Aparnesh Mitra - vanlife setup

Aparnesh Mitra - vanlife setup

Perils of wrong side driving and guard rails

Perils of unscientifically placed guard rails/ barriers on highways. 

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There's a wrongly parked truck (at the farthest end of our screen) facing oncoming traffic thereby reducing the width of the carriageway. 

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Another truck was also being driven slowly  in the wrong direction facing oncoming traffic. It was about to cross the already wrongly parked truck which had narrowed down the width of the carriageway. The left A-pillar of the white tanker first hit the truck being driven in the wrong direction. whose hazard lights switched on after the hit. 

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After the hit the wrongly driven truck rolled back and its rear hit the rear of another brown truck whose driver was talking to someone on the road. The sudden hard push from behind made it swerve to its right. The man on the road fell on the road and came under the rear wheels of the truck whose driver he was talking to. Simultaneously the left of the white tanker brushed the right of the brown truck which had swerved right after the rear collision. 

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Worse still, there was a guard rail/ barrier in the path of the white tanker at the very spot where it brushed the last truck. 

The driver of the white tanker crashed into two vehicles for no fault of his. He escaped the scene as a natural instinct. 

Irrespective of whether one is riding/driving a Bajaj Platina or Alto or Nexon or Audi Q7 or truck or bus, the extent of risk is huge and unpredictable for all. 

Remain #HighOnCognition/ #ExpectTheUnexpected whenever you are there on the road. 

Nitin Gadkari ji, please put a stop to this nonsense of wrong side driving and haphazardly erected barriers which has snatched away too many lives and/or maimed even more innocent lives. 

Note: Location and date is unknown. 

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* Mishap And Calamity

Extremely difficult for trucks to negotiate the road barriers

The local state police across India who put up these guard rails/ barriers have no compassion towards long distance truck drivers. If only the policemen and their officers are made to sit in the driver's seat and asked to negotiate one set of these barriers they will hopefully realize how big a bully they are! 

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* Mishap And Calamity waiting to happen

Delhi - Srinagar - Ladakh - Manali - Delhi itinerary

Ladakh itinerary by a roadie for September 2022: 

10 Sep Delhi to Jammu

11 Sep Jammu to Srinagar

12 Sep Srinagar to Kargil

13 Sep Kargil to Leh

14 Sep Leh Exploration

15 Sep Leh to Nubra via Khardungla Pass 

16 Sep Nubra to Turtuk, Tyakshi and thang n back to Nubra for stay

17 Sep Nubra to Pangong via Shyok Valley

18 Sep Pangong to Hanle

19 Sep Hanle to Umlinga la (First Highest Motorable road in world) and back to Hanle for stay

20 Sep Hanle to Tsomoriri Lake

21 Sep Tsomoriri Lake 

22 Sep Tsomoriri to Jispa

23 Sep Jispa to Manali

24 Sep Manali to Delhi

Memoirs of First Day - Gautam Roy - RE350

Kolkata - Darjeeling - Kolkata road trip by Debashis Mukherjee in September 2020

Drove 430 km from Bhagalpur to New Town, Kolkata today (18 September 2020), concluding a week's self-drive holiday including 3 enjoyable days in Darjeeling. Total distance from Ghoom to New Town via Rishi Road, Siliguri, Kishanganj, Dalkhola, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Dumka, Nala and Asansol was 760 km. This was about 150 km more than the total distance of 610 km during outward journey via NH-34, Botolbari, Dhantola, Siliguri and Rohini Road. However, the total time taken during return journey (17 hours) was 2 hours less than outward journey (19 hours).

Road condition : NH-34 : 40% bad; Botolbari – Dhantola (64 km) : 40% bad, last about 20 km near Dhantola newly resurfaced and good; Dhantola – Siliguri : 10% bad.

