To my surprise, the highways on day 1 of the trip were surprisingly empty. Barely any trucks, barely any private cars or taxis. It was a breeze all through and was loving every moment.
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There are long drives and then, there are LEGENDARY DRIVES! This was one freaking LEGENDARY DRIVE! Well, to summarize, the below was my affair with the road:
To and fro, it was total 7,300-odd kilometers covered 7 states within 25 days. Phew! And to top it, it was mostly (~50%) a solo trip while the rest of it, wife accompanied me.
Here’s my trusted partner –Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza ZXI+ Petrol MT – delivered in July 2022:
A bit on my background – I am originally from Assam (Guwahati) but have been in Bengaluru since 2005. In Dec 2020, I drove from Bengaluru to Kolkata in our humble Honda Brio and were back in few weeks. However, my dream to drive all the way to Assam (my birthplace) was unfulfilled until this time.
My onward itinerary (all on consecutive days):
- Day 1 Solo Drive (Dec 14, 2022) – Bengaluru to Anakapalle
- Day 2 Solo Drive (Dec 15, 2022) – Anakapalle to Kolkata
- Day 3 (Dec 16, 2022) – Kolkata to Bagdogra
- Day 4 (Dec 17, 2022) – Bagdogra to Guwahati
My return itinerary (with layover in Kolkata for a few days):
- Day 1 Solo Drive (Jan 2, 2023) – Guwahati to Siliguri
- Day 2 Solo Drive (Jan 3, 2023) – Siliguri to Kolkata
- Day 3 (Jan 6, 2023) – Kolkata to Puri
- Day 4 (Jan 7, 2023) – Puri to Vijayawada
- Day 5 (Jan 8, 2023) – Vijayawada to Bengaluru
Plan for this trip started 3 months prior to target start of Dec 14th. Carefully planned the whole trip including but not limited to:
- Booking hotels – CHECK
- Packing luggage – CHECK
- DL, RC, Insurance, PUC – CHECK
- Two cartons of 500ML water bottles – CHECK
- Additional Airtel SIM card for GPS – CHECK
- New DDPAI dashcam – CHECK
- Kotak Fastag recharge Rs. 5000 – CHECK
- Tons of food/snacks – CHECK
- All possible tools – CHECK
- Tyre pressure and fuel top up – CHECK
- Medicines / First Aid Kit – CHECK
- Pillow & Blanket – CHECK
- 400+ songs on my pen drive with back up on my laptop – CHECK
- Office & Personal Laptops with charging bricks – CHECK
- Jiofi for internet – CHECK
With luggage loaded in the car the previous day, I was all set. I split the luggage such that on my halts at the hotels, I would leave my larger suitcase in the car boot (out of anyone’s sight) while just carry two bags during check-in:
- Small bag with essentials (toothbrush, toothpaste, light Ts & shorts, medicines, body lotion, mobile chargers and fresh clothes for the next day’s drive).
- Backpack with two laptops.
Few weeks prior to the trip, I got the car checked (2nd free inspection) plus a proactive engine oil change from Kataria Automobiles, Kanakapura Road.
Note: All pictures were taken by me while on the move and/or at random using my mobile, so pardon the photo quality.
Day 1 (Dec 14, 2022): Bengaluru to Anakapalle via Chennai ORR (Solo Drive) – Excitement Got the Better of Me:
Until afternoon of Dec 13th, plan was to start the trip on Dec 14th at 04.00 hours sharp (good muhurat as per the stars). But I knew that another good muhurat was available earlier until 00.05 hours on Dec 14th. I hit the bed sharp at 10PM on Dec 13th and slept for an hour or so, when I suddenly woke up thinking I overslept. Saw the clock and it was about 23.15 hours. Excitement got the better of me. Told myself – why waste time sleeping – let’s have the affair! Took a nice hot shower, got dressed, switched off the mains, locked the house and walked straight to my car at 11.55PM. Turned the ignition on and off I went over fresh lemons (call me superstitious – I am) sharp at 00.04AM.
Going out of the city via KR Puram would take at least 1 hour for me and purposefully wanted to avoid the Chittoor stretch due to bad roads. So, chose the Krishnagiri highway as the escape route. Within 35 kms, I was in Tamil Nadu.
Somewhere on the way to Chennai ORR.
Let’s cruise all the way to Anakapalle!
I halted for breakfast and lunch for no more than 30 mins each, 10 mins for petrol refills and intermittent stretch out breaks. Weather and roads were excellent all through. To my surprise, the highways on Day 1 of the trip were surprisingly empty. Barely any trucks, barely any private cars or taxis, even the cities I passed through did not have much traffic. It was a breeze all through and was loving every moment.
