Dec 24,2010 : a meeting between SRK, HCR, VVS about the trip to Papikondalu. We never knew that it is going to be one of the most adventureous trips. The plan is straightforward.
- We would be starting from Hyd to Rajahmundry by bus on 24th - evening at 4.30PM.
- We will reach Rajamundry latest by 4.30AM the next morning.
- Fresh-up and get to the boat - then enjoy the boat ride till papikondalu.
- From there, on the same boat to Bhadrachalam by end of that day, i.e. 25th Dec 2010.
- Have Darshan at Bhadrachalam on 26th and leave to Khammam by 5PM to catch the Hyd bus in Khammam scheduled to leave at 11.30PM
If everything goes fine, this trip is nothing but a five bulletted points as mentioned above. But, there we have so many twists and turns coupled with adventures....
We got signals from GOD well before starting our journey that its not going to be a plain pleasure trip. To get into the actuals ---
TIME:4.30PM, Dec 24-2010
I got a call from HCR - as usual in a hurrying tone - asking me about where I was. By the time he along with SRK, was in SR Nagar bus stop where they were supposed to board the bus. I was at home and was supposed to board the bus once it comes to Lakdikapul at 5.15PM. Few minutes later, I got a call from HCR again - in a hurryesting (superlative for hurrying :P) tone - asking where I was. Answer was same. Response from him was different this time :) Twist #01: the bus got cancelled, we have to go to MGBS to take alternative bus. So, they came in auto and we three went to MGBS. By 5.15PM we were at MGBS only to find some more passengers waiting for the same alternative bus and one guy fighting hard with the RTC staff.
The minimum journey time to reach Rajahmundry from Hyderabad BY RTC BUS :) will be 11 Hours. And we waited that day in MGBS for an alternative bus till 8.20PM asking the station master about the status. We were supposed to report at Rajahmundry at 7.30AM for on-boarding boat. Otherwise, the reservation gets cancelled and there will be no refund of ticket cost. Though smiling, joking SRK and me were also in line with HCR - nervous about the journey status. Finally, we came to know at 8.20PM that a bus in entering into MGBS. Some happiness flew in hearts that finally we would be getting into bus at least (by that time, we were not sure whether we can catch the boat.). Bus came to platform at 8.45PM and we boarded it immediately. And to increase our tension - the driver was waiting for someone to board. We went to driver and told him that if late, we will miss the boat. So, we requested him to ensure we will reach Rajahmundry by 6.30AM or before that. And the driver was very confident that its not going to happen :):). We finally started off from MGBS at 9.05PM and we had a short dinner break at 11.00PM. The driver really took care of our request and tried his best to such an extent that by 5.30AM we observed that we were just one hour away from Rajahmundry. But we are able to observe it because, TWIST#02 the brokedown near a milestone(near Kappalagutta village) which suggested that Rajamundry was 60KM away. This was not a Highway route, so no alternative bus was seen. Then came a lorry and we three got into it with the help and co-operation of fellow-passengers :). THEN the real tension started :P what if the alternative bus comes and picks the rest of passengers and leaves - the most painful part will be when that bus overtakes our lorry (we were going like a jet plane which was in rest). Fortunately, we reached a near by town - Nallajerla and from there we got into another bus to Rajahmundry. We finally reached our destination by 7.30AM sharp.
From there it took one more hour of bus journey to reach to the boat. In this bus, along with three of us, there was also a small family of 23 member :P:P. We also joined them and the journey was all good where we sung songs and some parody songs by RK really made us feel it a pleasant part of journey.
