Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 9 of 10

Srinagar to Patiala

Today was all about covering kilometers.

One of my friends from this trip hails from Patiala. We had decided yesterday that we'll try and cover the 500 Km distance between Srinagar and Patiala in one day and will start early morning to accomplish this. We had given standing instructions to the driver to wake up early for we'll be ready with our luggage at 5 AM. When the driver knocked at our hotel rooms at 5:30 AM, our rooms were resounding with our snores.

We got ready and packed quickly and left without breakfast. We could see how Srinagar looked like a military zone in the morning with army men with red flags and sniffer dogs patrolling every nook and corner of the city and the outskirts. It was scary enough for us to not stop anywhere for tea. Later we came to know that the ongoing holy Amarnath Yatra was the reason for such heavy security, to keep the terrorists at bay.

Between Srinagar and Jammu is a place called Pida which is famous for its dhabas serving Rajma-Chawal (rice with red kidney beans curry). We had a heavy brunch there and moved on.

The Jawahar Tunnel separates Jammu from Kashmir. Drilled through the huge mountains, it is of utmost military importance and at 3 Km long it is among the longest tunnels in Asia. It is a standing example of man's persistence to tame Nature. We felt proud as we passed through it, though it reminded us a bit of the Delhi Metro's underground route.

We took a turn around 40 Km before Jammu and bypassed it by going through the Samba sector of J&K. This way we saved around 2 hours of Jammu's traffic.

After a few kilometers at Pathankot we hit a massive traffic jam. The locals had blocked the road demanding water. They would let go only after some water tankers came from Jammu to rid them of their misery. It was ironic since it was raining at the time. However our daring and skillful driver managed to take the side lane and cross all the mayhem almost unnoticed. At one point some women saw us driving past and they picked up stones threatening to hit our car. We stopped briefly and drove on when they were distracted elsewhere.

After that the journey was quite uneventful and we reached Patiala amidst heavy rain at 9:30 PM. Aunty had cooked a sumptuous meal for us which we downed in no time. The trip was almost over now and we had to head back to Delhi tomorrow.