My First Date

"There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else, there is mastercard."

Now, the following might come as a surprise or even a shock to many readers. Because I don't think many expected me to do this sorta stuff. I didn't think I'd do it either, but I think one should experience it. There is a first time for everything. And who would have thought I'd do it when my dad was in town.

I didn’t want to pen this down, but then I felt reading this might help others.

This whole episode wasn’t really my idea, but I had been looking forward to do this all my life, and for good reason. I decided this was the right time, as I was now graduating and would turn into a professional.

A few rules to be adhered to:-

1)Don’t be late.

Well, I hardly remember the last time I was on time at any place. So, as usual I think I arrived at the place 45 minutes late.

2)Plan things well in advance

Ya, right! the engineer that I am, I hadn't planned anything, and decided to just go with the flow.

3)Know the venue well in advance.

I had no idea of the address of the venue, and thought I would spot it on the way. Of course, when I heard of it, I said 'Yes, Yes I know the place'

4) Do not be opulent

I think I almost got this right, as I asked my driver to park the vehicle a few feet away.

(Ahem! 3-wheelers are vehicles you know)

5) Go alone

I didn't.

6) Dress well

Since, I was already late, I wore whatever I could put my hands on.

7) Don't converse about things you have no clue of
Oh, yes! that would narrow down the topics of conversation to a very small number. Again, I broke this rule.

So, without beating around the bush anymore, let me move directly into the scene.

As I was guided to the place, I had no idea what would be in store, and it being a place of her choice didn't help me in expecting what to expect.

Not surprisingly, I wasn't surprised to see she wasn't entirely alone. I was worried now, if her folks would interrogate me first. Thankfully, that didn't happen, as I hastily gave my introduction (which was very brief) and squeezed in a statement that I was very happy to see them.

Without any more incidents, I finally sat down with Her. Two of her siblings and a friend sat by her, and they seemed around the same age as she was. And to further complicate matters, they were as pretty as she was. Right, I was sitting in heaven!!!
I was now staring into eight eyes, and the eerie silence only made things uncomfortable.

So, I decided to start the conversation.
(when I am with friends, the only way I start a conversation is by saying "Aur Bolo!" )

So, I ask them what they do, what grades they are in, etc etc and I seem to have pushed the right buttons. Though they were shy, they excitedly tell me about their studies. Apparently, they thought becoming an engineer was fancy and they ask me what ECE (electronics & communication) is about.

Sensing that this is going the wrong way, I struggle to get them off the engineering course, before things get embarrassing for me. I do manage to impress them by saying that now, that I am an engineer I will be able to support myself well financially, as I had two job offers too. (Ahem Ahem!! me and my modesty)

Then, I turn my gaze to the one sitting in the middle, like a princess with her entourage.. The one who was gazing me intently with her round black eyes.

As I smile and speak, she bursts out giggling. Now, what was funny here!
Again, she giggles and we had a giggling competition now, the only one not giggling was me.

Were they laughing at me? Perhaps, at the stubble under my chin, I knew I should have shaved.

Or were they giggling at my glasses,
Or did I have something stuck between my teeth
Or better yet, were they giggling at the person sitting behind me.

A question from me and she looks up with those pretty eyes, and giggles. Her gaze never lifting, her smile never fading.

And, I.........................

was lost.

I couldn't help but compare my situation with her to the one between Gyan and Sai in the novel 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai ( I haven't finished it mind you). Gyan tells Sai

"Let me see your hands. They are so small"

"Are They?"

" Yes." He held out his own by hers. "See?"

Fingers. Nails

" Hm.what long fingers. Little nails....."

He weighed her hand.

"Light as a sparrow. The bones must be hollow"

Me and my imagination. If you haven't read the book, forget the last para above.

I was lost in her eyes. They were the prettiest pair I had ever seen. More than that the mischievous smile on her face was what unsettled me.

A frolicsome, playful smile.

When you smile, I melt inside

Please don't look at me with those eyes

So I just sat there,

'You have a sweet smile'

I managed to mutter, and the smile just got sweeter..........

Not being able to resist,

I reached for her..........

and before she could say a word..

I kissed her..

on her cheek.

Her name was Sumaiyya

and

She was 6 years old.

The above was a visit my friends and I made to an organisation which works for the underprivileged children.

We met and interacted with little kids with ambition in their eyes.

It was something special to share happiness with these 50 underprivileged children and to see their happy faces.

Every child there had a different story to tell. There was an Azhar who wanted to become an engineer, a certain Sania who wanted to become a doctor, a little girl who wanted to become an air-hostess.

A little boy stood up and bravely said

"Mere ko bhi air-hostess banna hai"

I was amazed cos when I was their age, I didn't even know there were so many professions. I only wanted to become LAPD (google it if you don't know)

But, these were kids who looked up to as, cos we were apparently engineers.

For them, we were role models ( I wonder if I am a role model or a lol model)

Little did they know, that we (or should I say I) considered engineering as a joke. For me engineering was waking up at 10, going to college, having lunch, then coming back. I didn't even consider my engineering as an educational experience.

