With the light fading and the sky turning into a deep slate of azure peppered with a few brooding clouds, we reached the outskirts of the city, where an intriguing sight met our eyes. The azure of the sky was rent by a more vivid blue, which on closer inspection turned out to be a massive statue of Lord Shiva. So massive, in fact, that it could have smashed the Santa Fe flat and used it as a skateboard if it were to come alive (which it didn’t). Less than 30 minutes later we turned off the highway for the last time that day, entered into the town of Pathankot, and called it a day.
Waking up in my bed at The Grand Hotel (potential for some epic word play lost right there, if only we had one of Hyundai’s hatches too) a place that lives up to its name in all but price, which is very affordable, I was quite excited. Making my maiden venture into Jammu and Kashmir was a galvanising prospect, and on he following morning, I was quickly up and about and ready to hit the road. The road connecting the two cities continued to remain quite decent. It did suddenly converge from a four-lane to a two-lane road at one point, which was disconcerting and could prove to be a major hazard at night, especially for a car that doesn’t have the quick steering response of the Santa Fe.
The distance we covered was just a shade over a 100 km, but in the midst of that particular stretch, we crossed into the borders of Jammu & Kashmir and this came with a significant ramification. Since prepaid mobile phone numbers from outside the State aren’t allowed within J&K, I was suddenly devoid of network and the internet, which would have thrown a spanner in the works as regards navigation, but luckily there were others in the car who had brought along postpaid numbers. Something to remember if you plan on making a trip up to J&K.
