Trip To Agra - The Drive There

I've always wanted to go on road trips and travel around. But I see it as a costly interest, and with no source of income, even more so. And as I got older and grumpier, the list of people I would probably like to travel with got shorter and shorter. Now I'd like to travel alone. And when I got the keys to the old Accent in Jan this year, I figured I could probably do that. But then I got busy with my internship and final assignments, losing my enthusiasm along the way to go out at all. Not to mention the fuel costs of driving an old car, with still no source of income, it seemed an even costlier affair. But this month, a month after having quit my first paid job(Trainee in Client Servicing, JWT), I decided to go on a solo trip. Best birthday weekend yet! (3-4 October, 2015)

So, the Yamuna Expressway is 160+ kms of driving heaven from Noida to Agra. A road so wide, sans-potholes and clear that the trouble is to remind one to stay within the speed limits. The travel time including stops would be nearly 3 hours from home to my hotel, and 30 mins buffer for traffic once you reach Agra. So, for a noon check-in, I left home around 7:50 AM with a full tank of petrol and CNG. Armed with a nutribar and a can of juice for breakfast while driving, the trip began.

Now, most of the surface is cemented rather than tarmac, which means keeping an eye on tyre wear along the fast road. You can always spot remains and skid marks of the most recent victims of tyre blowouts and punctures. The texture made the road a bit bumpy, felt more-so thanks to the poor condition of my car's suspension. Even so, everyone for some part of the stretch, pushes their car to the limit at least once before slowing back down to the speed limit. I counted 3 rest stops each side of the expressway, near every toll gate, all busy and crowded, scores of tourists, families and friends out on a drive for the weekend. Here you can give the car some rest, or munch, or just take a piss break. No good catering at any of these stops by my standards, and the weekend rush dissuades me from using those urinals, I much rather enjoyed pulling over on the side of the expressway, onto the hard shoulder, to stretch my legs and rest the engine a bit. On one of my stops I took the opportunity to click some angled snaps of my ride and of the scenery, and set my playlist for the remainder of the drive.







I was following the route on my GPS that took me off the expressway before it ended, at the Rambagh exit. It brought me on to NH93 that connected to SH62. There was some traffic as the road goes through populated areas, and was lucky to not get caught in any major jams. As one gets closer to town, roads get narrower and less tidy. The hotel I'd booked was close to the Taj Mahal and on the main tourist road to the Taj, so the route was scenic and alongside the Agra fort. Of course, the town roads cater to the vast variety of modes of transport in India (Rickshaw, auto, bikes, tempos, carts, cattle, buses etc) making it an obstacle driving course.

I did get some footage of the drive, I've uploaded it on my YouTube channel if you wanna see. And as a matter of pride, I'd like to share that I managed to reach a personal best top speed of 106mph.

The tale of my time in town to be shared in the next post. Thanks for reading and feel free to share and leave a comment.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fast X: Movie Review

Image
This is it, the final instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise that started all the way back in 2001. To be precise, it's the first part of the tenth and final instalment in the series. There was a lot of build-up around this one with various petrolhead circles making plans for group viewings. But I wanted my Fast X experience to be as unadulterated as possible. I did not even watch a single trailer and did not have any inkling about what to expect in terms of stunts and new characters. I did not mention story plot expectations because I knew that there probably wasn't going to be one, not really.   Everything from hereon can be considered a spoiler, so skip to the final para for a rating/assessment. The "Plot" The central storyline, if that's what we can call it, for Fast X gives us a flashback to 'Fast Five' (arguably one of the best movies in the series in terms of heist sequences). We are treated to some tear-jerking flashbacks of Paul Walker as ...
Read more

Red Notice: Movie Review

Image
 It's quite common for movies to be made with no plot, a cast of popular actors with loyal fanbases and a big CGI budget. Red Notice is one of those movies. Netflix has been churning out an increasing number of platform-exclusive movies, but it's now harder to find good ones. When they dropped the first trailer for this action-flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson, I knew I was going to watch it as a fan of the Canadian funnyman. They also showed Gal Gadot as a key character to onboard a slew of horny teens as well. The movie plot is a treasure hunt for an Egyptian artefact, a bejewelled golden egg and part of a set of three, known as Cleopatra's eggs. It explains off the bat that the term Red Notice is the highest wanted level in Interpol, which is a sort of global police agency. The movie then introduces us to a generically-sassy boss lady Inspector Das, played by Ritu Arya, who's chasing one of the best art thieves in the world. She enters the scene accompa...
Read more

How A Brand Image Can Be Ruined By Its Own People

Image
In a highly competitive business environment, the only sustainable option is to build a brand that attracts certain types of buyers with quality products catering to their interests. Or to put it simply, brand image is key for long-term success. Unfortunately, too many brands make simple mistakes that can undo years of marketing exercises and not even realise it. The one I want to talk about here is how brand image is ruined/tarnished by its employees and affiliates.  I recently attended the Indian MotoGP and due to event circumstances, my tickets were adjusted to a different stand at the Buddh International Circuit. Mind you, these were far from the more affordable tickets and had a lot to live up to. My new seats were in a stand that had been rebranded as the Yamaha stand with massive tapestries and flags all around. The MotoGP is a three-day event with the main race on the final day. The first two days, casual fans did not bother to show up so that meant the stand was at half-ca...
Read more