Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
Anybody who has worked in a company that manufactures anything in India knows Ichchapuram ! Its the border town between Andhra and Orissa where trucks are routinely stalled for days thanks to the close attention of Ramamritham. It is a perfect example of everything that is wrong about India's internal trade. States create artificial boundaries and its often easier to export something to another country than to send it from one state to another. The worst example for many decades was Ichchapuram. The sight of seeing 1000 trucks stalled at the border was routine. Careers have been made with the talent of releasing a truck there !
Today was a long heavy day full of driving as I aimed to put the maximum distance possible
. Crossed the Godavari near Rajahmundry - at least there was water in the Godavari. Past the congestion of Vizag - there is no bypass for this town and I faced the full attention of kamikaze two wheelers. My hands are sore with honking away to glory. I don't think I have ever honked so much before . And then the Ichchapuram crossing into Orissa. Thankfully there were only about 500 trucks waiting, and pretty orderly at that. So my crossing was only 15 mts instead of the one hour I had budgeted ! If I were working, I would have demanded a promotion on the grounds that I had "conquered" Ichchapuram.
Now in Bhubaneswar the capital of Orissa after clocking over 800 kms today. Impressed with this one too. The street where my hotel is, is a 6 lane road with a 20 ft impeccable pavement on both sides (never mind that two wheelers are merrily zipping upon it in true Indian style ; at least it is there). I think its time to consider abandoning Bangalore, where the word pavement has not yet entered the dictionary.
Its just a night halt here and I will be on the road again come morning. Orissa is not my target this time.
I conquered Ichchapuram !
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
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Comments
2025-05-23
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Vincy Joseph
2015-02-04
800 kms a day?? WOW !!! unimaginable for a novice driver like moi.
Ichchapuram is new - am I geographically challenged or it is the effect of having been only in the IT world? have to google to find out.
BTW, rest well. tomorrow is yet another long day.
Shachi
2015-02-04
Holy Moly - you are on a mile conquering roll! Good job!
I can safely assume I've not been to your destination - looking forward to your posts!
indigoite
2015-02-05
@Vincy - Yes Ichchapuram means nothing to the IT star. Its past Vizag, right on the border with Orissa.
@Shachi - :) If you haven't been places, well, then welcome to armchair traveling :)
J
2015-02-05
Roadside Dhabas take me back to Etah :) Enjoy the rasgullas at your next halt!
Suja
2015-02-05
Heading to Bengal? Or to Assam? Or further? Waiting to see where the road leads you.. BTW Impressed by the distances you are covering! My husband and I have done 800-1000 km drives in a day but that was in Europe, Australia and USA. I cannot dream of doing it in India. Hats off for stamina!
Asha
2015-02-05
a lone driver clocking so many miles. Kudos......keep going.....but where to?...I am presuming you are crossing brahmaputra too.....btw, icchapuram is immortalized in movie songs, it is heard all over the world because of this song.
More stories and anecdotes....bring it on...waiting to hear more.
indigoite
2015-02-05
@J - Etah ?? Ugh :)
@Suja & Asha - It'll become self evident where I am headed to, shortly ..... Just some teasing in not saying explicitly :)
indigoite
2015-02-05
@Asha - Ichchapuram in a movie ??? I had no clue, but that is hardly surprising :) Which song ??
Asha
2015-02-06
yes, a very fast catchy train number famous even with non-telugu folks who love dances . It goes like " a ante amalapuram, aa ante aaha puram , e(I) ante icchapuram.....and so ..on from Aarya :)
Vinod
2015-02-10
800 kms..your feet must be sore! Great to see the Godavari. I have always been awed by the great exanse of this river. Still holds true when i see the pic. Krishna was said to be a very deep river and used to give the jitter when the trains went over it and a little boy feared the train falling into the river. It was the days of regular train accidents. Wow! your blog took me to a point in time I had forgotten almost. Thank you.
indigoite
2015-02-11
@Vinod - Nice that your childhood memories have been kindled.