My Kinda Travelogue - Part 2

I gaped at Prince, open-mouthed, as he stepped over the connector. 'Idhu namma train illa, erangunga', he bustled around, hastening everyone and total pandemonium ensued. And before we could rally around, the compartment door had been opened and a few people disembarked – I should say jumped. Cos there wasn’t any platform for them to gaily step onto. The train had long past moved from the station and there was only a slope with plants growing alongside. Trust me when I say all of this happened real quick. I don’t wish to go into any more detail. Suffice to say that we tried to drive sense into Prince that you don’t go about pulling chains in running trains and jumping out wherever you please. And failed. But the elusive TTR eventually showed up and those who had got down were made to get back on the train. Terrible. (All right, I'm gonna refer to Prince by P, Deepti by D etc from now on. Me's tired of writing entire names.) As there wasn’t much space in the compartment, the TTR moved over to the next compartment, P and J in tow. D, S and I helped the juniors put away their luggage – the place was getting crowded by the minute, with a hundred interested onlookers peeping from everywhere. Well, what else did I expect? We had stopped the ruddy train and all those virtuous citizens who had turned in promptly at 10 were wide-awake now, obviously wondering what the hell happened. As someone commented rudely about how they 'knew from the way we barged into the train that something of this sort would happen', I got really bugged. Honestly, we had enough things to handle without listening to disparaging remarks from passers-by. I couldn’t take this crap and so, weaved my way across the connector to the next compartment where the TTR was busy writing something; at the same time asking P what had happened. P explained that we got into the wrong (Rockfort) train. The TTR asked us to produce the ticket, of course, and P pulled it out from his pocket. He looked at P queerly before saying 'Idhu Erode Express ku ticket, Rockfort ku illa. Erode express Srirangam la nikkave nikkadhu.' I think at least some 10 pairs of eyes bore into P's, as it was he who had (along with N) booked the tickets and told us that we were returning by Rockfort. (To be entirely fair, the day the tickets were booked, P had sent us all an email with both the to and from trichy train details – and it did contain 'Erode Express'. However, we all concentrated on the 'to' train and none of us really noted the return train details. Later on, P had confused himself into thinking we were travelling by Rockfort and none of us disputed his statement. So, it really is everybody's fault.) Well, it was turning out to be a day full of unexpected twists. *Sigh* The TTR had meanwhile, begun filling up a form for the fine, of course, and lo and behold, P indignantly questioned the TTR as to why we had to pay the fine. 'Sir, around 10 people got into the wrong train by mistake…. Isn't it a valid reason?'. F***. 'No, P, it isn't', I almost shouted, absolutely flabbergasted and J began hastily quietening P. The TTR, meanwhile, was unmindful of all this, and was busily composing a letter (apparently from P addressed to God-knows-who). Ultimately, P paid the fine. That was when I noticed the two railway constables standing right next to us and was gripped by an instant, insane desire to laugh at the absurdity of the situation we had landed ourselves in (if you don't pay the fine, you may be sentenced to an imprisonment of smth like 6 months, right?). I controlled the impulse, of course. Anyways, on enquiry, the TTR told us that we could we able to get our 'real' train at a down line station (Arandhangi? Vedharanyam? Some such vague name). We bombarded him with several questions. Andha train ethana mani ku andha station ku varum? 1AM, 15-20 mins after this train reaches there. Evlo neram nikkum? Endha platform? I finally asked what I dreaded. Andha train la engaloda confirmed berths-a RAC pax ku kuduthirupangala? Most probably. Will we be allowed to travel then? Yes, you might not have a berth or a seat though. Indha train la ippo ticket vanganuma, until that vague-named station? No, it's okay. The TTR finally departed leaving us in gloomy silence. We slowly settled near the doors, with our luggage. It was past 11, I think and we soon fell to discussing gen. things when a kindred soul from that compartment offered advice. 'Normal-a indha madhri group-a travel pannum podhu, ticket-a photocopy eduthu ellarukum kuduthudunga. That way, even if the person having the ticket doesn't turn up, you can still travel with that copy, if you can provide adequate proof of your identity.' (Cool! I never knew this funda, did you?) We thanked him heartily and he retired to his berth. A short while later, P came over from the other side, with the most pathetic look on his face. I grinned – the guy looked so remorseful, it was so funny. 