An Odyssey to Nagarjuna Sagar

Prologue
It all started when I was doing one of my scheduled drops to Lij’s place from the office.
Both of us were real tired to even have thought about it, but somehow, as always destiny prevailed and it happened.
Lij stuck upon this idea that we need to go somewhere and I told her only one thing:
You give me the numbers and we’ll go there (sorry for using the word ‘numbers’ there but as I previously told you, we were back from office and the hangover was still there).

I did not have a clue as to how we were going to do it or at least where we were going, but the idea of breaking away for a few hours was so overwhelming that I was bound to say yes to it. Moreover, the company of Lij and co. was nothing new to me since we already had a trip to Solapur before. Please visit this site for more details http://solapur.blogspot.com

The rest from here to the time we started from Hyderabad is too grotesque to describe because of its inherent contradictions. Indresh as he did with Upma on way to Solapur tried to sell the idea of Humpi but came a cropper, and there were most of the people averse to the idea of Nagarjuna Sagar for reasons known only to them. Later I discovered while traveling that I was the only guy who had visited the place before (7 times I believe) and all the others were going for the first time.
There were quite a few meetings to decide the number of people and the mode of travel. I did not have any clue whatsoever till a day before we were going to leave where we were going. The mode of transport was finalized a few hours before we started and here I should thank Ratheesh without whose assistance we might have never made it. It just shows that he, not only in reel life (read on calls), but also in real life goes out of the way to help people.
The number of people was a big challenge since we were ending up with a number who could neither fit in a Qualis nor could we afford a bigger one.

On the verge
The first photograph that we took thru Ravi A’s camera never made thru (there were many that never saw daylight…the last thing that they saw was probably the light of the dark room…paradox).
Let me take some time to describe the seating arrangement in the Qualis that we were going to travel in.
Ravi M and Shravan were sitting in the front with the driver (It was Ravi’s personal choice, please don’t blame us for it). All the 4 ladies Susan, Rajkumari, Lij and Radhika were sitting somehow in the middle seat (I could not figure out who was sitting where due to the extent of mix up). The backbenchers were Indresh, Raj, Ravi A, and I was crushed with this smokers gang.

Into the flow
There were loud screams accompanied with the starting. Finally in spite of all the hiccups we started. Yes, we started at 2:30 P.M on the 3rd of July 2004 a well 2 Hrs behind schedule.

The girls were subjected to all sorts of torture since they were sandwiched between the guys and as usual there were fights on whether the window should be open or closed. Since I had already traveled with 4 guys in the group, I was used to Radhika’s tantrums when it came to Windows and Miranda.
The travel was eventless except for a pit stop of almost 10 Min at a place (not sure where it was). It was a picturesque location where we got down for some air and the smokers blew some air. We could see vehicles zooming by which added to my anxiety since we did not have any rooms booked.

It was a prefect day for traveling with cool breeze accompanied by light drizzle making it great climate.
We reached Sagar all haggard at around 4:45 P.M. Shravan and I could not control our excitement and got down a steep wall built around the dam. As you all guessed I came up first. There were vociferous protests on why I allowed Shravan to come back (at all).

We made it to the Hotel where we were supposedly going to stay. It looked good and had a Bar attached which lit up Indresh’s eyes. Our first concern was to have good food and we all settled in the restaurant.
Till date when I look at the receipt, I lose my appetite. Just to give a sneak view of what was in there. Tabled in between 11 (including driver) were 50 Phulkas, 4 Fried rice plates (veg and non-veg), few plates of curries, few soft drinks to wash it all down and finally there was 1 glass (please, there was only 1 glass) of Lime-soda to cover up for the absence of Miranda.

There was one of Indresh’s find there who (not sure if he was instrumental) got us 2 rooms (all other rooms were booked since the Honorable C.M was going to pay us a visit the next day). Indresh somehow was discussing about the company with him and both seemed to belong to the same age err thought group. The difference was that the other guy had some hair left and Indresh has some hair, right!
We all agreed to settle there. The girls took one room and the guys another (what were you expecting) even though I was a strong advocate of the point that both the rooms should have equal number of people.
It took a lot of effort to ask all the people to go to their rooms from the ground where they were playing (believe it or not) Merry go round, See-Saw, Swing and Slide.
How could I explain to them that if at all the Slide and Seesaw had a mouth, you could have heard it wailing.

