14th March 2009, 10:26
| #16 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 276
Thanked: 16 Times
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14th March 2009, 11:21
| #17 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MH42
Posts: 2,005
Thanked: 334 Times
| Quote:
1] swarget to katraj-@13 km. 2] swarget to hadpsar-@12 km. @ NC, by this time, dozens of train may have passed through that Modnimb railway gate.  | |
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14th March 2009, 12:35
| #18 |
| Senior - BHPian  | After about another 5 minutes, we hear a horn. Finally the train had arrived. I could see that on our side and on the other side everyone had occupied all possible space with their vehicles and we were facing each other like 2 armies waiting for battle. The train passed and I hear different kinds of start up noises frantically. The gates opened and the war started - everybody from both sides wanted to be the 1st to pass the tracks. Chaos prevailed - I quietly stuck behind a ST bus and he bullied his way through the crowd with me taking advantage. After about 3-4 kms I got a chance to overtake him and sped off. I was all alone and speeds were good. Suddenly I see a pair of headlights approaching fast and I slow down - it's a Swift Dzire on a a suicide mission. The guy was doing incredible speeds at night and he was gone in a flash. At about 1130 pm I decide to ask someone if we have already crossed Solapur. The kind soul confirms we have not. We drive on slowly searching for a right turn into Solapur. We come to a junction and ask a guy standing and he says if we take him with us - he will tell us. We decline the offer. Luckily we find a bullock cart procession and those people confirm we have over shot the turn off. We go back and take a left for Solapur to run into a nakabandi. We asks the cops and they are more than helpful to guide us to Hotel Surya International. We reach Surya International at 1150 pm and check into a room. The rooms are clean and nice   The room service is a bit iffy. That's tolerable. We have nice sleep. Next morning we wake up at 0730 am and are ready by 0815 pm. Time to stock up our stomachs with the complimentary breakfast - which was a very bad idea. The breakfast was barely tolerable (sambar was red chilli powder in water). We took the safe route and ate only bread, jam, butter - Paid the bills and got into the car. My backside felt wet !! I get out and check - the whole driver's seat is wet - maybe I had not rolled up the window completely and the watchman in his eagerness of cleaning the car had dumped a bucketful of water. Anyways we decide to drive on. At 9 am we drive out of Surya International and hit the highway. It's bright and sunny and the roads are empty.   The land is quite barren though.   Our progress is quick and we reach Naldurg only to have some road work going on. But what's that in the background ?  Is that a fort ? Yes it is !!     After that stretch it's a breeze. We are now approaching Zaheerabad. The roads are tree lined now and relatively very empty. No traffic except for a couple of motorcycles going towards Hyderabad. Me and Chetan are relaxed and chatting away about the species of the opposite sex. I blare 2 long shots of horn as I overtake a bike. 200-300 meters away and approaching the 2nd bike at 100-110 kmph - the biker decides to cut across the road. He turns blind and as he comes perpendicular to me - he sees this car hurtling towards him and freezes !! I slam the brakes and the ABS kicks in - I turn the steering right and the tail steps out - I correct it and it goes the other way - I correct it again and praying in my heart that I do not hit anything. The car drives straight in the opposite lane - and I thank my stars that there was no traffic when I see a Tavera hurtling down on me from the opposite direction  - I get the car back on my side of the road and within 2-3 seconds the Tavera zooms past me (The guy didn't even brake I feel). All this happened so fast - and I was shaking now. I look in the rear view mirror and the biker is still standing perpendicular to the road. I drive on S L O W L Y. It takes 30 minutes to regain my composure. I check the fuel gauge and it shows quarter tank full. I decide to tank up but looking at the kind of fuel pumps I was not very sure about the quality. But I had to tank up and decide to do so at an IOC pump. Fill only 1000 Rs worth of fuel. The rest of the drive is incident free and we hit Hyderabad at 1300 hours. The traffic is MADDENING. Trucks and autos rule the road. We ask for directions for Secunderbad railway station to a guy in a Dzire next to us and his response is - "Secunderabad ? Oh No !" He tells us to go straight on for 10 kms and take a left at a Y junction. I ask him if traffic will be like this all the way and his answer - Let's hope not. Progress is painfully slow and at 3 pm we still have not reached our destination. I call up Shridhar for directions and he says we are 10 minutes away. Those 10 minutes take 30 minutes and then starts the comedy of Shridhar trying to find us. Another 15 minutes are wasted and finally we meet Shridhar - exactly after an year. Feels really good to meet your old friends - all the fustration of the last 3 hours drains away. His driver guides us to his home in Padma Rao nagar where we finally get to eat home cooked awesome - dal/chawal/subzi. Tomorrow is wedding day. Last edited by normally_crazy : 14th March 2009 at 12:37. |
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14th March 2009, 12:51
| #19 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MH42
Posts: 2,005
Thanked: 334 Times
