Out on something new...

For long I’ve been waiting to post something here. I wasn’t getting the right topic to write on but finally I’ve found one…what better than the description of a pleasure trip would fit the bill!

This time around, I didn’t go out with my college folks but found a new company in the office itself. I can’t go on with this post without describing the people who were a part of it:

1. Paddy: “Pull me, drag me, and laugh at me…I’ll still survive”. The patient guy who’s always a patient!
2. Sapna: The predator…come what may, no one can escape her witty one-liners. Paddy being the worst hit of all.
3. Sid: The musician…our lover boy. And also our finance manager.
4. Amit: “Himesh” of our group. The crowd gets mad with his ear-piercing, shrieking voice, when he decides to even hum!
5. Imran: The sensible guy in the entire of the lot. (commonly referred as Imran Bhai)
6. Ninu: This “Baawaa” takes a lot to control is cussing tongue.
7. Vishu: The six pack guy. Please give him something to eat. Also, the slang-tank of Karnataka. (learnt a lot from you man)
8. Hema: Contesting with Vishu…give her also something to eat.
9. Ashish: The stone pelter…aka “Pathrila”. Lambasting language that can even make the managers go moo.
10. Apeksha: The Please-Click-Me girl. Wants to be in every snap, striking a new pose (unless she’s sleeping).
11. Shrenik: The decent guy who believes in having all the fun even being in the background.
12. Swaroop: Fun-loving bloke…also loves to be a target of the shutter-bugs.
13. Nithin: A secluded Romeo…always over the phone (warring against Vishu over their supremacy of Kannada ugliest slang)
14. Me: (I leave this space blank for the readers’ comment)

Also there was a huge source of inspiration behind this entire plan...her name is Shruti aka "Shruti Di". I was made full of guilt by her penetrating and now reverberating words, when I had not included her in this list. Now that has made me "Edit" my post. I hope this makes you feel better Shruti Di..!

Let me first tell you about the place where we went to. This place is called as “Ganpati Pule”. It’s a small coastal village in the beautiful Konkan region. And I can safely tell you that this place is cheaper than what you can even imagine! The idyllic and rustic charm of this place is in the fact that it is not commercialized yet.

It is not that we suddenly came up with this wonderful idea of going out to such a place on a weekend. This was all done so strategically. We, about a month ago, had spotted a weekend when most of the people would have time. And those who didn’t have time were asked to keep themselves free over that weekend. But the actual thing started getting shaped up only recently. There was a huge confusion with the place where we should go to. The choices were ranging from Mahabaleshwar to Goa…any place which we could have managed in a couple of day’s time. Goa (personal preference) got ruled out considering its distance from Pune. With some more rounds of brainstorming, we found that Ganpati Pule was the most feasible option.

So, a group of 14 enthusiasts geared up for this ride, which began at the stroke of twelve on Saturday. The trip, like any typical bus journey kicked off with a round of self-sung songs, flavored with intermediate rounds of leg-pulling of the most common and the easiest prey, that’s Paddy. Everyone tried to assist Sapna in that. In the middle of everything, few people were trying to cozy themselves and fit them in the right slots to catch some forty winks. But it never happened that everyone in the bus was found asleep.

We reached the spot at 7:30 in the morning. We settled down in a decent enough place, which was unbelievably cheap! Within no time we all were on the beach. The serenity was the most striking feature of that place. It wasn’t at all crowded and the sand was clean and the water was also clear. I almost felt as if it is some private beach or something! We rushed into the water, girls taking the back seat. With some prodding, we got them in with us. We made a small chain and stood there waiting for a wave to hit us. The bigger a wave, the higher we went with it. We were splashing and jumping all around. The tired lot went ahead with building of some sand castles. Paddy was even buried in the sand. I think it was more intended than just the photographic satiation!

Boys got into a playful mood, and got a football. We made teams (girls included) and started to play. Lasses were wise enough to cut out of the game almost immediately. And all the lads were exasperated within 10 minutes of the game, under the sun. We shunned it as a bad idea. But the girls thought that they are too smart and left for the hotel. And hence, missed on the fun of sipping some refreshing coconut water…sitting under a shack…gazing intently at the vast sea…enjoying the cool breeze flowing intermittently…gossiping with the pals…relaxing!! I tell you and all the guys on the trip will vouch for me, that this was one of the defining moments! Besides, who can beat the record of having the coconuts’ bill staggering to 300bucks, where one was just for 10-15 bucks!! Girls, believe it…you were out on this trip with some real voracious eaters on the planet Earth.

With the overnight journey and the day's long play, we all were dog-tired. Though we had plans of looking at the sun setting across the horizon…but our sleeps got the better of us! We kept sleeping till late in the evening…only to realize that all we could grab then was the sunrise. But never mind! Came evening and we went to the beach again. This time, Sid’s guitar was with us and also Sid! He played some nice songs to us. And we all made inevitable chorus to all his songs. I know he would have hated it…but couldn’t utter a word of disapproval. Or rather he didn’t dare utter any! Amidst all this fun, we felt pangs of hunger. And then the time was just right to visit the best restaurant around (with some desperate effort to splurge). Despite all our efforts (hogging), we could only get the bill to a paltry sum.

Now while getting back to the hotel, we all were looking forward to having some great time there on the terrace of the hotel. As usual, Paddy gave in to our incessant efforts to stretch apart his legs, and not just simply pull them! I tell you, this guy has some patience in life…seldom does he lose his cool. Appreciate it pal. Thanks for your encouragement! But this guy evened it all out by scaring the hell out of us all, with his extraordinary narration of a ghost’s story. Vishu and Hema were the worst hits. Imran bhai coupled it with some insights on the science of the dreams…giving some never-heard-of-before reasoning! It was really informative. Also, there were some crude remarks coming on the sexual orientation of the people around! We kept alive the conversation till 3am and finally went to sleep.

The next day, on our way back, we had planned to visit a place, called as Marleshwar. This site has a temple and some waterfalls. We visited the temple after climbing some 400 steps…halted in between to have some lemon juice and all. Thanks to our luck that one waterfall was running in spite of the dry season. Sid and Amit were already dressed to get drenched in the water while the others had come unprepared. We saw those 2 guys having a gala time in the water. I gave in my apprehensions of getting my pair of jeans wet…I plunged along. The water falling from a great height was hitting us hard on our bare backs but washed down all our fatigue. But it was fun. And fun is always contagious. Gradually, all of us (except Nithin and Imran) played beneath the natural shower. It was rejuvenating. While walking down, all wet, up to the bus, I was having a tough time as my wet jeans increased my weight by manifolds.

This was the most refreshing part of the day and I think we had better time there than on the beach. At least the water wasn’t salty and it wasn’t burning our eyes! While on our way back from Marleshwar, a war raged between the group of girls (Sapna and Apeksha) and the gang of boys (esp. Amit, Swaroop and I). We guys were trying to sing the most absurd and obscene numbers in competition to the typical girlish songs sung by the fairer sex. Everyone was trying to out speak (or out sing) the other. Amit using all his nasal abilities was singing (read, shouting) at the top of his voice. The girls stuck to their guns but in the process, they sounded worse than we boys!

At the same time, people were taking turns to consult Imran Bhai for palmistry. I was too busy fighting the battle to have consulted him. After all this, as we were nearing Pune, we made a pact with the girls and decided to tune in but never compromised with those typical feminine numbers. Gosh! Around all this howling and screaming, I must appreciate the driver to be very calm and patient. He didn’t ask us once to keep low even when he was meandering through all those curvy "Ghats". But at last, I remember he couldn’t help himself asking me, “Do you ever get tired?” And I said in a victorious tone, “No”…