'Enna, P? Poi utkaru… We have got over an hr… evlo neram nippa?', I asked and he replied, his voice sounding every bit like that of a pained soul, 'Illa Madhu, unga ellarayum ipdi tharai-la utkara vechutene'. 'Hey, it's okay P, in a way it's good we got into this train. Namma train doesn't stop at Srirangam, we'd have missed it if we had been waiting there… at least now, we're gonna catch it soon.' He wouldn't let himself get pacified. He looked sorrowfully at S, who added 'P, poi utkaru… we're all fine'. He still looked like someone right out of a funeral home when D got up, 'P, ippo edhuku feel panra? Ippo enna achu? We're all safe, our luggage's safe, we're going to catch our train in a little while and we're going to reach Chennai exactly as planned, safe and sound. Vera enna venum unakku?'. This didn't pacify him either! We ultimately had to ask one of the junior guys to take him and make him sit down. He did keep popping in, once in a while, guilt etched on every inch of his face. The rest of the journey passed peacefully. We got down in the right station and managed to get into the right train. Sadly, only 4 of our 10 or so berths were free and we had to share them. There was a small disagreement there, as to who would take the berths, everyone graciously offering it to everyone else. P insisted that we girls could share the berths amongst us. D and I absolutely refused. I have spent too many nights on the train, simply yapping away and I had no necessity of sleep that night. Plus I was on leave the next day, which I was gonna spend sleeping anyway, as I usually do after any trip. P wouldn't accept. Guess he was trying to make-up for what happened. The worst part was it became a guys vs girls thing. I mean, if P didn't want a berth, heck, it's his choice. But why poor N, J, B and the rest of the guys? N had already dozed off on one of our berths even as were discussing this! But no, P wouldn't have it that way. *sigh* I gave up. And we girls finally shared the available berths, after offering one to N. It was actually uncomfortable, with hardly any space to move a limb, but the magic that train travel is, we had soon drifted off to sleep… There were no more adventures (thankfully!) for the rest of the journey and we woke up to find ourselves in good old Chennai and sleepily made way to our homes. Poor Prince still feels guilty over this entire episode.

My Kinda Travelogue - Part 1

The auto screeched to a stop to let the bus pass by. As I watched the volvo ambling across carrying loads of people happily reclining in it, there was a familiar ache in the heart - the yearning to travel. *sigh* When was the last time I went on a tour? I think back… Not counting the US trip, well, I think we last went in the beginning of March to Coorg. What a trip that was! Great place and lovely company… really wish we guys can go again somewhere. *sigh* Kerala, probably... Would love to go there again… I smile involuntarily as I begin reminiscing about my past tours… there are too many memorable experiences… in fact, every one of them was memorable in a way. And there is something I can never forget about every single trip I have ever been on in my life - fights, reconciliations, tears, laughter, friendships being sworn, relationships lying shattered, lonely hearts, broken hearts, kenjals, konjals, ottals, the songs, the dances… *sigh* someday, I'd write them all down. However, for some vague reason (maybe it's because this one's not got much of an emotional value to it), I'm now going to write about one relatively recent trip that my team went on. To attend Chandru's wedding in Trichy last year. (Only Deepti, Sang and I belonged to the same team, so the rest of my gang – Karthik, Prasanna, Muthu etc - won't figure in this story. And our protagonist Prince is a teammate.) Hmmm… this is a weird story... in the sense that the story is not about the wedding or our visit to Mukkombu or Srirangam… it's the travel - the train journey - that I am going to relate now. (Aaaahhhh…exactly when I was composing this, a team-mate just shared photos of his recent trip to kerala… Athirampalli falls, Chotanikkarai temple, Guruvayur, Malampuzha dam, Trissur... aahhh… mixed memories begin to flood me … of a college tour… of a tour with office makkal… and, of a trip with my parents… *sigghhh* I guess I'd get back to my story.) Let me start where it ought to be started - the 'To' journey. The tickets to and from Trichy were both bought