We arrived at the airport in the evening at 8 o’clock, only to be told by the airline staff that the aircraft had no pressurized hold, and therefore they could not take Leo aboard.  All the pleadings by my wife could not make the airline staff to change their stance.  The fellow passengers were showing their sympathies with us but could not do any thing to assist.  At the appointed time, the manager asked if we were interested in flying without Leo.  This was the last straw in our heated exchange of dialogue which immediately broke down.

“Leo shall travel to Pune.”  I declared to all and sundry.  I, my wife, and Leo walked out of the airport lounge.  Cage reloaded in the vehicle, we came back to our house.  In the mean while, I had ordered a taxi for overnight travel.  My wife had doubts about this journey, but I had already made the declaration.  At 11 o clock at night, we started our 1500 kilometer journey from Lucnow to Pune.  The party loaded into two vehicles, included myself, my wife Kavita, Leo, his newly appointed handler Gopal, and three drivers.

The route passed through the totally deserted highway from Lucnow, Jhansi into the hinterland of Madhya Pradesh.  After driving for over four hours on muddy half tar road, we reached Jalaun, a district famous for dacoit gangs.  A brief halt of twenty minutes with tea and biscuits and off we started again for Jhansi.  We had planned to have some sleep  in the Government Rest house.  But the road was so bad, that it was already 7 am in the morning before reached the outskirts of the city.  A curious site confronted us.  A large caravan of fifty vehicles was coming from the opposite side.  They were the followers of a clan going for a gathering somewhere.

There was no electricity in the rest house.  Temperature was already touching thirty eight degrees C.  There was no question of rest.  Leo was uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as my wife.  She declared, ”Let us go back, it is too hot here.”

“Impossible to go back now, we have come too far.”

“But Leo shall go to Pune.  It is now or never.”

We loaded ourselves on to the vehicles and drove into the interior of MP.  The road was absolutely empty. I fail to understand, why that road was ever made.  You can’t construct a road only because I had declared that Leo would go to Pune even if a stupid airline refused to take him.  A discussion started as to what one could do with this kind of road.

“This is a road passing through the heart of India and you can pass through it without causing any damage to the it arteries.  There is no traffic,” said my wife.

“There is so much empty land here that you could build a car racing track at zero land cost.  The costs involved will be the cost of access and survival in this heat.”

“Woof woof….”  Was the only comment made by Leo.

Whenever we spotted another vehicle, we had hope of reaching some civilization.  For the next half an hour, we were again in despair.  Then we saw that blue and green signal of Reliance Petrol pump with a Restaurant.

“You see, India has progressed. Now we have a petrol pump with a restaurant attached to it.“  I made the statement to cheer the spirits of may fellow travelers, who were swinging their head from one side to another, half asleep.  My wife, head was constantly banging against mine, keeping me awake.

The restaurant turned out to be rather good and the staff helpful.  After having traveled roughly six hundred kilometers, we enjoyed a full meal in an air-conditioned room.  “There is so much sun here, you could run your air conditioner on solar energy here.”  I said.

“You always say this when ever we are struck with sun.”  My wife was not impressed.

Having finished his great meal, Leo was trying to suck in as much cool air as possible.

The party took off again at three thirty and we kept on driving for another five hours, at the end of which we entered Indor, a large and progressive town of MP.

The driver of the taxi that we had hired at Jhasi, had never traveled such a great distance and was ready to turn away.  It took some tough words, some negotiations, before he agreed to continue on this mother of all adventures of his life.  “This land that we have just covered is the same that was infested with the Thugs in the British times.“   I let out the secret.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier.”  Asked my wife , showing some signs of concern.

“You would not have stated on this journey if I told you,” I explained.

“Are the Thug still there on these roads?” she asked.

“May be in a different form.  There are more dacoits than thugs I believe.”

“Grrr……..” for the first time Leo let out some sounds.

We left this pet friendly restaurant at eleven o’clock at night.  The road to Nasik was good by the vehicle drivers were falling asleep.  At two thirty in the morning, having traveled two hundred kilometers, we stopped for tea at a way side amenity in the form of a mud house with thatched roof, kettle of boiling water perched on a kerosene stove.

The vehicle in which we, meaning I, my wife, and Leo, had moved five hundred meters after taking tea, when I noticed that the other vehicle had not moved an inch.

“Stop, stop,……while the hell they are not starting?” At shouted. There was no response from the other vehicle. I asked my driver to go and check. The driver reported that Gopal, the Leo handler was fast asleep and the driver, under the influence of his loud snoring had fallen asleep too.

The two vehicle again stared their journey, but it was clear that all was not well with the drivers. They were only half awake. We decided to make a halt. A small town, fifty kilometers down, was the only choice. Constant banging on the door woke up the guard of the only motel, and within in thirty second of hitting the bed, we were deep in sleep. Any Thud, worth his salt could have done the famous strangling trick on the entire party. But we woke up alive at 8 the next morning and completed our marathon of 1500 kilometer without any hitch. 4 pm the next day, we were home.

Leo had traveled to his destination without the airline.

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About the author:   Kishore Sinha is a new contributor of useless knowledge.

Email: kishoreksinha@yahoo.com

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