Cisco Shivana Samudra - Dec 17-2005

Trip Travelogue Dec 17,2005

After lots of discussions, confusions, rejections – just like the rise of the “Phoenix” from the ashes, the trip date was decided to be on Dec 17^th. The day finally came and it was nice to see 2 people joining in at the last minute. Lots of planning went in to the whole affair and responsibilities were assigned to each person. Cab was booked, place of the trip was decided and there was a buzz of excitement going on in the whole group. And the day finally arrived.

I got a call early in the morning from Madhu asking me the pickup point. She was still undecided on her coming till the nth minute but a final stamp of approval from her dad made the final decision. I arrived at my pickup point @ 7:35 AM and called Arul who was the first to be picked up and I was surprised to find him in the bus stop already. This was unexpected seeing his “always late” tag during regular office hours. We waited in the stop for quite some time and at last I could see Cab 8A coming in the horizon. Arul and Suresh were already in the cab and there was loud music playing. Man, wasn’t I excited. Next pickup point was Sudhakar and the drive down to his house was an adventure in itself with all the ups and downs in the road. Sudhakar was ready and we quickly loaded up all the stuff in the van. Lakshmi & Pooja also got in. Next we drove to pick up Malik and Latha. Latha’s whole family came out to bid her goodbye. I can imagine what will be the situation when she leaves for Singapore. Last person to be picked was Deepthi and we hit the highway immediately. Time was around 8:45 AM. We were already late but this was more of a fun trip and so time never mattered.

We started the “Ice Breaker” game with the gang needing to tell about their most “Happiest” moment and most “Embarrassing” moment. And as a cheer on the cake – the most interesting thing was the team was allowed to ask 3 questions to really break the ice. Youngest of us all started off.

· Arul – I specially liked his happiest moment in his life in Kerala and that became the butt of the jokes all along the trip. He was confused with the word “Embarrassing” and he still has to finish his part of the story. Maybe some other day. He has an affinity towards the “K” factor too.

· Lata – Her whole discussion started and ended with her Singapore dreams. So Singapore here she comes – be ready. Her happiest moment was a real touching moment and I can really imagine that as she is the “first” engineer in her family.

· Suresh – His was a real funny narration. Especially his attempts for not just National integration but International integration. His affinity towards “senoritas” made some interesting topic to listen.

· Madhu – Bill must be a happy camper if he reads this piece about Madhu. I am not sure about Hillary though. Folks, let us get her Bill’s biography for her birthday. She is going to be a headline maker pretty soon when we will be reading “IBM employee Adam-Bashed.”

· Manju – Nah, nothing interesting.

· Lakshmi – Her happiest moment touched me and I could correlate to it more than the rest of the folk’s coz we also had a kid.

· Sudhakar – His embarrassing moments resembling RajKapoor in “Mera Naam Joker” had the whole gang splitting with laughter. I won’t be surprised if you open his bag anytime, he will have a spare sweater with him.

· Deepthi – Chambers will be granting you few thousand shares pretty soon after he reads this page. Fun part ended on a sad note after hearing her hearts musings but I know this gal – she must have buried it by now.

· Malik – Airtel Signal was still available so please do not disturb me.

After all this fun, time flew so quickly and it was time for breakfast. We stopped on the way in a nearby eat out and it was a decent place. Had a heavy breakfast as we were not sure when we will be having the lunch. Me and Suresh were the lunch organizers and we ordered food for the gang. We visited the nearby wood shop and shopping went on and on till we had to literally drag people out of there. Back in the cab – to ward off late morning sleep, we started playing the memory game and man – it was fun. Suresh at last won the game and 100 bucks for him if he can repeat the list all over again now. Numbers game followed and it had Latha all knotty and confused. These games went on for a long time and we realized that SS had already come. We got down after a long and bumpy drive and there was this beautiful sight of the 2 falls.

