Driving for long hours has always been my passion. I have travelled length of India (will soon cover east and north east) and seen roads growing as I today see my kid growing.

In the early 1990s I happened to travel (with family) from Ahmedabad to New Delhi via road in then Maruti Van (now omni). It took us three days to complete our journey of 1,000 plus kms. Out first stop was "Pink City", Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan. Next day we travelled longest section of journey to reach late night at "lake city", Udaipur, another princely city know for heroics of "Maharana Pratap". Exhausted and frusted with an average speed of less than 40Kmph, we had our legs streached in hotel room. Day-3, once again we start early morning from Udaipur to Ahmedabad (last section of our journey). We estimated the journey to take about 7+ hours. First 6 hours went as planned, as we reached outskirts of ahmedabad, we were welcomed by traffics jams and last 1 hours journey actually took us more than 3 hours to reach our distination. We decided never to repeat same (3 day journey) again ever on Indian roads.

A decade latter, in the year 2005 I again had to travel same distance on same course. This time I was driving Maruti WagonR. My Aim 1,000 Kms in less than 20 hours. I started from Delhi at around 3:00 AM. This time roads are wider, neater and traffic is free flowing. With dividers, proper sign boards and by-passes (for almost all cities and towns) it was great pleasure. This looked to me as "Dream Drive" on Indian roads.

I crossed Jaipur at 8:00 AM (last time it took about 10 Hours) and by 11:00 AM I had my break fast and reached Ajmer to visit our family temple. My hault at Ajmer was of 3 hours which also included lunch time. Next stop was Udaipur and I made this in less than 4 hours. By 8:30 PM, I was at my home in Ahmedabad. Udaipur - Ahmedabad, which used to take 7 to 10 hours is now less than 4 hours drive. At times you dont change gear for hour or more and stay in overdrive. Average speed this time was well over 80 Kmph.

A journey which took 3 days in 90s was now travelled in less than 20 hours in an entry level car. Imagine driving a C or D class merc or BMW, I guess it would have not taken more than 14 or 15 hours. Rajdhani express, one of the best Indian Rail takes appoximately 15 hours.

Roads in India have travelled long way from being patchy and to world class standards. GQ and Express highways are setting great standards. States like Gujarat and Punjab always had good road infrastructure (of what I know since late 80s), but now most Indian states have well laid down road network.

Driving for long hours has always been my passion and will remain so.

Happy Travelling