by Prince and Nanda, as Prince had taken it upon himself to organize the trip. I won't elaborate on the train journey to Trichy, lest I take up too much space. Suffice to say that Deeps and Sang both missed the train.... hehe. Deeps arrived at the Egmore station exactly as the train took off and Sang was struck in a traffic signal in Teynampet! (Deeps and I are like experts at missing trains and flights... more details some other time!) Ultimately, the two girls went to koyambedu and got a bus instead. Apart from this the trip went without any hitches - err, if you ignore the fact that we went late to Chandru's wedding the next morning. Later in the day, we went to Mukkombu dam and then on to Srirangam. The Srirangam trip was because our manager stayed there and had invited us home for dinner. (OC saapadu ache, pogama iruka mudiyuma?) And we had planned on taking our train from the Srirangam station. So, after a peaceful dinner at our manager's place, we reached the station arnd 10-15 mins ahead of time. The station was deserted. Samatha, we walked over to the place where our coach was supposed to stop and waited. Soon after, the train rolled in to the station, exactly on time. Our coach doors had been locked from the inside and after someone banged the doors, some kindred soul let us in. After the entire gang was safely inside the train with the luggage, we went over to find our berths. The entire compartment was asleep, except for a few people we had rudely awakened by the door-banging. Behold our surprise when we discovered people sleeping on what were rightfully our berths. Nanda spared no efforts in waking up people sleeping on our berths. Rudely awakened from their slumber and questioned, one guy irritatedly told us that he had a confirmed berth. (Trichy-lerndhu train Srirangam varradhukulla TTR vandhu enga berths-a innorutharuku allot panna chance-e illaye, I wondered). Another occupant of 'our' berth said that they had been travelling from Thanjavur. (Huh? I thought Rockfort was from Trichy. Mathitangala?) I was absolutely confused and as we resolved to find the TTR, people went back to sleep. What train were we on? I asked a guy sitting, watching the proceedings with an amused eye. 'Rockfort Express'. 'Thanjavur-lerndhu varudhu nu solranga..?', 'Amaam, idhu special train.' Hmmm... fine... or was it? It still didn't seem to explain anything. Prince and Prasath had meanwhile gone over to the next compartment trying to solve the mystery. As we clamoured with our luggage trying to move near the doors (basically out of the way), I saw Prasath coming over to this compartment, walking thru that connector between compartments. 'Madhu, idhu Rockfort dhan, aana namma Rockfort illa'. 'What?' - didn't make any sense to me. As he came closer, he lowered his voice and repeated 'idhu Rockfort express dhan, aana...'. Aana enna-nu I didn't get a chance to know, as the rest of his sentence was drowned in an extremely loud hissing noise. Though I have never really heard this particular noise so loudly or from such close quarters, I instantly knew what had happened. Prince had pulled the chain. Update : New story on vettEEEs

Between the Devil and the Deep Sea (Boulder Trip) - Part 2

(The first part is here.) I dunno if it was Aditya or Gopi who spotted the Zapata Falls on the map, a little distance away from the Sand Dunes. None of them had been there before and we decided to stop over for some time. The road that led to the falls seemed an unmotorable stretch of road, with gravel and loose stones on the path, like they show in those ads for SUVs. Only, this was much worse. Huthas's car is anything but a SUV and he hesitated quite a bit before driving up the path. I don't blame him. I'd have refused to drive my car up the road. (Not that I have a car. Nor do I know driving. Hehe…) Anyways, we ambled along at smth like 10mph, as though we had all the time on earth. Thankfully, we soon reached a properly laid piece of road and H parked his car in the parking lot there. As we got out of the car, we noticed the uniform layer of orangish-brownish sand-cum-dust on H's car. I think H would have cried his heart out if not for the fact that there were 4 people with him. He probably sobbed into his pillow that night. (Needless to say, he took his car for a carwash the very next day.) A sign nearby said that we had to trek another mile to reach the fall. It wasn't much of a trek, actually. It was a very negligible slope and we easily ambled along. A few minutes later, we reached a small stream of gushing water. We tried to look around, trying to find the falls but none of us could spot it. And then, we noticed several people walking up/downstream. Only there wasn't