Travel: Our trip to Shiridi.

 

In 2014, Myself, my cousins (Laxmi Kumar & Shivudu, who were about to start their graduation) went on a trip to Shiridi to seek the blessings of Lord Sai Baba. 

The tickets were booked at Hanamkonda Branch’s Government Shiridi Sai booking office (BUS Journey). 

I did not carry any money. My cousins' fathers gave them Rs. 1500 and Rs. 1000/- respectively. That is a total of Rs. 2500/- for a three-day trip! Which is insane 🙁? 

We get on the bus at the Hanamkonda branch at night. In between, they stopped somewhere to have dinner (Dhaba). Then we reached Shiridi and checked into a hotel. On this journey, the bus conductor told me to join one commuter in our room since he is alone on the bus journey. 

That stranger, me, and my cousins logged in to the room had our refreshments, and planning to go to Shiridi via Autorickshaw. The autorickshaw fare was reasonable and I doubted it at first sight. Since autorickshaw fare will be a bit expensive in India except in Kolkata as per my experience. 

The raw deal is these autorickshaw guys will stop us at some florist shops and we need to buy flowers and other stuff from them to offer it to Lord Shiridi Sai. The cost was high and that’s where they made a profit.  

Due to lack of money, I refused to buy and had some heated arguments with them. The autorickshaw guy refused to carry us to the Sai Baba temple. I said OKAY and we went to the temple by walk which is nearby. 

We had a wonderful darshan. After darshan, we did buy some sweets and planned to have free lunch provided by the Sai temple. But I did not find it, so we went to the opposite hotel. Again, due to money constraints, we ordered very light food. That strange guy is with us all the time.  

I thought we are going back to Warangal. But the bus conductor gave a twist and said we are going to see other nearby sites which costs extra (Rs. 100/- per head). I said to my cousins that we were running out of money. We had very little money left with us.  

My cousins decided to visit those sites with the remaining money. And again, we went to a Dhaba this time to have lunch. Again, we had light lunch.  

In the evening we started our final journey to go back to Warangal. After reaching Warangal and analyzing my journey I came to know that this was a setup to test my patience and how I can manage a three-day trip with Rs.1500/- for two persons. 

Lastly, in the middle of the journey, a lady is about to join in. Her ticket allotment is beside my seat. The bus conductor told me to move from my seat to other so she can feel comfortable. After so much time again I came back to my seat, and she had a word with me about something and told me she was surprised to hear what the bus conductor has said about her.  

It was all lies. 

p.s. That stranger was a student of our family friend SSVN Sarma sir (Kakatiya University Retired Professor & Expert in Telepathy and Schizophrenia). And this setup was his idea. That stranger is here to report how I am managing our trip to this KU retired Professor.