More on the Golden Quadrilateral...

You may think that the above is a picture of some highway in the US or maybe an Autobahn in Germany. Well you are mistaken. it is a picture of the Express Highway between Bangalore and Chennai(Picture Courtsey: Another blog, since i could not take my own pictures) . Last time I had stopped with a promise of providing more details on the Golden Quadrilateral. Now this is the biggest highway project in India. Aimed to connect the 4 Metro's. The good news is that this is almost complete. Recently I drove down to Chennai from Bangalore in my faithful Maruti 800 along with a couple of friends. I had heard that it is a great 4 lane highway, that was why I decided to drive down. Well to be frank the road was beyond my wildest expectations. it was an absolutely awesome road all the way to Chennai. Great quality and not even a tiny pothole. The best thing is that there are flyovers and byepasses across most of the major towns on the route, so you do not need to slow down as you cross towns. The road has good signage and even has proper exits which will take you into the towns on the way.

Well, how do you go? Take the Hosur Road from Bangalore and keep going till you reach Krishnagiri, from there take a left and keep going on and on and you reach Chennai. Very Simple :).

So is there any disadvantage? Sure, its not a perfect world :). The major problem is that it is not a barricaded highway. And as we all know is a highly populated country. So there is no dearth of people anywhere. So as you are speeding down this highway you may suddenly seen someone casually crossing the road, or even trying to be daring by jumping across just as you reach close. Most people dont seem to understand the velocity the modern vehicles are capable of. So be ready to stamp on the brakes at a moments notice. And remember, you are always to blame whose ever fault it is. Second major problem: people have the impression that they live in America, lots of trucks bikes tractors, prefer to come down the wrong lane to avoid going and taking a U turn further down. So dont be surprised if you are suddenly confronted with a truck or tractor looming large in front of you. Be prepared. And ofcourse this is India, so you always need to be wary of the cows, dogs and other asssorted animals who have no idea on what an express highway is.

All said and done, it is still by far the best roads in India and if you enjoy driving and have a decent car (I enjoyed it with a Maruti 800, the worst car on the road according to experts-But i beg to differ) but if you have a Ford or a Honda, then it is pure bliss. And if you are really adventurous you can try it on a Pulsar or a karizma...

The Twenty20, The Porsche The Golden Quadrilateral and more...

I suppose the euphoria of the T20 World Cup win has kind of died down now. But it was such a wonderful thing to watch. Being a die hard cricket fan all my life finally paid off. There have been some great victories over the past many years, but such a wonderful win on a world stage was heart warming. Of course so called cricket pandits will say that it is just slam bang cricket and not real cricket. Others will say that its a game played in only 10 countries and so winning is no big deal. But let people think want they want. It was a wonderful win and a time to rejoice for all criket fans. The T20 format is also great. Just 3 hours, non stop action, and unlike what the pandits say, you need considerable skill with both bat and ball to succeed. Hope this format becomes more popular...

So whats the significance of the porshe. Well that was one of the innumerable goodies offered to the Men in Blue. Now this is a little embarassing. Its ok if the BCCI gave lots of money. But some of the other goodies offered seemed terribly ridiculous!!! A porsche to Yuvraj Singh!! Where do they even get that machine from?? Promotions for 4-5 players contracted with Air India and free flights?? What about the poor fellows in Air India who actually work hard!! I am a Keralite but i cannot stop myself from mentioning this. The Kerala state government gave 5 lakhs to Sreesanth. Ok fair enough. But then they announced 3 Lakhs to Robin Uthappa because his mother was born in Calicut!!! Awesome is it not?? Trust the Kerala media to bring a mallu connection to any celebrity. I am sure even Robin would have been embarassed by that... :)

The Golden Quadrilateral!! Whats that? Sounds a bit like the Bermuda Triangle is it not? Well.. its nothing like that. That is the name given to the express highway which connects the 4 metros and also passes through various other big cities including Bangalore. It is an awesome 4 lane expressway of international quality. I got a chance to drive on the Chennai Bangalore Stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral... So what did i think of the road? Is it really an expressway? Is it really of international Quality?? Well more on all that in the next blog. I think this post has become pretty long already...