Aaargh!!! I dunno what's more frustrating, being four hours late for work because the bus from Hyderabad was four hours late, or coming to work and realizing that they still haven't got anything substantial for you to do.
The journey back from Hyderabad (which I keep typing as Hyderabad - hmm, maybe I should copyright that) was on an APSRTC bus (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation). The price was almost the same and except for the bottle of water (that was present on my way to Hyd and missing on the APSRTC bus) the experience was similar - a Telugu movie, blanket and cold a/c.
The differences were subtle at first. We left the city much later than promised. The bus also made much longer stops for bathroom breaks. During the first of these stops, the a/c in the bus was shut off, leaving the passengers suffocating after 10 minutes (the windows were sealed and there was zero air circulation) - luckily the driver came to his senses and turned the a/c back on at full blast.
And then we had the first tire blow out at 1am. I don't remember much about this since I fell asleep immediately after the blowout. And then at 5am we had another blowout. I tried to go back to sleep after this but couldn't. For a few hours I watched from my window as they tried to fix the tire. I couldn't see what the problem was but I could hear a lot of banging and hammering and about 10 passengers crowded around the driver who was trying to work on the tire. Normally changing a tire shouldn't take that long. Finally at 6:30am I got curious and got down from the bus.
Turned out the tire in blowing up had ripped apart the steel mud guard surrounding it. This meant that the steel segments would eventually tear apart the spare tire as well. So the driver, with help from the cleaner and some other passengers, was trying to tear out the damaged mud guard. This he was doing with crude tools like a hammer and the rod for the jack.
Meanwhile a bunch of passengers took their bags and decided to hitchhike. I assumed we were pretty close to Pune since it was already 7am. I found out that were still 236 kms from Pune, and just six kms out of Solapur. Basically were only halfway through our journey from Hyderabad!! I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the 9:30am joint meeting at work. I made a few calls and got the word out to my family and work that I was in the middle of nowhere (I'm glad there were cellphone coverage there!)
Turned out the guys weren't hitchhiking all the way to Pune, they were just trying to get the next village to pick up some cigarettes! They came back in time and we finally managed to get going at 7:30 am and after reaching Pune, going home and showering etc, I didn't get to work till 2pm!
As with all mishaps in my life, I looked at the silver lining. Normally I'd eat a very light meal before a bus journey because of the lack of clean toilet facilities on the way. This time on a impulse I made an exception and had a decent meal. This of course helped me from getting too hungry and either eating with an unclean mouth or having to use some really dirty water to brush my teeth. And thankfully I didn't need to use the toilet till I reached home. My guardian angel is still watching over me!
The journey back from Hyderabad (which I keep typing as Hyderabad - hmm, maybe I should copyright that) was on an APSRTC bus (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation). The price was almost the same and except for the bottle of water (that was present on my way to Hyd and missing on the APSRTC bus) the experience was similar - a Telugu movie, blanket and cold a/c.
The differences were subtle at first. We left the city much later than promised. The bus also made much longer stops for bathroom breaks. During the first of these stops, the a/c in the bus was shut off, leaving the passengers suffocating after 10 minutes (the windows were sealed and there was zero air circulation) - luckily the driver came to his senses and turned the a/c back on at full blast.
And then we had the first tire blow out at 1am. I don't remember much about this since I fell asleep immediately after the blowout. And then at 5am we had another blowout. I tried to go back to sleep after this but couldn't. For a few hours I watched from my window as they tried to fix the tire. I couldn't see what the problem was but I could hear a lot of banging and hammering and about 10 passengers crowded around the driver who was trying to work on the tire. Normally changing a tire shouldn't take that long. Finally at 6:30am I got curious and got down from the bus.
Turned out the tire in blowing up had ripped apart the steel mud guard surrounding it. This meant that the steel segments would eventually tear apart the spare tire as well. So the driver, with help from the cleaner and some other passengers, was trying to tear out the damaged mud guard. This he was doing with crude tools like a hammer and the rod for the jack.
Meanwhile a bunch of passengers took their bags and decided to hitchhike. I assumed we were pretty close to Pune since it was already 7am. I found out that were still 236 kms from Pune, and just six kms out of Solapur. Basically were only halfway through our journey from Hyderabad!! I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the 9:30am joint meeting at work. I made a few calls and got the word out to my family and work that I was in the middle of nowhere (I'm glad there were cellphone coverage there!)
Turned out the guys weren't hitchhiking all the way to Pune, they were just trying to get the next village to pick up some cigarettes! They came back in time and we finally managed to get going at 7:30 am and after reaching Pune, going home and showering etc, I didn't get to work till 2pm!
As with all mishaps in my life, I looked at the silver lining. Normally I'd eat a very light meal before a bus journey because of the lack of clean toilet facilities on the way. This time on a impulse I made an exception and had a decent meal. This of course helped me from getting too hungry and either eating with an unclean mouth or having to use some really dirty water to brush my teeth. And thankfully I didn't need to use the toilet till I reached home. My guardian angel is still watching over me!
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