Ten years and counting

In the dying hours of 30th December 1999, 5 idiots bought general class train tickets from Suratkal station to Madgaon (After stocking themselves and their bags up with some lots of rum). The trip which followed is hard to explain in any rational or irrational manner. Over the next 40 hours, the following things were done or undone:

1. Sharing of 60 ml (nahi nahi 40 ml) of a drink with strange friendly boy - no
2. Nattu had to turn off the ayshee - yes
3. Papa asking us to take a helicopter to Goa - no
4. Seeking Shah on a train from Gujarat after speaking to his mother at 5am- yes
5. Finding a lot of Shahs on the train - yes
6.a. Finding our Shah - no
6.b. Finding two friends from school who recognised you - yes
7.a. Putting yellow paint on trousers - yes
7.b. Going through the motions of getting a hotel room - yes
7.c. Walking out of a hotel when deemed too expensive - yes
8. Getting drunk by 1pm - yes
9. Puking on one's self while lying down faceup on the beach - yes
10. Ushering in the new year with a drink - no
11. Nursing a hangover at 4pm - sunset - yes
12. Drinking water only after asking friend to borrow it from topless middle aged woman - yes
13. Eating Tandoori chicken - yes
14. Going into Tito's (stag entry - rs. 1800 for everything, girls could enter for free) - no
15. Mysteriously vanishing for a few hours - yes
16. Sleeping around a bonfire - yes
17. Cursing odd looking boy with hot looking girl (and wishing him dead) - yes
18. Almost dying in the cold - yes
19. Sleeping on bus back to goa to be woken up by conductor - yes
20. Sleeping on bus back to station to be woken up by conductor - yes

Addy/Goldie/Rao/Jazz - I am touched to note that we are still in touch.
Everyone else at baccmavs - We have done 50% of 'bees saal baad'

Mama's wedding

I am a married man now since Dec 9th 2009. More on that in a separate post, very rarely do things happen in my life which I want to write about so I do not want to loose out on them and stick to the order.
About two weeks before my wedding, I took a flight to Mumbai on my way to Trivandrum via Mangalore. The plan was to visit KREC for a day and then take the train from Mangalore to reach Trivandrum the next day for two days of fun and frolic at Mama's wedding. My flight from Mumbai was preponed and I missed it. I spent the night at Chaku's house (who is also from KREC and was planning to come to college with me - bag baggage missus and son) and all of us took the flight the next day to Trivandrum.
We were in Trivandrum one day early. I was a bit worried about getting bored, but then I had Sid for company (more on him below) and by the end of it, I really liked my stay in Kerala. Everyone we asked about what to do in Trivandrum  and the answer was - go to Kovalam. Kovalam was the daytime and the nighttime capital of anything we wanted to do there... so go to kovalam we did. The first evening, we ended up in the Leela Kovalam, which has a large infinity pool (you can see it in the closing shots of the movie Rock on) overlooking the Arabian sea. We planned to have a massage but turned it down in favour for their nice buffet dinner, which has authentic kerala cuisine (all 6 items) and a lot of north indian fare (tandoori chicken, aloo gobi and so on).
Early next day, we took a cab and were back on the beach by 8 (I think). The cabbie shocked my by his timeliness. He arrived exactly at 7:30. I think that I am so caught up with all the trappings on living in a big city that small city life never fails to please me.
Some pics below from the fun I had that day - Chaku + Deepti + Sid + me + Kovalam. The day started with a few hours on the beach - the early sun and the fishermen pulling in their nets. It was followed by a nice oil massage. Chaku and Deepti took turns for their massage so that Sid was not left alone. I ended up alone with him for a bit as Chaku was taking his shower while Deepti's had started. I was scared imagining Sid bawling for his Papa or Mummy but Sid remained the happy and sunny child that he always is...

After a bit, we dragged ourselves to this place called the German Bakery which is also on Kovalam beach.
(Kovalam beach is a series of beaches - by themselves, they are not very long, but the beach is perfect. They are shorter than many other beaches, including the one at KREC. However, the beaches are perfect. Clean sand, gradual inclines into the water, decent waves).


Later, quite a few others made it to the same bakery. Riju (flying in from Delhi), thePingus, the KCPs and so on. Below - Sid at the bakery, the lighthouse (on the lighthouse beach) which looks very similar to the view on KREC beach and a pic of almost all of us (Except for Chaku and Deepti) towards the end of the day at the German bakery.

I really liked the functions I got to attend. The functions were straightforward and uncomplicated.
On the eve of the wedding, there was a simple function with the groom's family and friends (us) where Mahesh's brother's availability as a single man was announced. The function had a bartender who insisted on leaving very little space for any thing other than Chivas, an excellent meal and great fun.
Even the wedding and the reception were very to-the-point. Lots of things were done with minimum of fuss.
We arrived at the church at 11:15 and got seats which were somewhere in the middle. By 11:35 the groom had walked in and soon after, so did the bride. By 12:30, all was done - the wedding as well as the sunday (?) mass. By 1:00 pm, we were all at the Trivandrum club for the reception. At the reception as well, both the families were introduced, from great-grandfather down (5 minutes), along with the bride's and groom's current education and employment status. The groom's younger brother's availability was announced to a larger audience (about 600 people). With all this out of the way, the lunch layout was explained. By 1:45, there were a group of about 20 IIMA friends + spouses ready to go home and fall asleep after carefully stuffing themselves with chicken/meat/beef/pork :).

Overall, it was a great wedding to be at, made more fun by Sid and so many of my friends who could come.
It was a nice way to spend my last bachelor weekend, not really for any last gasp 'bachelor' activities, but a reminder of how things are with friends - laughter, lazing and lunacy.

Five year plans

How important is a planner to the plan? If the plan outlives the planner or if the plan and the planner are no longer in the same frame of reference, then what. I do not think I am making  any sense...

I have made plans all my life. Here is an example of a plan for things to do before I turn 35:

1. To get married
2. To travel to Peru, south of France, Morocco, Egypt, New Zealand and Kanha national park
3. To have one or more child
4. To own a house/home/flat
5. To donate 50 computers to Netarhat school
6. To be fitter than I am
7. To be connected to friends and family

There are instances of co-planning, but the conspirators are far removed from my life now.
Life will always be about planning and I have a long term co-planner moving in just over a week to live with me for the forseeable future and beyond :)
I just hope and wish that the plans are fulfilled to varying degrees of success. I hope even more for more and more planning...a plan captures the present, future and even the past within itself.