Day 3 – 11th Sep 2021
It’s already been a couple of months since I wrote the Part 1 post on this trip, and it’s high time to complete this series before this year ends. My mind voice be like, isn’t it too much to term a couple of blog posts as a series and all. But who cares.
Despite a tiring day, long night, and a ton of food last night, we woke up a bit early for the day. Undoubtedly, the primary motivation for this was also food only. As planned, we started around 6.30 am and traveled all the way to Succendarabad to taste the Kheema Roti at the 68-year-old Main Branch of the most famous Paradise Hotel. The Kheema Rotti was super yummy, and just one portion was sumptuous for breakfast. How could we miss having some Irani Tea after such a heavy meal? So, we headed to the bakery on the other side of the hotel and sipped some hot and comforting Irani Chai. After our Breakfast and Tea, Sashi decided to head home to freshen up, and we decided to roam around in the meanwhile.
Our first stop was one of the most iconic places in Hyderabad. In fact, it’s one of the places that symbolize Hyderabad. I was a bit excited, cos I missed visiting there on my previous two trips to the City of Nizams. After driving through narrow streets, we finally reached the bank of the most famous landmark, the Hussain Sagar Lake, AKA The Tank Bund. Just next to the spot where we parked our car, we saw a flock of Pigeons occupying the nearby trees. While Rocket and Kavi were busy feeding them with grains sold at a nearby shop, I was busy going behind them clicking pictures. Of course, that’s something I can’t afford to miss.
From there, we took a long walk to Lumbini Park, a small park that’s adjacent to the lake, and from where they operate ferries to the Budha Statue, located right in the middle of the lake. It seems we were there quite early and had to wait a bit longer. Meanwhile, we played on the swings there (after ages) and literally felt like a bunch of kids. Finally, the long wait was over, and we boarded the ferry that would take us to the statue and back. As we neared the platform, I was awed and speechless, looking at the gigantic statue. The 18 meters tall Budha Monolyth looked splendid and sculptured out of solid white granite rock. Luckily, there weren’t many people. So, I enjoyed clicking pics of the statue and us. After spending a few mins, the ferry returned us to Lumbini Park. Once out of there, Kavi’s friend from Hyderabad dropped by to catch up with her. In the meanwhile, Rocket and I went searching for a carwash nearby.
After meeting her friend, Kavi joined us back at the car wash place. With nothing much to do till the evening, we quickly discussed with Sashi over the phone and decided to hit the theatres to watch the recently released Shang-Chi. And, the Marvel fan in me couldn’t be any happier. At the same time, our stomachs started growling out of hunger, and to comfort it, we planned to finish our lunch at the same mall where the theatre is. Then, something funny happened. Due to some communication gap and not paying enough attention to the tickets shared, we drove to the wrong mall while Shashi was waiting for us in the right one. Luckily, the one we were supposed to go to is not too far from the one we ended up in. As Shashi reached earlier, he narrowed down Taco Bell amongst the other options available at the mall. Though it was my first time there, I instantly fell in love with their’s Naked Chicken Tacco and the Firey Hot Sauce. And, the movie was also quite funny and entertaining. From there, we headed straight to our room to freshen up and get ready for one fun-filled evening.
Again, it was Shashi who chose the spot for the evening. It was Bar Stock Exchange, a pub that wasn’t that far away from our place. To Rocket’s delight, it was Bollywood night as well that day. As a typical me, I settled over a mocktail and snacks, whereas the rest of the gang rejoiced on some good drinks. And, of course, we danced all night crazily to the fast phases songs that the DJ played. The best part of the night was celebrating Sashi’s birthday at the stroke of midnight with a cake and special wishes from the DJ.
Think, we all thought that the night was still young and unanimously decided to walk to the room instead of taking a cab. And that was definitely one of the best decisions, and our conversations and random singing made the walk worthwhile. The craziness didn’t stop there. Instead of going to our rooms and dozing off, we sat outside the homestay and discussed life and philosophy over the Breezers that we bought yesterday. It was not just that. We even ordered and had Falooda at 2 am sitting inside Rocket’s car. Believe me, that was one hell of an experience. It was past 2 am when we hit the bed, and that’s how one awesome day came to an end.
Day 4 – 12th Sep 2021
We checked out the room early in the morning, intending to reach Chennai before the night. As Kavi planned to meet her friends for breakfast, Rocket and I headed to Shashi’s place in Secundrabad to drop him. As usual, Shashi suggested one nice place near his home where we had some yummy Idli and Vada for breakfast. After dropping Sashi, we picked up Kavi at her friend’s place and said Bid Adieu to the city of pearls, Hyderabad.
Though the roads leading to the highways were narrow and congested, the scene totally changed when connected to the Highways. The route looked totally scenic, complemented with pleasant weather. We even stopped in the middle for a few clicks.
Then, we halted for lunch at a restaurant on the highway that served spicy Rayalaseema-style food, for lunch. Considering the long journey ahead, we limited our food to some Biriyani, Naan, and Curry.
To our surprise, we had some issues with the FastTag and made us stop at countless tool booths and pay by cash. Luckily, one tool booth on the way helped us replace the faulty FastTag with a new one. Not just that, somewhere near Tirupathi, we got stuck in traffic for more than a couple of hours, and that made our plan to reach Chennai before night far from reality.
It was already past 9 when we reached Nagari, a town on the Tamil Nadu – Andra border. Luckily, we spotted a small cafe there. To our surprise, they served some really yummy food.
From there, we headed straight to Chennai, and it was well past midnight when Rocket dropped me at my home. And that’s how an awesome trip came to an end.
Gokoulane Ravi 