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.