DEV BHOOMI - Day 13

16th. July 2010.

The 13th day of the road trip. This is the day we will be bidding adieu to Dev Bhoomi.

I don't see any reason to actually get out bed. How I wish I could just start all over again, drive back to Kaza, cross Kunzum La, and onwards to Gramphoo, Keylong and then to Leh! Alas that is not going to happen. Heading back to Bombay is the order of the day! Very reluctantly get out of bed. Its almost 6.30 am., and that's late by the standards we have set for ourselves the last few days! Call room service and order tea.

Arshad and Dinesh are awake, by the time the tea arrives. Time to get ready for the drive today. Plan is to reach Ajmer if possible by around 8.00 pm. Tall order I know! Should at least try for Jaipur. (Although my choice for the night halt is Behror) Order our breakfast (Bread & Omelettes again!) over the phone and we are assured that we will be called to the restaurant, once it is ready.

A little bit about the Hotel: It's a 6 story building. Our room is on the 6th floor, so is the restaurant. (Lucky for us!). Unfortunately the kitchen is on the ground floor. So all the ordered food has to be prepared there and then carted up 6 floors. Hence the reason that the waiters say, that they would call us, once the food is ready. ,

The three of us get ready one by one and pack our luggage, so that we can leave as soon as we finish our breakfast. I try out some photography, using Dinesh's camera, not very successful though! Long way to go, using a DSLR. The waiter knocks at around 8.00 am. for breakfast. We head to the restaurant and take a seat near the window. The view outside is truly wonderful. Picture postcard perfect. Any sane person would have definitely taken at least a dozen snaps, of the mountains, the fog, the city. Unfortunately we cannot be counted as sane, so no snaps. Fact of matter, I found the view nice, but crowded, unlike what we have seen over the past few days.

Finish breakfast, head back to the room, final check to see that we have not left anything behind and head to the ground floor reception to settle all our bills. Pay the hotel and food bills and leave the hotel. The time is 9.10 am. Normal working day for everyone (except us) , lots of people and cars on the road. Minor traffic jams at many places. Driving down the city of Shimla, it's hard to believe that this was once a small village. Drive past the Shimla Railway Station, starting and ending point for the Kalka Shimla Railway, one of the very few UNESCO reconized Railways in the world. Its a narrow gauge railway line running from Shimla to Kalka a distance of around 96 kms. It takes around 4.5 hrs to 6 hrs. for the journey! Maybe someday I'll try out this journey. Not today though!

Try to head out of the city as soon as possible. Nice wide, twisting and turning roads, with traffic thinning out a little as we move further away from the city. It's mostly downhill and we will be leaving the mountains soon. Reach Shoghi at 9.40 am. and stop to fill diesel at an I.O.C. petrol pump. After the Bolero has had her fill, we move on. Pass Kaileeghat, Waknaghat, Kandaghat (Interesting names) and reach the outskirts of Solan. The Mohan Meakin Brewery is on the outskirts of Solan city. For those not aware, Mohan Meakin is the manufacturer of one of India's most famous Dark Rum Brand - OLD MONK!

It's 10.30 am, when we take the bypass, avoiding the city of Solan, past the towns/ villages of Kathed, Kumarhatti, Dharampur, Jabli. At 11.30 am. we take a break a little before Parwanoo for tea. We pass Parwanoo, signalling the end of the state of Himachal Pradesh. (No more snaps hereon!) Very soon we are in the city of Kalka, Haryana State. The time is 12.00 pm. We are now in the plains, after being in the mountains since the 6th. of July. For some people this would be a time to breathe a sigh of relief, having completed a drive in the mountains, without any mishap whatsoever. We are glad that to have completed the mountain part of the journey without any mishap or breakdown, but at the same time, there is sadness. We are leaving Dev Bhoomi and now it is back to the Bhoomi of the Mortals!

Drive through the town of Kalka, past the Kaali Maata Mandir on the left, the Bus stand, Pinjore, Yadavendra Gardens and we are at the beginning of Panchkula at around 12.30 pm. Hard to figure out where Kalka ends and Panchkula begins! A few kms. down the road, the clutch develops some snag. The clutch is not engaging, even after the pedal is fully depressed. I just hope it is not a major problem and keep driving, ready to stop the moment I see a decent garage somewhere. Drive through some crowded roads, past the villages of Derra Bassi, Janetpur, reaching the Gholumajra Toll Plaza at around 12.55 pm. There is a slight detour a little further on, as there are flyovers being built on the Panchkula - Ambala section. We take the detour and pass through some quaint villages. Unfortunately could not note down the names of the villages as all the sign boards were in Punjabi (Gurmukhi) and not a single one in Hindi.

