Odyssey (Blore to Bellary)

It was a cool, swampy Friday morning of the rainy season when I woke up reluctantly to go for work. I dragged myself out of bed not to get late for the scrum meeting (A meeting that happened everyday at 8.30AM to discuss the status of our project.) lest I should pay the fine for being late.

I was all set to go to office when I got an SMS from my TL(Tech Lead) asking to wait for sometime as our Aztec soft office was flooded with rain water and there were chances that there would be holiday declared that day. Yeah Bangalore always has water logged roads after rain not because of water flooding from rivers but because of inappropriate drainage facility.

Now my lazy mind started to act faster and I planned a travel to Bellary to utilize the long weekend. My first mission was to pray god to let the water stay there for sometime (forever!!!J). I seldom pray god and ask for wishes so when I pray whole heartedly he gives me the priority. That is our mutual understanding. Love you GodJ.

Now the next mission was to compel my dear friend Vaishali (my roomie) who is from same place to convoy me. I somehow convinced her to call up her TL and take a day’s off. Everything was happening as planned and Vaishali too got approval for her leave.

Both of us packed our luggage and left to Majestic to catch the bus. Now slowly the lucky day started showing different color and we got our first mock-up when we waited for more than 30 mins for the No. 171 bus to take us to majestic. Considering the fact that we were simply wasting our precious time which we can spend in our native we hired an auto and started to majestic.

Now we were into the city bus stand and a “Karnataka Sarige” bus was waiting for us. After happily boarding into bus and collecting tickets it was my idea to have some “Pet Pooja”. So I just informed the conductor that we will be right back and just stop the bus until we come back. Entered the posh , newly built ‘Swathi Deluxe’ and ordered 2 plates of idli. The sambar tasted so bad…. Idlis not in usual shape , we both skeptically finished 1 idli out of 3 continuosly staring at the bus to check if it moves as v had taken tickets and left our baggage inside it… Aila! The bus was not in its place , we were tensed and got up to run before that I went to the counter to pay the bill where I got the second shock two plate idlis costing Rs 75 bugs... oops no time for futile arguments…. Run run run….. and to our surprise the bus was still there just changing from its place… We sat there promising not to get up again unnecessarily…. It was around 11.30 AM now….Gosh still in Bangalore and lo the bus started. My mind was singing… In those 4 years of my life in Bangalore although I had best of friends, lots of freedom, handful money and all luxuries of life… I was always longing to go to Bellary and spend time with my family. Just being there doing nothing is a heaven. The bus crossed Bangalore and was in outskirts. I felt as if I was victorious crossing (escaping) Bangalore when all of a sudden the bus started making sound grrrrr… grrrr…. Grrrr and then a halllllttt….There was some problem in the engine of the bus and the driver declared that the bus would go no further and they would make arrangements to board all the passengers in other buses going via that route to Bellary. There were very few buses going that way and all were crowded. We both had a tiff with the conductor as it was a madness to go all the way standing. Slowly many passengers boarded the other buses and there were some 10-13 people left in the bus and we both adamant of not going standing…

Both the conductor and driver were under pressure to make some arrangements for the remaining passengers and conductor was furious of the two voicing girls(we ;) ). Finally with some adjustments in the engine(GOD knows what!!) the driver started the bus and asked the remaining of us to board in. We were happy to get in. The bus was moving rather slowly but good things was IT WAS MOVING J. We both were exchanging some fuming glances with the conductor as if we were still in the hangover of the fight that we had during bus breakdown. A glutton like me always thinks of the food(junk) and I usually wonder if I stay alive if miss 2 times food in a row .. When I am hungry all my favourite items come one by one in the screen of my mind… It was lunch time and the driver didn’t stop anywhere. At 4:00 PM he stopped near some Dhaba. I was half-minded to eat in the usually unhygienic dhaba so didn’t go down. Notwithstanding the hunger we finally got down. When we ordered the conductor and driver were rushing to start. We then packed it up and left in a hurry. After sitting in the bus when we were abiut to eat I found my mobile missing. Searched here and there and was almost into tears missing my new mobile. Vaishali could not see me in such state and reported to the driver. The bus had already come far from Dhaba but the driver considered our problem and turned the bus. Yes he did turn !!!... Now he started moving in the opposite direction when the person behind my seat pointed to my mobile which had fallen down. Now the mumbling conductor raised his voice and took all the revenge. I had no point to argue and looking a place to hide my face. But now my friend gave counter attack and the conductor shut his mouth. We then opened the packets and enjoyed the fried rice. It was best tasted fried rice I ever ate(thanks to the hunger!!).

We finally reached Bellary at 7:30 PM . It was a 12hr long journey for us in which I also contributed 30 mins ;). This is one among my funny experiences in the trip to Bellary. Many more to come.