Dhantola to Bhagalpur via Kishanganj, Dalkhola, Purnea : 95% good; Bhagalpur – Dumka : 25% bad, most bad stretches being closer to Bhagalpur; A bridge has reportedly collapsed between Hansdiha and Dumka and I had to take a 20 km detour through narrow village roads, some stretches pretty bad. This detour is being correctly shown by Google Maps. Dumka to Asansol : 90% good; the Dumka-Masalia-Kundhit-Nala stretch inside Jharkhand is superb. After entering West Bengal road becomes bad and one has to suffer for about 20 km before reaching Asansol. NH-2 condition good, lot of patch repairs undertaken.

Conclusions : (1) Bhagalpur route to Siliguri from Kolkata preferable as on date, if one does not mind the extra distance of about 135 km. (2) For the Siliguri-Darjeeling stretch Rishi Road (via Mirik) is far more scenic as compared to Rohini Road (via Kurseong) though it is about 23 km longer. Rohini Road is also much steeper and Kurseong and Sonada are prone to traffic jams. (3) Driving in the Darjeeling hills is always an exhilarating experience, regardless of the pain in getting to Siliguri. 

Courtesy: Debashis Mukherjee 

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* Kolkata to Siliguri 

* Kolkata to Darjeeling 

* Siliguri to Kolkata 

* Darjeeling to Kolkata 

Memoirs of First Day - Siddhartha Banerjee - Mahindra XUV300

On 11th August’2022 I took delivery of my new Mahindra XUV300.

Model: W8 (Opt) 

Colour: Aquamarine

It was a dream upgrade for me- after driving a Hatchback for almost 12+ years, I immediately felt the difference getting into the Compact SUV. Top notch safety feature and ample of space to comfort my family. Little overwhelmed at the beginning, to press the ignition button, it was a noiseless start to the n-number of trips this car will see. The perfect monsoon gave me the chance to relish the sun-roof feature and bring the beauty home. Unfortunately couldn’t get the puja done on the same day due to restricted temple timings but immediately on the next day early morning (7am) the first drive was to Dakshineswar temple with my wife and father for the gari pujo.

Would thank our dealer Supreme Electrotech Pvt Ltd (on NH 16 - South Charmail just beside Oasis Hotel) and Sourav Ghosh (sales representative) for being accommodative in getting the delivery at the promised timelines, seamless closing formalities and a sweet gesture (presenting a car idol and chocolates) during handover. 

Excited to start the journey called Road! 

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* Memories of First Day 

Why is the odometer reading in my VW Vento TDi blinking

The reading on the odometer of my VW Vento TDI 2011 is blinking. I have scanned using my ELM327 OBD, there's no error. I have tried all the switches and options. 

There must be something that's wrong. 

Any guesses from VW Polo/ Vento/ Jetta and even Renault Duster/ Nissan Terrano owners 🤔 

2022-08-28 

Aquaplaning can be fatal

Driving at high speed on puddles of accumulated water on highways can be fatal. Splashing water all around may not be funny at all. You may or may not be aware of the term #aquaplaning. Don't take it lightly. 

Watch the video of a scary happening near Chhindwara in MP in end August 2022. 

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* Indian Roadie Safe Driving Tips 

* Mishap And Calamity

Route update about Pune - Nagpur in August 2022

Route update about Pune - Nagpur in August 2022: 

Pune-Ahmadnagar: Road is good with patchworks.
Ahmednagar-Aurangabad: Few potholes and lots of two wheeler enroute. Average road conditions.
Aurangabad-Jalna: Fantastic smooth road. Again lots of 2 wheelers on route. Less traffic.
Crossed Aurangabad through city and avoided bypass due to bad experience last time.
Jalna-Shegaon: Awesome cement road ,few diversions and very less traffic. Dhaba 's available near chikhli who serves good food.
Shegaon-Akot: Again the roads are good with few bridges work is going on.
Akot-Amravati via Daryapur: Very good tar road with no potholes but expect few speedbreakers and cattles.
Amravati-Nagpur (Expressway): Best part of roads of this overall journey. Excellent conditions.
Overall journey was smooth and comfortable. 

