I actually wanted to try and ensure that this New Years went well, coz 2009 was really not one of my better years. There were some really big highlights, like finally going abroad - twice that too, getting the job I wanted, and so on.. But there was some real catastrophes in 2009. And they seemed to just be pouring down on me, especially in the last few months of the year. Only for that, I was really looking forward to starting off 2010 well and hoping that the rest of the year goes ok.
So Jeetu, Poonam and I decide to take a train on 30th and reach Bangalore on 31st. We got there by the afternoon. I made plans with all my friends there. Geeta had come down from Chennai and was staying with one of her friends Bobby in Bangalore. We all decided to catch up at night. I made a few calls, but realized places were too expensive (as usual) to party. So once again, we decided on a house party. Only difference was, this time, it was my own house. So I could try and ensure things go better. I met up with Geeta and Bobby in town around 8, and we went to Le Rock. Hung around there doing the Bangalore - rock music and beer, till about 10, after which the two of them went to church. Gopal and China joined me at Le Rock and we got pretty high.. By 11, we left the place, which was totally packed and happening by then! Never knew Le Rock to take that shape! Picked up Geeta Bobby from St. Patrick's and drove home. Now this drive was hilarious. China was at the wheel and scaring the daylights out of everyone with his already bad driving. Can't believe I'm saying that, considering I was the one who taught the nut to drive! And Gopal was in the back seat shouting for Kadlekai! Geeta and Bobby must have been completely scandalized by these two drunk goons. But I was trying my best to placate the situation and keep it fun.
We got home, and Pali and Munda were waiting there for us, along with all of Jeetu's friends. It was just 5 mins to midnight. only people missing were Sony, Asha and Sunil. Otherwise, the usual suspects were all there, and had a really nice time welcoming 2010 when it did. After that, I just showed the house to Geeta and Bobby, made drinks for everyone, gave Geeta the gift I'd bought for her with Jeetu's and Poonam's help in Thekkadi, and just had a nice time with everyone.
Geeta and Bobby left just after mid night, and I continued all the way till nearly 4 with the boys. Hari joined us around 2, and all of us stood in the balcony chatting away. It was really nice to be hanging with 5 of my school friends, 3 who are currently in the US in fact, and had come down on holiday.
We were ragging Pali solid as he had pierced both his ears. China gets ragged anyways! Hari was trying hard to behave American with his in-between accents. Gopal was the regular idiot he is. And Munda was the star, coming up with all sort of funny stuff. We were just thinking that this year is going to be quite a life changer for many of us. Good chance that Munda and Gopal, and maybe even China could get married. If things work out for Pali, even he might just tie the knot. I know Hari and I have a little way to go, but in many ways, this might as well have been the last time all 6 of us met up, just like the school buddies we've always been..
Anyway, we went for a drive at 4, dropped everyone off. Hari stayed over. Slept for an hour, and he went back to his place as well. I woke up around 8, got ready and went to see Arun's twins - Yohan and Izaac. It was really sweet that he's had twins. They were just 1 week old and looked adorable. Then from there, I met up with Geeta and Bobby and we drove to Chickmanglur. I'd been to this place in 2003 with Shiv, Praveen, Mukund and Tunu. We'd gone to Shiv's estates there, gorged on so much food, and had such a good time then. It was the only trip I had gone with that gang, apart from the Munnar trip we did with the entire college junta. I remember us planning so much to go on another trip, but it just never happened. And now, Mukund and Vikram are married, and Shiv is in the US and Praveen in Rajasthan. The gang's completely split. So much like my school friends. Its like all of us grew in Bangalore, and then just exploded to every other place on the planet. There's hardly anybody left in Bangalore, and that's why I hardly ever feel like going there anymore..
So the three of us drove to Chikmanglur. It was a very nice drive. With me doing the last 200 of the 300 kilometers - which almost seemed like it would never end, coz the roads just became really bad, the sun had gone down, and we'd taken a supposedly shorter route that showed us no milestones and we had no clue how far we were from the destination. We finally made it around 9. Checked into the hotel, which turned out to be a big disaster in itself, and went out for dinner at the CCD next to the hotel. CCD was just to refresh ourselves a bit. But the sandwich we had here was pretty much the dinner for the day. Coz we drove to the Taj after this, but the place was so expensive, and food so bad, that we wasted the lamb chilli that we ordered, and just had 2 shots of rum instead. In CCD, Bobby nicely messes up the new shirt I was wearing that Geeta gifted me, by trying to compete with me on who would pour the sauce out of the sachet on to her plate first, and the boy ended up squeezing it straight on to my shirt!
Spent some 20 minutes trying to get it out so that it doesn't stain the shirt, and after that, borrowed his sweater as I hadn't brought a change of clothes, and then, lived in that sweater till we got back to Bangalore, coz it was that comfortable!
