BHPian Inquisitive recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Sometimes blessings come in disguise and in my life of 55 years and on several occasions I found, a point of no return actually ushers in a whole new perspective of life. As you have rightly guessed, this travelogue is about a 4500 km road trip finalized in 10 minutes and embarked on 3 hours and that too because we could not start it right away. Essentially, we planned our family trip to Dharamsala, Dalhousie and Amritsar about six months in advance and all our travel plans were right in place till about 24 hours before it was scheduled to begin. We made our flight bookings for Kolkata-Chandigarh and Amritsar-Kolkata sectors on Indigo and all the hotels were booked but come December 5, everything appeared to go out of the window. We were following the Indigo flight fiasco and as expected, we didn’t receive any travel updates from the airline. However though, I mentioned to my wifey in the evening before whether we should ditch our flight plans and plan a road trip, which was vetoed in no time for quite obvious and right reasons. Come the morning of December 5, different flight tracker sites were showing the departure being delayed from 2 pm to 6 pm and finally to 8 pm but with still no intimation from Indigo, which was showing the flight to be on time. We decided to act on the side of caution and decided to reach the airport as if nothing untoward was happening in there. First thing that we experienced once we reached there that our Digiyatra check-in was shown as early arrival and refusal to enter through the designated gates. Anyhow, several other fliers were experiencing the same and the CISF personnel went into manual SOP of entry and let us all in. Oh Man….have I seen such a large crowd inside an airport in my over thirty years of domestic and international travel and I could very well imagine the situation in larger touchpoints like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad or Bengaluru. To our utter surprise, we saw our flight status was being displayed as check-in in progress and with renewed josh, we stood at the end of a long serpentine queue. Clock was moving on to its own sweet rhythm, but in 30 minutes we barely made any advance. Then we decided to approach the counter to figure out when to expect the unpexpected and was summarily told that all Indigo flights were cancelled for the day no matter what the screen says. By the way, screen was then showing that it was in the security phase prior to departure. I must say though that several of Indigo groundstaff acted remarkably professionally and advised the passengers to their best extent and that too, with the passengers with nerves getting increasingly frayed. Finally, we found a queue that was issuing rescheduling or cancellation as per the passengers’ choice and they had been constantly advising against any rescheduling for the next three days. While this was going on, I decided to make the move and floated again, the idea of driving to Dharamsala, a 2000 km one. I calculated that if we made a stop at Dhanbad that night, which is roughly 275 km from Kolkata, the next evening we might reach somewhere between Lucknow and Bareilly and make the hard push from there to Dharamsala on December 7. With no other choices left, my son and wifey finally agreed to the proposal and we decided to reach home and start immediately. It was 230 pm already and we reached home around 345 pm, ordered food on our way back. At 445 pm, we took off for Gobindpur, the suburb of Dhanbad on NH19, the erstwhile NH2. Now, a little bit about my steed. It is a 2019 Nexon XZ+ petrol BS IV with around 90k on the odo. Tyres are okay but needs to be changed in the next six months (I generally drive the tyres for 50k or 4 years, whichever is earlier) and the next service was due in 5k km. Financially also, with Fastag annual pass preloaded from August 15, I would stand to save a couple of thousands in toll payments. Over the period of this time, I had grown a fondness for this car especially in the highways and never ever any doubt crossed my mind that doing this trip would be an impossible proposition with my trusted friend. After managing the chaotic evening traffic around Santragachhi, we found the road condition to be pristine and duly checked in at Khalsa Hotel at 945 pm. After a light dinner, we called it a day. Next morning, we started at 6 am sharp. The road condition was very good till about Topchanchi but after that the never ending NH19 construction and upgradation persisted almost till Mohania. We stopped for a little breakfast at Dobhi and reached Mohania at 1 PM. Then the dilemma came whether to continue on NH19 till the outskirts of Benaras and take the Varanasi Ring Road and then Varanasi-Lucknow expressway or exit toward Ghazipur to reach Purvanchal expressway. We chose the former, as per recommendation of the Google Maps and