Delhi Diaries...

I know, I know. Its been a while, eh? All this work, really makes me not want to open the laptop after I finally reach home. But then, this blog isn't about my work life and it won't start now

I'll try to make it up to you with a really long, extremely funny post. Or, you know, just long. Pakka promise.

As avid followers of my Facebook updates would know, I had been to Delhi on a vacation the week before last.

(As an aside, Facebook has seriously become the source of all information. And I'm not just talking about 'what I'm eating NOW' type updates that some friends seem to leave here, but also as a source of actual news. For instance, I came to know of the big fire in Mumbai and the death of Arjun Singh through Facebook.

About the latter, I'll have to say that I'm not shedding any tears. He was a caste- politician, the worst kind. The kind that doesn't have anything else to offer to the people and hangs on through sheer humiliating grit using divisive politics. Politicians like these have given politics, national service and numerous such previously noble roles an ugly taint that will never go away)

Moving to happier things now.

So as I was saying, I was in Delhi and this post is dedicated to the trip.

February nip

One of the best things I like about Delhi is the bite in the air during winters. You may be bundled up from neck to toe in multiple layers of sweaters and jackets but just as a you walk out the door the first cut from the seemingly random gust of wind wakes you up. (As an additional advantage it gives a rosy tint to all the nice cheeks walking around in Delhi :) )

I wasn't able to go home in December-January and I wasn't really expecting it to be cold at all. So much so that I just threw 4-5 t-shirts in my bag for the trip.

But the rain gods had been kind to me. A couple of days before I landed it rained like it wouldn't ever stop there. Consequently the weather there was exactly like in late December. One of those awakening breezes were blowing as I stepped off the plane. Brilliant!

To add to that R was attending a wedding near the airport and he played hookey there to pick me and we went and had a nice coffee before going home. The only discordant note, and this may be as age catches up with me, but I see a lot of school/early college people, both guys and girls, smoking nowadays. And it was the same at the coffee place with a bunch of people out smoking like its the coolest thing in the world. It's not.

The weather remained kind to me throughout the trip and it was just like visiting during winters! Happy

Uproot-ion (is that a really a word)

Another very significant event that is happening is that my family is moving to our new house in Noida. For many this movement could be a regular thing that doesn't raise any eyebrows. But we have been living in that house for over 27 years!

Its the only home that I've ever known and it feels really weird that the next time I visit home, I may not be going to this house. Each nook and cranny in the house (umm as many of them that you can have in a flat) has so many memories attached to it. I don't grudge my parents the difficult task of folding up our life in this house and moving to a new place to set up again.

I have been away from home for over five years now and was in the hostel for another six years but the realization of the move still made my stomach drop a bit. I know it sounds quite melodramatic but really, it does leave me with a bit of a sinking feeling. I'm sure the new place will be great but leaving familiarity behind does take some time!

Metro-man!

Mumbai revolves around the local trains. Most people there know train timings and mould the pace of their life around it.

Delhi, it seems, is following the same path. Before the Metro train, the gang used to meet up usually in South Delhi. But this time it seemed like everyone just wanted to plan the evenings out based on the Metro's schedule and locations.

And I'm not complaining!

Driving in Delhi is becoming more and more stressful everyday. Every time I visit I dread taking out the car, especially the bigger car (the fiery Ferrari red Nano is still a crowd favourite :)). It seems that the broader the road, the more 'adventurous' the drivers become! Driving on some of the high speed stretches (DND flyover on this trip)should ideally be a cruise. But when you're comfortably driving in your lane at a hundred, you don't want glance in your rear-view mirror to see a big SUV hunkering down at you at over 140, veering away only at the last moment (Believe me, I'd rather drive in the narrow lanes of Bangalore where the low speeds mean that a bump on the road will be just that, a bump).

So I wasn't really averse to making the Metro my Swap-mobile (i'm so funny, no? :))while I'm in Delhi. My only problem with this state of affairs is that the meeting point is invariably Connaught Place. And my super sense of direction again kicks in as I always spend half an hour wandering around all around the place before I manage to reach the meeting point.

