I know its coming a little late but I just thought that I could slack off a little considering Shrek's [watchout for the story about that] done a fine job with the trips summary. But before I continue there's just one person I'd like to thank. Shraddha [read as Shrek], she's then best person I've come across in a while now. Always ready for an adventure and just as much fun to have around. Shrek, this ones' for you.

My brother, Garry called me up asking me if I'd be interested in going out for a road trip to B.R Hills. Never the one to say no, I called up Khare & Shraddha at 8-9pm to ask them to come along. Both agreed.

The next day we started off around 9am from bangalore and after spending the better part of the morning in town we were finally able to find the way to kanakpura. Unfortunately one of the girls had a major problem with their landlady being a typical indian landlady. She called up the parents, brother, fathers, aunts, uncles, the aliens who landed on the planet yesterday, the neighbours etc. etc. etc. etc. and made sure the girls face maximum resistance to their plan of having a nice time. The other guys (my bros' friends) decided to be gentlemen (much to my brothers dismay) and not go on the trip without that girl.

WE on the otherhand, i.e. Shraddha, Khare and I decided to proceed with out plan. After about an hour of wondergul driving thru the crazy roads of bangalore we hit the highway and even though the sun decided it wanted to torture us for a while, we were enjoying the drive. We stopped midway to grab a cup of tea and omlettes. Thanks bro for the bread and butter. Driving anoter hour we suddenly came across a group of 20-25 people blocking the road with stones and bricks in their hands (don't tell this to mom or dad) without showing any signs of moving away from the road. Seeing them I have to admit brough back some rather disturbing memories of guys pulling out guns to try and stop me. Anyway that's a story for another time. So I decided it was either them or us and decided not to stop, I slowed down to about 10kmph and kept going and everyone but one guy got out of the way of the car. He fell to the side on the grass and then got up trying to chase us (HA, I'm in a car) so we escaped. Later we found out that these guys were mobbin people to gather money for their festival. Having passed the second hurdle a little shaken (but not stirred) we continued our journey. Nearing lunch time we stopped at 'Shivsamudram' to have a look at the mighty 'Cavery' overflowing with water. We stepped into the water at one place only to have clumsy Shrek almost slip and fall into the waterfall. After settling down there was a crab sitting wating to bite her on her 'tush'. [visualize cartoons, with the character flying a mile high].

Sometime later we decided to drive down further and this time the rain gods had a little mercy on us and it started to rain with the road becoming really nice and romantic. Shrek however slept through it all, through the rain, the thunder, the blaring music, the pot holes. Wonder if she'd have woken up if we opened the sun roof with the wather falling on her. [note to self: get a sunroof]. The ride back was nice but the rain that began as a quiet respite for the days events now started to slow us down. I love it anyway. Khare and I had a nice chat and a few more cups of tea while Shrek was sleeping. Sometime later she woke up and the two of us discussed her future career. I sounded like a really old man.

Around 10pm we say a BIG board that read "Welcome to Bangalore: the garden city" and I promise you this isn't a joke, as soon as we crossed it there was a pothole on the road with water filled over the road & traffic jams. We knew we were back in Bangalore. After leaving Khare back home (Shrek's still sleeping) I head towards her house, only we don't quite make it. I have the first FLAT. What the heck I've never had a flat in my car, and now in all this rain. So I get down to find that I don't have the tools to fix it. I took them out in the morning while cleaning my car (Murphy's law). A taxi driver is kind enough to led me his & so I change the flat and drop her back home.

Finally the day's over, there's Dylan singing 'bucket's of rain' on the radio when suddenly a HUGE tree comes crashing down, right in front of the car bringing a few electric poles down with it. I'm so glad it didn't fall on the car when I hear the screeching noise of tyres behind me and a taxi just misses me.

I guess luck really was on our side that day that we all reached back safe. Would I do it again. I'll tell you the next time we do it.

Siddharth

Ps: Shraddha don't mind the shrek, the reason u have it is cause we think he's cute, as are you. We really do love you.