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On one cool morning last year, we some of the members of Marthoma Church, Karimba, gathered at the Parsonage. After coffee at 6 am we started for Palayur (an important pilgrimage center of Syrian Christians) in a hired Bus. Shortly before 8 am we reached, as planned, at the Ravi Varma orphanage at Trichur run by our church. We had free breakfast with the inmates, wash our plates ourselves and gave donations to the institution. And go around and saw the institution and talked to some of the inmates.

Ravivarma Orphanage
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My intention behind writing road-reviews have been to provide necessary information to fellow travelers (read drivers) who wish to undertake that journey. With that thought, probably Delhi-Patna doesn’t make the cut, since not many would be traveling (read driving) such a long stretch. Patna is not a hot tourist place and neither its close enough to let people choose the tar instead of routine rail or expensive air. So the only real reason I think would be then to use this is to get and feel high, since I did it, just the last week. I drove all the way to Darbhanga (200 Km further to Patna) from Delhi. May be 10 years down the line when I read this again, I would feel young (and stupid), so here it is.

Delhi - Patna can be divided into following stretches.
Distance - 1050 - 1100 KMs , Time - 32 hours with a 12 hour night stop at Allahabad or Banaras. 20-22 hours non-stop with 2 meal breaks and 2 tea breaks.

1. Delhi - Agra - Etawah
2. Etawah - Kanpur
3. Kanpur - Allahabad
4. Allahabad - Banaras
5. Banaras - Patna

View Larger Map
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Any pilgrimage help savour the flavors of the soul as expressed in art, architecture, music, food, and every other aspects of living. It is an intricate experience, broadening our connections between the basic fabric of India and the human soul. Our life is so much shaped on the basis of these realizations which we achieve on this journey.

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This first post is about the roads from DELHI to MORI and back. Based on surveys done on several websites, we finalized two routes for Mori. While going, we took the route from Delhi – Pipli – Yamunanagar – Paonta Sahib – Sataun – Minus – Tiuni – Mori and on the return trip we took the route Mori – Purola – Nainbag – Vikasnagar – Saharanpur – Baghpat – Shamli – Panipat – Delhi. Needless to say, the return route was much better – good roads as well as more scenic. Here I present the details of the route :

Delhi – Mori
We drove a Brand new Maruti Swift VDI – the famed diesel engine and started on afternoon of Thursday, 29^th May. That was because all the roads in NCR were blocked due to the Gujjar agitation. Even though the Delhi – Amritsar highway was shown closed in the news flash at 2:15 PM, we decided to take the risk and departed at 2:30 PM. Here are the timings and KM readings for the trip ………
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