Wander through India : NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014 : Transversing on the road of the Mughals

# DAY XVII : Srinagar to Jammu

#131. Srinagar , the city of beauty was ravaged by the wrath of nature and as the day dawned it revelaed the devastation that the city had undergone. There was disarray everywhere and it was the administration and the Army that were trying to hold everything together.

#132. The Army was everywhere, every chowk , every intersection the one common aspect was the Army , whatever may be the opinion of many a individual there is no denying the fact that it is the Army that holds the situation finally when things start falling. This situation is so very common in places like Srinagar.

#133. A distance of 300kms which normally would take six hours looked formidable indeed with conflicting reports as to the status of the Srinagar –Jammu Highway. I reached Pantha chowk and mingled with the local taxis asking for ground reports and almost all suggested to avoid the highway rather travel by the Mughal Road. Now as I was unaware of this route, I decided to tag behind a particular tax that was heading out that way. The route involved pulwama , shopian, bafliaz and then ahead on the Mughal Road.

#134. I followed the taxi till Shopian which was reached by 1100 hours and I am thankful for this for the route indeed was through narrow roads and villages in between with no signboard of any kind. From shopian a bit ahead one reaches a intersection and one has to take the right road which will lead to the start of the Mughal Road which is one of the most spectacular roads ever built anywhere in India as it races through the mighty Pir Pangal Ranges. The condition of the road was mix of good and bad and it was incline or descent all the way.

#135. By 1400 hours I reached Thana Mandi and heaved a sigh of relief as I thought that the Mughal Road had come to an end, how was I to know that what lay ahead was torturous indeed, the road narrowed down by half immediately and the climb started once again up ahead and I was back in the jungles on a route which was completely broken at almost all the places and snaked its way through the undergrowth of the forests. The ordeal was immense as I was definitely not aware of the terrain or the condition , there was no option but to keep pushing ahead .

#135. By 1530 we were at Rajouri after a back breaking constant braking and gear shifting ordeal of close to 80 kms. The road improved considerably after that and we had something decent to eat eventually. Soon we were on our way for I wanted to reach Jammu before sundown as I was totally on unprepared paths. The Chenab bridge was crossed at 1830 hrs and I rolled into Jammu at 2000 hours covering a distance of 345 km which had taken me close to 12 hours and was one of the most difficult and grueling days of the whole trip . It is commendable of the performance of the Logan that it took everything in its stride through the entire trip and I was so glad that I could rely on performance when I most needed it .

ODO stood at 77106.