| @NC, nice write up, pics of Naldurg fort memorized my group's cycle tour from Solapur to Naldurg during engg college days in 1991.  Quote:
Last edited by ASHISHPALLOD : 14th March 2009 at 12:55. | |
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14th March 2009, 13:27
| #20 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Quote:
Instead of taking the left at Y-junction which goes via bowenpally-Paradise-Secbad Railway Station-Padmaraonagar, you could have taken the straight road and left at Panjagutta signal and go via. begumpet which during "afternoons" has much sparse traffic and you could have reached an hour early. Btw, Is your friend Shridar a tamilian? Padmaraonagar has a thick tamil population | |
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14th March 2009, 15:30
| #21 | ||
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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After lunch, we check into our hotel. Shridhar comes along as a guide and behaves like politician.  After we have rested for a while, it's time to go back and meet the Dulha. It's his (what we call in Mumbai) Haldi time.  Here he is ready for the ceremony.  Music is at full blast.  I record the whole ceremony  After the ceremony.  Here is Shri's cutie pie  After that we have to go out for dinner and we land up at a resturant. I do not remember the name as usual.    We call it an early night as we have to leave for Karimnagar tomorrow morning at 630 am. Last edited by normally_crazy : 14th March 2009 at 15:31. | ||
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17th March 2009, 15:04
| #22 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MH42
Posts: 2,005
Thanked: 334 Times
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18th March 2009, 16:21
| #23 |
| Senior - BHPian | Oops I forgot I had to complete this.  After a night of disturbed sleep, we are woken up by Shridhar's phone call. I look at the watch and it shows 0445 am - damn !! Reluctantly we wake up, get dressed and leave for Shridhar's house. There is bus full of people travelling to Karimnagar. We hop into Shridhar's car alongwith his wife and kid and the driver. It's an un-eventful drive - till half way. We stop for breakfast and the kiddo starts crying. Me and Chetan hop into the bus from that point and sleep all the way to Karimnagar. Reach, freshen up and move to hall to attend the wedding. It's hot and burning in Karimnagar. We somehow manage the heat, finish off lunch and the ceremony. Shridhar insists we go back with him in the his car. Chetan and me are worried about the kiddo but Shridhar insists, so we hop on. The fun starts then... The car is a Wagon-R Duo. And the driver is a typical Hyderabad specimen. ORVM's folded and a big heart. His driving is not that smooth. I watch for a while and after a couple of close shaves decide to get into the driving seat. This will be the first time that I will be driving the Wagon-R Duo. I adjust all the mirrors much to the horror of the driver and off we go. The car has run out of LPG and we are on petrol. I drive slowly trying to get a feel of the car. After a while I find that the car is still going slowly - even when I have the accelerator pedal floored. Overtaking was almost a luxury in this car. It had no pick up / acceleration whatsoever. I decide to stick to a safe speed of 60-70 kmph (the kid in the car restricting the speed too). It takes 2 hours to finish off 80-90 kms in the evening. The car and the other morons who drive ONLY on high beams being the culprits. Almost every car in Hyderbad has upgraded to 130/100 bulbs and drive only on high beams as a rule it seems. :( Just as we are entering the city I stop and ask the driver to take over. I don't want to be driving in that crazy traffic. The driver gets into the car and the 1st thing he does is fold the mirrors back. It takes another hour and some more to get home and we are dead tired as we troop into Shridhar's home. The house has to be prepared for the new bride but all of us are hungry and we simply tuck into the food. After that me and Chetan leave for the hotel. Tomorrow we have decided to go to Charminar for some shopping and then some famed Hyderabad biryani. |
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18th March 2009, 16:38
| #24 |
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18th March 2009, 17:05
| #25 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MH42
Posts: 2,005
Thanked: 334 Times
| Quote:
man, you have fast forwarded the shaadi.  next post should be in your style. | |
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18th March 2009, 17:38
| #26 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Me with the Dulha  Chetan grabs some tea  There was a HUGE turnout  The dulha did not have to step on the ground ala Pakeezah  He reaches the venue  And is tied in holy matrimony  Garmi ne behaal kiya mujhe  Let me sit in front of the cooler  Some ate ice-cream to fight the heat  | |
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18th March 2009, 18:05
| #27 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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18th March 2009, 23:07
| #28 | |
| BHPian  | Quote:
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22nd July 2009, 21:32
| #29 |
| Senior - BHPian | LOL - I had forgotten this one was stuck half way. Anyone interested in an 3-4 month old story ? Then I might complete it. |
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22nd July 2009, 21:45
| #30 | ||
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 1,961
Thanked: 436 Times
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