Pondi-Cherish - Day III

Lets Relax a bit..
On the final day of our trip, we woke up at 10:30AM. Tabassum and Manju left the room first in search of a clinic. Later we joined them at the Hot Breads and had Breakfast and Lunch..:) Soon after we went for a ride on the road near the sea.(Forgot the name of the road) As the weather was pleasant, it permitted us to sit and relax at the shore. One long session of photography where Manju and Aarati competed hard with each other, showcasing their skills with the poor camera(s) which might have thought "Kin logon ke haathon mein phans gaya?". After hanging around(Without any Rope) there for an hour or more we went to the Bar at hotel Ajanta. The hot dudes(Off course I am talking about Manju and myself) cooled themselves with a bottle of CHILD bear each, while the Cool babe(Tabassum) became hot after a glass of hot drink( Bloody Mary). The other babe(Aarati) was not sure about her "Temerature" and preferred to remain as she was. After this we were back in our room. Went to the roof on the first floor, spent some time on the Big Swing(Dont know what it is called) hanging there. Came to the room and played Pictionary against Aarati's wish. Manju & I made one team and the ladies formed the other. After a fiercely fought battle, where few punches were exchanged, Manju and I emerged as the clear WINNERS. Next we had an Arm Wrestleing competition in which except Tabassum all participated. We packed our bags and other stuffs before leaving the room for our final outing of a wonderful trip. Again we went to the shore, sat on the rocks for long till it was dark. Next we went to our favourite coffee shop. Took snaps of the person(Subramaya - Not Sure)making coffee in his own unique way. Then went for a drive again and finally went to 41 degrees to have dinner, as we had promised.:) This is a roof top restaurant which is open 24 hours. After making ourselves comfortable at a nice place, did our final rounds of videography where each one gave their individual views about the trip. That was when I realized how bad I talk in front of a camera, words didnt come easily for me:) Another reason for us coming to this place was to meet Mr Ashok(Hope i got it right) who had helped us in need even though we were total strangers to him. But we could not meet him, so we left a note for him. It was almost 9:00PM and we had to surrender the scooters. The previous day's accident didnt even spare the vehicles. One of the scooter was handicapped with the loss of Head light and the rear mirror and we wanted to make sure that when we return them, the shop keeper doesnt notice the damages:). I and Aarati had the GREAT responsibilty to make this happen and we didnt disappoint. We reached the shop, parked the bikes, took the PAN cards and returned back to the place where other 2 were waiting for us. To our surprise the guy didnt even check the scooters. Next we went to Hot Breads to get some Chocolate Crossaint parceled for the next day. But not a single crossaint was available and we settled for a Cake. We came back to the room, picked up our luggages, wrote down few Good words in the visitor's book and took an Auto Rickshaw to the bus stand.

Everything good has to come to an end...

We reached the bus stand with around 15 more minutes remaining for the scheduled departure of the bus. Once inside the bus, Tabassum occupied the window seat and Aarati got the most comfortable seat in the entire bus..:). I didnt expect repetetion of the funny incidents which took place during our journey from B'lore to Pondicherry as all were too tired. Tabassum being injured and tired slept off soon. But yes Manju, Aarati and myself started playing Antaakshari and it went on for long until we were stuck on the word "Ga". While our brains were searching for a song beginning with "Ga" from our Bollywood database, we shifted our discussion to other topics until we were asked to keep quite by a co-passenger. Like 3 obedient little kids we obliged to the request made to us. By that time our brains and body were back in sync. I and Manju preferred to have some sleep and as always Aarati didnt had any other choice but to be awake with the occassional naps. So, thats how our Memorable Pondicherry trip ended with only and only one regret, a song with "Ga".

The Experience...

Only a few days back, Pondicherry was a place which had fascinated us for its beaches, architecture, lanscapes and off course cheap liquor :) After being there and having experienced the place for 3 days, now we know that Pondy is not only about beautiful place but more than that its about beautiful, helpful and friendy people.

