February 2018
I took a trip with my travel inspiration Andrew Samuel
This was our first trip together and we both have been planning this for months as it was a long trip and a budget trip.
Our travel plan looked like this – Chennai, as we both had some personal work. So we thought to start off from Bangalore. I took a detour, before the tour even stated – I went to Pondicherry, Pitchavaram, will surely give a detailed information soon .. so the travel itinerary looked like this – Chennai – Bangalore – Shimoga – Jog Falls – Yana – Gokarna – Hampi- Goa
Long route 18days if I am not wrong!
Sometimes even the most planned trip might have some flaw in them .. this is what happened with us. How ever we traveled light, we had cameras’s and a back pack. The journey started from Bangalore we took a bus to Shimoga, very comfortable ksrtc buses, cheap and comfort, we had a nice tour. I will not get into details as this blog is about these special humans who made our journey a successful one.
After a brief halt at Shimoga, sight seeing the city and visiting few interesting locations, captured wild elephant training center zoo and lot more. We started our onward journey to Jog Falls next day.
Few local guides and hotel staff and even the bus conductor had warned and cautioned us to arrange our vehicle at Jog Falls in advance, They didn’t mention that no transport would be available in that route after the bus would drop us off. The actual destination is not on a regular travel route. We just ignored the caution and with sheer raw courage we said to ourselves “Come on let’s take the risk ” and we started off, took a state run bus, traveling with locals is always fun and after 2 hour journey the conducted dropped us at a junction of the main road and the bus went away. Then the gravity of the situation stuck us like a thunder.
We were just dropped off in the middle of nowhere at the edge of a long bridge which in fact was about 9 kms away from the actual point of Jog falls and we literally felt as if we were in the middle of a jungle not knowing what to do, what to expect and the day was closing on us fast. There was not even a single vehicle passing through and not a soul to be seen on the desolated road. It was a bright sunny day. We knew it isn’t possible to walk. There isn’t any ola outstation also just saying! We kept calm, we thought we will ask lift from anyone passing by, we had no other choice. We waited for about 20 mins tried stopping 2 cars, they were already packed.
After about an hour or so suddenly we saw at a distance one white sedan was coming towards us. The driver was driving it pretty fast and we thought it was coming from Shimoga and we frantically stood in the middle of the road waved at the driver to stop. Very bollywood movie type but it is true as if our life depended on it such a fright we had developed.
He stopped and smiled, he asked how can he help us..
Our most favorite since so many trips after that, let me Introduce you to Akbar.
Akbar is a cab driver
It was a delightful moment that the driver stopped and he was returning home after dropping a passenger. It was a call center Taxi. We told him rather pleaded him to take us to Jog falls and then drop us somewhere near so that we can manage some other transportation for ourselves. He was so noble, gentle, polite, so understanding and humble, he has agreed to our all our request with out any refusal or denials
We asked if he can drive us to Jogfalls and then drop us to any nearest bus stop as we wanted to go to Yana and then Gokarna. He agreed to drop us till Gokarna safe. His charges were nominal we were so happy. We thought as we are deserted he would change us a bomb, as we had no other option other than him.
He was just humble and nice, surely a God sent.
Akbar who had remained with us till the end of visits to Yana and then drove us to Gokarna. He became part of our life in less than an hour. He laughed, spoke about various different things On the way to Gokarna, he took us to an amazing Hanging Bridge connecting two villages across a huge river.
We even went on a speed boat ride with him. And after we reached Gokarna we were all in tears when the time came for us to abide GoodBye and he was such an affectionate friend yes we consider him as our close friend and even today as I write this .. we are still in touch with him. He call us often and we also reciprocate his calls. Thus a great friendship bond had evolved out of the strange situation .
After spending a joyful and happy sightseeing and enjoying the beautiful Gokarna beaches, some beaches are amazingly beautiful …a must see location really…we left for Hampi by a night Volvo bus. Again a bad luck stuck us and our bus was terminated midway in a godforsaken place in a fuel refilling petrol station and was made to wait endlessly throughout most of the night and at last one standby bus was arranged and we reached way behind our scheduled arrival time at Hampi.
We were all so tired, exhausted, fatigued and haggard with no energy left when we were dropped at Hampi bus stand not knowing where to go, where to stay, where to relax.
Same like our Akbar we came across one more angel in disguise. His name was Ravi who owns an Auto and the main advantage, plus point was that he could speak good English which made us very comfortable and felt at home. He looked smart and handsome, well behaved and polite.
He introduced himself in a very nice well-mannered way and immediately we developed a liking towards him, agreed to his terms with transportation and other accommodation facilities. Ravi arranged everything for us, he took us to a hotel,The place was a home stay with decent basic amenities very comfortable for a day’s stay. Ravi took us all around Hampi, the rock city an amazing place indeed..He had shown us all the magnificent places, he also took us for a lunch where everything was organic called Green resturant. There was a major problem we slowly started to face, we couldn’t find a ATM. Since there was a minor change in our earlier planned itinerary. We had to arrange a fresh bus ticket to Goa from Hospet but it was difficult to arrange the tickets at such a short notice.
Hampi being a very famous Historical tourist spot, getting a ticket was next to impossible and the most frightening and worrying situation was ..all reserve cash dwindled to a very low level and we didn’t even have enough money to pay Ravi’s charges. Since all the ATMs were empty and it was a terrible situation all over Hampi. When we told our situation to Ravi, he said: ” Sir /Madam please do not worry if you do not have any money it is okay, I will buy the tickets for you with my own money and said we can pay him when we reach our home.” he added “that he will arrange for our tickets and not to worry even a bit.”
Who does that in today’s world??
This gesture literally brought tears to my eyes. I have come across very few people like this in my life. He called his few contacts and by the end of the evening he got us our ticket. Fortunately, we noticed one ATM functioning near Hospet very near to the Volvo Bus Stand. We immediately withdrew sufficient required amount, paid off all the dues. Ravi stood by us, his gestures made us fall in love with him. With memories in our heart and tears in our eyes we boarded our bus to Panjim and reached Panjim ..reminiscing all the good sweet deeds and love shown to us by these two angels in the time of our perils. It may look like a normal incident for most of the people, but what we felt is beyond explanation .. it is such a noble gesture to come forward to help people in distress and this has definitely given us a great insight to understand the value of being humble and helping nature whomever it may, where ever you may be placed.
So thus these two noble human beings have left a mark in out life and a great friendship was born.
We still think of Ravi and Akbar often
If you are traveling to Hampi you can surely get in touch with Ravi – 9480503876
and Akbar if anywhere around Karnataka – 8277598942
I wish I knew that I was going to be a travel blogger, I would have mastered the art of photography and videography before I had set out to travel but its never too late. As I am learning the art, I hope to keep inspiring you all with my travel journey and bring better pictures and stories for you all soon.
Love
Shalini
