, which was the first of the four dams built in Jharkhand by DVC. Very picturesque spot, with a couple of rustic jetties and speedboats willing to whisk customers around, and quite deserted on a weekday. Photo opps aplenty, of course.
Lunch at Singhrawan (12.30 pm):
Don’t get psyched if you haven’t heard the name of the place. It was just a random restaurant that we stopped at, like we usually do, when the hunger pangs hit. Luckily, Hotel Devi Palace at above locality rustled up an excellent lunch of roti, daal and bhindi fry. When we travel, we keep food as simple as possible, which is the secret to staying healthy for 40 days.
Reaching Bodh Gaya (4.15 pm):
I would have preferred to have stayed at some hotel on the GT Road itself, but could not find one that didn't have the airs of the motel in "Psycho". We were therefore forced to move inside, up to Bodh Gaya, adding 30 mins to our journey.
Hotel Maria, located near the temples, has a nice estate, with a large parking area and decent-sized rooms. There were some niggling maintenance issues that had to be sorted out, but for Rs 2600/- per night, I think this place was a fair deal.
We were tired, and we had seen Bodh Gaya earlier, so we took a rain-check on sight-seeing and dived into bed. A warm cuppa, some roasted cashew and prospects of some sandwiches for dinner. What more can one want?
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Varanasi.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray
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