Surprisingly no one was hungry. It was nearly dawn and
when you are on the road and the darkness starts playing a losing battle with
the rising sun, most people want to grab a bite to eat. Well, that’s been my
experience. But here we were, with only Rajesh demanding a pack of biscuits.
Other had their tea in miniscule cups. I was not going to partake in that
ritual. I had four cups of tea poured into a tall glass and only then consented
to imbibe the spirit laced with tannin.
I checked the luggage bin to see if there was any leakage
into the compartment. It had fortunately held up pretty well with not a drop to
be felt inside. That was a relief since there were so many things stored in
there that would be disastrous if wet – cameras primarily.
We sped on towards Pune. My cousin stays there and we had
told him to expect us for breakfast, around seven is when I had told him to
expect us. When he called me around eight, we were still a fair distance away.
I upped the arrival time to ten.
Once people got wind of the fact that breakfast was going
to be delayed, hunger pangs started. Rajesh promised us the staple breakfast of
Maharashtra and soon enough he spotted a roadside eatery making the delicious
vada paos. Cars were parked and the vada paos just kept on coming. Along with
missal pao and poori bhaji ... and of course tea. The guys had never ever had
vada paos before and they gorged. I suspect hunger had only a slight part in
the amount all of us gorged.
Breakfast done, we hit the road anger, stomachs happy and
contented. The cameras started rolling and Rajesh who was sitting in the Gypsy
became the cameraman. He soon gave up, said that the two eyelids of his were
desperate to meet, changed vehicles, dropped the seat and dozed off like there
was no tomorrow. The others had had their fill of sleep and were taking in the
wonders of driving through the Maharashtrian heartland.
By the time we hit my cousin’s place (that took us an hour to find his house) it was past noon. Realising we were going to be late, he had taken the time out and the effort to cook some fantastic chicken curry and rice. The vada paos were still active in all our stomachs and none of us did any justice to the fantastic food that was laid in front of us. That was sad, but unavoidable. Quietly everyone made their way into the washroom to clean up. I have a sneaky feeling that they wanted to do more than just wash up, but felt embarrassed to make their intention openly known. Mumbai was a couple of hours away and the pressures building up in the nether regions could wait. No one complained of the odour in the vehicle so I guess God was in His Heaven all the way to Mumbai.
The expressway was a dream to drive on and we did just
that ... enjoy. The Gypuzu is not known to do great speeds and we were cruising
at around 85 kmph when the rain started to come down. And it was starting to
pelt. After the wonderful Hyderabadi weather and the rising humidity as we
headed towards to Mumbai was partially offset by the coolness of the breeze
wafting between the raindrops.
A few kilometres short of Mumbai, thankfully before we
hit the infamous traffic, I smelt something not so happy a split second before
the cockpit filled up with smoke. That was one worry I had had for the past two
days and my apprehension was coming true. Something had happened to the
radiator and I was about to begin my voyage down the creek without a paddle.
Gingerly I got out of the vehicle (fortunately I had parked it under a bridge),
opened the bonnet to find that indeed something had happened, though not half
as serious as I had expected. After the vehicle was serviced, the mechanic had
put in just water in the radiator and no coolant. The water had heated and
evaporated over the past 600km and the radiator said sorry. My other five well
wishers were up there to help immediately. The radiator cap was opened and what
water we had was promptly poured in. Little did they realise that due to the
heat, all the water was instantly evaporating. Good sense prevailed and
everyone waited for the engine to cool down before pouring in the additional
water. Fortunately there was no leakage and nothing had gone bust. Driving
slowly thereafter, we reached the hotel a while later and checked in.
While the others relaxed, freshened up and did what they
wanted to Rajesh, Mustafa and me went off to the Mumbai office to catch up with
Soumen and Kamalinee. Tomorrow was International Peace Day and Travel Trendz
was the Global Broadcast Partner. There was a concert being staged in Mumbai
and Rajesh had the responsibility of filming it. He had been going this way and
that for the past couple of days getting the production organised and he had
yet to see the venue to decide on logistics. Soumen would be working with him
on this and I left the two of them to decide what to do next.
Soon enough we were back in the hotel, dinner was a
scrumptious affair and the comfort of the bed beckoned us all. But there was
work yet ... we were here for the exhibition and all of us trotted off to the
venue to see what was up. The stall had to be installed, the Gypuzu had to be
placed, the TV sets put up, the storage areas identified ... a whole lot of
work. When we arrived work was on at full swing. But that did not mean that we
could just park the Gypuzu and head on home. The area had to be cleaned,
carpets pasted, platform constructed, etc, etc, etc. Home was some time away
yet. Which came soon enough.
Hussain was sleeping in the car and he did not know when
or how or at what time we came back to the hotel or how and when he went up the
elevator and crashed into bed. This was his first ever long distance journey
and he was pooped. In fact we all were. We sank into our respective beds and
did not even realise when sleep overtook us ... probably even before we hit the
bed.
That was how the day ended. A long drive, a taste of vada
pao followed by a lovely lunch and then setting up of the stall and placement
of the Trilogy vehicle. An eventful day indeed and quite satisfying.
So ended Day 2. I’ll see you when I’ll see you. Keep
following the Trilogy for more.
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