[Agarwaka]

Staying cooped up at home for the better part of 2 years, and grappling with covid despite being fairly careful, we were chafing at the bit to see things beyond our balcony views! Emboldened by the protection of vaccines and post infection antibodies, we decided to do a road trip to get the most out of our Dussehra vacation. So, we set forth covering over 3,500 km on the following route in October ‘21:

Hyderabad - Hampi - Sirsi (hill station in Karnataka) - North Goa - South Goa - Sirsi - Bangalore - Sirsi - Kurnool - Hyderabad

The weeks leading to our departure were ominous as a bout of viral throat infection (thankfully, not covid) did its rounds at home. Delayed by a couple of days, we left on Oct 3rd for Hampi.

The drive from Hyderabad to Hampi (about 8 hours and several thanks to FlashMustang for his invaluable guidance) was reasonably good, with parts of the state highway between Raichur (one stop for lunch at Halli Oota) and Hampi bearing witness to the recent rains. At Hampi, we stayed at Hotel Malligi, which brought back childhood memories of how hotels used to be a few decades ago. Our sightseeing was limited to the evening as our delayed departure had cost us a couple of days.

The drive from Hampi to Sirsi (5 hours, have family here) was okay, with several diversions en route for flyover construction or road upgradation. While these diversions were irritating, it was heartening to see the level of road development, which I’m sure will entice more people to get behind the wheel and enjoy the countryside.

After a few days’ stay in Sirsi, we set off to Assonora in north Goa, and dear old Google maps took us through a path to Ankola which had the some of the smoothest stretches I’ve experienced on a hill and a most treacherous, lonely, gravel strewn path which had our hearts in our mouth all through the 4-5 km we spent on it (this skirted Yana waterfalls). Normal / boring roads had seldom seemed more alluring!

Driving into Goa, with the sights of water, hills and a myriad coconut trees to welcome us, was the best welcome we’d experienced in a long time, and we soaked in every bit of it. A nice lunch stop at the Black Sheep Bistro in Panjim, set us up well for the remainder of the drive to our reservation at the Club Mahindra in Assonora, which is inland and about an hour’s drive from the nearest beach.

This is one of their newer properties and clearly one of their best. While the property was great with a variety of water activities (lazy river floats, mini waterfall, sunken bar, etc) food at the resort was inconsistent – we had one of the best and one of the worst meals of our trip here. A couple of good restaurants were within a 30 minute driving distance are Spice Goa and 7 Short 1 Long and Swiggy delivers to the resort as well.

A few days later, we were off to our second stop at Club Mahindra Varca, stopping by Souza Lobo’s at Calangute en route. While north Goa is surely the happening part of the state, given the prevalent conditions, we preferred the quieter south.

The Varca resort, a one time flagship property of the chain, has surely seen better days. Our check in ordeal took us 4-5 hours of waiting before we got an acceptable room. The earlier room we’d been given, had mould in the a/c vents and wore a tired look. Thankfully, the room we finally got, was cleaned to our requirements and maintained that way through out our stay. (Sidebar – given their revenue model of getting the payment upfront + annual maintenance fees, it was very disappointing to see the almost pariah like treatment of such a splendid resort).

We spent a beautiful week at Varca, enjoying the culinary delights of the place, with special mentions of Fisherman’s Wharf, Martins, Jamming Goat and Tanggies.

One of the most beautiful things (of the several) about Goa is driving on the meandering roads, surrounded by greenery and unobstructed views of the skies, courtesy low rise dwellings. Sorely missed this when we returned to the cities.

Having recharged ourselves in Goa, we headed back to Sirsi for a few days before driving down to Bangalore (6 hours). The NH 48 leading to Bangalore is one of the best roads I’ve ever driven on! Sparse traffic made the drive even more enjoyable and we did excellent time. En route, we made a detour to Davangere for breakfast at Sri Guru Kottureshwara Benne Dosa restaurant, for, of course, the benne dosas! Have car, will travel for food!

For the those among us who have a penchant for the classics, if you’ve read Dante’s Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno, you may be familiar with the term inscribed on the gates of hell "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" , translating to “abandon all hope, ye who enter”. This, is the feeling I got upon reaching the outskirts of Namma Bengaluru! Having covered about 380 km in about 5.5 - 6 hours, the next 6 km took a mind numbing 50 minutes!

Time well spent in Bangalore, we headed back to Sirsi for a few days (multiple visits to make up for the lost time over the past 18 months!) before commencing our ghar wapsi to Hyderabad. Having been spoilt by the lovely highways, we decided to take a longer (distance wise) but shorter (time wise) Sirsi – Chitradurga – Anantapur – Hyderabad route, stopping for the night at Kurnool. We were wary of the stretch between Chitradurga and Anantapur (150 km) but were pleasantly surprised at the excellent quality of roads, even the single lane ones cutting through the fields.

At Anantapur, about a km before taking a left to join NH 44 leading to Hyderabad, we stopped at The Hub Café where we enjoyed a surprisingly excellent late lunch. Would highly recommend this café for a bite and freshening up, when crossing or around Anantapur.

As I dislike driving in the dark, we decided to stop for the night at Kurnool and checked into a hotel Suraj Grand (also thought it’ll be a good experience for our daughter to experience a normal hotel in a small town). While the hotel was convenient from a location perspective, the hygiene left much to be desired. My sambar and a neighbouring table’s pongal had an extra dose of protein thanks to the complimentary roaches in our respective dishes. Thankfully, we hadn’t started our breakfast, else I’m sure barf bags wouldn’t have been left unused! Funnily, while I was complaining about the roach in my sambar to the manager, the pongal guy had a knowing grin, which evaporated rather quickly as he dug through his dish!

Our last leg home saw my daughter attend her virtual class on the move and our 3 odd hour drive saw us become her unwilling classmates! Note to self – next drive, ensure the headphones are adequately charged! I love driving into Hyderabad as our home’s location allows us to use the Outer Ring Road, ensuring a smooth and predictable drive for the last 40 km, when fatigue finally begins to creep in.

The month away, experiencing life as it should be, was truly a salve for our recently unfettered spirits and we’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Addendum – a few random points / suggestions:

• If possible, use an SUV on such routes; our XUV emboldened us to traverse rough paths where sedans struggled.
• Don’t always rely on Google Maps, rely on local knowledge as well, particularly in unknown and hilly areas.
• If with kids on their first long drives on undulating roads, keep some extra water, plastic bags and a change of clothes handy; we don’t know how they may react to the continued, irregular movement.
• We kept a 500 ml pump bottle of sanitizer and a pack of antiseptic wipes in the car, which were very useful.
• Carried a tire inflator for exigencies and a Jopasu duster for regular dusting.
• I had placed 3D floormats in the car and these were extremely helpful as they held the dirt / dust and prevented the interiors from getting too dirty.
• Really surprised at how good most roads are and heartened to see the roadworks underway in several stretches. Of late, I’ve been developing a dislike of flying and am quite likely to drive rather than fly if the destination is within an 8 hour drive.