Before the break of dawn we were on the road from Jalgaon, heading to our next stop Nagpur – 425 km away. We were on National Highway (NH) 6 which was in good condition, although I remember a good amount of trucks greeting us ‘Good Morning’, that definitely woke Clyde up. Then on the horizon the sun made its glorious golden appearance and soon enough it started getting hot. But hunger struck us harder and even the heat was easily forgotten. We stopped on the way to grab a bite of the local snack of Maharashtra, made differently from where we came from, Vada Pau.

Except here it was called Pav Vada, here the vada is fried with a slice of bread in batter of gram flour, whereas in other parts of Maharashtra the vada is fried in gram flour batter and served with pav and green chillies. But this version of Pav vada was delicious.

The route was kind of boring putting me and Kayde to sleep, most of the times he fell into a deep slumber in the car, it was like some magic in the air.

We made it before our estimated time to Nagpur by early afternoon, so we decided to carry on driving to our next stop – Jabalpur – which was 273 km from Nagpur in Madhya Pradesh.

The road condition was not as good as the Nagpur highway and Clyde had to zig zag all the way to avoid bad patches before entering Madhya Pradesh (MP). The story of MP, well, it was full of bumps, unexpected deep potholes, and dust that even the trees were discolored, and apparently it was the National Highway. It was quite funny as there were long stretches where there were no roads, just mud and holes and it was too straining to drive.

The sun was setting, a long journey lied ahead of us and we were tired. There comes a divine intervention, why do I say that, you will understand as you read further.

Divine Intervention at Pench

Lying on Nagpur-Jabalpur NH-7 at the state border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh is Pench Tiger Reserve, around 70 km from Nagpur. We saw couple of hotel boards and contemplated whether we should spend the night at Pench, since the road didn’t seem to be getting any better.

We called up a few hotels to find out the tariff, unfortunately, the network was weak, with voices cracking and calls dropping, we went further down the road to a cellphone tower, but that didn’t work. So after trying to talk to the same person for the third time, bingo, we struck gold. The reserve was closed and slated to open just in a weeks time, so we got a good deal at Jungle Home Resort and Spa,situated on the periphery of Pench tiger reserve. Accommodation and all three meals for Rs 3500 inclusive of taxes, and the room was one of the best we had stayed in during the entire trip, we were the only people in the entire resort.

The room was spacious decorated with beautiful wooden furniture, a master king-sized bed, cane lamp shades, balcony facing the forest area, and hospitable staff, all for less then half their season tariff. We heaved a sigh of relief and were delighted to have made the right choice. Why was it the right choice to stay in Pench? we will get to that in a bit.

The food was delicious and more than sufficient for two people, our dinner platter included Paneer Masala, Dal fry, Chicken masala, Mix Veg Pakodas, Steamed Rice, Chapattis, Pickle and Salad. Unfortunately, we were there only for a night, but good enough to recover from the journey and start off fresh the next day.

The Roadless Roads of MP

One of the hotel assistant informed us that the road leading to Jabalpur is in poor condition for around 50 km before it splits into a proper 4-lane road, no wonder there was no toll on that road. It took us nearly 5 hours to cover a distance of 100 km, we could only speed up and cover a good distance on the 4-lane highway.

By 6 pm we entered Jabalpur and hoardings of ‘Save the Girl Child’ – A move against female Foeticide dominated the city landscape. MP is known for preferring male children over girls and many a times parents abort female foetus, so these hoardings are a necessity here.

We had few hotels in mind to spend the night again, so we went scouting for a decent one. First hotel was Jabeli Palace, it was expensive just for a night, then we inquired at Hotel Gulzar, that had no rooms available, and in the end after searching quite a bit we landed at Hotel Samdareeya, terrible room for the price we paid – Rs 1750 with taxes. Since it was only a question for a night we had to overlook the sad condition.

The room had a nail jutting out from the bottom of the wall, there was a dirty pink sofa which we didn’t dare to sit on and I don’t want to talk about the bathroom/toilet. It was a ridiculous place, the food was sub-standard as well, we didn’t end up eating some of the food we ordered, it was very depressing especially after Pench. Make a note to avoid Samdareeya hotel, we would rather stay in a more expensive place than have that experience again.

The following day plan was to make it to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, that is at a distance of 446 km from Jabalpur, and there was a massive surprise in store for us. The road was the worst we have ever traveled on, we were going slower than a bullock cart, this was the terrible moment of our trip, it made us question our decision to drive to Nepal.
Like the rest of Madhya Pradesh there were no roads, and did we forget to mention, it was the National Highway!

But it got a little better after a while, there always was the odd bump, as we passed through rural areas of Madhya Pradesh.

Thatched roof, mud and brick houses, cows drinking water from a cement bowl in the verandah, kids playing in mud, it was a nice rural landscape, except the road.

Since we left on an empty stomach in the morning, we decided to take a halt to make food for all three of us under the lovely shade of a huge mango tree. We were carrying a small gas stove to cook Kayde’s food on the entire trip, so made some instant pastas and dal rice for Kayde and hit the road again, not much time to rest as we didn’t know what to expect in terms of road condition.

Just at the state border of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, we were stopped at the check post. One of the fellows dressed in casual clothes asked Clyde to get off and meet his boss sitting in a small booth. He checked the car papers, and asked for Rs 500 to cross the border. Hmmm, that’s another scammer for you, when Clyde asked if he would get a receipt he asked for Rs 1000, you don’t have to pay any money to cross from one state to the other. It was crazy, Clyde questioned him and the boss came down to Rs 400, then he said give me whatever you want, and then with the delay I had to intervene and he couldn’t handle the situation and asked us to leave.

Better Road, rustic view of Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh (UP) has better roads than MP for sure, but there are always some bad sections. We were in UP by late afternoon, and we stopped to take few pictures. Few villagers were sitting outside their houses, which were covered by creepers with yellow flowers, a pregnant woman quickly covered her stomach when she saw me take a photo of her, and the scenery across the road was wonderful as well.

Being in the car since early morning, the drive was getting to us. We just wanted to reach Varanasi, find a nice hotel and get some rest. But the drive started to seem long. During the same time Goddess Durga festival was on across India, so people were carrying the idols in trucks, blasting music on their speakers and dancing away to glory, we were enveloped in this festive atmosphere. Kayde enjoyed the regional music though, clapping his hands and shaking his legs and uplifting our spirits at the same time.

The sun was setting and we were still around 50 km away from Varanasi and then the tiring routine of looking out for a hotel room. We knew it was going to be a late night…

Connect with us:

Keep Reading, Keep Learning:

1. Road Trippin from Mumbai to Nepal!
2. The Alluring Buddhist Caves at Ajanta
3. As the Ganga Flows Through Varanasi’s Ghats…
4. Drifting in the Serene Waters of Begnas Tal