My Golden Quadrilateral Itinerary on Two Wheels

Oh I can't believe I'm finally ready with the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) ride plan! Unless aliens invade our planet I'll flag off my long awaiting motorcycle trip tomorrow morning. Before starting my great Indian road trip (this will be the longest among all I've done so far) I just wanted to share this moment of hyper-excitement with you. Golden Quadrilateral had been occupying an elite slot in my bucket list since 2012, after going through the beautifully scribbled motorcycle diary of a Pulsar rider. I wish I could get a link to thank him back for sowing the seed of GQ fantasy in my early motorcycling life. Those of you who're not acquainted with GQ, have a seat. 

Golden Quadrilateral is the largest highway network in India which connects four major metro cities- Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, spanning over an estimated length of 5,846 kilometres. We all travellers are indebted to our ex-PM Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee for laying the foundation stone of this mammoth highway project back in 2001. Interestingly, GQ is the fifth longest highway network in the world, traversing through 13 Indian states, and connecting a whole bunch of large Indian cities besides those four metros- Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore, Pune, Surat, Vadodara, Jaipur, Ajmer, Gurgaon, Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Dhanbad etc. to mention a few. I could squeeze out 14 days and had to plan my itinerary accordingly. There's so much I want to say, but I'm not even done with packing my bags. Have a quick look at my GQ ride map and wrapped up itinerary.

Golden Quadrilateral Map, prepared by Information Technology and Planning Division of NHAI. 

Day 1  : Bardhaman to Barkul, and overnight halt (617 kilometres).
Day 2  : Barkul to Vijayawada, and overnight halt (680 kilometres).
Day 3  : Vijayawada to Chennai, and overnight halt (455 kilometres).
Day 4  : Explore Chennai and catch up with friends. No fixed plan till now.
Day 5  : Chennai to Hubli, and overnight halt (764 kilometres).
Day 6  : Hubli to Mumbai, and overnight halt (591 kilometres).
Day 7  : Explore Mumbai and catch up with friends. No fixed plan till now.
Day 8  : Mumbai to Udaipur, and overnight halt (760 kilometres).
Day 9  : Explore Udaipur and catch up with friends. No fixed plan till now.
Day 10: Udaipur to New Delhi, and overnight halt (650 kilometres).
Day 11: New Delhi to Agra, explore Agra, and overnight halt (201 kilometres).
Day 12: Agra to Varanasi, and overnight halt (609 kilometres).
Day 13: Varanasi to Bardhaman, back to home sweet home (580 kilometres)!
Day 14: Buffer day for any unforeseen situation.

See I told you, I'm not even done with packing my saddle bags. FYI these are self made bags.

Although I do not take the pain of moving around with my laptop, I'll keep you updated through Facebook and Twitter pages. Do search for the tag #GQRideWithBenu to keep an eye on my mini great Indian road trip. I've promised myself to carry as little luggage as possible. Even the poor DSLR won't get a place in the saddle bag. Phone camera and an old compact shall be engaged for its job. Last year was too corrosive and its savage shadow is yet to release my tail. Too many questions have remained unanswered. It is not that I did not move my butt to put things in order. Too many closed doors often leave you bitter. I know I'm making least sense to you. 

Buddy, I am in hurry. Excuse me tonight. There'll be many blog posts coming up on this Golden Quadrilateral trip to answer all your queries. I still believe that roads have answers to everything thrown at you. Let me keep my faith strong on this. There's no destination this time, only a journey. Wish me a safe ride for now. I'll see you soon.