AMS ON THE ROAD: A TRIP TO KALIMPONG – PART 3

The last night of any tour is generally quite emotionally exhausting. It was no different for us (Asif-Mukesh-Sourav: In short AMS) as well during our last night at Kalimpong. As the IPL final came to an end, we prepared to hit the bed. The next day though was not supposed to be an exhaustive day since we would be breaking at Siliguri. In hindsight, it was a wrong decision because it would have been better if we took a break at Malda instead because that would have meant we would have covered 200 KMs of our return journey. More so because we really didn’t have any work in Siliguri other than lazing around.

It was 30th May and we got up around 8 AM and took our time to get ready. Had a couple of cups of tea before going for Breakfast. The breakfast spread at Sinclairs is a real food lover’s delight. We took our jolly good time to finish our breakfast and then got ready to check out.

We started from Kalimpong around 10.30 AM and we expected to reach Siliguri by 12.30 PM. This time of course we had our booking at Sinclairs Siliguri since it was close to the highway. Once again it was the same reason as before that we wanted to hit the Highway on our return journey as quickly as possible. 

My love-hate relationship with Google Maps continued and once again we were navigated to the back of the hotel at Siliguri. Thankfully we realised the problem quickly and turned around and reached the hotel without much ado.

Sinclairs Siliguri was a much smaller hotel than the one in Kalimpong. We of course didn’t mind much because it was just an overnight stay. We just needed a clean room and that’s all that mattered to take some rest so that we can hit the road the next day fully fresh.

The restaurant was also pretty small compared to Kalimpong and we had our lunch there and then took a small walk around the area. After that, we just lazed around in the room chit-chatting among ourselves. In between, we decided that we will leave by 3 AM the next day so that we can cover a big part of our return journey without the need for navigating traffic congestions. Also our experience at Farakka and Malda while coming made us believe that it would be better to take the route via Dhantola – Bhagalpur – Dumka towards Kolkata. So we felt that if we start early it would be better for us.

We spoke to the banquet manager to arrange for some sandwiches, boiled eggs, and bananas which we could carry with us in the morning. I must appreciate the hotel authorities to arrange it and keep it for us all packed when we were ready to leave at 3 AM.

It was pitch dark when we started at 3.30 AM. With Google Maps in tow, I felt like the best navigator in the world. We got into NH 31 immediately and the roads were very good and we made great progress driving through Kishanganj and Dhantola. As the day broke, we took a break at a fuel station to refill the car. We also had some tea and the sandwiches that the hotel had packed for us.

We felt good thinking that we took a great decision of not taking the Farakka route when we entered the Bhagalpur alternate bypass. We took a turn which took us inside Bhagalpur city. We faced terrific traffic congestion inside the city area and by the time we navigated ourselves to SH 25 we were quite exhausted. Anyways, SH 25 connected us to SH 19. As we entered SH 19 we found the road to be very smooth. Google Maps showed that it’s about a 35-40 KM stretch leading us towards Dumka. We felt we had made good progress but suddenly the road became dusty and before we knew it we were facing a horrible stretch of road. It’s difficult to explain how bad the road was but what I can say is that the road was literally filled with craters. The car was moving like a boat, sometimes the left side was inside a crater and sometimes the right side. A couple of craters were so big it felt like we were in some “Off-Road” rallying competition where the craters have been specifically built to understand the strength of the cars and the associated drivers. Once in a while, I felt we will be head over heels. The notion got particularly stronger after I saw a truck in a similar condition on the road.

We thanked our stars when the bad road ended after a 2-hour journey. A 30 KM stretch (and supposedly a State Highway) took us 2 hours and one can imagine how bad the road must have been. 

We sighed a breath of relief when we hit the good roads which meant we were on the outskirts of Jharkhand. We took a small break at Dumka at a nondescript dhaba. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any food and so we just drank a bottle of Pepsi and decided to drive through and take the next break at Shaktigarh.

The roads from there on were very good as we crossed Massanjore Dam, Suri, then Bolpur and Burdwan to hit NH2. 

Around 4.30 PM we reached Shaktigarh and parked the car near our favorite “Mama Bhagne Langcha” shop. We had a plate of puri-sabzi along with samosa to quest our hunger. We didn’t forget to take packets of Saktigarh’s famous langcha for our respective families.

NH2 is always a smooth drive and we were able to reach our respective homes before 6.30 PM.

Thus ended our memorable journey to Kalimpong which included a total driving time of close to 36 Hours. We passed through 2 states which included Bihar and Jharkhand. Quite a lot of memories and a lot of experiences in road travel.

Going out on a long drive and taking a holiday is far out of our thoughts during this period of Covid-19. I hope things change over the next few months and we go back to normalcy which would mean another road trip to another hill station.

Till then take care, everyone and God Bless!

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