Why I Got up late...

Many a times I have wondered... in spite of English being a common language of communication why do we have so much of confusion at times. There are many instances where one says something and totally a different thing is understood by the listener. One such hilarious incident happened to me.......
... way back in the early 90s while I was a bachelor when I worked with L&T at Mysore. We were 5 guys living in a small 2 BHK. We had shifts at office and so we had a tiny "notice board" in our living room, which will normally have messages for the people in the other shift. The guys in the second shift reach home close to midnight and by that time the first shift guys would hit the bed as they have to catch the company bus at around 7.20am. Similarly, when they leave for work, the second shift guys would still be fast asleep. In those days, we did not have the luxury of cell phone, pagers or even a land line. (Today life comes to a stand still without a cell phone. Even a student cant imagine a life without cell phone. It is an era where, Students may forget to carry their books to school/college but not their cell phone). We had a overlap of close to 45 minutes between people in the 2 shifts. So we normally communicate during that time if some information needs to be passed to each other. But if it is something urgent then the "notice board" comes to picture. Our so-called notice board was a thick rectangular piece of a sponge like packing material stuck to the wall on which we used to pin up the "communication" apart from letters from our families. ("Letters"... now they are called "Snail mails" - now, can a youngster imagine writing letters to their family?... I doubt if they have ever seen an inland letter).

Though we were bachelors, we used to cook our own food for various reasons...
1. It is any time healthier. 2. It worked out cheaper 3. We did not have the luxury of eating out everyday as we lived on a shoe string budget... and most importantly 4. We were great cooks in our own rights :P
One night myself and one of my roomates (Surendra a.k.a Suri Sr... Suri Sr. because I was also called Suri... so we became Suri Sr. and Suri Jr.) returned home from a night shift to see a "notice" waiting for us. The note was was written by Shri (Shrinath) and it read - "Our gasket is broken, buy a new one tomorrow morning". The guys in second shift normally get up very late around noon, cook food, have our "brunch" and then leave for office. Now this was an "emergency" notice because, if we follow the regular routine we will not be able to use the cooker as the gasket is broken. And for us to get a gasket we had to go to the "city" as they would not be available in the nearby "provison stores". Suri and myself looked at eachother and smiled... the smile meant -"So we have a job to do for tomorrow". (I must admit.. for some reason Suri Sr and myself understood each other very well to an extent that we could read the others mind perfectly... we could communicate without speaking a word). Suri hit the bed, while I followed my regular routine... switched on the TV (a black and white portable) which had our innovative "stolen" cable connection... stolen because we did not have a regular cable connection. We had a wire connected to internal antenna of the TV and the other end connected to a aluminium hanger that formed a "loop antenna" and the hanger would be placed out side through window. I try to tune in anything good that is watchable mostly some Sports channel or Discovery. I would watch TV until the screen starts to appear "blurred". I guess I switch off the TV involuntarily because, when I wake up in the morning (read afternoon) it is switched off and no one has ever complained that I go off to sleep without switching off the TV.

I could faintly hear "noises" around me... someone boiling the milk, Shri shouting - "Chandru keep water for me" (we used immersion coil to heat the water and with one bathroom it was always hectic in the morning ... each one trying to grab the "bathroom space"). I was only hearing these faintly and I knew it was close to 7.00am. Then I heard Singa's voice (Singarajan) - "Bye, bye, bye bye"... Singa was a very meticulous guy and worked on a time table. His time never interuppted anybody else's routine as he was always up early and by the time anyone of us are up, he would have finished even dressing up. Before he leaves home he makes it a point to say "bye" to each one of us without even waiting for a response.. though he would meet some of us at the bus stop in the next 5 mins or so. After sometime I hear the door slamming and then few hurried noisy foot steps on the stair case. I knew the guys were late.. we are late almost every day. I guess only SInga used to walk to the bus stop while the rest if us never had the luxury to do that and always had to jog. Finally, all the noises around me subsided and I had a peaceful sleep once again.... I guess it shd be around 7.15am.

