Once we met each other, we found a corner in the bus station to keep our luggage. Everyone was carrying a a back-pack and I was the only one with a Suitcase! I was suffering with cough and cold and wanted to buy a cough-syrup. I met James at the bus station. Although I had seen him a couple of time in the cafeteria, we never met formally. Me, Sathish and Praveen wanted to go out. So, we asked James to keep an eye on our luggage.
Once outside, we saw a Medical shop that was on the other side of the street. Praveen and Sathish had their own ideas. We first went to a Liquor shop and purchased two bottles of beer (FYI I don't have any good habits :-) ). Praveen used his tooth to open the crown in a filmy style. He opened the first bottle and gave it to Sathish and while opening the second bottle, broke the rim of the bottle. In that process he had his lip hurt a bit. I was a bit paranoid wondering if a piece or two had fallen in to the bottle and in a quick second started to think what would happen, if God forbid, a piece of a glass down within him while gulping the beer! I waited till he finished the beer. Then with a relieved mind I went to the Drug store and purchased a cough syrup. Although I wanted to purchase Benedryl, I had to be content with an alternate syrup as there were no other medical stores in sight and the bus was about to move. While on the way, Sathish bought three sweet pans. And by the time we returned to the station a man was yelling. He informed that the bus would be moving soon.
With the luggage in hand we started to search for the bus. I asked that man about the bus and he pointed towards his right. There was nothing but a 20-seater Swaraj Mazda. I pondered for a moment thinking that we had to go to Bangalore in this! After boarding in to it I realized that it was only a shuttle vehicle. The actual bus was at Nampally.
We were intentionally walking very slowly towards the shuttle vehicle. The reason being Ahmed had not reached yet. The moment we reached it the engines started to roar. Sathish was sitting near the driver and asked him to wait for a two minutes. We called up Ahmed's cell and asked him where he was. He said that he was near Lakdi-ka-pul - the same place where we were. We asked the driver to wait for two minutes more saying he was near by. Immediately, the attendant started arguing with us saying that we were already late and were delaying them. The driver then joined the argument stating that the bus will leave on time irrespective of whether the shuttle reaches them or not. With this Sathish got enraged. He said frantically that each ticket was costs Rs. 1,700.00 and we were eight of us. Both were right in their point of view. I kept quiet listening to their argument I wanted to step in but waited for the right moment. My life's experience taught me one important step. Never to step in to an argument unless it is very much required. Praveen then called up Ahmed and said that the matter was going out of our hands and wanted to know where exactly he was he also tipped him that this is a shuttle bus and the actual bus was at Nampally. He then agreed to let the bus go and said that he'll directly board the bus.
Within 10 minutes, we reached the bus. It was a Volvo sleeper class. I had a bad experience in a sleeper class when I was on the way to Bangalore from Tellicherry, Kerala with my family a couple of years ago. The road between Tellicherry and Bangalore had to cross the Western Ghats. It was circling hills and mountains every minute or two. The beds were placed towards the sides of the bus. Every time the bus took a turn, I was rolling from the left corner to the right corner pushing my brother, who was sharing the sleeper bed with me, towards the edge! But the moment I saw this sleeper bus, I became it's ardent fan. The bus was divided in to eight cabins. Each cabin had four beds in it. The best part was that, the sleeper beds were parallel to the axle of the bus. That means, any turns and twists will raise either your legs or your head. You'll roll towards your right only if the driver applies a sudden break. The suspension was awesome! On top of it, it had a flat screen TV and head phones with option to change the languages. The choice was limited to Hindi, Telugu and Kannada though. I swear by it that this was much better than a low cost flight in terms of comfort.
My seat / bed was along with Urmila and Azmath. I didn't like to sleep in a cabin with girls because I had a major problem during the nights. Although I do not suffer due to that problem because it effects only the people sleeping near me. I sleep like a king and snore like an Emperor!!! The ladies wanted James to be in their cabin. I was in Cabin #7 along with Ahmed. Praveen and Sathish were in Cabin #8 while Laxmi, Azmuth, James and Urmila were in Cabin #1.
The movie being played was 'Hatrick'. It was supposed to be a comedy flick. But as with many of the bollywood's so called three-some comedy movies, it was full of dialogs that were intended to make you laugh, but fail miserably. Once the movie was over, I wrapped myself in the blanket and started to think about the coming day's adventure. ith every bump in the Bangalore highway, I was feeling as if I was feather light... slowly I went in to a trance and sleep came upon me.
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