Long long time ago, about 20 days ago (okay not so long ago), in the city of Nizams when weekends were boring and there were no new movies to be jeered at and nothing new to do except time to pass, 3 like minded fellows decided to take their horses err... bikes out for a ride rather than sleeping through the day. Anyway, the point of telling all this background is, just like that, me, Lord and SRK had decided to go to a far away place - the beautiful Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, about 175 km from Hyderabad on that fateful Saturday morning. Everything was so ominously set up for us, including the atmosphere as well. And then, with no real plan, no real map or exact directional route, no real inventory (first aid, mechanical kit) and not much currency in paper form, the fellowship of the bikers set on for the ride of their life (till date, that is). By the way, if you are reading this without reading the previous part of this series, please don't proceed ahead. You will only end up messing up your neurological circuits, trying to understand what this gibberish is all about. If you've already gone through that ordeal, then well, you're all set for the next part of the Motorcycle Diaries and the ensuing blunders.
1) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (8:30 AM)
Place - Hyderabad outskirts, NH 9 begins.
Distance covered - 30 km
Having topped up the fuel tanks of the vehicles to the full capacity from an outside city petrol pump ("city ke baahar petrol sasta milta hai") and thankfully we paid it with SRK's credit card, it finally began. The weather was absolutely fantastic, with the sun shying and hiding behind the dark gray skies, but it never rained and with cool breeze hitting our faces while we pushed the bike to the highest gear - thus achieving the max throttle, that was a feeling to beat. Thankfully, the Hyderabad - Bangalore highway - NH 9 was surprisingly empty that day, at least early on in the morning. The kind of adrenalin rush you get, when you are driving at 100+ km/hr and that too for a period of more than 5 minutes at a stretch - its really unique and somewhat consciousness shattering. Some good news for those who have played Need For Speed Most Wanted- yes... the motion blur exists in the real world too... but please don't experience it for longer durations. And definitely not on corners. Extremely dangerous stuff, its like that one puff you take and forget it later, forever.
At around 10 AM after having covered around 120 kms, we stopped at a random place in between where we had a temple like structure on a hillock, which also offered us a dirt racing track with quite a steep incline. After testing our biking skills and some pretty narcissistic photos of us all, we then began the final stretch to Nagarjuna Sagar. It all turned out pretty awesome, just what we expected from this rage for speedy bike trips. The whole time some of the following bits and pieces of conversations popped out randomly and frequently -
Me: This is simply awesome man...
Lord: Kya jabardast view hai...
SRK: abe ulti feel aa gayi...
Me: abe ek bhi ATM kyu nahi aa raha??
SRK: load mat le, aage aa jayega...
2) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (11:30 AM)
Place - Nagarjuna Sagar Dam/ Nagarjuna Sagar Lake
Distance covered - 180 km
And then it finally came in sight. And what a sight it was. Majestic, really. There is a reason why they call all the lakes in and around Hyderabad as Sagars. They are all unbelievably gigantic. (ok, not all of them, but most of them). Nagarjuna Sagar, true to its name was freaking huge and a pleasant surprise for us. My, the blues stretched towards the horizon as if it were a sea. And towards one far end lied a wall which obstructed this chunk of water body like the wall of Troy. Overall, pretty fantastic and worth 180 km and we felt great. The pain in the behinds suddenly went away and after having a decent enough lunch, visiting some panoramic view points and some more chai(tea) + limbu(lemon) /mosambi(sweet lime) sharbats(drink) later, we finally came down to the waters, down to those slippery rocks. And it was on these rocks, while SRK got full drenched, me half drenched and Lord still fooling around with his Nikon DSLR, that somehow we had the following conversation - which was basically was the foundation for "the Two Blunders". And it went on something like this:-
Timestamp (12 June, 2010 (3:30 PM))
(much time had passed while we loitered around in the clean waters of the Nagarjuna Sagar after having a refreshing lunch)
SRK: abe ek baat bolu?
