Hydey-Hydey-Ho!

Ok this post is special... very special in fact... first, because i'm returning to the blog after a very long time.. i guess this is the longest i've stayed away from the blog... me returning to the blog and making a resolution to post more frequently on every occasion reminds me of something else... the times when we used to come down from the 'Gelf'... every year we came down, the house here was in a mess.. cobwebs, broken furniture, plaster falling apart, signs of break-ins and more... and every time we clean up the mess and repair the house... by the time we're leaving, mom n dad make a resolution to take more care of the house and repair it more frequently... and yet, we come down the next year and it's the same story all over again! anyways, moving over to the second reason... this is the first time i'm going to visit hyderabad... and the third reason... this is the first time i'm blogging live... as and when things happen...

For starters, this is a thirty-hour journey... after an initial half hour confusion regarding the status of my ticket, i'm finally settled down... before boarding the train, i'd made the decision not to eat much until i reach hyd... but then, the craving for steaming vadas made me eat a crappy dosa and the soggy vada that came with it... so much for breakfast!... wonder what crap is in store for lunch...

Just woke up from an extended nap... (started off with a serving of bad news... a good friend's (from work) dad passed away...) i've been glancing at my watch every two minutes for the past 45 minutes... still about 24hours to go!!!... how do people survive for so long in a train??... ah i guess i'll know by the time i reach tomorrow... meanwhile, the girl sitting next to the window (no... she's not a Girl By The Window... yet) looks 'interesting' and 'not interested' at the same time... note the two usages of 'interest' used here...

Just entered Tamilnadu... i am forced to relive all the horrors of train journeys during college days... stinking beggars who keep touching you, half-naked kids, people eating pongal and sambhar endlessly... gahh... i hate this... i really hope i won't have to encounter a eunuch... it's the worst of all evils....

Darkness is setting in... i can still see we're stuck somewhere in tamilnadu from the vast stretches of barren land on both sides of the train, dotted with the occasional pink, green and yellow houses... i've embarrassed myself well enough so far with the zillion bangings of my head on the iron bar next to my head while asleep... i know that because every time my phone buzzes and my sleep is disturbed and i open my eyes, i see the people sitting around me staring at me with a sympathetic smile that reads "poor retarded you"...

Dinner time... everyone's proudly unpacking their newpaper-covered dinner... the excitement on their faces is similar to that of a five-year old unpacking his birthday present excited to see what's inside... hell i know what's going to be in their packages!!.. it's just a huge pile of rice and perhaps, some sambhar??...

Well... several 'dal vadas' and 'banana fries' later (i'd promised myself not to eat anything so that my tummy would hold up till i reach some accommodation in hyderabad with a decent toilet... but then, i'd ended up eating more 'dal vadas' and 'banana fries' than i would in a week!!!... talk about me and keeping promises!!), i have finally reached the place - HYDERABAD!!!...

For the past couple of minutes, i've been attempting to dodge auto drivers by pretending to be a very busy person waiting for a friend/driver to come and pick me up... the city is pretty much in between bengaluru and chennai, look-n-feel wise... i am walking out of the railway station and onto the telugu streets, still pretending to be a busy person... i am trying every person i know who has a connection with hyderabad, but the best response i've been able to gather so far is 'use Google Maps'!!!... so then, i continue walking down the streets till i reach a row of hotels, to my luck!!... and now, here i am... checked in to Hotel Meena Classic (is what i think the receptionist said the name was...)...

Moved into my room, watched tv for a while, and now back on the streets... just remembered i'd dropped my toothbrush on the train bathroom floor, and so, it was time to get a new one... i walk to the nearest auto driver and ask him if he knows where the nearest supermarket is... and he says 'no'!... ok... strange!!... i continue walking... and walking... oh did i forget to mention it was drizzling earlier??... well, it's pouring now!... i walk to the nearest Baskin Robbins and take shelter in front of it... the shopkeeper is outside too... just to make small conversation and to ensure that he doesn't drive me away, i ask him if he knows where the nearest supermarket is... and there he begins his detailed explanation of the route to a supermarket that is galaxies away... i hadn't realized supermarkets were so hard to find in hyderabad... maybe i should make use of Google Maps, like my friend suggested!!... my train of wandering thoughts is suddenly interrupted... not by the shopkeeper... but by an Assamese mom and her 3 kids... she just ran to the front of a shop, to take shelter, on the opposite side of the road... after she looks around for about five seconds, our eyes finally meet... and almost immediately, i know i'm in love... until an auto arrives, she gets in, and drives away... BAM!!!... that was just the opportunity to kickstart a 'worthwhile' life in hyderabad, and i'd just washed it away in the rain... sigh...

