Morning 0700 hours a friend
is at the door, and has 2 days off, so we are on a road trip one of those
instantaneous decisions that one can make with people you really trust I feel
We both set off in 15 min
time, 2 shorts, 2 t – shirt, bush comb and paste, 2 bottles of water and a
extra pair of shoes packed, we got in the car and then decided we will go due
West, so that’s Ranchi and beyond,
We filled up fuel, the Car
told us this tank of gas would see us good for 600km, and set off, (I was
excited as 1 tank of fuel gives me 300- 400 km approx., here we were anticipating
double) Good news already.
1 st Toll we hit and heaved a sigh of relief
as the Toll gates opened up, My dear friend was not sure if there was enough
money in the fastag,
We stopped for (Aloo chop)
Potato cutlet at Manoj Dhaba, on the way, 50km approx. From Jamshedpur heading towards Ranchi, Rs 70
worth of Aloo chop later we hit the road again the next Toll we came to, the
Car showed as Blacklisted (which means we did not have enough money on the Fastag)
and I was feeling really hungry again,
The toll keeper was ok to let
me cross the toll and help me recharge so long as I left a ID with him, I did
One better, I left my Friend at the toll, after all what better assurance
could we give (pun intended)
Recharge done we hit the road
once again and stopped for proper Breakfast, Coffee and Dosa
Onward again we were headed
to Ranchi and beyond, reaching Ranchi border, not wanting to enter town we hit ring
road and headed to a place I had visited a year earlier, Macluskigung we were
headed to?
I knew the roads were good
and have a friend who runs a homestay which is just Awesome, its called AMYRA
homestay and very worth a visit.
http://amyrahomestays.com/
We reached outskirts of the
city of mccluskiganj and had lunch at the Dhaba just before the city starts,
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snacking while waiting for food
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Meal not complete without Jalebi
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Breathing the fresh air we
were feeling rejuvenated and finally we headed into the Anglo village of
mccluskiganj
7 km into the city is the
homestay we had chosen and we sure had a lovely time while we were there,
Mccluskiganj is a Anglo Indian
village, which was inhabited by many whites who wanted to stay back in India
post independence, approx. 400 families, thus also called Mini
London,
Along the years lack of
employment opportunity, no good healthcare and education saw majority of the
residents migrate to Australia, UK, Canada to name a few
Many of the houses were left
in charge of the caretakers, in some case gifted to them too, and thus maintenance of the estate is not the
best in some cases.
McCluskieganj was the brainchild of
Ernest Timothy McCluskie, a rich property dealer based in Kolkata who after
acquiring the 10,000 acres of land from the Maharaja of Ratu, launched the 'Colonization
Society of India' in 1933.
Babloo Paswan is the owner of this house
and today his livelihood is from running goats and selling fruits.
The bungalows exteriors are in good
shape in some cases,
The day came to an end, we were happy campers at Amyra calling it a night .
Wonderful roads for most part I say
