Kolkata to Baruva, Barkul, Konark, Puri & back in 6 days by Saikat Bishnu in August 2015 (Day 1 - Kolkata to Baruva)

‪Kolkata‬ (West Bengal) to ‪Baruva‬ (Andhra Pradesh) ‪solodrive‬ of 725 kms by Indian Roadie ‎Saikat Bishnu‬ (with wife Mou and 18 months young daughter Samriddhi) on 7th Aug 2015 in his new generation ‪Mahindra Scorpio‬ registered in April 2015.

Trip log of Day 1:
1. Saikat left his residence at Sodepur in the northern fringes of Kolkata at 4.40 am on 2015-08-07. Tripmeter was set to 0 and odometer reading of Scorpio showed 4564 km.
2. Dhulagarh toll plaza - 5.18 am - 34.9 km.
3. Kolaghat bridge - 5.39 am - 74.1 km.
4. Debra toll plaza - 6.40 am - 115.20 km - small break.
5. Belda toll plaza - 7.15 am - 149.4 km.
6. Hotel Aahar, Amarda (breakfast break) - 8.22 am - 231.7 km.
7. Seragarh toll plaza (near Balasore) - 9.29 am - 279.8 km.
8. Panikoili toll plaza - 10.50 am - 376.7km.
9. Manguli toll plaza (entrance to Cuttack) - 11.53 am - 432.4 km.
10. He had barely travelled 5 - 6 kms after the Manguli toll plaza while approaching the Mahanadi River bridge before Cuttack. He was stopped by a team of policemen and was interrogated for about 90 minutes. He was suspected to be the perpetrator of a fatal hit and run case by another white coloured WB registered Scorpio at the Manguli toll plaza minutes ago. He was about to face the wrath of an unruly mob when certain instructions given to him by me (Deep Banerjee) over the phone saved him from further police harassment and also from being assaulted or even worse.
Witnesses from the accident spot were also summoned. Fortunately, they managed to convince the police & the unruly gathering that Saikat's Scorpio was not the killer vehicle.
11. Gudipada toll plaza - 3.28 pm - 533.9 km.
12. Gurpali toll plaza - 4.32 pm - 603 km.
13. Delayed by 30 minutes at the Icchapuram border check post because both flanks of NH5 were blocked by Orissa/ Bengal bound trucks and an overturned sand laden truck. Some amount of negotiation with the police and a bit of offroading helped him to move towards Andhra Pradesh.
14. Balupada toll plaza - 5.54 pm, trip 690.2 km.
15. Though every possible details were provided by me to Saikat, he still made a mistake of exiting NH5 and entering a wrong village road for Baruva resort. After negotiating a total of 7 kms on muddy village road he was back on NH5.
16. However, soon he found his way to the right point from where one has to turn left from NH5 and proceed towards the Baruva branch of SBI and onwards to the lighthouse after crossing the manned railway level crossing of the Howrah-Chennai railway line.
17. Reached ‎Aptdc Beach Resort Baruva‬ (sharing a common boundary with the lighthouse of Ministry of Shipping, Govt of India) at 6.38 pm. Tripmeter reading 725.4 km, odometer reading 5254 km.

NH5 to the resort = 5 kms.

Note: Saikat had to take number of small breaks enroute to feed his 18 months young baby daughter.

Route: Kolkata - Kharagpur - Jaleshwar - Balasore - Bhadrak - Cuttack - Bhubaneswar - Khurda - Barkul - Brahmapur - Ichapuram - Sompeta - upto 1 km short of Korlam - turn left to exit NH5 - proceed 5 kms to Aptdc Baruva Beach Resort.

Indian Roadie, Deep Banerjee provided Saikat Bishnu every assistance, starting from suggesting Baruva as an ‪ideal ‎'Indian Roadie Splash Drive 2015'‬ destination to planning the route, booking of accommodation, periodic enquiry of his progress on the road, etc.