Murali's Day Out!

Since I am a free lancer now, there is no rush of assignments. There is work which keeps me on my toes and I can get quite frayed every now and then. Having said that, I take great pleasure in going for a small ride with good, old trusted driver Raju. Sometimes we run errands and end the small trip with a cup of one of the most delicious ginger tea, available behind the petrol bunk at Srinagar Colony.

And depending on the mood, there is a hot plate of vadas with the spiciest of chutneys from this bandi chap, parked safely on the pavement near Ganapati Complex. Earlier, we used to land at this spot where we would get these fried batter wonders steaming hot. But in the recent past, in fact the last three times, we have landed at a time, when he has fried so many of these, that he was not planning to make another batch in some time. The first time I heard this, I took it as a personal affront, for till now I had been served them hot. I left in a huff, thinking it would make a difference. Sadly it made no difference, as I realised it quickly in my next two trips.

The crowd this guy receives is quick and consuming. So, I quickly understood that I was a visitor, not frequent enough for him to indulge me. I have asked Raju to investigate, so that we will be there on time for the hot plate of deliciousness.

Sometimes, I might bring home some treats for Murali, my husband and though he does not express it, somewhere he thinks I bring him these only to assuage my guilt. Maybe. But I do indulge him with goodies once in a while. I mean, if that is not a treat, what is?

As the rest of the world is doing, he is also working from home and gets all his meals served to him, hot and fresh and on time. But deep down in his heart, Murali feels that these trips are exclusive to me and I'd rather be on my own. And I am kept wondering why there is a doubt.

So, every once in a while, we take a ride, Murali and I and we drive a distance and sometimes to my street haunts. Yesterday was one such day. It took 45 minutes for Murali to bathe, shave, finish his call and finally he buttoned his shirt. I decided to take him to the new Shaikpet, three-kms long flyover. The first time we went there, the inauguration was just over and guys were still removing the chairs from one end of the flyover.

Since we took the scenic route, we crossed a chaat fellow, new also to me in Film Nagar. While I have my favourite pani puri fellow down the road from home, can't take Murali to him because our friend here wants the filling to be hot ragda. So, we have to look for a regular chaat bhandar.

Guys wearing their masks were serving the fluffed up puri, filled with stuffing and dipped in green, minty water. the puris were surprisingly small, which delights me no end. Our turn came and Murali asked for onions. I had to tell him that it was standard practice to get onions served in your plastic cup. And then we started popping those delish round water blobs, when Murali asked the boy to add some meethi chutney. The boy did a good job to remember who got what. A very satisfactory treat. And after that Murali suddenly tells the guy that the paani did not have any life in it and insisted that the owner and the boy try it. And then to confirm he turned towards me when I started heading towards the vehicle. Murali has pani puri twice in a year, so I understood his keenness on expressing what he thought was right. But the evening could have turned argumentative.

But then it was Murali's day out and so we had another chaat item, which he liked and ate it without any complaints. We finally got onto the new flyover, with lights and all. Smooth ride, with tall buildings looming large in the darkness, some well lit with clothes hanging from the balcony. Not much of a crowd on the flyover.

Spoken too early. For once you descend the flyover, you immediately get caught in a massive traffic jam, with parked cars and scooters on the left under bright shop lights, people crossing the road as they wish, till you reach the fly over crossing over Toli Chowki, which is also relatively peaceful till you descend again to merge with the traffic going towards Mehdipatnam. In effect these fly overs save you about five minutes tops. This was at 7.15 pm on a working day.

Mehdipatnam is chaotic, with guys selling vegetables, lit up balloons and mobile phone covers. The main bus stand is terrorising and the aggressive traffic continues till you reach Nagarjuna Circle, near Panjagutta, where we turn left to reach home. Currently it is a little quiet, but once the Mall is inaugurated, chaos will have to be redefined.

We will discuss about the traffic chaos later.