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Driving in India from North to South in 2022

This blog is about my Extempore tour from Rajasthan to South India,upto Thanjavur and Return. 


Total 5600 Km approx and One months Duration

I am lucky that I am single, Because in most of the situation, when people get worried, I see an opportunity, e.g. Being jobless during Corona, I enjoy living with my parents and was waiting for the travel restrictions to be lifted up In India so that I can make a tour with my car this time ( as i didnt have any bike at this time)

And as usual I started without planning, extempore.

Again with being single ( I am not de-motivated Couples because if you have your partner as a friend, could be a Resonance, I mean 1 + 1 = 11, which i will always miss, I guess)

So come to my Journey,  I never felt any problem to start my Journey like this (without any planning) and thanks to my lenient Parents, they never put any restrictions on me, I guerss very few people, at least in India, allow their Child to live his or her Life and not impose the burden of their un-filled desires, which sometime they wrap-up in the " Best for their Child" illusion and advise on their Child.

Anyway, I started from Jaipur and drive through Kota, enter into the Madhya Pradash, stayed for 2 days on a Highway hotel and thought where to go now ?

One of my friend in Hyderabad called me at that time and offer me to come to Hyderabad so that we can write and finish my travelling blog about South America, so I started directly towards Hyderabad and pass by many beautiful towns like Sagar in the middle of MP and other places which was never heard by me and exists in India, One was Narsighapur forest reserves.


I reached Hyderabad and stayed for  a week and disappointed by myself and My friends commitment to write my blog, I left Hyderabad but Before that I met with one of my "we three best friends in IIT" there in Hyderabad and have some good time together.

I started towards Machilipatnam. (I was just thinking where to go and a name, read in class 7 or 8th  came up in my Mind, one of the port of Indian, Machilipatnam)

There is nothing in the machilipatnam for me but as I visited  all the places, I read in my childhood, books, newspapers , the same way like Visakhapatnam, Kanyakumari, Tijara fort etc. I covered all and this time machlipattinam.

I stayed in the Machilipatnam,  exploring the downtown, enjoying the beach side, walking a lot, the only problem was the food (Because I am a vegetrian) but other than that it was just so relaxing living without any agenda. I stayed in a cheap hotel and try to understand the living of the people which matter most to me , more than the monumants or any natural sight scenes, meeting with the people , One should try to do this and see what happens.


And Morover I was relaxed because I know :-

 "ग़ालिब-ए-ख़स्ता के बग़ैर कौन से काम बंद हैं, रोइए ज़ार-ज़ार क्या, कीजिए हाय-हाय क्यों"

 (Nothing stops in this world without you, why you make so much noise and why you get so worried - Ghalib)

After being for 10 days in machilipatanam, I started towards South and cross the Chennai, stay in another small town nearby Chennai, 50 km, big temples of South Indian style, so huge and still never saw in any movie or Pictures, Stay there for 3 days, and watching closley the local life (No touristic, artifical affect)  and then I went further down in south direction and  finally decide to spend some time in Thanjavur 

Thanjavur is a big city and it used to be the capital of Maratha administration when they capture the South part of India.  there are some places, museums, 2 or 3 big temples and a city to explore 


Initially I stayed in a normal hotel for 2  days but later on I shifted to Tamilnadu State Government operated hotels and it was an Luxuary with the same cheap Price, they converted Some old building or small palace in a hotel so it's the height of the ceiling is around 25 feet and big rooms, even the bar, as lot of options, big loan outside it was like a four star hotel with the price of a single star I would recommend people to explore the state owned hotels or motel because they have little bit sense of luxury (which Buerocarets or politician kept for themselves but can't stop coming ordinary men also there, that's why goverment dont advertise about these hotels)

From Thanjavur I got a call in Mumbai for some interview so I started my return journey via Bangalore. I did not stay in the Bangalore and I go through Kerala to meet one of my friend , we worked together Qatar.

