Bombay Bangalore highway driving- dream fulfilled

Driving 9hours of a 13hr journey because the road was divided, and because it had a proper 4 lane driving path was fulfilling! A highway lined with bursting red, pink, pale yellow, white flowers - all along the 13hour stretch! Beautiful.

But all is not well.

Years ago people were mindful of other drivers and were respectful of highway etiquette which is very sadly lacking in today’s driving scenario! If you are in a vehicle that cannot drive at a speed meant to be on the right side of the road, then you have no business driving on the right side. Period! People stick to the right side of the road, drive slow, stay adamantly stuck to the right side even if you flash your headlights or honk(considered bad road manners)! Such thick skinned, arrogant attitude amazed us all through are onwards and return journey! Such lack of civility and road ethics… I don’t get it honestly; this thick skinned attitude was a bit puzzling and a bit scary. Because if they don’t know the basics what are they doing driving on highways?!?

The Pune expressway as always feels like the runway (given the chaos of traffic in Bombay), but wait till you hit the Karnataka highway! Pure makhaan – the car glides on the roads effortlessly- what a pleasure driving on these roads

Straight, straight straight touching the horizon, undulating up and down in parts, the highway roads in India have never been such a pleasure before

I was so full of pride to see and realize the beauty of NH4! Wow somewhere someone in the Govt machinery is working (atleast construction of highways proves that!)

The closer one moves towards Bangalore the highway topography changes a bit – the 4 way divided highway becomes elevated and includes underpasses and service roads for the entire length on both sides of the highway. So if one is searching for a petrol pump or is looking for a washroom break- its best to stick to the left side of the road to detect a road break to get off the highway onto the narrow road below

We witnessed many pockets where cattle breeders were generally parked on the median resting, pondering…with their legs stretched out on the highway road- don’t stick too close to the median while driving…

A few words of advice:

There are way too many trucks (as expected) plying these highways. The reason to be sharp and careful (especially if driving in the wee hours of the night)is, A LOT OF THESE trucks do not have rear light or brake light. So you maybe speeding and before you know it you may kiss the back of a black truck that was camouflaged because of the night:( be CAREFUL

Keep ready money for the multitude toll plazas that come all along the journey, it’s not good to hold up traffic for lack of exact change

For those who love Ferrari and the races, do determine speed by the car you drive, the age of tyres and how well you can handle speed.

We witnessed some bad crashes on NH4, helped put an immediate perspective on our own driving speeds and skills. Sad reminders though. Road routes are not about how soon you get there, but whether you do! Driving on highways is really about staying alert while enjoying the ride.

Safe driving!