The You-Know-Which-Trip...dissected Part 3

 This blog is dedicated to all my friends at MMC...U guys seriously rock...

10th March 2010, 12:00 AM

Everyone seemed to be excited and nervous at the same time. After all, not many of the audience had tasted 'Limca' before. Rohan Ji poured out small ones for the first timers first. The list included Ratika (I don't remember whether she had or not, this is just a guess. Blame it on poor memory), Garima, Danish, Tanya, Mohnish and Keerti. Though Mohnish tried to act like a seasoned player, but my doubts were confirmed after his second helping only. Anyway, for helping ease their pain, we had Kurkure and Uncle Chips as stand-byes. Also had the real Limca to boost the flavor.

Me and Rohan Ji had decided to savor the flavor, and therefore wanted to take this in slowly. So was everyone else. But then, we forgot whom we had with us. Enter 'I'm a Jain'. We all cheered, and Miss Jain gulped the entire thing in one go. I could see what was in store, and in spite of our repeated requests, Miss Jain did not budge from her gulping sessions. We continued.

1:00 AM

After everyone was tight (some were tight after the first and only peg only, special mention to Keerti who said her head was spinning and decided to rest herself, only to show her true colors later), me, Rohan Ji and Danish decided to walk back to our room. We had just barely reached our room when we got a call from Tanya saying that Keerti is laughing non-stop. We hurried back to their room, only to see Keerti sitting soberly. "Kya hua?", Rohan ji asked, flummoxed. "Kuch nahi yaar, ye sab to pagal hai", Keerti said, rolling her eyes. We again started to leave for our room, when Rohan Ji's now charged up mind was flying like a horse. "Dude, chal dekhen Ujaley kya kar raha hai", he said to me. Unwilling, I went went with him. Though we could not see anything, we could hear conversation inside. Then Rohan Ji thought of a new prank. "Inki MCB down kar ke bhaag jaatein hai". "Paagal ho gaya hai kya, upar hi C.P. ka room hai, bachche chilayenge to woh zaroor neeche aa jayega", I told him, hoping against hope that he would listen. But who could debate with him at that time. "Kuch nahi hoga saale, lets do it", he said, winking at me, waving his hands in his trademark style. We went by the side of the room, turned their MCB off, and ran and went inside Keerti's room, where we shut the lights and pretended everyone was asleep. We had done this prank once before, so no one came out for 5 mins. After that Ujaley's head popped out of the room. Also, we saw a watchman coming with a torch. We all were giggling, holed up inside the room, while Megha and Keerti started shouting words incomprehensible to us. We asked them to remain quite. The watchman moved around for sometime and turned their MCB on. He then started coming towards our room. The scene looked like that out of a suspense/ thriller movie. We were dead silent, and were looking at the watchman as if he was a gangster moving towards our room with a gun, looking for his victim.  He flashed his torchlight in our room for a couple of times, but could not detect us. Confused, scratching his head, he went away. We gave a huge sigh of relief.

After 10 mins, when we did not see any movement, we decided to head back to our room. Though Rohan Ji was adamant that we turn off their MCB one more time, this time I was persistant and dragged his ass back to our room. Here, Rohan Ji thought of another prank. Mohit was sleeping in our room alone. Though he may look tough, but he is actually pretty scared of ghosts n stuff. So Rohan Ji decided to scare him. Covering his face with a blanket, and me with a quilt, we approached him. "Moooohhhiiittt" Rohan Ji growled, trying to sound as scary as possible. In one flash, Mohit got up, removed the blanket from Rohan's face, and asked politely, "Haan bhai, bol?" We rolled in laughter, and Rohan Ji was left pretty red-faced. Anyway, because we had a wake-up call at 5:00 again, we decided to sleep. Once we hit the bed, we had no clue what happened next.

5.30 A.M.

After hearing Rohan Ji's Christian Rock alarm ringtone for the umpteenth time, I finally got up. I turned his alarm off, and tried to wake him. But how can you wake a person who hasn't slept for the past 48 hours, to get up so easily? Giving up, I headed towards the washroom. Finally, Mohit's booming voice and vigorous shakes to Rohan's body made him open his eyes. At first he was adamant that he wouldn't go. But then he also decided to join us. We all changed and went to the girl's room. There, we got to know that Miss Jain had  taken her stomach's content out twice the previous night. Laughing, we enquired about everyone else. Here, we came to know that Megha, Ratika, Garima and Tanya had decided to skip the walk. Finally, after everyone had their cups of tea, we ventured out on our 'Jungle Walk'.

7:00 AM

The jungle walk was a pleasant experience. The calmness and serenity of the jungle around us was to be soaked in. But how is that possible when you are surrounded by 30 other people? Me and Rohan Ji were walking in the end of the trail, trying to keep everyone together, but in vain. The juniors walking in front of us were going at their own speed, as if they had come for a stroll in the park. Some seniors were busy getting their pictures clicked. I would have actually cursed all of them in my mind at one point of time or another. What is the point of a jungle walk if the people around you are so completely ignorant of the entire purpose of this walk? No one was willing to even walk properly, let alone be quite for some time. Also, another thing I realized was that most of my friends had the 'city' syndrome. Walk for 15 mins and their lungs gave up, they twisted their ankles, fell down, and walked as if their knees had no life at all. Surprisingly, Rohan Ji, who is known for his love for the tobacco stick, did not pant even once. Again, I was surprised.

