The Long journey back home!!
They say "Home is where heart is". After a point in time, it is no longer at your parent's place. While you will always feel its home but you know in your heart that this feeling will pass and you will have to go back to your real home - the place where you live day in day out. You may not love it but you will always crave to be back to routine.
This time when I was travelling back to hyderabad from a short trip to Vijayawada, I had a booked an A/C sleeper at 11:30 PM in the hope of spending more time with my parents. Dad came to drop me off at the bus. The first look of the bus gave me jitters. When I had reserved an A/C sleeper, this was not what I had in mind. This was a refitted normal bus which had been converted into A/C. I had lost hope of making it early home and catching up on sleep but had no clue of what was in store.
The ride was bumpy to say the least. The A/C switched off after the first hour and not even a blower in the vicinity. Being tired I managed to fall asleep but not for long. I kept tossing in the bed wondering what was happening until I could see day light. Not bad I told myself. I was in rush for the loo and was hoping the bus would pull up at some point and slowly made my way to the driver's seat. The bus jerked a little and started making weird noises. The driver stopped momentarily and I dashed out into the green trees. I had come back relaxed only to realize that the problem was much bigger. The driver said that the fan belt was broken and he needs to get a mechanic to fix it. The signs were looking ominous. It was 7:15 in the morning.We were still 2 hrs away from Hyderabad and it usually took two more hours from the outskirts. I was beginning to get worried.
The cleaner informed us that we would be shifted to the bus from vizag. The driver set out in search of a mechanic. The clock kept ticking away. People started making frantic calls to the travel office to see if any alternate arrangement can be made. Kids and ladies were getting nervous. The more adventurous folks started taking hikes in lorries destined for Hyderabad. I knew there would come a day when I would have to travel by lorry but I was hoping today wasn't the day. Even getting into the lorry with the luggage seemed an ominous task. There were no signs of the driver. People started losing patience. It was 8 AM now and no signs of improvement.
I had made up my mind that if nothing happens in the next 15 minutes, I should get going if I had to have any hopes of making it office before lunch. Dropped a quick sms to my boss and checked with folks around as to where we were. People started talking and I got to know that we already had to stop for 2 hrs midnight because of a tyre change. I was informed by other knowledgeable passengers that we were 7-8 kms from a place called choutuppal. I didn't even know such a place existed. I got my luggage down told the cleaner not to look from me when the bus eventually got fixed. Most of my co-passenger were not so lucky to take such chances since they were travelling with kids.
I started flagging lorries to see if one of them would give me a lift till Hyderabad. After a few misses, one taxi guy stopped and asked me to get in. There was no discussion, I immediately got in with no second thoughts. I asked him where he was headed. He told me that he was going till Choutuappal and I could catch a shared auto from there. It was 8:15 AM in the morning. Not bad I told myself. Finally my travel woes seem to come to an end. But the journey was not over yet.
The driver told me that I was lucky enough that the bus stopped near a town and not near Hyderabad since it would have been next to impossible to find something. I wasn't sure what he meant but he sounded convincing. Finally he dropped in choutuppal, charged me 25 bucks for 5 kms but I was relieved that I could see people around. For a moment there I felt like I was in Hyderabad. I got into a shared auto and dropped in luggage behind the seat. The driver cramped the 9 seater with 14 members and started to move. I wasn't complaining, given the choice between a truck and the 9 seater, I told myself I was doing pretty good. It took me an hour to reach LB Nagar cross roads. I knew home was easily two hours away. I quickly checked into a city bus which took me further 1.5 hrs to reach ESI from where I hopped into another bus bound for KPHB. It was 11:30 AM by the time I set foot in my house.
It had taken me exactly 12 hrs to cover a distance, that in normal course would take not more than 6 to 6.5 hrs. But this was no normal day. The experience though not enjoyable was new for me. All in All, It was one long journey back Home - the kind I would hope not to repeat in the future.
