Other End Of The Tunnel

I went on this amazing ride with my husband starting from Sinhgad road, on the Pune-Bangalore highway(NH4), towards Katraj tunnel. It was drizzling a bit as it was early August and rain had just arrived in Pune.  NH4 connects Pune-Bangalore-Chennai and is a part of Golden Quadrangle project.

We reached the highway and it was like any other highway wide, clean and with loads of heavy vehicles crossing you every now and then. Katraj bypass gave the spectacular view of all the criss-croad roads,going right beneath you. We moved ahead towards the tunnel and suddenly the rain became heavier. We couldn’t find anything like roof to protect us from the rain so we rode ahead. On the both side of this highway there are huge rock structure . These must be the part of the hills which were cut through to make the road. I can easily imagine the huge effort went into this road construction.

We entered the tunnel and my husband  as always passed another anecdote stating that this tunnel appears in the ad of a drilling machine which says it drills through anything. I listened to him and tried recollecting the ad but I was more happy to feel safe from the rain. The tunnel seemed very long to me for a while and felt like shouting and hear the echo as most passerby were doing. I restrained myself and enjoyed other noises holding my breath to see the light at the other end. It soon arrived and I felt that the chill of rain coming my way again. To my amazement it was sunny on the other side although a very soft one with clouds all around. This was really a very different view for me rain on one side and sun on the other side of the tunnel.

We had tea and pakodas in a tapri with which a warm cozy feeling gushed into me. We headed back towards the tunnel and to our home. This time rain on the other side was much lighter and we headed back as fast as possible.