Trip to Coimbatore.
Santhosh was a colleague and I frankly speaking would not have taken all the trouble to go to his marriage. He was just another friend from office. This trip gave us the most of all fun and enjoyment for all of us though we went through all the trouble of traveling in a general compartment of a train and I am sure none of us would have ever done it till now in our lives. I have sometimes wondered as to why we took all the pain to go to Coimbatore and attend Santhosh’s marriage. Some times life gives us the greatest moments that we cherish through out our lives and some times these moments make a life.
In August Santhosh calls me and invites me for his marriage and tell me to bring along Vani and Mangala to his marriage. I talk to Mangala and Vani and decide we travel by train. We first decided that we shall go on Friday and come back on Sunday by the night train so we reach Bangalore in the morning and get ready for our respective offices.
Booking of train took a long time since none of us had a credit card that the railway site would accept and finally had to borrow Shamal’s Axis Bank Credit card. Unluckily this card too did not work, there was some registration problems with this card. The only option left with us was go to the railway office and book the tickets on our own. In the mean while a collegue told that Reetheesh had a IRCTC log in with a registered credit card and he book tickets very often. I then rushed to Reethesh’s desk and asked him to do this favor and he agreed in a jiffy. The tickets were finally booked for the departure from Bangalore, the train was the Kurla Express that would stop at Coimbatore while on it’s way to Mantralaya and other then on to Maharashtra. The return tickets were not be booked since by the time we could decide on when we would get back all the seats were already booked. I then asked Santhosh to book tickets for us in a private bus, he booked the tickets online and sent me the tickets in a courier.
Every thing was set for the journey, I had planned the journey too, as I am a great fan of Chicken Kottu Parota, I had planned that I will feast myself with Chicken Kottu Parota at Coimbatore. In the mean while Santhosh had confirmed to that the rooks were all booked for all of us.
A week before the journey, I sent a test message to Mangala and Vani reminding them about our journey both acknowledge the message and replied back they too were geared up for the trip. It was excitement for me as usual. Finally the Friday came on when we had to leave and we had to plan to reach the railway station, again I had to use my contacts in the transportation department for a separate Indica for us to reach the railway station and after a lil bit of waiting, me and Vani got a separate Indica. We then went to pick Mangala on the way so had to pester the driver to take us the BTM and pick Mangala up.
Mangala was picked and the destination was the railway station and the travel to the railway station was great. I was too excited about the train journey. Every thing was planned and I could see no other hurdle for the excitement. We reached the station and after a brief wait for Vani’s husband Brijesh we went in to the station and to our surprise we discovered that the train was cancelled due to heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh and there was no other option and we had to go back taking the full refund of the train fare. I was completely shattered and could not think of any thing else and was extremely sad. Thanks to Brijesh he was a very lively person and thought of other options. We then decided that we shall go back to Vani’s house relax for the night and get the early morning’s train to Coimbatore.
Vani’s house was a great place we had packed dinner from office and has asked Mangala to cook something for us, Mangala had made delicious scrambled egg and we had carried chapathi from office. We had a nice dinner with a little bit of Bacardi which Brijesh offered. The girls slept off earlier and we the guys took a bit longer to sleep and all of us decided that we will wake up by 3:30 AM. We all woke up by 4 and we were out of the house by 4:30, we caught the bus to the railway station and reached the station by 5:30am. We then had to think about the tickets, the tickets were ready by 6:00AM and then proceeded to board the train. After a lot of searching we realized that out ticket was an unreserved ticket and we had to travel in the first three compartments or the last three compartments and none of them has seats. We actually had to travel to Coimbatore either standing or adjusting with other passengers. This part of the journey was the most funniest. All of us would never have travelled by train in this manner and that too for sure would not have taken this risk for Santhosh. I even now fail to understand as to why we did this but we did it. May be it was not for the marriage but the company we had we did it. Not sure if the other enjoyed it but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. The girls were sitting on the steps or on the floor of the train and they did it with ease. It was as though that they were all used to this way of life. The journey perfectly depicted the Indian way of life and the fun in it. This makes me more proud as an Indian because we do not ask for leisure and luxury all the time. We often adjust to the circumstances.
After all the trouble taken we reached Coimbatore at about 1:30 PM in the after noon. There was a colleague Rajesh waiting for us with a Qualis to take us to the marriage hall to have lunch then were dropped to the rooms that Santhosh had booked for us. The rooms booked were really out of the world they were very comfortable and cozy. All of us relaxed for a while and had to get ready by 7:30 PM. At 8 every body was ready and decked up. Vani and Mangala we looking as though the lord had sent down the apsaras from the heaven. Mangala was very insistent when we missed the train on the previous night that she has to wear the saree, I then realized that as to why she was so Insistent. A woman looks the greatest in a sari.
The reception went on well and we had dinner to our heart’s content. I was bent upon having Kothu Parota that day. I went in search of a hotel where I could get Kothu Parota and managed to get two plates of kothu parota since Mangala also had told me that she too wanted to have a plate. We then had the Kothu Parota in Mangala’s room with Beer and Bacardi….. The guys had beer and Bacardi, the girls had Slice and Kothu Parota.
The marriage day was on Sunday which also went on well we then had breakfast at the marriage hall and decided that we will leave for shopping and our bus was booked at 1:30 PM at a place called Gandhi Puram. We headed to the hotel and packed our bags and waited for the cab to arrive, we then checked out of our rooms and headed for shopping. The ladies had a lot of sari shopping to do at a shop called Chennai Silks. All the shopping was done by 12:45PM. We then had lunch at a hotel there. All of us wanted to have a non vegetarian lunch only. We relished the lunch then went to the place where the cab was parked. The cab guy dropped us to the bus boarding place after a brief wait the bus arrived.
All of by then were tired and worn out of the sun at Coimbatore. We all slept off and when we woke up there was a Tamil movie playing in the bus. There were two movies played and both of them were great movies. They were funny movies too. We all enjoyed them to the core. We were supposed to reach Bangalore at about 8:30 PM but due to some accident on the road the buses and vehicles were diverted through another route and this us took another hour to reach Bangalore.
Mangala and I got down at the Central Silk Board fly over stop. Vani and Brijesh said they will get down at the madivala stop. I and Mangala then got a bus to MICO layout. Mangala then bought dinner for herself and then we walked to Mangala’s PG. I dropped off at her PG and wished for the day to come and thanked her for the exciting trip we had.
I then turned back to head home and went home walking from there. I reached home in about half hour and just refreshing myself with what all happened in these two days. They were one of the greatest days I had till now and I did not have my bike with me. I had realized that I could have a great time not only if I had the bikes with me but also with friends.
I thought before I forget I pen all this down and share if with my dear and near, and the ones who made this trip a memorable one.
Thank you Guys
