Monday, January 14, 2008

Bombay to Jamshedpur in 4 days

Jaya and I started from Bombay on 05.01.08 and reached Jamshedpur on 08.01.08, covering a total distance of 1988 km over 4 days. En route we also visited a relative at Brajrajnagar (60 km from Sambalpur in Orissa) which increased the distance by 120 km. My Swift VDi again performed superbly during this drive. Brief day-wise details as follows :

Day 1 (05.01.08)

Started from Thane at 5.30 AM and reached Khamgaon (529 km from Thane) around 6 PM.

From Thane it did not take much time to reach Bhiwandi as this stretch is a 4-lane dual carriageway. But I had to drive very slowly and cautiously after the dual carriageway ended at Bhiwandi because it was still dark and the highway did not even have the white lines on the edges. As is common in India, many oncoming vehicles continue using high-beam while passing you and one gets momentarily blinded. Luckily, the major ghat (hill) stretches started after daybreak.

Parasnath Jain temple at Nashik

Day 2 (06.01.08)

Started from Khamgaon at 8 AM and reached Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh) around 7 PM, covering a distance of 527 km.

Gigantic statue of Hanuman along NH6 at Nondura (Maharashtra)

Day 3 (07.01.08)

Started from Rajnandgaon at 7 AM and reached Brajrajnagar (Orissa) at 5 PM, covering a distance of 405 km.

Brajrajnagar, where we paid a brief visit to a cousin of mine, is not situated along the main highway (NH6). One has to turn off northwards towards Jharsuguda from Sambalpur and drive for 60 km to reach Brajrajnagar. This stretch (constructed by L&T a few years ago) is very good and one can safely do 100-120 kmph. As the roads in Orissa between the Chhattisgarh border and Sambalpur are quite painful, this L&T road was a welcome break!

Day 4 (08.01.08)

Started from Brajrajnagar at 6 AM and reached home (Sonari, Jamshedpur) at 7 PM, covering a distance of 527 km.

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