Escaping the Depression

The unrelenting rain

A party of 6 from Chennai was all set to leave for Tadoba in Maharashtra on October 16th, 2024, on a wildlife tour organized by Naturographers. But by Oct 9th, talks of a depression and heavy rains, bringing with it the dreaded floods that could paralyze the city, started floating again. On Oct 14th, the group decided to be prepared for the worst - but what was the worst we could expect and what should be our plan of action?

Sometimes, the best actions come most spontaneously. Oct 16th was supposed to see the landfall. Already on Oct 15th, many neighbourhoods were seeing severe flooding. Trains were running late. Should we wait and risk it?

We were already contemplating options. By noon, our phones were abuzz discussing our next course of action and we decided to leave that evening. A Toyota SUV was booked to take us to Tadoba over a 24-hour road journey. We assembled at one point and got to know that our SUV was coming from Tirupathi! When the driver and the cab arrived, we realized there were double the number of luggage as the number of people - each had a suitcase and a camera bag! Some luggage was loaded on top of the cab, which had a carrier - that was the plan, we had ordered a cab with the carrier on top. But the driver was unprepared. "I never carry luggage on top," he said coolly and stood watching as one of our co-travellers got atop the car to secure it with great difficulty due to the persistent rains.

We packed ourselves in and drove through many flooded localities to get out of Chennai before the rains intensified. But, the depression perked up. It saw adventure in our venture and followed us well into the night, clearing out of Chennai along with us! The next day was sunny in the city, but rain followed us well into the next morning along coastal Andhra!

The Pitfall

Rains, cold night, and punctured tyre

We were still in the outskirts of Chennai and it was still raining. The car hit a pothole and the driver continued. But one of our friends smelt something amiss. "Is it the tyre? Is there a puncture?" he asked.

"I am also getting some smell," our driver admitted wonderingly. The back tyre had indeed been punctured and we stepped out in the very rain we were trying to avoid. The driver needed all the able-bodied men in the group to assist him in removing the stepney, fixing it, and refixing the punctured tyre to the bottom of the car.

The customers made to work in the rain

Now, he had already driven a long distance from Tirupati to Chennai. How much longer could he drive? We took turns to engage him in conversation and keep him awake. But, it only gave us heart attack. He had never driven to the north and had only accepted this assignment to test his skills! He had been driving rashly before, but the punctured tyre swung him to the other extreme and he slowed down considerably. Two of the men in the group were frequent long-distance drivers, and they gave up the task of trying to urge him to accelerate!

All attempts to interest him in tea or taking a break met with failure. Finally, at 2, he relented and agreed to take a one-hour nap.

Fixing the Unfixable

In an hour, at an unearthly hour, we continued the journey. The driver was on a parallel agenda. He wanted his tyre fixed in case of any further mishaps! The first shop we found in the middle of the night had bigger fish to fry and refused to consider his tyre saying it was gone and needed to be replaced. Next morning, he found someone who fixed it, albeit with the same caution - it wouldn't last.

"Are there any nearby restaurants?" we asked, looking for breakfast and decent toilets. 

"You have to go back 10 kms," the man said helpfully. 

Deciding the tyre's fate

Oh no! We weren't about to delay the progress further. So we took off and found very good eatery not a few meters away from that very shop!!!

 In One Piece

We covered Andhra and Telengana before entering Maharashtra. The beauty of the Indian countryside cannot be described in words. But I shall do so anyway. It is green, lush, filled with silent, brooding hills. The highways are smooth and easy to drive. But whether you get any wayside hotels or not varies. Tamil Nadu, for instance, never disappoints. Karnataka is also well-served by food joints for travellers. But Andhra and Telengana were a little dry. I wonder how well-promoted tourism is in these two states. 

We did find a mess finally where we stopped for lunch. I was a little skeptical about the food there so we opted for curd rice. Even that I didn't have high hopes. 

Sun breaks out in all its glory

Don't judge a book by its cover, it is said. The curd rice, at least, proved that adage right. Generous portions of curd rice tempered just right was served in stainless steel pots and had us smacking our lips in satisfaction.

The lush green countryside

We entered Maharashtra in a little while and were relieved to see tea shops and other knick-knacks. All the while our eyes were on the driver's eyes, visible through the rear view mirror. His eyes were on the road but constantly closing. Thankfully, though, he was awake enough to take us to our destination safely.

The Safari Begins Before Time   

We had reached a day earlier than our original plan. But as we traversed the jungle roads to reach the resort, Nature Sprouts, we were treated to sightings of a couple of snakes and a hare.

Though we were cramped for space and begging for speed, it was a fun trip and continued to be so throughout our very fruitful safaris. 

Oh, but the rain wasn't done with us. On 18th and 19th afternoon, it was as if some of the depression found us and shed tears of joy. Thankfully, it quickly dispersed and became sunny again, raising our hopes for good tiger sightings.

Which we had, but more of that in the next blog...

As we say, life comes a full circle. We reached ahead of our scheduled time in Tadoba. But on the return journey, our train came an hour or so late and was delayed by 3 hours. But, we were not in a rush and so, could enjoy the scenery and company a little more...