It again started with a thought - a thought which came when I was behind the windscreen.
When I tossed the idea around, their index finger went near the temple and twisted. I got the message. But again, not for anyone else, but I have a reputation that I had to live up to – for myself!

After much deliberation, Anu and I started off at around 04:00 AM on the 14th of March 2008. While the plan was for 03:00 AM, I believe we did a decent job starting with just an hour's delay.
The amount of research which went before we started this trip is purposely being avoided since the data is on the net. However, it resulted in a single page of names of places we would be crossing en route - in sequence.

The Onward Journey:

It would be just fair to divide the complete trip in 3 parts.

Hyderabad to Narketpally was as crazy as I thought it would be. Being one of the busiest highways (NH9) in India, it had to be so. All the way thru, I was giving some rudimentary lessons to Anu on highway driving and she was adjusting herself to the high beam lights from oncoming trucks and wondering how I was able to see thru.
I believe it should have taken us 120 minutes to cover the 80 KM stretch since we were bumper to bumper with trucks on this route. We had 2 choices now. One, we could continue with the existing route and go to Vijayawada and the other one was to take a de-route onto a state highway.
This is where my research and prior experience came in handy and we went for the later.

Narketpally to Addanki
This is when we leave the NH and enter the SH.
I was greeted with a strange noise next to Anu's closed window. The noise increased when I accelerated and slowed down when I did so. It was becoming extremely irritating as I was touching 90 and I was cursing the Mahindra Workshop guys for having done something that I did not have a clue on how to rectify - especially on a Highway. This is when Anu opened her window and asked me to pull over. The culprit was the wire hanging from the Fog light. I used some strong arm tactics to bunch it up against the bumper and started off again.
Just when I was thanking for getting off the busy NH with Trucks, a 20 tyred monster showed its head. With Cement factories on the same route, I knew I could not avoid them.
The only challenge that this route presented (having travelled on it in the past - I knew it would) were the rim breakers. I had decided not to call them as Speed Breakers since in spite of being a well maintained road, due to the innumerable towns and village - people movement, this road does not allow us to speed at all. And these monster rim breakers would greet you at the start and end of every small village. The last time I was on it, my rear seat got dislodged from its place - so I was fairly careful this time and maneuvered properly.
We decided that the next pit stop had to be Piduguralla (can't help if it reminds you of Jr. NTR movies) but when we reached there, we did not dare to stop in such a bustling town. Moreover, we already had our resources stocked. So, off we went and decided to stop in Addanki.


Addanki to Chennai
A couple of miles from Addanki, near Ongole, is where we were greeted by the amazingly well maintained Chennai to Kolkata NH5. By any standards, we have to believe that this is one of the best roads built as part of the Golden Quadrilateral project. I could not believe my eyes when I found a worker cleaning the reflectors on either side of the 4 lanes.
It was already 11:30 AM by now; however, thankfully, this being a cloudy day, we did not get beaten down by the Sun.
The next 350 KM are by any standards the best drive I had probably ever had.
I decided to give over to Anu at Ongole and got some rest. That is when the climate started changing for the better. It started raining - cats and dogs.

I woke up from my short slumber when Anu declared that we had reached Nellore. Post confirming that we were on the right track to get into the town, we got into a 20 minute rough drive on no roads dreaming of good lunch. We gave up after the first 10 minutes where there was no town in sight and returned to the Highway.
We had decided, the stop will be only in Chennai. The Tamarind Rice that Anu had brought was a welcome lunch and it was time to refuel.
We stopped by a HP Club station after crossing Nellore so that the car also got its much needed rest. After refueling we parked the car in the fuel station and started cleaning the windscreen. Travelling with beautiful ladies has its own advantages and I soon had 2 attendants cleaning my windscreen. Thanked them for their generosity and started off post the rest with me behind the wheel (some heavy convincing here to ensure that I got to drive).
It again started raining heavily and which is when I asked myself, “when was the last time I did something for the first time?” – it had to be now! I pumped on the gas in spite of the rain - after all, wasn't it written that these roads are designed for 100 KM/Hour (forgot the under normal conditions).
Watch भगा के ले Video which would give you a sneak preview of how the drive was in the incessant rain.



