My training finished early today, because we were supposed to leave out some of the topics.

And I had to leave for the new airport at Hyderabad for my 8:45pm, errr…. 9:45pm flight. Yes, that’s where the fun is!

There were three options for me:

• Take an auto rickshaw all the way to the airport
• Take a taxi all the way to the airport
• Take an auto / taxi to either the old airport or to a place called Mehdipatnam, and catch the AeroExpress bus to the airport.

When I left my hotel room, I had 9:45pm in my mind. And I thought, let’s have fun! Haven’t done adventure trips for a long time now.

So, finalized on the last option.

Left the room at around 5:30pm. Got into the auto rickshaw and reached Mehdipatnam at, surprisingly, around 6 o’clock.

And I was feeling a little hungry. And also noting that the Air Deccan flight, well – the last option left for me, does not serve dinner. Hey, after all it’s a low cost, no-frills carrier. Getting down from the auto, I enquired about the departure place for the bus. And then, I suddenly saw a host of eatouts attracting me to have something in the snacks.

I fed myself with a plate of chicken noodles, and got a water bottle for the way.

Now put yourself in my shoes and imagine that you start walking down to the bus-stop. You start walking down instead of taking another auto because you find that, firstly, the place is only about 1km away and secondly, the rickshaws are charging an earth. Asking few traffic policemen and local people, you are finally nearing the bus-stop.

As you are about to reach the stop – it’s only 50m left, you see the big, blue AeroExpress starting to move. It won’t help screaming or yelling because there’s a lot of traffic and the driver is well seated in the air conditioned bus.

And whoosh! The bus is gone.

You ask the incharge about the next bus. He tells 7 o’clock. And adds, “It will reach the airport in the next one hour.” You start thinking hard, “Should I take an auto from here now.”

You ask, “How much with the auto charge.”

“They charge Rs 300”, he responds.

And you are stunned!

Added to that, you think, “Oh! No. The flight is at 8:45pm and the bus starts at 7pm.” (Go back to the second paragraph, and you now know the catch.)

What do you do now? You say, “Ok. Let’s wait.”

You open the laptop and start writing this blog entry, waiting for the 7pm bus. You anxiously open the mail to confirm the ticket timings. You have won! It’s 9:45 and not 8:45. You are relieved.

And then the shocker. At 6:58, the incharge tells you that there has been technical fault with the scheduled bus. The next will arrive at 7:30pm. He, out of care and worry, enquires you about the time. You respond, “No problem. My flight is at 9:45pm.”

You connect to the internet and post this entry!