7 REASONS TO GO ROAD TRIPPING IN INDIA
If you love travel, you have to
explore India. By road. It expands your horizons and makes you fall in love
with travelling. And the wanderlust it gives birth to; few experiences can
ever come close. Once you take the road, it's an affair that is unending. If
you're still not convinced, there here are seven reasons why you should be
out road tripping.
1 ROAD TRAVEL PUTS YOU IN THE
DRIVER'S SEAT
Literally! Planes and trains may
take you farther, but they decide where you stop and how much you see. Take
the road, and you are in command. Now you are in direct touch with the scenes
that flank you--so you can smell the fresh air, hear the train whistle, watch
people, taste local food and touch lives. You can, in fact, map your corner
of the planet, inch by exciting inch.
2 IT LETS YOU BE SURPRISED
The thrill of a sudden sea popping
up or a sleepy village whizzing by . The way valleys open up and peaks pop
up. Shirt-clad youth and skirt-clad tribals. Marbled bungalows and thatched
roofs. Lush forests and barebosomed earth--this is essential India, and boy
is it amazing....you never know what's around the corner, and driving is the
only way you're going to find it. Cruising through Ladakh, the Northeast,
Gujarat and Karnataka has shown me untouched, unexpected, unforgettable
India.
3 THE ROADS ARE BETTER AND THE LOOS
ARE CLEANER NOW
Gone are the days of scary ,
single strips of tar. Today's highways are smooth, smart.A 1000-km-journey
from Pench National Park to New Delhi now only takes 11 hours driving time.
Take the rough patches in your stride and keep a sharp eye out for
sleepycrazy drivers--after all, you're still in India! And if fear of unclean
loos and unhygienic food has been your bane, smile! Since you last checked,
good hotels have sprung-up along major routes, and big food chains are never
far. Mobile networks actually work, fuel stops abound, and pit stops no
longer mean squatting into pits across your routes, Yes, emergency aid is still
iffy, and you may not want to drive at night, especially in remote areas. But
plan well, take precautions, and you will be fine.
4 THE FOOD (AH!) THE FOOD
Cooked fresh while you wait, dhaba
food lets you taste India in all its varied glory.Punjabi daal makhni, South
Indian dosas, Maharashtra's vada pav, cutting chai...five-star cuisine cannot
match the pleasure of butter-dripping mooli parantha starring mooli plucked
from the field nearby! Who needs to pack chips and biscuits when such divine
delights are strung along the way?
5 THE ROAD LETS YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND
No matter how much you research
for your trip, you will be offered temptations prompting you to change
course.A hidden fort, a beautiful lake, apple plantations, a religious
festival, marriages, local fairs--the more you ask around, the more to-dos
will get added to your list. You may have to sacrifice many sights if you
want to make it to your final destination in good time. But then again--isn't
the drive the destination in itself ?
6 IT CAN TURN YOU INTO POET AND
PHOTOGRAPHER
Fasten your seat belt and prepare
for a perspective-changing ride! Road travel teaches you to look at life with
a fresh pair of eyes. There's poetry in the mist rising off the field, and
romance in the sunlit waters that splash off a buffalo's back. You'll meet
quirky road signs that beg to be collected into a book--I created one! And
you'll bring back images that will forever be etched in your heart--village
boys playing mar bles, temple bells framed against snow peaks, fruit hanging
low on trees, and the sky putting up its daily show--mag nificent and free!
7 IT TEACHES YOU LIFE
to fix a puncture. What to do
when the road ahead is broken.
Teaching your vehicle to `swim'
through a mountain stream. Dealing with a bunch of goons. Learn as you go
along! On the road, life is your text book, and lessons abound.
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Ajay Jain -HuffingtonPost in
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TOI5JAN15
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