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My toddler's first road trip: Hyderabad-Srisailam in a Maruti Brezza AT

23rd January 2025, 16:32 by Deepankar Sadekar

That night, I noticed a lot of folks were sleeping in their cars and parking spots due to the hotel room shortage.

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We recently bid farewell to our trusty 10-year-old Alto K10 AMT and said hello to our shiny new Brezza ZXI+ AT on 19-Dec-2024 (the buying experience deserves its own epic saga, stay tuned). Our 3-year-old son is already showing signs of being a travel enthusiast (genes must be kicking in early!) and has set some high travel goals for us.

So, my wife and I decided it was time to introduce our little adventurer to the joys of travel. For our first trip with the baby, we wanted it to be smooth and comfy. The destination had to be 250'ish km one way. The trip needed to be long enough for Floobie (our toddler's code name) to enjoy the drive but also short enough to ensure he’s ready for school by Monday. If you're from Hyderabad, you know there's no better spot than Srisailam for this. It’s the perfect mix – not too close, just about qualifies as a long drive, with scenic ghat roads, a forest drive, and of course, its religious significance.

We planned to take this trip right after getting our new car, but our work commitments and an unexpected fever threw a wrench in our schedule. This time again on Friday night, I had a mountain of work to catch up on and was seriously considering postponing the trip one more time to some “future” weekend. But, I managed complete it by late night and dozed off with laptop on my top. Saturday morning, 28-Dec-2024, I woke up at 7am to a delightful coffee my wife brewed to perfection. I shot off the work I’d completed the night before (I didn’t want to email it in a half-asleep state in the night). That was a huge relief. As soon as Floobie woke up, he exclaimed, “Nana, let’s gooO!” and there was no turning back. I had no choice but to keep my promise of a “long drive,” so we started firming up our plans. By 2pm, we were packing (because with a toddler, you pack even for a day trip) and ready push our new pedal to the metal.

Floobie all ready and pushing us to start fast (after we packed all his stuff including his toy cars and trucks)

We kicked off our adventure around 2:15 PM, zooming along without a break, except for a quick coffee pit stop for us and a milk break for Floobie near the Mannanur check post. The Ghat road was surprisingly clear, with just a couple of buses for company, boosting our confidence in this spontaneous escapade. The dam looked absolutely stunning under the lights, and my wife was in awe of the scenic beauty—her first time here, after all. I've been here about six times, mostly on my bike. My last trip was back in 2017 with my then-beloved RE Himalayan.

We entered Srisailam around 7:45 PM, only to find the town bursting at the seams with cars, mini vans, and, you guessed it, more cars—literally! That's when it hit us: we totally took our stay for granted. We presumed we'd just snag a hotel room on arrival, partly because of my past experiences here—never had to plan a thing. Every visit was a spur-of-the-moment adventure (like that time in 2017 when I couldn't sleep on a Saturday night and just hit the road without a destination in mind until I reached hilltop). It always worked out perfectly… only until now!

So, what now? We drove to every place with a signboard, desperately asking for room availability—no luck. I must've made about 30 calls to surrounding hotels, and not a single "yes." By 9 PM, it was clear that finding a room was a pipe dream. Then, my wife bumped into a "gentleman" who promised VIP darshan tickets for a ticket price + fee. She jumped at the chance and brought me the news. At this point, we were planning to finish darshan asap and head to Hyderabad the same night. I knew the checkpoints would close after 9 PM, but I was delusionally hopeful we'd find a place to stay at the checkpost or maybe even sneak through.

Only when the "gentleman" handed over the tickets did we realise he meant "tickets for tomorrow." Holy moly! And we happily shelled out an extra 1000 bucks as his fee. At this point, I told my wife, "Let me handle this." We weren't thinking straight, probably because we hadn't eaten since breakfast, which we had before even deciding on this trip. Floobie was munching on a big bag of popcorn the whole way, so he didn't seem hungry all day either. We tossed all our worries out of the window and decided to eat first. Best decision of the day! By 10 PM, we were well-fed and our brains seems to have started working again. We accepted that there wouldn't be a room for the night. We found a decent parking spot, and Floobie helped me unpack the car. I folded down the rear seats of our new Brezza to make a bed. We even used our new Amazon gadget—a car bed with an air blower—to make a cozy spot for Floobie. My wife claimed the front passenger seat as her comfort zone, while Floobie and I snuggled up in the rear bed.

Floobie still sleeping while wife and I took turns to have shower in paid washrooms early morning the following day - Sunday 29-Dec-24

That night, I noticed a lot of folks were sleeping in their cars and parking spots due to the hotel room shortage. The dad in me wanted to drive back, but then I told myself, "Let the little one experience this." I remembered a story a senior once told me, ending with a quote : "Tough men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create tough times." So, I decided to make my son a strong man!

For reasons beyond me, that night’s sleep was one of the best I’ve ever had. I usually struggle to fall asleep, but not that night. And I woke up without an alarm at the exact time I wanted to—strange, right?

My wife showering me with gratitude on Sunday morning, for the epic adventure!

To our delight next morning, we realized that the tickets we got were not darshan tickets but for Sparsha Darshanam (we could actually touch the holy Lord Shiva with our hands). We joyfully touched the Holy Lord Shiva of Srisailam and wrapped up the darshan process by 9 AM.

By 10:20 AM, we had devoured some of the best street food for breakfast and were all set to roll back home.