Random notes jotted down during my bus journey from Hyderabad to Gulbarga in March. This was my first day journey in many years and I guess I needed all of it, the pouring rain desperately trying to wash the dust off of my mind.I treated this as an experiment to determine what I observe of the daily life while traveling.
2.00 PM - Bismillah Kalyani Hotel - Outskirts of Hyderabad City. The name has a weird conundrum to it; Later, I discovered that Bismillah Kalyani was a type of biriyani served in rural areas around here.
Khajah Kalyani Bar - Adjacent to Kalyani Hotel. A torrent of people were seen plying in and out of this 5 foot across joint at 2 in the afternoon!
2.45 PM - Pouring rain with water leaking into the 'air conditioned' bus through invisible holes on the roof.
2.46 PM - A couple of kids in the adjacent seat squeezing against each other to get more butt-space on the seat.
2.46 PM - One of them giggles, noticing my by-now wet notebook.
3.00 PM - The smell of wet crops and the sight of mud chasing the rainwater fills up my senses.
5. 00 PM - After taking an account of a host of things for over 2 hours, I came to the conclusion that 'Jyoti' is the preferred name for cinema halls in the region. Four of them had the same name!!
5.45 PM - By evening and a few meters into Karnataka state, the sun came out of the gray clouds and turned pale yellow. Perhaps it was practicing celestial regionalism too? Perhaps. The mild valleys were drenched in the sun, oozing yellow all over. The trees were solitary across the valleys, somewhat celebrating their loneliness; brimming with that comforting joy of being alone with the sun, perhaps because of the yellow caressing each leaf before it was time to bid goodbyes to the Sun.
6.20 PM - While passing a small, unnamed village, I spotted a bunch of pigs racing each other to splash and wallow in the village's 'drainage' canal. Nearby were men, with no seeming shame, performing their daily duties in full view for the voyeurs. "A bunch of lazy pigs," I thought.
6.50 PM - The clouds had gathered around the departing sun, as if to usher it out in a stately manner.
Funnily, throughout this journey more than 10 passengers had alighted the bus because of the seemingly exorbitant fare of Rs. 200 from Hyderabad to Gulbarga. That's the amount I had paid for the 'A/C Bus'. I wondered if they were being reasonable or if the bus conductor was fleecing me.
7.25 PM - Gulbarga outskirts - There seemed to be a Bandh for two days, allegedly because of the Hindu festival of Holi and Islamic festival of Id separated by just one day. One of my co-passengers told me Gulbarga has a strong sense of communalism and this Bandh was of a precautionary nature. The driver stopped a couple kilometers away from this big procession and asked all of us to alight. Fearing some trouble, most of the passengers got down. While I was getting down, the conductor was seen arguing with a senior citizen about the bus stopping way before its intended destination. The conductor gave back 10 rupees (this was when my doubts of being fleeced were confirmed)to the old man and asked him to stop annoying him. With a frown on my face, I caught an auto rickshaw and reached the bus station.
Some signboards at different highway eateries caught my attention: DHABBA, DABA, DHABAA, DALL FRI, etc.
Cheers!
Vidd.
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