The Official Gang Roadtrip – 2

After traveling 1500 kms in our previous roadtrip to and around Munnaar, we settled for a shorter distance, longer relaxation trip to Mudumalai this time. The Devil & Pamsy, two guys who missed out the previous roadtrip, made it for this one. Rajjo did make in a few guest appearances. But more on that later.

Participants in the trip:
Akshai aka Kiddo
Pramod aka Pamsy aka David
Kaushik aka Devil aka Shanty
Dhimant aka Chakku
Inder aka Bandhar
Ameya aka Kiddo 2 aka Science
Sridhar aka Chilli aka me
Guest appearance: Rajneesh aka Rajjo aka Cow

The seven of us left Bangalore at 4 AM on Saturday. The Scorpio is split into 3 classes – Front Seat, Middle Class – high AC, 3rd class RAC – no AC. Throughout the duration of the drive everyone had a taste of every class. And this is despite Ameya refusing to occupy any class but that that befits his stature – First!

It had been more than two years since I had driven on the road to Mysore. I remember the excitement I had those days when I saw the construction for the 4-lane highway progressing in full throttle. And this time was no different. I still felt excited as I drove through the 2/4 lane highways, in anticipation of the elusive day when the road would actually be completed.

Note: The following narrative would contain a lot of names & nicknames & tripnames. I advise the reader to keep track assiduously in order to not be left out midway. :)

Pramod had the privilege of being the first to be christened with a new nickname. His Baywatch jacket that served no perceptible purpose, other than prompting a nick out of us, was a constant source of fun whenever he did something with it. And thus was “David Hasselhoff” born. David made good of his promise to get most of the snacks, and especially ragi bread.

Here are a few memorable moments/conversations/jokes/I don’t know what the normal world calls them:

• Bandhar mentioning his Hiranyakashipu resolution. “not near the trees”, “not inside”. Er…where exactly when???
• Breakfast at Mysore, right in front of the zoo. We spot a giraffe, and Akshai goes, “When can we see the full animal? This is only gir-half”. :)
• Loos in Mysore: For some strange reason, all restaurants keep them locked. One needs to go to the cashier, log into a register, take the key, and lock it back and return it once you are done. All this while, the cash box is pretty open to the public.
• Rajjo’s 1st appearance, and not surprisingly in front of the zoo. :)
• Dhimant kicking off the next leg of the trip by sporting his “trendy” shades…or so he thought. It just re-affirmed THE LOOK he is trying to run away from.
• As we neared Mudumalai, Bandhar starting rattling out the right directions. For the uninformed, that is as rare as the Haley’s comet. This lead to our Karz theory. Din di din din…din di din din. (to be hummed in tune)
• Masinagudi is one of the most cyber-savvy towns. Even the tailor shop is called Dot Com Tailors! The gate to the Dot Com Guest House is an abacus!
• Chakku’s, “Howard Johnson?”
• Six hours of absolutely wild, strategy steeped foosball. (Guys, we need to buy a table right away)
• Chakku’s, “Don’t take offense” every time some one opted to chose the attacking half of the foosball table. He must consider himself very lucky that we didn’t let him rot with the flies. Speaking of which…
• Flies & Chakku. :D The funniest moment of the trip. The video-clip of this particular incident is available on request, or it could be caught on “World’s most Stupid Acts” in Star World.
• Akshai’s “battery snub” of Ameya. I think Kiddo 2 is still hurting. :( I was gracious enough to request Chakku to make the battery for Ameya.
• My Theory on the Job/Operation.
• Pamsy being berated by Kaushik for giving way to all vehicles, and then Kaushik himself getting forced off the road by a tempo.
• “Kaushik, what is he doing?!!! Ask him to go. Ask him to go…please!!!”. Chakku to the Devil, when he could no longer stand the mammoth elephant a few feet away.
• “Arrey saar, flash maar, flash maar”. Shantakumar, the driver of the night-safari jeep, urging Bandhar to provoke the animal.
• Rajjo throwing his owner out of the cart, and charging to meet us at the Hunsur Road. As a side note, it must be added that the Devil ignored him and continued driving. :(
  
• Me: “Something fishy is going on inside. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if either of the two open the door wrapped in a towel.” and ……… doing the exact same thing!
• Ameya describing how he managed to alter the power transmission circuit in Sweden. I do not remember the details, but it had something to do with a “ground point”.
• Kiddo, Chakku, Bandhar & the Devil drinking a lot of Sprite, and pretending to get sloshed. ;-)
• Akshai (when down 0-3): “At 3-3, we shall change our strategy again…” We did, and we won!
• Gifts that we shall be getting from Chakku by this weekend: 5 Marks & Spencer shirts, 1 Foosball table, 1 Pool table. What say? ;-)
• Oh, how could I forget this? “pi pi pi piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii”

That’s all the stuff I could remember off the top of my head, as more come up, I shall continue to update.

It was a great weekend. Superb time spent with the Gang.
(Now, when is that goddamn Rajjo going to get back???)