One Down, How Many More To Go?

Finally, the countdown has officially started. It’s already become ancient, the fact that most of the students who complete college in India, move out because of the so-called ‘lack of quality education’. Like most of my friends have decided to study abroad, I’ve joined the same pack of wolves.

 

Some of my class-mates have already left and more are on the way, but the one that concerned me most was Yaseen’s. We expected to Sudershan to leave this August, but apparently, some glitches held him back and now suddenly he has a job that he loves to do. The next one in the line was Yaseen who was planning to land in Manchester for higher education. He successfully completed the process and finally decided to leave on the 24^th which was a Thursday. I wanted to meet him a last time for the send-off and made up my mind to make it to the airport on Thursday. Raj and Chakradhar were also willing to come and so the plan was to start off from my home in my car.

 

It was the first time I was going to the airport after it was relocated at Shamshabad. And to top it off, it was the first time I was driving to such a far off place. Quite a few ‘firsts’ happened on that day. He wanted us to be there by 7:15AM so we took off by 6:00 at my house, not expecting what kind of roads and traffic we could probably experience. It was a pleasant drive, mostly hovering around the speed of a comfortable 70Kmph. The roads were fine thanks to the early morning drive. And though the boards put up by the Government in Habsiguda say 30KM to the airport, it was a good 40KM by the time we reached there. And it did take a full hour to travel. It was 7:00 AM when we entered and just waited till he came. He stepped in nearly at 8:00 and it felt foolish to have waited a whole hour just for nothing. Anyway, after he came, it was time for some quick traditional Muslim style goodbyes and he was off through the doors. Finally it set in. One down, but how many more to go?

 

With that thought hovering in our heads, we made our way to the small McDonald’s outlet at the airport for a quick bite. And soon, we were heading back. The one peculiar thing I noticed was the quality of construction work inside and just outside the airport. After exiting NH7 and entering under the welcome arch, I noticed a sudden change in the way the wheels were rolling. It suddenly got very smooth. I had no hesitation in pushing beyond 100 Kmph cuz I was sure the road ahead was definitely obstacle free. And I felt the same on the way back. After doing a smooth 4 KM of the exit, I reached the trumpet interchange that merged into NH7 and bam! Bad quality! The small elevated way that joined the exit of the airport road to the Highway was in stark contrast to the road we just left. It was so blatantly clear that I couldn’t believe it. The ride became bumpy and there was too much noise from the wheels. And the worst fear of all is that the new elevated expressway that’s opening shortly might as well turn out to be as bumpy as this. And if it does, its going to be a 11+ KM noisy, bumpy ride. Lets just hope that won’t be the case.

 

After getting home, these guys were in a mood for more. They wanted to watch a movie now. And off we went again. This time, into the city. GVK One. I expected a few more stalls to open up but didn’t find much of a change compared to last time. We had to waste 2 hours before getting into the movie and this we used up by roaming around and filling up with KFC. The movie was Wanted with Salman Khan as the star. I never imagined in my life that I would end up watching a Salman Khan movie in theatre. I lived through the hours yawning and sighing, hoping that people would stop whistling and shouting every time he delivered punch line. Clearly, the audience was in love. After all the endurance, I was happy to be out into the brightness and reality.

 

Once home, I realised how tired I was. Waking up at 5:30 AM was something I didn’t do in almost an year. Adding more than 100KM of driving to that had disastrous potential. I succumbed to it and fell asleep.

 

Desert Roads

Sunday is supposed to be the most relaxing and comforting day of the week. Or maybe I thought so, because this Sunday was entirely different. It was filled with a strange sequence of uplifting highs and madly frustrating lows.

 

Like a deceiving monster, it started off on a good note. I met up with friends I didn’t meet for a long time. For the first time in almost 2 years, my whole group of six friends from college could meet at once. Every other time, someone or the other ended up missing the get-together. This meet was special. Yaseen was ready to leave for Manchester in a few days and we wanted to see him one last time. And thankfully, everyone showed up (at least for sometime). We all met at AlleyGator and chilled out for a few hours. It was fun. Fun after so many days of boredom and lonely days at home. After Yaseen’s plan was settled, it was Sudershan’s turn to stun us. He managed to get himself a job that dealt with the high-end Dell XPS system. Apparently, he was absolutely loving his job and seemed very excited about narrating it to us. All in all, the afternoon went well. We were satisfied that the 6 friends who stuck together for 4 years had a last chance to meet up and chill.

 

Time flew by very fast and though I was supposed to be home by 3:00 PM, I only got home at 4. There was a party to attend. A birthday party of a 60 year old man who recently became a relative. We were supposed to pick up a cake (not exactly on the way!) and then reach the party. I got the car out and was nearly ready to move out of the gate when my watchman shouted for me to stop. He noticed that the right-rear tyre was completely flat. I was shocked. I leaped out and placed my hand near the nozzle. Cold air was still gushing out. The puncture happened just seconds ago. I couldn’t believe my bad/good luck.