But, looking at these kids who dream of becoming doctors, engineers, professionals; it made me realize how ungrateful I had been.

We come from families that coerce us to study, and do everything in their means to give us the best in education.

And then there are families who coerce their kids to discontinue education because of straitened circumstances.

Helping in providing these kids with education is what is most important, for there is a saying which goes

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eatfor the rest of his life"

As my friends whom I had accompanied shared their words of wisdom and counselled these kids, I felt very very small.

There are many generous people in the world, who give out money in charity. Everyone does so. But, there are very few who actually go and meet the underprivileged.

"TO DO to others what you want others to do to you is the golden rule".

The smile on their faces, made us happier than anything else in the world.

We're very blessed, just very fortunate to have the things we have.

We should realise the hardship of their parents who toil day and night to provide education to them.

The look in the eyes of these people who live on less than a $ a day is priceless.

Truly, "There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else, there is mastercard."

Donating money and sitting at home won't leave you full in feeling; smiling at them and watching them smile back leaves you full.

If someone thinks, our visiting them and donating money for their education, made the kids happy; I am not sure if they are right. But, I am sure that our visting them made us happier than it made them. Happiness is something everyone can give.

We have given out of our abundance. They have given out of their poverty. God gives great joy to those who have nothing, and that for them, it is better to give than to receive.

It's been interesting. The experience leaves you with a sense of awe for them, not sympathy, not empathy, not charity, not any of those usual feelings that the twisted rich of this country normally harbour for the not-so-rich.

A special thanks to Sana and the SAFA organisation for giving us the opportunity to visit them (visit www.safaindia.org for more info).

Thankyou to all my friends who shared this experience with me.

Countless thanks to the Almighty for giving us the power to make others smile.


I am concealing names, and amount donated because I believe in the holy saying

"When thou gives in alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."

A few may ask, why I put this up so many days after it actually happened. Well, I put it up now to keep the momentum going (and also, cos I was bored)


Now, as we graduate let us look back and realize how blessed we have been to have come this far.

Now, as we grauduate, let us realize that education has not been a callous experience.

Now, as we graduate, let us now do justice to what we have learnt.

Now, as we graduate let us not worry about a job, or higher studies, for there are many who though better than us, might not get the chance to stand where we stand.

And lastly, I think I should learn to practise before I preach.



[P.s. Mastercard is not paying my anything for mentioning them here, but I don't mind a donation. After all, I wrote this post about charity didn't I. They should get the hint]


[Note, this was in no way put up to boast or brag about a good deed, it was put up so that others might read and spare a thought]

-P.s. put in your comments and criticism, they would go a long way in helping me improve.....

College Days

How time flies

a saying one remembers admist the goodbyes
Indeed, time is on the run
especially when one is having fun

These four years passed by in a flash
Seemed faster than Usain Bolt's 100m dash
Indeed four years is a long time
Moreover, when surroundings are sublime
And when youth is at its prime

First years we were quite sincere
Foolishly did we our seniors fear

In our class, we were sharp by nine
Eager to make an impression fine
For our first engineering internal test
2 weeks of study should do we guessed
As We were eager to bring out our best
Atleast an 18 on 20 we stressed

Our first year classrooms, 122 and 123

Made easy our exit and entry

The teacher had his back to the door

One would move out if the lecture was a bore

Sitting in class, one would be glued to the phone

Except, the airtel subscribers whose network was blown

The first year workshop lab was a place where

The boys would try to impress the girls 

By helping them in the job ware

At the end of the work, wear and tear

You are like my brother is what the girl would declare

Time now for a campus tour
Let not the greenery be a lure
An interesting spot is our canteen
Not really famous for its cuisine
From the outside, it appears

 a round oven in between
I remember the first time
I entered this place divine
The first thought that entered my mind
"Yaar, ye to shuru hone se pehle hi khatam ho gayi"
But, then most would agree
The food here is pretty satisfactory

Our college mosque is a sight to see

Admist the greenery it is a real beauty

Love at first sight for me

Our college main ground is another place
where we spent more time with our mates
At prime time one could see and say
I just saw seven matches in play
Four cricket pitches all over the ground
Crowded as it may sound
In the middle of all this distress
I truly confess
There will also be two football matches in progress
One look at our crowded ground
And one will say "MJ is truly renowned"
Everyone here is abound

The old library was near the canteen
Moving there, one would take a detour in between
One would go with the aim to study
But, would end up eating noodles with their best buddy
Borrowing books was for me a rude shock

For prescribed ones were never in stock
As my batch mates used to pick them in flock

The library was then shifted to the new block

Things were the same except for a new clock

OU externals were weird

"Exams ke beech mein holiday nahi

Holidays ke beech mein exams hai"

Is how it appeared

Even with all the time in the world

A day before the exam, our books unfurled

Last minute mugging and our minds twirled

The exam bell would strike at 10

This was the time to search for one's hallticket and pen

Also, the time to revise any important stuff

Till, someone would say "Bhai!! enough is enough"

