The night finally came when this jaunt had to begin, after a lot of thought process and plans had gone in.The litmus test that I carried out while waiting to board the shuttle, once again proved that the person who stated that women are horrible in time management is really a genius.I still remember begging the driver for some grace minutes, when I noticed the female section of our batallion walking towards us at their own leisure pace and with a drink in their hand. Thank God, I dont understand telugu well, the only excuse I had, to keep smiling at the hymns of accusations he sang for me.The shuttle which took us to Nampally(starting point of the bus) was just 2 people short to run the simulation of Buchenwald.
The bus though was quite comfortable, as any volvo could give you,except for one reason - the movie they chose to screen for us.There was absolutely nothing wrong with it,except that my great granddfather would have loved to watch it in his era - probably should have been released during the industrial revolution age.Neha (the only person in the bus who watched movie till the last shot,though she cannot understand a single word in telugu)deserves a nomination for this year's Red and White Bravery award.At breakneck speeds of the bus, we were soon out of the city limits and the next ten hours were blessed with silence,if not for the television speakers.
It was then that the presence of the catalyst team was noticed for the first time on the trip,with Pallavi and Neha jumping into the act of denying people their basic right to sleep and shooting questions at them.Though the questions were similar to the calibre of an IAS interview,I must confess,the replies were even more interesting.Few highlighting points of the investigation are the Thalaivar's(Jay) crush factor and the hookup between Srikanth and Dixith.The sunlight that slowly crept in through the curtains,rumbling tummies and the buzz of the autowalas around the bus were the indicators for us to realize that we had reached Vizag, the fist halt in our itinerary.
Just 3 minutes out of the A/C bus, people could feel as if they were made to sit on a burning burner.I was quite used to this though,as I come from a city (which just has one season -summer,round the year) which does not differ from Vizag in any aspect other than the spelling.After several rounds of discussion with the autowalas to take us to the cottage that we had booked for, a sigh of relief echoed when we could finally see the name that we were searching for, written on a building. Fourth minute after the check in was completed and the keys handed over,people were on the beds,immobilised.Only after a round of tea and biscuits, the ears were opened to the plans for the day.
Though we decided to move out of the rooms in an hour, no one knew what was to come after that.But as expected we were ready exactly an hour later than we had planned for - no points for your guesses for the question 'why' here.After a few snaps of the first photo session of the tour, in the room and the hotel Taj(dont get deceived by the name.It is nothing more than a dhaba,with an a/c fitted inside) we finally caught hold of the only 2 cabs in Vizag that were not booked till then.
A scenic drive along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal rejunevated everyone, enough to jump into the sea and become a kid again.Into the Rushikonda and we didnt knew how long it took for us to get ourselves drenched in the sea water.The horizon was inviting and the sun got less harsher by then.The ranges and the trees around meant that the cool breeze was on and the entire stretch of the beach was picture perfect.Srikanth posed for the paparazzi with my fasttrack glasses after I did - this was the last time that I had seen those glasses.. Few minutes later, I could see all others except me, trying to paint something on the sand with their hands and only when I observed them closely did I understand that my SEE award was aptly awarded to the sea itself.(The picture above was incidentally the last glimpse of me with my goggles)
Sometime later,it seemed like a deja vu for me when the same group had assembled for their next art.I kept praying as I walked towards them that I didnt want to lose anything more,especially my camera.But I was glad to know that only my batteries were gifted to the sea and not its holder.Four hours in the sea and a couple of boat rides, ensured that there was nothing more and nothing left to enjoy.
We had to then hurry ourselves up to catch the ropeway in Kailashgiri,before the transportation gets closed.The cable car justified its worth by showing a panoramic view of the entire city under lights.The temple up the hills was so scenic and worth enjoying to watch.Taking the same road to return,the last place of our visit was the submarine.For people who had not seen a submarine in their life,its worth a place to be in atleast once.With a good dinner, the tired legs kept saying that sleep was all that was needed to end the day on a high note.
To be continued...
(Since my work is taking the toll out of me,I had not written this post till now.But since everyone was expecting this for sometime now,I did not want to disappoint you guys by delaying it further. I know I havent conveyed it enough in this post and I would try to get out my next post soon and even more interesting.Till then,stay tuned...)
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