Can some one please tell me which freakin' circle is the outer circle??

Busy-ness

As I wallow in self pity about the long hours I put at work, a trip to Delhi makes me realise that everyone is as, if not more, busy nowadays. People who would not move out of the hostel bed, or at most the canteen chair, even if you kept a gun to their head have now been transformed into maniacal professionals who regularly put in 13-14 hours everyday. It is very difficult for friends to catch up. I mean AA and I could meet just once in the entire trip! (it was an all nighter, so it was all right). And he had to really make the effort to make time or it wouldn't have happened.

Globalization is not helping either. The one day we all managed to catch up, AK had a conference call that started at 11:45 pm! Story of all our lives now.

I wish I'll be able to lead a Ruskin Bond type existence sometime - a quaint cottage in the hills, surrounded with old friends and mountains.

18107

Giant Wrap Up Post...

Yeah yeah, I know. It's been a while...

That's not to say that I've been having a boring time or anything but somehow I haven't had the will to put pen on paper, or, you know, fingers on keyboard. So anyway, what have I been upto since the last post? What stories have stayed put in my head instead of being poured out for your office-time-silent-guffaws?

Lots of stuff actually work (which we shall not talk about here as usual), travel (no, i mean beyond the daily home to office - though there's a story there as well), movies (and you will not even imagine the kind of movies i've been watching - a few under the influence [if you know what I mean]), restaurants (and to think I thought I'd covered most of the good places to eat in this bitter-sweet city), books (lots of them as usual. And some surprising ones. And some authors came up with surprising ones).

Whew, seriously, HOW have you people been staying awake at work when I haven't been writing!

But this seems like a marathon post if I do actually keep my eyes open for a while. So I shall only give you short selected write ups rather than all the incidents.


But before that a serious thing. This is a public blog and i'm not aware of all the facts so will not write the whole thing here. But I came to know about something heinous and disgusting that a person I know did recently. I cannot imagine anyone doing things like that in this day and age. The horrible way in which people you think you know shock you is just unbelievable. I know this didn't make much sense but please let this pass. (disclaimer: nothing has been done to me. Came to know of this recently and am still in a bit of shock)

Well, now with that out of the way:

Travel:

I went home for Diwali this time. Even though the festival of lights was brilliant last time with the three day extended festivities with some huge-ass firecrackers, there is still something about Diwali that tugs your heart strings towards home and family.
So this time I gave my parents and granny a surprise and it was pretty awesome to see their elated reaction when I jumped in front of them! Diwali was very traditional and joyous as I met my sister and niece and celebrated the festival itself at home with that most traditional and sacred of customs at home - The legen...wait for it...dary Chole Bhature dinner that my mom always makes on Diwali. In fact i'd been chewing the brains off so many people around going on and on about how much I was looking forward to that dinner. I actually had four bhature. Then I took a step back - Swapnil, you didn't come all the way from Bangalore to eat just 4! That's just self-humiliating. Do you have any self-respect? Would Mom like it if you had just 4? All the effort she put in to make that tasty meal and you just hang your head and give up at 4?

I don't think so. So I went for a long walk all around the colony. Then took another saunter around just to make sure. Then I went in with grim determination written on my face. And I sat at that dinner table and had another 2 bhature. Vindicated!

A good trip though most of it was at home. And it's always great to see my niece. However the most lingering image I have from the trip is a vision I had just as I stepped out of the airport...

Movies:
I'm sitting here watching Pulp Fiction. And this is an absolute aberration to all the trashy movies I've been watching over the past few..umm..months now. To add to the three weird movies I spoke about a couple of posts ago, I have followed them up with even weirder movies. Ok, people may not agree with me when I put "Wake up Sid" in the same category as 'FOX' and the rest but i'll stick with my decision to do so. I mean what a predictable movie. It's the kind of script that four people with a crate of beer would write. AFTER going through the beer...

