Reclaim Your Life - Roadtrip No. 2
Delhi - Agra - Lucknow - Bareily - Rudrapur - Rampur - Corbett - Moradabad - Delhi
Distance covered: 1415 Kms
Date: 11 - 14 Dec 2008
PIC: Safari Dicor 2.2L VTT
I had been planning a leisure "roadtrip" for almost 4 months now, amidst a hectic professional life with like a zillion trips to Jaipur, Kota, Amritsar, Mussorie, etc. Finally it happened! Occasion - Dopa's brother was getting married in Lucknow.
Idea of driving down from Delhi to Lucknow, covering a one-side distance of 550 Kms, was not a very pleasant one for my folks. After a lot of convincing and blatantly lying to them, they finally gave in to my whims! :)
The journey begins on 11th December 2008, with Mr. Avinash Kumar, Mrs. Nupur Shantanu Jha and myself leaving Delhi at 6:30 in the morning! The plan was to reach Lucknow by afternoon, attend the wedding in the evening after being joined by Mr. Arunabh Trivedi, Mr. Saurabh Gupta and the "great" Mr. Shantanu Jha! Next morning, leave for Corbett - which as per the research done by the "great" guide, was just like a 2 hrs drive from Lucknow. He had it all planned out. Relax the entire day at Corbett and leave for a full day tour of Jungle Safari early next morning. Come back in the evening, drink some wine, and be fresh again for the following day! "The following day might be a little rough", he said, "with an Elephant Safari planned for the day alongwith the drive back to Delhi". What a "great" planner he was! Or was he? More on it later.
The journey began on 11th December at 6:30 am. The weather was nice, and the road looked fresh. It couldnt have been more awesome! A 6-lane highway all the way from Delhi - Agra - Etawah - Kanpur (NH-2) was a welcome surprise. We had done our bit of research in figuring out the best Delhi to Lucknow route , but for some reason there was hardly a mention of the 6-lane highway! Distance of around 470 kms to Kanpur was covered in 7 Hrs including two halts at Agra and Etawah. We knew we were doing good on the time front. Kanpur to Lucknow was a bit of a nightmare though. The only relief was the chilled beer we managed to pick-up somewhere near Kanpur. A road, not longer than 80kms, took us more than 2 hrs.
A record was established though! 550kms in 9.5 hrs was not as bad as 530kms in 21 hrs (Roadtrip No. 1 - Mumbai to Goa - Feb 2005 - Pulsar DTSi 150cc). I do swear by the saying "Reaching your destination is one thing, enjoying the journey is another", but honestly, reaching Lucknow meant a lot to me. Why? Over the last couple of months, life had been too monotonous. I had already started to feel that I am probably too old for this stuff (inspired by HIMYM 4x19 ;-) ). I desperately had to do something to break the shell. And it felt as if I was just there. The blood was being pumped at a much better pace, the excitement was back, the adrenaline rush could be felt!
Lucknow - a city full of Mayawati's posters and hoardings - was a quiet town in the afternoon. The entire bunch of us got together in the evening, drank a couple of beers and left for the wedding. Some more drinks, dance, drinks, dance, drinks and drinks is what followed in the evening! The planner had informed us that our next destination, Corbett National Park, was just a 2 hr drive from Lucknow and therefore we could afford a couple of extra drinks! As I said earlier, he had it all planned out! :)
We set out for our next destination at a comfortable 3pm instead. The route was Lucknow - Bareily - Rudrapur - Rampur - Corbett. A comfortable 2hr journey! We grabbed a couple of breezers and beers to make it even better! It was only after encountering the first milestone having left Lucknow, we almost knew what we had in store for the next 2 days! Bareily itself was a freaking 243 kms away! By the time we reached Bareily it was already dark. We somehow managed to get hold of a road-map then. Yes, until now we weren't carrying one!
Bareily - Rudrapur - Rampur was a nice drive at night with lots of fog though. Visibility - hardly 5mts! Rampur to Corbett was rather interesting! Driving at a speed of not over 20kmph due to decreased visibilty, entering in the jungle, we were probably expecting to be chased by a tiger or be caught by a herd of elephants. Believe me or not, we all could actually sense being chased by some vehicle which was later confirmed by a commander who also happened to own the beautiful resort we were going to stay in - "Camp Riverwild". At last, we did check-in at 1am, after like a 2hr drive which took us 10hrs instead! After the usual round of our sacred drinks, we crashed on our beds, only to get up at 5am for the exciting Jungle Safari!
Six of us, all together in an open jeep, left for the deep forests, following the trail of the lion only to get a glimpse of the wild! An hour went by, and then another, and then another! The beast was probably too scared to come out in the open, specially when he knew his territory was under an attack of foreign invasion - so we thought! After having spent 11hrs in the forest, it took us only a couple of arguments with the officials, in order to allow us to leave before the safari was officially called off for the day. The day wasnt as bad as it looks like - there were moments of excitement too! Our jeep broke down, we were trapped on foot in deep forests for almost 3 hours, etc, etc. :)
The evening was great, thanks to the resort we were staying in! A lovely bonfire on the banks of a river stream is all that we could ask for. We were getting wiser, and we did very wisely gave up our plan of going for an elephant sarafi the next day! We decided we wanted to stay back in the resort, sit in the sun, take a dip in the river, and do nothing! Nothing at all! Thats exactly what we did all day before we started with our return journey. It took us 5 hours to get back from Corbett via Moradabad.
No Stories here, a simply drive back home! Rejuvenated by the exciting trip, I was ready again to take life head-on. At times I wonder how such trips help lift onerself up from the usual lows of life!