Question paper mile baad to ye thi haalat

'Ye paper ghalat dikhra' bolne ki ho gayi thi aadat

EDC, AC mein to ho gayi thi shaamat

Check karna padha ke paper ECE ka hi hai ya nahi

Question numbers to poore likhte the

Kyunki out of portion kya hai aur kya nahi

Ye bhi pata nahi tha sahi

Subject ka fullform to kabhi malum hi nahi rehta tha

Exam mein Question paper se padhke likhna padhta

OU results always sprung a surprise

The exams which one did despise

In these, his marks would be on the rise

Where as those which one thought he had done well

He would look at his marks and yell

Every few weeks I remember

We would see a notice at the Exam cell centre

Aprising us of the exam form

This had become a norm

Arey Parsum ich to likhe the na exam

Kya yahi hai kya ab kaam

Phir bharna hai ab chalan

OU aur MJ ke naam

Second year is where the fun began
Semesters made sure that time ran

Third years turned more serious
Whether it was CAT, GATE or IELTS
Everyone seemed delirious
But, career plans were mysterious
If someone joined coaching for GATE
All his friends would take the bait
And join him straight
Same was the trend for the GRE
if one joined, everyone else would follow in tee
This is how futures were defined
One pursued what the other had in mind

Placements!! the final frontier
Started at the end of third year
The faculty gave us rules to adhere
Placements are the end of the world
They made it appear

Assignments, records were a regular bore
A chore everyone did abhore
One simply had to do them to score
The sincere girls of our class
Completed these assignments fast
At this, them we often cursed
For to us it was quite queer,
As to how an aspiring MJ engineer
could be so sincere
But, lets face the fact & be frank
All these girls we should whole-heartedly thank
Because, if it wasn't for them
Our assignments would have been BLANK

A little more on the assignments story
For without their mention there is no glory
An insight in to how we did them is amusing
For, till the submission date we would be snoozing
A few students would finish them in time
May God bless these kids divine
For, each assignment was duplicated by others 9
If an X did a 15 pgs combine
a Y would shrink it to pages 9
a Z would better refine
and by the time it was my turn to fall in line
I would submit a 3 page assign
This is how engineers refine

Coming to our wonderful examinations
Sincere thanks to Spectrum Publications
Add to that the Technical and Hi-Tech
For they helped us ease our trek
As the semesters went by sequentially
Our hours of study decreased exponentially
It turned into one-day batting eventually
And now, as I say confidentially
20-20 is the in-thing preferentially

Intenals were a regular feature 
This was the time to chase the teacher
If Monday would be the day internals start
Saturday would be spent at the People's Xerox mart

Going through the internals was an art

We would extract the question paper part by part

But, questions were not all the teachers had to impart

For, even with the questions in hand

Studying, was still considered banned

Where are the answers we would demand

Etching the answers on the bench is how I would go

Throughout the exam I would look below

As the junior who sat beside me would swear

Ahmed would stare more at the bench than elsewhere

This is how our internals where

An hour or two is the study time

We would spare

For, in final year even though  

we had the paper in hand

We were too lazy to study and

bunk the exam is what we planned

Now, coming to something we couldn't do without
Strangely, this is what engineering is all about
Without them passing would have been in doubt
To us, this was stuff devout

For people like me who have an attendance drought

This was Stuff I could simply not do without

Xerox notes is what I am talking about

The physics class and its running notes
Mr Akbar Hussain and his famous quotes

Moin sir who had everyon'es respect

Our HOD, how can we forget

During his class, his backside

would be visible worldwide

 Clicking photos on the hide

Holding back tears of laughter is what we tried

We would constantly move into the class and outside

To save one's attendance from going down the loo

Mr Chakrapany was the man to go to

One of the most experienced professors at college

One must acknowledge his knowledge

Mr Nag, may God bless

The no. of times he says Yessss

His class was the best time I profess

To do assignments and records w/o stress

Mr Hakeem, who we would remember

Only at the fag end of the semester
For marks and attendance, we would pester

More often than not, he would oblige with a noble gesture

Mrs Sultana Azeem who is

apparently the evergreen beauty queen

sometimes with her open hair 

would give me and you a scare

Mr ShamRaj who was very revered

Mr Hifasat whom we all feared
His weird and boring classes

His weirder jokes, would not entertain the masses

The charismatic Mr Iftekhar
Students and he were never far

He seemed less a teacher and more a friend

One person whose classes we all did attend

He is someone we will always remember

He was the most elegible bachelor till last November

Mr Arif who was very versatile

One moment he would smile

And the very next, turn hostile

One moment, he would speak a Hyderabadi phrase

The next, he would be an Angrez

But, then everyone will agree

He and Ifty were the cool duo of ece

The classes that we bunked

The roaming VP we hid and dunked

SPAC, STAC were our flagship events

As we would proclaim, MJ ECE proudly presents

Since, bunking and getting attendance was music to one's ears

There would be less particiapants and more volunteers

But, at the end we would proclaim

This event was better than the last one that came

The final year project if you think brings glory

Believe me, it is a totally different story

The less said about it the better

For, in my case other than my project name

there is nothing else I remember

Another thing I should mention

For me, this had become a convention

12:30 was my favorite time of the day

For this was the time I used to smile and say

"Bhai, aaj lunch kaha karenge?