When I go for a movie I look for some kind of interesting twists and turns in the tale not a movie in which you can predict half an hour in advance, including the freakin' dialogues.

Anyway, the other movies I've seen recently will chill your blood. And not in a good oh-I-forgot-my-fur-coat-on-this-Swiss-peak way. More of the Who-the-F-slammed-the-door-and-switched-on-this-walk-in-freezer way. Ok, that was probably a bit over the top but I'm sure you'll forgive me when I tell you that I have probably been the only person in the city, nay, the world, who's seen "All the Best" TWICE! And that's including the producer of the movie who couldn't really see the screen through the bloody tears brimming up in his eyes as he could literally see his money flowing away.

I also saw "Do Knot Disturb". Yes, ladies and gentlemen whoever had this image of me being a suave, sophisticated, rakishly handsome guy based on reading my blog, you're wrong on two counts. I'm just a rakishly handsome guy who watches second rate movies.


Ok, i'm tired of writing now so short snappy sentences from now on:

Places to eat: Been to quite a few new ones. Olive Beach is easily the best. Great food, great ambience...definite must eat at place. Though I probably won't be going there for a while. Such amazing dining experiences should be separated by sufficiently long periods of time to retain the awesomeness.

Books: I never liked Chetan Bhagat's books. I mean I found his penmanship childlike in Five point Someone (and the book suffered from the same predictable nature that I attributed to Wake up Sid) and never read anything from him after that. But I got 'Two States' as a gift and it's quite a page turner. Very interesting book. Highly recommended.


ok, So I shall wrap this post up now - Pulp Fiction is moving towards its end. And I definitely deserve to watch a good movie for a change!

Fun Free Friday...

The most interesting days start off with some impromptu plans. AG had come in from Chennai for the last time (hopefully- i mean not that I hope to not meet him but because he's finally leaving from Chennai after a stressful and oh-too-long stint of almost an year. I think he's very excited about getting back to non-gajra and Jasmine wearing humanity in Delhi)

Anyway, we all got up quite late and decided to go to that iconic breakfast place in Bangalore - Koshy's. AK and SC also joined us and we landed up there, i don't know, around 11 maybe. The breakfast was excellent (there's something about really fresh bread that hits just the right spot even if it's just a plain ol' vegetable sandwich)

AK and SC hadn't yet had an inaugural drive in PS' new i10 car and we decided on a whim to drive towards probably the only smooth stretch of road in Bangalore- the NICE corridor (yes corny, i know). So there we were in our holiday best of just out of bed hairstyles and bathroom slippers zipping along to the sound of good music streaming out of the oh-so-stylish integrated music system that comes with the car. The weather was brilliant and I think it's been quite a while since all us DCE folks in Bangalore got together and went out somewhere.

Mid-way through the trip we decided to go to Innovative Film City, an entertainment 'city'/ amusement park some distance from Bangalore. Suddenly made plans have a way of coming together brilliantly. Now i've heard of this place and I would be lying if I say that the idea of a place like that was not exactly very exciting for me. I hadn't done any research on this place but still did not seem to think that the place would be any good.

But that impression was so wrong!

The five of us streamed into the place to go through all the amusements in store. Though it was a bit expensive, I think if we hadn't driven so far we wouldn't have entered the place.

First the place looks really good. It is quite grand with a very Hiranandani (Mumbai) look to it with beautiful grecian inspired statues and a lovely corridor in the middle.

The first attraction we visited was a makeshift movie hall with a very rural feel in which 10 minute clips of that iconic movie, Sholay, was playing. Good fun to see the movie as it probably seen by millions of people in the country.

Then came the most interesting part! The Maze of Mirrors. We went in expecting it to be a corny hall with a bunch of those reducing, elongating, enlarging or some such mirrors. And though I wouldn't mind having a permanent reducing mirror, it didn't seem very exciting. But it was so cool!