I WONDER - If you looked back on your life...What would you remember? The Corner Office? The corporate powerplays? The VIP Lounge? What would you remember? :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa8SelN6U-4
RECLAIM YOUR LIFE! :)
~Khan
Distance covered: 1415 Kms
Date: 11 - 14 Dec 2008
PIC: Safari Dicor 2.2L VTT
I had been planning a leisure "roadtrip" for almost 4 months now, amidst a hectic professional life with like a zillion trips to Jaipur, Kota, Amritsar, Mussorie, etc. Finally it happened! Occasion - Dopa's brother was getting married in Lucknow.
Idea of driving down from Delhi to Lucknow, covering a one-side distance of 550 Kms, was not a very pleasant one for my folks. After a lot of convincing and blatantly lying to them, they finally gave in to my whims! :)
The journey begins on 11th December 2008, with Mr. Avinash Kumar, Mrs. Nupur Shantanu Jha and myself leaving Delhi at 6:30 in the morning! The plan was to reach Lucknow by afternoon, attend the wedding in the evening after being joined by Mr. Arunabh Trivedi, Mr. Saurabh Gupta and the "great" Mr. Shantanu Jha! Next morning, leave for Corbett - which as per the research done by the "great" guide, was just like a 2 hrs drive from Lucknow. He had it all planned out. Relax the entire day at Corbett and leave for a full day tour of Jungle Safari early next morning. Come back in the evening, drink some wine, and be fresh again for the following day! "The following day might be a little rough", he said, "with an Elephant Safari planned for the day alongwith the drive back to Delhi". What a "great" planner he was! Or was he? More on it later.
The journey began on 11th December at 6:30 am. The weather was nice, and the road looked fresh. It couldnt have been more awesome! A 6-lane highway all the way from Delhi - Agra - Etawah - Kanpur (NH-2) was a welcome surprise. We had done our bit of research in figuring out the best Delhi to Lucknow route , but for some reason there was hardly a mention of the 6-lane highway! Distance of around 470 kms to Kanpur was covered in 7 Hrs including two halts at Agra and Etawah. We knew we were doing good on the time front. Kanpur to Lucknow was a bit of a nightmare though. The only relief was the chilled beer we managed to pick-up somewhere near Kanpur. A road, not longer than 80kms, took us more than 2 hrs.
A record was established though! 550kms in 9.5 hrs was not as bad as 530kms in 21 hrs (Roadtrip No. 1 - Mumbai to Goa - Feb 2005 - Pulsar DTSi 150cc). I do swear by the saying "Reaching your destination is one thing, enjoying the journey is another", but honestly, reaching Lucknow meant a lot to me. Why? Over the last couple of months, life had been too monotonous. I had already started to feel that I am probably too old for this stuff (inspired by HIMYM 4x19 ;-) ). I desperately had to do something to break the shell. And it felt as if I was just there. The blood was being pumped at a much better pace, the excitement was back, the adrenaline rush could be felt!
Lucknow - a city full of Mayawati's posters and hoardings - was a quiet town in the afternoon. The entire bunch of us got together in the evening, drank a couple of beers and left for the wedding. Some more drinks, dance, drinks, dance, drinks and drinks is what followed in the evening! The planner had informed us that our next destination, Corbett National Park, was just a 2 hr drive from Lucknow and therefore we could afford a couple of extra drinks! As I said earlier, he had it all planned out! :)
We set out for our next destination at a comfortable 3pm instead. The route was Lucknow - Bareily - Rudrapur - Rampur - Corbett. A comfortable 2hr journey! We grabbed a couple of breezers and beers to make it even better! It was only after encountering the first milestone having left Lucknow, we almost knew what we had in store for the next 2 days! Bareily itself was a freaking 243 kms away! By the time we reached Bareily it was already dark. We somehow managed to get hold of a road-map then. Yes, until now we weren't carrying one!
Bareily - Rudrapur - Rampur was a nice drive at night with lots of fog though. Visibility - hardly 5mts! Rampur to Corbett was rather interesting! Driving at a speed of not over 20kmph due to decreased visibilty, entering in the jungle, we were probably expecting to be chased by a tiger or be caught by a herd of elephants. Believe me or not, we all could actually sense being chased by some vehicle which was later confirmed by a commander who also happened to own the beautiful resort we were going to stay in - "Camp Riverwild". At last, we did check-in at 1am, after like a 2hr drive which took us 10hrs instead! After the usual round of our sacred drinks, we crashed on our beds, only to get up at 5am for the exciting Jungle Safari!
Six of us, all together in an open jeep, left for the deep forests, following the trail of the lion only to get a glimpse of the wild! An hour went by, and then another, and then another! The beast was probably too scared to come out in the open, specially when he knew his territory was under an attack of foreign invasion - so we thought! After having spent 11hrs in the forest, it took us only a couple of arguments with the officials, in order to allow us to leave before the safari was officially called off for the day. The day wasnt as bad as it looks like - there were moments of excitement too! Our jeep broke down, we were trapped on foot in deep forests for almost 3 hours, etc, etc. :)
The evening was great, thanks to the resort we were staying in! A lovely bonfire on the banks of a river stream is all that we could ask for. We were getting wiser, and we did very wisely gave up our plan of going for an elephant sarafi the next day! We decided we wanted to stay back in the resort, sit in the sun, take a dip in the river, and do nothing! Nothing at all! Thats exactly what we did all day before we started with our return journey. It took us 5 hours to get back from Corbett via Moradabad.
No Stories here, a simply drive back home! Rejuvenated by the exciting trip, I was ready again to take life head-on. At times I wonder how such trips help lift onerself up from the usual lows of life!
I WONDER - If you looked back on your life...What would you remember? The Corner Office? The corporate powerplays? The VIP Lounge? What would you remember? :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa8SelN6U-4
RECLAIM YOUR LIFE! :)
~Khan
posted by Khan at 10:43 PM
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