16 hours on the NH-4

Yoo hoo and a bottle of rum...

Harsha was giving high recommendations to Sharma Travels, and I can see now why. Minutes after Harsha and Gokul had lugged my bag into the bus, the bus started, and the powerful AC cooled the whole cabin in minutes. It was already 12 by the time we hit the ghats on the outskirts of Pune, so I guess that may have been the reason he did not play any movie at night. Blankets and bottles given, the lights were dimmed and then put off, and the only thing audible was the slow hum of the AC, which combined with the chilled ambience, put everyone to sleep.

Not me though, cos the seat I got was not fully reclining, and so I was feeling very uncomfortable. The girl next to me was accomodating enough to let me put my legs to the far end of her leg-space, so that I could doze off in a diagonal position, with my head on the window. I remember being awake till 1, because I was continuing a SMS conversation with a birthday gal. Then, fatigue overtook me, and the next thing I knew was daylight on my face through the window. The girl next to me was still asleep, complete with the blanket over her head to prevent the sun. I did the same and slept for another hour or so, before dad called me.

Presently he stopped for breakfast, and for once, it was not a stinky roadside hotel. The places where these KSRTC people stop, you know instantaneously where the toilet is, thanks to the stench emanating from it. Here, however, I had to ask, and to my pleasant surprise, the toilets were clean, the water was clear, and the food, sumptuous. It atleast leaves you with the comforting feeling that you got your money's worth. The place he stopped was a Reliance A-1 Outlet, methinks its Reliance's answer to Club HP "Achcha lagta hai" pit-stops on Pune-Mumbai expressway, with hotels and toilet facilities along with re-fuelling stations.

Lunch was again at a Reliance A-1, 50 kms away from Bangalore. By this time, I had seen Rang De Basanti and Malamaal Weekly. Thank God, I did not watch the latter movie in the theatres. Sucks big-time. This starts where the climax of Hungama ends (with all those people shaking and shouting in a bout of electric discharge). If it were not for the gal next to me, I would have pulled my hair out. During the course of the movie, I learnt that she was from Dombivili in Mumbai, and was working in some small company in Pune, and had got a new job in Cygnus software. Before joining there, she wanted to take a break and was visiting her brother in Bangalore.

Movies and Conversations over, the speakers started churning out FM, and after a long time, I heard the class of Bangalore RJs. Radio Mirchi RJs in Pune suck big time. Then the cleaner came and started announcing the stops in Bangalore, and she got off somewhere near Navrang, and a few more minutes later, me too gathered all my bags and headed home. It had taken fifteen and a half hours from Pune to Bangalore, pretty good enough. Comfortable seats, warm blankets, cool AC and neat stop-overs. Sharma is good, after all.

I will be going to Mysore tomorrow.

And by the way, this post is from my new notebook via a GPRS connection on the cell.