There is red track LED lighting on the floors and a whole bunch of mirrors that totally disorient you as you walk through looking for the exit. SC actually bumped into a mirror while in that maze while AK and I high fived just to realize that we were staring in two mirrors instead of each other. Good good fun :)

Unfortunately the next item on our agenda could not be participated in. Paintball. Now, I haven't yet had a game of paintball and it seems like totally excellent fun. The arena was being cleaned when we reached and though all of us wanted to play, it just slipped under the radar as we got engrossed in other stuff there. I wish we'd come in earlier!

We next went to the Wax Museum and the Ripley's Believe it or not exhibit. Wax museum was a bit of a disappointment as quite a few of those figurines looked unrealistic and doll-like. Ripley's had quite a few interesting exhibits and was interesting to browse.

We next went to the tour de force, the roller skating rink there. Sometimes I really feel stupid due to some skills I should've learnt earlier in my life (skating, swimming, playing the drums). So while all the other guys started skimming across the rink gracefully I started on my first baby steps in roller skating with awkward clumpy steps with both feet slipping in different directions. I kept at it for an hour with eyes screwed up in concentration and sweat dripping from the bridge of my nose. I would love to have had a typical sports movie moment when the underdog suddenly comes into his own to do such amazing feats on the sports field that the detractors can only bite their tongues in amazement.

Unfortunately, real life doesn't really follow that script.

So all I can claim is that after one hour of effort and a particularly nasty fall, I managed to walk two lengths of the rink flanked on each side by PS and AG. But still it was fun and I would like to do it again sometime.

We then went to the Horror house and I thought it was quite well done. I mean, of course, it wasn't scary but it certainly was a bit spooky and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit spooked when I found myself leading the group through the scary corridor. Of course I cleverly slowed down and maneuvered someone else to lead the group and things were better for me :)

A quick snack and we were on the way back with promises of returning again to finish off the missed painball game.

To top off a great day, our cook really exceeded himself and made some brilliant food for dinner.

Very very nice day out. I like!

Swap Singapore Stories,can? Part 1

It's been my desire for long to go to a foreign trip just for a vacation for a long time now. Now I am told that I visited Nepal when I was one or two years old, but somehow I don't think it counts. Firstly, anyplace you don't need a visa to go to just doesn't feel 'foreign' enough. And secondly, well come on, it's Nepal - when I was an infant.

Now I've been to cities outside India for work (yes, cities - plural. I still maintain that having a 4 hour stopover on my way to Toronto at Heathrow means that I've been to London...hmmpff)but to just go for a vacation after putting a I'm-not-reachable-while-you-losers-are-spending-your-life-cooped-up-in-cubicles-ha! out of office reply on my office email and not care about anything with only fun in mind...ah amazing.

Thus it so transpired that after several false starts and monumental documentation problems I finally managed to go to Singapore to visit SP and AD there. And what amazing hosts they were! (more about this later)

So writing in true blue travelogue fashion (and also the tendency of commoners to want to know EVERYTHING about celebrities) I shall give you a blow by blow, minute by minute account of the entire trip.

I took the evening flight out from Bangalore on the 26th (incidentally, my birthday) and landed in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning of the 27th. SP had asked me to call him when I land, however there was a small problem. The banks of payphones were inside the terminal while the shops from which I could've got change to actually dial the phone were outside. So I decided to venture out myself and get a cab. SP had also mentioned that the cabbies were the most interesting people there (and of course I knew this due to my extensive international exposure - read 4 days in Toronto..umm..3 years back) and I should try to talk to them. After the Mercedes cab that I wanted was narrowly missed by me, I sat in my cab and thought of starting some conversation. Apparently 6 am in the morning is not a very good time to strike up a conversation. I might well have been speaking to a solid wall for all the response I got from him.