Biryani, grilled chicken ya buffet, kya khaenge?

Green bawarchi, Kababish, Ohri's ya Indijoe

Kaha jaana hai jaldi bolo?

This was something that happened everyday

Much to my fat friends' dismay

For without the mention of this everyday luncheon

My description of coll life would be in dudgeon

Coming to the labs we had

The old equipment made us go mad

Thr output seemed impossible to achieve

Guruvaiyyah, Ashfaq, Mujeeb we tried to appease

Mein to pura sahi connect kara, IC kharaab hai

is what we would say

But, they used to correct things with ease

Not, before giving you a tease

The viva was a time to beguile

To put up one's sweetest and most innocent smile

One could hardly remember what one prepared

What you did study, you would forget cos you were scared

However, there would be questions a few, 

that you studied and whose answers you knew, but....

but these would be asked to the person sitting beside you

Then, the external would look at you with eyes that bore

And ask you something you had never heard before

If you don't answer the sir would grin more

And wouid grill you till you get sore

Saying, "I am sorry I can't remember"

I would meekly surrender

This final sem was a recap of the 4 years

It had all the cheers and the tears

Enjoy to the max is what we did for sure

Whether it was Adsophos or our South India Tour

The A & B rivalry in 2nd year was cleverly devised

I think by members of the faculty, (are you surprised)

It would bring the best out of us, they advised

"The other section is better" is what they would say

Work harder is what they would convey

Strange as it may sound

Instead of studying, we fought it out in the ground

But, I am truly sure I can say 

This rivalry only made us the best of friends today

Few events at the farewell

I understand my and Touseef's words didnt go down well

What we said should have been taken in jest

The rivalry should be put to rest

We are together is what I wanted to convey

Few took it the other way

As me and Tou apologize in feign

I have said this before and I say it again

We must always remember

MJ ECE will always be A & B put together

Soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife.
Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life.
But as we go our sordid separate ways,
We shall never forget these golden college days.

(The following lines are taken from a source.....not sure where..)

A life which is to end

Only when I am no more

A life which transformed me 

In a fighter to the core

A season of love and friendship

For eternity which will last

In my future to follow

I will long to relive this past

Memories of this pasrt of journey

I'll carry all life long

Memories of those precious moments 

Which made my life a beautiful song

My eyes go teary

Emotions fill my heart

As my days left here are few

Now, it's time to bid Adieu

May the peace, mercy and blessings of the Almighty

Be Always Upon You.

                              

                                                                                                 

Dedicated to all final years

This was my mediocre attempt to recap college life; Unfortunately, 3 hours is not enough of time to remember and pen down 4 years of memories......

Pls put in your comments and the many things I forgot to mention

9 wandering souls

Imagine picking 9 mindless morons who spent 4 years languishing at MJ, giving them Rs. 60,000 altogether; a 10 day period window and setting them free. Imagine the madness that would unfold.

Thats exactly what happened.

Now, I know everyone goes on trips with friends and this may seem a cliche; but, if you have the patience read on and see the madness unfold.

March 1st

We catch the Sabri Express at 12pm; the journey was a full 30 hours to Trivandrum. 30 hours on a train can be a pain and visiting the toilets is the least of your worries. But, since we were a motley group the 30 hour journey turned out to be the perfect way to kickstart our tour. Avinash bought in lunch and then we got into business of playing UNO. You know UNO don't you. If you don't know UNO, then I will let you know UNO is a card game wherein you need to get rid of your allotted 8 cards and the first person to have zero cards wins. So, Avinash, Shareef and Muneer teamed up and drove Noorul crazy. At times, he had a total of 25 cards on his hands making up a nice Chinese fan. This game went on for hours. But, it was Hussain who broke the records by notching a total of 300+ . (the winner gets zero points and one needs to make sure that he minimizes his score)

Guntur was on the way and the train stopped for 5 mins. Shareef's dad had bought our dinner and was waiting at the station. With military precision Shareef alighted from the train and bought in our tasty consignment; Chicken khorma with parathe Mmmm. After a hearty dinner, another round of you know UNO and deciding on who gets which berth, we go to sleep.

2nd March 6am:- I wake up and stand by the train door watching the coconut trees fly by. Since, nobody else was awake I go back to sleep. After a few hours we wake up, have our breakfast and back to UNO. Few of us, sat on the steps by the train doors watching the green fields go by.

Now, something about Mr Muneer Sheikh aka MS. Every station the train stops at, you see the people waiting at the station, a coolie in red, the softdrink wala, a woman with a kid in arms, and then you see Muneer there too. This skinny guy used to wait by the doors and alight at the station a few seconds before the train stops and stand right in front of our window.

