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!!