Travel Time

The Theory of Relativity couldn't have been explained better than this.

Get this.

You may think - a road is a road and distance is distance and that it takes the same time to cover the same distance - no matter which road you're on. But I'll have you reconsider your theory shortly. Let me show you how.

Let's look at some of the popular roads of India:
1. Bandra-Worli Sea Link Road - a bypass through the sea.
2. Khardong La Road - one of the highest motorable roads in the world.
3. Stilwell Road - once the most expensive road in the world.
4. Grand Trunk Road - one of the oldest roads in the world.
5. Magnetic Hill in Ladakh - one of the strangest roads in the world.
6. Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway - one of the easiest roads in the world.
7. Rohtang Tunnel Road - the longest tunnel-road in India at 10,200 feet elevation.

Geography. Landscape. Weather conditions. Speed limit. Magnetic forces. Unforeseen and uncontrollable forces.  And the driver's disposition towards driving. All contribute to the variation in driving speed and experience.

Now picture this....
1. Bandra-Worli Sea Link is an 8-lane cable-stayed bridge road which is 5.6 kms long and serves as a bypass to the Mahim Causeway, through the sea and is built to reduce travel time by 20 minutes between Bandra and Worli. Though the road may facilitate 60-km drive-speed, the traffic-congestion still brings the vehicles to a grinding halt for more than 15 minutes at both ends. It is one of the best roads in the world and still can't expect to reach on time.

2. Khardong La Road is perched atop a 17,600-feet high mountain in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir. Speed is secondary on this road - safety comes first. With all the perennial snow and ice mountains, finding a road beneath the sheets of snow is top priority.

3. Stilwell Road - also called the Ledo Road, was named after U.S. Army General Stilwell and was built during the World War II as an alternative to the Burma Road which was cut by the Japanese Army. In terms of construction costs, this road was once the highest in the world! It's the zigzag that will make you dizzy if you attempt speed on this road.

 





4. Grand Trunk Road - one of the oldest and longest roads in the world which connects Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This route was first initiated during the Mauryan Empire  and was renovated and extended during the 16th Century by Sher Shah Suri of the Muslim Sur Empire who took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540. Now this road would be ideal for high-speeds in most parts of its entire length.

 

 

5. Magnetic Hill in Ladakh - thousands of curious tourists visit this area to check this strange behaviour of this mountain/hill which is 27 kms west of Leh in Jammu & Kashmir. Tourists who visited this place at 11,000 feet altitude, have reported that this hilly area has magnetic properties which are strong enough to pull vehicles uphill. If this theory is fake, then why do aircrafts increase their altitude while flying over this area? As it is this hilly landscape is not speed-friendly and then this magnetic force which has a mind of its own?

 

 

 
6. Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway - they say you can drive on this road with your eyes closed. There is some reality to that - though should be attempted literally! This is almost a straight road that runs north to south without any deviations. During the day, you would barely see any traffic on the road. And the highway is 4-track road. You can easily cover this 570-km drive in 7.5 hours during the day in a car as opposed to the 12-hour drive in the night. Well.....I did!

7. Rohtang Tunnel Road - the current longest road tunnel of India which is at 10,200 feet altitude under the Rohtang Mountain Pass in the Pir-Panjal Range of the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali Highway. The tunnel is 8.8 kms in length and is supposed to reduce driving distance of 60 kms between Manali and Keylong.

 

By this theory, you ought to know better than to apply the same formula of distance, time and speed to all geographies alike!

Pix courtesy: Wikipedia, Placeforholidays, Tinsukia.gov.in, team-bhp, walkthroughindia.

Dare Me?

Who said that New Year resolutions are all about losing weight, getting along with the mother-in-law and spending money wisely? I can think of half a dozen reasons why these shouldn’t be on top of the list. They can be somewhere on the list but not on the top. Atleast….not for me. This year 2012 spells a different mantra for me. I can feel it in my bone. It’s gonna be all about stepping outside my comfort-zone….leaving (at least a part of) my apprehensions and reservations behind and doing something I’ve never done before. Ok….now that would be a tall order. This year I shall restrict it to Travel. It’s just as ‘unfamiliar’ a territory for me.

I’ve always travelled in a structured tour whether it’s when I went to the Vatican, Varkala or to Vijayawada. Always….always had someone else decide and design my trips for me. From deciding locations to getting there and then what and who I’d be meeting – was also pre-decided. Not that I had a problem with that. But I often wondered how it is on the other side….?

This year…..I’m gonna find out. I will indulge in some impulsive travel. Better yet….I will drive there myself. Besides, this has been a long-parked item on the New Year resolutions list of a friend and mine that its gathering cobwebs now. So…must act on it. We’ve always wanted to drive down from Hyderabad to Bangalore (can’t get myself to saying Bengaluru) in our own car. I must inform her of my New Year resolution (yet again) of this current year and also make her pledge her time (apparently pledging my time ain’t working).

But first…I guess I need to know how to handle tubeless tyres of an Octavia if they get punctured on the highway with no pittstop in sight. Is learning – ‘to change car tyres’- the only way out? I guess I also oughtta get myself a GPS (just in case a Florida twister were to sweep me off my route and land me off-track far away) though I heard this highway connecting Bangalore to Hyderabad is awesome and is a dream for casual cruisers with near-zero traffic during the day. I heard you can do 130 kilometres in an octavia...easy as the road is as good as an express way. I heard this highway also offers good photographic visuals. And the most important (especially for a first-timer like my good-self) - it is one straight road. No bifurcations or ‘patli-gallis’. Koolio! That makes for a good start.

Wanna know my ultimate dare? I want to drive a truck on the Highway between Manali and Leh....especially to get a feel of driving through the Rohtang Pass - world's highest motorable road at 13, 050 feet! Seemed like a cinch in an 'ice-road trucking' TV program last week when another female drove one. What say?