Another funny point was when a woman with a child in her arms, walked about the train singing some songs, asking for alms. For some strange reason, Hussain started singing the same song. Guess, he is looking for a career on the railways. ( Full set hai ab Hussain bhai)

March 2nd, 7pm :- Reached Trivandrum on time. The autowalahs outside the station, said they knew a nice hotel, so we checked it out, the Baban Plaza. It was pretty good so, we booked 3 rooms ( 3 per room). One strange thing about Kerala is that most shops close at 10pm there which left us astonished. We were yet to have dinner and by the time everbody had washed up, it was 10pm. So, the 9 wandering souls walked around the city, wandering in search of food. An autowala, said he knew of a nice hotel, we insisted on halal non-veg food and he said the restaurant has halal food, chicken tandoori, tikka, biryani, grilled chicken, etc etc. We crammed into 2 autos and went to that place. Seemed pretty fancy from the outside, as we alighted from the autos, paid them and entered the hotel. Faisal bhai, went up and asked the waiter, " Is the food here halal?"

The waiter looked at him confused and replied, "Sir, here pure veg hotel"

What? What??? Wo autowalah ki to @@@***&&@@

So, we walk out again cursing, and wander about. Spot a hotel by name Shahi Dhabha. Decent food there; as we have a feast and walk back home. Now, Hussain had had a jaam fruit on the train and a seed lodged itself somewhere in his teeth. So, he goes into a bakery and asks, "Where is dentist here closeby?"

The guy there replied, "There is one Hatya Hospital"

Now, began Hussain's search for Hatya Hospital at 11 in the night. We, managed to get him back to the hotel. Strange as he is, he looked at every poster (including those of politicians) and asks

"Wo Mamooty hai?"

March 3rd :- We had decided to start by 8am, but being MJCETians, that is impossible as nobody even wakes up by then, let alone bathe and get ready. So, we start at 10, get into a Tavera, stop at a place for a quick breakfast and to our first stop Kovalam beach. We splash around mindlessly, like kids. Meanwhile, Mr Imad was fishing, looking into the water with his naked eye and attempting to catch a fish with his bare hands. Poor guy, nobudy told him to put on his glasses first.

One fact that surprised me was why foreigners who are in their late 60s come to Indian beaches,.

Yaha marne aate shahid

We helped the fishermen pull a boat back to the shore,

(Dum lagaake) ( It's hard work)

Another interesting turnout was poor Shareef getting sunburnt. His body turned red, earning him the nickname Lal Badhsaah

Next stop was Kanyakumari where we reached by 4 pm. Shopped for some time. Hussain went up to a vendor selling pearl ear-rings and said

"Ye kaisa dere; 10 rupee mein 20"

followed by peals of laughter.

A vendor selling sea-shells on which he etched names was our primary target. The 9 of us picked up around 20 of these. Hussain gave him an advance of 200, saying we would be back in an hour as we had to go to sunset point. We spent 30 mins, watching the sun set slowly, steadily in the ocean. A great time for a photo shoot.

We stopped by at the vendor to pick up our sea-shells, Hussain haggled over the price and managed to bring the total down by Rs 50, paid him to which the vendor said "Thankyou" and left.

After driving for an hour, Hussain remembered that they forgot to decuct the Rs 200 paid in advance. No, wonder the vendor said "Thankyou".

After a long drive through clogged streets, we reached our hotel in at 11 pm. Later, we heard Rahul Gandhi had paid a visit to the city which is why there were traffic restrictions.

March 4th:- We wake up later than usual and go to Veli Lake which has a boating facility. We catch 2 autos. Kerala autowalas are quite friendly and speak broken English, unlike those in Tamilnadu.

This guy, Satish seemed pretty enthusiastic. He started rattling names of places that must be visited in the city. He also said

" Here, I take you to one place. Beeeautifulll girls will do massage you"

This rang alarm bells in the young boys onboard. We burst out laughing. Imad, said

"No, no we are all married. We have wives"

Bolte nahi Imad tum; shaadi bhi ho gayi kate

To change the topic, I asked Satish,

"Did Rahul Gandhi come here yesterday? All the streets have his posters"

He replied

"Aah, Rajeev Gandhi has come tomorrow"

Ab zyada puche to Genghis Khan bhi aaya boldinga ine

Veli was a nice place, and we enjoyed boating. To get back to our hotel, we took two buses, which dropped us somewhere and then, it was back to the 9 wandering souls part. We checked out of the hotel and took the 4pm train to Cochin

An interesting development on the train was the case of vendor selling dvds. Hussain called him and he handed a huge bunch of dvds. After sifting through them, hussain picked up a few. One of them had 5 films, SlumDog, Milk, The Reader, and some other name which none of us had heard of. Hussain bargained here too

"Arey! what so costly. At kothi I bought for Rs. 25.

Last week on the Chennai train I bought for Rs.25"

Its difficult to control your laughter when Hussain starts bargaining.

Reached Cochin at 8 pm, checked into a hotel Najaf Residency, right infront of the station. Had dinner at Mughal restaurant.

Another thing strange at Kerala, is that, you almost burn your hand when you touch the water jugs at the restaurants there. Moreover, the color of the water is a light orange. On enquiry, they said it's ayurvedic water.

