The Boat Trip

The Paapikondalu boat trip - the trip that no one thought will work out, worked out.

There were 2 big hurdles though and they needed major attention. One among them was this -No boatman in Rajahmundry was ready to take his lady love (his boat that is) on a trip where she would not get enought footing (the water levels had reduced 'cos of the summer). This was enough reason for us to believe that the trip would stall. But, the experts that we are in making things happen, we found a contact that could persuade one particular boatman to nod his head in agreement.

That hurdle out of the way, it was time to take on the next hurdle head on - How to keep all the 3 shifts running?. This was because, 3 shifts need atleast 12 people in total and the no. of people who had opted out from the trip was way less than 12. It then dawned in our intellectualy starved brains that the no of optee outs were substantial for a 12 hr shift. We decided that these optee outs will provide cover for us for the next 2 days when we would be on the boat cruising in the Godavari. And therefore, the responsibility of ensuring that the command center at the office was filled with people breathing down each other's necks fell on Peacock's shoulders and it (he) did a 12 hr shift roster without ruffling his feathers. All seemed well.

Bad writing - I never told you why we needed to keep 3 shifts running. For those of you who might not be aware of the nature of my (our) work, here's some enlightment - I work in a 24*7*365 support project and the business requires that we support operations all through the year. This is why we need 3 shifts to be running all the time at the office irrespective of the heaven coming down or the earth caving in (thats what the management says !!!) . Now that I have tried to clarify / provide info on what my work actually is etc., I take it for granted that all of you have undertsood the reason behind the 3 shifts perfectly and I now carry on.

Friday, 16th april, we set out. Bus tickets from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry were arranged for by Pallove. He was somewhere in the middle of AP in his hometown and promised to join with us in Rajahmundry the next morning. We were supposed to board the bus at 9 PM. Peacock a.k.a Fox a.k.a Mayur(referred to as PEA hereon) and his gang were at the office and it was decided that I would join the gang at 7 PM (the time their shift ends) and all of us together would head toward Kukatpally to board the bus. We were sure that we would have enough time to have dinner and do some last minute shopping.

I repeatedly instructed Pea to make sure that the cab is ready at 7 pm. Little did I know that he would screw up. All credit to Pea, we did not get a cab till 8 pm. Meantime a few interesting things at the office kept us momentarily occupied and once they ended, a plethora of phone calls to the cab supervisor(supie) began. They did nothing other than inflate our already sky rocketing mobile phone bills. At last, the supie had the hearts to provide us with a cab and a sleep deprived driver. The responsibility of striking up a conversation to make him feel alive fell on me as I chose to sit in the front seat. I somehow managed to keep myself and the driver awake with my broken telugu (He would have been pissed that I was speaking about whatever I knew on this earth in what was supposed to be his mother tongue !!!!! Probably that's why he was not able to sleep - the constant irritant incomprehensible rant in a lanugage that would have sounded familiar and alien at the same time !!!!!). Good thing is he chose not to share a piece of his mind with me. I would have been pissed if that had happened.

Kukatpally arrived...Nah, we arrived at Kukatpally and then the search for a good hotel began. Meanwhile, the grand old man Sunil Akula left to fetch his bags. Me, Pea and Shashank managed to find a decent Idli shop and gobbled up a few. It was almost 9 and still Sunil had not come back. There was not a sign of the bus too. The funny thing is we never went to the place the bus starts for the trip. Since our friend was very well acquainted with the travel operator, the driver of the bus had been instructed to stop infront of the BJP office at Kukatpally to pick us up. Well, I never did anything at the BJP office - it was the biggest and most noticeable landmark in that area. The bus arrived and still no signs of Sunil. The confusion had begun !!!!!

The conductor was pissed that he could not find anyone and after frantic waving of our hands he spotted us and myself and Ramesh got into the bus. The bus started moving. Pea and Shashank were still on the road. They finally managed to miss the bus (as expected) and hurriedly got into a auto and were tailing the bus. Sunil had landed, God knows from where, exactly the minute the bus had started moving. So he was also in the auto. The auto driver somehow overtook the bus and as it usually happens the bus stopped and Pea, Sunil and Shashank were picked up.

The next batch of people joined us at Ameerpet and all hell broke loose in the bus. We were laughing our hearts out at how Pea was endlessly mocked. It helped that I knew a little telugu as Sunil was belting out wonderful punch dialogues in his native tongue. Finally, as it expectedly happens, a few stares from the fellow passengers made us quiet at about 11.30 pm. We landed at Rajahmundhry at 6 am the next morning. After we freshened up, it was time for us to board the boat and we did.

The boat was a interesting one in itself. Quite big and spacious enough to hold atleast 30 people with cushions and quilts placed neatly one next to the other on the roof, this was going to be one memorable ride. A shamiana skillfully erected above the roof was enough to provide some cover from the sun. We all climbed onto the boat and chose to sit on the roof as we would have a better view of the river. The boatmen, 6 of them, the cook, the driver his assitants et al., were ready and the journey began.

The fun began now. 5 minutes into the journey the cameras came out. It was great to discover that everyone was good at narcissism. Everyone was busy requesting the other to click picture after picture. If the person disagreed to take the picure, they went on and requested the next person. Such was the level of narcissism on display. And finally, it took a sensible mind to remind the others that we would run out of batteries soon if everyone wanted pictures of only themselves and we wouldn't be able to capture all the action the next 2 days. After all this madness had passed, we started settling down and slowly the focus shifted towards the better - appreciating the nature's beauty.

After a while, the salad that had been prepared by the cook was served. Fresh and delicious, we mouthwatered for more. It was then that the cook told us that a tasty chicken fry was on the way. What a dish it was !!!! Manna from heaven (I have better ways of describing how we all felt when we took the first bite (and with every bite) but for decency's sake, I hold back - Those who have guessed - Way to go !!!!). By this time, the spirits had begun their flow. Me and a few others who chose to stay sober, took a short nap. A while later, the boatmen threw a blanket ban on the flow of the magic potion that the others were so desperatley consuming - the reason - a checkpost in a village on the way.

More in part 2 !!!