Rape
The contents of this episode are of adult nature and reader’s discretion is recommended.

The happenings described here is strictly inside the men’s room, I do not have even a remote clue what was happening in the next room even though I could make out a few things from the noise that was emerging.

Even though I like non-violence, let me explain in detail what happened in the guys’ room so that justice is done.
We all had decided that we had to go to Ethipotala Waterfalls. Looking at the sight of television, there were a few of us, who swooned in front. The problem was there were many channels that were child-locked and that made it more exiting. It was Saturday night and need I say more.
A few of us wanted to take bath and a few others like me preferred not to.
Indresh had quickly changed into shorts and nothing (yes, I mean it).

To our surprise, the ladies dressed up first (man, the fragrance…) and decided to raid our room. Though I warned them against it, Lij lead the raid party and they found their victim in a vulnerable position. The same thing happened with Indresh that he was subjected to once in an empty flat in Solapur. Yes, he was BEEP by the Women.
I somehow cannot forget the sight of he prancing around in the room and then settling in a corner, trying to conceal whatever with his hands. He finally managed to grab a T-shirt and ran away. The scene has been captured in a camera by Officer on Special Duty Rajkumari and will be posted on www.dhamaka.com/rapevictims
Susan came to our room again (probably to do an action repeat) but had to beat a retreat thru the balcony looking at our numbers.

Nightfall
With some great skills, Raj S had to get Shravan and Ravi A into the Qualis from the Pool table to travel with us to the Waterfalls.
We scared the hell out of people who were passing, by occasionally switching off our headlights (trust me guys, it was pitch dark. You could not see the person sitting next to you especially if it was someone like Ravi M) or by screaming to our heart’s content. There were plans by Ravi A and Raj S to leave Shravan in the adjoining forest but due to lack of time and timing could not be executed. It goes without saying that if that had happened, the process would have surely been a better place to work.
We could hardly see the Waterfall since it was pretty late in the night, though we got a free entry inside since there were hardly any people around. Nevertheless we decided to be back with renewed vigor.
Back in the hotel, we became busy calling people in Hyderabad and elsewhere to let them know where we were and we found some new tools to play. One of them was a cycle. There were actually 2 cycles but as soon as Radhika got on one, we discovered that it was punctured. I mean, it was actually punctured even before Radhika got on it. The other cycle did not have any breaks. We still risking our lives, and that of the people around took a trip each (Lij took many).
We settled in the cozy environs of our rooms (we all decided that we would have the dinner in the ladies room). Drinks started flowing in and the television blaring at a loud volume. There was a mixture of sober and inebriated public, which made things easy.
At around 11:30 P.M we decided to have the dinner and we had to put up with Shravan’s tantrums who wanted to have Phulkas with ghee.
Finally being tired due to the day’s events, we all decided to call it quits and a few went inside the men’s room (yes, a few decided to stay out).


Sight of the night
Shravan was trying hard to watch television but could not make the difference between volume and color buttons. He also asked us the way for the washroom (in a room measuring not more than 250 Sq ft.)
Well into the night Ravi A was fast asleep and so was Shravan. I was watching Television and Ravi M was trying to sleep (he still accuses me of waking him up).
Suddenly Ravi M woke up and asked me to reduce the volume and I obediently honored his order.

Around 2: 20 A.M I heard some noise in our room. Out of curiosity, I opened my eyes to see what was happening. Ravi A was still fast asleep on the floor.
The details of what happened are not being published because of an oath taken by all of us. I can never forget what happened then.
I turned around in the bed so that I could wake up Ravi M and he had his pillow stuffed in his face trying hard to control of laughter. More tormenting to me was his laughter that I still cannot forget. I believe, now I can describe what a nightmare is.

Ravi M and I decided to move out and thought we had to wake up the ladies.
We were wrong since they had never slept. The room was open and we had Indresh describing one of his sad stories (why does he have to do it all the time). The ladies were surprised to see Ravi and me at that time (were they) and we all settled in the room.
Radhika oblivious to what was happening around was sleeping.
We discussed all topics on earth, from personal lives to public personalities. Most of the people in our process figured in our discussion. I objected when people not belonging to our process also figured.
Ravi M and Susan discovered that they could be siblings who were lost in the “Nagapattinam ka mela” and Indresh discovered that his story gets interrupted at the same point each time.
As if what happened was not enough Ravi M pushed me out of the mattress he was sleeping on since he felt that there was a lizard that would jump on him once he sleeps.
My long last dream of sleeping with ladies still remained un-fulfilled since we hardly slept till the wee hours of Sunday.