I pick up another auto and instruct him to go to the nearest supermarket... it takes us a good fifteen minutes to reach a damn supermarket!!... he offers to wait until i'm done with my shopping and take me back... i reluctantly agree (auto drivers are never upto any good... if they're being nice, it only means they've found means of making an extra buck, through you...)... i finish shopping and i get out and he's still there waiting for me in the heavy rain... i ask him to stop at a good biriyani place on the way... (hyderabadi biriyani is the ultimate stuff, according to my telugu roomies in college)...

I clearly remember ordering a single biriyani, but the parcel that has just arrived is good enough to feed two starving families in Bosnia!!... i politely ask the shop owner to give me a smaller pack (extra politeness because from what i've seen in movies, telugus aren't the kind you would want to mess with... they may just draw out their sword and slash you into pieces)... i finally get a 'mini' biriyani, which is still good enough to feed a single starving family in Bosnia!!... i decide not to ask them to make it smaller, and quietly walk out into the rain... i take the same auto back to my hotel room...

I just realized that the time is 6.30!!!... there's a long way to go in the evening... i decide to grab a beer from the nearest beverages store... 


Back in my room, i just caught a cold reception from the receptionist when i asked him for an opener... apparently, such a huge hotel does not have an opener!!!... i finally open my beer with a pair of scissors that i had brought down... my plan is to drink myself to sleep early, so that i'm fresh in the morning tomorrow...

And it's morrrrninnnngggg!!!... ahhhh... steaming hot water in the shower... awesome!!... ok ok... it's not as pleasant as I'm trying to make it sound... it was actually "FAAAAAA!!!!.... steaming hot water! WTF!!!"... yes i almost got scalded in the shower... anyways... it's time to check out... and get on with what i came here for...

300bux??!!!!... you've got to be kidding me!!... 300bux to get to where i want to go by auto!!... i bargain for about 15minutes and we finally settle for 200bux... i reach my place and what do i see??... hyderabad's F-Lounge is right next door!!... ssssweet!!!... i walk into my place at 10.20am...

7.30pm... i'm finally done with whatever i came for... exhausted i step out into the light drizzle... damn these auto guys... they're just impossible to deal with!... 350bux to get back home!!... no friggin way!!... i wait and i wait and i wait... till finally... 180bux... an auto guy offers to take me to my place for 180bux!!!... MORONNNN!!!... ha!... ahhh... but he doesn't seem like an idiot after all!!.. he takes in another family for 150bux, and reduces my fare to 150bux too!... all the more good for me!!... the 'family' consists of a woman and her two daughters... it's raining harder and it's getting even colder... the driver is stopping for some hot hyderabadi tea... as we sit sipping the piping hot tea in the auto, one of the daughters finally breaks the silence and decides to talk to me... and then she gets talking... and talking... about her engineering scores, her current training, her dream of moving to the US... she keeps talking and talking till i finally start pretending like i'm getting a lot of phone calls... the trio finally get down and i move into a hotel room... the second one in two days... after a rather heavy dinner (trust me, food in hyderabad is always way too much!!.. if you are ordering food for yourself, make sure you have two people with you to share it!!... i've been wasting a lot of food over the two days here...), i'm finally settling in to sleep... it's midnight already... nothing interesting on tv.....

Back in a train... the long journey back... my mind is so full of questions... will i???... won't i???... yet another seat next to the emergency window... (when i came to hyderabad too i was seated next to an emergency window) perhaps it's someone sending out a signal... gahhh... i hope there's no bomb on this train... if there is one, i might have to extend my leave at work... that wouldn't go down really well with the boss... i might lose the job... the trauma of the train blast and now the added trauma of losing my job would make me mentally retarded... and then my... wait a minute!!!... i'm already mentally retarded!!!... so what difference does this make??!!!... ok ok... i need to stop... my thoughts have gone far far away...

