Aurangabad Trip

I had planned to leave early from my office, since I had to pack my clothes, have dinner and then reach the bus stand by 10pm for the 10:30pm bus. Since things never go as planned, work caught me in office till 8:15pm and I had to rush home, pack things in a hurry and decided to skip dinner. I left home at 9:30 and reached the bus stand at 10pm, and had my dinner there. Two packets of biscuits and a bottle of mineral water!!!

The bus left at 10:10pm, and since it took the Chitoor route, the bus dropped me at the Majestic Bus stand at 5am. Reached home at 5:30am, and was ready for my next travel by 11:30am. Ganesh came to my house, and we both left in an auto to Majestic. Caught up with Sujay and Rachitha there.

The next trip was to Pune, and we boarded a Volvo bound to Shirdi. The bus started at 1pm sharp, and it was scheduled to reach Pune the next day at 5am. It would be my first long journey by bus. I have never traveled in a bus for more than 8 hours.

The journey was good. We stopped at places for lunch, tea and dinner and two movies were played on the way. Bardasht starring Bobby Deol & Lara Dutta and Hera Pheri starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. The dinner was way too oily to be suited to have while one is on the move, and I was awoken at night with a pain in my stomach. There was nothing I could do, other than turn around, change my posture and sleep.

The bus dropped us at Pune by 5am, and we had to travel to another bus stand by auto. There we caught a rickety old bus, a Maharashtra state bus and started the next leg of our journey, which would take us to Aurangabad. The bus started at 5:30am and there were regular stops in the between – the bus was an ordinary bus, with loads of stops. The driver even stopped for breakfast, but the place was so dirty that we decided to skip it. We had guava, Kurkure and tea instead.

We reached Aurangabad by 10:30am and headed to the hotel, where our stay was booked. We were joined there by two more of our friends, Priya and Debanjana. Aditya came to meet us in the hotel, with his newly wed wife. They are a handsome couple.

We had lunch at the hotel, and decided not to waste the 5 hours, sleeping. So we enquired with the hotel, and decided to visit Biwi-Ka-Makbara. It was a tomb, built in the model of The Taj Mahal, by Aurangazeb’s son, during the 1600’s, in memory of his mother. Aurangabad itself is named after the Mugal emperor, Aurangazeb.

The reception started at 7pm, and all of us were in the best of our dresses. I preferred to wear jeans and a shirt, since I expected it to be cold since the venue was the rooftop of the hotel where we were put up.

The party went off well, and we had to rush to the railway station after the party to start our return journeys. I had a bout of wheezing when we arrived at the station. It was due to the coconut oil that I had applied on my hair before I took bath at Aurangabad. I am allergic to it, but since I had not had wheezing for a long time, I thought it was safe for me to use it, but I was wrong.

I was finding it difficult to breath, and it was not until Ganesh insisted me to take a few puffs from the inhaler, that I was able to breath and talk normally. There were not other unwanted incidents during our journey to Mumbai. The train left Aurangabad at 11:45pm and reached Mumbai in the morning at 7:30. Due to the onset of winter, it was cold in the train, luckily I was carrying my sweater and a shawl, which kept me warm throughout the journey.

Ganesh and I got down at Dadar, and caught a local train to Ville Parle. From there were reached the airport in an auto. We refreshed ourselves in the airport bathrooms and started our wait for the plane.

The wait in Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Strangely, the domestic airport is called by this name), is never boring. So many people around you, well dressed; and I love to watch people (preferably girls). The people whom I saw there and who are worth mentioning here are Arbaz Khan, Pooja Batra and a chick in a micro mini skirt.

The plane was late by an hour and a half, and we took off from Mumbai airport at 1pm. It was the first time I was flying by Air Deccan, and it was also the first time I was flying with my own money, so this one was special. Air Deccan is a no-frills flight, so you need to buy things. It had been a long time since we had breakfast in the airport, and we were feeling hungry, we ordered a veg sandwich and an orange juice for 80 bucks!!! But when someone is taking you from Mumbai to Bangalore, for 2000 bucks in an hour and 10 minutes, who is complaining???

The plane reached Bangalore by 2:30pm and I reached home by 3:15pm. Spent the rest of the time taking about the trip to mom and dad. The final leg of the journey started at 10:45pm. This time it was by train, and I reached Chennai in the morning at 5am.

It was raining cats and dogs, and I had to catch an auto to reach home. The autos in Chennai have a merry time, when its raining, had to shell out 100 bucks to reach home.

At the end, it was quiet a hectic tour. Over 3 days and 4 nights, I traveled more than 3200kms; used various modes of transportation and had a gala time with my friends. Need to take such breaks from office once or twice in a year.

The next marriage in our group is on 30th April, 2006. Lets see how things turn up then.