What it meant to me...

For me Pondy was all about being at a beautiful place with 3 wonderful wonderful friends(Theek hai ab neeche wapas apni seat par aa jao, zyaada udo mat). All of them unique in their own way. Every moment spent with them during those 3 days will remain with me forever. It brought 4 of us even more closer to each other(Ab, Ganda mat socho, corrupt mind).

The Hangover...

The Pondicherry hangover is hard to overcome. But as I mentioned earlier, everything good has to come to an end. Thats how life is. However, I never said that we cant have better, more enjoyable and adventurous trips in near future. So, come on guys, whats next: GOAAAAAAA or MUNARRRRRRRRRRRR or JAIPURRRRRRRRRRR or is it MAURITIUSSSSSSSSS. Aur haan, agli baar hum train ya flight mein ja rahe hain, arre yaar raat bhar bus mein bina soye rehna mushkil hai. Is someone smiling?

Pondi-Cherish - Day II

Target Mahabalipuram...

Today all of us woke up at 10:00AM, filled with enthusiasm in anticipation of the long ride(About 120 KM) to Mahabalipuram. We stuffed our stomachs, starting with all possible yumm bread items available at the Hot Breads, chocolate Croissant being the prominent one and finishing with coffee. That was our Brunch for the day. Then some investigation regarding the route to Mahabalipuram and the joy ride started at 1:45PM with Tabassum & Manju on one bike and Aarati & I on the other. We all were taking turns to ride the bikes. We took some short breaks in between for photo sessions, the prominent photographers being Manju(The professional) and Aarati(The budding one). But by the end of the Pondy trip, Aarati emerged as a tough competetor for Manju. Our journey towards Mahabalipuram continued with some breath taking scenic views all through our route. The ride was silent in between because of the empty road. Aarati cud not bear the silence and decided to play Antaakshari with herself. She even sang the "TITLE TRACK" to decide who will start the game, She or Aarati? After some time we 2 ran out of good songs. So, Aarati started singing "Evergreen Title Songs" like Washing powder Nirma and Mann ki shakthi, Tann ki shakthi Bournvita and that too non stop in a loop.

Tragedy Strikes...

Everything was going fine when tragedy struck. Somewhere at a place called Kadapakkam, I tried to overtake the other bike which at that moment was being ridden by Tabassum. Aarati was still singing the Bournvita song. Suddenly it sounded like a Remix version of the original song "Tan ki shakthi, mann ki shakthi Bournvitaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". That was when I realized that our scooter had hit the other scooter. I turned back and saw both Manju and Tabassum lying on the road with their face down and the scooter over them. By the time I parked my scooter and reached the spot, around a dozen people were already there helping them. In no time they came with water and cool drinks. Manju looked alright with only one scratch on his hand but tabassum looked in serious condition with a bloody chin and arm. We took her to a small tea shop type hotel on the road side. People around us came with cool drinks for all of us and offered to take her to a near by clinic. The shop keeper refused to take money for the drinks. Then guided by 2 young men, we took her to a clinic which was about 2 KMs from that place. Both Manju and Tabassum were given First Aid by the doctor. The 2 young men who brought us to the clinic offered us all possible help and even helped us in getting the medicines. We all rested there for some time, took a snap of the doctor along with the 2 guys. These people were not less than saviours for us. We thanked them and continued with our journey. Now I and Aarati took the driver's seat on the bikes. Tabassum was my pillion rider and Manju Aarati's. It was already 4:45PM and we looked at Tabassum enquiring if we should continue our ride towards Mahabalipuram or Return back to Pondy. We chose the first option. On our way , before the accident site I found my cap lying on the road(It had jumped off my head on our way to he clinic). Iss moke pe humaare guest ne ek dialouge maara "Yahan ke log kitne achche hain. Topi bhi nahi uthaai, wahin ki wahin padi hai."