By 1.15 pm we are at the junction where the NH22 meets the NH1 near Ambala City. We head towards Ambala Cantonment, keeping a hawks eye view for Puran Singh Dhaba. To our surprise below the flyover and opposite the Ambala Cantonment Railway Station we come across not one but atleast six different Puran Singh Dhaba's. In our eagerness to find the right one, we actually cross the whole stretch and have to turn back and retrace our steps. Finally we find the original Puran Singh Dhaba. (Convinced that it's the original after seeing the NDTV Highway On My Plate Logo and certificate). Frankly speaking, nothing much to write home about. Decent hot food and not very expensive.

After our lunch, I head out to look for a mechanic or ask for whereabouts of a garage to get the Clutch problem solved. I find a mechanic, who comes to the dhaba parking lot, slides under the car, opens the bonnet, slides under again, tightens some bolts and emerges saying the problem is solved. I start the car, try out the clutch and it is working fine. We ask him, if it will hold till Bombay and he says "No Problem"! We thank him and pay for his services and leave for the onward journey.

After driving for around 15 to 18 kms., the same clutch problem starts all over again. Can't but help thinking that we have been duped! Thankfully we are on the outskirts of Shahabad on the GT Road (NH1) and I spot a garage on the side of the road in line with a few spare parts shops. There are a few Sumos, 1 Tavera and a Qualis parked near the garage. All of them seem to be getting some work done. Hopefully we should find a solution to the clutch problem here! The name of the garage is Jassi Da Garage, and I drive in to be met by the owner (my presumption, Mr. Jassi) and tell him of the problem. He takes a drive and goes.. Hmmm...... What should one infer from that? He slides below the car, does some checks and comes out saying that the Sleeve Cylinder is leaking and needs to be replaced. His other query is, where the hell have you driven this car? (That' s because he emerges all covered with white dust all over his body and face!) Back to more important things and I ask him if it can be fixed/ repaired/ replaced and he says no problem. I also tell him that we would like a proper solution as we have to drive all the way to Bombay with this car. He says " KOI NAHI SIR, AAP GADDI LEKE CANEDA JAAO JI!" Well Canada maybe in the distant future, our immediate need is to reach Bombay and hopefully Jaipur tonight!

He buys the required parts from the adjacent Spare parts shop and starts replacing the damaged part. All this while we three are standing in the sweltering heat and sweating ourselves thin! It must be a good 36 degrees at least. Compare that to the very pleasant 12 to 15 degrees in Shimla this morning and you can begin to imagine how uncomfortable we must be feeling. Anyway after spending nearly an hour at the garage, the work on the clutch is done. All the brake oil is replaced with new brake oil. Jassi and me take a drive to test the car and she is back to her old self. We pay up Jassi Praji and the gentleman at the Spare parts shop and move out from the garage. The time is 3.15 pm.

We immediately cross the town of Shahabad Markanda, drive by Ratangarh, Pipli (not to be confused with Peepli, M.P.) and reach the Karnal Toll Plaza at 3.45 pm. Soon we drive by the Karnal junction and continue till we reach the Panipat Toll Plaza at 4.33 pm. On to the elevated road, with Panipat city on both sides of the highway. The road are a dream to drive on, though there are few places where some work or the other is happening and so some diversions. But all in all a smooth ride. Pass by Jhattipur, Samalkha, Sonepat, Rai and Kundla and reach the MCD limits at around 5.15 pm.

We are in Delhi now, going by the welcome sign. I decide to stop and ask for directions from this point on, so that we do not waste time in Delhi traffic (which I have been told is horrendous). An auto rickshaw driver gives us the directions and we move on. Luckily for me I see a Volvo bus with Chandigarh-ISBT-IGI Airport-Gurgaon destination board, a little ahead of me. That is exactly the route we have to take, so I immediately get in line behind the bus and decide to follow it all the way to Gurgaon. :-) These Volvo's sure move fast, I'm pretty sure we will be crossing Delhi soon. Unfortunately the Volvo bus driver has passengers in his bus, who would be rather inconvenienced if he drove straight on to Gurgaon, without halting! The Volvo moves over to the left of the road and before I know it, I'm driving past and onwards. Well the situation is not so bad, all three of us remember being on this road, albeit in the opposite direction on our journey to Chandigarh. Good to know that we are on the right road. (What really bothers me is the lack of signages giving proper directions!)

