The Unplanned Trip

The phone rang and it was 9:45 pm, and it was Vishal calling, and I knew that it is not good news J. At first he said we should have few drinks, he still thinks I do not drink, so I knew this was a joke, then when he said if I was ready to go to Lokesh’s wedding now. I was surprised, I wanted

to go but I haven’t planned for it, but then I thought the best moments in life are never planned, so it was an instant yes and I have to be ready by 10:30 pm. I always wanted to photograph a South-Indian wedding and now when I have a chance and I have a mood of weddings, I couldn’t have missed this. So by 10:30 pm I was all packed (there was nothing much to pack as I was returning the day after) and reached the pick-up point in no time (thanks to Achintya).

By the time we started it was 11 pm, everyone had their dinner, so no long stops in between. We were four people and the driver. Vishal, Vinod, Phani and me; FYI, they are my ex-colleagues. We were to take the NH 44 towards Hyderabad and take an exit near Gooty. By the way, our destination was Adoni, a small town in Andhra Pradesh about 380 KMs from Bangalore. The roads were awesome, and so was the weather. It was night, so not much views. But the drive was really good. Yes, you have to pay a price for the good ride, total Rs 305/- (return) in toll taxes at three places. But it is worth it. We stopped once for tea, and a few times to stretch our legs. We were a bit disappointed by the driver though, he was little slow, but thanked that he didn’t bang on anything. I actually saw him once drifting on to the dividers!

By the time we reached Gooty it was 4:30 am, we took the exit and then asked a guy about Adoni, he said 80 more KMs. You should have looked at the face of the driver, he was so panicked! Thanks that Vishal is a seasoned driver and he took to the steering while giving the driver his much needed sleep-break. And now the fun started. It was kinda foggy and usually the Sun rises late in this part of India, and to top it up, now the roads were not smooth. There were potholes and stones and at some places it seemed there was no road at all. I kissed my sleep goodbye and was literally hanging to the seatbelts. To add to it, there were

people coming out of nowhere on the roads, and they were putting some plants on the roads, but to us it seemed they were trying to hijack the car!

Reached Adoni at about 6:30 am. A small town, but a busy one. Not much of a problem to find out Hotel Rajshri. Crashed to the bed to make up for the half-completed sleep. By 9 am we were all up, and ready for the wedding. My camera gear was ready. The marriage hall was nice, a new one, not yet complete, but the location was awesome. Just at the foot of a stone hill, it must have looked great in the evening, but we were not staying till evening.

Lokesh was all dressed up and looked like a king. By the time we finished our breakfast, the ceremony had already started. The bride’s father cleaned Lokesh’s feet and gave him many gifts. I had no problem mixing with the crowd using my camera as a passport. Though I was not understanding anything they were saying, but could make out what is happening. The photos were coming great, thanks to the sunlight and the videographer too, his halogen brightened up every nook and corner of the hall.

After I had enough satisfactory shots, I came back to my ex-colleagues. Lots of discussion on the sad state of the company and its managers. You can’t avoid these things when you are with ex-colleagues. None were in a mood for lunch as we just had breakfast. But still we finished it, as we planned to start for our return early. The main reason was there was nothing worth seeing nearby or on the way and we had to be back to work tomorrow.

We started off by 1:30 pm. Now our driver was in full josh (as he had his sleep) and we covered the patchy road in no time. Also since it was daytime, the visibility was better. Now we were able to see what lay around. The place is almost desert like. The temperatures were high, and the main crop was cotton. I remembered we read this is geography at school. Black soil is very good for cotton. There were some clouds and teamed up with the sun, it was providing some amazing skies I have seen.

After a tea break, Vishal took to the steering again, and this time he was touching 120 kmph easily. I was enjoying like anything, the feel of 120 with windows open was amazing, but the driver was not

enjoying it. He kept on saying something about the mileage and at the first chance took the wheels under his control. The journey after that was boring. I slept most of it. We reached Bangalore by 5:30 pm. And reached my home at 8 pm, thanks to the traffic.

Finally, we clocked 792 KMs that too in 21 hours. Well, an unplanned but a good trip, guess first of its kind in my life. And boy, I do like surprises, of course good ones!