My Corner:

Road trip to Goa: dr anand naregal

Lots of eye brows were raised when we decided to head for Goa by road in
monsoon. “Do you know how bad the roads are beyond Bombay. “You will reach
Goa on check out date.” But having been to Goa 5 times before and thrice in
Monsoon, I thought Monsoon it had to be.

To prepare ourselves for the trip I got my car serviced, got tyres, wipers and
breaks checked. Got a GPS installed, downloaded few Google maps and 7 days
weather report from BBC. Umbrella, Meglite torch, my camera and I shuffle were
other things which were packed a few days in advance, not to forget car papers as
we were travelling thru three different states.

As the D day was

approaching we had one
confusion yet to be sorted
out and that was, which
highway to take beyond
Bombay? NH 17 via

Pune –Kolhapur NH
4 is one of the best in
this country

Chiplun which is more scenic, curvy and full of adventures, but slow, Or NH 4 via
Pune and Kolhapur, 6 lane fast highway with runway like quality but could be
sometimes boring for driving enthusiast. Finally we left that decision for the day
and decided that we shall take the shot as we near Mumbai.

22nd July. 3 30 AM. – Kitchen activity is on full swing, Puri Bhaji is being prepared.
Luggage is being loaded and last minute checks are being made. Finally after all
the double checks and customary prayer we are in the Captiva and start our 1100
km long journey at 4 am. We are on the newly laid Bharuch highway and doing it
quite fast and past the Narmada bridge in no time, Crossing Narmada can be a big
hurdle during day time, It is ironic that people still rely on 120 years old British
build golden bridge while our own so called ‘new’ bridge is always under repairs.
As we near Surat in just less than two hrs it has started raining very heavily. But
this doesn’t hamper our progress thanks to good quality of roads and flyovers
which are made at every town thru which NH 8 passes. After Surat we realize that
it was too early to praise NHAI and we hit lots of diversions and road blocks.
Heavy downpour doesn’t really help.

8 30 am. Its 250 kms on the tripmeter

and we reach Dairy land (at Talasari)
very much in time for morning breakfast.
This is our favorite place for a break
while going to Mumbai and it is run by
famous Parsi dairy farm from Mumbai.
Set among the vast green lands with
trees, there is a roofed pathway leading
to old colonial bungalow which houses

Amboli DhabDhaba In its full

monsoon glory

this eatery. Services is quick, we order

mixed pakoras, sabudana wada and hot tea. Food is really tasty and I feel really
fresh and ready for next leg of our trip. (Do not forget to buy box of milk drop
sweets for your friends from here).

9 am. Time to change drivers and I am in navigator seat. Roads from here on,
though not very wide, but are smooth. This winding road passes thru and around
many mountains but practically run parallel to coast line. One can visit places like
Bordi, Dandi, and Manor if you have time for slight detour.

10 30 am we are at Ghodbunder road, the place from where one takes left turn if
you want to bypass the maximum city. In 5 and ½ hour we are in touching
distances of Mumbai, advantage of leaving early you see! But in ten minutes our
dream run ends as soon as we reach Mumbra by pass. We find ourselves among
the sea of stationary trucks all around us. After 10 minutes of being immobile we
start getting restless. Scene around is quite calm. Most have stalled their engines.
Many do not have anyone in
driver’s seat. Some of them are
having snacks on roadside stall.
I get the shock of life when I
find a helper taking bath in rear
of his truck. Everyone is

At Moti talav, savant

wadi- photstop

behaving as if they are at home rather than stuck on a highway. Ultimately

patience of my friend runs out, he gets down to enquire and response is “Hum to
idhar kal raat se hai”!. Somehow something clicks for us (May be morning prayer)
and jam cleared over next 1 hour. This is our worst timing 3 hrs to cover 100 km
to bypass Mumbai.

3 PM. It is decided that to cover as much distance as possible to day only its
imperative that we stick to NH 4 via Pune- Kolhapur and give a skip to costal
beauty. After having Lunch at Panvel, we hit the purple patch, Mumbai Pune -
express way. This is probably country’s best road to drive on. One can easily drive
at 150 -160 km /hr, But lane driving is still something Latin and Greek to Indian
drivers. And unlike in the west, here the slowest vehicles are the one who thinks it
is their birthright to hog the inner most lane, making everyone to overtake from
the wrong side. Result is, I feel like I am playing a video game, driving on a six lane
highway at insane speed and overtaking vehicles from the right and sometime
from the left and sometime from the centre. Soon we hit the Western Ghats and
we slow down a bit. I remember, some thirty –thirty five years back when I used
to go to south with my dad as a 10 yr old kid, there used to be a small temple on
old Pune-Mumbai highway at the beginning of Ghats and all vehicles had to make
a customary stop here and pray for their safety. We have come a long way since
then. Here we are amidst the full glory of monsoon, cruising at the speed well
over 100 without realizing that you are crossing the section which was dreaded by
most travelers in the past. At the top near Khandala ghat we slow down to
appreciate the natural beauty
all around us. Rain washed
mountains with greenery all
over and the winding dark
tarmac going thru tunnels

