The drive back . .. ...

After the drive to Madhepura, we were all quite excited about the drive back. Excited because we were planning to take a different route. However, just before starting, we came to know that we could not drive the new planned route as there was a snag in a bridge on the way. The route we were planning was through Barauni and Bihar Sharif. But, that did not materialise. 

Well, below is the map of our drive to Madhepura from NJH. It was 544 kilometers and took us a total of 16 hours including rest hours. 

NJH to Madhepura Map

The drive back to NJH took us only 14 hours but we took a different route from Patna to Gaya. It totalled 602 kilometers. According to google maps it should have taken us 9 hours and 25 minutes. It took us 14 hours including time taken for rest and for buying vegetables at Chandwa. 

Madhepura to NJH road map

Below are the snaps from the journey. 

A pile up on the highway to Dharbhanga. There was a car inside the pile up (not seen in the snap). 

Alloo (potato) parathas for breakfast. It was so good and sumptous that we did not stop for lunch. 

The team sans Mr. Tapeswar and me enjoying the food. 

Sweets in the dhabha. There was good cottage cheese (paneer) also available. 

Guinea pigs in the dhabha

For those of you who would like to savour the alu parathas.
It's about 20 kms from Patna on the right side of the highway to Muzaffarpur.

Can you believe the name of this railway station. Can think of quite a lot of stories on how the name came. 

Traditional sweets called Tilkut in Gaya

Of course, we had roads like this, but was much better comparing to the drive to Madhepura

The majority of the roads were like this . . . 

Another interesting name of a village. Jabara . . . means 'jaw' in Hindi.
We also had one place called Masauda which means 'gums' in Hindi. 

Indian highways are not complete without goats, cows or buffaloes on the road.
However, quite dangerous. 

Tomato farm. From the nearby market we got about 10 kilograms of fresh tomato. 

The government's definition of development. The new power plants coming up at Chandwa. 

Well, we're already planning on how to make the most of the next meeting in one of the nearby units. Travelling by road has been a great experience.