 

Bad because my family had nearly 50KM of travel today and the tyre went flat leaving us stranded and car-less! ‘Good’ because the tyre flattened before I even left the house gate. If this same thing happened somewhere in between a flyover, I would have been ready to jump off the flyover out of frustration.

 

I hastily parked the car back and ran to get an auto. Ah! Here starts the trouble. The famous Hyderabad autos! Well known for their rash driving, ignorance of the law and tampered meters that run at double speed, this one was no different. This auto was fully-loaded with the above mentioned features and when we told the driver of our plan, he must have thanked the heavens for hitting Jackpot. We were supposed to go to Thirumulgherry to collect a cake and then to Banjara Hills for the party. My mood was so off that inspite of spotting a huge number of exotic cars on the road, my spirits couldn’t lift. My sullen face said it all. We had to fork out about Rs. 250 (I can easily do 2 complete trips to the airport and back with 250) for the whole travel and we knew we would have to pay much much more than that while returning because it would be late in the night.

 

The party was okay and kinda improved my mood. There were a few fun games for the married couples and I had to time them. Sounds like fun right? Yeah I know…. Sigh…

 

The dinner was good (again!) though I couldn’t force myself to eat much. It was way too late to find autos on the road and that kept me on the verge of leaving ASAP. Finally when it was past 11, we stepped out and the scene was just as I expected.

 

Deserted Roads!

 

Not exactly what one would call ‘deserted’ though. They were deserted for stranded people but they were heaven for people with adrenaline rushes and an exotic car at disposal. Only an occasional vehicle would zip by at blinding speed and we were even scared to cross the road. What else could one expect at KBR Park road? It was a hub for street-style racing before the Outer Ring Road came and it still bore signs of those high-speed days. Not a soul was present anywhere. And the only moving objects visible were Porsche Cayennes, Audi Q7s etc. In a dramatic movie-style, one couldn’t even ask for a lift. Probably the Cayenne owner would zoom past so fast that he would never know of people walking down the pavement hoping to find a means of transport. Finally when we reached an intersection of sorts, we found an auto. And this one turned out to be meter-less! The driver though was a nice guy and agreed to ‘transport’ us. We were literally ready to pay anything for that! In the end I thought we kinda underpaid him because, he practically pulled us out of a desert and he was a Muslim who was supposed to be preparing for the big day, Eid the next day. He deserved a lot more than a mere 150 bucks. But I was too tired to think any more about this and quickly retired to bed reflecting on the fluctuating day.

 

Met with friends, a high. Tyre punctured, a low. Fun at the party, a high. Stranded in Banjara Hills at midnight, a nightmare!.

 

Dreamless Sleep, the Ultimate High!!

Wake me up When September Ends

September has just started. Just like the past 4 months that have gone down the drain with no time well spent, this month would pass on too, worthlessly. Suddenly I am wishing for all this to end. At least this month to end. By then, hopefully, I would get some confirmation on my application status in Universities. Till then I'll have to just lie in the dark, waiting for my time to come.

As of now, there's too much negativity in the air. With YSR's sudden, tragic death, the pessimism only just increased. People around me sound hopeless and helpless. Only with loss can a person truly realize what he can lose.

My losses (losing moderately expensive electronic gadgets) have been nothing compared to what the Andhra Pradesh state lost, but loss is loss. I've kinda attempted to cover up (buying a 22inch 1080p monitor) and hopefully by next week, my life would be back to normal when I get my mediocre Graphic Card back. Currently Google Earth works like it's affected by Swine Flu and suddenly Microsoft's Bing Maps is holding my attention for some time (it's a desperate ploy to waste time in a world that is suddenly filled with excess time - shocking i know!!). At least Bing Maps has better resolution, better clarity and newer imagery compared to GE. However, the lack of a standalone application really bugs me, especially when I have such a slow connection. Google hasn't updated the imagery near the Hyderabad International Airport even as of today. I had to cut a piece of the Bing Maps imagery of the Shamshabad Airport and do an Image-Overlay on GE to deceive myself that the newer imagery is there. Here's the image I ripped.



It does look good from the Satellite. And surely even better from the inside. But about how fast it would grow in the near future is still a doubt. In fact, how fast any development project in Hyderabad - and AP in general - would take shape is the biggest question. With a new CM who should handle the state for the next 4 years, life's gonna be tough for both government and people. It's like everything is back to square one. A fresh and dedicated start is needed, which I kinda doubt as of now. Either we choose experience and same-old-politics or youth and brand-new-start-politics. Somehow, there's a growing suspicion that there's no difference between the two. It could be the same old story. It's another reason I just wanna fast-forward this month to the end and see how the first month of a new administration turns out to be.

It's a wait-and-watch game here and I'll wake up when September ends.