Decide to again ask for directions to the Airport/ Gurgaon at a traffic signal and a kind gentleman driving an Indica, suggests that we follow him. That's a relief, I just have to follow the car in front of me, even though it means weaving in and out of traffic with a Bolero. But then anything KAREGA to avoid the Delhi traffic right? A few kms., later, I see the driver of the Indica waving his hand out of the car. Assuming that he wants us to follow him, I move in behind him. I get a feeling that we are heading more and more into the city. The maps we have, say that IGI and Gurgaon is more or less towards the right side and we are heading straight! Unfortunately the driver was telling us to turn to the right at the signal, which I mistook as a sign to follow him. Bygones, we ask him what we should do now, and he tells us to follow him till a certain point and take a turn at the India Gate on to Akbar Road, then to Teen Murti Marg, Sardar Patel Marg and Swarna Jayanti Marg, which will lead us to the airport. We note down all the points on the map, thank the gentleman and move on. Its almost 5.45 pm.

And then we are hit with the full force of Delhi traffic. We cross India Gate turn onto Akbar Road and see a long line of cars, bikes, buses etc. The traffic just doesn't seem to move. We spend quite some time in the traffic jam, hoping no Delhi cops stop us! (Out of state, very dirty looking mud splattered Bolero and three guys). Follow the directions on the map to the "T", with Arshad guiding me all the way, while Dinesh takes his 40 winks. Finally reach the 1st. Gurgaon Expressway Toll Plaza at 7.05 pm. A distance of approximately 50 odd kms. from one end of Delhi to the other in about 1hr. 40 mins.

Pass the 2nd. Gurgaon Toll plaza, Manesar goes past and we pull into a Petrol Pump to refuel, the Bolero with diesel and us with teas! Its nearly 7.45 pm, when we leave afetr the tea and fuel halt. On the NH8, we reach the Shajahanpur Toll Plaza at around 8.55 pm. Its almost 9.10 pm., when we enter Behror. I suggest that we halt for the night at the RTDC Motel. Arshad reasons that Jaipur being only around 130kms. from here, we should drive on. I lose the vote 2:1 and off we head towards Jaipur. Pass Kothputli at 9.30 pm. Drive by the towns/ villages of Paota, Shahpura, Manoharpura and reach the Daulatpura Toll Plaza at 11.00 pm. Hoping to find some sort of hotel/ motel/ place to stay on the highway we keep driving for nearly 25 mins., with no luck, till we finally reach the Jaipur exit.

Decide to take the exit and head into Jaipur, rather than taking the flyover and moving away from the town. No guarantees of finding any accommodation on the highway we feel. As soon as we turn into Jaipur city and a few metres ahead, we come across Hotel Shiva at 11.25 pm. The place looks decent. We drive into the compound, Arshad and me go up to the reception to check for availability and see the rooms if possible. The receptionist shows us the rooms, which according to us are good enough with a working A.C. , cleans bedsheets, etc. We decide to take the rooms, haggle a little over the room rent, finally settle for a little discount.

A little matter of having dinner has been forgotten and after having got a room for the night, we suddenly realise that we all are very hungry. We ask the receptionist about a place to eat nearby and he suggests some Dhabas down the road, but we should hurry as they are likely to close. We immediately start the car and head out, passing a couple of Dhabas on the right and a few on the right. Finally we settle on Sharma Dhaba (Incidentally they own Hotel Shiva too, which we came to know later) on the right side of the road and park there. Order our food, a little bit of Punjabi and a Rajasthani Dish and Naans. Everything is either too oily or dripping in Ghee/ Butter. No complains from any of us, jsut glad that we are getting food at this late hour. The Dhabas seem to be the only places that are open. The rest of the city seems to have gone to sleep a long time back!

Finish our dinner, pay up (Very expensive dinner in my opinion) and head back to the hotel. Take out the essential luggage from the car and head up to the room. The receptionist has been kind enough to have put on the A.C., while we had gone for dinner, so we enter a pleasantly cool room as compared to the temperature outside. Dinesh and me take a bath one after the other, Arshad just washes and changes and we hit the bed. All of us are too tired to even put on the T.V. or discuss tomorrows plans! Everything can wait! Sleep is what we need.

To be continued..........................