Within "minutes" another noise distrubed my sleep. This time it was a noise from the kitchen. I thought a cat had entered our kitchen to drink the milk. I ran to the kitchen to see Surendra standing there trying to heat the milk. I was wondering why is this guy up so soon. As I entered the kitchen he smiled and it reminded me -"we have a job to do... the gasket". Now I knew why Suri was up "so early". I smiled back and asked - "So can we leave in sometime" and he said "yes we should, as we are late already". I said we have a lot of time and he smiled. This time around I could not make out the meaning of the smile, but I knew he had a message in it. I washed my face and started brushing when he said - "Hurry up, we need to have lunch before we reach the bus stop". I wondered what was wrong with him. I finished with my brushing and glanced at Singa's "time piece" (alarm clock) and now understood the meaning of Suri's smile moments ago. It was close to 1.00PM. I was shocked because... just "minutes" ago the first shift guys had left. Now I also understood why they say "Time flies". I knew we didnot have time to buy the gasket. We barely had time to get ready rush to some hotel, grab lunch and rush back to our bus stop....

When I reached office, the first thing I did was to call at Shri's extension. I felt very miserable. I wanted to inform him immediately because his shift time would end in some time and instead of taking the regular bus, he could take the one that goes to the "city" so that he can buy the gasket and then get back home on time to cook dinner...
Shri answered the phone with a warm "Hi" and I informed him that could not buy the gasket and so he would have to go to the city and get it. His warm tone changed to disappointment - "WHY?" he asked.
"I could not buy it, because I GOT UP LATE". Then an angry voice thundered - "I asked you to buy a gasket, so why did you GET UP LATE?". (I was irritated... What the hell... I woke up late and could not buy it and why doesn't he understand?)
"Shri I told you... I GOT UP LATE and so I could not buy it". Shri was even furious
"But why did you GET UP LATE?" (I didnt feel like answering that question... none of his business I thought but answered him)
"I told you clearly... I could not get a gasket because I GOT UP LATE".
"Why did you GET UP LATE? Instead of GETTING UP LATE, you could have got the gasket" (Why is he behaving so childish. Yes it is my mistake I admit, but I am informing him so that he can buy it before he reaches home. I was getting irritated now)
"Arrrey.... I just GOT UP LATE, so I could not get a gasket and thats why I am informing you".
"Anyway you GOT UP LATE, so you could have got a gasket instead"...
"Yaar, how can I get a gasket, when I GET UP LATE?".
"Why not??? anyway you went all the way, so you could have got the gasket". (Went all the way?? where to? I could not go anywhere, thats what I have been telling this guy - I GOT UP LATE).
He continued ... "You GOT UP LATE and you say you didn't go anywhere".
"Yes, thats the whole point. I GOT UP LATE and I didn't go anywhere"
"But why did you GET UP LATE when I had asked you to get a gasket and why do we need a PLATE now?"
(PLATE??? what plate is he talking about? I was confused and angry. Now, when did I tell him we need a plate? Neither did I mentioned PLATE and nor did I buy one).
"I didnt even have time to buy a gasket which was the most essential thing. why would I buy a plate?"
Shri was irritated now... "All the while you have been saying you GOT A PLATE and now you say you haven't"...
I could not control my laughter. It was Shri's turn to be angry and confused... He did not find anything funny there. I was still laughing over the phone because I realised why both of us were getting irritated with each other. Blame it on the language... All the while I have been saying - "I got up late" and he thought I said "I got a plate". While I kept saying "I could not buy the gasket because I GOT UP LATE" and he heard / understood it as "I could not buy the gasket because I GOT A PLATE".
Even today, when I see a gasket I cannot hold back the smile that appears on my face...

Read the other funny incident with my communication.

