All we want is a getaway

Some streets, however winding and whirling they may be, become unforgettably familiar to us. Even in the case of a person who can get lost without the slightest effort, there are roads which I could drive on in the dead of night without fretting about the next turn. The way from work to home, to a few friends' places, to school and college, libraries and music lessons, no problems there. Then there are the ones we come across in dreams. A lot of mine are about journeys, travels, trips, understandably the majority features my car, and a lot of driving. There's this chain of flyovers that crops up again and again, up and down, it has a million exits, and it doesn't exist in the real world. There's a lovely place with lots of trees and lights, sometimes it has a restaurant, and again, it's not real. A strange haunted forest also finds its way in sometimes, and for all my love of horror movies, I do feel relief when I wake up from those ones.
Since the subject of journeys has been touched upon, there was a short trip my friends and I took to Agra earlier this month, and it was lovely. It was my first road trip in the new car and we all survived. It had been planned for a while, but the endless spells of rain had me a bit worried, oh heck, I figured we should just power on. We did.
Music, for me, is an essential part of the driving experience. I plug in the music system and have a listen even before I put the car in motion. People who talk loudly the moment one of my songs plays have the misfortune to bear my resentment, apart from suffering from exceedingly bad taste, and yes, I am a music snob, so you can go drown yourself in the waxyassed Jonas Brothers if that bothers you. So for this ride I filled up a pen drive with some good ones -- select songs from Oasis, The Beatles, RHCP, The Killers, Pearl Jam, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Collective Soul, Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Switchfoot, Flogging Molly, MCR -- and off we went. The rain, far from disrupting the drive, made it a pleasant one, clouds in the sky kept the sun from bothering us, and around four hours after leaving Delhi, we arrived at.... McDonalds for a quick bite, which turned out to be an hour coz I was just so hungry I had to eat two burgers, and thus well fed and watered we set off again. Not long before we reached.
Just outside the main city of Agra is Sikandra, Akbar's tomb, and we stopped there to take in the sights. After clicking and being clicked, marvelling at the architecture and the angles, we began the hunt for a hotel. On the way, we got stuck in a terribly awful traffic jam that had me in a tiny service lane off the main road and a million vehicles all around me, bikes trying to squeeze past, men in autos spitting at five-minute intervals and bus drivers trying to be maniacs even in crawling traffic. But I've become used to all that in Delhi, so we stuck through it.
Hotel found, bags dumped, food eaten, we set off for the Taj Mahal. I had been there before twice, the last time in class 7 on a school trip in 1997, so all the memories I have of it are some BAD photographs taken by me on that old hotshot camera I had, the kind you have to wind after every shot. But here we were again.
The corwds, of course. Craziness. Together with all the wannabe guides who sell themselves with such an annoying fervour that you want to smash their faces in, I was glad once we were inside. The sun was just setting when we reached there, so I got some nice pictures. Of course, I can never put them up on FB or show anyone in the family since this was a secret trip and for all practical purposes DID NOT HAPPEN.
We went for drinks to Oberoi that evening, pretending to be all fancyschmancy so they wouldn't turn us away. But three charming girls can work it, of course, and we got to sip our cocktails from their brilliant balcony that has a great view of the Taj.
Our main target, to see the Taj at dawn, ultimately didn't happen. The driving had tired me out, and C and A were also pooped, so we had a bit of a tough time getting out of bed the next morning. We did make it there, only to turn back without going inside, and instead packed up, checked out, and made our way to the Agra Fort. Now this was impressive. You read about Agra and the Taj and everything, but this is definitely worth a look-in. I particularly liked the retaliation ideas for enemies who tried to enter the fort -- they were treated with steaming jets of hot oil and water down the walkway. I would like that for my next house. At least it would discourage annoying salesmen who try to make you buy useless things in the middle of your afternoon siesta.
The return to Delhi was clocked in at four hours, very good time. I rushed to A's place, picked up my stuff, drove home, and flopped down on my bed. Mom was surprised to see me so tired after simply spending the night out, but I was way too tired to explain, I wanted some precious sleep before office began, Yes, I work on Sundays.
So we left on Saturday morning, and were back by Sunday afternoon. No fuss, no tension, and we'll definitely do it again.

Turning 24
Birthdays deserve at least a subhead, so here goes. September 3, the actual day, was family time and good food day, September 4, also C's birthday, was Get Drunk and Wasted Day. Shots were all we had, and were we whoozy. The original Mocha Bar plan finally did happen, despite the brief threat of Urban Pind, and it turned out to be pretty awesome. I'm afraid to hope that 24 won't suck like 23 did, but maybe, just maybe, it could happen.
Oh, I want to start a BookBlog. I've been planning it for a while, but of course, what would I be without procrastination. Lately I'm becoming consumed in them, even more than usual, and I must let out all I'm thinking. I think I'll take the plunge.