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The journey is the destination for Achal Dhruva as he explores the interiors of Maharashtra in a Toyota Camry
 As is the wont of a Piscean I am a dreamer and one of my childhood dreams was to be a truck driver and travel across the country. Unlike a host of my other dreams, the passion for adventure and travel remained and luckily for me I landed up with a job which involved both. However, it is the idea of a Dream Drive, of belting up in the latest models to hit the road and zipping off to different places, and then writing about the driving experience and the journey, which has brought me close to my childhood dream. So what if it's not a truck, such details hardly matter when you get to do backseat driving in the latest version of a Toyota Camry auto-transmission with your boss at the wheel!
I was quite excited with the route we had chalked out for the three-day drive covering Mumbai-Aurangabad-Lonar Crater-Malshej Ghat-Mumbai as it promised an exciting offering of history, culture and scenic beauty. We set off on a Sunday morning in December to explore the interiors of Maharashtra. My boss, Sheldon Santwan, editor of the magazine, is quite a road hog. Driving is his passion… he even enjoys his daily drive to work within Mumbai city! No sooner did we hit the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway than he started to experiment with what this car could actually do.
 A deft flick of the overdrive button and this extremely powerful car was doing 140 kmph at just over 2,000 rpm. Holding rock steady on the Expressway, I could see the needle briefly wander over the 160 kmph mark before sanity prevailed. "This machine can do even more," Sheldon beamed, "for an automatic transmission the pick up is quite phenomenal but it is steadiest at around the 140 mark." We sped down the Expressway at a consistent 140 kms per hour, making optimum use of the cruise control feature of the car.
After Pune, the road to Ahmednagar was in a bad state for a long stretch because it was being widened. The only solace here, despite the midday heat, was the sheer comfort that the plush interiors afford and a super-efficient climate-controlled air conditioning system. Passing through small villages we had to patiently crawl through traffic jams of bullock carts and people. For some strange reason the village folk have scant regard for vehicles and pay little heed to your honking giving way at their own sweet pace. Don't know if they had the same nonchalance when it came to ST buses. The window view for a major portion of the route between Pune and Ahmednagar was largely a uniform arid sandy brown.
 We stopped at Ahmednagar for lunch and once out of the A/C comfort, one could immediately feel the dry heat. The post lunch drive was on good roads cutting through a pastoral scene. Fields of sugar cane and cotton lined both sides of the road with farmers tilling the land with a pair of bullocks. The strains of 'Fields Of Gold' by Sting which wafted from the speakers of the custom-fitted 6-CD Changer & MP3 Player aptly complemented the idyllic beauty of the surroundings.
It was towards dusk when we reached the Quality Inn Meadows, Aurangabad. A tranquil atmosphere envelopes you as you enter the property from the car park. Meadows is a 13 acre luxury garden resort hotel located six kms from the city centre on the Aurangabad-Nasik-Mumbai highway. It has a sylvan setting surrounded by farms and mountains in the background. The property has 36 deluxe cottages, eight superior cottages and four themed suites each with its private lawn and porch.
We were very tempted to put up our legs on the chairs on the porch and unwind but that chilled beer would have to wait as we had a very interesting agenda for the evening - the Aurangabad Ellora Festival.
 We touched the city coincidentally on the second day of the festival and did not want to miss out on the invitation by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to witness the cultural extravaganza. We headed for Soneri Mahal, the venue of the festival. The historic structure, an architectural marvel built in the 17th Century A.D. by Pahadsingh, one of Aurangzeb's generals, was all lit up and teeming with people. With great difficulty
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