Sushmit

In Pune - far from Delhi, in a self-driven Hertz Getz. No fear of wanna-be-s with deep bass thumps of Mauja hi Mauja around here. I was wrong. Period - all this cool Mumbai vs Delhi is propoganda by people who don't own loud systems - and they are a minority. I aim high - and pump torque to my inclination for Matheran. Asia’s only pedestrian hill station, an ecologically protected zone. No vehicles, no honking, no wading through lungful of deep carbon muck, no parking blues, or gas-stations etc. I drive over my twin, a pock-marked path to elevation for people to use. The path's dotted with 'Switch to 1st gear' warnings and sir when you see that, rev up and shift, for what comes next is at an incline crafted by a sadist, an ... read more

Early AM’s are revered, as a good time start any road trip, ‘you miss the day-time traffic, you know’. Road trips start, laced with excitement & and spiked with steroidal optimism, about clear traffic, great driving conditions, awe-struck weather and great mileage and the like. In Delhi, the multiple police check-nakas, with a white Toyota van, yellow grilled barriers, beamed flashlights, irrelevant and obvious questions, and maybe some searches – exist as the perfect antidote for your spirits. Your (hopefully) govt. issued documents gets scanned for an earning opp, while you’re lectured on any random topic. The cops revere this period too – as do the truckers. Delhi like most metros, offer a small time window for trucks to pass through the city. That time-window, too, coincides with the early AM choice of start, and the ... read more