The walk was pretty uneventful, except maybe Divya slipping at one point and Gitika twisting her ankle. Apart from that, I came to know of some nicknames Rashneer and Divya had given to some of us. While Danish was called 'Sutli bum', I was called 'Hydrogen Bum'. Amused, we walked back to our resort.

12.00 PM

After washing up, sleeping and getting our breakfast, we were all set to leave the Jungle Club Resort. We had very beautiful memories of the place, and some events that would be remembered for a long time to come. We were all packed, and thanked Shiv, the hotel manager for his exceptional service and food. He again, did his duties of carrying our luggage to the bus in his 800, and even came back to take a bunch of juniors who wanted a free ride downhill on some pretext. We all settled in the bus and the bus rolled on. Our next stop : Corbett Fall.

Here, Rohan Ji decided to take revenge on everyone. He did not spare anyone from this hardship, not even himself. You see, the fall was about 2.5 kms from the main gate of the entry. The bus could have easily gone inside and saved us about an hour of walk. But Rohan Ji decided otherwise. He made us all walk. In the blazing afternoon sun, we walked. Cursing Rohan Ji and the cars vrooming by us, we walked.

Finally, we reached Corbett Fall. The first thing that came in my mind was, why didn't I pack my trunks? You see, my entire time spent in Corbett, I wanted to take a dip. Either in the swimming pool, or anywhere else. But so far, that all did not happen due to one reason or other. Cursing myself, I anyways went inside the fall, folding my lower up to my knees. The first to enter was Mohit, followed by me.

We had a really good time at the falls. We all got our pictures clicked by the dozen. rested our feet in the ice-cold water, and enjoyed the scenery. After about 2 hours, despite us wishing this would never end, we walked back to our bus. The entire freshness of the feet were gone, and we were back to being our old, tired, miserable self.

3.00 PM

After we reached the bus, everyone stocked up on the resources for the journey to Nainital, when the girls realized that they had to pee. Suddenly, some guys (me included) also realized the same. We went to a nearby resort where we were outrightly refused to use their facilities. Hurling abuses at them, we left and went back to the bus. The bus driver was instructed to stop at a place on the way where everyone could relieve themselves. Finally, the bus moved.

The bus wouldn't have moved 2 kms, when Divya started to shout "Mera camera nahi mil raha". She looked everywhere, but did not find it. She asked Mohit to ask the driver to take a U-turn and go back. I thought, would the driver actually take the bus back? And why is Divya asking Mohit to make the bus take a U-turn? After all, she could do so herself. Suddenly, the camera was discovered in Rashneer's lap. Thinking about the hara-kiri jsut caused, I slumbered to sleep.

I woke up when the bus had stopped moving. I asked Rohan Ji who was sitting next to me why had we stopped. "Dude, pee karne ke liye bachche utare hain, do you want to go"? Realizing i had to too, i stepped out. Rohan Ji instructed me not to let anyone click pictures here. I was a little amazed. Why would people want to click pictures at a place where we were getting down to pee? But knowing our mates, I stepped down, looking for the odd shutterbug. But thankfully, people did what they had stopped the bus for.

5.30 PM

I woke up in Nainital next. I missed the whole journey to the hill station, and was told that Rohan and Mohit had gone to the hotel to check stuff up. But, me snoozing was captured in someone's camera. When I saw the picture, I was amazed my neck had not broken off in the angle it was resting in. Anyway, I started to peep outside my window. Motorcycles were zipping by, with the riders wearing jackets and gloves. 'It could not be that cold' I thought. After all, the bus felt reasonably warm. I decided to step down, stretch my legs. For precautionary measures, I took my jacket along. As soon as I stepped down, the icy wind slapped me in my face, as if angry that I questioned its authority. I quickly zipped my jacket all the way to the top and strolled lazily around the bus. The bus was parked at a tourist taxi stop, in front of the Cave Park. I thought this must be exciting. Since there was no itinerary fixed for Nainital, i thought of putting it in my to-do list.

After waiting for about an hour, all hell broke lose. The loose details that we had got about why we were not going to the hotel were as follows:
1. The driver had outrightly refused to budge his bus, and wanted us to walk, carrying our luggage.
2. C.P. Singh and Deepak Sir had gone with them, leaving no authority over children sitting in the bus, except C.P. Singh's wife.
3. The juniors were getting impatient, ridiculing the fact that they were being forced to sit in the bus, without a solution in sight.
4. Apparently, the driver had gotten more pissed because of a scolding he got from his boss and then simply refused to help us in any way.
5. Rohan and Mohit had arranged for a couple of taxis for luggage transport, and they were coming back.

