An Attempted Travelogue

An Attempted Travelogue

KSRTC Super Fast Journey (KKD-BNGLR) (22-06-13)

So, I am travelling from Calicut, sorry, Kozhikode to Hyderabad via Bangalore, sorry, Bengaluru. I am sitting in a KSRTC Super Fast (Kerala SRTC not the Karnataka one) which has just crossed Mysore. I am pretty much bored and my sleeping quota for the day is over. The date is 22^nd June (it’s already 22^nd???  I never knew… had to check my mobile to confirm… who cares about dates when they are jobless).

I started from home at around 8 in the morning. Right when I was about to call an auto till the bus stop, Jobin (my cousin) came on a Black Honda Activa like an angel and offered me to drop off till the stop. Ha, I was glad; I had saved twenty rupees by 8 ‘o’ clock in the morning… yay! (I know I am writing all sorts of bullshit which no one really is interested in but pardonne moi, I’m bored.)

 As with most of my journeys I had already planned what to eat from the restaurants which I come across. For example, I wanted to have breakfast from the canteen in Kozhikode Moffusil bus stand. During my bus journey from Koodaranji to Kozhikode, I thought what should I eat? Porotta? Appam? Puttu? Dosa? Pathiri? I finalized on 1 Porotta and 2 Pathiris (I couldn’t make up my mind to a single item). With them, Cherupayar curry or Kadala curry would make me really happy. Ha! Plan made, wonderful! I began dreaming about the food (as it happens most of the times). The journey was uneventful for the rest except for the conversation I overheard between two school kids about whose movies were better, Asif Ali’s or Surya’s (Really???)

Once I reached Kozhikode I rushed to the aforesaid canteen, without even checking the timings of the next Bangalore bus. Unfortunately, the place had no Pathiri, no Cherupayar, no Kadala even. What a letdown!  I immediately said bye-bye to the waiter and rushed to the nearest restaurant. Ha! There I am, having what I wanted- Porotta, Pathiri, Kadala and Chaai- made my day by 10 o clock!

Now there was a problem, it was raining heavily. I had to get back to the bus stand. I have an umbrella; I don’t want it to be wet. So I ran to the bus stand in between the heavy traffic of Mavoor road. I caught the Banglore bus right on time, my hair, my 10 year old, black Lacoste t-shirt (one of my oldest friends now), mostly wet. I had saved my umbrella from getting wet successfully, but not so sure about my laptop, my camera, my valuable certificates, yay!

The Wayanad Churam (mountain pass) was rainy and foggy- enjoyed the hairpin bends, the view, and took photographs. Sultan Bathery bus station was interestingly infested with monkeys. Some of them even got on the bus. "Lucky ticketless travellers!", exclaimed a guy next to me. The monkeys jumped off once the bus started.

Oh, I am unable to get the movie I watched yesterday from my head. Left Right Left by Arun Kumar Aravind. The dialogues, the characters, the actors, keep on coming to my mind- what a brave political movie!  

Traffic Jam, Traffic Jam now! I am somewhere near Srirangapattanam I guess. Oh the mighty soul of Tippu Sultan, help our poor bus out of it soon! From Karnataka the bus on the side, a veiled girl is looking at me… “Hi”. What timing for “Ormakkai ini oru snehageetham..” to play through my earphones! The Jam is over… bye-bye Ayesha… oh, yes, I named her.

‘Sri Varalakshmi Milatary hotel’ – What the hell is a ‘milatary’ hotel?

Back to past- I was excited about the part of the journey through the Muthanga wildlife sanctuary and Bandipur national park. As always, I hoped to see a tiger or leopard, but had to be satisfied by three wild elephants and a small herd of deers.  

Once you cross Bandipur, you feel the absolute difference in terrain and climate. The rainy rainy mountainous terrain is replaced by plain land and dryness. The rubber trees and areacanuts were replaced by sunflowers and cabbages. I saw the Sun after one week or so; I distinctly remember last noticing the Sun on 15^th June when I was in SpiceTree Munnar.

One other interesting thing I noticed is how the playlist in your mind automatically changes when you see something. For example, when I was passing through the beautiful green Bandipur, I had all romantic songs like ‘Ethrayo Janmamai’, ‘Varamanjal’ and ‘Pachai Nirame’. I crossed Bandipur and saw the Nilgiri Mountains behind me and it changed to “Neelagiriyude sakhikale...” When I saw the sunflowers the KJ Yesudas of my brain shifted drastically to S Janaki with “Suryakanthi… Suryakaanthi…”

I think I am done writing for now. The reason might either be that I don’t have anything more to write or that my ass is hurting sitting like this and typing in a KSRTC. On a last but different note, I would also like to marry the singer who sang “Theeratha poga vaanam…” for David.  She would be my second singer-fantasy-wife after Shreya Ghoshal.

Tatabyebye!