This event is probably long forgotten in everybody's minds. Just a chance encounter with a few photgraphs opened up what should be a pandoras box of thoughts of a wonderful day spent in a remote farmhouse under severely inclement weather. This one was attended by almost all of the class, and the idea was a day out of the wilderness that was school! Under cloudy skies, several sleepy eyed classmates assembled at an unearthly 6:30 in the morning, dressed in their finest. Vijay, of course had bought his customary new shirt for the occasion, lest someone had seen him in his previous new one (worn once) anywhere!

The primary school bus was generously donated, and we sat down amidst the reading benches that inexplicably form the seating area in the bus! Most of us didn�t have a clue where we were headed to, and the majority hadn�t seen that side of the world at all. The bus left soon thereafter, laden with a bunch of people hell bent of creating a wall of sound in the increasing traffic. Along with stops along the way to pick up the far-flung students and teachers, we made it an hour later to a large house, with a pool that was as pregnant with water as the Saharan Africa.

While a few of us spied upon a desolate beach, the more culinary oriented preferred to snack up some energy for activities that were being threatened by the weather. Ill-planning resulted with just a few tennis balls and a cricket bat being the only means of any energy dissipation.

The deluge occurred mid-morning, and the house meant for 15, but had double that number was soiled and people found solace in running, streaking and sliding down that wet surface on their asses. These were the more adventurous ones who, one presumes, had some dead skin to scrub away from a difficult area!! The more timid ones did a real-time ranking of whose slide was better.

A bunch of 10-odd people went down to the beach just to check what was up, but had to return due to a gate hindering their progress. It was much later that a newer route was found to circumvent the obstacle. But that was good enough time to click a few for the future, and man are we glad now or what! It's amazing to see everyone 1/3 of their sizes now, and with the current state of affairs, that denominator threatens to get out of hand!

With very little to do, a feeling of being shackled came over some of us, and someone somehow got the water to fill the pool, and a we had something more to do that play cricket with a soggy tennis ball down those corridors. With water trickling in at a pathetic pace, it was a wonder that it somehow got filled by the afternoon. A game of catch-the-tennis-ball-and-prove-your-manhood ensued, and not too many participants knew the objective of the game. There was none.

At some point in the afternoon after the wannabe cricket stars had their fill, the entire motley crew filed into the close confines of the flooded house which, in retrospect fully justified the name it was given � Ganga Sagar. Attempts were made at drying out the place but considering there wasn�t a dry piece of cloth available to even wipe one�s drenched spectacles, it was given up as a lost cause. Music emanated from some corner in the chaos and an impromptu dance session ensued. Some danced, others laughed at those who danced, and some others fell into the puddles on the floor, while still others gallantly proceeded to make what they called tea. Where the teachers were in the melee, no one remembers, but one must give them credit for being good sports all through � Usha Pandit, Swarna Prasad, Rapunzel(sic) and Cuckoo.

No recollection of lunch exists, but by evening, one couldn�t see past one's outstretched hands in the rain. The pelting downpour led us away a shade earlier than was planned, and traffic jams and broken-down vehicles late at night in the middle of nowhere saw us reach a good three hours after we started.

That�s when the second part of memorable trip happened. There was a plan to stay back at school overnight and the benches had been put together to accommodate those who wanted to stay put. The trials that Cuckoo had to go through to quiten a rowdy bunch in the wee hours of the morning were kind of funny or disgusting, whichever way one wanted to see it.

Surprisingly not too much has been talked about that trip since, and one hopes that this material and photographs are enough to fire-up those long lost memories.