We woke up early the next morning excited about visiting the youngest city in India. We were all set to visit some good views (not girls....I actually meant views). We had a different kind of feeling on that first morning on our first visit outside Goa. A little tensed, a little afraid, somewhat excited and many such feelings coming together and filling our minds with so many different thoughts at the same time.
I am always amazed by the capabilities of our mind, how can it handle all different feelings simultaneously and we now in the cyber world speak about multi threading and such concepts in a tech saavy manner as if we were working on a world changing project. In the haste of admiring all the technically complex things around us, We forget to admire the most beautiful, complex but easy and the most configurable thing manufactured and evolved on this earth - the Human being. Truely a wonder produced by God.
With all this going through our mind we were totally unaware of what was going on outside our rooms in the hotel. We heard a knock on our door. It was Nandu again with his smiling face. We were not staying in an Ashram where Nandu was the head saint and hence we promptly came to a conclusion that he had come to our rooms to gain something. He said to Manesh "Kya sahab...Neend kaisi rahi?". Manesh was quite impressed and happy with Nandu as he had brought us to such an nice place at very reasonable rates. Manesh replied "Bohot achee neend ayee..." and then turning to us said "Goyan sudha itli bari nhid yena mare". Nobody was interested as we all were engrossed in getting ready. Manesh realizing that his joke was not good to attract anyone of us, turned back to Nandu. Nandu said "Sahab, be ready at 9:00 AM as our bus is leaving at 9:00". With this sentence we all except Farooq turned around with double respect for Manesh, as we never knew he had also arranged an Bus for us. We all thought "He surely possesses great organisational skills". We were standing besides the next Dhirubhai ambani. Looking at each of us faces he shrugged and asked Nandu "Which bus, what bus....Humne koi bus nahi bulayee...hum apne aapse ghumne jayenge" to which Nandu prompty replied "You cant do that sir, Speak to our boss". All of a sudden Dhirubhai Ambani had disappeared and Manesh fokto had taken its place. We all along with Manesh went out of the rooms to have a conversation with his so called boss. I felt this getting scripted like a movie scene where we are being called by a boss from some mafia who had kidnapped our heroines. I was expecting a final fighting after which we walk out of the hotels with heroines by our side.
But this was not to happen, the boss did not look like a gabbar singh or a mogembo who will require a Dharmendra or a Mr India with special powers to fight against. He looked more like Prem chopra or a shakti kapoor who loose against the meagre heroes as well. We were relieved a little and thought lets see what he has to say.
The boss started. "Look boys, I am the owner of National travels and our bus is leaving at 9:00 and offering you a package tour to Bangalore, Mysore, ooty, kunnur and kodaikanal. Just 1000 is what you need to pay for this tour of 4 days. This proce will include everything i.e. Bus and staying in hotels".
Manesh interrupted "Wait a second Mr. We do not need your package tour and are happy travelling on our own. So please...thanks."
The boss was enraged "This is a very reasonable deal that i am giving you and very cheap as well. You will get to see.....".
Manesh interrupted a little sternly this time, "Thats fine, however we do not require your services, we are fine with moving around on our own...."
The boss this time turned red in anger, the redish tint seen even on his dark coal colour face. He said "Zhant....salo tum kya samazte ho....ye jo maine tum logon ko saste mein hotel diya hain woh kya aisehi hi diya hain....Tum log yahaan mazein mein reh rahe ho...rickshaw bhi free di...woh kya tumhe akele apne aap ghumne ke liye....Tum log muzhe nahi jante.....I can sittt here and a call will get you arrested in no time. You better go with us or else watch out...marke bharta bana dega mein"
To this we all were confused of not knowing what to do, frighted as well as a little angry and now we thought this boss only looks llike prem chopra, however is no less than a mogembo. Nilesh our jackie chan or thats what he thought himself to be, took a march towards the boss saying "Do whatever you want to...we aren't travelling with you. You cant force us..."....Our mogembo was not to be taken aback by this sudden resurge from Nilesh...he said "Okay lets see then how you get out of this hotel".
