Travelogue - Po Pondi : Day1

Tour Motto
Zindagi jeene ke do tareeke hote hain..
Ek - Jo hota hai, hone do..
Doosra - Zimmedaariyaan uthaao, tour pe jaao
:D

May sound like DJ's words in RDB.
But this was coined during our Po Pondi campaign.

One good feedback that I got from a blog reader is that
"The article, at times is tooo long"
Well said, but I cant cut any article, short.
2 reasons:
1. I like it uncensored. Censoring kills the byooty.
2. The above reason is the secondary reason. The primary
reason is "HOW THE HELL do u think I'm gonna spend
the terrible 9 hours in office?"
:D

That's the preface. And here comes the Travelogue

After the Kodai trip, this was the major "organised, planned" trip.
Those words in quotes. Please note ;-)
4 tickets reserved by Rat on 16th Jan.
Bangalore to Chennai. From there v would take a taxi to Pondi
4 return tickets reserved c/o Sand.
Volvo. Chennai to Bangalore.
4tickets cancelled by Rat on 24th Jan.
Lost a fortune in this regard.
4 tickets cancelled by Sand on 25th Jan.
Lost a bigger fortune in this deal.

No more space devoted on this page to "prove" the above quoted words
:-)

Jan23 nite.
10.17 PM
My GPRS-EDGE-WAP-IR-email all-disabled nokia 1108 rings
Geo at the other end.
"How much will u lose if u cancel the train tix?"
Rat - Wow , trip cancelled ?
Geo - No , AS OF NOW , just cancel the tix.
Rat - Yo. Consider it done. But how do v go then ?
Geo - V go in car. Sand's indica !
Rat - Yipppppee.. That would be a rocket !
Geo - Yeah ;-) Lets rock baby !
Geo - V start from autobahn on indica at 9 in the morning
Rat - Yo Yo !

Jan25 nite.
The following disco on SMS
Rat - 2moro morning, get ready by 8.15
Jins - Ok. I'll get up at 8.15
Rat - Idiot, you should be READY for the trip by 8.15.
Jins - :-S OK, i'll try
Rat - I'll giv a mis call at 7 for u to get up. Over n out.

Jan26 morning.
7AM
Missed call given to Jins
Followed by this msg
Rat - Da, get up.
Jins - ENEETU*
Rat - Gud

Picked Jins up at 8.15 sharp
In Autobahn at 8.25

Sand gave some finishing touches to the Indica



Geo parked all the two wheelers inside the gate.




And we started at 8.45 !



Geo wasnt too happy.
Geo - This is not good
Jins - What ?
Geo - This is a shame to the IT-kind. We are setting a bad example
Rat - Wht the **** ?
Geo - We are ahead of schedule !
All smiles :D


Straight to Home Treat
BF time.
I had had my BF, but when CF** beckons, u cant resist ;-)

Post BF, an air-check near Agara lake petrol pump.
From there we OFFICIALLY flagged off the trip.
Dil Chahta Hai in full volume :-)
Pioneer 4-way spkr system rocks !

10AM - KR Puram Hanging Bridge
11AM - Kolar
Had the first P stop here
12.06PM - Palamner (Andhra, 141km from Ground Zero)
Halt for diesel in a Reliance Pump. Started at 12.21PM.
With Geo behind the wheels
1PM - Chittur (186km)
1.50-2.20PM - Lunch at Ranipet


2.33PM - Ranipet checkpost. Toll 25 bucks

The stretch from there till Chennai is magical!
4-lane road..
Nice n flat.. (this statement will be re-used on day4, in a different context)
;-)

3.25PM - A small halt at Sriperumputhur.
This was where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.

After Poonamallee, the road was bad..
We were goin thru busy street, what looked like a market place.
To add to that we had a small scuffle with a lorry driver.
It's our fault alright, but he was too much!
Sand almost got down to giv him a kick.
But Geo and I stopped him.

4PM - Chennai

Thats our first major destination.
No route-problems till here, thanks to Sand's alertness.
The other day, he had bought 3 maps - Bangalore(??), Chennai n Pondi
By the time v finished the tour, Sand had become an expert in map reading.

Now v hav to start interacting with the ppl.
Basically, v hav to catch Thiruvanmyur.
And a nearer destination is Guindy.

I, a multilingual expert(!!??<<>>), was given the post of interactive investigation.
Rat - Guindy ... Thiruvanmyur??
A gud Samaritan - (explains the route in minute details.. fly over.. signal.. left.. straight.. dead end.. right..)
Rat - nods head , says thanks , and pulls up the window pane.
The anxious 3 r all-eyes on Rat.
Now Rat , with an air of pride , narrates.
"Go straight, u will find a flyover, then a signal. Take a left and u r at Thiruvanmyur. Go further straight and u will reach Guindy"
Geo - **** &*&**(((
Rat - What ? :-S
Sand - Da, Guindy comes first and then comes Thiruvanmyur
Geo - You can now resign from the post. V ll find our way
Rat - :-S


5.10PM - Thiruvanmyur (351km)

Got into the ECR - East Coast Road - the much hyped Scenic Beach Highway.
There was more of hype and less of scenery.
Rather, blame it on the high expectations.


3 hours flat highspeed drive was alll it took to reach Pondi.
Parked the car somewhere.
Sand took out his printouts - 3 hotels, and the phone numbers.
No number worked.


So v decided to go out n find some hotels for ourselves.
Got the name of a hotel. Rat n Geo sets out on foot.
What seemed like a hotel, v tried to step in.
Was stopped at the gate.
"Where r u goin" ?
Rat - Inside
Geo (intervened to deliver some reply that made sense) - Hotel?
"Which hotel?"
Rat (couldnt be kept mum at all..) - She sore resort..
chay.. Sea sore reshort.. aah.. Seer shoe resort.. ()*()**)&$)*($
Geo - Sea shore Resort

Guard gave me a stare, and told Geo , "Next building"

But it was full, no rooms..
V went to Rangapillai Street (hope i got the name right) and continued hunt.
Finally at 9PM, got one - Srikrishna Hotel - 2-double-cot room.
With TV. Good room..


9.30-10.30PM Dinner at Hotel Ellora.

10.45PM Back to hotel. No bath. All sleep..
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
_____________________________________________
* It turned out that Jins went bak to sleep after that. But was ready in time, anyways
**CF - Bethanians can digest this. It is the acronym for the biggest hit in any tour. Its the Common Fund, where money is pooled in, and spent (without any mercy) primarily, for food. In Sand's words,
"I gained 3 kilos after the Po Pondi trip"
:D
**** - substitute the stars selecting letters from (s,f,i,k,u,h,c,t)
Its 8P4 permutation