Amidst all this confusion, one junior tried to act smart. "Rohan has called me, he wants to take our luggage out of the bus and get down". I was surprised. If such an announcement had to be made, he would have conveyed it to me or to Danish. But not giving it much thought, we got down and took our luggage out.

After about 15 mins, when we all had got down, we saw Rohan Ji and Mohit walking towards us. Meanwhile C.P. Singh's wife was hurling abuses at him over Danish's phone. "Khud to wahan jaa kar baith gaye ho, mujhe yaahan chhod diya hai. Main kya karun yahan akele? Ye saara saama lekar kaun jayega? Main jaa rahi hu tumhara saaman yahan chhod kar, khud le jana". Controlling my urge to laugh and thinking of C.P. Singh's expression, I moved towards Rohan Ji to clarify the details. Rohan ji came marching in. "Who asked you to move the luggage?" He asked me. I told him the junior's name. He then went on to chat with the junior, who had a reason of his own. Apparently, he had done so without Rohan's consent, and because he thought that everyone was getting impatient and therefore decided to take matters in his own hands. I could not believe my ears. Can anyone be this stupid? Here, someone is trying to co-ordinate things that the faculty members should be doing, and on the other hand, he has to bear with such dumb-witted students. Angry, I walked away.

While Rohan was trying to convince everyone that taxis were coming, some juniors decided to walk towards the hotel. Even after repeated requests, they did not listen. I asked Rohan Ji to let them go. After all, we are not here to take care of them, nor were we obliged to. "Let them do whatever they want to", I told Rohan Ji, fuming. "Chill dude", he said. I was taken aback. If I would have been at his place, I would have actually punched someone in the face. But he said " Things have been taken care of. Tu tension mat le. These guys will have it back".

As promised, two taxis showed up to take our luggage. One taxi had C.P. Singh's wife along, while the other had a junior sitting in front. These taxis came back for another round, and took some girls who did not want to walk. Only Neera and Megha decided to stay back. We started to walk towards the hotel.

6.30 PM

We reached 'The Pavilion'. The hotel looked pretty from the outside, giving it a old, English inn look. I went inside, fuming. How inconsiderate can people be, I thought. No acknowledgment of a person who is doing so much for you, just because he took the command of the trip. At least show some respect to him. I was so angry, I took Rohan Ji's case. "Yaar tu in c***iyon ke liye kyu kuchch kar raha hain, marne de saalon ko", I told him, with smoke coming out of my ears. He mellowed me down, saying he has the perfect spoiler for them. We ate our brunch, and then Rohan Ji disclosed his plan.

Actually, Rohan Ji had enough of the trip debacles. After all, he was mortal too. So, he decided for a little payback. Apparently, he had kept the best rooms for us. By us, I mean all the seniors, and the biggest reserved for us boys. The girls got huge rooms too. Juniors were given comparatively smaller rooms. He said even if they would complain, he would not change the room, simply because the rest of the hotel was booked. I was still not convinced. "Dude, ruk ja, you will see", he said, smiling. I hoped this time he was right.

After some confusion erupted on rooms, with Rashneer and gang shifting downstairs because they did not like the room, and juniors been given a room to house 3 girls which could hold 5, we finally entered our room. The room looked pretty ordinary, till we opened another door. It had a huge living area with a balcony attached, and finally after 3 hours, I smiled. Rohan Ji had taken his revenge well, I thought. Later, Rohan Ji told me that the room was not taken because of the size, but because it had a 21 inch flat screen Samsung TV. After all, boys will be boys.

Later, C.P.Singh decided to do a round of all the rooms. We went to all the rooms with him, and he in the end came to our room. To relax the atmosphere, I asked him to feel at home. Taking my advice literally, he jumped in the bed, took the quilt and cozied himself in! Rohan Ji looked at me, his eyes saying "Why Ravi Why"?, while I looked at him sheepishly. After about 10 minutes, he decided to move. Almost out, he asked us, how would you 5 guys adjust in this room? Suddenly Mustaquim Mia appeared out of nowhere, and tried to show C.P. the additional room. And then started Operation Mustaquim.

You see, we did not want C.P. to see the additional room. After all, the organizing committee could afford a few luxuries. So we had locked up the additional room, and pulled the curtains. But Mustaquim Mia, being the journalist he is, wanted the truth to come out. As soon as he tried to point to the additional room, the following things happened within 5 seconds.

1. Rohan Ji threw down a slip, asking aloud whose slip was it, bending down and blocking Mustaquim's way.
2. Mohit came in front of the door, standing in between the room and Mustaquim Mia as if there was a celebrity holed inside and he was the bouncer.
3. Mustaquim Mia was frisked away to the side, and me, Mohnish and Danish gave him a glaring look. Mustaquim Mia slipped away.

After all this we decided tor rest. The girls wanted to go for a leisurely stroll down the mall road. But we kept on postponing it. Finally, when we moved at 9.00, we were told the market had closed. After getting a few pictures clicked, we came back to the hotel.

