Woolly says – We were quietly proud of ourselves having found our overnight bus tucked down the back streets of Hampi, having stored the big backpacks and climbed into our double bunk we settled down for what we hoped would be a good night’s sleep. The speed at which the driver left the town behind meant us all being thrown around like rag dolls, trying to doze while part of your body is constantly leaving the mattress is tricky. As hour after hour passed and I could hear not just my own teeth rattling but everyone else’s as we sped over bump after bump, it was painful to keep landing on my trunk! The girls lay watching the cars go past and trying to not fall out of the bunk, until Zoe had a desperate need to pay a visit, having been travelling for over five hours this did seem reasonable, the driver however disagreed and sent her back to us, half an hour past and she tried again I could hear raised voices when suddenly the transport skidded to a halt which meant Jo and I sliding from the window area into the passageway, it appeared that Zoe had got her way.
The ride continued, and another two hours passed of relentless honking and skidding round corners and leaping over lumps in the road, when I also need to go, by now the coach had stopped several times for men to dash out and have a quick one against the wall, not so easy for us females.
Woolly says – I couldn’t understand why we weren’t getting a comfort break, by now I was also holding on and as we came to a sudden halt and I fell out of the bunk completely I decided that my need was great, Jo feeling the same way took the lead.
Several men where outside already in the manly position and as I got to the driver and explained, I received a very curt ‘no toilet’, I stood as the men climbed on board again and asked when we would stop for a toilet break, ‘not stopping, sit down’, I didn’t like his tone and the urgency was growing by the second so standing my ground I explained that it didn’t seem very fair that the men could jump on and off but the women weren’t allowed to, by now another women had joined me at the front, ‘not toilet sit down stupid women’ was the response.
Woolly says – I felt the blood drain out of my face, what would Jo do? Would murder ensue? Who would win the battle of the loo? It appeared that Jo would as she told the driver rather forcefully that if he didn’t stop the bus immediately that she would do it there! Before I could consider if she would actually carry this out we nearly shot though the windscreen as the cantankerous man slammed on the brakes and the door opened, Jo disappeared into the night and I hurriedly did what I needed to do and retreated back to the bed area. As she returned I almost cheered, but realised that we were already speeding off again at a hundred miles an hour, the lady who had followed my hero to the front had still to go, having gone back to her husband, he then arrived at the front of the bus and quite a lot of screaming took place which resulted in another hand brake stop and she was allowed off, why didn’t he just let us all have a break and get it over with?
Why indeed, muttering about his failings we sat for the next two hours bouncing from one area to another and plotting the email that would be sent later in the day to complain, having checked our watches we realised that it was only five in the morning and we had at least another two hours to go when we honked and braked our way into a city, it appeared that we had arrived, two hours earlier than the coach should of, someone obviously wants to be home in there own bed regardless of the needs of the customer, having added another mental note for the email we crawled onto the pavement, grabbed our bags and set off to find the accommodation.
Woolly says – Having arrived so early there was not way that we could check in, the reception desk did however tell us we could leave our bags there which at least left us a bit lighter to wander and find something to do and something to eat. Where do you go at six in the morning? Luckily India doesn’t sleep much – coaches not included usually – and having obtained some first class tea and cold drinks we made our way to the lake which is at the centre of Hyderabad. Saroornagar Lake was created in 1626 to provide water for the city, the lake remained largely clean until 1956 when Hyderabad expanded. Spread over 99 acres (40 ha), the lake was restored by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority in 2003 at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.1 million), as we peered into the bubbling, sewage infested waters it appeared that they needed to restore it once more. A walk along the outskirts led us to the ferry area and as we sat waiting for the ticket booth to open I watched some gents putting up bunting of the Indian flag, as more and more people gathered beneath it, looking up at the women I wondered what might happen next.
We were all slightly bemused when a portly gentleman indicated for us to join him and his colleagues around a shrine for Ghandi as they sang the Indian National Anthem.
Woolly says – We stood smiling at everyone not having a clue to the words and knowing that Jo prefers me not to sing in public in case I frighten people, I hummed along. As everyone saluted the flag we were asked to come to the shrine for photographs to celebrate Republic Day. Of course, we should have remembered this from our visit to the Ghandi Museum, today honours the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950 replacing the Government of India Act (1935) as the governing document of India, completing the country’s transition towards becoming an independent republic. We posed for the camera for shoots with everyone, Jo being camera shy didn’t get a chance to refuse and had to just go along with it. As the flashes finally stopped we were handed a plate of snacks which went down rather well.
It was all very jolly, and we felt very glad to have been honoured in this way, bearing in mind we had only been in Hyderabad for less than five hours!
Woolly says – As the crowds departed we went over to the ticket office to purchase our necessaries for a trip on the sludge brown lake, only to be told that as guests of honour there was no charge! Finally, people are starting to value my fame and wonderous nature. Having been seated at the very front of the ferry everyone on board delighted in asking where we were from, where we had been in India and where we were going along with taking shot after shot with me, I handed out business cards for my books as fast as I could and was delighted to have a rapidly increasing fan base.
It was all a bit surreal, whether the lack of sleep or the eagerness to introduce themselves to us, the people of the city couldn’t have made us more welcome.
Woolly says – Better was to come as the ferry pulled next to a manmade island in the middle of the lake, where an 18 metre high monolithic statue of Lord Buddha towers over the grimy waters. The idea came as part of the Buddha Poornima project in 1985 and the statue was chiselled out of a white granite rock, weighing 450 tons. Taking over two hundred sculptors over two years to complete he was finally transported to Hyderabad in November 1988. He was very fine indeed and having had more pictures taken of me with the huge Buddha in the background and promised my fans another book soon (Amazon should be bussing after this!), we left Buddha to watch over the lake and sailed back to port, waving as we said our farewells I wondered if this might be the start of my celebrity status in India, just as a microphone and tv camera hove into view.
You have to love him, as the interviewer pressed him for answers to questions about our travels stage fright got the better of him which left Zoe taking the staring role in the local news program, if this carries on we might need some more business cards!