A misadventure and a great holiday – Part 1

In typical late Latif fashion, we decided to get out of Bangalore for the Diwali holidays, 3 days prior to the Diwali weekend. While we were lucky to get accommodation at a beach resort in Mamallapuram, getting there was a problem. I am not an experienced (or good) driver and couldn’t obviously screw my driver’s Diwali plans. After contemplating a cab hire – I had no idea it would have been so expensive – we decided to hire a driver. We got one a couple of days before the planned trip but made the basic of errors: I did not check his license; I only asked cursory questions about his long distance driving experience. I have not used the Bangalore-Chennai expressway extensively before so I only had a vague idea of the road. I was told that once we reach the Chennai outskirts, hitting the East Coast Road into Mamallapuram would be a cinch.

So here we were: 3 of us (self, wife and daughter) who can’t drive, who don’t know the route well enough, with a driver they aren’t fully confident about. We left at 8am – an hour after the scheduled time – on a Sunday, hoping to hit the hotel at 2pm. After the familiar crossing at Hosur and the payment at the Toll Gate, we were happy to hit the highway. My mind was occupied with profound questions: ‘why are there so many wall-paintings of Baninan & Underwear brands in Tamil Nadu? Why do they all make bizarre ads? Why do morons drive on the wrong side of the road on the National Highway?’

After a while I noticed that the highway was not as good as it was when I travelled last on it – about a year ago. There were ‘Take Diversions’ galore and we were mostly on the service roads. We stupidly assumed that this was the road to Chennai. I then called the hotel for directions. They asked us not to bother reaching Chennai – and asked us to take a diversion from Kanchipuram into Chengalpet and then on to Mamallapuram. The directions were passed on to the driver, who was only focused on the road, irrespective of where it took us. We stopped over for tea at some God-forsaken place. It happened to be at a junction with roads branching out to the right, left and straight-ahead. Not seeing Chennai anywhere on those sign boards, I was puzzled. My driver claimed that we have to take a right turn. I simply mumbled ‘go straight to Kanchipuram’ and off we went straight. Straight into hell. In no time we were in Salem – in the middle of Tamil Nadu – when we should have been kissing the East Coast! Instead of hitting NH46 after Krishnagiri we had travelled down South into NH66.

And then started the direction-asking spree with each one seemingly pointing us farther and farther away from our holiday. To add to the tension it was pouring in bucketfuls when it was not gloomy as hell. Since I had a 3-year old in tow, I began panicking. Not surprisingly, out came all the prayers! I was praying like hell that we reach our hotel before its too dark. So we trudged along several villages and towns in search of the National Highway. We had ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth for company. He was everywhere looming large on us. Small towns (some ‘patti’ or the other) were designed to shoot my blood pressure up. Finally, after a grueling 3-hour drive, we joined NH66 which took us northwards into Chengalpet. By the time we hit the hotel at Mamallapuram, it was 6.30 in the evening.

My daughter was so well-behaved through this tension it was amazing. She figured that ’something was wrong’ and either chose to ignore it or be nonchalant about it. And her joy at reaching the hotel was a sight for sore eyes. All our tensions vanished immediately. We crashed out at the prospect of lolling in the pool the next day.

 

Lessons learnt:

1. Plan in advance
2. Prepare, prepare, prepare
3. Don’t be in a position where you are totally dependent on others
4. Don’t underestimate the maturity of kids
5. There’s always something positive to hang on to
6. Jo bhi ho, kal phir aayega
7. Captain Vijayakanth will show you the way