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| Day 3 - Terrible roads in Madhya Pradesh |
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6.55am: Pench > Jhansi > Gwalior :7.40pm
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We set off from Mowgli's Den at 7am, fresh after a pleasant day's drive yesterday, but came across roads that make the Maharashtra ones look like bowling alley lanes. National Highway 26 which we took from Seoni to Narsinghpur is a disgrace. The road from Kareli to Sagar was not much better and the only thing that kept us going was some good music and the fabulous scenery.
Although we covered some ground today, it was slow and painful though I kept telling Omi that the roads are not much worse than the roads in Koramangala in Bangalore where he stays. He wasn't amused. Vivek did the bulk of the driving today.
What really impressed me were the Cantonment areas of places we passed through, Kamptee in Nagpur, Sougar and Tehalbat thereafter. Goes to show that even an urban setting can retain its charm if kept away from the land mafia and incompetent town planners.
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| a new reliance bunk on the highway |
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| rural garage (bvp photo) |
We stopped on the bridge across the Sind river at dusk a little before Gwalior - Omi being half Sindhi and Vivek a full-fledged one. The quote of the day came from Vivek after Vikram threw a coin into the river for luck.
Vivek quips, "Now all the Sindhis will jump in after your coin."
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| sunset on the sind... |
Passing through Jhansi, Vikram finally managed to get a photo of a statue of the Rani of Jhansi, which he had been talking about the whole way. Reached Gwalior in good time, and finally managed to find a good cyber cafe in Hotel Central Park close to 11pm.
Highlights: The cantonment areas of small towns and Nagpur. The Madhya Pradesh landscapes.
Downsides: The atrocious roads |
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| today's route - 625 km |
| day 3 |
km |
odo |
| Pench |
|
181541 |
| Seoni |
56 |
181597 |
| Lakhnadoni |
62 |
181659 |
| Kareli |
85 |
181744 |
| Gourjhamar |
77 |
181821 |
| Sougar |
41 |
181862 |
| Bhandri |
31 |
181893 |
| Lalitpur |
79 |
181972 |
| Bansi |
23 |
181995 |
| Talbahat |
21 |
182016 |
| Babina |
22 |
182038 |
| Jhansi |
27 |
182065 |
| Dabra |
58 |
182123 |
| Tekanpur |
13 |
182136 |
| Gwalior |
30 |
182166 |
| total |
625 |
1816 |
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