For a change, my first official trip of 2013 wasn’t to New Delhi. It wasn’t a trip by plane either. Last week I went to Visakhapatnam by train on office work for two days. The trip was just the thing I was looking for to get out of the office and also out of Hyderabad. The hectic pace of work at office was getting on my nerves and I badly needed some kind of a change of scene. Originally I had planned a three day trip to visit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam but I changed plans at the last minute. I wish I had struck to the original plan because I could not visit Srikakulam. It was one district in the state I had not been to so far. Apart from that, I have a weakness for places on the borders and Srikakulam happens to be bordering Orissa. It would have been quite an experience to breathe the Oriya air.
I took the Garib Rath on Tuesday last and after an uneventful night reached Visakhapatnam early in the morning. I love this city. I had been to Visakhapatnam more than a couple of times in the past and my most recent visit was sometime in 2009 or so. Vizag is clean and surprisingly free of the sort of traffic that Hyderabad is famous for. I discovered it has changed so much that now it is glitzy, modern yet retaining that sedate pace of life that I love. I was given a room (suite, actually) at the Circuit House near the Navy House. It was a big hall and after breakfast I left for Vizianagaram.
On my last trip to Visakhapatnam that involved a lot of going around villages I happened to be quite close to the Vizianagaram border. I proposed we would have lunch at Vizianagaram so off we drove to Vizianagaram and had lunch at a decent hotel. So here I was at Vizianagaram again which by now seems to have an Inox theatre coming up. On my last visit Vizianagaram had appeared uncrowded and a sleepy sort of place but last week it seemed to be bustling. One thing I hate about my official visits is that I simply cannot step out of the car and go gawking around the streets. After all I was from the Secretariat and expected to be very, very official. Anyway, I finished my work and was ready to eat but learnt that the gates of the office were closed because there was a strike going on. It meant that we had a late lunch and by the time I left for the famous Pydi Thalli temple it was very late.
Another local official took me inside the temple. I was shocked when the priest put a garland around my neck. I was clueless what to do afterwards and wondered whether I have to leave with the garland around my neck or take it off. It was uncomfortable wearing a garland which I wore only once in my life- on the day I got married. Anyway I quickly took it off and came out. I had planned to look around the town but since evening had set in I decided to leave. I asked the official to suggest a nice place to have tea because it was past the time I normally have tea. He took me to a clean, but ancient looking hotel. I think the name was Aditya Hotel where I had a cup of tea to got rid of my headache.
One of the reasons I looked forward to this trip to Vizag that I wanted to catch up with a friend who moved here on his job. An old colleague from my advertising days we’ve kept in touch for twenty years, since 1993. I had told him we’d have dinner but he said he was busy and suggested we’d meet for breakfast. I went in search of ‘Tycoon’ that he suggested I go for dinner. On the way I saw another eatery that was jam packed and looked interesting. After some hesitation I stepped into ‘Venkatadri Vantillu’ that was no bigger than a large telephone booth. It had just five tables inside and an amazing range of stuff on the menu. I had chole bhature first and later saw ‘Sponge Dosa’ being made right before my eyes. I had heard of all kinds of dosas- Set Dosa, MLA dosa and the usual range of dosas but had never tasted ‘Sponge Dosa.’ I was full after the chole bhature and I wondered if it would be a good idea to come here for breakfast the next morning and fill up on the Sponge Dosas. But greed got the better of me and despite being full I ordered a ‘Sponge Dosa’ assuming one dosa wouldn’t hurt. When my dish was ready I saw there were two dosas. But the ‘Sponge Dosa’ wasn’t like anything I had till then. It was soft, fluffy like a sponge and tasty. On the table were three kinds of chutneys- coconut, groundnut and ginger chutney in large bowls. I was glad I tasted the ‘Sponge Dosa’ because the next morning my friend insisted we have breakfast at ‘Tycoon’.
One doesn’t go to Visakhapatnam and comes back without watching the sunrise at the beach which was what I planned to do since the moment I heard I had to make this trip. In the morning I woke up a bit late and hurriedly brushed my teeth and raced out. But it wasn’t a short walk to the beach because I had to walk for nearly half an hour to get there. By the time I got to the beach the sun was up in the sky but it felt great watching the sea so early in the morning. I sat on the low wall and watched the people for sometime. My friend came to the Guest House to pick me up in his ‘Bullet’ motorcycle to take me to ‘Tycoon’ for breakfast. It was a nice and elegant place filled with the morning crowd chewing away at their dosas and idlis. When I saw the prices on the menu I was surprised because in the night I had thought it would be a pricey place. The ‘upma pesarattu’ we had was wonderful, especially the sambar. We sat there for a long time, more than an hour catching up on our lives since the last time we met.
After a couple of hours of work at the Collector’s office at Visakhapatnam which was housed in a quaint building built by the British I was at Daspalla for lunch with my friend. My train was at half past eight and I had nothing else to do after lunch. I had read in the papers that the movie ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ was playing at an Inox theatre near the beach and decided to watch it. At Hyderabad I don’t get time to watch movies or do anything that requires me to sit still for more than an hour so I went. After the movie I was back at my room wondering if I had done the right thing watching a movie instead of going around Visakhapatnam gawking at the buildings. After another uneventful journey I was home feeling a bit relaxed after being away from the chaos of Hyderabad for two days.
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