Note: Enquired to local person at Jalna about Mehkar route and he told me that Mehakar-Karanja route is damaged due to recent rains so took Chikhli route and I dont regret that decision. 

Courtesy: A Ingle

4 laning of Gomati Chauraha–Udaipur section of NH8 is complete

The project for 4 laning of Gomati Chauraha–Udaipur section of NH8 in Rajasthan has been operational since December 2015. This 79 kms long stretch NH has been developed at total cost of ~INR 1100 Cr.

The project has 2 portal twin type 6 lane tunnel at Chirwa Ghat with 3 lane Tunnel each on LHS and RHS having length 485 m and 396 m respectively. This tunnel has helped to save around 3.3 km of travel distance. 

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* Indian Roadie Infrastructure Project 

Maruti Eeco and passenger bus crashed in Kaithal, Haryana

A Maruti Eeco driven at high speed by an army man on leave crashed head-on into into a passenger bus coming from the opposite direction on Friday 2022-08-19 afternoon near Kaithal in Haryana. 

The army man, Gurmit died on the spot. A stranger lady whom he had given lift while driving to his relative's place was seriously injured. 

Gurmit, a resident of Kaithal was posted in Assam and was scheduled to leave for duty on Saturday, a day after the mishap. Gurmit is survived by his wife and a young daughter. 

The video of the gory crash has already gone viral. I have personally read a comment (in some automobile owner's forum) where an @$$ of an IT engineer had opined that the man might have survived if it was some other car instead of a Maruti. The idiot's mother had possibly gone to hospital to give him birth riding a Hummer! 

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* Mishap And Calamity 

Subhodev and Saptarshi ranked 1st in explorer category in Malwa Rally 2022

Congratulations Indian Roadie Subhodev Chatterjee and Indian Roadie Saptarshi Basu. You made Kolkata proud. 

You made us proud once again after the end of Malwa Rally 2022 in Indore 👍 

#RenaultDuster proved its capabilities once again. 

Results: 

Stood 1st in explorer category SUV class in Malwa Rally, not once or twice but 3rd year in a row. 

Overall 2nd in explorer.

INTSDRC2 West Zone Champion and INTSDRC overall 2nd. 

* Indian Roadie Motorsport

Car and truck crash at Ranjangaon, MH on 2022-08-17

Five people in a car were killed and one lady injured in a ghastly accident on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway in Ranjangaon MIDC, opposite the LG India factory in the early hours of 2022-08-17. The accident took place when a truck travelling in the wrong direction came in the middle of the road and the car travelling to Panvel rammed into it. Three children were among the victims. 

The deceased have been identified as Sanjay Bhausaheb Mhaske (53), Ram Bhausaheb Mhaske (45), Ram Raju Mhaske (7), Harshada Ram Mhaske (4) and Vishal Sanjay Mhaske (16). Sadhna Ram Mhaske was seriously injured in the accident. 

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* Mishap And Calamity 

* High On Cognition 

Shyok River overflowed onto the road on 2022-08-15

It  drizzled around Leh since afternoon on Monday, 2022-08-15. Sky remained overcast till late evening. 

The following videos are of Shyok route (Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake) on 2022-08-15 afternoon. Shyok River has flooded the road. 

Video courtesy: Times Travel Ladakh 

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* Mishap And Calamity

This is Deep Banerjee, ex- Castrol & Founder - #IndianRoadie + Marketingpundit.

I am an independent Corporate Brand Marketing Strategist and B-school visiting faculty throughout India.

I am also a brand marketing advisor to a couple of Indian Oil retail outlets to:
- create customer delight and
- increase footfalls/ drive-in. 

#IndianRoadieEGranth (monthly eBook) is my most recent pathbreaking initiative w.e.f April 2022. The #eGranth reaches out to over 70,000 high networth professionals and businessmen across India. One A-site 24x7 fuel retail outlet already features in it and has started reaping the benefits. 

Ask for no obligation FREE copies of the astounding eBook.

