Previous : The Preparation
The trip officially started from Indira Nagar, near to Lab Genius around 7:30 AM.
We crossed KR Puram bridge and took the old Madras road. Pretty soon we crossed the point where we had been once to go to a temple – Vakkaleri Markendeshwar Temple – little off Kolar.
Officially we have entered – the never been on road this part onwards – zone. We have made umpteen trips to Coimbatore and Chennai – it will always be via Hosur.
San took over, as she said she will attend her standups – which were from 10:30 AM onwards. I noticed she was driving in an unusual manner. I thought perhaps she had not had her breakfast or perhaps was a bit sleepy. Later she said she was trying to conserve petrol. Thank God she didn’t do that after that.
Over the years being on the passenger side, have developed a knack to notice when San is driving in her usual rhythm. One bad habit of her is she will not give the controls, even when she is tired. So this time I introduced the protocol – every 2 hours let us keep swapping. Anyway we did not strictly follow it.
We stopped around 9:30 AM to have breakfast. Idly, Sambhaar and Chutney. Then resumed journey. I started driving as San’s standups were on.
We were somewhere near Tirupati – when her 2nd standup was in progress. The participants were from Romania, Dubai, Bangalore and on a highway near Tirupati. The outside temperature was close to 38 degrees. We spotted a fork – right would have taken to Vellore and Chennai, and left towards Vijayawada. I joked, let us change the plan. No one bothered answering. I took the left.
The roads were fine till now. We crossed Nellore and found the place to be quite posh. Lot of highway restaurants, all posh ones – not like the A2Bs – with a basketball court and a transparent seating area etc. – post covid have to come this side to check these places.
Did a full tank now. FT-1. It was Rs.96 per litre.
There was some election and police were stopping cars and checking. We hurriedly put on our masks, but no one stopped us.
We started searching for a good shade on the highway. Found lot of lorries parked to the left, and found one. Amma had packed lunch – we gobbled it gladly.
Cocoa went under the seat. I think the highway noise of the vehicles zooming past us was getting on her nerves. Took some effort to coax her back into her bag.
Then we got some fantastic 3 laners, cement topped. Also the bridges in Andhra I noticed had a nice slow gradient. Never have I seen such gentle sloped bridges. Good for the lorries carrying tons of goods – they can climb them without much reduction on their speed.
Then it started raining. It was a heavy downpour. Exactly around this time San got a call from one of her team mates. She was resigning.
I was focussing on following an Innova which was driving at a decent speed and over hearing San’s side of the discussion.
When we started I had put Vijayawada as destination. Google said 7:30 PM as ETA. However the ETA improved to 5:30 PM . Google uses 80 KMPH speed limit, so I think we made good time. Also we ensured our stops were very short. So we changed the destination to Rajahmundry.
The rain stopped and we entered Vijayawada. We crossed Krishna river. Remembered my college days when I used to take Coramendal express – it was the fastest of all trains to Kolkata. It will start from Chennai and the very next stop will be Vijayawada. It was a nostalgic feeling crossing Krishna river.
We filled the tank FT2 and San took over. We crossed Godavari and reached a hotel we had booked when we were crossing Vijayawada.
The place did not look sanitised enough. First San went in and sprayed all the door knobs and usual places we might touch. Then she laid out the bedsheet and towels on the pillow.
Then we went down and smuggled cocoa in along with our suitcases – so they will not suspect.
It got cold with the AC, and we had one measly blanket ( we had packed away whatever the hotel had given ). Night I switched off the AC and it got quite stuffy. Had a fitful sleep. For tomorrow we should at least use the blanket the hotel provides.
