Dear Sabir,
It must be telepathy!
I was cleaning my bookshelves
a couple of days ago and came across your book. I put it aside and read a few
pages to entertain myself.
Then Voila! Your email came.
About my trip;
I started my overland trip in
London and drove through France, Switzerland, and Italy to Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia, at that time was one country under the strong leadership of Marshal
Josip Broz Tito. I had no problem entering it because I have a Canadian
Passport. It took me two days to drive to Macedonia which was a part of
Yugoslavia. I got to Delphi from where Alexander started his journey of
adventure and conquest.
Alexander’s horse was called
Bucephalus and it was only proper that I named my Toyota Corolla Bucephalus.
From Yugoslavia into Greece,
then crossed the bridge over the Bosporus and was in Istanbul, Turkey. In this
simple drive of crossing the bridge I had left Europe and entered Asia.
Istanbul, Constantinople of
old, was once the largest city in the world and important trading centre. It
was also the seat of the Ottoman Empire. It boasts some of the most magnificent
buildings in the world.
In the news right now is the
Hagia Sophia which is over twelve hundred years old. Originally it was a
Christian Cathedral built by the Romans. When the Islamic Byzantines took over
it became a mosque. Later on it was turned into a museum. Recently it has again
been turned into a mosque.
From Turkey into Iran. This
was a delight because the roads in Iran were as good as the roads in Europe.
Roads in Turkey and Greece left much to be desired.
In Iran my most important
stop concerning Alexander was Persepolis.
It was one of the most fabled
cities before the Christian era. It was the seat of the Persian Empire and its
Army and Naval Forces were feared throughout the known and civilized world.
Two hundred years before
Alexander got there the Persian’s had attacked Athens and destroyed it’s most
important monument, the Acropolis.
Alexander’s visit to
Persepolis was for one reason alone; to do to the Persian City what the
Persian’s had done to Athens.
After having captured and
taken control of Persepolis, he gave the order to his army to raze the city to
the ground. He then retired to his tent, got drunk and slept for two days.
When he emerged the
magnificent city of Persepolis was no more!
From Iran I entered
Afghanistan, a wild, wonderful and beautiful desert land with snow covered
mountains.
I spent a few days in Herat,
the eastern most country to be called Alexandria.
It has a huge Mud Fort where
Alexander spent the winter while his scouts went further east to find routes to
the fabled land of Sindhu, named after the Indus River.
A year later Alexander broke
camp, marched eastwards, crossed the Khyber Pass and came down to do battle
with King Porus.
This is where my drive ended,
in today’s Pakistan. The year was 1975-76 when there was peace on Earth!
It allowed me to drive back
to Tehran and return to India the following year. I crossed the famous Khyber
Pass three times!
Today the story is completely
different. Starting with Pakistan you may not get a visa because of the frosty
relations between us and them.
Afghanistan is a war zone
with Kalashnikov totting Taliban, trigger happy and blood thirsty who would
love to have you as target practice!
If you survive that and zip
over the concrete roads, the departing Soviets sprinkled the countryside
liberally with anti personnel landmines.
An interesting fact about the
Afghan Roads. They were built by the Russian’s in the 50s with instructions to
the military engineers that the roads should be arrow straight and serve as
runways for fighter aircraft and heavy transport aircrafts.
They should also be wide enough
to accommodate two tank transporters side by side.
Why these particular demands?
Since the days of the Czars when the Great Game was being played out in Central
Asia, Russia was looking for a warm water port.
They thought if they had
Afghanistan, they would bash through Baluchistan and end up in the Arabian Sea.
It did not happen.
Over a century later the
Chinese have accomplished this with the Belt and Road Initiative. A road that
connects China to Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea. It cuts through Baluchistan.
Gwadar Port in Baluchistan is
the deepest sea port in the world. The port belongs to Pakistan but is under the
operational control of the China Overseas Port Holding Company.
Iran and Turkey are also unstable
and volatile.
When I drove through
Yugoslavia it was one country under the able leadership of Marshal Tito. Today,
these Balkan States are Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia,
Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia maybe a couple more. They are all at war with
each other.
To sum up, this route is
simply not possible.
I have no idea where my
printed story is after almost half a century.
There was no electronic
media, email, social media. Not that any of that will help you today.
My friend Pardeep drove from
Chandigarh to London a couple of years ago. I will check with him his route and
pass on the information to you.
After having given you a
rather dim view of going overland to England, I have spoken to Pardeep. He is a
motoring aficionado and a true blue adventurer.
He had also wanted to do the
Alexander’s route in reverse but after a serious discussion and deep thought he
dropped the idea in double quick time!
He did make the trip. He did
get to London but through a very circuitous route.
He left Chandigarh for Imphal
from where he crossed over to Myanmar. Then to Thailand, Laos and into China.
He drove to the North of China then crossed over to Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and
Uzbekistan. After crossing into Russia he
went straight to Moscow.
He then traversed the Baltic
States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to Poland and the Czech Republic,
Germany, the Netherlands and finally France.
From France he caught a ferry
to England.
Pardeep’s choice of vehicle
was perfect; Toyota Innova Crysta.
The preparation of the car
for this rigorous trip was a breeze. All he did was get a new Amaron Battery
and new set of tyres. He chose Michelin. He changed the disc pads upfront and
the brake shoes at the rear.
The only spares he carried
were a set of brake shoes and windshield wipers.
Why disc pads as spares? The
Toyota Innova Crysta has an auto gearbox. This means there can be no braking
with the engine, as such, this drive over hill and dale would demand a lot of
braking.
The Innova had about 20,000 kilometres
when he started the trip. From Chandigarh to London was another 25,000 kilometres.
His first oil change was at
about 8,000 kilometres in China. There were zero repairs along the way! That’s
Toyota! Today he is driving around Chandigarh in the same car. It will come as
no surprise to any Toyota owner that the car is still with the original factory
fitted fan belt and hose pipes!
Discussing this trip with
Pardeep rattled my memory and took me back to 1975.
I drove from London to Delhi
following Alexander the Great’s Route.
My choice of vehicle was the Toyota
Corolla with a 1600 cc 2T 4 cylinder engine.
Great minds also think alike!
I also had Michelin XZX
tyres!
In the 70s the Toyota Corolla
took the world by storm because of its bullet proof reputation.
I drove that car 300,000
miles or 480,000 kilometres. In the fourteen years that I drove it through
mountains, deserts, the freezing roads of Canada, the car never missed a beat!
Never a cough, never a splutter.
I had occasion to cross the fabled
Khyber Pass three times.
But that’s a story for
another time.
Sabir, writing this letter
has got me all worked up! I am sure you will do it and have a great time.
The only speed breaker that
comes to mind is China. We are on a very frosty relationship with them at the
moment. Let’s hope things settle down.
Regarding a publisher,
Dipankar Mukherjee published my book called ‘Good Motoring’ named after my
column in The Tribune. Please do contact him. His email id is;
Dipankar.mukherjee@readomania.com
+91 99106 48886
I wish you lots of luck with
this mad adventure! Please believe me that for the success of such a daring,
high voltage drama and adventure a touch of madness is a very necessary
ingredient.
Wishing you success!
Kishie Singh
SABIR'S RESPONSE TO MY LETTER