Bangalore-Mumbai Road trip

• Start as early as possible. The 600 miles between Bangalore and Mumbai is impossible to cover unless you start before 6 in the morning.
• Else start after breakfast, visit the beautiful fort of Chitradurga en route and stay overnight within a hundred miles. We stayed at Shigaon.
• Mumbai during rush hour is hell. Enter at noon or after 10PM.

The road that joins 'Bangalore the silicon valley' and 'Mumbai the commercial capital' is as engrossing as the life in these two cities. An exact 1000 km separates the two. We started for Mumbai on the afternoon. Both of us were scheduled to start our internship two days later.

Smooth roads, Bangalore - Pune Highway

The key to a highway trip is to start fresh as early as possible. The clear road and a clear mind takes you at least a 100 miles further than otherwise. We could not help starting late as my exams were scheduled till 1. It was not before 5 that we were on the steady part of our journey. My inclination was to stay at Chitradurga or Davangere. However Ashutosh was wise enough to remain adamant that we cover as much of the 1000 km as possible the very day.

Chitradurga

Chitradurga, the city of windmills, was faintly visible as we crossed it at 8. By 10 we were hungry and tired enough to take a break at Ranebennur some 300 km from Bangalore. We opened the Hyderabadi Biryani we had picked up and bought a coke bottle. It was a sumptuous dinner in the middle of highway. We were still indecisive about where to stay. Ultimately it was at Shigaon, 60 km ahead, that we found a motel that suited our expectations. By then it was already 11 and we slept as soon as our room was shown to us.

Pune - Mumbai Expressway

Next morning we started at 9 which by no definition was early. Next on our list was McDonalds at Kolhapur some 240 km from where we stayed. It is right on the highway just like the one near Mathura on Delhi Agra Road. Mcdonalds never disappoints and hence we left Kolhapur only at 2 with stomach duly filled up. 400 km of road in perfect condition was left. I also knew that the last 200 km on the Mumbai-Pune Highway would be lot easier.

We faced the first wave of hot and humid Mumbai air as we took a turn from Lonavala. Mumbai is a giant of a city. The time it took to cover the 100 miles of expressway is the same time it took to negotiate past the traffic within Mumbai to reach our home.