Coming from a Brio, the Brezza was way more comfortable – higher ground clearance and better visibility, more upright seating position, better traction, good brakes with ABS, awesome suspension set up, very spacious, powerful 1.5L engine and superb air conditioning. Comfort was at a different level altogether.
Early morning haze.
Not that far away from Kolkata! At one moment, it was here that I thought let’s make it a non-stop drive to Kolkata, but then with all the analyses that followed for the next few minutes, it was clear I would kill myself if I did that – being solo. So, stuck to my plan of making it to Kolkata in 2 days. I was in no hurry.
View from the cockpit and cruising.
Beautiful morning sky.
Flooding on the highway – very surprising!
For lunch and snacks, I stopped at random hotels but was in such a hurry, that I barely captured any photos.
Re-fueling somewhere in Andhra Pradesh.
Rest of the day was uneventful. Reached hotel at Anakapalle at 19.30 hours and believe me, there was no fatigue, no motion sickness. Brezza performed flawlessly all through. Roads in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were in the best of shapes – barely any potholes, diversions and/or barricades. I was expecting traffic snarls at Vijayawada and Rajahmundry, but nothing at all. I could maintain God-speed.
Total time taken 19.5 hours to cover 1,105 Kms on Day 1. After a quick dinner at the hotel, I called it a day at around 22.00 hours.
Day 2 (Dec 15, 2022): Anakapalle to Kolkata (Solo) – Power Nap on the Highway!
On this day, 1 got up at about 01.00 hours and started the onward journey at 02.00 hours sharp. Messaged my wife that I am on my way and to my surprise, she immediately called me. Wife was already in Kolkata few weeks prior to me reaching there and was expecting me to be there soon. We spoke for some time as I cruised on the highway. I drove non-stop for the next 4 hours but drowsiness got the better of me.
At around 06.00 hours, I stopped somewhere on the highway next to a small chai / coffee tapri for a 30 min power nap. There were trucks around that place and seemed a pretty safe place. This was the first time I took a nap on the highways. After 30 mins, I was up, washed my face and had two coffee back-to-back. It was very refreshing – beautiful early morning blue skies, chilly weather and coffee that tasted equivalent to that of Café Coffee Day (believe me). I stood there for a while looking at my car and the highways. Reminded me of a dialog from the movie – “The Pursuit of Happyness” wherein Will Smith recalls saying – “This little part of my life is called happiness…”. True for me as well!
The pursuit of happiness indeed.
As I entered Odisha, I was greeted with the most painful part of navigating through the roads of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Choco-block with trucks, buses, cars and especially absolute zero riding sense of 2-wheelers (no personal offence meant) – every minute was a test of my patience. The tarmac quality was pretty bad as well in a lot of stretches which slowed me down significantly.
Remember – there are speed interceptors on Odisha highways and speed limit is capped to 80 KMPH. And rightly so, I saw two interceptors on the highways. I was consciously maintaining 80 KMPH, so no violation there.
Passed through some of the greenest of lands and some of the worst diversions that slowed me down significantly. But whenever I got good roads, I made quick progress.
Some random shots:
A quick stretch out break somewhere in Odisha.
Passed by the Chilika lake and was on the lookout for a dhaba / restaurant but could not find anything available or open. Finally, I saw a small tapri on the roadside with loads of puri / luchi and immediately stopped to have my full.
As I proceeded through multiple diversions and over millions of potholes, there was nothing much to write home about. I kept my momentum and just when I thought I would make it to our home in Kolkata on time (estimated ETA 20.00 hours), I got stuck somewhere in the city.
Is this the EM Bypass?
Massive traffic jam in Kolkata that ate into my ETA for good 45 mins to 1 hour. Pile up of 3-4 Kms at least. While we all waited, a car with a family on my right lane came over and asked me if I was driving all the way from Karnataka (they noticed my KA number plate). On hearing an enthusiastic YES, they were pretty much stunned if someone could really do this. Later, once the traffic cleared, I made some good progress and reached home by 8.30PM.
Meeting my wife and in-laws was wonderful and we ended the day with a my mother-in-law’s birthday celebrations.
Total distance covered on Day 2 was 905 KMS in 18.5 hours. This day, I was pretty tired – not from 2 days of non-stop driving but more so from chaotic traffic in Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar, non-stop honking by cars and buses in Kolkata (coming from Bengaluru, it does make you very uncomfortable) and of course, the unexpected traffic pile up few hours before home.
Keyword: Did a 7300 km road trip across 7 states in my Maruti Vitara Brezza