11.00 PM

After stuffing ourselves with dinner, we decided to take a stroll in the hotel park. The night temperature had dropped significantly, and it was pretty cold outside. Me, Rohan ji, Danish and Mohnish went for the walk. Upon returning, we realized there was a bed and quilts missing in our room. The explanation given to us by the standby receptionist was that everyone (the hotel staff) had gone to sleep. Therefore, nothing much could be done. Shocked, we sat in the reception area only where we waited for some solution. Divya also came to join us, and said a quilt was missing in her room too. Finally after 15 mins, Rohan Ji went with the reception guy and got our bed and quilt. We went back to our room at 11.30. Thought the bed was very uneven, i decided to sleep anyway, because my body was screaming for rest. By 11.45, I did not know where I was lying, but had excitement in my heart, about the day which was about to arrive.

End of part 3

The You-Know-Which-Trip...dissected Part 2

This blog is dedicated to all my friends at MMC...U guys seriously rock...

9th March 2010, 4.00 A.M.

Mohnish's alarm woke me up from a deep slumber I was in. Even though I could hear the alarm ringing, I ignored it because honestly, I did not want to get up. My body had still not recovered completely from the exhaustion it had suffered yesterday. But anyway, cursing Rohan Ji for again setting up the time so early, I got up. "What the hell" I thought. He could have easily arranged for the evening safari, and let us sleep in peace for one day at least. First the excitement of the trip, and then the trip itself had not let me sleep properly for the past few days. Rubbing my eyes, I looked around in the dimly-lit room, and then i realized, I was alone.

Baffled, I turned on the lights. I saw Mohnish sleeping in his bed, but no one else was there. No Rohan Ji, Mohit or Danish. The last thing I remembered about the earlier night was me going to sleep and Rohan going out for a smoke. What happened next? I had no clue. I woke Mohnish up, and asked if he had Rohan Ji's no. He gave me his phone and I dialled, thinking where the hell is everyone. 

"Haan dude" came the reply from the other side before I could even say Hello. "Uth jaa saale, kahan so rahe ho tum log. 4 baj rahe hain, safari par jaana hai ya nahi" I asked him, thinking to myself he must be really furious for me waking him up. But, I was in for another shock. "Bhai hum to poori raat soye hi nahi. Main abhi room main aa raha hun, fir tujhe poori kahani batata hu", he said and kept the phone down. 

Upon his entry, I rained Rohan Ji with a flurry of questions. Slowly, the picture became clear. Apparently, Megha had brought some 'Limca' along with herself on the trip. Though the quantity was not even enough for one proper peg, but she had carried it anyway. And from that our ace photographer, Mohd. Ujaley had taken it all in one go. And that lead to a two hour session on C.V. building, Resume updating and name givings by the new lovology proffesor, Ujaley Mia. The entire two hour session was captured by various cameras, including mobile phones and handycams, and the memory and battery of all of them had exhausted from the gyan. The lecture was attended by Rohan Ji, Mohit, Ratika, Garima, Megha and Danish. Laughing, I went into the loo. Everyone changed clothes and skipped bathing (again) because it was early morning. I too was ready.

5:00 A.M.

All ready and raring to go, we stepped outside our room. The walk to the girl's room can be simply described as "Road to Hell". Pin drop silence, jungle looking our way, and about 500 mts distance. Braving, we went to their rooms and checked. Everyone was almost ready. By 5.30, everyone had gathered and had the early morning tea. And then, disaster struck.

You see, we were supposed to reach Rampur by 6.00 a.m., so that the Jeep Safari could start early and we could maybe catch a glimpse of the yellow striped animal. Everyone was ready by 5.45, including our course head and his wife. We went to the gate of the resort, waiting that everyone would assemble there. And then, during head count Rohan ji realized that there were 2 people missing. Upon inquiry, we came to know that two juniors were missing. The reason given was that one junior had just gone in to take a bath. Filled with anger, I told Rohan "Let's move dude. Nahi aa rahe to naa sahi, hum kyu apna trip kharaab karein". But Rohan ji insisted on waiting, saying that it must be another 5 mins. We urged everyone else to move to the bus. With the hotel manager, Mr. Shiv leading the way in his dinky Maruti 800's lights, and a chowkidaar with a torch in the end, everyone moved. Me, Rohan Ji, Mohit and Megha stayed back.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the two juniors emerged from the shadows of the resort. With no source of light, I asked Rohan Ji to switch on his camera flash and we moved. What angered me even further was that those two juniors did not utter a word, let alone an apology. I shared my thoughts with Megha, who was as angry. Anyway, we clicked a few pictures of the sun coming out of his sleep and reached the bus. The bus finally moved at 7.30 a.m.

8.00 A.M.

I was excited as hell. My father used to tell me stories about the time he visited Corbett in 1986 in his Fiat. How he got stuck while crossing the river, where half of our belongings floated away. How the spark plug of the car malfunctioned and he had to get down to fix it. How the resort at which they stayed did not even have proper locks and one wild sway of the tiger's paw could have broken it. How he insisted on getting a picture with a fox, and when my grandmother refused, threw tantrums around. I was looking for a little bit of mayhem myself this time.