My first phone call

There are so many things in life which we would do for the first time. Depending on that "first experience" we might want to do it over and again or bury it deep down and keep it to ourselves or simply erase it from our memory. I will be adding a few such firsts in the days to follow which are unforgettable for me.

This happened in the mid 1980s when I was in my 9th standard. At that time, to me a telephone was a wonderful invetion by Mr. Graham Bell... an instrument used to speak to people who are far away from us. Till then, I had only seen them in movies and an occassional "partial glimpse" of it, at telephone booths... but had never ever laid hands on it. One day, my dad's good buddy from his bachelor days had visited us. He was working in "Gulf" and had visited India after a really long time and had decided to catch up with my dad. It was a saturday afternoon I guess... because I was at home after school and my dad was in office. My mom asked me to inform dad about the visitors (he had come with his family). I had 2 options - 1) Walk down to my dad's office (about 1.5km from home) or 2) Take my bicycle and reach his office.

Walking was out of question because this uncle had to catch up with many more of his other buddies too and was in a hurry. Bicycle too was out of question.... my mom was too scared to let me ride on the main road ... So the third option popped up ... go to the nearest booth and inform my dad....

Here I was... all excited about making my first telephone call ever ... I had a mixed feeling of anxiety, excitement and God knows why.... nerverous too... I scribbled dad's number on a piece of paper and ran to the nearest telephone booth that was manned by a Physically challenged. Those days even local telephone booths were scarce and so I had to "run" to the main road. The gentleman inside the booth dialled the number for me and handed over the receiver to me. I could feel my hands trembling... I could feel a big lump forming inside my throat, and I could feel my mouth go dry as I heard the "trrring trring" for the first time in my life. I knew I had to ask for an "extension" after someone picks up. A rough voice said "Hello" .... I was excited and my voice choked and I barely mumbled "2277 please" then I heard another "trring" and immediately a familiar voice said "Hello Narayanan here". I was too nervous / excited and started blabbering into teh phone. My dad seemed to be busy and he said... "hold on" while I was "chanting"... But I would not listen and blurted out what I wanted to say in a single breath and I could feel myself panting.... and I felt a sense of relief.... When I heard my dad shout at me... "Once again". I rattled out the words again and again he said "Once again". I thought he was not able to hear me and started shouting staright "into the mouth piece". My dad responded "Once again" and I could feel that he was getting angry ... I made one last attempt and shouted at the top of my voice... wondering.. at this decibel.... he could hear me even without the phone. Finally my dad said..."Ok I am leaving in 5 mins" but I could sense that he was angry with me for talking to him probably in a "very low voice". I reached home and almost immediately my dad reached too. As soon as he entered the house... the first thing I heard was - "Can't you understand a simple thing? I was busy and I asked you to wait and you kept repeating your words"... My head started spinning... "My dad asked me to wait??? Was I so excited that I missed those words???"... No.. I was sure I heard him say "ONCE AGAIN"... and I mumbled.... "But you asked me say it once again and everytime i repeated, you asked me to repeat again"... I guess this time my dad's head went spinning... ONCE AGAIN????.... I said "ONE SECOND" he retorted... I almost fainted and was also smiling within thinking about how he would have felt when he kept saying "ONE SECOND.. ONE SECOND" and I kept repeating my recorded mantra "ONCE AGAIN"... After this incident, it took me another 6 years to get anywhere close to a telephone let alone speaking to someone over it.....

Read the other funny incident with my communication.

The Masinagudi trip... How that happened... As I see it...