They say "Home is where heart is". After a point in time, it is no longer at your parent's place. While you will always feel its home but you know in your heart that this feeling will pass and you will have to go back to your real home - the place where you live day in day out. You may not love it but you will always crave to be back to routine.
This time when I was travelling back to hyderabad from a short trip to Vijayawada, I had a booked an A/C sleeper at 11:30 PM in the hope of spending more time with my parents. Dad came to drop me off at the bus. The first look of the bus gave me jitters. When I had reserved an A/C sleeper, this was not what I had in mind. This was a refitted normal bus which had been converted into A/C. I had lost hope of making it early home and catching up on sleep but had no clue of what was in store.
The ride was bumpy to say the least. The A/C switched off after the first hour and not even a blower in the vicinity. Being tired I managed to fall asleep but not for long. I kept tossing in the bed wondering what was happening until I could see day light. Not bad I told myself. I was in rush for the loo and was hoping the bus would pull up at some point and slowly made my way to the driver's seat. The bus jerked a little and started making weird noises. The driver stopped momentarily and I dashed out into the green trees. I had come back relaxed only to realize that the problem was much bigger. The driver said that the fan belt was broken and he needs to get a mechanic to fix it. The signs were looking ominous. It was 7:15 in the morning.We were still 2 hrs away from Hyderabad and it usually took two more hours from the outskirts. I was beginning to get worried.
The cleaner informed us that we would be shifted to the bus from vizag. The driver set out in search of a mechanic. The clock kept ticking away. People started making frantic calls to the travel office to see if any alternate arrangement can be made. Kids and ladies were getting nervous. The more adventurous folks started taking hikes in lorries destined for Hyderabad. I knew there would come a day when I would have to travel by lorry but I was hoping today wasn't the day. Even getting into the lorry with the luggage seemed an ominous task. There were no signs of the driver. People started losing patience. It was 8 AM now and no signs of improvement.
I had made up my mind that if nothing happens in the next 15 minutes, I should get going if I had to have any hopes of making it office before lunch. Dropped a quick sms to my boss and checked with folks around as to where we were. People started talking and I got to know that we already had to stop for 2 hrs midnight because of a tyre change. I was informed by other knowledgeable passengers that we were 7-8 kms from a place called choutuppal. I didn't even know such a place existed. I got my luggage down told the cleaner not to look from me when the bus eventually got fixed. Most of my co-passenger were not so lucky to take such chances since they were travelling with kids.
I started flagging lorries to see if one of them would give me a lift till Hyderabad. After a few misses, one taxi guy stopped and asked me to get in. There was no discussion, I immediately got in with no second thoughts. I asked him where he was headed. He told me that he was going till Choutuappal and I could catch a shared auto from there. It was 8:15 AM in the morning. Not bad I told myself. Finally my travel woes seem to come to an end. But the journey was not over yet.
The driver told me that I was lucky enough that the bus stopped near a town and not near Hyderabad since it would have been next to impossible to find something. I wasn't sure what he meant but he sounded convincing. Finally he dropped in choutuppal, charged me 25 bucks for 5 kms but I was relieved that I could see people around. For a moment there I felt like I was in Hyderabad. I got into a shared auto and dropped in luggage behind the seat. The driver cramped the 9 seater with 14 members and started to move. I wasn't complaining, given the choice between a truck and the 9 seater, I told myself I was doing pretty good. It took me an hour to reach LB Nagar cross roads. I knew home was easily two hours away. I quickly checked into a city bus which took me further 1.5 hrs to reach ESI from where I hopped into another bus bound for KPHB. It was 11:30 AM by the time I set foot in my house.
It had taken me exactly 12 hrs to cover a distance, that in normal course would take not more than 6 to 6.5 hrs. But this was no normal day. The experience though not enjoyable was new for me. All in All, It was one long journey back Home - the kind I would hope not to repeat in the future.
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