For the remaining journey it was decided that Aarati and Manju will always follow us and we wont ride fast. We realized the importance of the scond decision after just half an hour. First we bought milk for tabassum as suggested by the doctor and again commenced our ride to conquer Mahabalipuram. We had hardly travelled for 30 mins, one more tragedy. The rear tyre of the scooter on which I and Tabassum were travelling punchered but thankfully we were riding very slowly. So, nothing serious happened. We checked the tool kit of the scooter but no use. We could not see a single shop on either directions. Manju and Aarati went in the direction towards Mahabalipuram while we 2 waited there. That was when I came to know that after the accident Tabassum was sad and concerned of one thing in particular. How wud she have Tequilla shots? Really serious matter. To console her maine kaha(Serious expression ke saath) "Koi na koi raasta zaroor nikal aayega". And didnt we figure out a way later in the evening..:)) While waiting for the other 2 ppl, Tabassum did time pass by drinking the milk we had bought for her while I tried out my hands on Photography and Videography. Manju and Aarati managed to find a mechanic who came along with his assistant and repaired the bike. And helped us in finding a place to get "Desi petrol". By this time it was 6:00PM and still around 40 KM to reach Mahabalipuram. And now we needed to travel even more carefully and slowly as the replacement tyre was not in a good shape. We were able to convince Tabassum that it wont be a good idea to go towards Mahabalipuram now. Here I wud like to quote one particular statement made by Manju at that spot "Dont you think these bad incidents are indicative enough for us to go back". We turned our scooters back and started to ride back towards Pondy, aborting our trip in between and leaving Mahabalipuram unconquered. But as I always believe and have experienced "The Best part of any Trip with my friends is the travelling part" and we had travelled enough and enjoyed(Did we?).

The Slow Musical Ride...

After 3 hours of slow ride,during the course of which I was kept entertained by Tabssum's songs, we reached back to Pondicherry. Went directly to Hotel Ajanta and had dinner. It was there that we came up with innovative ideas of how Tabassum can have tequilla shots without her injuries affecting her?:) Sorry, its impossible to put in words the fun and laughter we had dicussing the topic. Later had Ice creams from the parlour of the same hotel. Returned back to our room by 11:00PM. After some talks, laughs, snaps and videos all of us slept off.

Pondi-Cherish - Day I

Hunt for a shelter...

At the bus stand we realized that hum logon ko yeh bhi pata nahi ki kahan jaana hai. We had a list of Hotels and Guest houses but were not sure where to go. Finally, after some ifs and buts we took an auto to "Sea View guest house" because of its location.(Right at the sea shore Facing the Bay of Bengal). After reaching the guest house we found out that no rooms were vacant. The Auto rikshaw driver suggested us the name of one "Surya" guest house. As per him all other guest houses and hotels were full. He took us to the guest house. We had a look into one of the rooms and concluded that it was not worth paying Rs 2500 for one day. We came back to the sea side in the same auto and decided to check some guest houses and hotels there. But to our dissapointment none had vacant rooms. In between all this we witnessed the lovely scene of sun rising from the horizon of Bay of Bengal. We decided to make calls to some more guest houses. From a list of around 8-10 hotels, only 2 had rooms available. We settled for one "Ram" guest house and were about to take an auto to reach there when a lady enquired if we were seaching for rooms. She told they have rooms with 3 star facilities and we could stay there if interested. Soon her husband also joined her. From them we came to know that all the guest houses and hotels were full because it was Easter time. We decided to have a look at the room. When enquired they told us that it was only 2 minutes walk from that point. We walked almost a KM or so to reach the destination. We had to walk almost 15-20 minutes to reach the place. At first look only we liked the room and decided to stay there for the next 3 days. The rent for the room was fixed at Rs 1800 per day. It was 8:00 AM when we reached there. We decided to go out at 10:30AM after relaxing and freshening up. I and Tabassum were the first ones to get ready, before 10:00AM. The other 2 were having some tight sleep(Bechaare raat bhar soye jo nahi the). At 10:30AM, both of them got up lazily and started getting ready even more lazily. By the time we all left the room the clock had crossed 11:30.