Lord: ek kya, tu do baat bol... I'm very happy today !!
SRK: yaha se Srisailam kitna door hai?
Me: abe Srisailam is 240 km away from Hyderabad, and we've already covered 180, so its only 60 km away from here...
Lord: yes, that's correct, why what happened?
SRK: nahi, main soch raha may be we can visit that place as well since we have already come so far... what say?
Me: (after thinking really hard) lets go, it will be fun... we can still make it back by late night if we press hard...
Lord: yes, and the road to Srisailam is godly as well... it goes through this awesome forest reserve and its too good (google maps expert, we don't argue on this front with him)
SRK: okay, great !!
And thus, the fellowship decided to extend their trip further to Srisailam. Its a nice place where there is a very famous temple atop a gigantic mountain situated amidst a beautiful tiger sanctuary forest. The prospects of driving to and back from there was irresistible, in spite of the exhaustion. But before all this, one more blunder, a bit minor one was in store for us.
About 10 km from Nagarjuna Sagar, we had come to know that there existed a very famous waterfall by the name of Ethipothala. We decided to officially take a bath under it. But due to the lack of spare clothing, we were in a fix. No problem, we go to local village and buy everything (yes everything, right from towels to the undies) and get ready to be bombarded with vertical jets of water!!
3) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (4:30 PM)
Place - Ethipothala Waterfalls
Distance covered - 190 km
After much huffing and puffing and admiring the scenery speeding past us, we arrived at the waterfalls. However, we were in for a blinder of a shock. This waterfall, yes, this very waterfall had made a super big fool of us all, mocked us and left us in total shambles. Why, you ask? Well, because it was just a waterfall you get to watch from about 200 meters away and there's no chance of getting underneath it - at least legally and without any danger to your life!! Goddamn!! And we spent half an hour in the market arguing and bargaining the price of those... Grrr... Disappointment and shocked that we were, we managed to hide it pretty well from the pretty faces present there and soon got out of there real quick to forget it. These waterfalls, even if they are not much pain for the eyes, they can mock you big time!!
4) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (6:00 PM)
Place - Random T Point, some village
Distance covered - 210 km
Well, we were already 210 km, as far as our odometers were suggesting, but to add to our earlier feeling of shock and awe (Ethipothala waterfalls), we were wondering why we didn't pass through that super forest drive yet and why wasn't Srisailam any nearer still? We stopped for another Tea/ Bisleri Break and casually asked a person at the "tapri" (slang for tea stalls in India which can sell stuff you wont expect it to sell even in your dreams) about how far Srisailam was from here. Answer was - 160 km!! We were like "what the !@#$". We confirmed and we re-confirmed, the place was damn 160 km away... It took about 2 minutes for the fact to completely sink in and before any of us spoke again, as we were still in the process of recovering from the first blunder.
Now we had the following choices :-
--> head back to Hyderabad, a straight 210 km drive back, in all that growing darkness and torturing everything from top to bottom on that now very busy highway!! This also meant enduring a severe pain in the behinds since driving at night time meant reduced speeds.
--> Continue to Srisailam, try to reach there before dinner time, make a night stop over, explore the place next morning in peace and then return back to Hyderabad next afternoon. Seems like our earlier assumption of Hyderabad, Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam being 3 collinear points on a line stretching 240 km was not really factually correct. Hyderabad - Srisailam was 250 km, yes, but it was a totally different route altogether (see the map, that's the road we took during return journey)
Since the second option ensured more adventure than any sort of social life we could have had on the following day in Hyderabad, we just spontaneously decided to carry on. But seems like there were still more surprises in store for us. The thing is, Srisailam being situated in a dense forest, they stop entry and exit to/ from it at 9 pm at night. So this meant, we had to stop over even before Srisailam in a village called Dornala 50 kms earlier. According to the people in the village where we made this decision to go on, the road was not really driver's paradise and it goes through some Ghat sections (curvy, zig-zag, treacherous roads carved on the sides of mountains) as well. And being in complete darkness, the region was prone to Naxal attacks (dense AP forests + deserted roads + darkness = probable naxal attacks?) as well. Wow, this was scary indeed... What followed next that scary evening and the following day's unbelievably awesome morning, is actually the bestest and most amazing part of this whole journey. Please don't forget to read the concluding part, the finale of this series - The Motorcycle Diaries (Part 3) - The Return of the Awesomeness !!
