A road trip to Vishakhapatnam: Day 2

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Day 2, 7 am: We were up and about, all packed and ready, waiting to leave post breakfast and the poor Hotel Spectrum staff could not keep up with our pace, especially on a Sunday morning. After hurriedly devouring aloo parathas and clearing our bill, we carried down our luggage, without having the patience either for check out niceties or for the hotel staff to come and bid us adieu.

9.30 am, and we were on the highway once more after a quick refuel.

And what a highway it was....the road that stretched out in front of us was smooth and totally without potholes. The scenic beauty of undulating hills and greenery on either side of such a road left us breathless and ecstatic.

10am: We were on cloud nine, having reached Ichchhapurum. Fortunately the check point at such an early hour on a Sunday was more or less truck free and it was a smooth transit into the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. We were soaring along only stopping to allow passage to goats and sheep straying onto the highway with men with interesting, eco friendly umbrellas briskly shepherding them.

11.15 am: We had started calculating the kilometres to Visakhapatnam as we had passed Kasibagga-Palasa around 10.45 am and the boys had begun their discussion on the feasibility of the detour we wanted to take via Bheemunipatnam when... suddenly the car started shaking vigorously. My husband Ranjay had obviously noticed this before any of us but he didn't want to scare us or stop the car as it was a deserted stretch with forests on either side of the road. However when I realised I immediately asked him what was wrong and he slowed down but before we could take any decision there was a BOOM...and the right side rear tyre had burst.

Well then obviously we had to stop and while Ranjay changed the tyre and the boys switched on the hazard lights and erected the warning triangle, I had a good look at our beautiful surroundings. Green fields on both sides with the faint outline of blue hills in the distance and an occasional hillock near us, I could see few signs of human settlement. The traffic on the highway however continued to slow down checking to see if we required any help and seeing our plight two local boys in a car made enquiries. However by that time our work was done and we were road worthy again, but they furnished us with the useful information that we were a half an hours drive from Srikakulum which was around 20 kms away, and we would definitely be able to purchase a new tyre there.

So destination Srikakulum it was and though we pondered for a moment on trying to reach Visakhapatnam without getting a new tyre, we deemed it would not be advisable to travel for around 100 kms on the highway in the absence of a spare tyre. The boys were super excited at the prospect of looking around Srikakulum for a new tyre and all of us were pretty sceptical about what facilities a small town could offer us.

12 noon: Well we live to learn and as soon as we entered the town of Srikakulum we were met with automobile shops, service centres and mechanics' shops on all sides. A brief stopover at the Maruti service centre where the mechanic had gone for lunch and where we promised to come back in absence of anything else led us to a highly mechanised and efficient tyre shop where our make of tyre was readily available and fitted by machine in 5 minutes. They even gave us a Rs 500 discount on the price as we were coming all the way from Calcutta. The only drawback is that to avail the warranty on the tyre we would have to drive to Srikakulum.

1.15 am: Excitement over, it was time for a healthy drink of coconut water at the corner where we entered the highway again. Our enthusiasm unabated, we were all for taking the detour to Bheemunipatnam and catching a first glimpse of the sea at Bheemili beach. The GPS was set to Bheemunipatnam and after travelling for around 90 kms, we left the highway, turning onto a narrow and crowded road to the left. The road wound itself along office and residential areas, shops and crowded marketplaces, bus and auto stands, until we had started to doubt whether it actually led to the beach, when we suddenly chanced upon a beautiful church on our right. St Peter's Church it was and from the board we learnt that it had been consecrated in 1864. We entered and had a quick look around. Another 10 minutes drive and we got a glimpse of what lay before us. Our spirits soared...it was the sea at last...the Bay of Bengal which had been all along had been beside us on the better part of our journey, though hidden from view till now.

A left turn from the Bheemunipatnam's famous clock tower led us to the Bheemili beach. We got down at beach and after a look at the Dutch graveyard and the lighthouse all of us realised that we were extremely hungry. The satisfaction of almost reaching our destination and seeing the sea had made us ravenous immediately. Athidi Family Restaurant was the board which enticed us and the sight of families feasting on food which looked tasty in an air conditioned environment was most attractive. A friendly waiter surprisingly greeted us in Bengali and on query we found out that he had managed to learn the language from tourists. The boys ordered prawn biryani and we had more prawns and fish. The spicy Andhra cuisine tickled our taste buds but after sometime the others were calling for curd and soft drinks...the immense heat of Andhra curries was something which it seemed only I could bear. After an immensely satisfactory lunch at an amazing price (especially considering the number of prawns we had devoured), we left for Visakhapatnam.

The half hour drive from Bheemunipatnam to Visakhapatnam along the beach road via Rushikonda cannot be described...it must be experienced. The spectacular view of the sea and the road in its picturesque setting is a complete out of the world experience. We drove in a leisurely fashion, soaking in each moment and capturing the sight and sounds of the wind and the waves, ultimately reaching our destination at the Taj Gateway Hotel beside the Ramkrishna Beach at Maharani Peta.

4.30 pm : A quick check in and the boys were in the pool before we had a chance to settle down in our beautiful sea view room in the hotel which I remembered so well from previous visits. We pulled them out around 6.30 pm to take them down to wet their feet in the sea across the road from the hotel and for some ice-creams at the New Sukh Sagar Restaurant. A quiet dinner ended the otherwise eventful day and we all fell asleep almost at once.

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