Into the river
At around 6:30 A.M I had Raj S waking me up (that bugger had hardly slept and I had every reason to believe that he did not want others to). Slowly we all woke up and had bed tea (the only difference was that there was no bed).
I already had plans of taking a plunge in the river and prepared everyone for that. Shravan woke up to find something burning on his face and late in the day figured that it was toothpaste that covered half his face.
We all took the plunge into the river and decided to take a cruise to the island.
The water was too cool and the current was strong. The ladies decided to stay on the banks and Indresh ventured to a commendable extent inside the river. Rajkumari was convinced that there was a conspiracy to drown her. Indresh cajoled her that she would not be the target since he did not know how to handle XPD calls.
Lij preferred to stay away quite a long time but could not stay put and had to get in.
In a single sentence we had the time of our lives.
We also had a short trip in a round boat (I being left-out), to lap it up.

On the cruise
With a quick breakfast of Puris, we ventured out again this time to board the cruise to the island. We could not get onto the deck but grabbed a few seats inside the cruise (though most of us preferred to stay out).
The scene was picturesque and could have made any director shoot a movie (I believe many have been shot already). Indresh was watching a movie, Shravan was probably watching an aunty. Ravi A was staring at beautiful girls and Raj S was busy around our girls. Ravi M was not to be seen around. The girls were very pleased with themselves and I was overwhelmed with the accounts.
Finally thru the contours of the river we made to the island.
It was a beautiful location, which had a museum. The heat had started taking its toll and we had to pitch in for some soft drinks. I don’t believe we could find Miranda here but we settled for Fanta her poor cousin.
Most of us were least interested in the excavations since I could find many only near those exhibits that had a fan next to it.

Shravan and I decided to break away from the group and we had a great trek.
We went on a path that had a beautiful laid road that would make any city one hang its head in shame, only to find no one around us.
There was 5 Min left for the cruise to leave and if we took the same path we came on, it would have taken us 15 min. Not sure what to do and racing against time, we found a group of middle-aged men who were getting prepared for drinking.
They told us that there was a short cut that would take us back.
Though I was not ready, Shravan convinced me and we came back thru a forest. We found a well that was deeper than what you can imagine. As a proof we even got a photograph with Shravan standing on the embankment.
Though I missed a good opportunity of having done away with him, my primary concern was to reach the cruise. We started back again, and reached just in time. We had the rest of the team waiting in anguish on the deck.

The cruise took its own time to start and when it finally did, we had to stand on the deck due to no space in. The heat was on and a few of us decided to get on the top of the cruise.
Shravan not to leave anything to chance got into the Captain’s cabin. He soon discovered that there were 50 life jackets and nearly 200 people. He came out and told the rest that the cruise is steered using an automated chip that is coded in Core Java. Over to Sun Certified Ravi M.
We were all famished when we came back. This time, for a change we settled in our respective rooms and slept (most of us).
At around 3:30 P.M after some continuous effort by Ravi A the ladies woke up.
We all had the lunch there and thanks to the hospitality it was delayed pretty much.
We finally decided to start on our way back.

Waterfalls
We wanted to pay a visit to the Waterfalls since we could not see much last time. There were some traditional dancers dressed up in Lambadi attire welcoming us with their dance.
Even here the concept of instant Tea and Coffee had take over and when we drank that we got reminded that office was not far away.
Though the desire to hang around and dance to the tunes of Lambadi music was much, we could not due to the lack of time and finally started the return journey to Hyderabad.

Back home
Susan and Lij filled the return journey with screams for obvious reasons.
We had a pit stop at a dhaba, where a solemn oath was taken. Indresh showed us some of his Hotel Management experience by opening soft drink bottles.
We came to Hyderabad at around 10:30 P.M and were paid a welcome visit by Raj Kiran near the office. After clicking off a few valedictory snaps, we bid adieu to each other (only to meet in the office in a few hours). Thankfully there were home drops.

Epilogue
What an eventful 36 Hrs it was!
As a closing line I would like to mention that even if one person in the whole team that traveled was not there in the trip, we would not have had as much fun as we did. I would have to say that it was not the space in the cab that mattered, but it was rather the one in our hearts that did.