Kamaal hai, nahaane ko baithe to thanda paani aata; peene ko garam paani

But, we followed a strict policy of bottled mineral water wherever we went.

March 5th:- Called a Tempo at 7:30 to take us sight seeing. We, of course the Hyderabaadi Nawabs got ready and had breakfast by 10 am. We boarded the van and saw that a Nepali couple was coming along sight seeing with us. We had kept them waiting for 2 hours. Now, there is a taste of IST with a dash of Hyderabadi masaala for them.

The driver was a character worth mention. Name was Dil, as he flashed his Drivers License and there it was

Name: Dil

And, he claimed himself to be " Bcom First Class"

All along the way, he waves at his friends on the street, be they other drivers, policemen and even college girls!!

He pointed to a huge boarding with a picture of some Kerala actress and screamed

"See, See there SEE

That Kerala No.1 Actress.

(Blows Kisses) She, My Heart!!"

and waves

Someone, tell this guy to keep his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

A woman was standing in the middle of the road, instead of the sides and Dil sounded his horn asking her to move aside and commented to himself

"Nice woman, why in road middle standing"

To which Shareef made a hilarious remark with 'middle standing'

First stop was the backwaters at Alleppey, where we toured in the famous houseboats. It was a bit boring, except for our conversation with the Nepali couple. We asked if they had been to Hyderabad and savored out biryani. They said they hadn't been to Hyd but had tasted biryani at Cochin and claimed it to be very spicy. Now, one thing about the hotels at Kerala is that most of their curries are sweet and they don't use many spices.

Tum log Hyderabad aake khao biryani, peeche aag lag jaana

Next was a special Thali meal with 7 curries. The annoying thing is that, by the time you taste all the curries you have no rice left; and moreover, you don't even remember which curry was good.

Next was the ship cruise to Mattancherry and the nearby Jew Town district with its synagogue, narrow streets, antique shops and spice auction houses, the Dutch Palace and then Fort Cochin. Quite a few foreigners come here, and every gori turned 9 heads.

We weren't the only 9 present there

We were back at our hotel by 6, did a bit of shopping, dinner which saw a debate between Faisal and Muneer, and then retired for the night.

March 6th:- Miraculously, we were all ready by 7:30 and started for Munnar in a Qualis. The driver was a chap Mahesh.

The treacherous Ghat roads with its twists and turns, and our driver who made the tyres screech in pain, really made one's stomach turn. Adding to that the car had woofers that drove you through the roof. I, unfortunately was at the back seat and the woofers right below me, enough to ease any problems of constipation if one were suffering from. And when the song Masti ki Paatshaala from RDB is played with the starting beats Loose Control; you really do loose control. We had to stop twice, cos of Shareef's vomitings. Thankfully, he was fine after that. The driver played Mar jaani from Billoo Barber a dozen times, driving us insane literally mar gaye. We reached Munnar by 11 and checked into Raahath Inn, pretty nice hotel. Being a Friday, we quickly got ready and headed to the only mosque in Munnar. It was in the process of expansion, wherein a floor was being added on top. Now, this makes the place cooler, and Munnar is already a very cool place. The sermon was initially delivered in Malyalam, and the cool atmosphere ensured that 7 of us 9 dozed off during the sermon. Satan must have been so proud

(Note:- This is nothing to brag about. May the Almighty forgive us)

After prayer, we stop for lunch at a place, where a few ordered biryani. It was delivered 30 mins late and wasn't as piping hot as it should be. Many didnt bother and ate. But, Hussain and Zakir sent it back saying they wanted it warmer. The waiter then disappeared leaving 2 hungry and cold boys hanging. Hussain called the waiter and said

"What is this, how much time you will take?

I am dying here"

Finally, after 20 mins and 7 of us having toothpicks between our lips came hot food. Believe me, the biryani outside Hyderabad is a disgrace.

Visited Echo point, another round of boating. Had coconut water and asked the price after our last sip. He said Rs. 20 per coconut i.e. total Rs. 180!!!

We argued, bargained, haggled, wrangled...

Hussain and Shareef at the forefront. Hussain said something to which the coconut wala picked up his sickle and replied in Malyalam, which translated is simply

" Pairon ke beech mein se kaatke tumhare do tukhde kar detu"

We drive by the unending expanse of tea plantations - pristine valleys and mountains, the shy buffaloes on the way, the cool air. Munnar, truly a beautiful place. Hussain, Imad and Zakir even proclaimed that they would spend their honeymoon at Munnar

Abhi tum log shaadi to karo, moon ke khawb baad mein dekho

That night, as we were going out for dinner, we came across street vendors selling jackets at Rs. 100 a piece!!!

Hussain, pounced at them mercilessly followed by the rest of us, and we literally left the vendors naked. Bargaining, haggling over the prices that we could have made it into a Guinness Record of sorts.

Next, after dinner we retire for the night.

