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 ro...