I woke up with a start. Oh, dear God ,today, we would be leaving for Kerala, Palghat in fact ,my elder daughter would be writing her CET , Kerala. She had taken a year off to study for it. She had written the Karnataka one too and also the Delhi and Pondicherry. We were like the typical pushy  parents forcing her to study for medical and pushing her… pushing her…
My husband began his nagging ..hurry, hurry start before Rahu kalam , don’t see any bad shagunam like an Otta pattar ( single Brahman) etc etc. By the time the car rolled down the drive of Jal Vayu Vihar my daughters were fit to scream and I am sure she had forgotten everything she had pushed down her brain.
The time must have been around 7 am. The bright sun blinked at us as my daughters settled down at the back. I sat like a compass in front ready to navigate my husband as he drove oh soooo slowly. We had barely reached Kammana halli Main road when from behind we were hit by a speeding Matador who had taken a sudden turn . Before we recovered from the shock and jolt he had vanished . The kids were rattled  but thankfully not scared but my husband hit the roof. He sent some price abuses after the speeding vehicle and then stood forlornly looking at the dent. What a start to a mission. We had no go but to continue as the exam had to be written.

 We had to hit the Hosur Road to Salem via Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri .At the Kalyan Nagar signal as we waited to turn right toward Old madras Road a tree at the corner blocked our view. We had to literally edge right out into the road to see if it was clear and barely missed a truck from the opposite side. “ These corners are accident spots either a tree or a car or a van is parked there to trouble others the b…..ds” swore my husband . I could see fumes from his ears. “relax.. relax”,  I droned like our yoga teacher,  “ be cool” 
At last we were on the road. Now for some peace. My younger daughter positioned the pillow to snooze when the lorry in front went over a dog that sprinted across. The lorry went merrily on its way while my husband veered away from the struggling dog and almost climbed onto the road divider.
It took him a few minutes to normalize and soon all of us were again on the road. I took out my flask for that much needed tea. My dog lover daughters refused the chips, they were still reeling under the shock of the poor animal.

Finally, after five signal stops we reached KR Puram junction. By the time we took the road  to Old madras road  towards Silk board junction, we were literally crawling. Peak hour traffic. Everyone was headed towards Hosur or what? How come everyone heads in our direction asked my little one. I had no answer. In fact travelling by road to Kerala had become a headache.
A few years ago there was hardly any traffic in the highway. I could ‘arramse’ get down and do ‘susu’ behind a tree or rock. But today it was out of the question. There wasn’t a moment without a vehicle passing by. The boredom of the bottle neck at the silk board junction  was broken by beggars who knocked at your windows rudely. Bikes zigzagged across and one guy even  brazenly asked us why he couldn’t hit our rear mirror as he whizzed past?!