The trip!

Hurrah! We completed one full year in the IT field! Well it was time for celebration! Not for the professionals in us, but for the friendship we nurtured for the last one year. We all saw so many good and bad times together. We all went through it together as a family.

There was some kind of bonding due to which we all gelled instantly…

So, now we all decide to go for a trip. After a lot of cajoling finally 18 people froDm the batch of 28 agreed to privilege each other with their esteemed presence! :)

The date was set, destination finalized and now the arrangements were being done under the able guidance of Robo, Vivek and Sarang!

Pri was the transportation incharge and the financial advisor…

Then followed the 14 excited bunch of morons… Ask them things like : When are you leaving?

Sometime in the morning. (chalo utna to pata hai)

How are you going : pata nahi, train, bus, taxi… (thank God Flight nahi bole!)

When are you coming back?

That we all knew… Monday to vapis aana hi padega!!

Saturday morning used to be so peaceful, no hassles... just sleep! But today the damned alarm started screaming at an ungodly hour. After cursing my decision to go for the trip 100 times, I finally get up and see Yam and Dam already worried about how to get to the station. They finally look relieved when I start brushing my teeth…

After ensuring all doors were locked for protecting our “valuables”, we left in search for an auto at 5:30 in the morning… the bags that we were carrying were so big, anyone would’ve easily assumed that we are running off with our boyfriends!

After patiently waiting for an auto which was nowhere in sight, Yam headed towards a cab with Dam and me in tow. She went to the cab with such a confidence as if it was sent to pick us up. Thankfully, the driver was generous enough to give us free ride till Kothrud. May the Lord bless his soul. From there with wada paav in our hands, we majestically sat in an auto and headed towards station, for we were supposed to get into some train. Our stomachs started growling with hunger, we headed towards Good Luck bakery. We ordered 3 bun maskas... ummm.. we savored the mouth watering delicacy ardently with all the butter and jam dripping from it.. :P

The transportation coordinator Pri who knew all of us very well told every soul that the departure time is 6:45 for two reasons:

1. To ensure everyone reaches there well before time.( Pri is a kind of paranoid about missing the train!!)
2. Knows us very well, so was sure that, no one is going to check the train timings…(lazy bunch of donkeys).

Now, Debo was like really hungry and The King placed an order for momos when every one was running helter skelter to board the train. (still everyone is unaware of the actual time).

Pri aiding to her paranoia is after Debo’s life. The Momos finally arrive and so does the train!!

Pri : Debo, train aaye gechi.

Angry Debo : aami khaabi ki na na?

Everyone ran out to catch the train and also to protect themselves from Debo’s fury...

When everyone is safely and much much before time on board, the time of departure is announced. All eyes on Pri and Pri with her endearing cute smile and that innocent shrug of hers conveyed the message…

The journey starts and immediately as if some timer was set we start singing songs and then begins the age old best time pass - Antakshari. A trip without Antakshari is so incomplete!

When the stock of songs started drying up and when all throats were soar from the sing(shriek)ing , we started parading the train. Remembering the good old childhood days, the only difference being The hunt was for some eye candy ;)

The over excited souls i.e. Maloo, Dam, Jincy occupied the consecutive doors of the train and were peeping out and waving at each other accompanied with huge hollering as if we were seeing each other after ages of separation. The mesmerizing beauty of the Sahyadri range caught our breath. When we came back to our senses, the photographer (Ranu ) with his 12000X optical zoom camera was summoned to capture the splendor. But nothing matched what our eyes were seeing, the fresh air that we were inhaling when people were grateful enough to flush properly.

Yam was woken up from her top birth of bliss, Debo joined us, Swapya also was seen hanging out from one of the windows. Rudy joined me in one of the doors and started reminiscing his days in hometown Shillong!!

Well, after creating a lot of hoopla and getting scolded by the concerned uncles and aunties we reached Karjat which people kept on calling Katraj. Three vans and 18 hooligans. All the while the “hera pheri” scene where people are stuffed in a van to the point of oozing out of the windows came to our mind.

We even survived the deadly Ghats, the twists and turns were deadlier than the Abbas Mustan movies. Yam, the brave heart chose to sit on a wooden box with the luggage. With every turn, we could hear Yam’s heart beating faster and louder than the horses running by.

Finally we reached Matheran! The drizzle was embalming to our ecstatic souls… And we gawked at each other and the path which was a mighty 14 kms walk. After one full year of drudgery, it was just the right place to be. We started our walk towards the unknown destination with all the excitement and vigor…