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bharath's avatar
04:33 PM
08 August 2009
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Counting Cows

Posted By bharath

Reached Dhule late in the night very very tired, we found a quaint place off the highway. I think I should look up the meaning of quaint again in the dictionary ...I digress. Driving in, we were greeted by no one and even found the furniture covered in sheets. Our minds wandered into thoughts of motel No 6 but being egged on by my partner, (after all what is the purpose of a travel buddy but to infuse a false sense of security!) I entered to find a manager waiting at the reception. Quietly slipping on my dark glasses to prevent the glare from the bright pink walls from distracting me I proceeded to find out about available rooms.
“We have deluxe A/C and super deluxe A/C rooms’ available sir”
“So what is the difference between the two?” I replied.
“It’s the same room sir but the super deluxe has been renovated” he said without missing a heartbeat.

With those ominous words I proceeded upstairs with an uninterested bellboy in tow. First the deluxe A/C was clean by most budget hotel standards I have found, as I tried to avoid stepping on the cockroaches that were busy taking part in a 100 meter dash as we entered. Rather reluctantly, I decided to inspect the “super deluxe A/C”, lead by the unfazed bellboy I entered to find a very similar room but devoid of cockroaches, I speculated that no one had informed them about the to-let sign outside the door after the renovation. Their loss was my gain. After all the real estate market is a cut throat business.
I shall not get into the details of how I pacified Radhika. Suffice to say that I have now signed a pact with the devil.
We left the next morning, rearranged our luggage and set off towards Yawal Sanctuary. Any veteran traveler will tell you about the value of local knowledge, so in the indomitable spirit of travelers we proceeded with local knowledge, which involved stopping, asking, crowd gathering, Goutham (our video man) continuing to shoot me speaking in my broken Hindi (while Radhika continued to smirk and not help me out). Try explaining to a crowd of eager onlookers what we’re attempting to achieve, while each word uttered is consumed with an eagerness of a T20 match.
False enthusiasm to provide travelers from a far-off land with information complicates an otherwise confused plan. We head towards the elusive Yawal to find that Yawal is so elusive that even the animals have a tough time locating it. 
Prompt and feverish discussions between Radhika and me about how not to appear lost in front of the camera crew, we put on our all-knowing faces as we turn towards the crew and sound confident as we update them on the change in route. Jalgoan to Biswada, then onto Khandwa and to Indore all while driving through Yawal. I haven’t even heard of these places. After criss-crossing many a tiny village in Maharashtra we now see our camera crew looking at us as though they’ve just made the biggest mistake of their lives. I hate to tell them they’re right! Did someone forget to mention to them that traveling with us involves impromptu detours to photograph a hundred cows on dusty village roads? Hmm..They must have forgotten to read the tweet. Wait a minute ….What tweet!?!

As we proceed further into the heartland we notice that we had even managed to confuse our GPS. As she tried to cajole us back on to the straight and narrow road, we persevered with a stubbornness that would have brought a smile on the lips of the stubbornest donkey in Khandwa.
A proud moment for us as we entered Madhya Pradesh!

Exit Maharashtra. Stage right! 

 

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

08 August 2009

A very well written post indeed.
good work at last when we almost beginning to believe you’ve fled with the car.
LOL
keep posting,
we are eager to know whats happening

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

08 August 2009

Good show!  Great the sense of humour is in tact. Do take care of the camera crew.They might even now be beating their heads against the wall !!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

08 August 2009

Got quite a few surprises up yr sleeve eh? Bell. Great blog!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

08 August 2009

Hmm.. You should have agreed to part with your back-pack! Even now, its not too late! You will be hitting Benaras soon, remember?!! Unless of course you have been practicing to pronounce Ghhat in secret

Cheers!

Posted by

Praveen

09 August 2009

Well written dude.. those talents keeping popping out dont they… Mallu would have been sooo proud!
And all i can say.. as usual confuse the people your traveling with…Are you guyz using the brown book with the brown ribbon to keep a record!?! Thats possible better then the GPS at recording random things! lol

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

09 August 2009

Hey! It’s not your broken Hindi…....it’s the S.Indian Hindi accent ..........Now that you are moving into Hindi heartland…... take my unasked for advice…....let Radhika do the talking -  to “Aam Janta”  ( those not in the Cedia ) , / or atleast do translation!!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

09 August 2009

What a Description !!!....its so natural !!....You 2 always appear too close to nature . keep it up ! cheers

Posted by

Rajat

09 August 2009

Fantastic… I loved the composition of your photograph. Must say that it is one of the best pics I have seen till date from any of the contestants.

And the narration of the story is exciting and engaging as well… Keep up the good work guys.

Rajat

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

09 August 2009

That’s a super post Bharat…and generally the A/C rooms, ‘deluxe’ or not are the most unused and mustiest in the hotel!!
You’ve got me expectantly excited now that you’re entering Madhya Pradesh ... I’m originally from Jabalpur!

Posted by

Ram

09 August 2009

Nice description. Keep that emotion in it. Good going.


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