April 2012
1000 KMs over 4 days through
Maharashtra
Mumbai to Devlali 180Km
Devlali to Ajanta caves 300Km
Ajanta to Aurangabad 100Km
Aurangabad to Ellora caves 50Km
Ellora caves to Devlali 200Km
Devlali to Mumbai 180Km
I drove my Honda Jazz which gave a pretty good mileage of
13-14km/l. Interestingly we did not see any other Jazz on the whole journey!The
roads for more than 95% of the time were just fabulous and more in particularly
in the i) Shahpur - Nasik and ii) Malegaon - Dhule stretches were awesome and
you could easily drive at 120-140kmph but you at had to shell out Rs80 and
Rs100 as toll!
Most of the other roads were state highways where 100kmph
was the maximum speed you could touch and in large stretches were just about
enough for 2 cars to squeeze through. But they offered a real glimpse of the
simple rural life. There was no toll on these roads and many times we were
lonely on these roads. We passed by
caravans of bullock carts carrying usually sugarcane and also women and
children. A few times we just had the setting sun and a vast expanse of clear
landscape with nothing
but small brown coloured mountains and short trees, something so simple yet
rare to find in the concrete filled Mumbai.
It took us 5 1/2 hours of continuous driving barring a
lunch break at a garden restaurant (Rs220) to reach Ajanta caves. We reached
just in time at 4:15 to see the main caves which close at 5:30.
On this long journey we paid the highest toll for an
effortless ride through a mountain pass. We passed through onion fields and
even bought a 10KG sack for Rs50. A 20KG sack was available for Rs70! All of
this was because we were unaware that the price of onions in Mumbai had fallen
from Rs40 to Rs16/KG.
On this route we also passed through fields growing cotton and trucks laden
with the white and wooly stuff.
Ajanta:
At Ajanta parking cost Rs45 and it costs Rs20 for the 4Km
bus ride and Rs25 for the entrance to the caves which are maintained by the
Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The caves (26 in all) are majestic and
speak richly about the grandeur of the historic traditions of India.
The caretaker for each cave also serves a guide, though not
so great but enough for the time we had.
The paintings are quite elaborate, though quite worn out at
some places, they depict the life and times of Gautama Buddha.
More than the elaborate caves it is the nature of
excavation and the sheer labour in the harsh terrain is a real wonder. You
will also spot the langoor and its massive tail jumping all around!
It took us 2-1/2 hours to reach Aurangabad. We stayed at
the Lemon Tree (Rs5400/night). Had buffet dinner (Rs600/head) and a nice long
sleep.
We left for Ellora at 2 and the first thing we had to do
was to full our tank which was completely drained. Interestingly 2 BPCL pumps
we came across
had no stock. Also the city pumps appeared to be more than busy with the biker
and auto-rickshaws in queue who generally don't fill more than Rs50-100bucks of
fuel. We ended up shelling out Rs2500 for a tank-full.
We reached Ellora by 330 after lunch at a garden restaurant
(Rs560) we overestimated our appetite by a huge margin!
On the way to Ellora, you can't miss the Daulatabad Fort
standing lonely atop a small hillock and the tomb of Aurangzeb, which we gave
miss.
Ellora:
After paying for parking Rs20 and entrance of Rs20 we
headed straight to the Jaina group of caves numbered 30-34.
The guard at cave 32 for Rs100 was more than happy to show us around the caves.
The Jaina group of caves were the youngest and were carved
out of solid rock. A lot of the statues were worn out and broken and hence not
to be worshipped according to Jain tradition. A large number of statues were of
Lord Mahavir, Parshvanath and surprisingly Bahubali. A few ceilings still had
remains of paintings which once adorned the walls.
Cave 29 and 16 devoted to Shiva are simply stunning. The
grandeur and and might of the Rashtrakuta kings is displayed in full glory.The
gigantic size and scale of the Kailas temple, the largest monolithic rock
structure in the world is breath-taking and was built by generations over 200
years!
We also visited a Jain Gurukul at Ellora and the
Parshvanath temple in the premises and were happy to donate Rs2000 for a
breakfast for 200 students studying there.
The journey from Ellora to Nasik had some of the
breath-taking views of the beautiful setting sun and the dry parched brown
landscape. The first stretch of the journey was slow as the roads were narrow
and overtaking was also time consuming.
However, our final leg was a narrow escape. We took the NH3 which allowed us to
hit 120KMPh smoothly even at night. But just as the toll road ended (Rs40)
several incomplete patches for a new toll road meant a lot of confusion and
created a huge traffic jam and required a good deal of manoeuvring and Jugaad
to get around. For a moment it reminded of a massive jam i'd read about in
China that took 2 days to clear. We abandoned our plans to have dinner at Taj
Nasik and settled for Swad - Veg Restaurant at Nasik Road (Rs190) to be home at
Lamb Rd. Devlali, by 10.15.
We had breakfast at Health Care Centre (HCC) at Lamb road
(Rs197). We had rose water, bael juice, amla shot, veg sandwich, potato stuff
sandwich, bread-butter and moong chaat. HCC has been in operation ever since
I've known Deolali and serves the best fruit juices and sandwiches in the area
and has an exotic variety. The journey back home which started at 11.45 was
over at 2.20. All thanks to the toll roads which have cut the journey time by
more than an hour.
All through our journey we had google maps by our side
giving directions and also giving choices of routes to choose from.
