Travelogue: BMW Blitz Through Rajasthan!

Delhi has great roads, but the hustle of city traffic doesn't warrant for pleasurable driving and therefore it is hardly the place to enjoy a smoking hot sedan such as the BMW 320d CE. The BMW urges you to push it harder and this warrants for better roads, endless stretches of tarmac and the ability to just unleash the 175 horses under the hood. 

Lucky for me, it was nearing the weekend and I decided that if there is one place in North India that can truly live up to BMW expectations of motoring, then that state has to be Rajasthan. It has some of the best roads in the country and I was hell bent on taking it to the road touted to be the holy grail of Indian motoring. No, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway might be a brilliant road, but when you consider the 300 kilometer stretch from Jodhpur to Jaiselmer that literally draws a straight tarmac line between the two desert cities, you will realize just what I'm talking about.

Armed with a small weekend bag, a full tank of gas and a couple of mp3s with my favourite music, I took off down NH8 from Gurgaon towards Jaipur. With the current four laning work in progress on this 228 kilometer stretch, the drive was a little slow and the little Beemer managed to cruise along at a steady 90-100kmph most of the way. The single CD player churned out quality hits from my mp3 and after three and a half hours I had reached the outskirts of Jaipur marked by a small town called Chandwaji. A few kilometers past this little town is the grand Jaipur bypass road that allows you to get to the other side of town without having to put a wheel in the city. 

Post Jaipur is where motoring bliss begins. The road opens up to the Jaipur-Kishangarh Expressway and the speedo needle on the 320d easily made its way up to 130km/h for most of the 94 kilometer journey. After crossing the toll plaza at Kishangarh, I made my way towards Ajmer and then on to Beawar, from where I had to finally leave NH8 and turn onto NH14 and then on to NH 112 to make my way towards Jodhpur. Having left Gurgaon rather late in the day, it was getting to be early evening now and I really wanted to reach Jodhpur at a decent hour. With about 200 odd kilometers left to my journey I was glad to come across a nice empty stretch of road. Rajasthan isn't very populated, except for the few big cities, and this played to my advantage for I was able to really drive all out towards Jodhpur and get there in record time. 

The 560 kilometer journey from Gurgaon to Jodhpur was covered in less than nine hours and I checked into a neat little heritage hotel by the name of Jhalamand Garh located around 8 kilometers from the city center. A brilliant dinner of Laal Maas (a Rajasthani mutton preparation) and rotis was more than enough to help me unwind and usher in a good night's sleep. I should mention that despite having spent almost nine hours behind the wheel, I wasn’t feeling any fatigue. This stands as testimony to the brilliance of the 320d which offers more than decent ride comfort and is an absolute joy to drive. I have done a similar drive in a Maruti Gypsy a few years ago and when I got to Delhi, I had to apply for two days leave just to recuperate! That should put things into perspective on just how much the right vehicle decision matters on a long journey.

An early morning start from Jodhpur in order to avoid any city traffic proved to be a great decision as I was able to make my way out of town and get on the famed highway while the weather was still cool and the roads rather empty. As the tree line on either side of the road started to thin and the sand dunes made their debut next to the desolate stretch of tarmac, I knew that I had finally arrived on the road that I had dreamt of.  It's just a two lane road, but traffic is sparse and the quality of tarmac is pristine thanks to the Border Roads Organization. I gunned the 2.0 liter diesel engine found myself flying down the road at speeds that are better left unmentioned! The Beemer was finally in its element, doing what it's supposed to do and boy was I having fun! 175bhp and 350Nm of torque all of a sudden made sense to me and I was equally happy to remember that this car is equipped with DTC and ABS as well! I arrived in Pokhran well before my scheduled time for I had managed to knock off 172 kilometers of driving in about two hours! Since Pokhran was originally scheduled to be my lunch stop, I decided to spend some time in the city and see what it has to offer apart from being the area where the Indian Government tested its nuclear capability. 

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My drive around town took me to Fort Pokhran, a heritage hotel as well as a museum. Hardly the facility I expected to find in this city, however this 14th century fort is beautiful and offers 19 rooms for guests to stay in. The museum is packed with centuries of treasure from age old armor to swords and other fine riches that the Kings of an era bygone possessed. Humbled by our heritage, I decided to stick around the fort a little longer and enjoy a nice lunch in the grand dining room.  Post lunch I drove out to Jaiselmer, a 100 kilometer journey that goes by in a flash thanks to the brilliant road, and spent the afternoon sightseeing in this old Desert city and in the evening I made my way back to Fort Pokhran, as I had decided to stay at the fort for the night.

I couldn't have asked for more action over just one weekend, however here I was enjoying a BMW infused fairytale weekend away from the hustle bustle of Delhi. It indeed had been an eventful two days, however as with all great journeys, this too had to come to an end and my final leg of the journey was a straight twelve hour drive back to reality and Gurgaon.