But anyway, he got me to SP and AD's place intact. There was a small jam on the way

(Seriously? A jam caused by one car breaking down and sitting in half a lane. We would've just whizzed past it and not even noticed out here, but I guess that's what they mean by cultural differences. We sat for 15 minutes in the jam and by the end of it I knew each and everything written on the rear of the car ahead. Seriously, what use is a Masseratti or a Ferrari or a Lamborghini if you have to drive in straight lanes, stuck behind a station wagon?)but we still made good time.

SP and AD's Apartment:
What an amazing place! It's a duplex condo and the place is just brilliant. It has a beautiful balcony looking down on the club area. It's the kind of balcony where you can spend days curled up and just staring out. And I think we spent a lot of time doing just that :)

After meeting SP after I don't even remember how long, we had an important breakfast meeting with Mr. J. Daniels. After the meeting got..umm.. extended a bit we went down to the tennis courts for my first international match. SP is quite good, I think a better player than I am, but somehow I managed to match him. Good game, but was curtailed by a sudden shower.

Adjourning the match we hung out with Carl S. Berg for a bit before a lavish home cooked breakfast at, where else, the balcony. Tiredness did hit me a while later, afterall all I'd been doing for 10 days in Delhi was eat-sleep-eat-sleep, and I crashed for a couple of hours, or, you know, four.

SP had taken the day off and we went to NUS and picked up AD as she got off work. Then we walked around the entire place. Had a good dinner and then did the dreaded and necessary expedition to Mustafa mall. It's huge, but really, not being too 'shoppy' a person I wasn't too impressed. I had to buy a watch though and I managed to pick up a really good looking one. So my old watch is finally relegated to second position after four years of exemplary service. We met a friend of SPAD in Mustafa and went to his place for a while. A true blue Punjabi munda, his conversation was hilarious and we really had a good time there.

The next day we got up late and had a very elaborate day ahead. AD had to work again while SP had a half day so we took the bus to this station called, wait for it, Dhoby Ghaut. I was so kicked with the name (Dhobi Ghat is the place where washermen wash clothes on the sides of rivers in India). I was chuckling every time I saw that name. (chuckle)

SP had to go to office so I walked around the place. The central business district is quite compact and the maps seem deceptive. It's very easy to walk around the entire place in a couple of hours. The small Merlion(s), the riverfront (really really liked this), parliament house, supreme court (looks like a small office), Boat quay, Funan centre, the Asian civilization museum, the esplanade. Very nice and pretty. I especially loved the riverfront opposite Boat quay and spent a lot of time there.

The evening was brilliant. SP n AD, the great hosts that they were, took me to this place called the "The New Asia Bar", on the 71st and 72nd floor of Singapore's tallest building, the Swissôtel Stamford! That's the highest I've ever been without flying and the view from there, ah, marvelous. From one side you could see the rising modern buildings all the way to parts of Malaysia. From the other side you could see the ports with scores of ships with their lights twinkling moored beyond the coastline with the sun setting in the background. Breathtaking views. I think that view in itself was worth going all the way to Singapore!

To make this even better, we had dinner at a place called Chjymes which was a totally new experience. But the night was still young!

(it's just sad that most Indian cities, except Mumbai, have deadlines for nightlife.One feels really bad to see that people just start warming up for the night in other countries by the time we are usually back at home. It's also my theory that if there were no deadlines there would be less drunken driving and more responsible drinking. With no clock ticking down people would get a chance to relax with their drinks rather than racing to drink. Basically quality over quantity.)

We next went to what is the clubbing district and most happening place in Singapore - Clarke Quay. Spread along the river front this has hordes of clubs and food stalls and what nots!

We went to this place called Yellow Jello where a band was belting out Happy songs, quite appropriate to what we were feeling! Had a good time there and met another friend from India there. Then after some time we moved to the Cafe Iguana for some strong mexican margheritas, yumm :)

The day ended, as all my days there, in the wee hours of the morning.

And look, I've just covered two days. I guess this post will have to spillover to a sequel.

