ROMANCING THE ROAD

The journey is the destination for Achal Dhruva as he explores the interiors of Maharashtra in a Toyota Camry

Malshej Ghat

As is the wont of a Piscean I am a dreamer and one of my childhood dreams was to be a truck driver and travel across the country. Unlike a host of my other dreams, the passion for adventure and travel remained and luckily for me I landed up with a job which involved both. However, it is the idea of a Dream Drive, of belting up in the latest models to hit the road and zipping off to different places, and then writing about the driving experience and the journey, which has brought me close to my childhood dream. So what if it's not a truck, such details hardly matter when you get to do backseat driving in the latest version of a Toyota Camry auto-transmission with your boss at the wheel!

I was quite excited with the route we had chalked out for the three-day drive covering Mumbai-Aurangabad-Lonar Crater-Malshej Ghat-Mumbai as it promised an exciting offering of history, culture and scenic beauty. We set off on a Sunday morning in December to explore the interiors of Maharashtra. My boss, Sheldon Santwan, editor of the magazine, is quite a road hog. Driving is his passion… he even enjoys his daily drive to work within Mumbai city! No sooner did we hit the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway than he started to experiment with what this car could actually do.

Scenic road to Lonar Crater

A deft flick of the overdrive button and this extremely powerful car was doing 140 kmph at just over 2,000 rpm. Holding rock steady on the Expressway, I could see the needle briefly wander over the 160 kmph mark before sanity prevailed. "This machine can do even more," Sheldon beamed, "for an automatic transmission the pick up is quite phenomenal but it is steadiest at around the 140 mark." We sped down the Expressway at a consistent 140 kms per hour, making optimum use of the cruise control feature of the car.

After Pune, the road to Ahmednagar was in a bad state for a long stretch because it was being widened. The only solace here, despite the midday heat, was the sheer comfort that the plush interiors afford and a super-efficient climate-controlled air conditioning system. Passing through small villages we had to patiently crawl through traffic jams of bullock carts and people. For some strange reason the village folk have scant regard for vehicles and pay little heed to your honking giving way at their own sweet pace. Don't know if they had the same nonchalance when it came to ST buses. The window view for a major portion of the route between Pune and Ahmednagar was largely a uniform arid sandy brown.

Tunnel at the end af Malshej Ghat

We stopped at Ahmednagar for lunch and once out of the A/C comfort, one could immediately feel the dry heat. The post lunch drive was on good roads cutting through a pastoral scene. Fields of sugar cane and cotton lined both sides of the road with farmers tilling the land with a pair of bullocks. The strains of 'Fields Of Gold' by Sting which wafted from the speakers of the custom-fitted 6-CD Changer & MP3 Player aptly complemented the idyllic beauty of the surroundings.

It was towards dusk when we reached the Quality Inn Meadows, Aurangabad. A tranquil atmosphere envelopes you as you enter the property from the car park. Meadows is a 13 acre luxury garden resort hotel located six kms from the city centre on the Aurangabad-Nasik-Mumbai highway. It has a sylvan setting surrounded by farms and mountains in the background. The property has 36 deluxe cottages, eight superior cottages and four themed suites each with its private lawn and porch.

We were very tempted to put up our legs on the chairs on the porch and unwind but that chilled beer would have to wait as we had a very interesting agenda for the evening - the Aurangabad Ellora Festival.

We touched the city coincidentally on the second day of the festival and did not want to miss out on the invitation by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to witness the cultural extravaganza. We headed for Soneri Mahal, the venue of the festival. The historic structure, an architectural marvel built in the 17th Century A.D. by Pahadsingh, one of Aurangzeb's generals, was all lit up and teeming with people. With great difficulty we found a parking space very close to the entrance and were absolutely thrilled about it.

Picturesque stretch en route to Lonar Crater

A large crowd was seated inside thoroughly enjoying the ‘hasya kavi sammelan’ in progress. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia's recital was next and the melodious tunes from his flute against the backdrop of the Mahal created an enchanting atmosphere. The Festival (December 11-13) was a cultural extravaganza of varied entertainment ranging from classical to folk dance, music, ghazals, etc. The line of performers included some of the best known exponents of Indian music and dance.

The next day, after a sumptuous breakfast in the outdoor buffet area adjoining the pool, we were on our way. We had chalked out a rather long hard drive on the second day covering Lonar Crater, about 160 kms from Aurangabad via Jalna and then from Lonar to Malshej Ghat via Jalna and Ahmednagar, a distance of approximately 418 kms. The road to Jalna was smooth but Jalna to Lonar threw up some pretty bad patches which put the front and rear suspensions to a real test. However, the MacPherson strut front suspension and the dual link strut rear suspension passed with flying colours. The fact that I was fast asleep during those bad patches was testimony to this fact.