Place - Hyderabad outskirts, NH 9 begins.
Distance covered - 30 km
Having topped up the fuel tanks of the vehicles to the full capacity from an outside city petrol pump ("city ke baahar petrol sasta milta hai") and thankfully we paid it with SRK's credit card, it finally began. The weather was absolutely fantastic, with the sun shying and hiding behind the dark gray skies, but it never rained and with cool breeze hitting our faces while we pushed the bike to the highest gear - thus achieving the max throttle, that was a feeling to beat. Thankfully, the Hyderabad - Bangalore highway - NH 9 was surprisingly empty that day, at least early on in the morning. The kind of adrenalin rush you get, when you are driving at 100+ km/hr and that too for a period of more than 5 minutes at a stretch - its really unique and somewhat consciousness shattering. Some good news for those who have played Need For Speed Most Wanted- yes... the motion blur exists in the real world too... but please don't experience it for longer durations. And definitely not on corners. Extremely dangerous stuff, its like that one puff you take and forget it later, forever.
At around 10 AM after having covered around 120 kms, we stopped at a random place in between where we had a temple like structure on a hillock, which also offered us a dirt racing track with quite a steep incline. After testing our biking skills and some pretty narcissistic photos of us all, we then began the final stretch to Nagarjuna Sagar. It all turned out pretty awesome, just what we expected from this rage for speedy bike trips. The whole time some of the following bits and pieces of conversations popped out randomly and frequently -
Me: This is simply awesome man...
Lord: Kya jabardast view hai...
SRK: abe ulti feel aa gayi...
Me: abe ek bhi ATM kyu nahi aa raha??
SRK: load mat le, aage aa jayega...
2) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (11:30 AM)
Place - Nagarjuna Sagar Dam/ Nagarjuna Sagar Lake
Distance covered - 180 km
And then it finally came in sight. And what a sight it was. Majestic, really. There is a reason why they call all the lakes in and around Hyderabad as Sagars. They are all unbelievably gigantic. (ok, not all of them, but most of them). Nagarjuna Sagar, true to its name was freaking huge and a pleasant surprise for us. My, the blues stretched towards the horizon as if it were a sea. And towards one far end lied a wall which obstructed this chunk of water body like the wall of Troy. Overall, pretty fantastic and worth 180 km and we felt great. The pain in the behinds suddenly went away and after having a decent enough lunch, visiting some panoramic view points and some more chai(tea) + limbu(lemon) /mosambi(sweet lime) sharbats(drink) later, we finally came down to the waters, down to those slippery rocks. And it was on these rocks, while SRK got full drenched, me half drenched and Lord still fooling around with his Nikon DSLR, that somehow we had the following conversation - which was basically was the foundation for "the Two Blunders". And it went on something like this:-
Timestamp (12 June, 2010 (3:30 PM))
(much time had passed while we loitered around in the clean waters of the Nagarjuna Sagar after having a refreshing lunch)
SRK: abe ek baat bolu?
Lord: ek kya, tu do baat bol... I'm very happy today !!
SRK: yaha se Srisailam kitna door hai?
Me: abe Srisailam is 240 km away from Hyderabad, and we've already covered 180, so its only 60 km away from here...
Lord: yes, that's correct, why what happened?
SRK: nahi, main soch raha may be we can visit that place as well since we have already come so far... what say?
Me: (after thinking really hard) lets go, it will be fun... we can still make it back by late night if we press hard...
