Mumbai - Indore - Mumbai (30th April - 3rd May 09)

A long weekend, fantastic opportunity to freak out, relax and enjoy. The thought of doing something different from the normal routine work has always been welcoming to most of us. It was in the last week of April 09 I got an opportunity of a extended weekend (30th April 09 to 3rd May 09). As of every year 1st May is a statutory holiday for Maharashtra Day. This year it was Friday on 1st of May combined with Saturday and Sunday. During the same time there were general elections taking place in India and Thursday 30th April 09 was the voting day in Mumbai. All of a sudden the government came with a notification and 30thApril was declared a holiday. The thought of doing 4 day of holiday was simply fascinating. Checked will all my family members for suggestions to visit some place for the next 4 days and everyone of us came with several suggestions like Goa, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, etc. But the other problem was the availability of tickets and accommodation at any of

It was my father who suggested that we go to Indore for 4 day as most of my relatives from my father’s side stay in Indore. Also there was a marriage scheduled on 3rd May 09 in one of our very close family friend. Instantly I said yes followed by my sister, wife and

Indore is a quite a big city in the state of Madhya Pradesh approximately 600 kms from Mumbai. It is one of the fastest growing cities in India having various renowned educational institutes. It was ruled by the Holkar's the 17th century. The climate is usually dry, summers are extremely hot, winters are quite cold, and the city gets very less rainfall. It is quite well

Well the first question my mom asked was how we are going to get the tickets on such a short notice. My answer was that we will drive to Indore in our new car. I Swift Diesel (VDI) on 27th March 09. Wanted to go for a long drive in this monster and thought this is the best time. It had already clocked 1800 kms and was ready for such a long drive. Fortunately my father backed me by saying yes for the long drive else my mom was in no mood. The preparations started as there was hardly any time left. The last time I went to Indore was in the year 1991. I was completely thrilled for this break.

We decided to start by 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. on 30th April after casting our votes. Since we were traveling to Indore we decided to visit Maheshwar and Mandleshwar which happens to be the birthplace of my father. My grandfather was a teacher in Mandleshwar and retired as a principal from Maheshwar. We are all always eager to visit these two villages somehow it’s a feeling of “our” for all of us. Though none of our family members stay in these places but there are a few family friends who are based there. The marriage we were attending was a special one in a special relation. My grandfather’s colleague's grandson was getting married. A relationship we have maintained even today, inherited to be more precise. I call it as a golden relationship which I am sure will all like to maintain for

Finally we started at 8:15 a.m. from Vashi, obviously after exercising our right! We travelled through Kopar Khairane, Ghansoli, Airol, before hitting the Mumbai-Agra highway (NH3). Went past the toll exit at Bhiwandi bypass and headed towards Nasik. Since it was a holiday it was more of a weekend traffic with many private cars on the highway. We crossed the Kalyan exit by 9:00 a.m. After driving for 15 kms beyond Kalyan the road becomes one lane since the road is under construction. One has to be careful and alert while driving on such highways, no dividers, pot holes and speed breakers keep on approaching at irregular intervals. We travelled through the famous Kasara ghat. Apparently the road is been newly constructed and now there are different roads to and fro. It was a good drive through those turns and climbs. It took us almost 11:45 a.m. to reach Nasik. We had packed our breakfast and had it in the car itself to save time. One needs to always be careful that while on long drives time becomes a very important factor. Even a short break for tea would eat up 30

I finally stopped at a petrol pump at 12:15 p.m. after exactly 4 hours of non-stop drive approx (180 kms). We had reached a place called as Pimpalgaon which is 25 kms ahead of Nasik. Took a break for 15 minutes. It was very hot outside with temperature hovering around 42'C. I just had a stroll in the shade of the petrol pump for 5 minutes. We started again at 12:30 p.m. and headed towards Dhule. After driving approximately 10-15 kilometers from Pimpalgaon there is a newly layed road almost like a expressway. A complete tar road with good lane markings and a divider. Its a 6 lane expressway which is newly constructed. The speedometer easily touched 100 without any extra push. My dad wanted to drive this monster and he told me to sit next to him which I agreed since it was a empty road and he won't have problems to maneuver the new car. We went past through Chandvad where there is a famous temple of Renuka Devi located in the hills. The road goes next to the temple. We usually take the blessing while returning back. We all prayed while passing the temple and headed towards Dhule. Dad drove it for almost 50 kms before I taking it over again after Malegaon approx (250 kms ) to maintain the speed. It was around 2:30 p.m. we touched Dhule (310 kms ). We halted at a hotel next to the highway I guess its the only hotel which is pure vegetarian with good hygine.

After having a light lunch we started again at 3:25 p.m. The sun was showering the super heated rays! Once you reach Dhule is like covering half the journey. We crossed though Nardana (338 kms), Shirpur (360 kms) before entering Madhya Pradesh border in Bijasan ghat. There is a temple of Bijasan Devi in this ghat and hence it is known as Bijasan ghat. We prayed while passing though this road and headed towards Sendhwa. Around 5:30 we reached Sendhwa (425 kms). Again halted at a HP petrol pump had tea at a regular road side stall. We have always tend to stop at the same shops since they are tried and tested by us.

We started from Sendhwa at 6:00 p.m. Once you are in Madhya Pradeshthe NH3 passes through small villages unlike you see in Maharashtra where the highways are quite far from the locality with very few dhaba's and road side mechanic shops. It requires a careful driving skill while passing through these roads as suddenly you will see people, cycles or 2 wheelers crossing without giving any signals. More over the roads become narrow and has many potholes. The speed decreases from 90 kms/hr to 60 kms/hr.

It was getting dark and I slowed down. Its very risky to drive in dark on the highways in Madhya Pradesh. The trucks take over these roads as they are the kings. Its difficult to over take and they may suddenly stop in between. Usually there rear lights do not function. We passed through Julwania (438 kms ), Khalghat (479 kms ). There is a bridge on the river Narmada before you enter Khalghat. A massive river! We reached Dhamnod (490 kms ) at 8:00 p.m. We decided to have dinner in Dhamnod since were going to spend the night in Mandleshwar which is like 20 odd kms from Dhamnod. After checking with couple of small hotel we bumped into a decent kind of hotel called as "Agrawal Bhojnalay". Most of the hotels are called as "Bhojnalays". We were very hungry. The owner personally saw that we were severed quickly with whatever we wanted. At the end of it we had ice cream. We again started the journey towards Mandleshwar at 9:00 p.m. There is a right turn on NH3 (facing Indore) just after the Dhamnod bus stand which takes you to Maheshwar and Mandleshwar. Had to drive slowly since the road was under-construction and pitch dark outside. Finally we reached at 9:40 p.m..

We stayed at "Dutta Mandir". It's a famous temple of "Lord Dattatreya". My grandfather used to stay very near to this temple and were regular visitors. This temple was very small initially, now its become very big and has now rooms available for devotees who visit throughout the year We finally called it a day at 10:45 p.m.

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Sunil Tulapurkar