A couple of months ago, I received a call Vimigo a.k.a. Vimi a.k.a. Vimal. He had called me to invite for his son's naming ceremony and he also mentioned that he is inviting a couple of our classmates. I wanted to make it for the occasion as that would give me an opportunity to catch up with a few friends with whom I lost touch completely soon after college. I had my hands full at office and it was a tough call for me.... I thought to myself... I can stay late or work over the weekend to finish off the work but I may not get such an opportunity to re-unite with my friends... and I don’t regret a bit that I listened to my inner voice. So I made it for the ceremony though I reached a bit late. That’s where I met Vimal, Siva, and Balaji after almost 8 years (I last met them when they surprised me by attending my wedding in 2001). We were trying catch up with each other with whom we were in touch etc. Then I met Vinod popularly known as Doody in our circles (I had met him accidentally at Koramangala in 2006 near my office, but soon lost touch as I lost my cell and his number). In that meeting I realised that Vimal, Siva, Balaji, Ramesh, Sandeep were all in touch. Siva came up with idea of tracking our friends and he was checking with me if I was ever in touch with any of our gang.

The WHEEL in Motion
I personally feel this was the FIRST step towards this re-union and the beginning of a wonderful process. Siva asked me to give him the contacts that I am in touch with... I had a couple of them and then Siva compiled a list that he had and sent the mail... and that kind of set the ball rolling... A fantastic effort from Siva. Some of us joined the chain of mails... rest were (still are) mute spectators. Probably.. wondering if they would be able to connect with the gang as wonderfully as we did during the college days.. Probably feeling that age (and marriage / kids) has changed them a lot and they cannot be the same anymore... Well whatever maybe the reason.... I am not getting into that.

The SAVIOR’s Command
Then came one thundering mail from "Savior of Christ college" thrusted right in front of everyone’s face. His voice roared and commanded - "It has to be 8th March". This I would say was the SECOND step.... and the rest as we say is History. After a brief setback (mails stopped flowing) it began to flow once again.... It was the CALM before the STORM.... The date was finalised, the place was decided and Siva's inviting E-mail (or should I say Balu's mail :P) set the wheel in motion once again. The idea of catching up with old buddies, boozing and making merry near a riverside with a jungle safari sounded "FERPECT" for the re-union. Some were immediately available, some confirmed but ditched at the last minute and then there were those aching hearts... who wanted to be here with us but were forced to stay away only because they had to cross a hurdle in the form of some mighty Oceans - Pacific, Arabia Sea etc....

SIVA - The master planner
Once again, Siva took the initiative to talk to the people through E-mails and individual talks... Siva you ROCK... I felt I was being stripped and was embarrassed to the core when he called me to confirm my participation. I wanted to reply to his E-mail but was stuck with work and also, I thought he would take it for granted that I am IN. (later realised that Siva was no fool to take things for granted.... as some of them opted out last minute and had other "engagements"). Siva took the onus on to himself to arrange the vehicles, pool the cars, decide the route / meeting points etc....

The SILKY touch....
So, it all started on that wonder morning 8th March 2008... After different vehicles picking different people, we were all expected to meet at SILK BOARD Junction. I was supposed to be picked from Airport road flyover. I met Ravi (not the "NEMBER FAI THAITY REVI Loganathan - read No. 530 Ravi Loganathan). It was Ravi (Guru Shankar's brother) who was waiting in his Chevrolet Aveo along with RAMBO (Raamendhran a.k.a. Ramachandran) and Alex (to be honest I still don’t know his full name :P). With Rambo I was in contact on and off.. but it was about 5-6 years since I last met him... He hadn't changed much from the college days. Alex - I only have memories of his dancing skills at Kodai during the college days. Ravi had changed - physically (and mentally and intellectually)... I became very emotional but tried to keep it under control. After a few phone calls to the other chauffeurs, we decided to head to Silk Board junction. We were the first to reach there. The phones were ringing continuously checking whereabouts of each other. The "pocket sized" Kalyan had come all the way from Chennai. This shows how much he wanted to meet all of us. He was accompanied the great "Father Savior".... Then came Doody's car with "SATISFACTION" written all over his face. Xavier and Kalyan were supposed to hop into his car. We were moving towards Doody's car playing the perfect host to welcome the cars... and suddenly, Rambo applied brakes to his legs and said... "Aey who's that guy maan? Looks like some terrorist straight from Afghan" ... and then this bearded figure steps out along with Doody... My eyes were trained on this guy scanning every inch... checking if he was carrying a AK-47 or something... Then this "figure" smiled and grinned at us... a very warm and familiar smile... and suddenly we were like.. Hey thats Raj (Raj Mohan - whom Prof. Sundarrajan had once asked if he was into "part-time" studies)... Soon Vimal, Siva, Balaji and Ramesh joined us. I had met them recently .. except Ramesh.. though I bumped into him twice in the last 5 years... It was a very emotional moment for me... (and for most of the others also I guess)... We forgot we were on the road... we hugged, shook hands, never missed an opportunity to laugh at each other... pointing out what 15 years of life away from college had done to us....most fingers were pointed at each others "exponentially" grown bellies.... Probably it was the SILK BOARD junction .... we all looked like silkworm Cocoons - uniformly rounded from all sides...in different sizes... We hit the road once again.... the next PIT STOP for fueling our bellies - Kamat Lokaruchi on Mysore Road.