We arrived in Lonar, a dusty small town wondering where in the world was this huge crater. All around we could see flat countryside. On the outskirts about two kms away we drove up a small incline and suddenly there it was on the right hand side, a mammoth depression with a shimmering greenish-blue lake at its bottom.

MTDC’s Falmingo Hill Resort at Malshej Ghat

We drove into the MTDC resort, which is a stone's throw from the crater, and offers a bird’s eye view of this wonder of nature. Lonar Crater is the third largest and the only hypervelocity impact crater in the world. It is a circular depression, 1.83 kms in diameter and 150 meters deep, with a shallow lake at the bottom while the rim of the crater rises about 20 meters above the surrounding land. The crater was formed nearly 50,000 years ago when a meteorite weighing about two million tonnes hit the earth here.

There are a wide variety of animals and birds around the crater. Visitors can spot chinkaras and gazelles quite easily amidst the buses by the lake. Post-lunch, at the MTDC resort, which offers comfortable self contained rooms with spectacular views of the crater, we consulted the manager on the shortest route to Ahmednagar, from where we had to get to Malshej Ghat. He advised us to take a different route via Jalna and Paithan.

It was already 2 pm when we left the resort. We were considerably behind time and had to cover a distance of 418 kms from Lonar to Malshej Ghat to be in time for dinner. The road to Jalna, though narrow, was pretty smooth and Sheldon took to the wheel like Michael Schumacher determined to make up for lost time. While I looked on in apprehension at the rising speedometer, my anxiety was soon put to rest as Sheldon explained that the car's amazing acceleration was more than equally matched by an ABS (with EBD & BA) ventilated disc braking system. Though beyond my comprehension, I nodded intelligently in agreement.

Quality Inn Meadows, Aurangabad

We bypassed Jalna and it was almost dusk when we reached Paithan. Nights come faster in winter and our speed was reduced further as we drove to Ahmednagar via Shevgaon. Sheldon was impressed with the manner in which the car seamlessly made the transition from day to night in the auto mode. "I particularly hate driving during the twilight hour, but the way this car has judged the ambient light and moved itself into night mode is quite amazing," he lauded.

We made a pit stop at a dhaba for a quick bite about 30 kms short of Ahmednagar. The food was simple, piping hot bhakri and equally hot rajma, which had me sweating despite the chill in the air but the ambience was fantastic. Sitting in the open on 'charpais', watching the stars, was certainly a first for the jet setting boss.

After topping up the 70-litre fuel tank at Ahmednagar, it was a dream drive to Malshej Ghat. The road was smooth, brand new and with almost no traffic. We cruised at a good and consistent 70 kmph, thanks to the powerful fog lights and the twin headlight cluster with a high beam that cut through the pitch darkness. "I wish all night driving could always be so easy," said Sheldon, humming to John Denver's 'Country Roads'.

We zoomed past silent and deserted villages where dogs lolling on the road gave chase barking frantically for a short distance. It was around 11 p.m. when we finally rolled through the gates of MTDC's Flamingo Hill Resort at Malshej Ghat. Next day, morning dawned around 11 a.m. but we could afford that as Mumbai was just 150 kms away. We had all day to explore and soak in the beauty of Malshej Ghat. 'Hill station for all seasons' is the USP of this idyllic weekend getaway. Rising to a height of 700 metres (Sahyadri range), Malshej Ghat is 'the' place to experience the magic of the monsoons. Flamingo Hill Resort at the end of the Ghat and perched overlooking the valley has a perfect location for a far-from-the-madding-crowd holiday. The nearest hamlet at Khubi Phata is nearly four kms away. While monsoon has a special charm the weekends in that season are extremely crowded and noisy. There are a number of attractions within a 50-kilometre radius of Malshej Ghat, like Harishchandraghad (1424 meters), a dream peak for trekkers; Shivneri Fort, the birth place of Chhatrapati Shivaji and the famous Lenadari Temple, located on a hill filled with Buddhist caves.

A sylvan setting near Malshej Ghat

Breakfast over, we drove to the lake with the intention to drive over the dam to Khireshwar four kms away from Khubi Phata. However the dirt road was being done up and we had to turn back after a short distance. Sheldon executed the turnaround by reversing just once thanks to the car's rack and pinion steering coupled with a turning radius of just 5.3 metres which “makes it an absolute joy to manoeuvre,” he endorsed.

We chanced upon a small tar road which ran along the edge of the lake. We expected it to lead to the main road but to our utter surprise, after about 10 minutes the road disappeared into the lake! We parked the car at the very edge of the waters and took in the exceptional view of the sprawling lake with a gallery of towering mountains in the backdrop.

We did not want to leave yet but had to get down the ghat before sunset. It was a wonderful drive through Murbad on to Kalyan where we were once again in the midst of civilization. Kalyan to Thane was the last hurrah of speed on the broad Mumbai-Nashik highway. The dream drive over, I went home in a rickshaw. After three days of cruising in Camry comfort, it felt like I was riding on top of a camel.