Chapter 2_"Road Trips Are Like This..."

Chapter 2
“Road Trips Are Like This…”

I stopped for a few minutes. It was an open area and there was no shelter for me to take out my phone and ring up the guys. I noticed that the other people on the road weren’t panicking much; in fact they were moving ahead slowly. I too continued further. The bike kept swaying in the wind. After another 15 minutes of acrobatics, I reached a small town. I took shelter and contacted Thorappan and Mahesh. They were about a kilometer ahead of me, in a petrol bunk. I covered the distance and reached the spot. They were surrounded by 5-7 guys; some of whom were inspecting the bikes. Mahesh and Thorappan were busy answering the curious queries of those people. It was such a relief to be back with them again.

The rain kept interfering every now and then. It was quite amazing how there would be a few kilometers of dryness and then a heavy downpour all of a sudden; as if it was a ‘hide and seek’ game. I wondered whether the monsoons would spoil our trip. We passed several towns, some smelling of tobacco, and stopped at a place called ‘Kaja’ for tea. I removed my t-shirt and squeezed the water off. As we sipped hot Nescafe coffee, the sun set behind us, giving an orange tinge to the skies of Kaja.

We rang up Khan and quite surprisingly he too had the same distance as us to Vijayawada – around 30 kilometers. (For those of you who haven’t read the prequels: Khan is the fourth one on this trip, riding from Mumbai and joining us at Vijayawada.) Soon we entered Vijayawada. The traffic was quite heavy and we wiggled our way through it. After exiting the city, we waited for Khan to join us. We were very excited. Mahesh was ready with his mobile to capture Khan’s arrival. And then, we saw the bright fog lights at a distance; quite distinct from the other vehicles. There he was, Khan, with a wide smile on his face.

As we sipped hot Nescafe coffee, the sun set behind us, giving an orange tinge to the skies of Kaja.

After a quick catch up about his tough ride, we hit the roads. We had around 180 kilometers more to Rajahmundry, our destination for day 1. It was already 7:30 PM. We literally flew the next 100 kilometers – the Khan impact. The road wasn’t that great; there were small stretches of bad roads with unexpected potholes every now and then. It was the unsaid responsibility of the rider in the lead to bang into the most treacherous potholes and warn the others not to do so!

How eventful can a road trip be without a few cameos by the ‘Google ammachi’ (aka Google Maps)! 100 kilometers from Vijayawada, two roads diverged in front of us – one 40 and the other 70 kilometers to Rajahmundry -  and (unfortunately) we took the shorter one, as suggested by ammachi. The roads, or rather paths (they don’t qualify to be called roads!) went from bad to worse. Had it been the roads alone, we would have still managed it; the lorries, hundreds of them, up and down, made the task a tough one! There was so much of dust in the air that the road, I mean path, was barely visible. Khan and Mahesh soon disappeared; Thorappan and I trailed behind. Thorappan would often stop for the gangs of lorries to pass by and the dust to settle down. Otherwise a chill chap, he became very silent, and I felt sorry for him. Soon enough I had to feel sorry for myself as well - I developed a pain in my chest; it was probably the lungs choking with the dust. I took a break and drank some water. The pain subsided. We reached a railway cross where we caught up with Khan and Mahesh. A different kind of path awaited us beyond the railway cross. In fact, I do not know how to describe it. There were bridges - long ones. They had the names of English men. Whatever they were, they never seemed to end – one bridge after the other. (I googled it now – apparently, it was the ‘Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage’. ) I even had some Deja vu moments. It was a test of the machine, the body and the mind. To summarize, those odd 40 kilometers drained the enthusiasm out of us – all four of us.

******

Out of Curiosity

The Dowleswaram barrage was an irrigation structure originally built in 1850 on the lower stretch of the Godavari river before it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It was rebuilt in 1970 when it was officially renamed the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage/Godavari Barrage.

******

We had around 180 kilometers more to Rajahmundry, our destination for day 1.

After what seemed like a never ending 40 kilometers, we were back on the highway and we reached Rajahmundry in a while. It was midnight. There was a roadside restaurant (what we call ‘thattukada’ in Kerala and ‘akkakadai’ in Pondy) open. An Oyo room was available nearby as well. We spent a few minutes discussing whether to go into Rajahmundry town and look for better options. We decided to look for better options, which we soon realized didn’t exist. There were no restaurants open, nor rooms available. We came back to the highway. The thattukada had closed and the Oyo room had also been taken. Sabaash! We were hungry and tired. Mahesh shared some gyan, “well, road trips are like this, we should expect the worst. Let’s take the highway and see if we come across any other options.” Having known Mahesham for almost seven years now, I read between the lines - “Let’s take the highway and ride to Puri (our destination for day 2), we’ll see if there are any other options enroute” is what he actually meant.  I resisted the idea of riding further. We had seen another ‘thattukada’ in the town and I suggested we go back and have something there. Thorappan didn’t speak much; he hadn’t yet come to terms with the last 40 kilometers. Eventually, we went to the thattukada. Only dosa and idly were available. Mahesh had idlies while the rest of us had dosas. At times the universe conspires in ridiculous ways. The idlies weren’t cooked properly. Mahesh started murmuring. “Road trips are like this, we should expect the worst,” I added a pinch of salt. Thorappan giggled; so did Khan.

We contacted Oyo and they informed us that we would have to travel another 30 kilometers to find rooms. We were back on the highway. A few kilometers ahead, I started yawning. I told Thorappan that I was done for the day. This put him on high alert. He alerted the others as well and soon I had an escort – Khan and Mahesh in the front and Thorappan close behind. Besides, I was asked to sing loudly.

The continuous honking from behind woke me up.

(to be continued…)