QUIT 2017 - Day 7

Today's plan was to drive from Jagdalpur to Warangal via NH 63. We spent a lot of time on deciding this route. For one, it passes close to Dhantewada, the epicenter of Maoist violence. Though there have been no reports about any violence in recent times, it left us a little queasy. Another reason was that there was no clear information on whether the bridge to Godavari via Bhopalpattnam was open. Google maps showed NH 63 completely connected. There were reports of Bhopalpattnam bridge not being open, but there were also youtube videos of the new bridge across Godavari. In face of conflicting information, anyone with common sense would have taken the safer option of alternate route. But no one has accused me of having common sense. So we started at 8.00 AM from Jagdalpur. NH 63 was completely devoid of cars going towards Bijapur - Bhopal Pattnam. It is a real stunning road with beautiful scenery on both sides. There were only occasional lorries and buses, and kids walking to school. Just before Geedam, the government has built a huge educational city with the tag line "Education is for all. it is beyond ideological clashes". There was visible investment in schools and we could see lot of children walking to schools. There seemed to be a school every 20 km or so. And we saw kids walking to school for the entire time we travelled from Geedam to Bijapur. Wonder what the school timings are here. The drive through the forest road upto Bijapur was easy and pleasant. Though we felt a slight tremor of fear everytime we saw CRPF men patrolling the roads, reminding us of the insurgency we keep reading in newspapers. We were stopped at a check point and the CRPF constable couldn't believe that we were tourists travelling in this rod. We reached Bijapur by 10.45 AM and proceeded towards Bhopalpattnam. The road started deteriorating and we had to cross a series of broken bridges. At every point we had to take a diversion on the side and climb up again. Road laying work was going on and we had to navigate gravelly roads too. We proceeded thinking it is only for a short while. At the last diversion before Bhopalpattnam, I followed a cyclist going in front of me and drove straight into slush. The front wheel settled nicely and refused to move. There was a diversion of the diversion that I had missed. I got out and realised that I had made a rookie mistake and the car had to be towed back. Further acceleration only pushed the car further into the slush. I flagged down the vehicles coming behind me. One share auto guy stopped and along with other passengers tried to push the car back. It wouldn't budge. A tractor came along and I asked him to help. He asked if I had a towing rope. I didn't. Then we found a road roller with a towing rope. Another car stopped by and the person got down to help us. With the help of these good Samaritans we pulled the car back. I couldn't thank them enough. The whole thing took just about half an hour but I died many a time in that half an hour. Getting your axle broken in the middle of nowhere would have been a disaster. Then the person in the car dropped a bombshell. "Where are you going?" he asked. "To Warangal" I replied. "But there is no bridge" he told me incredulously. "But I saw videos of bridge over Godavari" I said panic creeping into my voice. "That bridge is open for two years. But the small bridge after Bhopalpattnam is yet to be built." "Oh, can we take any diversion like we did in previous broken bridges" "Two days back my men only made the diversion path, but after yesterday's rains I don't think it will be holding. Anyway you check and see, I doubt it" So we drove on to Bhopalpattnam and heard from another contractor that the diversion path has been washed away and there is no way the car can cross there. "What's the alternate" I asked. "Either go via Dantewada - Sukma - Badrachalam or back to Jagdalpur" So all our plans for Warangal - Hyderabad - Gandikota went for a toss. Started driving back sullenly from Bhopalpattnam to Jagdalpur. After a silence of twenty minutes, she said "Come on, don't brood too much. Atleast we got out safe without any damage to the car. And we were lucky that we got stuck closer to the town instead of somewhere in the middle" "Yeah, yeah. So what do we do now" "First get back to Jagdalpur, check in to the hotel and then decide" After a gap, she said "I even clicked a couple of photos of the car stuck in mud" "ரொம்ப முக்கியம்” So we drove back via NH 63. Many people warned us not to take NH 63 fearing Maoists. We of course travelled twice on that route in a single day. 400 kms of travel to realise that there was no bridge at the end of the road. Now back in Jagdalpur and planning to drive back the same way we came. As they say some days you are the bird, some days you are the statue. Total distance travelled so far : 2060 km