25-11-2003..part-1

There are days that u will remember with vivid detail even years after it happened...and as u would imagine this was that day. I know this seems to be a leaf out of Chethan Bhagat's book but i would like to think that mine is a bit different and less screwy than his....although i must confess there are plenty of such screwy days in my life..just that i am in no mood to tell-all about such things. Before i proceed with this elaborate account let me give u a few disclaimers....

1. I live in the sleepy town of trivandrum where rarely anything beyond strikes and protest marches happen that involve mass movement....so for those who were fortunate to live in the metros this may not be so interesting.
2. I was young and foolish (not that much has changed) when these things happened..so i would like to blame all my actions on youthful exuberance (thank god for it).
3. Some names have been changed for anonymity and will have a star accompanied by it....not because it would be cool....cause it will be necessary.
   

So with all that out of the way let me begin....

Prologue:
As u have read already in my previous post (if not what are u waiting for ...read it bugger) i had won a prize for the best team name in the TCS IT quiz. Along with all the goodies(which i think i have lost somewhere) i also had the oppurtunity to take 6 people along with Ajay to a tourist beach side resort in Kovalam called the 'Somasamudaram*'. But that Jackass Ajay took his stupid relatives to this joint leaving me with 6 hungry dudes to take with when i myself can only take 3. As usual i shouted at Ajay and forced him to cough up as much money as he could...and the guy did...a princely sum of 300 bucks. Lemme tell u folks that 300 bucks was really nothing considering the fact this place is sought of a health resort for old,fat, too-much-money-i-can-use the-dollar-note-as-handkerchiefs foreigners. But that was what i got..i had no other choice but to keep my promise (yes of all the vices that i have..one virtue i am pretty proud of is that i keep my word...when ever i give it).

The Teams:
Although i do keep my word.. i had not exactly promised anyone in particular that i would give them a treat...so as a result i had the liberty of calling anyone i wanted and i decided to call 5 of 'em. Naturally pappu was the person to come to mind..but the duffer couldn't come as his folks were too scared that he would drown and die in the merciless sea. The fact that he goes often to Juhu (in mumbai for the unintiaited foreigners who read this post..how pompus am i!) in an intoxicated state nowadays is a different matter...and since they don't know abt it..let us keep it between u and me. So pappu was out...who next? Obviously when u r out to seek some fun u need some pretty wild chaps...so i called the first one that came to my mind ...Dasi*.Dasi is about 5 feet tall....has a mouth as foul as a sewer...and a really cool guy to hang out with..i suppose his invitation could explain that
Me: Hey Dasi! wat up man
Dasi: Nothing man...this f$%#ing Shalini* teacher is breathing dwon my neck man...hate that b%^$h.(told u he had a colourful vocabulary)
Me: hmm...i c...i c( not really seeing anything...all the guy has to do is sit in class)...hey man...lemme help u get ur mind off it...why don't come to this somasamudaram place for a treat..it's on me.
Dasi: ahhh...ok man...wait..lemme ask my folks...
it went something like
Dasi: ma ..i am going to this place in kovalam...ok...
Dasi's mom: huh!
Dasi: ok dude...i am there.
Me: good...oh and bring Fazil with u..
Dasi: sure man...seeya tomorrow(i guess his invitation went the same way)

The others who i had called were jithz*, vc* and steph*. They were already invited for the treat..so only telling them time and place was all that was required...

Hitchin' a ride:
When we all assembled infront of Sree Padmanabha theatre it was already 10:30. A friend of ours who was actually supposed to join us bailed out as he had no money. Noth that the others did either...but this fellow was flat-broke..zilch. Jithz and Vc were loaded in that respect. They came with Rs 6.50 and Rs 4 respectively(sigh! such was the state of affairs of my friends). Now the next thing in our agenda was ....how the hell we get there? wait wait...no...sorry that was not the first problem to solove..the first problem was.....where the hell is this place?

After spending about half an hour asking uninterested working women, perverted men and the odd trans-sexual...we found out where this place is. Getting there was the next thing...and there were no K.S.R.T.C buses heading in that particular direction. Somehow i felt that this was doomed from the start. But we still persisted and finally we got into this rickety old van with it's conductor(?) shouting the name of the junction which was the junction before the junction before the junction where this place was. We got in and found oursleves sandwiched between pilgrims and drunks and what i would call a pretty odd family....but who cares...we were on our way...
****to be continued****