My uncle travels a great deal, a little for business and more for pleasure. He is now 53 and is as enthusiastic to travel as he was in his teens. His love for travel is for the process of travelling rather than the place of visit. He prefers to travel by his Maruti Van, Maruti-1000cc Car or Chevrolet Tavera Van. Train and bus journeys are his next preferences. His love for travel has taken him to far off places like Nepal, Srilanka, Singapore, Thailand and many places of interest in India and almost every place around Hyderabad and in Andhra Pradesh.
Every week starting from Monday he plans and looks forward for the coming Sunday’s travel programme. One holiday, a short trip and two holidays a longer trip is a principle he holds close to his heart. If a plan for a regular long drive does not come through he has the Sunday Newspaper to help him. He goes through the advertisements of Farmhouses and Plots for sale and any type of Exhibitions or Sales in and around the city and passes the day driving and visiting some or all of these places. His anxiety to travel is so immense that one-day he reported at the Airlines check-in counter well in time, to be told that his ticketing is for the next day!
You may ask me how does he find so many new places, which he can travel to and return within two days. It is not a problem at all, my uncle does not get bored by driving to the same town, city, temple, monument, picnic spot etc., which he has just visited last week, last month or several times last year.
He normally goes on these weekly trips with those who are closest to his heart, consisting of some selective like-minded friends and relatives. Astonishingly he does not move out much with his family, which is quite opposite to the universal norm for a person of his age. Well, in this regard I have a special and unique uncle. This coterie of selective friends and relatives sometime play an important role in the weekly travel plans. They influence him to take them wherever they would like to go and he accepts the request as a command, as long as it involves a long ride that would keep him away from home, his busy business and city atmosphere. His trips, even after commencements are unpredictable. He may start on an exclusive pilgrimage to say Srisailam but once he is there and feels unsatisfied with the drive, he would change plans or get influenced by the coterie to extend the journey to Brahmamgari Matam, Tadipatri, Srikalahasthi, Tirupathi and back to the city via Vijayawada. This means travelling a distance six times to what was originally planned.
Talking about planning, most of his train journeys are finalised hours before the departure of the train or a day before the journey resulting in waitlisted tickets. Further to this, on his last minute encouragement, some members of his group join him for the travel without tickets. He enjoys taking care of such tough situations and tries to make the trip an unforgettable experience. Same is the case with Hotel accommodation, he loves spot reservations and living with any type of instantaneous solutions. There is another unique food related specialty with my Uncle, while travelling. Whenever he has to stop for lunch or dinner en-route or at destinations he first visits the local market to buy chicken and then takes the live fowl to a Dhaba to get it cooked under his personal supervision to suit his taste. He enjoys and boasts of such exploits. Don’t you think my uncle is very very special?
The Coterie I am talking about is always encouraging him to go on such trips. These trips are full of fun for them. Perhaps because they don’t have to care about getting the Car prepared for the trip, worry about train reservations, bother about driving, think about availability of accommodation, drinks and food en-route and so many other travel related conveniences. It is like winning a lottery of an all–paid holiday in a chauffeur driven Car.
Another episode that took place recently is equally interesting. My uncle along with his eldest son went to Goa on a five-day trip, surprisingly with confirmed - to & fro train reservations. On reaching Goa they could not find Hotel accommodation as per their expectations. Without second thoughts they forgot Goa and got into a Konkan Railway train and traveled about 400 Km. south to Udipi. They stayed there and visited local temples, Manipal, Malpe beach etc. and instead of returning to Hyderabad from there – as it is much closer, they once again went to Goa to board the return train to Hyderabad. I cannot understand the logic behind all this travel in the name of Goa, can you?
Once back in the city, with last week’s travel wish fulfilled, he seems happy for a few hours. But from the very next moment the urge for yet another trip commences and with that - restlessness, to move out of the house once again.
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