This is an invitation to filling station retail outlet owners to revert to me on 824***93** (Email: roadieindian@gmail.com) to feature in Indian Roadie eGranth every month for an image makeover. With every passing day fuel retailing in India will become a different ballgame altogether. 

Waiting for you to respond.

Kolkata to Siliguri in Skoda Kushaq on 2022-08-07

Drive to Siliguri - A sudden work came up and I had to drive to Siliguri from Kolkata.

Latest Updates on the current road conditions:

Date of travel: 7th Aug 2022.

Route taken: NH12, NH19, SH13, SH6, SH8, NH12.

Total distance covered - 616 kms.

Total time taken: 14.5 hours, including breaks.

Total Toll: 645 INR.

Kolkata - Dankuni - Mogra - Kalna - Nabadwip - Krishnanagar:

Nothing to mention about this stretch. As usual it is good to very good. But still couldn't make who's actually collecting the Gouranga setu toll of 10 INR per car. Can someone give some idea?

Krishnanagar - Berhampore:

Good 4-lane divided routes. Diversions, bad road conditions at Debagram, Rejinagar. Road work is going on as always but still no result.

I took the internal route by the side of Ganges to reach Bhagirathi Setu, the bridge over Ganges. Nothing specific. Usual narrow city roads of Berhampore.

Berhampore - Farakka:

Just after crossing the bridge, a few kms ahead where the under construction Berhampore bye-pass will meet NH34 (current NH12), amazing 4-lane divided roads start till Moregram.

From Moregram till Farakka, 4-lanes continue but conditions gets a little bad. Be careful of the potholes and dangerous undulations at some places due to truck tires. Be careful and watch out.

Farakka Barrage road is where you go slow. 20 kmph is the limit. I did follow, thanks to the traffic.

Farakka - Dalkhola:

After Farakka, road conditions get back to normal. Kaliachak, Sujapur crossings have become a little more decongested with both side 4-lanes working properly, but still need lots of traffic management.

From Malda bye-pass amazing roads start till Gazole. Very good surface.

After Gazole, specially after Itahar till Raiganj, be careful of some sudden potholes. Looks at the lane markings. But majority of this stretch, is very good and newly laid at most places.

Inside Raiganj, usual congested undivided city roads. Raiganj bye-pass is almost complete. Guess few minor works remain after which it'll be open for use.

From where Raiganj bye-pass meets till Dalkhola, Purnea More, mix of excellent divided 4-lane tarmac, good undivided 2-lane roads and a flyover over the Dalkhola railway line. Overall, huge time savings and no long queue at that infamous crossing.

Purnea More - Islampur:

Worst stretch most probably. Divided 4-lane roads filled with huge potholes enough to break your rims. Try to cover during daylight. Very bad conditions. But alas, toll is being collected.

Islampur - Ghoshpukur:

Islampur bye-pass is the best stretch hands-down in this whole journey.

This continues till Ghoshpukur toll plaza. Some, very few, potholes are there. 70% of the stretch from Islampur bye-pass till the toll is concrete. The tarmac section, the remaining 30%, some potholes are there. Be sure to look out for them.

Ghoshpukur - Siliguri:

Roads are overall very good except for around 600-700m stretch where road work is going on.

As many of us know, Balason bridge is washed away and makeshift bridge is now holding the responsibilities. I got huge traffic mess-up here.

Left Kolkata at 6 AM. Reached near Balason bridge by 6:30 PM. After that till Sevoke Road, it took me 2 hours to reach due to heavy traffic.