The train ride back looks like it's going to be a boring one... not that the train ride i took the day before was particularly interesting, but still... the grandpa at the other end of my seat is already sleeping... Dr. Raj Kumar i recall his name was from the reservation list... yes, just like any mallu of my age, i too have the habit of going through the entire reservation list to see if there's anyone in my vicinity of around my same age... great!!... this telugu couple with a baby just walked in... they're sitting next to me... a baby!!!... A STUPID BABY!!... this means i'll have to put up with the stupid baby's crying and the stupider parents antics till the idiots get down!!... ahhh my iPod!!.. always comes to my rescue... now i can't hear anything that the... no! no! wait! NOOOO!!!!!...great... the iPod's battery is dead!!... damn you Apple!...

It feels weird in a way that i'm seeing all the places that i saw two days ago back in reverse... most of the places are still fresh in my mind... the kid sittting in front of me won't stop talking... she has doubts about everything she sees outside... even after realizing that her mom is clueless about most things, she just won't give up!!... and yes... that stupid baby is still screaming her lungs out!... why? why? whyyyyyy?

It's 1.30... 24 hours more to go... why is everyone staring at the baby and commenting on everything she does??!!!... makes it look it is some endangered species that has been imported from Lithuania...

So now two of them are talking about their past visits to the US... i love the way the telugu guy pronounces Manhattan as 'Maan-hutton'... gawddd... indians!!!.. meanwhile, the stupid baby's stupid parents are trying to put it off to sleep... funny thing is they're singing "ooo-la-la ooo-la-la thu hai meri fantasy" and "kolaveri" to put it to sleep!... fathetic...

Religion, kids, temples, doctors, saris, illayaraja... the range of topics these 'intellectuals' discuss is endless!!!... every once in a while i'm dragged into the conversation, and then i pretend like i'm getting a text and i slowly drift away from the discussion...

Ok joke of the evening!!... this fat guy (who's part of the 'intellectual discussion') tells this female (who's also part of the 'intellectual discussion') that he'll show her something, gets up and bends down to reach into his bag... and what does he show her??... a full-blown view of his humongous ass!!!... i can't control my laughter... oh gawd... i'm going to burst.... somebody hold meeeeee!!!!.....

I just noticed that the female sitting in front of me looks like a crow from the side!!!...

The sad part about traveling in air-conditioned compartments in trains: no open windows through which you can throw your garbage out (yeah c'mon, i'm an indian too!!)... the good part: good food - even the veg food has paneer in it!!!...

Great!!!... it's time for bed and the stupid baby has puked all over the place!!!... the dad is now cleaning up the entire place with the bedsheets that were supposed to be slept on... and while he's at it, he's also giving us a generous view of his humongous ass!!...

Aaahhhh anyways... i'm done for the night... yet another night of the hyderabad episode... i'm all tucked away into the lower berth... ahhh lower berth after so many years... i remember the last time i got the lower berth was back in my third year of college, when i secretly watched my batchmate getting 'molested' in the dark till cops came in and threw the molester guy out!!...

It's morning!!!... in just a few more hours i'm going to reach cochin!!... all the noisemakers who were sitting around me have left, which has come across as a huge relief... the picturesque view rushing past my window makes me feel thoroughly welcome to God's own country (yeah, God alone knows what lies in wait for me in this country place!!)...

I guess i'm done with all the shockers for this trip... just this last one... the guy sitting next to me, a 25-year old MBBS student, his laptop's touchpad ain't working... he looks up at me and asks, "dude, do you know what the shortcut for closing a window is?"...

Bahhh... these specimens will never cease to amaze me... anyways i'm over and out... i'm only minutes away from my destination... updates on the outcome of my hyderabad trip will be posted soon... that is, IF the outcome is in my favor... ;)... ciao!


PS: Thanks to Evernote for making this post a success!... guys with a good Android phone should try it out!


PPS: Pls forgive any typos you may find in this post, i'd typed the whole thing on my phone... not an easy job to do... and pls don't try informing me about any typos either... honestly speaking, i don't care!

N Off We Went Sailing!!!...