March 7th:- Have breakfast, at a place which served one of the best Masala dosas I ever had. At 10, we start for Kodaikanal. We stop at a place Thekkedy for a night halt, as travelling after dark on the Ghat road is dangerous. We took two cottages belonging to Mr Ibrahimkutty, a wonderful and kind old man. (Not that he let us stay for free).

It was the name of the cottage that caught my eye.

King and Eve Roma

King and Eve Obama

Scenes of hilarity were to unfold at this quiet town, famous for it's wildlife sactuary; well, we had a bit of wildlife of ours to show.

We were famished after the long drive and so, went to some hotel which unfortuantely served only snacks at 5pm. Hussain ordered a cheese sandwich, and got a slice of cheese between two slices of bread. He asked the waiter

"What is this? You put only cheese in cheese sandwich? Where did you learn this recipe?"

This resulted in howls of laughter and an amused waiter, who bought him another one. Next, the 9 souls wandered around Thekkedy aimlessly, irritating shopkeepers. We stepped into some sort of woodcraft shop and picked a few items, bargained with the shopkeeper Mr Matthew, who fortunately was a cool and cheerful man. He criticised the Kerala govt. calling it bullshit, etc etc.

He enquired what we were planning after engineering. Imad said, we all have jobs, to which he replied, if you don't have jobs or any admits from colleges you can take some money from your father and go on a world tour.

Tumhare bawa ki jaagir hai kya. World tour kate. Ghar ke bahar ich kar dete hamesha ke liye.

Meanwhile, 2 others had gone for a massage. (They said it was done by men, God knows what really happened :) )

We returned to our cottages. Mr Ibrahimkutty's son Fazil bought in a dvd player for us. Now, Fazil had a habit of his eyes twitching, which scared Hussain, who exclaimed

"Arey miya une jab se mere ko 5 baar aankh maara. Duur rehna usse"

Hussain inserted the first dvd and played it. Since, we had all watched SlumDog, we fast tracked through it's scenes into the next movie. Now, the next came right out of the blue, and surprised us resulting in rounds of laughter. Imad saying

"Meri ainak kaha hai, meri ainak kaha hai"

Avinash commented

"Mast hai!.............Clarity"

Everyone exploded into laughter and he replied

"Arey mein TV ki clarity achhi hai bolru"

Shareef came and said

"Kaha zara SlumDog to lagao, dekhinge kya hai....."

Noorul said

"Kya re Hussain, kya kaaman karre tum"

And, then everyone started blaming Hussain for buying dvds from a train ( I think a few thanked him too....)

But, Hussain, lived up to his morals and broke the dvd.
Meanwhile, Zakir who was adamant on making a camp fire at night, was asleep by 7pm. Nothing could wake him up.

After jokes, jokes and more jokes we went to sleep.

March 8th:- 8:30, we start for Kodaikanal. After travelling a few hours, we had a puncture

Haan bhai, ye bhi hua. Jab We Met style. Puncture ke bina to trip incomplete rehti na

As the driver struggled for 2 hours to get things fixed, the rest of us sneaked into a guest house nearby which had caged rabbits, swans and a little monkey for our entertainment. Not to mention, we picked Imly from the trees nearby too. Shareef bhai had a certain stint in nature too......

Resuming our journey, we reached Kodaikanal by 2pm, checked into cottages at May Flower Guest House, washed up and were out for lunch. Made the mistake of going to a Silver Springs Restaurant, where they took 45 mins to get us food. Those who ordered chicken biryani, were in for a surprise, as they got red colored rice, and Zakir told the waiter

"Tomato rice nahi mangaaya na mein"

Apparently, rice here is red in color.

Without creating much fuss, we moved onto Kodai Lake for boating, which was fun except for the icy water that splashed onto my seat on the boat, cos the moment Hussain stands or sits the boat rocks voilently. Sitting on the wet seat for 20 mins, left me with a frozen bottom for the next two hours.

Next were quick stops at Pillar Rock, Suicide Point and other scenic places; followed by some mad shopping at a certain clothestore.

Reached our hotel, stayed in our jackets, wrapped ourselves in shawls and watched the Filmfare awards. Went out for dinner at a pretty nice place; the walk under the moon, the freezing breeze, hands in pockets, our speech being signaled by the visible vapor escaping our mouth.........a nice shivering walk as we trek slowly. Meanwhile, our driver was marching away wearing only a half shirt and a lungi.
Insaan hai ya saand hai ine

At dinner, our driver was in a very good mood, and called the shots ( we 9 would understand). He even gave Imad an address to visit in Karnataka, when he goes for his Infosys training.

After dinner, and a cool walk back to our lodge, we get to packing. For, me Hussain and Zakir this was a pretty tough task, but somehow we squeezed everything in.

