I must first complement my wife for supporting me all the way, sending SMS, handling phone calls, and logging the entire trip. Also special thanks to Mr. HV Kumar who is a seasoned long distance cruiser.
The worst stretches of the road were at BBSR-Gopalpur-Ichhapuram and NH9 Vijayawada-Hyderabad. We managed upto 120 kmph on certain streches and touched 140 kmph momentarily on one occassion. I was not racing and safety was the main concern. Due to power naps, numerous halts and one erroneous detour at Devrapalli (West Godavari), the entire trip took 37 hours (door to door).
We managed to take all our belongings (from coffee table to kitchenwares to clothes to buckets, mugs, toolkit, bedsheets, laptops, kitchen appliacnces etc.) Only the AC and Washing Machine is coming through Packers and Movers. The car was loaded to the brim – Dicky and Rear Seat folded and actually had a payload of near about 400 Kgs! Add us both and thats a total payload of Half a tonne.
My car returns 18 kmpl on highways like Kol-BBSR. But perhaps due to the heavy payload, the car gave a lower mileage of 13 kmpl. Not bad for a 1.6 litre engine when otherwise I get 5.5 kmpl in city driving. Also we slept 3 hours in the car with engine idling and the AC on before reaching Vizag.
Speed Sheet
Official Soundtrack – ‘Grasshopper’ by Bickram Ghosh
We were experiencing the gradual change in food flavor at every stop on the highway across Orissa and AP. On nearing Vijayawada the next day, this composition - Grasshopper from Bickram Ghosh’s Brilliant album – ‘Beyond Rhythmscape’ which was playing in our car full volume and uncontrollable tears filled my eyes.
Here we were with heavy emotions, leaving our hometown and this track (Grasshopper) with its East-South blended instrumentals themed perfectly – the situation and geography and the cultural diversity of the three states – WB, Orissa and AP. This tune has became symbolic of my leaving Kolkata for professional pursuits and everytime I listen to it, I donot have words to express my gratitude to him for this composition.
I cannot express more with words, how deep an impact some of the tracks in his albums – Rythmscape and Beyond Rythmscape made and how inspiring they have been and how they have brought me happiness and tranquility.
Both me and my wife admire Bickram Ghosh, since we attended his live concert at Hyatt Regency Kolkata in September 2006. He is ‘The Master Percussionist’ and makes us proud to be a Bengali. I wonder how many times does he ever gets to know of a first-hand account of someone who gets deeply impacted by his compositions.
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