After reaching Rampur, we could see several open gypsies lined up. I could not contain my excitement. "This is it" I thought. " Tiger, here I come".

After getting down from the bus, we were told that the gypsy could only carry 6 poeple. My head started to do the math. Me, Danish, Rohan Ji, Mohit, Keerti and Tanya. 6 people. I think this is how it will work out. But then, fate had something else in mind. I was forced to go in a jeep with 6 girls. And there I first interacted with the 3 deviyan of our batch - Apoorva, Swati and Gitika.

In all fairness, I had interacted with them before. During lunch breaks, when they used to come out of their new media class, we used to chit-chat, but that was about it. But spending a 3 hours in a safari jeep was not my cup of tea. But, to my relief, I also had Ratika, Garima and Megha with me, who are my corp. comm batch mates. Braving everything, I stood up in the jeep.

Man, could the jeepwallah drive. The man must be hitting 80 at the tight curves of Rampur. My face was going both hot and cold at the same time. Water was flowing from my eyes as if someone had newly installed a motor in them.  Hands went VERY cold, and I was standing at the edge of the jeep. Holding on to the bar for dear life, I made a small 10 sec video featuring the occupants of the jeep.

8.30 A.M.

After getting the required permissions and lots of pictures, our jeep finally moved inside the jungle. There is no single word to describe the jungle, and it certainly feels different when you sit in front of a TV to watch Nat Geo or Discovery. When you go inside, you understand how delicate the balance of nature is. Everything is where exactly it should be, and it still looked completely random. The jungle makes you excited and nervous at the same time. You do not know what might be lurking around the next bend, and what might spring up from the side of your jeep the next moment. It was very cold, and wind was playing spoilsport. But what was really enjoyable was the landscape. Elephant grass stretched for kilometers, and  you always have the anticipation that you may see something soon. A little later, we started to see deers and grey langurs. A funny incident happened here. We stopped to click some pictures of deers, when we sensed drops falling on our jeep.Looking up, we saw a langur sitting on the tree. "Humare upar pee kar diya" said Apoorva. Incidentally, I was the major beneficiary of Langur pee. Everyone laughed, and I could sense my face turning red. But the guide confirmed that it was in fact dew drops that had collected over the night. Relieved, we moved on.

The first stop inside the jungle was a stopover for some tea.The entire area was surrounded by electrical fences, which were powered by solar panels.  Small shops also lined up the area, where you could buy some merchandise. Some girls brought small tiger stuff toys, and I wondered why. They were easily available in Delhi too. But maybe they wanted a souvenir from Corbett. Swati asked Rohan Ji wether it was the end of the safari. Before I could intervene, Rohan Ji sensed the opportunity. "Haan yaar, bas yahin tak tha, ab yahan se vaapas". I could see dissapointment in Swati's face, but I joined the party too. "Bas yaar itna hi tha", I said to her, looking at Rohan Ji and smiling. But till then, she had got what we were trying to do. She miffed us away.

9.30 AM

The real safari started. We realized that we were going deep in the jungle. The guide asked us to remain quite and enjoy the scenery. But how is it possible when we have the biggest chatterbox in MMC standing with us? Enter Megha Jain. You see, there are people who can talk and then there are people who can talk. Megha falls in the latter category. She had not slept in the past 24 hours, but still had enough energy to talk the entire course of the journey. Irritated, I asked everyone to play a game. "Sab 5 min chup rahenge. Jo pehle bolega, wo haar jayega". I had only started to appreciate the beauty of nature, and think how sly I am, when Gitika interrupted. My hope and will were both shot dead.

Though we did not see many animals, and also missed the coveted yellow stripes, I was happy with the experience. This was something I had never experienced before, and I wished that it would not end this early. But as all good things, this also came to an end, and we were left at the bus by our jeeps. I got down early for a quick picture of the empty river, and then rushed back towards the bus.

10.30 A.M.

A debate ensued. Should we first go to Garjiya temple, which was another 10 kms, or go back to our resort and then come back? In the end, religion won. We decided to go back to the resort because students were apprehensive about going to a temple without taking a bath. Also, everyone was pretty tired and hungry. The bus took a U-turn.

11.00 A.M.

Upon reaching the resort, Rohan Ji announced that everyone should be ready by 2 so that we can go to Garjiya temple and the Corbett museum. Everyone agreed. We all went inside our rooms, took a bath and came out for breakfast.

After breakfast, we sat down to chat. Me, Rohan Ji, Ujaley, Gitika, Keerti and Swati were standing inside a dome shaped structure, talking about the safari. Megha was sleeping next to an empty swimming pool, and Mohit was asleep in a make-shift bar. At around 1.30, Rohan Ji started rounding up people. At about 2:30, everyone had their stomachs full with lunch and were ready to go. Some students were strolling around the resort, while some were still sitting in the restaurant. At around 3, everyone was ready to make a move (I mentioned in my earlier blog, punctuality is not our class's forte), when we got to know that some juniors are not coming. Surprised, Rohan Ji asked the reason. While one person was unwell, the rest were just not in a mood to go. Rohan ji got irritated." Ye kya baat hai yaar, hum yahan official trip par aaye hai ya apni apni personal trips par?". He told C.P.Singh this, and he finally decided to take coercive action (though against his wife's wishes, she was adamant to leave everyone behind and just go).