An encounter with the GHOST
As we stopped at Kamat, a familiar figure joined us - "The GHOST of Christ (college)". He hasn't changed a bit except that he has a thicker and darker jungle below his nostrils... It was again hugging time. We walked to the Buffet section, and had a great breakfast. I had a great time and utilised the money paid for the "unlimited" buffet, while a few others didn’t eat much as they were reserving the space for more "interesting stuff". I understand that some even skipped dinner the previous night so that they can have a greater capacity. Once we were out of Lokaruchi, the "Cans" and snacks were distributed to all the cars. "Savior" joined us in place of Alex. With Ravi at the wheel and Xavier accompanying him at the front seat, Rambo and myself were busy with "supplying" and filling them sitting at the back seat. Pretty soon "Savior" became an orator. Each one of us traveling down the memory line all the while... and I must admit, I was amazed and was admiring the business sense of Ravi.... we were interrupted occasionally by the mobile phones which had conveniently substituted as GPS through out.

Off the TRACK
We crossed Mysore and just past Nanjangud we took a short break for "drinks" (of a different kind - tender coconut). Siva hopped in to our Car and after some time he took over the wheels. With Siva around, there cant be a dull moment... Soon, our car started zipping, the music being played pretty loud... we crossed Bandipur in no time. The animals in the jungle (if at all there were any near to the roads, were treated with music (to be honest it was becoming noise to my ears - more than a couple of occasions I had to ask for the volume to be reduced)... For the first time in my life, I wore a seat belt while sitting at the back seat of a car. Siva drove pretty fast maneuvering the curves and bends with effortless ease as everything around as zipped past us. Siva rocked and all of a sudden we were ROCKED too... probably for a moment the KINGFISHER took control of Siva .... a small curve which Siva mis-judged and we were off the roads... in a fraction of a second Siva took over from the KINGFISHER and took a sharp right back on to the road to give us a second shocker... we almost rammed into a speeding Corolla. We must be thanking our stars (and that driver's reflex and presence of mind) as nothing untoward happened that day. The Corolla went of the road to avoid us and came back and stopped on the road. We THANKED and apologised to him. But he was in no mood to listen.... He was hurling abuses and threatened us that he would take care of us at the check post... more than we running into him, he was pissed off that we were not giving him way though he was honking at us....Come On.... we had some 200+ Watts speakers booming into our ears and how on the earth could we hear his feeble honks...