Kids came running around to sell us “goose berries” (Not sure if this is the right name) and it was sour to the core. Arul initially took the role of “spot boy” holding the umbrella but later we realized he is much more capable and handed over the camera to him. Thanks to the digital technology, Arul was clicking away picture as if it was “Tomorrow Never Comes”. He took really nice pictures also. After the front view, we went in to a jungle track and ended in a place where we could see the falls before they were falling. Folks crossed the river, climbed the hill and had a top view of the falls also. Couple of unfortunate incidents is part and parcel of anything and we had a crab bite and reflex action dive injuries but nothing serious. We were really hungry by the time we were back to the cab but decided to drive few more miles before we ate. We stopped when we saw a huge tree and took our lunch boxes out and went and sat down the tree not before a long argument of where to sit. Pulao never taste so yummy. Idlies and Vadas disappeared in no time and to help us out with the leftovers, a hungry dog came in the nick of the time. As good citizens, we cleaned up the leftovers and put it neatly in a plastic cover. Arul did not like the lunch because half his Pongal had spilled over and the chutney was slightly spoiled and there was no SAMBHAR. Sorry man!

3:30 PM. After the heavy lunch, people adjusted themselves for a quick nooner. We left for Talkkad and the journey was real bad. We had to go through some pretty bad roads. Madhu & Latha started snoring and I could not sleep for a minute. Suresh came up with different ways to wake the girls and I have a suggestion for him to author a book – “101 ways to wake up a person”. Lucky he did not get a punch on his face. Me, Arul & Deepthi talked on and on finding any topic worthwhile to discuss and somehow avoided sleep. ZP elections were nearing and we passed through some non descript villages with colorful election logos. It almost was 5:30 when we finally reached Talkkad. We all quickly got down and Malik’s was all excited. No – Talkkad was not the reason for his excitement. Airtel was available. His phone battery was dead and he took Sudhakar’ phone and went back to his “la-la” land. We walked to the shore where a river is flowing. We all hired 2 coracles (theppa) and it was a fun ride. Arul/Suresh/Lata/Madhu got into one and took off. Me/Sudhakar/Deepthi got into another one. I could see and hear the excitement in the other theppa as Arul was waving and whistling loudly. We were lucky to see sun setting at the same time and all those became “Kodak” moments. We raced and caught up with the other theppa and exchanged the camera and got our pictures also. Then the theppa dude gave us the twirl and it was great. We were all tired and fresh coffee/tea was served to all of us. We hurried to see the temples submerged in the sand and we hired a local guide. We visited few temples in the dark and hope all the wishes are granted. Hey God, hope u r reading this. Please comply. I know what me and Sudhakar want and I am not sure of others.

There was a temporary panic when Madhu & the guide were missing for few moments as they were lost in the dark. Looks like she was completely immersed in the kids story of Talkkad queen and her curse. Even in the dark, there were lots of snaps being clicked by our foto guy. We visited the main temple where in the guide showed us 2 doorkeepers stone carvings and the special design in them. Once we came out, it was the time to head back home and it was pretty late. When it was time to go home, then the girls realized that it was late and started cribbing. Bad roads were the reason for the delay. On Paper, the distance was 120 Kms to SS and 30 Kms for Talkkad but driving at 10 Kmph, u can imagine. Antakshari began and it was better than Radio city any day. Songs from 1930 to present were being churned out and it was fun. A song by Deepti was captured in Arul’s fone also. Maybe we can recreate the magic some other day. For almost 2 hours, songs were sang. No one seemed to be bored with it and it could have continued if we did not have to take a dinner break. Dinner was quickly eaten as it was getting late already.

I did not want to highlight this but I found it really funny. Deepthi and Madhu were eyeing this single window seat always and arguing about it. Madhu gave the most funniest statement – I will quote unquote it in Kannada. “Woli Bide, naavu yavaglu ee onde seat goskara jagala aadthiri. Naavu ibbaru yaake obanne maduve agabaradu”. I thought this kind of situations happen only in Telugu movies but it was really funny to hear that in real life and I did let my thoughts fly for a minute and imagined the situation….

At last the driver was driving fast and we reached Deepthi’s house around 11:30 PM and the best part was lata’s house where are whole family came out with worried looks to receive her. And Madhu jumping over her hostel gate was a sight to see especially with beat policemen witnessing it with open mouths. Went home and slept @ 12:30 PM.

All in all, in a nutshell – great trip. Made great new friends.

Sudhakar – Captain

Lakshmi – Mother India

Mallik – Graham Bell (He would have suffered if Bell had not invented the fone)

Deepthi – Smoke Alarm

Suresh – DTS – 6 Track Stereo Phonic Sound

Lata – Hum Saath Saath Hain (their family does everything in a group)

Arul – Spot Boy

Madhu – Mowgli

Puja – Touch Me Not