It's the kind of thing you tell people you are doing and they say, “Fuck man! That's so cool!” Have they done it? No. So how do they do know it's cool? Well it's a fucking road trip! Two words that somehow seem to be imbued with romance, adventure and fun.
The possibility of a road trip was first mentioned a few months ago by Debu as he quaffed gin and I guzzled beer, in quantities that we should not have at Phani's house. Being a jobless bastard and drunk to boot I raucously agreed. The weeks rolled by and the drunken promise was forgotten till Shobha, Debu's wife, called and said, “Bull we are doing the Delhi- Bangalore road trip from 22ndto 28thMarch. You are coming. See if Radhika (my wife) can come as well.” See that's Shobha. She does not ask she declares and dares you to deny her. I said I was on but Radhika was off to London and hence a no go. The idea was to go road tripping from Delhi to Bangalore via Madhya Pradesh. Shobha told me that I had better do some research on things to see and places to stay and such.
I suppose I should have used google but that would mean contradictory opinions of random people on Tripadvisor, photoshopped images of hotels claiming more than they ever will be and a surfeit of choices on routes to take and places to visit on the trip. I decided instead to call the 'Doctor'. This inveterate traveller, avid birdist, conservationist at heart, historian by imagination, beef evangelist, supposed ENT specialist and drunk on weekends had just made a trip to Madhya Pradesh. So i called him and said, “Bastard Noel! Shobha, Debu and I are going on a road trip from Delhi to Bangalore via MP. Just help us plan the route.” Noel had met Shobha and Debu once, a year back at the Mahindra Blues Festival when everyone was drunk or stoned or both. After fucking me over by saying I lived a dream life for a jobless guy, he began spewing all kinds of details which never registered. I suppose I could have noted stuff but laziness is my best friend and I told the doc to mail me the details. And so he sent me a mail detailing the itinerary and ended the mail with, “Day 6 get to Bangalore and dry hump Nari!”
I completed my contribution to the road trip planning by forwarding the mail to Shobha.
Nothing much transpired for the next week or so. In hindsight such inactivity seems odd given that we were going in blind. There was no attempt made to figure out the exact route or where we would stay or other such details. The one exchange I had with Shobha was about how I should reach Delhi airport around the same time her and Debu's flight reached Delhi. I got Radhika to book my tickets and sent the details and all was set.
And then Nari messaged. Nari had called Noel and told Noel to take him along on Noel's next travel expedition. Noel playing out his favourite Amar Chitra Katha character of 'Narad Muni', had told Nari, “Arrey your friend Bull is going on a road trip and not taking you? He is going with Shobha and Debu! They also did not tell you?” I for my part had thought of inviting Nari but since his elderly parents were staying at his place I just assumed he would not come. Said the same to Nari. He said parents are off to Madras. And so I told Nari that he should book his ticket and join the road trippers. A surprisingly cautious Nari said what about Debu and Shobha? I say 'surprisingly cautious' since in August 2018, Nari and I visited Debu and Shobha's place in Singapore while they were away and hosted a loud till the wee hours of morning party for Nari's Bitsian gang, shamelessly raiding Debu's liquor cabinet. Nonetheless, I said Debu and Shobha would be fine and I would speak to Shobha. See that's the nice thing about some friends, one can just make reasonable decisions involving them without consulting them and know they will be fine with it.
And as Sherlock would say the game was on. Well sort of given that for the next two weeks there was no chatter at all between any of us. All we had decided was that we were meeting at the Delhi airport and then piling on to Debu's brother-in-law's place for the night before we left the next morning.
When I mentioned the road trip, people would ask, 'Which car are you driving?' 'How long is the drive?' 'Where all will you be spending the night?' – details I had no clue to. Somehow none of this seemed important to me. Debu and Shobha had planned the trip so whatever car they took was fine. As for places to stay Shobha and I had agreed that surely we would find places along the way to spend a night. Not to mention that Debu is a cautious man and would somehow ensure that we got things right. My attitude I suppose was partly the safety in numbers thing, travelling alone I would have been a paranoid fuck and worried about this shit.
There are curious people and then there is practical Leon. He is the Doctor's younger brother – avid golfer, property dealer, keyholder to the Narayanswamy closet of skeletons, Nari's supplier of eatables from Pune. Leon heard about the trip and said, “Shobha and Nari are coming? Ok let me see if I can send some Budhani chips for Nari and Chitale bakharwadi for Shobha. Road trips you have to carry food. That poor husband of Shobha's will go mad with the three of you.” I told him that it was unnecessary but once a Zacharias brother has decided he has decided. And so Alva who was in Pune for the day was saddled with the food. Alva called and said, “Bastard that Leon has again made me carry food for you! What you are going on a road trip with those people I met during the Booze fest? You and that Nari will be sitting in the back and drinking all the way.” Alva believes that it's the booze and not the Blues that we celebrate when we catch up at my place every February.
Friday afternoon I reached the Bombay airport and prayed that Jet Airways would not fold up just yet. As I sat waiting for the boarding call, I found it hard to believe that the four of us were doing this. It was the kind of group that most people from campus who knew us or knew of us would find an extremely weird grouping. A fact that would later be confirmed by Shobha, who said people were surprised by Debu and her choice of road warriors. Pity she would not name names thereby denying Nari and I a prime bitching opportunity.
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