The good part about this boat trip was that it wasn't planned way much in advance, that I had to start counting down the days, and by the time the date arrived I would be flat broke, and borrow money from everyone possible and then go on the trip... or wait a minute!... i was broke when i went for the trip!... :P

That was the six of us who went on the trip... since we haven't been seeing much of these people in this blog yet, I'll intro them... Vrinda, Vijay, me, Domnic, Shainu and Laseelan... they are the Cochin Division of my friends network... i like to divide my friends network into the Cochin Division, BFAM Division, B'lore Division, Chowder Division, The Old Men Division and Rest Of The World Division...

It was pretty obvious that I couldn't hide my excitement...

That was from Allepey Beach... though the weather looks pretty pleasant in the pic, it was quiet hot...

Since we hadn't found out yet that we were at the wrong place, we were under the impression that we were early for the boat... so we got around clicking random pics...

While we were busy posing, we forgot to notice what the gurls were up to... and before we knew it...

falling...

and finally...

Once we had had enough, we left for the boat jetty, only to realise that we were at the wrong boarding place when we reached...

An hour later, we finally reached the boat...

Though that's not exactly our boat, ours looked quiet like that... it was only after we got into the boat that we realised that we had forgotten to click the boat's pic... we decided that the nearby boat's pic would suffice...

Inside the boat was fun...

and the view was 'calm and relaxing'... maybe if I were from some other part of India or some other country, I would have used 'breath-taking'...

In the evening, there was the 'fun activities' and then the sleeping (which I guess everyone does, even if they're not on a boat!)...

The next day, we were all set and ready to go... back home...

That's us with the entire boat crew...

It was fun on the whole, and was a much-needed break from all the work I've been doing (and not doing) and the disappointments... I could use ones like these pretty often!!!...

PS: I went fishing too!!!!...

The Two Big R's

I guess by now we are familiar with the only two big R's that have any significance in this blog - Road trip and Random thoughts (!!!)...

Yep... road trip...  with Chowder...
My friendship with Chowder goes a long way back... close to fifteen years... back in the days when he was called Prijo... the days when we made the television for our annual science exhibition in the fifth grade, and watched the TV getting flung across the class (by Leena Rajiv, our social science teacher) two days before the exhibition!... sigh... those were some days...




Anyways, off we were.. to Munnar... in Chowder's brand new Fortuner...

The drive up was quiet steep, with Chowder expertly maneuvering the vehicle...

it does get pretty tiring after a while, one wrong move and you could end up falling off the cliff and tumbling down the hill (just as Ajo 'predicted')...

once we reached the top...

we went for a little mountain climbing...

...and then we got back to the hotel, and set about doing what we are good at!...

The weather was quiet pleasant... though it wasn't really good... guess Munnar isn't the right place to visit at this time of the year... but surprisingly, I began shivering at night... the temperature: 18 degrees!!!... i guess i'm getting a little too used to the average 40 degrees temperature, that anything below 20 degrees has the capability to freeze my ass!!!...

That's pretty much about it about the road trip... my ability to describe events has begun wearing off... that's why i don't remember much... and it's been ten days anyways!...






Now comes my favorite part of the blog!!!... the Random Stuff!!!... i love this section because whatever i write in here doesn't necessarily have to make any sense!... the name itself implies it's senseless!... bah...

• the other day i was talking to Ajo... oh i talk to him everyday!!... (we are that deprived of 'work and company'... or let me rephrase it... 'enjoyable work and enjoyable company'...)... and now, if talking to him at night weren't enough, he calls me during lunch as well!... he was telling me about his roommate... named 'Dhanpal' (which did get a certain close friend of ours very excited till Ajo began regretting telling the name!)... we were discussing the mindset of Tamil parents when they go in to name their kids... stark examples: Karuppusamy, Neil Armstrong (yeah!.. that was the name of a professor in my college!), Lingasamy and so on... but the name that did get us thinking was "Kuppasamy"... hell! that's equivalent to naming your kid "Shitlord"!!!... how cool is that?????!!!!!.... what do these people call their children at home??... "Kuppa" (Garbage!!!)????????.....