Taj was a beautiful place we drove to. There was one particular section there, where we could see the Chikmanglur skyline, and it was a full moon night to add to the beauty of the place. It was really sweet hanging out there. But the dinner being disappointing killed it for us.. We got back around 2 and crashed out. Just before I slept, I noticed an SMS from Jeetu asking me to call her. I'd kept my phone off as it was running out of battery, and since I came up with nothing, even the charger was left behind. But I didn't reply to her thinking it was too late and thought I'd just call her in the morning. I'd diverted my calls anyway to Geeta's phone and knew that if it was urgent, they could call me, and get through. And call me they did, at 5a.m, when I was just planning to wake up, as we'd decided to getting up early and catching the sunrise. Sony was the one who called and said she, Jeetu and Sanu were in Chikmanglur! I obviously thought they were kidding at first, but the way she spoke, and given how nutty those 3 can be, I did believe they were there. So I washed up and drove to the bus stand which was really close to the hotel we stayed, and actually picked the three of them from there. Jeetu was talking of how they were so bored and didn't want to do nothing in Bangalore, and just went to the bus stop in the hopes of taking a bus to Pondicherry, and when they saw a Chikmanglur bus, and the conductor started telling them that it was the last bus out of there, they just hoped on and landed in Chikmanglur. Wat nuts!
Anyway, I was really glad they were there. Coz the previous night, I was actually supposed to meet up with them as Sony missed out on the New Year night party and we thought of catching up on the 1st. But then I had to leave with Geeta and Bobby on this trip, as this was pretty much the main reason Geeta had come down to Bangalore. But now, everyone was together, and we actually ended up having such an amazing time on the 2nd of Jan. It almost seemed like the New Years party was still just going on, and it was like the longest party we've been in!
The 6 of us took a drive, decided to go to Kemungundi, which was about 50kms away, but in terms of time, ended up taking us nearly 3 hours, thanks to the supremely bad roads. Bobby and Geeta could just never get the name of the place right. They called it everything from Kannangudi to even Kammanahalli! But never Kemungundi!
We reached Kemungundi completely worn out by about 1. Jeetu had done most of the ghat section driving and Bobby and I managed to grab our 40 winks. The entire journey we kept stopping and taking hazaar photos. There was one section where the view of the mountains was just unbelievable. It was so windy there that our clothes were flying all over the place. Then there was another spot where there was a lake and one single tree with beautiful red leaves in the middle of it. Then a waterfall place which was the crappiest waterfall we've ever seen, but the place made some of the best paratha and eggs we've ever had!
Overall, the journey to Kemungundi was the real highlight. Kemungundi itself was fairly quite boring. It was just one big garden kind of place. We just had lunch. Bisi Belle Bath! True Digga style! Then started off to Bangalore.
Just before leaving Kemungundi, all of us went in a line to the loo there. Bobby and I went first and we came out and told the rest, its not 'Pay and Use', its 'Pray and Use'! The place was just a small shed like structure. Geeta was trying to sound local and called it Sheddi! Bobby and I cracked up like crazy when she said that! We had to explain to her what it meant in Mallu. Geeta was a complete laugh riot actually. Bobby and I kept teaching her mallu words and told her things like Kaladhe means angel! But the funniest part was, she could just never say Kaladhe properly. She kept saying Kadale and things like that. Somewhere I think she even mixed up Kaladhe and Kemungundi!!
The journey back was once again quite tiring with me doing the last leg, coz Bangalore gets really crowded. We thought we'd reach by 7 itself, but instead got to Bobby's place only by 9. That was in spite of Jeetu's Michelle Schumacher driving that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. She did make good time, but we wasted it with a break we took at a highway CCD.
At Bobby's place, Geeta and I went and bought KFC for everyone, and we sat eating it with some alcohol. All 6 of us were so tired and just contemplating on our trip, and except for me and Sony, the rest pretty much looked like they were going to crash any minute. But we both really wanted to play Pictionary. So we started a conversation saying 'hey, look, there's a game here' 'wow, you know how to play?' 'cool, lets start'.. The rest required a bit of convincing, but thankfully they agreed, coz the next 2 hours was just too much fun. Pictionary can actually turn out awesome fun at times. So Bobby and my two sisters were in one team. Geeta, Sanu and me were in the other. We initially started kicking their ass, but Bobby and Jeetu soon figured the game, and being the competitive people they are, they got into it pretty strong. We came back towards the end, because Sanu also started actually contributing to the game and guessing and drawing right. But we were tied at the last point, and just like that, Bobby and his two women pulled the game away. The game was such good fun, and best part were all those hundreds of jokes in between, just like the way things were even during the trip.
The next day we just chilled out, and Geeta and I had a train to take to get back to Chennai. While sitting in the train, we were just thinking what a random, yet awesome this New Year turned out to be. And probably, the party is finally over only now. Coz we need to wake up, and go to office!