Can write post again? Can also can, cannot also can :) (shall be explained later)

Alone? Not quite...

Well, i have been back from the previously prattled about Kodaikanal trip for about a week now. Frankly speaking, I have mixed feelings about doing a solitary trip with the balance actually shifting in favour of it. Not that I dont enjoy trips with friends and family, but this kind of trip does sort of rejuvenate you a bit.

Except its bloody impossible to be alone anywhere in India!

Picture this, a decidedly handsome and, to put it mildly, drop dead gorgeous guy (er...me. In case you didnt quite manage to be at the head of the line when God was passing out brains) gazing across the expanse of a picturesque lake nestled serenly in the mountains with boats floating along the rippling glassy surface reflecting the dying rays of the sun blissfully daydreaming and contemplating the meaning of life, love and what not, when suddenly this rakishly good looking guy hears a loud phrase erupting in Tamil in uncomfortable proximity to his left ear. Ruffled, our hero shakes himself from his philosophical reverie and looks around. Apparently a family (all the way to third cousins with their assorted kids in tow) on its annual vacation from Chennai has decided that because said hero is standing and looking dreamily out, this MUST be some kind of tourist spot with one of those innocuous views that any hill station finds itself teeming with (dolphin view, monkey point-all being imagined shapes of distant mountains when you look at them from some specific spot.You find them in all self-respecting hill stations here). So the entire family crowds around me and starts staring in the general direction I was gazing in. I am not kidding here - one moment I was lost in my thoughts and staring glassy eyed while my thoughts were soaring else where, and the next I am surrounded on all sides by different bloody shrieking members of that vast family trying to see what I was looking at. This lake is so huge that it takes an hour of brisk walking to go around it (My feet know only too well) and those 15 odd people crowded around the one spot I was in. So much for contemplating alone.

I moved a 100 metres to one side and saw to my consternation that as I moved the entire group broke up and started walking away from there. Peace, at last? Not quite. In fifteen minutes another group of old ladies did the exact same thing and I had to just walk away in disgust.

Travelling alone has another interesting problem. You dont find any particularly dainty restaurants in such places and as you settle in with a book after ordering your food you suddenly look up and see some other gentleman looking across the table. Apparently if you are sitting alone at a table for four, any other single person will be directed to sit at the same table even if the restaurant is half empty! And then of course, even though I have made peace with people using hands to eat rice (hell, even I like to eat rice with my hands occasionally), I have NOT and will NEVER make peace with people chasing sambhar and daal with their toungues trailing half-way down their forehands! And when such a gentleman is plonked infront of you and he starts eating in this fashion you begin to wonder why you are bothering to eat at all as youd be barfing it away at the sight of the lick-your-arms-clean eating show that you have the front row seat to!

I noticed that when I am alone i eat a lot less - only a meal in a day (and not due to the last paragraph). Also, all was not bad. The good stuff as usual doesnt make very interesting reading so the funny (hopefully) lines are thrown on the minor irritants.

Actually I really liked having no plans for the day or itinerary. Kodai doesnt have a lot of places to see but I loved the fact that I didnt have to do something just because someone else in the group wants to go home and tell everyone how he saw all the monkey, dolphin points that there are to see. I spent most of my time around the lake itself. Lounging around in the sun with a book in hand. And I went to one that sounded interesting right from the beginning - Coakers walk. Its a path cut right at the edge of the mountains and the cloud filled valleys that one can see from there are quite surreal. I spent hours there just staring out and feeling the breeze on my face.

A really good trip - and maybe I will try this solitary travel a bit more.

But for heaven sake, if i am staring into space I am NOT at some tourist spot, so please move on and huddle elsewhere. Let me have my peace and quiet!

Kodai-ka-Call...

I'm so sorry. I know its an absolutely atrocious pun. But as soon as I thought of it I knew that it was so bad that it had to be used in this post!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I am going on my long thought of solitary no schedule trip. I leave tonight for Kodaikanal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodaikanal )with a borrowed bag, 3 library books, one borrowed book, my sketch book and, yeah, my sunglasses (well atleast one thing is mine).