Manesh, until now quite and shocked by the events taken place, got himself to his own senses and went down to Nilesh to calm him down. After a short discussion we decided that we compromise with him such that he wins 100% and we loose 100%. So it was a 100% deal. After analysing the consequences that might take place considering that he is a localite, we thought of taking his package tour. Nilesh was not be calmed down he said in Konkani "Fonya yo re...Tuka dakhaita @#$%%". That could have again taken the situation out of hand if Manesh had not interrupted. Thats the reason why I call Nilesh a witty character. He said everything in Konkani and not in Hindi. This had two advantages ...First, All his frustration was dumped. and second, we looked upon him as the bravest among us.
So finally with all our excitement down to the X-Axis and frustration at the infinity point on Y-axis, we were in Bangalore with the mogembo gang (with no Mr India among us), getting ready for the tour with not knowing whats in more for us during this package tour.
More to come in the next blog. Keep tuned!!!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
7 friends in Bangalore - Part2
As soon as we reached Bangalore we could make out the difference in the climate. A little towards the cooler side. Until that day we were aware of a place called Mumbai which was well known for its criminal activities and since we were not in Mumbai we were quite assured that we are safe in this small IT hub of India. As soon as we got down from the bus, a man in his 40's introducing himself as Nandu approached us and offered us help. We were impressed by the Bangalore's hospitality and were very excited at the thought of exploring Bangalore.
Since we were just out of a hectic 8 hours travel, we wanted a hotel to freshen up before going out and having a great time in this sweet city of Karnataka. Again Nandu was our saviour and inquired if we wanted to hire rooms. Obviously we had seen life to such an extent that we knew he was not offering it for free and Manesh our leader took the initiative of asking him the amount we need to shell out. Being students, money was always on top of our minds and always looking and searching for ways to save it in order to enjoy the maximum extent with the minimum available wallet space.
He was prompt and said, "Dont worry about the money Sir. You will get the most reasonable lodge in Bangalore". Manesh was still adamant and wanted to know the amount. We all looked at Manesh with respect and he as well acknowledged it with a small tilt of his head. With this motivation from us Manesh was now not going to spare him until he tells the rate of the lodge.
Nandu obliged and said "Sahab sirf 250 per room and we give you a rickshaw until the hotel with you not needing to pay any extra". We discussed among ourselves and thought the price was actually less compared to what we had known about Bangalore city hotels. So we all decided that we take two rooms and pay him 500. We were happy with our achievement, giggling and laughing and thought we were not all that bad on our first trip outside Goa.
Nandu got us an Rickshaw and worth mentioning here is the thrilling auto ride we had. We forgot all the engineering concepts. It seemed like the forces we learnt in theory of machines or the stress, vibrations, couples and overturning couples we learnt were all a waste of time. The auto driver was changing the direction of the vehicle at his own will. I understand it is his vehicle, however he had forgotten that the 7 lives were not his property. Our hearts were in our throats for most of the time in the vehicle. Possibly he was planing to open a business of his own something like Essel world or something on the same lines where people pay to get frightened. I forgot I had a back in "Theory of Machines" to answer, Manesh had forgotten all his coconut making abilities I mean that he had a job in Marico. Ketan and Nilesh were the only fearless as they had closed their eyes tight and hold their fists tight. Farooq had the courage to smile sitting in that rickshaw, quite possible he had worst experiences in engineering. Atul as usual having a look on his face making me feel calm that nothing is wrong and it is just a few moments of fear and good is always on the wait after the bad. I only hoped that this good does not come in heaven. Sandeep, I am sure must have forgot that there is a female species existing in this word for those few moments . I always thought this guy Sandeep must have taken birth with his elbows ducking behind.