We are hungry...

Our first target was to find a restaurant to have breakfast. After 5 minutes walk, we found one which had just opened. The waiter cum the only person we cud see at the place told that we can place our orders and the food will be ready in 15-20 minutes. We had our own doubts as we cud not see any other soul in there and I even tried using my hearing sense to figure out if I cud catch any sort of sound coming from the kitchen but was unsuccessful. After some time we were convinced that we were wasting our time sitting at that place. We came out of that place and noticed another restaurant just 2-3 shops away from that place, "Hot Breads". The place was to become our breakfast spot during our stay here. After having a heavy breakfast, we had coffee from a coffee shop right in front of Hot Breads. Eventhough the coffee was superb, we all(Especially Tabassum) were more impressed by the way the guy made the coffee. So, after a heavy breakfast and a kadak coffee we were all set to explore Pondy on our first day at the place. And decided to do that on hired bikes. A small search and we found out a place to get the bikes. We got 2 Kinetics for 2 PAN cards(Manju'sad Tabassum's). Filled fuel in the scooters. Next thing we did was to book our return tickets and that was not easy. Checked out some 3-4 private bus services. But none of them had VOLVO buses for B'lore. Finally we booked tickets online for KSRTC Volvo, last 4 seats. After having our tickets booked, we just roamed in and around the city on the bikes for few hours, clicked snaps, had lunch from Ajanta and went back to the room and relaxed for some time.

An eventful evening...

Later in the evening we all headed for "Chunambar" beach resort which was 10KMs ride from the city. And just outside the city(I think Not even outside) we saw the Pondicherry Railway station. My good luck that Aarati was riding the bike and had a bad throat. By the time we reached the resort, it had already closed. We returned back and by the time we reached back it was dark. We went to a "tapri" and had tea. As it was Easter, the whole city was full of Buzz with people all around the place. We visited a church first, then to a park and from there we went to the sea shore. I and Aarati removed our shoes and got into the water to have a feel of the coming waves while the other 2 preferred to relax "on a rocks" just behind us. After half an hour we returned back to find only Manju sitting there. When we asked Manju about Tabassum's absence, he told that she wanted to spend some time alone and has gone near hotel Ajanta. Tabhi hum dono ka dimaag thanka, "Oops Something is wrong". 3 of us walked towards hotel Ajanta and saw her sitting facing the Sea. A small discussion on who will go and talk to Tabassum. Aarati was unanimously chosen for the tough task.:) . Scene 1: Aarati is sitting along with Tabassum.................(Censored).........Scene 2: We all were sitting together at the same place........(Again Censored).........Scene 3: Only I and Tabassum are sitting at the same place, a Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng silence. Scene 4: Still we 2 are sitting, still Silence. Scene 5: Finally some talk.........(Sorry, Again Censored)........In between Manju comes and takes the scooter key. No shops were open, so he and aarati were going to the main city to get food. That was when we realized it was 11 in the night. .......Again Censored............Final Scenec: Still we 2 are sitting. Everything was back on track. Suddenly a policeman comes and enquires why we were sitting there. He asked questions like "Are you husband and wife, or couple, when and why did we come to Pondicherry, where are we from, what is our profession etc". Tabassum's reply: "We are friends and we had a fight" . The cop didnt ask any more questions and preferred to escape from there. It was midnight and it had been more than an hour since Manju and Aarati had gone to get food. Now that started worrying us. The entire area gave a deserted look with only a countable number of people here and there. We went and stood near the only shop on that road and luckily that was open. We waited for another 30 minutes when to our relief we saw our dinner coming along with Manju and Aarati :)).[Kaafi intezaar karaaya dono ne]. It seems, first it took them some time to find an open restaurant at midnight and then the petrol in the scooter got over. With the help of one gentleman(Who was an employee of that restaurant) they were able to get petrol. So, we decided to have either a lunch or a dinner from that restaurant(41 degrees) in the coming 2 days. After a tiring and very eventful day we reached back to our. Had dinner. And Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Pondi-Cherish

This was two years back when I visited Pondicherry with my friends. One of them have verbalized this trip as below. Truely awesome. Cheers Pra!!

