Uttar Mahayatra

Bird's eye view: This was our third mahayatra . Even now, I cannot make out whether, on the last day, we drive home with a feeling of regret or one of elation. It is bound to be a bit of both, I guess. When we had set off on this journey 41 days ago, we had not visualised this return journey, yet here it is. Eternity happens in the blink of an eye! Today we drove just 240 km from Asansol to Kolkata. There are younger and more dashing drivers who would have done these extra 4.5 hours yesterday itself and reached home in the evening. Me - I prefer to take it slow. Leaving Asansol (7.00 am): We left Asansol at 7.00 am, after a diplomatic breakfast of bread, butter and a veggie. Piu, my cousin, leaves every day at 6.15 am, so she gets up at 4.30 am and cooks a full lunch for her father before she leaves. Hats off! Luckily, the sky was cloudy all through, and the skyscape quite beautiful. We had been quite worried about the five days of plains driving...

Bird’s eye view: After a long time, my travel biographer would take an interest in the proceedings, because today we travelled 400 km from Patna to Asansol (incidentally, from one sister’s place to another’s). We left Patna at 7.30 am and rang the bell at Asansol at 2.45 pm, a little more than 7 hours, including meal and fuel breaks. That’s a fair run, given that in many places, speed drops to below 30 kmph. We travelled through three states - Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Roads in Bihar are better than we thought they would be. Both the Patna-Dobhi road, which ran south for 140 kms past Gaya and Bodhgaya, as well as the subsequent NH19, which actually runs from Delhi to Kolkata (1269 kms), were in great shape, though a lot of road expansion going on in the Bihar part queered the pitch a bit. The state seems to have received high funding for projects. Jharkhand roads, the little that we travelled today, were a dream as usual. West Bengal was also good, excep...

Bird’s eye view: A drive of 280 km again, but today it took longer. Purvanchal expressway stayed with us for 100 km, after which we descended to NH31, a crowded stretch of road, then started on the unexpectedly beautiful NH922 after crossing the Ganga at Buxor, got stuck again at Ara, and ran a fairly good stretch for the balance 50 km to North Patna, where my cousin was staying. We left Azamgarh at 7.00 am and reached at 12.00 noon, a well-done 5 hour run, helped by the fact that it was a Sunday. It was sunny today, but not blistering, around 30-33 degC, so can’t complain. Leaving Azamgarh (7.00 am): Checkout was smooth, since we did not take breakfast at the hotel. Thinking that PEx would have scarce food resources, we were carrying cakes and biscuits, to have on the go. In fact, we were pretty flummoxed when, after an hour or so of driving, PEx ran out of steam and we were back in the land of congested traffic and shanty food shops. Nonetheless, w...