road trip to nagarjunasagar

It was a nice trip [Nagarjunasagar, Saturday 25th March, 2006] and the details in prashanth's words(of course, censored).....

Hey bokes,
We had a wonderful road trip to Nagarjuna Sagar on Saturday. It
was fun except for some untoward incidents/accidents. We started at around
6:00 AM from the campus with 3 bikes(SB/Jags, Banthi/DP n me/Pondy) and a
car (Bolero/Nalli/Bavs/Jenny). We filled out fuel tanks to the brim n
raced out of the city. We had a break at LB nagar cross roads for
breakfast at a chai bandi. Bondas were awesome. We started from there
towards Sagar after 30 min n zoomed/dhoomed for another 45 minutes.
We came across a beautiful place with lake on the right side of
the road n lush green fields on the other. It was picturesque(Look at the
snaps ). We parked our vehicles on the roadside n spent there around
30-45 mins before resuming the journey. The highway was just perfect for a
bike ride. I clocked 90 kmph with my bike ;) n SB n Jaya crossed 100 kmph
mark frequently. Jayram n DP got involved in a discussion (probably jaya
was knitting stories on F1 n stuff n Dp as usual was innocent enough to
believe them) and went ahead without looking behind. SB/Jags, me/Pondy n
the car travelled together for quite some time before taking a break at a
road side shop. SB wanted to have 'milk' at the highway-side. SB,
Jenny, Pondy had some and we hit the road again after that. Jags took over
SB's bike n Pondy drove mine. All this while Jayram/DP were nowhere in
sight.
Jags/SB n Bolero(with his car) zoomed on the highway at 100 kmph
and we (Pondy/me) lost sight of them. After a few kms, we saw a group of
ppl on a kachara road. We slowed down a bit out of curiosity n we saw Jags
waving at us with injuries on his elbow n legs. Jags/SB met with an
accident (bike slipped at a turning on a rough road). There was some
construction going on n the workers over there helped us with water.
Luckily, the nearest town was just 2 kms away. SB's bike dome was damaged
on the right side. But, we were able to start it (everything was working
ok). So we(pondy n me) took both the injured fellas to a clinic in
mallepally(???). It was a small town n there was no signal to our mobiles.
We called up Jayaram from a STD booth n luckily we got hold of him. He was
some 12 kms ahead of us. Apparently, they waited for us in mallepally for
30 mins before continuing with the journey (we were at that
time, some 15 kms behind mallepally).
The doctor did the first aid n gave antiboitics. Jayaram met
Bolero's car while returning to Mallepally n both the vehicles(car n bike)
came back for us. After the first aid, we werent sure whether to continue
our journey or not. But, SB n Jags showed a lot of enthu to continue the
trip. They got into the car n Bavs n Jenny onto the bikes. Jayram drove
the damaged pulsar n Pondy rode Jayaram's Fiero n me, my bike itself. We
reached Sagar at around 2:30 PM. We searched for Punnami(APTDC restaurant)
and had our lunch there.
By this time, it was very hot in the afternoon n all of us were
very tired. We had some rest over there at the guest house cum restaurant
before heading towards the main dam. Personally, though Sagar is just 45
kms from MLG (dont ask me what mlg is !! I'll kick ur butt), I've never
been to Sagar. The sight of the dam n the power station at the bottom was
really good. Poor fellows, car wasnt allowed on the dam n some of us had
to walk for a little while. We were obviously tired, but we were hell bent
upon completing the trip we planned. So we started out to Ethipothala
waterfalls. Its a ghat road n most of it is just a single lane road. The
decision to goto Ethipothala falls turned out to be a good one. The
waterfalls were awesome n the cool breeze flowing there boosted our
energy levels. The evening was quite enjoyable n there were some skirt
babes too. We took some good snaps over there.
Slowly but steadily it got a bit dark. Just when we thought to
start our return journey, the artificial lighting was switched on over the
waterfalls n it easily was the best moment of the entire trip. All our
faces lit up with awe looking at the lighting over the waterfalls. It got
dark very fast n by the time we turned on the ignition keys of our
vehicles, we couldnt see anything without the help of headlights. I think
it was around 7:30 by the time we started our return journey.
We agreed that we should all move synchronously (3 bikes in the
front n the car following us). Since SB's bike's headlight was partly
damaged (Jayaram was riding it), it will follow the other two bikes. So,
we started from Ethipothala waterfalls with Pondy(on Jaya's bike) leading
n the rest of us following him. We climbed up to Nagarjuna Sagar n took a
break. We decided to stop after 45 min drive for dinner. I took the lead n
the rest of the gang followed to what turned out to be the best ride
ever(seriously the sight of 3 bikes n a car following was awesome). In
between , we stopped at a gas station for petrol.
At around 9:45 PM, we stopped at a dhaba for dinner. The 'anna'
over there served us with pulkas, dal n aalu curry. It was good. We hit
the road after a breif while. This time there were lots of Hitech/Volvo
buses coming at us at around 80 kmph in the middle of the road. They were
pretty rash. And Pondy/DP (on Jaya's bike) maitained an average speed of
70 kmph (sometimes touching 80-85 in the middle of the night). Me/Nalli
followed Pondy/DP n at one point of time, Pondy went down the main road
cos of a oncoming vehicle. Apparently, Jaya also had some close calls. We
stopped at a small village n decided to maintain a speed of 60 kmph from
there on. City was still 60 kms away. We reached outskirts of the city at
around 1:30 AM I guess. The ride was fun. Though it was night, there
were many vehicles in the middle part of the ride.
We dropped Nalli at his home in nallakunta and Jenny at RTC-X
roads n headed towards IIIT. By the time we came to IIIT, it was 2:15 AM.
Jayaram left to his house immediately after reaching IIIT. We all were
very very tired by the time we reached the hostel. I had a 5mm thick black
coat of dust on my body at the end of the journey.
I had a good bath in the middle of the night n though my body was
aching like hell, there was one small thought at the back of my mind "We
should do this again with a larger group n to a better place". Next
day I woke up at 2:00 PM in the afternoon n thanked God that it was sunday
n I can sleep more.
There were a few funny incidents too, like the ppl in the car mistaking a
guy with long hair as a sexy chick n later telling the rest of the guys
that they saw a sexy chick on a bullet ('she' was actually a 'he' n nalli,
bavs, jenny mistook that 'guy' with a long hair as 'a sexy chick') :D

---johnny

It was fun driving for 424km in a single day and almost half of it in the dark. Driving on highway at night was worse than I thought, courtesy the Volvo buses. On the contrary, truck drivers were driving extremely well. They never cross 50 and as soon as you dip the light, they take to left and put out their hand indicating you to cross over.
I slept that night in k's room at obh and went home the following morning.