Lord: yes, and the road to Srisailam is godly as well... it goes through this awesome forest reserve and its too good (google maps expert, we don't argue on this front with him)
SRK: okay, great !!
And thus, the fellowship decided to extend their trip further to Srisailam. Its a nice place where there is a very famous temple atop a gigantic mountain situated amidst a beautiful tiger sanctuary forest. The prospects of driving to and back from there was irresistible, in spite of the exhaustion. But before all this, one more blunder, a bit minor one was in store for us.
About 10 km from Nagarjuna Sagar, we had come to know that there existed a very famous waterfall by the name of Ethipothala. We decided to officially take a bath under it. But due to the lack of spare clothing, we were in a fix. No problem, we go to local village and buy everything (yes everything, right from towels to the undies) and get ready to be bombarded with vertical jets of water!!
3) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (4:30 PM)
Place - Ethipothala Waterfalls
Distance covered - 190 km
After much huffing and puffing and admiring the scenery speeding past us, we arrived at the waterfalls. However, we were in for a blinder of a shock. This waterfall, yes, this very waterfall had made a super big fool of us all, mocked us and left us in total shambles. Why, you ask? Well, because it was just a waterfall you get to watch from about 200 meters away and there's no chance of getting underneath it - at least legally and without any danger to your life!! Goddamn!! And we spent half an hour in the market arguing and bargaining the price of those... Grrr... Disappointment and shocked that we were, we managed to hide it pretty well from the pretty faces present there and soon got out of there real quick to forget it. These waterfalls, even if they are not much pain for the eyes, they can mock you big time!!
4) Time Stamp - 12 June, 2010 (6:00 PM)
Place - Random T Point, some village
Distance covered - 210 km
Well, we were already 210 km, as far as our odometers were suggesting, but to add to our earlier feeling of shock and awe (Ethipothala waterfalls), we were wondering why we didn't pass through that super forest drive yet and why wasn't Srisailam any nearer still? We stopped for another Tea/ Bisleri Break and casually asked a person at the "tapri" (slang for tea stalls in India which can sell stuff you wont expect it to sell even in your dreams) about how far Srisailam was from here. Answer was - 160 km!! We were like "what the !@#$". We confirmed and we re-confirmed, the place was damn 160 km away... It took about 2 minutes for the fact to completely sink in and before any of us spoke again, as we were still in the process of recovering from the first blunder.
Now we had the following choices :-
--> head back to Hyderabad, a straight 210 km drive back, in all that growing darkness and torturing everything from top to bottom on that now very busy highway!! This also meant enduring a severe pain in the behinds since driving at night time meant reduced speeds.
--> Continue to Srisailam, try to reach there before dinner time, make a night stop over, explore the place next morning in peace and then return back to Hyderabad next afternoon. Seems like our earlier assumption of Hyderabad, Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam being 3 collinear points on a line stretching 240 km was not really factually correct. Hyderabad - Srisailam was 250 km, yes, but it was a totally different route altogether (see the map, that's the road we took during return journey)
Since the second option ensured more adventure than any sort of social life we could have had on the following day in Hyderabad, we just spontaneously decided to carry on. But seems like there were still more surprises in store for us. The thing is, Srisailam being situated in a dense forest, they stop entry and exit to/ from it at 9 pm at night. So this meant, we had to stop over even before Srisailam in a village called Dornala 50 kms earlier. According to the people in the village where we made this decision to go on, the road was not really driver's paradise and it goes through some Ghat sections (curvy, zig-zag, treacherous roads carved on the sides of mountains) as well. And being in complete darkness, the region was prone to Naxal attacks (dense AP forests + deserted roads + darkness = probable naxal attacks?) as well. Wow, this was scary indeed... What followed next that scary evening and the following day's unbelievably awesome morning, is actually the bestest and most amazing part of this whole journey. Please don't forget to read the concluding part, the finale of this series - The Motorcycle Diaries (Part 3) - The Return of the Awesomeness !!
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