figured reaching the Purvanchal Expressway would be quite a task around that time of the day defeating any time gain that could be achieved later on the Purvanchal Expressway. But honestly barring the initial ten odd kms on the Varanasi Ring Road, we could not get gain enough speed and rarely hit 80 kmph. We finally hit Purvanchal Expressway at Sultanpur 530 pm, arriving Lucknow at 645 pm. We decided to move forward as much as we could and took the Lucknow Outer Ring Road to go toward Bareilly. At around 9 pm, we reached Hardoi, about 100 km from Lucknow and started looking for a decent place to spend the night. Our initial search yielded no result and we started seriously contemplating to continue till Bareilly which would be made around midnight. Then suddenly, we spotted a police PCR van standing on the side of the road and I gently approached them to enquire about some hotels. They immediately told us to follow their car to lead us into a hotel. For about a km that we followed them, the beacon was on in the PCR van and we walked into the hotel like some big shot VIPs!!!! Hats off to them for their such kind gesture and this is the second time this year, first time was during our visit to Kumbh Mela that UP police really extended their helping hand in our hour of distress. Next morning, we again started at 6 AM and in light fog and poor road condition, made slow progress till a little debacle happened. We were travelling at about 70 kmph and our front left tyre hit a small stone and its sidewall cracked. It was Yokohama Earth1, that was barely 9 months old with only 15k km on it. From my experience, Earth1 tyres even though it provides good ride quality, is extremely soft on its sidewall. This is my second experience with sidewall crack with Earth1 tyres within a year and I urge its users to be extremely careful about handling them on typical Indian rural highways. We moved on despite having no spare tyre in the boot. We left Bareilly around 930 am and followed Moradabad-Meerut-Karnal route via Hapur. Even though the road is littered with miles after miles of food joints on both sides of the road before Moradabad and we were driving without any proper breakfast but just on some dry fruits, we resisted the temptation for a stop in order to reach the hills before sundown. We finally managed to reach Karnal around 4 pm and approached Mohali via Ambala. Unfortunately, Mohali bypass was closed for some repair and we had to reach Kharar through congested traffic of Mohali city and at 630 pm reached Una via Nangal dam. From Una, it took us around two hours to reach Dharamsala. We prefer to use local taxi for sightseeing and that’s what we did but a more compelling reason was not to risk the tyres. Since Yokohama tyres carry nationwide warranty, we were trying to find a Yokohama store en route but didn’t find any open at the time we went past them. After couple of nights in Dharamsala, we moved to Dalhousie and spent three lovely nights there. The temperature was dropping appreciably from afternoon and for us townfolks from Kolkata, it was extremely pleasant and welcome. We then proceeded to Amritsar via Pathankot and finally in there, we could find one Yokohama store, M/s, Mehra Enterprises who replaced the tyre under warranty. After the customary darshan of the Golden Temple and heart-fulfilling dinner at Makhan’s, we retired for the day. Next day, our goal was to again reach Lucknow by the night, a distance of about 1000 km from Amritsar. We followed Tarn Taran-Moga-Barnala-Sangrur-Khannauri to come via National Expresway 5-Western Peripheral Expressway-Yamuna expressway-Agra-Lucknow expressway. The road condition was extremely good and you can keep your speed at 120-130 kmph steadily for hours on this route. One thing to bear in mind though, every time you come out of an expressway and hit the next one, always tank up. It is very hard to find petrol bunks ON these expressways and you might even have to leave them for a while to search in local villages and towns to fill up. We reached Lucknow around 730 pm, paid a quick visit to Lulu Mall for Tunday Kababi and called it a day soon after. Next morning again started early at 6 am for we have to again cover 1000 km in a day and approached Purvanchal Expressway. We exited at Ghazipur and came by Buxar-Sasaram route. Near Sasaram, we visited the tomb of Sher Shah Suri. We started from Saram at 330 pm and reached Bandel, my wife’s ancestral home at around midnight, thus capping a 4500 km journey. I know pictures would have supplemented this travelogue quite nicely but unfortunately, I didn’t really have much time to stop and take pictures. So, in a way our flight cancellation provided a new experience for all three of us and provided us memories to relish and cheer for a long time. It’s a very long post and thanks for keeping up……and of course, happy motoring!!! Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