After about 45 mins of waiting, we departed. Everyone was angry and irritated, because we were told that Corbett museum would close at 5., and we would miss out on something that we wanted to see. Again, no apologies from the junior's side.

5.15 P.M.

After playing F1 with the bus, the driver finally put the bus to a halt at Corbett museum. We went inside and saw stuffed tigers, tigresses, deers etc. Each one had a plaque stating the date of death and the reason of death. While some were killed because they had become man-eaters, some died a natural death. A baby-elephant was killed in a stampede of elephants. Seeing the life-size tigers, i realized that though we were very excited to see tigers in the morning, but even if we would have seen one in its glory, we would have either dirtied our jeans or screamed the entire course of our journey. Anyway, after clicking a slew of pictures, we left the place at 6.

6.30 P.M.

We reached Garjiya temple , which was sitiuated bang in the centre of a dried river. Legend has it that the temple came flowing down the river and established itself in the middle of the river. Being an atheist, I did not go inside. I instead stayed back and did Chaukidaari for everyone's footwear. Everyone went in and came out quick. Then we proceeded towards the shallow stream flowing, to witness the antics of a man known as Mustaquim Mia.

In this trip, something had got inside Mustaquim Mia. Maybe it was an ill-cooked chicken, or a cup of stale tea (i'm quite sure he would have drank it anyway). You see, my mental image of Mustaquim Mia was a gentle, caring, silent kinda guy. But since the starting of the trip, he had been behaving differently. Climbing trees, taking swing at ropes, he was the next Tarzan in the making. Here too, he was the first to step in the river. And by step I mean go stand in the middle of the river with his jeans folded up to his knees and shouting "I'm the king".

Nevertheless, I preferred to stay on the shore, and so did Rohan Ji. everyone else went in and got pictures clicked. I thought I was going to go blind with all the camera flashes. Thankfully, it stopped. We all went towards the bus, where Rohan ji passed highway toll slips as meal vouchers to everyone. Surprisingly, not even one of them looked at them, and kept them in the pocket. I was surprised.

8.30 P.M.

We all got down in front of the 800 mts trek to our resort. While everyone moved, Roahn Ji, me, Ujaley, Sam Sammy and a couple of juniors stayed back. Rohan ji had spotted the ultimate treasure. We went there and brought a full and a half 'Limca'. Anticipating the night to be fun, we went back to the resort, where we had dinner. After dinner, we sat down chatting in Megha's room, joined by Apoorva, Swati, Gitika and Tanya. After about an hour of chatting, they decided to bunk in their room. Then is when Rohan Ji brought the 'Limca' out. And boy, did we 'doobo in taazgi'. But more on that later.

End of part 2

The You-Know-Which-Trip...dissected Part 1

This blog is dedicated to all my friends at MMC...U guys seriously rock!

Let me start off by saying that all of us have shared so many pictures, videos and most importantly, moments on this trip, that it is hard to pin down all of them in this blog. I am expecting additions in comments people!!!

I am going to break this blog down according to dates, because there is so much of information that it needs to be broken down.

Saturday, 5th March 2010, 10.30 A.M.

I entered college full of apprehensions. My college project was going nowhere, and the solution did not seem to be in sight. Pramod and Nidhi (My project partners) had not come to college as yet so I was waiting for them when I saw Rohan (Rohan Ji, as he is now called). He asked me about a trip that was being planned for us to Corbett and Nainital. I asked him the details. What he said in reply baffled me. "Yaar, abhi trip organizer pakka nahi hua hai, itinerary final nahi hai, kaun kaun jaa raha hai final nahi hai, bas hum jaa rahe hain." I could sense a hint of desperation in his voice, as if a 4 year old is trying to build his Lego from scratch but the pieces are missing. I anyway joined him in our college studio where Divya, Rashneer, Mohit, Danish and Keerti were sitting. Frankly, I had not spoken properly to anyone of them in my 1.5 yrs of college life, and they coming along to the trip was not very helpful at that time either.

Rohan asked me to come along. I said I'm not sure (frankly speaking, I didn't want to). He said it will be fun, and he was also going so company should not be a problem. Slowly, I was persuaded and I went ahead anyway, still knowing nothing has been finalized as such. I thought this would be a good break from the monotonous tone life was taking. I dived in.

8th March 2010, 7.00 A.M.

I boarded the Metro from Keshav Puram for Kashmere Gate, where we were supposed to assemble in the University for the bus. The clock had been set early, so that there is not much of a traffic jam. I was cursing Rohan Ji for not keeping it a little late, beacuse I had to miss my gym schedule for 5 days now. (Alright, alright enough of laughing on this). Mohit called me when I reached Shastri Nagar, still 10 mins away. "Kahan hai tu?" He asked me in his booming voice. "Aa rahan hu yaar in another 10 mins, baaki sab aa gaye kya?" I asked him. "Haan, tu bhi fatafat aa jaa", pat came the reply. Somewhat i didn't believe him. You see, I know my college friends too well. And punctuality was not one of their forte. So, I messaged Ratika (my classmate going on the trip), whether everyone had come or not. She told me only 10-11 students had come. I heaved a sigh of relief.

