Holle... Holle.. Nagarholle

My sincere thanks to
Ami, Hemendra, Prabin, Rajan, Ramesh, Ritish, Shobha and Usha (Half ticket)

My special thanks to
Satya

The hour hand and the minute hand in my watch were separated by 120 degrees when my mobile signaled me its time to get off the bed. This was the first time at Bangalore I ceased to sleep at 4am, the reason being the jaunt my office mates planned to Nagerhole. I saw my face in the mirror and was like a sleepy-eyed child with drooping eye-lids. I went to the loo and saw something terrible and shuddery. "Baaahhh!!!" I squawked and came running back to my bed just like the little zoozoo after seeing his dad's adonism in Vodafone ad. Arun, my roomie roused from sleep coz of my loud cry. He asked me what happened. "Machi, Cockroach da!" I answered politely. "$@#%&!@*% (Dollar at hash percentage and exclamation at star percentage)" was the reply from him and went back to sleep. I somehow managed to take a hot shower and Mr. Cockroach was still there doing his surveillance on me. I got three wake up calls from my mates and was ready by 5am. Arun got up and came to drop me at kundanahalli gate. Sun was yet to be seen when I reached my pick up point.

The tempo traveller halted its motion in front of me and Ritish (Our photographer) manifested from its exit to take a cool snap of me. We were made to wait for about 10 mins since Prabin was late. Everyone looked perked up after the early morning shower and we had a small chat. "Thala, enna ivlo periya bag? Enga kooda thaane vareenga. Illa apdiye oru vaaram trip adikka poreengala?" I asked Rajan. "No tamil. You will be banned" interrupted Ami with her gratifying voice. Thats her usual dialogue whenever Rajan and I talk in tamil in front of her. Usha with her outfit looked as if she was ready to go skiing. Shobha as usual was very energytic. Satya (Our co-ordinator) was busy on phone trying to make sure the SLA's were met for the trip. Prabin arrived with a big smile on his face. We then started and picked up Ramesh from his place and moved to Hemendra's Apartment. When I entered his house I was like WOW. I have never seen such a tidy and a perfect house in my life and all the credit goes to his wife (Courtesy: Hemendra).

It was fun right from the word go. In conformity with all trips we played dumb charades . We halted at Kamat to have our breakfast 1. Satya had planned for two breakfasts and this was our first. So the ten of us, oops. Sorry. Nine and half of us headed to Nagerhole after the breakfast. I don't know why I liked pulling Usha's legs and she often does the same to me as well. Half ticket - I reckon that will be her name henceforth in our team. Lol. We played till we got tired. The vehicle stalled in the way and we got down to admire the weather and the near by elephant training centre. Only then I came to know that Ramesh had a keen interest in Photography. I can empathize with him since I am a amateur photographer myself. On the way we saw many herds of deers. It was already noon when we reached our destination. About the place in a gist - Well protected forest area with qualites that can delight your senses. The drizzles made it more romantic and I just loved being there. Sathya and co went for a small trek and we started playing cricket splitting into two teams and it was so damn funny.

After heavy lunch, we headed to Irpu waterfalls. This was where we relished ourselves. We feasted our eyes on the Waterfalls but hard luck we couldn't get into to it due to the heavy cascade of falling water. We still got drenched in the mistlike drops from the falls. Rajan, Ritish and I donated our blood to three living beings, the three leeches. Ritish and I were fortunate to have them suck our blood in legs whilst Rajan gave away his blood from his thighs. Until this point I thought I was the most timid guy on earth but Satya proved it wrong. Seldom you see a married guy like him getting afraid of the leeches (or be it anyother insects for tat matter) and man o man he was so afraid that he kept examining his legs every two mins. We got back to the homestay and started playing cards till midnight. We were given a visual treat from Ramesh who made us watch the first five minutes of the most disgusting movie 'The Wrong Turn' and Satya almost puked. It was almost 2am when we all crashed.

We had to getup early the next morning for a long long walk. We came back and had the most palatable breakfast. We played till noon and left the place after lunch. It was fun, fun and only fun all the way. I just thought of staying there for another couple of days but fun is always limited right? While getting back, everyone had a short nap except me as I was listening to songs, mostly romantic numbers and for the first time during the trip I was in solitude. We then went to a bird sanctuary which was not so fascinating but was good. Prabin's 'Phenk do', Ramesh's 'Sikkander ka mukkandar' and Rajan's 'Abdullah deewane' makes me snigger if I think of them even now. We reached Bangalore at 9pm, had our dinner at pizza hut. It was a memorable trip to everyone of us. Especially me, who is new to the team and I badly wanted to amalgamate with my team mates. I was in all smiles when I got down from the vehicle since having lived in the ivory tower of seclusion for the past six months, I had the best comeback ever to my normal life. Thank you guys for the wonderful trip. I never actually wanted to come to Bangalore leaving Chennai since I thought I could never get into a team like my previous project but I was wrong. All I can say is that I had a marvellous time with you people and you guys simply rock. Just a bit unlucky but yea everything happens for a reason. Have a mast mast life. Amen. :)