Toll booths:

Rajchandrapur - 60 INR

Sali Bamandanga - 95 INR

Shibpur - 55 INR

Chandermore - 70 INR

18th Mile - 130 INR

Gazole - 60 INR

Surajpur - 85 INR

Ghoshpukur - 90 INR

Had lunch at Pappu da Dhaba, after Berhampore. Simple but good and tasty food and very affordable. Would recommend this place. Toilets were really clean.

https://g.page/Pappu-da-dhaba?share 

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Courtesy: Arnab Chowdhury 

Bangalore to Ellora - Indian Roadie Preferred Route/ Motoring Route

Indian Roadie Preferred Route/ Motoring Route/ Driving Route/ Road Route for 

Bangalore to Ellora 

(Bangalore_Ellora): 

Bangalore ---- Chitradurg ---- Hospet ---- Vijayapur ---- Solapur (MH) ---- Haglur (UP) ---- Ule ---- Tamalwadi ---- Malumbra ---- Sindphal ---- Tuljapur (MH) ---- Osmanabad (MH) ---- Yermala ---- Indapur Phata ---- Lonkhas ---- Pargaon ----Chousala ---- Dhotra ---- Wangaon ---- Manjarsumbha ---- Beed (MH) ---- Pendgaon ---- Sindphana River Bridge ---- Padalsingi Toll Plaza ---- Talewadi ---- Georai ---- Bagpimpalgaon ---- Bridge over Godavari River ---- Shahgad ---- Wadigodri ---- Pachod ---- Adul ---- Chitegaon ---- Zalta Phata ---- Bridge over Sukhna River ---- Aurangabad (MH) ---- Ellora 

Distance: 950 kms. 
Expected time: 15 - 16 hrs. 

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* Motoring Routes Of India is an initiative by Indian Roadie, India's most admired road travel and automotive forum for matured roadies.

Monsoon drive to Rajarappa in August 2022

A monsoon drive in early August 200 to the Chinnamasta Temple at Rajarappa in Ramgarh District of Jharkhand was quite gratifying. Situated at the confluence of Damodar river and Bhairavi river at a distance of around 67 kms from the State Capital Ranchi, the temple is dedicated to Goddess Chhinnamasta, one of the Dasamahavidyas of Devi Durga. It is a very old temple and a pilgrimage of Hindus from the neighbouring states being a Shakti Peeth.

The location is beautiful especially around banks of the river Damodar behind the temple. There is much scope for development of the place as an attractive tourist spot in Jharkhand since it is well connected with major cities like Ranchi, Bokaro and Dhanbad. This spot can be clubbed with nearby places like the Hundru Falls, Dassam Falls, Patratu Valley and others to make out an enjoyable Weekend destination.
There's also a Sun God (Suryadeb) temple with idol of the sun god riding his chariot drawn by 8 powerful horses on the banks of the confluence of Damodar and Bhairavi. This is adjacent to the Chinnamasta Temple. 
Photo and content credit: Gautam Mullick. 

Jed Regan's shower build with a composting toilet within a tight space

Jed Regan has shared some details of his shower build with a composting toilet in his van. He has admitted that although the space is tight, the objective is served. 

One might tend to pose a very obvious question which is, 'so when he showers, does he take the toilet out?' 

Jed says that if needed the toilet can be taken out or left inside. Note the hose. It’s the air vent for the composting. He intends to have an outdoor shower also which will mostly be used. The indoor one would be for cold weather or hosing down the little kids. Nevertheless, an adult can stand and shower with the toilet remaining inside.  There will be12 inches of room in front of the potty.  Also, he wants a door on the potty rather then the potty in a box style. 

The red stuff on the wall is some kind of a roll on waterproofing. 

For flooring, what he has fitted is not real ceramic tiles. They are some type of plastic or synthetic material.  They bend, so it allowed him to do a curved back wall.  

Here is the name of the brand https://palisade-tiles.com/. 

For the door he has ordered Nautilus shower door.  Chewy design uses them a lot on the Discovery channel VanGo.

The basin is 24" x 32".  It's 73 inches tall at the front of the shower.  The top tapers due to the curved wall.  So there is only 17 inches of depth at the top. 

https://www.campingworld.com/specialty-recreation-abs-shower-pan-24-x-32-x-4-white-115600.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=%7BCampaign%7D&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjpCYvdGJ9gIVQWxvBB25cgXREAQYBSABEgLMNvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 

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* Conversion for Vanlife