Paying the price for crossing BORDERS
We knew this guy would complain at the check post and so Rambo took over the wheels (as he was not yet adulterated by KINGFISHER). Siva joined me at the back seat. As we approached the check post at the border, a by now familiar figure was waiting there fuming and fretting at us. He had a look of confusion as Rambo stepped out of the car. His "vocabulary" was fluent and the cops asked him to leave. Our veterans in the car had emptied every can in the car. The cops searched every piece of our luggage (Had they shown this sincerity earlier, Veerappan could have been easily caught). I stood there full of over confidence as we had no drinks in our luggage (or so I thought). I was in for a rude shock when he pulled out a bottle from one of the bags. Siva's convincing skills were once again exhibited and we managed to have the cake and eat it too, but it cost us Rs.200/- ... The cops were happy and so were we... We were slowly inching towards Masinagudi.

The smoking GHOST
We reached the Masinagudi bus stop and that was the point where all of us were supposed to meet and wait for our guide cum caretaker Mr. Kumar. One thing that struck our eyes was the "height of National integration" - An Iyengar's bakery in a Mosque building. I guess the politicians have not yet visited these places to break this communal harmony and create a rivalry. Everyone reached, but Girish's (GHOST) car was not in sight. Finally he too arrived there with his car literally dragging itself. Girish was smoking so much that his car decided that he too would smoke. Yes the car started smoking and they had to wait until it was done with smoking. (The car was actually trying to tell the GHOST that he was getting old and could never travel long.. its high time he got himself a new car). While we were enjoying a cuppa chai, Kumar - a short haired, stout looking and a mini Veerappan mustache joined us. He guided us to the riverside...

WATER WATER everywhere...
We parked our cars on the road side, carried our "stuffs" and trekked a few yards to reach a very fine spot... lots of shade, water flowing and greenery all around. By the time we settled down, a huge herd of cows and bulls came by and were kind of surprised to see some of these wild beasts. They did not want to take a chance, they came, drank water and went away without any fuss. They had the discipline that could put even us humans to shame. The bottled and canned water began to flow free as much as the river water was flowing free. Some of us soon changed to our shorts and got into the water. I did not carry one and had to borrow one from Ramesh (he carried an extra shorts) as I never expected that I would get into the water. But it was so tempting. Raj was the first to get into the water. "Savior" tried, but the "power" of the water he had consumed was working on him and so he could stay there stable even for a second and he came back. He joined us again after a few minutes when most of us were in the water. Meanwhile GHOST who was complaining that he never got to taste the booze as he was driving, got into the act. He also had mixed Smirnoff and had just made the "FERPECT" blend, which he himself admitted that it was the first time he is getting a perfect mix. He threw that bottle to one of us in the water and the bottle gave a slip. It was floating and flowing downstream. Siva was chasing it from one bank and Vimal was running behind it on the other... as they almost closed in... it gave the final slip. Smirnoff went into the waters. (The next day's newspapers reported people spotting some water snakes moving "straight" and fishes "swimming" on the land). As were drowning in water (literally) and making merry, Kumar and his group came with steaming Veg biriyani and lamb curry. It tasted yummy (I mean the biriyani... the lamb curry.. I understand, was good too). In between all these, there was a photo session going on... of our "Savior" changing into his clothes, someone pulled his towel and he seemed to be in no hurry to cover up... Even as these hungamas were happening, Saalim joined us from Dubai (over phone). After a few more bottles gulped down, and licking the plates clean.. we headed towards our dens, lead by Kumar.

Karur's KUBER
As we were moving towards the resort, there was this white LANCER with a Tamilnadu registration that was moving ahead of us. I thought to myself, it could be some politician and yes, as we zipped past them, I noticed a thick mustached royal and sober looking character sitting inside. Hey wait, I know this guy I thought. It was our Satish from Karur. So much change in his looks. He had a glow on his face, added a few layers on to himself... Slowly all of us reached, we settled down in our places and Kumar said he would come at 6.30 with jeeps to take us for a Jungle Safari.... As is with most Indians, Kumar maintained IST (Indian Stretchable Time) and the Jeeps arrived sharp at 7.30PM ... late by just one hour.

