Introduction
If you make a list of some of the most difficult tasks which we usually face in India, one of the very popular ones would be to get a confirmed train ticket for a long rail journey in India. No words, Indian Railways is the cheapest and the most convenient option to travel distances ranging from 5-6 kms upto even 4000+ kms around India. Variety of classes offered, cost effective, comfortable and amazing experiences are a few reasons why it has become a lifeline of India today.
The Plan
After exploring all the states of South India, now was the time to visit North India starting from Rajasthan. There’s a direct train from Bangalore straight to Jodhpur, but it was already filled even before 1.5 months. I didn’t have any option other than waiting a day before to book tatkal tickets. Finally the day came where I tried to book tickets from multiple accounts but failed everywhere, so had no other option for that day except waiting for the next day’s tatkal.
The Alternate Option
One interesting thing which I knew was that the longest bus journey in India runs between Bangalore to Jodhpur on a daily basis and takes almost the same time as the train journey in a Volvo bus operated by multiple operators like Jakhar, MR, VRL and many others. As it was a travel season with holidays all around, waiting for the train was not a sensible option. So I checked out various options available and finally booked a bus from Bangalore to Mt Abu on MR Travels, but the bus was heading towards Jodhpur.
Day-1 departure From Bangalore
The departure was at 9PM from Anand Rao circle and I came well before time to take the bus after having a light dinner. The expected time of journey was around 36 hours to Mt Abu and 42 hours to Jodhpur. Though the journey would be exhausting and boring there wasn’t any other option left. Hence had to go with this option.
The bus departed on time and left Bangalore city very soon cruising through the NH-4 towards the north. As it was a tiring day, I slept early and woke up at around 7 AM where the bus had crossed Belagavi still in Karnataka. The later part was the most interesting and the most annoying part of the journey.
Day-2 in Maharashtra
We entered Maharashtra, our second state in the journey and stopped for breakfast at Kolhapur. The weather was getting very hot and very uncomfortable. The journey started getting boring and the speed also reduced, thus increasing the delays. The bus was stopping at unscheduled halts and picking passengers everywhere to fill the empty seats. So we reached Pune almost after a 3-4 hours delay.
Crawling in Mumbai
The journey after Pune was horrible as the roads were very crowded. Even the expressways were completely filled and hence the journey started getting much delayed. Nonetheless the journey was actually very beautiful with the scenic views of the ghats along with the sunset. But the entire evening passed on entering Mumbai and departing out of Mumbai after picking up a few passengers both officially and unofficially.
Somewhere outside Mumbai we had a stop for dinner and after having some light food we slept off as the bus cruised through the highway. We were already more than 5 hours late, where our expected time to reach Mt Abu was 7 AM and night 11 PM we were still in Mumbai. We entered the third state Gujarat at night and Ahmedabad in the morning.
Day-3 in Gujarat
Around 7 in the morning we reached Ahmedabad and it was the second time in the past 6 months since we came here. The weather was bit cooler and we had a stop for around 30 mins to relax and have some food. As we were already late, we continued our journey ahead on the highway.
The Incredible State of India: Rajasthan
At around 11AM we finally reached our 4th state Rajasthan in the span of 3 days, which was a terrific journey. The bus stopped at some halt after crossing the border for lunch and after this short break we continued ahead in Rajasthan. The weather was getting hotter and hotter as time passed.
Mt Abu – The Cool Land in the Desert
Finally at around 12:30, we reached Abu Road, our destination which was delayed by 6 hours. We didn’t have any plans other than roaming around Mt Abu for sometime, so considering the availability of the train, it was a good decision to take this bus. This was actually a lifetime experience spending almost 44 hours in a bus which was very tiring and irritating sometimes due to the delays, traffic, unofficial halts but could match our further plan similar to the train journey.
