Visit to Hubli

Friday the 29^th May.

The time was around 2 p.m. and I was working at my office. One of my very close friends called me and mathadtha mathadtha a program was fixed. ‘Visit to Hubli’ occupied our calendar for the weekend. I called another friend of mine and then there were three of us for the trip. After some failed attempts, the bus tickets were booked online and things were in place for the trip.

The onward journey was eventful right for the time I started from my residence. I was a bit late; reached the bus stop and wasted precious minutes for the local BMTC bus which didn’t turn up. Then I took an auto, cursing myself for being late. To my “delight”, the auto driver took his own sweet time to reach the bus stand even though I told him twice that I was in a hurry. I reached the bus stand just-in-time. My friend was waiting for me outside the bus. We boarded the bus and then the journey to Hubli began without much ado.

Our excursions are usually adventures (not adventurous, mind it) as we seldom plan in advance (whenever we plan something, it fails… that’s a different story). So, it was no surprise that even during this trip the adventure began just as the bus reached the outskirts of the city. The bus was stopped two times for duration of about 15 minute each. It was even taken to two depots for inspection. The driver had a misconception, that there was some problem with the vehicle. He was not convinced even when other bur drivers as well as the mechanics confirmed that everything was fine. Traffic was also blocked for about 3o minutes due to an accident on the highway. All in all, the bus reached the destination a good three hours behind schedule.

Saturday the 30^th May.

Both of us reached my friend’s place and freshened up. My friend in Hubli had booked a cab and sort of planned an itinerary. We set out for the first destination Badami after having our breakfast. The roads were a mixture of sorts; good for the most part and bad at some. Badami is famous for its caves. The one thing you need to make sure is, not to bring any sort of food or liquid items. There is practically an army of monkeys which literally attack you; especially if anything you carry interests them. The best thing to do during such an attack is to surrender and had over whatever interests them. Your heroics would be futile. We witnessed one such attack, and it was not a pleasant sight. We roamed about the place, took some pictures and moved on to our second destination Pattadakkal. Thereafter we visited Aihole. (Please go thru the links for details about the places.)

After Aihole we headed back to Hubli and on the way, had our lunch. The lunch was not exactly lunch as the time was 4.00 pm by the time we had it. Moreover the hotel we visited only had sandwiches. We reached Hubli around 9.00 PM, had a hearty supper and then started off to Dandeli. Just before we started we noticed that the air in one of the front tires was low. We suspected a puncture. The vehicle was fuelled and tires were filled with air. After filling air the driver confirmed that it indeed was a puncture but very mild. To our dismay, there was no wheel spanner in the vehicle, even though it had a spare wheel and a jack. The vehicle was driven in the same condition towards Dandeli. Though we were skeptical about reaching our destination without any incidents, we couldn’t help the situation. The driver was confident enough to take us in such a condition. We reached Dandeli in the middle of the night.

Sunday the 31^st May.

Dandeli is basically a wild life sanctuary. The safaris happen in private jeeps which are permitted for a fee. A guide from the forest department will accompany in the journey. The safari started at 6.00 in the morning; it was mind blowing. The sceneries were awesome! We sighted a couple of deer and 6 – 8 bison. There were more bison than deer in the forest. We were also taken to a view point in the forest. The view cannot be expressed in words; you have to see it and enjoy it. The safari was excellent. Our plan (or rather the lack of it) didn’t allow us to have breakfast. Don’t forget, we were still using the punctured wheel. On the way back we flagged down another vehicle, borrowed the tool and changed wheels. The spare wheel was also in a bad shape, but somewhat sustainable. As we had changed wheels, we also changed our plan and decided to go to a water resort for boating. One resort was full and we were directed to another resort nearby. There we decided to also have a water massage. The boat (coracle) ride was ok. We also took turns to row, and even to pose for pictures. After the ride we were led to place for the water massage where Kali River flows on/thru rocks. The deal is to sit on the rocks and experience the water pressure/flow. Wow! A unique kind experience. After this thoroughly refreshing “massage” we headed back to Hubli. We again missed out our food due to non-availability.

On the way back, the dreaded thing happened. The spare wheel which was not in its prime of health breathed its last breath! We had a flat tire in the forest. Though it wasn’t in the “middle of the forest”, there still was no human habitat around and we were in the middle of no-where. The driver of the vehicle removed the mildly punctured wheel from the boot, hailed a vehicle on the road and just left. There was no network coverage (for our cell phones) except for good old BSNL. We only had one means of communication and nothing else. But, my friend with the BSNL connection, instead of conserving the charge started playing games on his cell phone. This pissed me off and we even had an altercation. Three guys on the road, in the middle of no-where with a parked car having a flat tire… what more to say!!! We waited for a couple of hours and then our driver returned with the fixed wheel. As we still didn’t have the wheel spanner, we were forced to flag down a passing vehicle, borrowed the tool and changed tires. We again thanked the Samaritans profusely and continued our journey back. It was around 5.00 in the evening when we reached our friend’s place. We freshened and went to have some food. Came back, packed our things and headed for the bus stand. We stopped to have a full meal (the first one for the day). Due to my friend’s diligence we couldn’t have the local food (jowar roti). We were well in time to catch our bus back. The journey back to Bangalore was uneventful.

All in all, even this turned out to be something, which we usually experience whenever we go out on a trip. Adventure, thrill, fun, fight and bonding all thru the way.