The JUMBO Safari
We started for this exciting trip full of expectations and hoping to sight some wild animals. Vimal decided to give this trip a slip and he dozed off. We knew we had to travel out of the town to hit the jungle trail... the jeep that I traveled was leading the way followed by the other two. We were busy discussing Tamilnadu politics and how Veerappan was handled etc. and suddenly our jeep made a screeching halt even before we hit the Masinagudi town. I asked the driver what had happened and I could see FEAR written all over his face. He took a deep breath and mumbled...."LEOPARD SAAR". We missed the sight, but Siva and Ravi who were in the front seat managed to have a glimpse of the wild cat as he cut across our jeep and vanished into the bushes in a jiffy. We crossed the Masinagudi town and soon we were lucky to catch a glimpse of the graceful giant that lived in these jungles. It was one hell of an experience. I have seen elephants many a times and also from very close ranges, but those were in temples and tamed ones at that. But these were the untamed variety and we cannot predict how they would receive us. Soon we saw many more and were lucky to catch a glimpse of a very very cute little calf among a herd of elephants. Siva as usual threw caution to wind and got of the jeep and tried to get some pictures. Each one of us were worried as there was herd and with the calf around there is always a possibility of us getting into their "DISCOMFORT" zone and also the possibility of facing the body guard of this herd which could be a huge tusker. After some abuses from a couple of us, Siva finally got into the jeep and luckily for us, these were "GENTLE" giants and never cared about our presence... we also came across few more who vanished into the darkness either out of fear or were too shy... finally after few minutes we drove back to our dwelling expecting the food to be ready and to have the GRAND FINALE.

The KNOCKOUT punch
When we reached back to our resort, Girish who was steady even after gulping a few pegs, was KNOCKED out and complained that the bumpy ride had made him giddy and was not feeling very good (I am not sure if the sight of elephant had actually caused this). The food was not ready... Kumar and team were just getting ready with the campfire and some marinated chicken and potatoes. The Peter Scotches, OLD Monks, Kingfishers and some wines were all released from their respective Claustrophobic containers. Some of us were busy packing the marinated chicken and potatoes in aluminium foils while I settled down to peel and cut the cucumbers. Soon Rambo joined me to lend a helping hand and looking at what Rambo had peeled we were left wondering unable to identify which is the peel and which is the cucumber piece. Meanwhile Doody came by asking us to give the cucumbers some SEXY shapes. Siva brought Ravi's car to the back yard of this place where were seated and Music played loud from Ravi's car. When Ravi said that the battery might drain and guys should be helping him to push start the car next morning, Siva went to the extreme.... he left the engine running... As booze flowed freely, Satish was slowly getting into his college days.... all the while, the guy who was very formal addressing us soon got into the groove with "Hey Machcha" and also the "F" words were liberally decorating his sentences. Balu was busy attending to the chicken, potatoes and paneers that were packed in foils and left in the fire while the others were enjoying with the talks, music, dance and booze... Siva was the lone dancer though... It was one hell of a re-union after 15 years... something that will stay in my memory for a long long time... WAAT KAAL (Rajesh) joined the party from Canada... he spoke to almost all of us. Savior was not sure what language he should be talking to WAAT and started off in Malayalam... Savior was "steady" because he had only "Four glasses of cans". The chicken was ready, and so were some boiled eggs and chapathis. During all this hungama, Ramesh was also busy with his camera capturing these great moments... I too managed to click a few... but for some reason, my camera never captured Ravi in it... though I spent most of the time in his car with hm... Slowly one by one started to get out of gear and were getting knocked out. Siva wanted to go for an early morning trek and some of us agreed with the idea. Kumar promised to be back next morning at 6.30am with the jeeps to start with a daytime safari. Finally we called it a day or should I say night... hey wait.. it was day as the watch showed the time as 2.15am. We exchanged good nights and hit the bed, hoping to wake up early for the SAFARI...