anything you'd call a bank – everyone was walking in the water. We realised the falls was beyond the curve of the stream, perfectly out of sight. And the only way to get there was to walk thru the water. So, we took off our shoes and stepped into the water – or what seemed like it. It was colder than ice. Damn! It was freezing. As our legs started turning numb, we slowly waded our way upstream. This snap, you guys saw just now, has me smiling benevolently, my-life's-a-bed-of-roses kinds. Nothing could be farther than the truth. A fraction of a second after this photo was taken, I was yelling in pain. Man oh man, did it hurt! It's a truly painful experience to have both your legs go numb. We were in incredible pain as we walked across the water, but it was nothing in comparison to the pain we had to endure every time we stepped on to land. It. Was. Killing. As our legs discovered their long-lost life and the blood unfroze, we did all it took to stop ourselves from howling away. Finally, we almost reached the curve from where you can see the waterfall. And if you thought that things couldn't get worse, you err. So far, I've been talking of how our legs were turning to ice. As we walked thru the last stretch of water and stopped metres away from the waterfall, the saaral from the waterfall magically turned our hands into ice, too. Brilliant. But the view was pretty good, actually. It was quite a small waterfall, water gushing thru what appeared a crevice in the rocks. It wasn't a breath-taking view or anyth, but was good, nevertheless*. (It had to be. Or you'd have had a killer on the loose.) (Picture courtesy : http://www.desertusa.com) And we slowly made our way back, dying slow deaths. The difference in temperature of the water was too obvious, even between points just metres away. The water steadily became warmer - less freezing would be a much more appropriate description, actually - and the pain in our limbs increased proportionally. On reaching land, we spent quiet, painful moments waiting for our limbs to become fully functional. It did eventually. And we were soon back to the car, stopping by just to take this snap of the 'Sand Dunes' from there. The drive back home was pretty long and we stopped at one of the subways for dinner. And after dropping Aditya and Gopi at their homes, we were back at the apartment, where we parted ways with Manju. Between the Devil and the Deep Sea is how I'd remember that day. From walking on Sand Dunes till I developed blisters in my feet, to walking on water so f****** freezing that my legs almost froze, it was a day of extremes. But trust me, it was very, very memorable. The sight and the experience was unbelievable. If I get a chance, I would honestly not mind going back to those two places and killing myself again. It was worth every bit. Period. * - The photo of the waterfall that you saw was not taken from my cam... Oh, come on, you do know Murphy's law about cameras and batteries, don’t you?

Between the Devil and the Deep sea (Boulder Trip) - Part 1

'Hey, unakku coffee okay, la?', Huthas asked and I looked up from the laptop (his laptop, in fact). 'Yeah, fine…. Errr… by any chance, filter coffee seyya poriya?' He stared at me, dumbfounded. A highly profound silence followed this simple question. After 5 whole seconds, during which he was obviously struggling to find speech, he finally found his voice – 'Ennadhu? Filter coffee-ya? Madam, idhellam too much-a therla?' Oh, damn! 'Nooo! I thot you were going to make filter coffee and I wanted to tell you not to take the trouble. Instant coffee…', I faltered, what if he was using the coffee machine? '… or from the coffee machine… anything's fine…', I finished. He looked at me suspiciously. 'Sure?', 'Yeah, I drink instant coffee all the time.' Pacified, he disappeared into the kitchen and I returned to my browsing. * * * * * It was day one of my trip to Boulder, having reached the place the previous night. Huthas had, of course, picked me at the Denver airport and driven me to his apartment where I was to stay for three days. The poor chap had actually cooked dinner for me and had packed it so that I could eat it during my 1-hr drive to his place. Aaarrrrggghhhh!!! Touchings of India…. I don't remember what the time was when we reached his apartment - probably past midnight. His roommate had gone to sleep by then. We yapped for sometime as I hogged the chappathis he had made. Later, he offered me his mattress and slept on the couch instead. *Sniff* I was awake for sometime but drifted off to sleep soon. The next morning, I woke up early but was still rolling on the mattress. Heck, avangalum avanga day-light savings-um. Enna oor pa adhu? The sun rises around 