Upon exiting the station, I started to walk towards the campus. I would have walked barely for 5 mins, when I spotted Rohan Ji. Earplugs in, sitting on a rickshaw, lost in his world as usual, he din't see me. I yelled at him, but to no avail. I literally had to throw a stone at him to make him realize someone is there. "Dude, aaja rickshaw mein", he said in his typical, muffed voice. Accepting the offer, we adjusted in the rickshaw and headed towards the campus. 

Reaching the campus, we could see three girls, literally fuming. "Kahan rah gaye yaar, hum 7 baje ke khade hain, ye koi tareeka hai, blah blah". Gitika, Apoorva and Swati came storming towards us, hurling abuses. I moved behind Rohan ji, anticipating World War 3, looking for a place to hide. But Rohan Ji calmed them down and then started calling people up. By 8:00 a.m. everyone was there. The bus came at around 8.15

9.00 A.M.

Everyone packed in, we went inside the bus. Everyone was looking for their favorite spot to sit, while some were advising people (including me) where to sit so that the bus journey is not too tiring for them. Suddenly, all hell broke lose. "The bus windows don't open"!!! yelled someone. Shocked, I checked my window. Sealed shut. What the fuck? I thought. How are we supposed to breathe? Then we were told that the bus is air-conditioned. With a little disbelief and excitement mixed in, I asked the driver. He confirmed. I thought 'Nirvana'.

We moved off the campus at around 9.30. We would't have even reached the gate when the bus stopped. "Ab kya?", I asked Rohan Ji. Suddenly, we saw C.P.Singh (for the uninitiated, he is our Course Supervisor/ In-charge/ Consultant) getting off the bus, heading towards the campus. Conspiracy theories started to pour in. "Loo gaya hoga", "No.2 aayi hogi", "Samaan bhul gaya" etc etc. Finally, after 15 mins, he emerged with Deepak Sir, another teacher who was supposed to accompany us to the trip. Finally, the bus moved.

1.00 P.M.

After beating our classmates 3-2 in charades,and braving a traffic jam at Ghaziabad, I started to sink in my seat. Everyone started taking seats to rest. After about 15 mins, we heard "Yaar badi zor se aa raha hai, bas rukwa de". These worlds came floating from somewhere. I looked up from my seat and saw Mohit standing, looking at me and Rohan Ji as if his life is about to end. Suddenly, half the bus remembered that they had not peed for about 5 hrs. And when you put girls in the picture, the bus had to be stopped. We took our first halt. Everyone zipped for the bathroom as if Santa Claus was giving away free gifts there. After about 15 mins, when we had peed to our heart's content and choked their drains, we started to enjoy the scenery. Some of us went for tea, while some got their picture clicked at a tractor nearby. Some smoked, while some roamed around. After half an hour, our bus moved again.

2.30 P.M.

At noon, the hunger lions came roaring. Chips, snacks etc were almost finished and everyone craved for a proper meal. Thus, we had our next halt at 'Tadka', a famous dhaba along NH24. The dhaba, it was told to me, was famous because while going for the shooting of 'Kaal', John Abraham and the rest had made a stop here for food. I thought this is what publicity does for your business. Anyway, we all got down at the bus when we saw the absolutely beautiful, mesmerizing Red and Yellow logo. The logo which is amongst the 5 most recognized symbols in the world. The logo which sells a burger every second. We saw 'McDonalds'.

Immediately, I made up my mind I had to eat there. Even after being a gym-affectionado, there is something about McDonalds I find very hard to resist. I asked around if anyone else was interested in eating there. Apart from Megha, (who had to show her brand loyalty because she worked for Mc Donalds in Leo Burnett), no one was willing to come., After all, you cannot ask Indian psyche to switch from Shahi Panner to McChicken that easily. I had almost given up hope for further company when Rohan Ji also decided to come. I was relieved. We walked towards the place.

After ordering, we were sitting at the table when I saw a a horde of people coming toward the joint. A lot of my classmates came over to Mc Donalds to eat. Astonished, I resumed eating.

3.30 P.M.

Sitting in the bus, we all were getting bored. Megha came up with an idea that would change the entire definition of killing boredom. "UNO khele?" She asked. 90% of us did not have a clue of what it was about. After about 20 mins of learning and trying to understand the game, we started to play. Before the first game could finish, I came to the following conclusions: 

1. Rohan Ji sucked at this game.

2. Whoever portrayed girls in the past to be shy and innocent should be hanged till death. Don't believe me, watch Apoorva and Megha play. They would make you wish you had never learnt the game in the first place.

 3. It was a game meant to confuse people, so that the less-confused, more-experienced could win. Every time.

4. Luck did not play as big a role, as any old grudges you have with you fellow players. They can screw your game up real bad.