• on a weekend i was traveling from Trivandrum to Cochin... and there was this guy sitting next to me, who apparently had a very very strong head, literally!... the guy was sleeping the entire time, with his head resting on the bar behind the seat in front... every three minutes, due to inertia (bah! scientific ol' me!) he would slowly move backwards (in his sleep), and then, (due to Newton's some law of force/motion... ok ok... i'm not that smart!) he would come back to the bar with full force and.... THUDDDDDDD/CRUNCHCHCHCHCHCHHHHHHHHH!.... his head would crash on the bar... every time he did that, i expected his head to crack open, and his brain to start leaking out (due to some pre-conception, i consider the brain to be made of a slimey semi-solid material... such that, if a hole is made in the head, it would start leaking out)... but it didn't!!!... it did remind me of my own college days!!... back in those days, if i sat in a particular spot for more than two minutes, i'd immediately fall asleep (except at nights... when i could stay awake for all i wanted)... so the same used to happen in college buses as well... i used to fall asleep... and every three minutes, i'd be briefly woken up by a skull-cracking THUD (caused by my own head hitting against the bar)... perhaps that did contribute a little to my becoming retarded!... :P

• oh... another bus story.... again i was traveling from Trivandrum to Cochin (guess that's pretty much the only traveling i do these days!)... and i came across this lab, that tests your, errr, stuff... and right outside the lab, a board read, in bold, 

               "********** LABORATORY
                  WE TEST YOUR PHLEGM, STOOL, URINE, BLOOD"
  
i thought that was really, really gross to write something like that in a public place... won't people understand if they just mentioned that it were a testing lab????!!!!!!.......

anyways... i'm off for now... got a few good things lined up for me to happen... if those things don't happen, boy, "somebody gonna get a-hurt real bad!".... ciao!....

Trip to PCB!

That's the entire Pondy-Chennai-Bengaluru trip in a nutshell...!... exciting... depressing... relaxing... pissing off... dangerous... tiring... memory-reviving (though i wouldn't exactly call it nostalgic... 'cos the whole thing didn't have much of a positive effect)... blah blah... 

Ten days was all it took... Chennai -- B'lore -- Chennai -- Pondy -- Chennai - and back home...

B'lore was ok... though nothing much can be said about the b'lore trip, meeting couple of school friends after around half a decade was pretty cool... otherwise ugly weather... couldn't go out much...

Chennai it was the four of us back again... the only difference being we were much richer and there was very little aimless wandering (since we were tight on schedule) this time round... but on the whole Chennai did seem pretty different... few dead people, many 'dead' people, and many people who think i am 'dead'... 

Then of course... there was the much-awaited visit to Cake Walk... a grab of one of those blueberry cheesecakes was all i needed to make myself feel right back at home...

Ajo did seem pretty charged up during the entire trip... this was on our way to Pondy... Pondy did seem like a tiny highlight in the whole trip... partly 'cos i was supposed to visit the place for some work, and i ended up doing everything else other than work!... the return trip was quiet adventurous... with Ajo getting tensed up every time we passed a police checkpost (since he was carrying the bag laden with "treasures from Pondy" if you know what i mean)... but we did manage to get back safe and in shape...

Now you know why Chennai's so dirty!!!....

And then... post partying with all the goodies from Pondy, we had the usual "Thrash-up-abhi" session... where we took turns in thrashing him... (he did thrash us back though... but i do not wish to make him look good by uploading the pics with us getting thrashed!!!... however... if you're really curious... i'll give you a preview.... that's Ajo getting thrown around (below)...)

Then there was the much-awaited Ajo's treat at B-B-Q Nation (did i just say treat???!!!!.... Mumbai's been really getting hard at Ajo off late!)... 

The grills were simply irresistible...

...that Nandu and Abhi could hardly wait!!!....

The dessert... equally delicious...

...that Nandu and Abhi could hardly resist!... Abhi started eating the spoon!!...

Ajo with his usual "wanna-get-beaten-up?" expression...

                                           

That's from our visit to Mocha Mojo... the pic in the middle was a result of our brilliant special effects....

Sai and Karthik popped in as well... my ex-roomies from college... was a pleasant surprise...

That was Abhi's perunal celebration pic... (i still haven't figured out what the right spelling of perunal is!)

And finally!!... THE roadtrip... 3 (jobless) men... out on a mission (to do nothing)... Chennai to Trichur...

...Nandu and me took turns driving...

...and Ajo tried his luck at getting us killed...

The long road ahead....

...break time...

KERALAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!......

...and finally... Nandu's place... Home Sweet Home!

The car locked up safe and sound...

On the whole, the trip was refreshing and fun... but... something did happen... something that has changed my life forever!