He took me to the nearby hotel and town and I realised that you cannot explorer a place better than with a local person as a guide with you (Otherwise you don't know what you missed and just passed by any important place, but i am not that lucky most of the time to have a local with me)

My recommendation if you want to really explore any area get a support of the local 

I have very good memory of coming through the Goa, passing Gujarat and MP border I see the golden yellow beauty of the Wheat crop, fully ready to be cut and I remember many of the songs has been written with example or explanation of the beauty of this golden crop of the wheat when it is on its peak or ready to be cut, e.g. color of the Heroin is like " Ghehu ki baaliya"


I also saw the same Nomadic people who carry their whole home on the camels and it's nothing change since I saw them  first time in 2000 when I was coming from the Bangalore to Jaipur on my motorcycle and it's now 2022. Life change very slow in some things and very fast in something, the same camels with all the household luggage and children sitting on the camels, mostly women are leading to the camels and it was hardly any man I seen with family, maybe one or two probably, they work around in the only woman carry the home. I didn't know much about them and never try to search about them on google but it is a curiosity , Now a days I found few reels about them in YouTube but I dont believe 99.9 % of stuff on social media, I believe in Print media e.g. news papers and books published.


 Rajasthan - MP border area

I forget to mention you when I was staying in the Maharashtra region while crossing the Maharashtra and staying two three places, most the places were small town with at least one good hotel and for most of the time, I was the one who was staying the hotel after the Corona lock-down, lifted like 6 month or 8 month gap so they were at cheaper price and also thankful to me because they got some business after so long time . I explorer the rural areas in maharashtra and MP region e.g. the Bull driving the sugarcane machine as below 


or some very local people doing the cropping or harvesting in the same season waving to me. 

In Maharastra, remote-village I find there are some local parties with his shining their politics with the hate speeches in hate slogans written in the wall and I was surprise to see that the government rit is not here and you can see below the one of the sign board. 



I also pass through the various towns and see their local traditions and dances 

Overall, I found that the South Indian roads and washrooms on the roadside are in much much better conditions than Nort side of india, you can use them, also the civic sense is also good and it is very humble express to pass through the other towns of Hosur and Coimbatore 3 days and I found it there are some old roads which I pass through when I was being Bangalore I make it trip with my friend from Bangalore to Goa and pass through that same road in 2017 so it was passing through that road after 15 years not must be.


And finally I would like to mention the roadside dhaba for the truck drivers, still being cheap but lowering the quality of the food because I think they have to maintain the price.




A Road Side Dhaba - Hygene might be an issue even for a middle class indian but for me with a corrosion allowance of 6mm thickness rather than standard 3 mm , Thanks  to God and I am very much emune to that and I can choose taste at cheaper price.

These are my best place to eat whenever I am on Highway rather than so called family Restorants or hotel , back in 2000 there was not much but now these familiy resturants have growth like mashroomed but most of them dont know the priority (The Taste),

The golden rule for either type of Food points is "the crowd", Specially if you are alone and can go to anytype of Dhabha, Go for Truck driver's crowed Dhaba. 

In Another words "If you are not sure , Follow the MOB"

I would say that road conditions are better from last 15-20 years but the rush hours trtaffic increased, e.g. earlier it was very hard to find two wheeler for the long journey but now having two wheeler on the road, even the e-rikshaw is a new normal but e-Rikshaw pose more serious threat than 2 wheelers or Auto-Rikshaw because of very low speed,vary dangerous to be on the Highways, It might be that after the corona because the public transport driving in the highways. 



 In the same period of time, I explore Barmer Jaisalmer to Ganganagar area cross road which is newly built by the government from Barmer to Jaisalmer and when you really camel or a camel which is
in need of a people to transporting between The villages it looks so real and attracting rather than fancy use of the camel in the city for a camel drive the same I will call when I see the cowboys in Argentina South which was really horse and their head it was so real at perfect now we see every cowboys is but it is nothing compared to the real thing 



A fort in south india below has some musem inside posted wrong map on the wall , Check if you can find 

Tha same Fort has some example of , How the Life tear apart rocks and came out , see below :


 An the some of the example of anicient Huts left in the middle of two cities, unaffected below 


The Are of making such Huts being lost , very few left in this region of Sounth Tamilnadu -Andhra border.
Did you see the specality of the Below Sign Board ? All 4 directions starting with word "T" , Trichy, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur and Thriuvaiyaru ( I think I can prounce them right)


It was A beautiful Dusk , All the lives desrver a graceful ending like this.

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