Pranav, Nagu and me set forth to Bharatpur bird sanctuary by car on saturday around 1pm. We followed the road map from the 8-year old Outlook Traveller to Bharatpur. The road was filled with traffic and we had to crawl through many towns enroute, and it didn’t seem to be the best route to reach the place.
For our return journey we were determined to try better routes to reach home faster. We sought solutions from the ever-dependable Google Maps and were delighted to find a suggested route through the Yamuna Expressway, with only 2.5 hour travel time compared to our 4.5-hour journey that we had made ! So we set out on the journey leaving Bharatpur by 1:30 and hoping to reach by about 5 pm. We wanted to stop at a dhaba just outside Bharatpur. Before lunch yours truly took over the wheels to give her better half a quick nap. After lunch when we resumed we realized that we were on a different route (the same as what we had come by).
Recording the number of retraces during the journey :
1. Naga decided to turn back and do the new found Expressway route from Mathura- So we went back at least 20-30 km to get onto some portion of the Expressway route.
2. While on this route we realised that this took us through the town of Mathura and leading to Vrindavan, which was no good due to the densely populated city, narrow roads, heavy traffic etc. it seemed to be a waste of time. So a while later, we turned back again and decided to go towards Mathura and restart the same new route from a different point. So we retraced another 20 km towards mathura - Now on our way we stopped and asked an elderly gentleman as to how good is the Expressway route. He said that it doesnt seem to be operational from Mathura.
Now Our good sense prevailed and we called to check with Naga's colleague (Mr. Pankaj Sharma), a native of Bharatpur, as to whether the new route suggested by Google maps is good. Now our phone call had suddenly awakened him from his Sunday siesta . He first said that he didnt think that this route was functioning at all.
3. So we promptly turned back to resume our original route (the long route). A couple of minutes later he then told us that he has checked with a friend who said that the expressway route is very good and would cut our travel time to about 2.3-3 hours. So we were quite thrilled at the reassurance given by his friend and decided to try the Expressway route ! This was the turning point - literally and figuratively too!
4. So once again, we turned the car to head towards the Expressway route and this time we were determined to give it a try ! So off we went. Pranav in the meanwhile said why not check on the net about the expressway status - and we read that it was not yet ready though almost there.
Yet it did not daunt us since the option of reaching in 3 hours was too tempting to resist!
Pranav tried his best to convince but his mama remained steadfast in pursuit of this elusive expressway!
We did an extra 40 km (via Raya) just to join the expressway - at the point of joining - which we were all eagerly awaiting - the road just didn’t seem to exist and a labourer said we could go parallel to the expressway on a mud-track for about 3-4 km and then go up the slope (at 45 degrees !) to join the expressway. We went on this route and were informed by someone that there is nowhere to join the expressesway from this side and we had to go to the other side to do so.
5. So once again we retraced our path (3-4 km) and went on the other side looking out for the slope to get up on to the expressway. We were finally able to climb on to the expressway from a muddy slope! We thought our worries ended and we felt that we were on the runway to Noida ! The car just sped down the road. But soon we realized that we were the only ones on the highway with no sign of any other human existence - it was completely dark (except for our car lights) around and there was not a single light anywhere in the vicinity - so we continued until we braked to a halt when suddenly the expressway remained broken - there was a huge gap and the road was broken and separated (remember the movie SPEED) - there was no way we could go ahead!
6. Yet again a retrace of quite a distance to get to the other side of the highway (to travel on the wrong side of the 2-way lane) - we followed this for quite a while - Naga was speeding to cover maximum distance before fog sets in. There was hardly anything visible - the road was so broad that even the sides of the road were not visible - and since there was nothing around we could barely see where we were headed in the dark! Finally we were stopped on the road with a barricade - and there were guards who made us turn back yet again.
7. So the next retrace to get off the highway to go parallel to the highway so that we could at least see some other vehicles around. But the road was simply terrible - the car had a rough ride ! and we were waiting to get back to the old route - to join Palval - which has set us back by another at least 3 hours by now !
Once we reached Palval, we decided to go ahead on the old route.
8. Lo and behold this was not the end of our problems. On reaching Delhi, at Apollo hospital junction where we were supposed to go up the flyover and then take the left exit, Nagu went down the flyover and took the side road - and reached a dead end which had nothing but a rubbish pile and a pack of dogs. The dogs started chasing us before we could ask anyone directions. Pretty soon this pack was joined by new set of blood thirsty canines, and we rode for our lives back to the appolo flyover.
Finally we reached home at 10:30 pm instead of 6:30 pm - had we taken the original route. Phew !
What do you think is the moral of the story? Top 3 answers win a free week end at Bharatpur via the Yamuna expressway !
