The 300 km drive from Srinagar to Jammu was one looooooooong ghat. The winding road just went on forever. At many places trucks formed a huge line. Never make the mistake of getting in line. They could be just taking in the view, getting paperwork done or waiting for the engines to cool down. Just overtake any which way and move on. We took 8 hours (including a 45 min lunch stop) to reach the Jammu bypass. An average of 40kmph!! That'll give you an idea of the terrain. The next 230 kms to Amritsar we did in 4 hrs. The Golden Temple was beautiful in the early morning. Walking the parikrama, we saw hundreds of marble plaques installed by various army regiments. By sheer chance, Sheela spotted a plaque of the 18 Sikh Regiment with her father's name inscribed on it!! That made her day.

The 7.5 hr 500km drive from Amritsar to Delhi was uneventful. Toll roads, good surfacing and moderate traffic. Once the bypasses at Ludhiana and Jalandhar are complete, the driving time will reduce by at least 1 hour.

We rested in Delhi for a few days before hitting the road again. The drive after Biaora turned into a nightmare because heavy rains had nearly washed away the NH. Broken down trucks, traffic jams, potholed roads slowed us down to a crawl. At one stage we were doing 18 kmph. Instead of reaching Dewas by 8pm, we arrived at the hotel past midnite. The next morning's drive was worse. The highway on which we had done 70kmph just a month earlier had deteriorated to abysmal levels. The Narmada was in spate and whole areas were flooded. We had to drive on the kuccha margin of the highway, switching sides often and adjusting with other small vehicles trying the same tactics. The road improved only after reaching the Maharashtra border. From then on, the road was a breeze. We took a shortcut thru interior Maharashtra roads and returned to Pune bypassing Ahmednagar.

The 7,736 Km drive took us 30 days (Aug 3 to Sept 3, 2002) and 790 litres of diesel. The Bolero gave an average of 10.5kmpl on the highways and 8.25kmpl in Ladakh. All the drive in the plains and much of it in Ladakh was with A/c.

On the famous 365kms stretch without a petrol station between Tandi and Leh, the Bolero averaged 8.5kmpl. Technically, it could have done the trip in 43 litres, well below its tank capacity of 62 litres. The 60 ltrs we carried in jerry cans seems excessive in hindsight. Better to be safe than sorry was our motto. We were also told that if one ever falls short of fuel on this road, the truckers always help out.

At no stage in the entire journey did my wife and I feel unsafe. Including Kashmir. On the scariest and loneliest stretch - Manali to Leh - where an extra hand is definitely needed Mahesh was with us. To those who wish to do this trip, get a team of 4 able bodied adults. A strong will and firm unflappable mind is essential. It's not for the weakhearted. God forbid something goes wrong, it'll be 12 hours before you find help.

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