Asansol -> Kolkata (20.5.25)

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 post-Dehradun, but the heat had been pretty moderate.

Sweet break at Shaktigarh (9.00 am):

We were back on NH19 right away and the road stretched smooth and empty right upto Bardhaman, 120 km (2.5 hrs) down the road. But before that, the road passed Shaktigarh, a name on every Bengali's tongue as it is the hub for a particular type of sweet called the 'langchya' - a fried sweet, brown in clour and soaked in syrup, longish like another Bengali icon - the pashbalish or side pillow. That itself causes half the sale, I feel. There are rows and rows of roadside shops selling the same thing. Reminded me of the inhabitants of Gergovia selling wine and charcoal to each other in the comic book 'Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield'. Although our true-blue Kolkata friends say that the quality has gone to the dogs, we should take this opinion (not the lyangcha) with a pinch of salt, factoring in the uncompromising nature of Bengali in matters of food. Both of us shared one piece, and it was a bit of all right, I thought. I surrendered to greed and ordered some kachuri with daal as well, which was a disaster, dripping in oil, a sure prescription for an unhappy stomach. Nevertheless, we were happy that a major check-box had been ticked.

Reaching Kolkata (12.15 pm):

We had been reading facebook posts about policement skulking with radar guns near areas that were 40 kmph zones, and giving drivers the option of licence-impounding with a 5000/- fine, or a more informal settlement. So Panna was keeping her eyes peeled for tripods at the side of the road. At least she did for an hour, after which I asked her to relax. It was too much of a torture to sustain for 4 hours.

Post Bardhaman, traffic slowed down a bit. There were some roadworks still going on. However, we still made good time till we slipped off NH19 and turned left into Kona Expressway that leads to Vidyasagr Setu, the new Hooghly bridge. For some reason, traffic was bad, and whichever lane we switched to, slowed down. This increased our overall travel time from 4.5 hrs to 5 hrs.

As usual, the city traffic was pretty irritating and everyone seemed to be driving at their own whim and fancy. Especially after driving in the disciplined traffic of the hills, this seems like a disturbed anthill. Nevertheless, our familiar housing complex finally showed up and we parked downstairs, with a mutual high-five. Another mahayatra completed.

I won't bore you with details of unloading the car and taking all the stuff up. Suffice it is to say that we never realised that the little Punch had held that much luggage. Unpacking them all will take days altogether.

Our cook had prepared a typical Bengali lunch for us, light and tasty, just what the doctor ordered after a long drive and a longer trip. We were finally ready for some serious relaxation. 

So, lights out, friends! Thank you for following us on our uttar mahayatra. Hope the next one happens soon.

Major parameters:

Car = Tata Punch AMT, 2.5 years, 38,000 km.

Trip length = 5538 kms

Night stays = 40

Night stays at hotels = 34

Places visited = 28

Avg stay at places = 1.43 days

Fuel economy = 16 km/ltr

Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray

Pro driving tips: Pace yourself

Before we started long drives, it was always a mystery to me how the drivers sustain driving day after day. I mean, passion is one thing, but physically the body has to co-operate. Then I discovered that each of us have to find our own pace. I know many long drivers, who would have done this trip by reaching Lucknow with only one night-halt at Bodhgaya, whereas I took three. Driving overnight is also a preference with many of them, as the roads are empty and the kids asleep at the back. But personally, I found that my sustainable driving pace is 4-5 hours a day, whether in the plains (350 kms, say) or on hills (100 kms, say). Then I need to rest up for the rest of the day. If it is a longer drive, like 8-10 hrs, which I will restrict to 2-3 days in a 30-day trip, we will perforce stay two days there. In this trip, because we were travelling to pretty places, we stayed 2-3 days in many places, just to chill out and enjoy, so the overall trip was very relaxed.

One thing is certain. Once you find your pace, you will learn to focus on just the day. Get up, have tea, get ready, have breakfast (or not), pack up, leave, take break every two hours, lunch, reach (or the other way around), unpack, wash clothes, change, chill, dine, sleep. We can do this day after day, because to us every day starts afresh. Manage the day, follow the plan, and the trip will manage itself.

As a famous philosopher said: "Manage the moment, my dear. Eternity will take care of itself."