Couple trring “ fish

trick” from dil chahta
hai at arrosim beach

and viaducts made a beautiful sites. Persistent rains in past few days is
responsible for lots of small waterfalls cascading by the side of rocky face of the
mountain, at places you can just take out your hand out of window and can
actually touch these falls. To complete the setting we have uninterrupted rains
giving us company thru out so far. My only regret is on this highway is we cannot
make a tea stop or chiki buying stop at Lonavala, which is what we never failed to
do when we were travelling on old Pune highway. We have crossed Khandala in
no time and now heading towards Pune. The 2.6 liter Captiva is taking on the
Ghats with poise and power. Power is important while driving on the mountains,
our car is cutting thru the ghats and taking on the curves like a knife goes thru the
butter. Higher seating position all round good visibility are other plus points and
seeing those hatchbacks huffing and puffing over those slopes makes you feel
proud to own such a vehicle. Its only when we go outdoors we realize the true
value of these power packed SUVs.

5 PM. We are bypassing Pune. Lately Pune city has outgrown itself and has
engulfed this bypass within it, as a result lots two wheelers on the road. I
remember fondly that this is the city which gave me my first two wheeler, Luna
moped , way back in 1983-84. We feel like going in the city and having a coffee
and a muffin at the German bakery ( Blast or no blast this place serves some real
mouth watering delicacies) but lack of time doesn’t permit this, instead we
continue driving on and feast on our own the puri bhaji.

6 PM. We are on Pune –

Kolhapur road, another
winner, I think we can easily
cover these 200 kms in two
hrs. I am really thanking Mr

guests v/s resort staff

foot ball match in full
rains- great fun

Atal Bihari Vajpayee for starting this Golden Quadrilateral project, only irritants
are those Toll plazas which pop out every now and then. And whats more they are
now not satisfied with 10 Rs, they want 40 or 50, Highest we paid was at Pune –
Mumbai expressway, whooping 140 bucks. We decide to halt at Kolhapur. Google
maps from my I phone also lets me know about hotels which are near highway. I
choose one of them and call to book a room when we are 50 kms away from
Kolhapur, what’s more we also talk to chef and ask him to prepare some dinner
with spicy dishes for us (main dish ?? Veg kolhapuri offcourse). We enter Kolhapur
exactly at 8 pm, some 800 kms from Vadodara. That is 16 hrs of driving in day,
enough to call it a day. After the well deserved dinner and pan we straight crash
on our beds.

23rd 8 am. After a healthy breakfast on a terrace restaurant we depart for GOA.
Today we just need to do 210 km and plan to reach hotel by check in time that’s
12 noon. After 35 km drive we reach Nipani, where we say goodbye to this
beautiful Tarmac and take a single lane country road. Day is slightly clearer than
yesterday but soon becomes dark and cloudy as we take on to cross western
ghats second time in two days. Difference is drastic. Roads are narrow, monsoon
has created enough pot holes and it goes thru lots of villages. As we climb
towards Amboli the mist and cloud completely envelops us reducing visibility to
less than 5 meters. Oncoming traffic is only seen if their headlights are on. Fog
lights do come in handy here. After so many twists and turns we reach Amboli
Dhab Dhaba (waterfall in local language).This water fall is right on the road and
comes suddenly to your view as big surprise.
One must visit this place only in monsoon to
see this fall in its full glory. And when the fog
descends and one cannot see the adjacent
hills, it feels that the entire fall is descending
down towards you from the heaven! We had
a very refreshing ½ hr tea break here, where
we also feasted on Bhuttas and then headed
for Sawantwadi. As we left Amboli we started
our decent from ghats, road is slightly wider
and better. Delphi navigator is of great help
here guiding us thru every junction and small
inner roads. We are in Sawantwadi sharp at

11 am. This is very picture perfect sleepy

Typical goan fisherman little town, and as we take a turn we come
to Moti talav , a large lake with lush green
hills all around. Site is such a pleasing one
that it is impossible not to stop here for few minutes. “Place is also famous for
preserving its heritage and specializes in wooden toys and dolls” – my friend
informs me from lonely planet guide book. I am wondering if one wants to see
real India it has to be by road and not by hopping from one metro to other by air.

12.30 pm Afternoon and we enter Goa state. You don’t need any signboard
though. Cool refreshing breeze from sea, swaying palms and lush green paddy
fields announces loudly that you have reached GOA.
As we were spending more time in journey, rather than the destination, this time
around we just had two days in Goa. But the whatever time we had was really
well spent in various activities like
playing beach football, swimming in
Log Book the pool while it was raining heavily,
Total Kms: 1100 (One way)
having mock tails at Martin’s corner
Journey time: 20 hrs
Diesel : 225 liters(9500 Rs)-both ways
(Sachin’s favorite restaurant in Goa) or
Best section: Mumbai –pune express way just gazing at the sea or walking alone
Worst section:Mumbai bypass via Mumbra on a vast empty beaches. Really, Goa
Fastest section: Pune- kolhapur never lets me down, It has so much of
Star attraction: Amboli water falls everything that I never comeback
without promising Goa to come back
soon. But this time I wanted to talk
about the journey and not the
destination so GOA for some other time. Bye for now.

catch me on face book or at anand.naregal@rediffmail.com with your comments

and views.