Bangalore - Vizag - Chandipore - Kolkata - Baruva - Hyderabad - B'lore in Audi A6 in July 2015 (Day 2 - 12)

The cutest member/ fan of Indian Roadie, Ms. Caramel, only 2 years old and hailing from Bangalore was on a 12 days ‪roadtrip‬ from Bangalore to Kolkata to Santiniketan to Kolkata to Bangalore with her parents Sujoy Guha and Jhuma Guha in their Audi A6. Her siblings Indian Roadie, Indranil and Tanushree were there with her to give her company.
After leaving Bangalore on 2015-07-10 at 6.30 am (Day 1), they checked into Best Western Hotel, Visakhapatnam at 10 pm after a cool 1300+ kms in about 15 hrs 30 mins, via Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Rajahmundry.
(Details of Day 1 on http://indian-roadie.blogspot.in/2015/08/bangalore-vizag-chandipore-kolkata.html)

Day 2 (2015-07-11), the family left Visakhapatnam at 11 am and checked into the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation ‪OTDC‬ Panthnivas, Chandipur-on-Sea at 7 pm. The Panthnivas authorities had no issues about Caramel staying in their premises.
Day 3 (2015-07-12), they left Chandipur-on-Sea at 11 am and reached Kolkata at 2 pm.
Day 6 (2015-07-15) was reserved for a to & fro drive to Kolkata.
On Day 9 (2015-07-18) at 3.30 pm, while having lunch at a mall in Kolkata, the family suddenly decided to start their return journey to Bangalore.
That being the day of Rathyatra, prior accomodation was not available in any hotel in Orissa.
I, Deep Banerjee advised them to drive upto ‪Baruva‬. Confirmed bookings of two luxury suites at the Aptdc Beach Resort was made by me over the phone.
They left their residence in Kolkata at 5.30 pm. However, they managed to cross the Vidyasagar Setu/ 2nd Hooghly Bridge over Hooghly River at 7.15 pm and Dhulagarh toll plaza on NH6 at 10 pm, thanks to innumerable Rathyatra processions which merrily blocked the main throughfare.
Besides heavy road traffic on NH5 in Orissa, they also had to drive through blinding rains throughout the night. I remained awake upto 5 am keeping tab of their progress. It was Indranil Guha who was there on the wheels of the Audi A6 during the major part of the 680 kms hectic drive.
Day 10 (2015-07-19) at 6 am, they checked into ‪Aptdc Baruva Beach Resort‬.
At 8 am, Sujoy and Jhuma woke me up to express their immense joy on being recommended this unheard of virgin location. They were pleasantly surprised by the warm hospitality of Trinadha Rao, the short & stocky caretaker of the beach resort and the cleanliness of the well appointed sea-facing suites in the cottages.
Their day was spent lazing around on the beach or inside the comfortable air-conditioned rooms. The car received a well deserved bath.
The neighbouring lighthouse incharge, an employee of the Ministry of Shipping resides with his wife and a very well mannered and loving GSD in the housing quarters within the lighthouse campus. I had made good friends with the couple during my visit in early April 2015.
Sujoy, Jhuma, Indranil, Tanushree spent quite some time atop the lighthouse capturing the beauty of Bay of Bengal and the dense coconut plantation.
Day 11 (2015-07-20) at 8.30 am, they left for Visakhapatnam. At 11.30 am they were at the Aptdc Haritha Beach Resort, ‎Rushikonda‬, Visakhapatnam. However, the staff at the resort were adamant that Caramel (the pet) will not be allowed inside the rooms. At 4 pm they were on their way to Hyderabad. They checked into a service apartment in Hyderabad at 2 am.
Day 12 (2015-07-21), after leaving Hyderabad at 5 pm, the family was back home in Bangalore at 11.45 pm. Poor Caramel must have been overjoyed to be back home after days of being confined for long hours in the moving car.
P.S: Guided on road real-time by Deep Banerjee (fellow Indian Roadie - cum - schoolmate of Sujoy Guha).

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.