March 9th:- The initial plan was to start by 7, see a few places and then leave for Coimbatore by 9. As, it is we woke up at 9 and had to leave for Coimbatore immediately. A smooth ride, except that it was a bit tight for everybody. Reached Coimbatore at 2, had lunch and boarded our train at 4:30 to return. Not many incidents on the train, except one when eunuchs came demanding money and the person sitting at the corner (he asked me to withold his name) was in a hilariously problematic situation. The term RRRaaajjja!!!! ( we 9 would know)

March 10th:- 2 pm. Back to Hyderabad

Few other things that need mention:-

There were a number of times when we crossed into Tamilnadu from Kerala and back by road. It isn't difficult to know when you are in Kerala and when you are in TN. Thanks, to the election season, on one side of the border you see posters of Achuthanandan and on the other side you see Mr. Karunandhini.

You would have figured out that I have a poor command over english. It just got worse during our trip. A few excerpts from my daily conversations with vendors, drivers...

"This how much price?

We 10 more friends in hotel. If you give at low price, all come here"

How, many hour journey this?"

Now, we are back home. Lots of work to be done.

Have to wonder how to do a 6 month final year project in 6 days.

Need to start record work,

Wonder if my single digit attendance %ges would be enough?

Have to think about exams

But, then the true engineering students that we are, we say

Choro miya, kaike exams. IPL start hora

The Cast

1) Faisal:- The coordinator of the tour, who took care of everyone and made sure everything was smooth. It's not easy controlling 8 wild gorillas. Faisal bhai, Hats Off!! You did a great job. I am ready for our next tour.

2) Shareef:- The manager of the tour, will be remembered as the Lal Badshah, and for his bargaining tactics with the vendors.

He shakes their hand and says

"Uncle, Thank you uncle, I will remember you uncle. I will go home and remember that you gave me discount. "

If the vendor was still stubborn, I wonder if Shareef would have resorted to huggs and kisses

3) Avinash:- Best remembered for forgetting his bag at field in Munnar, where we stopped for a photo shoot. Miraculously, he got it back.

4) Hussain:- The star comedian on the tour, who will be remembered for his mindless antics, the dvd, Rs.200; and for making us all memorize his dialogues

"Kaun, Mein?" "Hyderabad"

and his bargaining with the vendors.

"Arey what!! 300 rupees!!! Last week my brother came here and he bought for 200."

"There that shopowner is giving for so less"

5) Muneer:- He kept us in splits throughout the journey with his witty comments. He has a problem pronouncing 'land'. Also, his periodic "SRK rocks, A.R. Rahman rocks" antics; and of course "Shoot"

6) Noorul:- Added to Muneer's humor all the way. He and Muneer creat a riot of sorts. Will, also be remembered for pulling Hussain's leg all the way.

7) Zakir:- He can't stay awake beyond 11pm, no matter what and gets tired easily. Will be remembered for buying jumbo size jackets that would fit 5 Zakirs, and complaining while packing that his bags are full.

8) Imad:- The intellectual, mention something and he fires away on the topic driving you insane. Got to know that he has a passionate crush on Deepika, Kangana and the no. of times he mentioned a certain Z____ drove us all to zzzzz..... Waiting to hear his experience in Karnataka when he visits Mahesh's recommended address.

9)And last, but not the least, Yours truly, ME

Special Appearance

Dil, Mahesh, Sateesh the drivers

Ibrahimbutty, Fazil the cottage owners

Mathhew the art shop owner

The angry coconut wala,

Thanks to everyone mentioned above. Especially the 8.

Each and everyone of you made this tour a memorable one, something I will remember throughout my life.

Thanks to Shareef, and Avinash's moms for packing us food.

Special thanks to the Almighty, for guiding us throughout and bringing us back safe and sound. No amount of thanksgiving is enough.

Want to know who was the happiest during the trip.

Well,

The happiest people were

My folks at home, as they say

"Tum nahi the itne din, ghar pe achha sukoon tha"

I had decided that I would put up a post on my tour while sitting in the train on my way back. There was simply so much to write about. 9 days, or 216 hours. Every moment was something to cherish, something we will remember. Many things which I couldn't put up or forgot to. Perhaps, the other 8 could give inputs.

On our way back, I sit by the window, looking at the landscape pass me by. The scenes flying past the window, remind me of the 9 days that passed by so fast, the fleeing houses like fleeting memories.

The trees, the green farms, the infinite blue sky, the occasional bridges.

Each tree that passes by, reminds me of a moment of fun;

Each junction we stop at, reminds me of the breaks we took during out journey.

Each hawker that walks by our bogie, signifies the people who made a special appearance in our trip.

I go into rewind mode, thinking of the fun we had; a smile across my lips that lasts a few seconds.

But, then reality dawned. My last days at college, last few days with friends. 4 years of friendship and now the pain of knowing that we will soon be moving away from each other. Memories of not only the last 10 days, but the last 4 years flash by. A few months down the line, and we would be out of college, heading our own ways. Then, who knows when we may meet again. I look at my friends. There is a somber mood, perhaps they share my thoughts.

So, does this tour mark the end of our friendship days.

Believe me,

This tour only marked

the beginning of a renewed friendship........

                                              Friends Forever

 [ L-R= Imad, Me, Hussain, Shareef, Zakir, Muneer, Fasial, Noorul  Pic:- courtesy Avinash ]

(To those, who weren't on the tour with us, Let's plan another one)