I've always had this desire to just go to some place without anyone I know but the fear of potential boredom has prevented me from taking the plunge. But now, before I find myself mired with daily work routine, I am going off to do it.As with all kids I have grown up making childish landscapes of a lake surrounded by mountains and this, I hear, is what I shall find in Kodaikanal.

There seem to be a number of places to go and things to do but ideally I would like to just cycle around the lake leisurely listening to my spice girls CD (kidding!) and then laze around the lake either reading or sketching.

Wish me luck!

Techno Trip Two...

As a vast majority of my readers know, the best trip I've ever been to was to Manali in my final year of engineering college. (This was the 'Techno-trip' and comprised of people who had been involved with organizing an event called Technodrome in college. I made some very good friends while working for this event.) In fact it had such an impact on me that I've actually written two posts about it. Here you go: http://swappinglives.blogspot.com/2007/05/greatest-nostalgia-inducing-trip-of-my.html and http://swappinglives.blogspot.com/2007/05/manali-trip-2003-contd.html .


As a minor digression, do you sometimes go back and read some stuff you've written earlier and absolutely cringe at how badly you've written. And then cringe some more that you thought it was a epitome of awesome writing at the time of writing it? It happens a lot to me. And these two posts are definitely prime examples of this happening. I couldn't bear to read these two posts in their entirety.

Anyway, coming to the crux of this post, we're doing the Techno Trip again!!

This idea came in when I was visiting Delhi over my birthday in August. Sitting together at R's place PS, R and I decided that we HAVE to do another trip in which all of us from the original Techno trip will go on one more trip. Now i'll be frank with you, i wasn't expecting this plan to go anywhere. Getting 5-6 people from across the country to come together, get leaves and generally take a break from their lives is a bit difficult. But the desire to relive the DCE trip days was too strong to resist. In just over a month the dream is being realised!

Ok so the plan post all iterations (which included Mumbai, Murud, Jazeera, Kashid, Coorg, Ooty, Goa and even Singapore) is that we meet at the Delhi airport tonight and drive to Kasauli (350 odd kilometers from Delhi) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasauli )and vacation there till Saturday after which we go back to our dreary lives with some more glorious memories.


Its been so long that the entire gang has been together without any timelines or other engagements that it seems a bit unreal that this plan is actually going through.



I wouldn't like to raise your hopes, but there is some talk about making this an annual affair. I shall update you as more details trickle in...

The greatest nostalgia inducing trip of my life...

Regular readers of this blog would remember that in the course of my earlier ramblings..er..discourses, I had promised to write one post about the trip to Manali when I was in my final year of engineering college. (I'd asked you to remind me to write about it, but none of you did..bleh. This leads to two conclusions- one, you do not know how to read and hence are not able to follow simple instructions or second, that my writing mesmerizes you so much that you're incapable of remembering instructions. NO, the possibility that you do not read my blog out of personal choice did not cross my mind. Its just not possible to not WANT to read my beautiful words )

Anyway, I shall give you, my readers the benefit of doubt and a chance to redeem youselves (i'll be taking a pop-quiz about all the things i've written so far...and you BETTER be prepared- or..or...i'll stop writing here [Cheers rent the air,joyous celebrations are kicked off the world over..whats that? a giant firecracker all the way from China, glorious rockets over the Sydney harbour, Guy Fawkes day-like celebrations in the US, Earl Grey tea parties with stiff-upper-lipped English gentlemen remarking in gruff voices- "Well, it jolly well is ABOUT time he stopped writing, here or anywhere else. Would you like some more tea, and some buttered scones, Elizabeth?"]. Well maybe I can re-consider the pop quiz idea, but only because i'm a soft-hearted soul- not because of any international pressure..NO, only because I'm a softy..No, YOU shut up!)

So where was I? ah, yes that beautiful trip to Manali.