Finally with a screamy ride until the hotel, we almost hastily jumped off the rickshaw so that he does not take us again on that bamboozzling ride. We reached the hotel and Nandu took our bags to our rooms. We paid 500 bucks at the reception. Rooms were good and were more than worth 250 per room. At that point we thought we were the most clever persons in the history of mankind. We were of the impression that the einsteins and the newtons might have become famous by bribing the governments to market them as brainy guys.
Our plan that day was to freshen up and just go over Bangalore for sometime and sleep tight that day due to tiry travelling from Goa. We had planned perfectly how we were to go over the city, what to see and what not to. So accordingly we were back from a small walk close by. We slept early that day as we were to wake up early and waste no time. All really excited!!!!
Thats it for now. Keep watcing this space. Guys it is going to get damn interesting in the next blog.
Since we were just out of a hectic 8 hours travel, we wanted a hotel to freshen up before going out and having a great time in this sweet city of Karnataka. Again Nandu was our saviour and inquired if we wanted to hire rooms. Obviously we had seen life to such an extent that we knew he was not offering it for free and Manesh our leader took the initiative of asking him the amount we need to shell out. Being students, money was always on top of our minds and always looking and searching for ways to save it in order to enjoy the maximum extent with the minimum available wallet space.
He was prompt and said, "Dont worry about the money Sir. You will get the most reasonable lodge in Bangalore". Manesh was still adamant and wanted to know the amount. We all looked at Manesh with respect and he as well acknowledged it with a small tilt of his head. With this motivation from us Manesh was now not going to spare him until he tells the rate of the lodge.
Nandu obliged and said "Sahab sirf 250 per room and we give you a rickshaw until the hotel with you not needing to pay any extra". We discussed among ourselves and thought the price was actually less compared to what we had known about Bangalore city hotels. So we all decided that we take two rooms and pay him 500. We were happy with our achievement, giggling and laughing and thought we were not all that bad on our first trip outside Goa.
Nandu got us an Rickshaw and worth mentioning here is the thrilling auto ride we had. We forgot all the engineering concepts. It seemed like the forces we learnt in theory of machines or the stress, vibrations, couples and overturning couples we learnt were all a waste of time. The auto driver was changing the direction of the vehicle at his own will. I understand it is his vehicle, however he had forgotten that the 7 lives were not his property. Our hearts were in our throats for most of the time in the vehicle. Possibly he was planing to open a business of his own something like Essel world or something on the same lines where people pay to get frightened. I forgot I had a back in "Theory of Machines" to answer, Manesh had forgotten all his coconut making abilities I mean that he had a job in Marico. Ketan and Nilesh were the only fearless as they had closed their eyes tight and hold their fists tight. Farooq had the courage to smile sitting in that rickshaw, quite possible he had worst experiences in engineering. Atul as usual having a look on his face making me feel calm that nothing is wrong and it is just a few moments of fear and good is always on the wait after the bad. I only hoped that this good does not come in heaven. Sandeep, I am sure must have forgot that there is a female species existing in this word for those few moments . I always thought this guy Sandeep must have taken birth with his elbows ducking behind.
Finally with a screamy ride until the hotel, we almost hastily jumped off the rickshaw so that he does not take us again on that bamboozzling ride. We reached the hotel and Nandu took our bags to our rooms. We paid 500 bucks at the reception. Rooms were good and were more than worth 250 per room. At that point we thought we were the most clever persons in the history of mankind. We were of the impression that the einsteins and the newtons might have become famous by bribing the governments to market them as brainy guys.
Our plan that day was to freshen up and just go over Bangalore for sometime and sleep tight that day due to tiry travelling from Goa. We had planned perfectly how we were to go over the city, what to see and what not to. So accordingly we were back from a small walk close by. We slept early that day as we were to wake up early and waste no time. All really excited!!!!
Thats it for now. Keep watcing this space. Guys it is going to get damn interesting in the next blog.
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