Anyway, after playing the game a couple of times, we decided to rest. Corbett was still a little distance away.

6.00 P.M.

We finally reached on the outskirts of our resort, where we were supposed to stay. Rohan Ji confirmed the place, and a small, shabby bus came to pick the girls and our luggage. The resort was 800 mts from where the bus dropped us, and the guys decided to walk (Megha also came along). 

When we reached the resort, I was dumbstruck.  Only one word came to my mind. HUGE. The resort was on the outskirts of the jungle. The resort was made on a big piece of land, so much so that walking from one room from another could easily digest your meal. To my disappointment, the swimming pool was not ready, and I really (really!) wanted to relax and swim to my heart's content. The room which was allotted to us was good enough for 4 people, but we adjusted 5 without a hitch.

After spending another hour in getting the rooms alotted and wandering, we bunked. In our room, we were 5 guys. Rohan Ji, me, Mohit, Mohnish, and Danish. We changed, I took a bath (mentioned this cause no one else did) watched Pakistan's match and walked out. A bonfire was being put in place, and dinner was almost ready. We ate to our heart's content and gathered around the bonfire, soaking in the heat. (Special mention to Roahn Ji for providing chicken for me). Some people were wandering, some were showing their monkey instincts (Mustaquim Mia) and rest of us were just chillin'. At about 10 a.m., we decided to head towards our rooms.

11.00 P.M. 

All of us decided to head towards Rashneer's room to play cards. We all gathered around, and the game started. I was getting bored, and so was Rohan Ji. We decided to head back to our room. We watched  television for a couple of minutes, when Rohan went out for a smoke and I slept, anticipating what was to come the next day...Had I known what was in store, i wouldn't have batted an eyelid that night, but more on that later.

End of Part 1

Why the planet Venus should exercise

This blog is dedicated to two girls I know, and wish they would notice this: AD and AS

Lately, I have been noticing a new trend amongst Delhi females. They do not hide it, they are not afraid to show it, and try absolutely nothing to take care of it. Welcome to the age of the 'pot belly'.

Let's face it. You know what I am talking about. You have been worried sick of this phenomena, and take a new pledge everyday to try and take care of it. But that day becomes tomorrow, then the next day, then the next day, so on and so forth...

You have all kinds of excuses for this. I'm too busy, too much work pressure, no time, want to sleep that hour extra etc etc... But what you do not realize is that it is you who will be facing the consequences soon. What goes around comes around you see.

I have been a regular at the gym for the past two years now, and I can frankly admit that there is absolutely no better feeling than leaving the gym sweating all over (other than probably kissing your girlfriend at the top of the Eiffel Tower). It has been scientifically proven that exercise releases 'Happy hormones' in your body, making you feel on top of the world...My question to you is, Why the F don't you want to be Happy? Is it actually that difficult to give yourself one hour everyday?

Though I am no professional trainer, but I am going to give you some tips that I learned over a period of time and would help you keep the curve in check (I know all of you are such lazy asses that you are still not going to go to the gym anyway)

• Kick the habit of smoking. Nothing harms your body more than a stick of tobacco. Not even alcohol.
• Drink plenty of fluids. And that could be water too. Not only will it help to raise your defense systems, but also keep away all those pimples and acne you dread. Just make it a point to drink one glass of water every hour. Just one.
• Walk. There is no better exercise if you cannot run on a treadmill. Start by going out for 15 min walks, and then slowly pick the pace and duration as well. This requires as much time as listening to 4 songs on your Ipod, and you are done!
• Eat right. Try and keep your hands off burgers and Shahi Paneers the next time you go out. Eat something that fills you, but is healthy as well. Eat Garden Salads, Corn Cups. Even Golgappas will do! Yum! Try eating small meals at regular intervals. Instead of three full meals, break it down in 6 small meals.
• If you sit in an office, walk after you had lunch. Stretch sitting in your chair, or if you are too shy, stretch in the loo. You do not want your spine to feel cramped all the time, because it can cause serious problems, and you don not want that, do you?
• Though you are going to create a ruckus around it, but try and get ample sleep. Everyday. Sleeping through weekends is not going to compensate for the remaining 5 days.
• If some day all hell breaks lose and you binge on a burger/pizza, skip one meal in lieu of that. Also, drink a lemonade without sugar after it and you will be fine.

Special Tip: Please start drinking milk ladies. I know you hate it, and I wish Calcium Sandoz could help you. But it cannot. You need the Calcium that milk provides. After all, scientists and doctors are not mentally unstable that they tell you milk is the most complete diet supplement. If it is too much for you, start by drinking just one cup everyday, and then switch over to a glass.

Eye of the Tiger ladies :)

I have not mentioned any special exercises or any stringent diet rules. Even if you want to eat a Pizza, just keep in mind how can you burn those calories. Eat right and exercise, and see that curve diminish. Come on ladies, men are still interested!!! :)

P.S. Though I have not mentioned the guys here, but just keep one thing in mind all you mates. If you want your girl to look good, you better buckle up too! 

Stay Fit, Stay Happy :)