Well, its been a very long time since we went on that trip, 4 years actually (Whoa!!) so you'll have to bear with me if I lose some factual information. (People who went on that trip, please feel free to drop in comments in case you find I've forgotten/mistaken some information. You can also email me at swapnil.bhatnagar@gmail.com. And I'll make sure I append the changes in this post)

Well, here we go.

2003.
During 3 of the 4 years I spent in DCE, I was involved with a technical festival called 'Technodrome' (ok, I didn't name it, people a couple of batch senior to us had named it this way. Probably during a drunken party.). And as I could only be called technically strong in my engineering field if you were a really charitable person, who is in love with me, AND has had atleast three, no, four stiff joints of grass (after a bottle of Jack Daniels) , so, you see, my involvement was restricted to the organisational part of the event.

There's a lot I can say about this event and the association I had with it. It gave me some friends who will, hopefully, stick on for life. It created a sense of teamwork, a sense of responsibility, a balanced outlook in the face of panic and the ability to keep calm even in the midst of a crisis. But now I should just shut up and move onto the trip.(I still remember the lovely treatment that I got when I visited the campus during Techno'2004 after I had passed out from DCE for an year. It was really touching, especially as it could've been so easy to be a non-entity who noone recognizes when he visits the college. sniff...thanks kids:) )

Well, so after Technodrome 2003 had successfully concluded, we decided to go for a trip with all volunteers who had literally worked their asses off for the event. (ok, by this time my batch had moved up in the pecking order, and were more involved with getting cold coffee and sandwiches from the canteen charged to the Techno account [No TK, I jest, I jest! we did not misuse the canteen account at all {fingers crossed}])

Well we decided on Manali for the celebratory trip. Well after hundreds of efforts by all the guys to get some of the nubile junior batch girls to join us on the trip (jeez man, a decent looking girl was asked by ,on an average, 4-5 guys. These girls, though positive initially, started running screaming "stalker, stalker" by the time the 5th guy went to them with a silly, oily smile plastered on his face.). So in conclusion, 13-14 guys finally were going to start on for the wonderful trip (in hind-sight having no women on the trip was the best thing that happened to this trip!).

Pre-First Leg

The start would not be complete if I do not mention SP's valiant attempts to negotiate with the travel guy.

He had first booked a big bus, then a smaller van...finally ignored his calls as we didn't know if the trip was even happening..and then re-opening negotiations with an absolutely angry and pissed off travel guy to finalize on two Qualises. Hats off to SP - I still think that the guy is made for sales. He can take any amount of abuse (Who'd know this better than me :D ) and still grin on and close the deal.

First Leg

Well, even the journey was not simple. How could it be? :D

Apparently, the Qualises, if identified as taxis would attract a higher tax/charge while crossing state borders. So we had to travel as private cars that belong to a one of our families.

SP again took on the mantle of playing the 'rich son' who's taking his friends out for a trip in his rich Dad's cars. I still think the travel guy was taking badla - revenge for the roundabouts that SP led him through when the negotiations for the travel arrangements were going on.

So our hapless SP was sitting learning by heart his new dad's name, his family tree, the drivers name, the year when his 'dad' bought the cars...snigger.

We obviously hadn't accounted for the intelligence and efficiency of the Punjab police in Chandigarh. Ok, these guys are really strict, and very smart - AND they'd seen lots of poeple trying to pull off the same trick earlier. We were stopped at the first intersection that we crossed in Chandigarh, and poor SP was carted down infront of the cops. Poor chap, off on a fun trip, and instead he had to face the toughest viva-voce of his life. The cops took the prompter/driver of the car to one side, SP on the other and grilled him for exactly two minutes by which the entire story that he had learnt by rote had been unravelled like a ball of yarn in the paws of a particularly piqued cat.

As a result the cars were 'confiscated' and put in the impound there. Finally, I don't remember after how long, the fines were paid and the cars were released to continue on our journey.

to be continued...