The elephant ATTACK
At 6.15am my alarm went off and I got off the bed, Siva was still there. So I cuddled back to my bed.. soon it was 6.45 and there was no sign of the jeeps or Kumar. The previous night I did get the feeling that Kumar may not come back early morning.. after all he is a human too and with all those OLD MONK in his stomach you cant expect him to be up here with us that early. Siva said he knows a trail and will take us to the "Aruvi". Siva, Balu, Rambo, Ramesh, Raj and myself set off looking for the "Aruvi". But all that Siva managed to show us was a rocky path (that did seem like there was an aruvi.. maybe during the rainy season)... and looked more like a community shit spot (we did see a couple of people carrying water bottles in their hands and walking down). During this little trek, Siva managed to get his leg scratched by a barbed wire... We soon reached the temple and the surrounding which was already buzzing with activities and people were getting geared for the "Thiruvizha" - the temple festival that was supposed to last for 4 days and this was the second day. Ramesh's camera sprung into action capturing some of the rare sights that we came across. We had a cup of chai, while some opted for tender coconut. We got back to our den. Some of our guys were still sleeping, while some were out of bed. Someone spotted Siva's bleeding leg and soon that became the topic of discussion. We elaborated how we got into the jungle to be faced by a huge tusker and how we had to run from there to save ourselves and how Siva had a close shave and in the process how he managed to get his legs cut by one of those bushes etc... Some listened to it in great interest and started asking questions on how we managed to get into all this... It was time to leave.. as per our plans, we were supposed to hit the river once again, take a dip, have breakfast and head for Bangalore, have lunch at Mysore etc etc.... But all those plans went for a toss as some of our guys were still not out of bed. At around 10.15am breakfast was ready and what yummy breakfast.... Idlis and Appams with coconut milk...

One last PLUNGE
Finally we managed to kick every ones ass and get them out of the beds and we left our dens and headed straight to the river for one last plunge before we left... The last drops from the booze bottles were emptied here... Satish had to take leave as he had to travel 8 hours to reach his original den and meet his cubs. Our plan of lunch at Mysore was now highly impossible. We had lunch at Masinagudi itself and bid adieu to Kumar and team and started off for Bangalore. Girish the GHOST left us early as his car was old and could keep pace with the other younger cars. He promised that we would catch up with him soon. We were heading back tired but fresh, exhausted but enthusiastic.... we lost each other's car on the way... Soon our mobiles started tracking each other and we decided to meet at Maddur Tiffany's for a break...

When the GHOST fell flat
When our car stopped at Maddur Tiffanys, Doody and gang were already there. Siva informed that his car was close to Maddur but there were no signs of these guys reaching us, we already had our second filling of coffee and Maddur vada. Ravi and myself even got some packed for home.... then we go the news... GHOST had a flat tyre and Siva and group caught up with him and was helping him. The second reminder to GHOST that his car cannot be tortured this way for long trips and that he needs to get a new car... Meanwhile Kalyan was getting a bit restless as he had to catch a bus to Chennai... Soon, "Sivan" and team they joined us along with GHOST, we had one more coffee, and then it was time to bid good byes... The hugging routine started all over again, with all the people around wondering what was going on... Soon we parted ways and got back to our very own dens... Each one of reached safely... and what a fantastic trip that was and what a great time we had ... Thanks once again to Siva who started it all and our very own Savior who got it into the right groove to make it happen. I appreciate Satish who traveled all the way from Karur, Kalyan who traveled from Chennai and Raj who managed to catch with us in the last minute and even mad it for the trip. Some people who committed to join us had to opt out due to some other engagements and I am sure there are a few who conveniently missed it... Well, if you are still reading this and if you had not joined us for the trip.... whether you like it or not I have three words for you - "YOU MISSED IT". We guys had fun as much as we had during college.. if not more...

Guys, if you managed to reach this line reading through.... THANKS for the patience... and don’t blame me if you have already emptied a few bottles by the time you reached here... Thanks once again.... I am FINALLY signing off .... looking forward to the next meet....