All this while, Nithya & Amir were getting constant updates on where our location was and how we were doing. It was 15:00 Hrs when we hit Red Hills - Chennai. That was all of 11 hours since we started from Hyderabad and a total of 650 KM . The only reason why we had to slow down at some places is because we approach the "Toll Plaza". We paid toll for around 150 bucks from Ongole to Chennai (not a big deal give the good maintenance).
Now the task was to find our way to Habeebullah road. Anu was not bothered at all; after all, when we could find the way from Hyderabad to Chennai, this was not a big deal!
It was good that we had hit the city on a hot afternoon and I just could not believe that it had rained so heavily on our way (well, at least the car got washed). After some enquiries (while listening to some good Tamil numbers on the Radio) and following a couple, we ended up in front of Pothy's! From here, we had Sithappa giving us clear instructions and we landed right in front of the house in a few minutes.
We received a warm welcome (I do not know of anyone eagerly waiting to see me arriving from their balcony till then) with the bride herself in spite of Mehindi laden hands coming down to receive us.
Though not much of a cricket buff, I felt that the closest we could relate driving to the game is ODI and Test Matches. Driving in the city will be the former while the Highway (Test Matches) will actually bring out the real player (driver) in you. Otherwise, how can you justify just one cassette running for 11 hours and we still not getting bored? Driving itself has got to be a passionate pleasure - we were hardly listening!

The Grand South Indian Wedding:

The Engagement / Reception / Marriage had all the ingredients to be called as a Grand South Indian wedding.

The Madisaru Paatis / Filter Kapi Sipping Tathas / Onbodu Gajam Podava / Aaru Moyam Veshti / Ela Pota Sapada / Vethala Paaku / Karnatic Music/ Vaira Thodu middle aged mamis / Thanga Bracelet mamas / Cool Gals - Hot dudes / English obsessed teens / Cute looking "kannum-mookum" babies.






A picture is worth a thousand words. Let me present some important moments of the wedding taken thru my cell.


The reception was an out and out grand affair and so was the wedding.






The card games which followed (Bluff/Mafia) were the best I had ever played and somewhere in between, I managed to write my Finance Exam.

The Return Journey:
After much thought, we decided to leave in the wee hours of 17th March 2008. I had done a dry run the previous night on the Nungambakkam High Road / Poondhamalle (pronunciation disputed) Road. Thanks to Gokul, it was a cakewalk and we hit Gummidipoondi and subsequently Nellore soon. This time however, we went inside the town by taking the correct route and had some great breakfast near the famous Muralikrishna restaurant (a 45 minutes pit stop).

We took the the same route, only difference being, Anu realizing that she was sleeping and also dreaming while behind the wheel. This is when to pep us up, we recorded the infamous "The Reputation" video (watch the video).





We hit Hyderabad this time in 12 hours and slowly meandered thru the maddening evening traffic to reach home safely.
It was out and out a memorable trip which I would cherish for a lifetime.

Epilogue:
While we have ceremonies to solemnize occasions, it is the people who matter the most. My blog would incomplete without mentioning those who made this trip memorable - The Cousins.
Let it be Anu's driving / Karthick with his friends / Abhi's silence / Meera's lovely talks / Sugi's studies / Priya manni's B'day celebration / Prakash and Anandi manni's presence / Industrious Gani / Satish's company / Karthik & Kappu's smile / Shubi's kids / Gokul's directions / Vivek's passion / Vishwa's beautiful tantrums / Vignesh's inquisitiveness - of course, all these in Nithya's wedding.

So finally, why “Thru the Windscreen”? I need not explain what it literally signifies – on the mind’s plane, the windscreen is the (per)sieve thru which we watch the world around (well, can I be a philosopher some day).

Signing off for now– and as I keep saying, “there is a reputation we have to live up to, so just do what you always felt you had to”.