5 or something (dunno for sure, as I was obviously never around to clock the occurrence) and sets at, like, 7:30 to 8 PM. Kashtam. Anyway, what with daylight streaming in at that insane hour, and the sounds of his roommate who had woken up and was bustling around the place doing God-knows-what, I was up too. Well, how long would can you simply roll about in the bed even after you're fully awake? Indefinitely, would be my answer under any normal circumstance. But here I was, having flown out some 800-odd miles to this beautiful city and I was not going to spend my time sleeping! So, I finally woke up. As if on cue, Huthas did too. It was some 15 mins later that I had settled before his laptop, checking my mails when the question of filter coffee popped up. (For those of you who are wondering if this is the pace at which I'm gonna tell the story, ye, baby, this is the pace.) Ah! There's nothing like a good coffee in the morning to awaken your system. As Huthas and I happily sipped through our coffees, we continued our yapping from where we left off the previous night. And then, he filled me in on the plans for the day. Soon after, we were ready to go. And while I was getting ready, Huthas packed lunch for all of us. (Awesome host, he was turning out to be.) We then hopped over to his car, where we were joined by his friend and college junior Manju. After the initial intro, she rattled off to Huthas in hindi. Huh… I can't speak hindi (and don't try.) So, I merely listened as Huthas drove on to pick up Gopi, his collegemate. He turned out to be quite an interesting and amusing guy, full of energy and zest. The next to join the gang was Aditya, also Huthas's junior. After everyone was safely tucked into the car, we set off to the destination for the day – a place called 'Sand Dunes', a national park. Throughout the journey, I could view snow-capped mountains at a distance and kept 'Oooohh'-ing and 'Aaaah'-ing. Finally, Huthas told me to relax. 'We are visiting the rocky mountains tomorrow, and will be going to the same mountain range you're looking at.' Woooowww!!! I couldn't wait. After quite a long drive, we reached the place. It was, well, exactly as the name describes – Sand Dunes. But right in a place it doesn't belong, ensconced between greenery on one side and snowy mountains behind. Interesting. (Those tiny dots in the stream towards the right bottom of that pic are, of course, people.) * * * * * After parking the car and assembling the necessary gear (hehe… I, of course, refer to water, goggles and digicam), we trekked. It looked real easy – didn't seem too high – but trust me, it was anything but easy. Halfway thru the trek up, I declared my innings and sat down. So did Aditya. Huthas was plainly disappointed - 'Ivlo dhooram vandhutu, idhuke tried aana epdi?' I turned him a deaf ear. Aditya turned him another. Meanwhile, Gopi had covered three-fourths of the distance by then and Manju had gone ahead to join him. I urged Huthas to go ahead but the friend that he was, he wouldn't leave me. Fine, as you please, sir. (Guys!!) So, we spent time some time just sitting in the sand watching people, the sand, the scenery and the likes and, of course, yapping. Huthas kept complaining about our lack of stamina and we kept complaining that he planned to kill us. ('I didn't travel this far to die on a sand dune out of exhaustion, give me a break!'). Actually, I was tired but I could have surely made it after that loooong break we took. The problem was I hadn't worn my sneakers and the sand kept getting into my footwear as my feet kept sinking into the sand. It was not hot on the surface, but when your foot slips into the sand up to the ankle, that's when you realize how hot it is. I had actually asked Huthas that morning if I needed to wear my sneakers and I distinctly remembered him answering no. And he distinctly remembered answering yes. *Shrug* So, we kept arguing for a little while longer and then, decided we could as well make better use of the time and shot a few more photos. Gopi and Manju later joined us, Gopi having scaled the heights. He declared it was an awesome sight on top, much to my envy. Someday, I told myself, some other day in life…. The trek down was much easier and there's this smaaaalll stream at the foot of the dunes, no more than ankle deep at any point. Having developed blisters on my feet, stepping into the cool waters was bliss. Truly. * * * * * Uh-oh, this is turning out to be a much longer post than I intended. So much so, that I'm tired of writing. And all I have covered is only half of the first day! Gosh! I can only imagine your plight. Anyways, me takes a break now. Will be back with the second half of the day soon.