A Trip To Vizag

A teammate at office was getting married ( one more poor soul sacrificed at the altar of marriage , tsk tsk ) in Vizag, so 3 of us decided to make the trip. I preferred a train since it was a long time I last made an overnight journey by train ( not since my days in Bhutan ).And so it happened that we booked 3 berths on the Prasanthi Express departing Bangalore at 2:30 pm.

On the day we were to start, I decided to confirm the train timings. I looked at the printed ticket and to my surprise found that there was no departure time printed, just a bland message, "Train timings changing from Dec 1st. Pls confirm exact timings". A wise guy at the office remarked that the new departure time was 10:30 am , which of course was not very good news considering it was already 11am ( Turns out Mr Wise Guy was looking at the booking time printed at the bottom of the ticket ...duhhh!!! make that Mr Dumb Ass ). A frantic 15 minutes later ( spent in dialling countless Railway nos, which were all engaged, and surfing the Net ) we confirmed with a sigh of relief that the timings for our train were unchanged.

We started from our office around 1pm ( after applying for the half day *Sick* leave , heh heh ) , and reached Bangalore City Rly Stn around 2:15 after an uneventful journey ( barring the changing of autos because our auto ran out of fuel, the mad rush through traffic with our backpacks slung on etc etc , you know , the usual stuff that just seems to happen whenever I start on a long journey). The nick of the time arrival meant a change in our original plan ( no Vodka + Sprite mix to be taken on board ) :(.

The train chugged off at 2:30 pm and no sooner were we out of Bangalore City limits than I had a surprise. A momentary digression while I give you a lesson in Biology. You will ofcourse be aware there are 3 kinds of people - men , women and the hijaras. My early encounter with hijaras was during my days in Delhi, where I looked on in amusement as they came to our houses, sang some songs , collected money and left. Being then at the tender age of 12, I did not fathom the mysteries hidden behind these singing aunties. Now however, I was a fully grown male (hold your horses , I never said grown mind :P ) capable of understanding the weird ways God ( always assuming there is one) worked.

To continue ( Editor's note: Get a move on please , we have a story to finish here ) , I looked on with a slight amount of distaste and increasing horror as hordes of these wonderful people descended on our compartment and started patting cheeks , thighs etc trying to cajole money out of our miserly hands. I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say I held on ( nay , not a 50 paisa coin out of my hands ). Was that a cheer I heard? And now a tip for the inexperienced - the trick is to remain completely indifferent. Dont show loathing , dont be angry, in short dont do anything...just continue doing whatever you are doing ( this last proved difficult in our case - we were playing cards and one of the hijaras tried to run away with the cards we were playing with ) . Anyway , you get the idea.

An exciting 24 hours later we were in Vizag. The marriage was at 1am. We spent the time lolling around the beach, going on board the Navy submarine 'Kursura' and downing a few beers. We went to sleep at 10:30pm, woke up at 12:30 am and attended the marriage function. ( Got a few photos to prove the fact.Agreed,I dont look in prime form in the pics, but then beer + power nap is hardly the formula for a smooth, rosy complexion ).

The official reason out of the way, it was time for a blast in Vizag. Unfortunately , we had only 24 hours for the same. Our travel plan had been planned beforehand by experts. The idea was to make a trip to Arukku valley - around 130 kms from Vizag . On the way , we dropped in on Bora caves. Really amazing place, such a huge cave. There is even a Shiva linga there ( which we decided to give the go by , not being the religious type ) , but the Vizag trip was worth it just for the caves itself ( and oh yes, the marriage too ) .

Arukku valley is another 30 kms from Bora caves. On reaching there , the driver informed that there is only a waterfall and a garden to be seen there ( Now you tell us !!! ). The problem was the waterfall was 4kms away , and the road was not fit for a bullock cart, much less for a car. The garden we had decided wasnt worth spending an hour on. So guess what we did? Bingo, you are right. Headed straight for the AP Tourism resort to drown our sorrows at missing the waterfall in a couple of beers.

We reached Vizag back around 6, then only had time for a short visit to the Kailash something something ( This is atop a peak and offers a bearthtaking view of the beach ). After that there was only time enough for a couple of beers and dinner and then we hit the sack. Back to Namma Bengaluru after another encounter with those exotic beings on the train.