Today was the big day. Well, the first of many big days.
Today I was flagged off from IITM grounds. That was later in the afternoon. The
day went off as expected from participation in an exhibition like this one ...
busy. Divya Mohan and Anil Reddy from Via.com had flown in from Bangalore in
the morning to flag me off, as had Tajamul Hussain from Hyderabad. Time went by
looking at the car, generally yapping about the expedition, smoke breaks and
then we went for lunch. Flag off was scheduled at 3:30 but by the time we came
back from lunch, that time had come and gone. Flag off was almost an hour
later. Divya did the honours while Anil sat shotgun with me. Anil will be
joining me in Leh around the 2nd or 3rd of October. He
will represent Via.com, one of India’s largest travel resources. They are also
Travel Trendz partners for hotel and air bookings. The association with the
Trilogy was our first foray towards the long term association. So far it looks
like we are two peas in a pod and the relationship will be mutually beneficial
to us both. Fingers crossed!
Drove out of the venue and pointed the car in the
direction of Delhi. I would be taking the road to Ahmedabad and then through
Udaipur to Jaipur and finally Delhi. The distance was almost 1500km and it was
already past six in the evening by the time I hit the highway. I was hoping to
reach Delhi by next evening. Possible, given that people who consider
themselves endurance drivers should be able to cover 1500km in a day!
The roads were fabulous and the miles were getting eaten
up. I was still not entirely confident of how the Gypuzu would hold up driving
non stop and I was not pushing it. In any case it does not have a great top
speed and I was comfortably cruising at around 85 to 90 kilometres per hour.
Traffic was decent, not too heavy and the roads were gorgeous. The landscape
too was quite good.
By nightfall I was crossing Vadodara and then came
Ahmedabad. Sleep was knocking boldly at the door and after driving a few
kilometres, I realised that I better take a break. It was past one at night,
the weather was a little muggy and the last few days had taken their toll. The
excitement of flagg off had worn of and I was sinking into fatigue. It is never
a good idea to drive when sleepy and I decided to grab some shut eye. Two to
three hours was what I planned for. Snuggled up on the passenger seat with my
feet spread out on the driver’s seat and under the steering wheel. The windows
were rolled down just a wee bit for ventilation (my Gypuzu does not have an
A/C) and I need some fresh air. Not that it made any difference since I was out
like a light even before I could realise how uncomfortable I was.
There was some festival going on in the area and there
were hordes of people walking towards something. There were langars set up
every few kilometres, people were decked up for religious festivities and men
women and children were all walking towards something, many of them barefeet.
Don’t know what it was, but certainly something big with so many people out on
the streets.
I did not care. I just dozed off and slept like there was
no tomorrow. Tomorrow was another day.
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