Vijayhardik’s tongue-in-cheek adventure that was triggered by a mistake. A Different Truths exclusive.

The lure of finding a sea route to India brought about many expeditions by the European monarchies. One of the many of these was led by Christopher Columbus. This was to find an alternative and cheaper route to trade in the exotic Asian spices.

On his voyage trying to find the elusive shores of India, one such sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain left the shores of Spain in August 1492 with three ships. The quest of his led him to find America on the 12th of October (as documented).

The way Columbus set sail on his adventure to find the shores of India and ended up finding America, my friends and I, in the lure of food set out to find a food truck to a have a taste of the exquisite Mexican cuisine and ended up finding a unique drive-in food place, at Hyderabad.

The way Columbus set sail on his adventure to find the shores of India and ended up finding America, we, in the lure of food, set out to find a food truck.

The day started out quite innocuously. We were supposed to attend a Human Library event at one of the venues, near Jubilee Hills, in Hyderabad. Information about the event was put in our WhatsApp group by my friend Kushal. So, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, my friends and I set to explore and enjoy a new experience.

With our trusty little Santro to chauffeur us around, we were ready for the day. We drove into the venue zooming in our vehicle announcing ourselves to the handful of people walking in through the gates. Basking in our success of the being the first to arrive at the venue for the Human Library event, we were cooling our heels in the vacant parking area waiting for the other guests to arrive.

Tired of sitting under the sun in the vacant parking area, we went in to check if people who were attending the event were inside the premises. To our astonishment, it was just ten minutes before the scheduled start of the event, and neither were the organisers present nor were the guests. In our naivety, we assumed the event had a delayed start.

To spend our time while waiting for the event to begin my friends and I began exploring the rest of the building which housed the event premises. Loitering across the hallways and leveraging the staircases we paid a visit to the various art galleries dotting the landscape. On our journey of discovery after a stop at the cafeteria, we stumbled upon a handloom exhibition being organised inside one of the galleries.

As time crept by, doubts crept into our minds. It was half an hour past the scheduled time for the beginning of the event but none of the organisers had arrived. Neither were the guests milling around the venue. Deciding to be a bit sensible after poking fun at everything for a greater part of the hour, we flipped out our mobile phones to have a look at the details of the event.

Staring right at us was the advertisement flashing on the screens of our mobile phones. Going through the details we realised the blunder committed by us. To our wonderment, we arrived for the event a day before it was scheduled. The fact we realised that we were making fun of the event turned back on us.

As it is often said, friends, do not let you do stupid things alone; this incident of our ranks right at the top of the stupid things we have done together. By the time we realised our stupidity, the pangs of hunger were gnawing at us.

Our friends do not let us do stupid things alone; this incident of our ranks right at the top of the stupid things we have done together.

Remembering one of the conversations we had had in the past week we decided to explore a few of the food trucks available in the vicinity. Checking out the options we had we selected a food truck nearest to our location. With Google maps aiding us in our quest to find the food truck to give our taste buds the joy of tasting Mexican cuisine and satisfy our hunger.

Driving around the curved lanes of Jubilee Hills, we turned into a lane adjacent to a drive-in restaurant and the lane was also home to a couple of hospitals. Moving past them, the topography that lay ahead in the street did not inspire the confidence we would find a food truck as the street was lined with a plethora of residential buildings and local stores.

Being optimistic we followed directions shown by Google maps and when we reached the location there was no food truck there. But to our great surprise and bewildering good fortune, there was a drive-in restaurant at the very location. Just as Columbus stumbled upon America, my friends, and I came across this eatery and it served us sumptuous and delicious food to satiate our hunger.

©Vijayhardik Josyula

Photo by author and from the Internet