I drove on my bike to Bidar from Yelahanka. I reached Bidar as midnight came. The moon had just been covered by clouds, and I’d driven into the quiet of the city, even more quieter when on the new Humnabad Highway, which was just me, another car and a satisfying amount of reflectors on the lane markings. I started at 6 in the morning from Yelahanka, and by the end of the journey had been driving for 18 hours, with a few long stops inbetween to skip the mid-day heat of the Deccan.
I was planning to take the Hyderabad - Zaheerabad - Bidar route, the fastest route that eveyrbody seemed to suggest, but I’d wanted to take the NH/State highways inside Karnataka (heard there were trees lining the road intermittently beginning from Chitradurga). Boredom, annoyance from trucks and the bright tar heat on the Hyderabad Highway made me divert at Anantpura to head to Bellary and take the Adoni, Raichur, Yadgir, Gulbarga, Humnabad, Bidar route.
I did not regret having to spend 18 hours on the road, except once at Mantralaya because of the heat and the stretch from Yadgir after sunset to Gulbarga which was pitch dark with the ghosts of speedbumps waiting with no warning. I was eagerly waiting to reach Gulbarga to have dinner when i was misled by this very bright spot on my left. It had a very misleading skyscraper looking light, I realised it was Shahabad.
- Archit shares that the map of Where does Hate live? ends up creating the appearance of a singular truth about a place, and the described intent of the interface: to describe the complex relationships that make such hate occur must be more visible on the interface.
- I drove to Tumkur and briefly stooped at Devarayanadurga Hills (DD
Hills) with a friend and broke my phone, and long story short, I realise
how sarkari networks can be. Apps dont work or might break a working
sim, Aadhar has stupidified the process at multiple levels, you need an
Aadhar to convert into an ESIM but don’t need one to port (Hopefully i
can register without an Aadhar as is legal, but who knows what the
ground reality is).
After this we headed into the city to buy a protective riding jacket and gloves. I was leaving to Bidar and wanted to drive with gear on. It was a good decision in retrospect realising how bad situations can turn out to be on the highway: Jumping huge speedbumps at 60+ speeds or trucks turning from the right most lane onto the left.
- I have been spending time with Nandan and Harsha in Bidar who have been mapping and documenting wells in the city. I am accompanying to notice relationships and ‘friendships’ in a sense. Conditions, and happenings that make wells similar to each other.
- I’m tring to remember more of Bidar’s neighbourhoods. I am back after nearly 4 months, and I’ve offloaded my memory to my phone. I must consciously remember better…
