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We wanted to visit Mandu but were not able to find the appropriate mode of transport – since the train reservations need planning much in advance, and the distance warranted more time than what one can get in a day if we go by the road, ‘No travel during the Night’ rule stays. So if we break the journey, which place do we do it is another question, and initiating enough to look for alternate destinations. So after multiple back-and-forth, and often animated, conversations from Europe (too cold) to Singapore (C’mon) to Bali (too expensive) to Kerala (lets drive down, flying is so routine), we finally decided to stick to the road, our favourite. Plans made, it was to be a one-halt drive. A couple of nights at Shivpuri, the prospects of which as a travel destination suddenly grew manifold (so much to being an optmist) and then we drive to Mandu. FromDelhi, Shivpuri is 430 odd KMs and then Mandu is another 450.

The cabin of our green elephant welcomed 4 adults and a 4 year old. We set out on a non-foggy but a bit smoky morning with a lot of spirit (no pun intended) to the Heart of India.

Total Distance – 925 KM
Driving Time – 18 hours
Quality of Tar – Brilliant, Good, Poor. Overall – mixed.

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Ae bhai jara dekh kar chalo, aage hi nahi, peeche bhi, upper hi…., oyeee, no need for upper and neeche. This time I am not going to cover any place, or road. Agenda for this post is “Safety First”.

Atul commented on India Roads and driving habits in his “Rajasthan blog”. It’s true that there are a lot of improvements in the infrastructure but what about the change in our driving habits?. During my recent visit to Ghaziabad, I travelled a lot in 15 days, every day I was on the road and travelling Delhi and many parts of western Uttar Pradesh for family visits. Roads have improved, you can reach Moradabad in 2.5 hours from Ghaziabad, but how safe these 2.5 hours are?During my Madurai/Rameshwaram/Kanyakumari visit, NH-4 Kashmir to KanyaKumari was fabulous, driver was driving constantly on 120+, but was that safe?

Questions to my fellow readers and authors:
- How many people wear seat belts while driving (except Delhi/Noida).
- How many people sitting next to driver wear seat belt?
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After a long planning and endless discussions, our much awaited journey to Rajasthan finally started on November the 14th of 2009 (Children’s day). Plan was to leave home early in the morning but with 2 toddlers, 2 teenage girls and 6 middle age adults it’s never easy :) We hit the road just 3 hours behind schedule at 9 am. We were in two vehicles…Suzuki Esteem sedan and a Toyota Innova mini-van which turn out to be pretty comfortable than I actually thought when we hired it. We were bit disheartened to find that there is no place for audio CD or a Cassette…but were pleasantly surprised to find a USB port, its a thumb drive deck …WOW…India is way ahead my teenage niece told me quietly…we were excited…our 8 GB of audio will be with us all the time. Pretty Sweet!

Camel Safari at SAM dunes during Sunset.
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DRIVING HOLIDAY TO GOA IN JULY – AUGUST 2009.

We were driving down to Goa one more time, our fifth holiday in Goa since December 2001. I had booked in Club Mahindra’s Varca Beach resort almost two months ahead. We got the booking easily because it is the end of blue season (slack season) at this time in Goa. Only die-hard Goa lovers go at this time because of the monsoon rains.

We had to reach Varca by 30^th July and our check-out was on 2^nd August (3 nights). I decided that we would leave a day earlier and spend one night at a destination en route. We had a choice of either a hill resort or a Konkani seaside resort. Finally I narrowed it down to either Sawantwadi or Old Goa/Divar Island.

From Goa(Aug09)

GREEN GOA IN THE RAINS

DAY ONE: 29-July-2009. PUNE TO OLD GOA.

We left home at 6.45 am, after getting up at the ungodly hour of 4.45 am. It’s always good to leave early on a road trip. It was a smooth drive to Kolhapur on National Highway No.4 (NH4), and we were in the city by 11.15 am, with only one tea stop on the way. We turned right into the city and had to wade through the traffic for a good 45 minutes. We passed the main train station, market, and Mahalaxmi temple till we reached Rankala Lake, from where the Gaganbavda road (SH115) takes off.

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