Pondicherry Trip - Memories close to my Heart

A dream trip for which planning had begun almost a year and a half back, finally became a reality on Saturady, the 7th April 2007. It was started by 3 people(Tabassum, Manju and Myself) and later we had the pleasure of Aarati's company.

Little bit of History...
It all started when Tabassum went to Pondicherry for the first time with her now infamous(among us) gang. I being her poor cubicle mate had to hear her trip stories in detail and it was obvious that she was very much impressed by the place and Tequillas. And after listening to her stories and Pondy incidents continuosly for 2-3 days, even Manju and I developed an interest for the place and the cheap Tequillas . We 3 decided to go to Pondy when a suitable time comes.(Never thought that the time will come after 1.5 years). Circumstances didnt permit us to go ahead with the trip. Soon Tabassum joined Patni, Mumbai and the trip seemed like a distant dream. But all of us were determined to fullfill our dream one day. Later in August2006, Tabassum visited B'lore but only for 3-4 days. Pondy trip didnt even come to our mind because there was not enough time. Manju and I went to Mumbai for our New year celebrations with tabassum being our host. It was during that time we decided that we will make it happen in 2007. Finally it was when Aarati got settled in B'lore and a remote possibility of me going onsite by mid year appeared that we felt the need of urgency. That was when Tabassum decided to come down to B'lore for 2 weeks(So, nice of her :)). From that day onwards all 4 of us had only I thing in our mind:PONDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. After many discussions and chain of mails, the final itenary was prepared. It was decided that the trip will start on 7th April evening and conclude with our arrival back to B'lore on 11th morning. Onward journey Bus tickets were booked, after a majority(Tabassum, Manju and Myself) supported bus over train and Aarati was left alone:)). Anyway from the information we got, we were sure that the Pondy railway station was far away from the city. All were busy gathering whatever information was available on the internet and Books regarding Pondy.

The lady arrives...
Tabassum reached B'lore on 5th April and was welcomed at the airport by 3 crazy people holding placard which read "WELCOME Tabassum with VADA PAAV". She was all stunned and started laughing in her trademark style. Even people around us could not control their laughs seeing all this. We had the initial round of Vada Paavs sitting on a footpath at the Airport.(Hum Vada Paav khaane ke liye kuch bhi kar sakte hain). Later we dumped her luggage in my room and obviously went to Corner House(How cud Tabassum start her trip with anything else)

Last 24 hours before the journey...
On 6th, I came to know that I need to go to US on 11th April. So, threw a grand party for all my friends, the same evening. Next day from afternoon to evening we were busy doing my onsite shopping. Bought all the stuffs which we thought were necessary. Later, all 4 of us started from my room at 9:00 in the evening, towards Majestic for our Pondy bus which was scheduled to depart at 10:30 PM. In between all this there was enough time for Tabassum to grab a cup of Hot chocolte fudge from Corner House:)). We took an auto from koramangala to majestic. Found the platform where our bus was parked. Got into the bus and made ourselves comfortable at our respective seats. I and Tabassum sat together, Manju and Aarati took the seats behind us.The bus started on time for Pondicherry. The incidents which took place in bus during the journey are more than enough to make me laugh anytime and anywhere. To summarize it, that bus journey was fun for us but nightmare for our co-passengers.

Where it all started...

'Mail Trail', this blog was created long back with a thought of posting mail threads. Mails I exchanged with freinds, mails which I like to restore from my mailbox and read again and again...Somehow this thought has taken aback and kept me away from posting anything here.

However, writtng a 'travelgoue' should be equally enjoyable and so as reading it...What say?

So I guess I need a new title for this one...any inputs are always welcome!