14,15,16 February 1998 (Sat,Sun,Mon)
Disclaimer : This is written with fun in mind and malice to none. Apologies to any one offended. While the primary audience of this write-up are my classmates, my juniors and seniors (and to a limited extent, my supers) should also be able to associate most of the names/terms.
It all started with the arrival of my cousin from U.S. (to Madras) with every intention of getting married (provided he found a suitable match, I mean, bride!). I intended to attend his marriage and if there was no marriage on the cards, to visit him on a weekend.
Yogesh developed an interest in visiting Madras (I won't bother you with reasons for that, he can explain it better!). I learnt that my cousin's marriage was fixed for Mon. 16th Feb and thought I can make a 3 day Madras visit on the occasion. Yogesh was also interested in making a Madras visit on the same weekend and thus it was that we got train tickets for the night of Friday the 13th. (Why train tickets ? What better reason than the fact that Shakku and Sowmya were going to Madras the same night, by the same train!)
On the appointed day, at the appointed time (9 PM) I was dining with Uma in Kamat Hotel, before Majestic, prior to seeing him off to Coimbatore. Having accompanied him to the bus stand, I was proceeding to the station, when whom should I bump into - Veera and Nathan. Imagine Yogesh's tension, what with the time being 9.45 PM, the train departing at 10 PM, from Platform 4 and the tickets with me! That was when I entered the station and checked out which coach we had been alloted (our tickets were still in RAC)
Shakku and Sowmya were in one coach, while we were in a different one (this is for the curious ones!). We got berths in half an hour but went to sleep only by 12.15. Yogesh managed a 5 hour sleep quite comfortably. But can't say the same about me. For one, the side berth was shorter than my height! Second, the snoring of a fellow passenger somehow threw water on my desperate attempts at catching forty winks. I guess, I must have somehow slept in fits and gaps for 2 to 3 hours.
5.15 AM on Valentine's Day found us in Madras Central. Shakku was met by her relatives and went off while the 3 of us made a simple crossing of a road look very complicated indeed! For once, I had the courage (maybe due to the nature of the day? Even Yogesh was surprised at my action, it is a fact!) to ask a girl in a waiting bus, whether it went to our place. We boarded the bus and reached Mylapore Tank in 20 minutes. We didn't have problems locating Murali & co's home, despite my poor memory of my last visit (only 5 months back), and due to directions which Yogesh had, from Murali.
Well! we woke up Johny, Murali and Siva and engaged in bringing each side up to date. We went to the nearby Rayar's Mess for breakfast. They have a standard menu - pongal followed by vadai, followed by idli, followed by coffee. Our friends frequent that place, and we knew why, once we tasted the food.
After a few more hours of conversation back in our friends' place, we set off to Suresh's place, nearby. This was after our strength was bolstered by the arrival of Muthaiya. Murali left to his office, allegedly to sign the attendance register, but more importantly for a Valentine lunch with a "friend". (Sorry folks, couldn't get much out of him on this issue!) We met Mahesh, setting off to work on a Saturday afternoon shift (2 to 9 PM). Suresh joined us for our further endeavours in the day.
It started with lunch in (Saravana ? not very sure) a hotel overlooking the Kapaleeswara temple tank. I thought the lunch was far better than in Bangalore!
It was around 2 PM now and we were scheduled to have a get-together in Gandhi Beach at 4.30 PM. What better way to spend the interval than take a ride in the new suburban train service from Mylapore (the station is called Tirumailai) to Beach Road? I took time off to ring up Kamal and Venky, whom I wanted to meet later.
The train ride was interesting and we took a few snaps on it. The station names sounded even more interesting, what with all English names converted to the Tamil equivalent (Triplicane had very humourous name; unfortunately I don't remember!) We took the same train back and got down in the "Light House" stop (sorry, the Tamil name for that station eludes me) and made the 10 minute walk to Gandhi beach. The time was 4 PM and we were well ahead of our schedule.
We sat in the shade next to a radio blaring some Tamil song. A few drops of water (!) fell on some of us, when a few crows took to the skies. (Johny or Muthaiya had some "logical" explanation for it)
The first to join our gang was Murali, back from his lunch. Madhavi followed soon after and we'd fun reliving the memories of the Project days (when Madhavi was in Bangalore). She was followed by Deepa, alone. Why the term, alone? Well! she was supposed to introduce us to her fiancee, Sundar. Apparently, Sundar had sprained his back and couldn't make it. (In fact, he had to fly back to US on 15th, but postponed his return trip due to that.)
But surprise of surprises, who should come last - Shakku! Yes, how could the gettogether be a "sizeable" one, without her? We moved to the water. Shakku, of course! didn't want her Rs.570/- footwear to get wet. Others went in, anyway.
I joined Suresh and others in playing frisbee. The game was cut abruptly short, when Siva's throw landed fair and square on a gentleman who was having some snacks with his family!
After Shakku left, Muthaiya got Deepa to give us a treat on her engagement. (Muthu has got uncanny abilities in this respect) We caught a couple of autos to our dining place. (Having lost all sense of direction by now, I have absolutely no idea where it is, except that it is opposite the lane leading to Net@Cafe.)
A few more snaps in the hotel and after giving "moksha" (salvation) to a couple of hens (in other words, having some chicken) we had ice-cream in an adjacent parlour.
Deepa left, and so did Madhavi. The rest of us went to Muthaiya's place, which is located nearby. In a few minutes came Rajkumar after a day's meditation in Mahabalipuram! We don't have to go far to solve our life's problems. We have Yogi Rajkumaranandaji amidst us.
We concluded the day by taking a bus back to our friends' home. I know, it is Valentine's Day and we had done nothing "worthwhile", whole day! I asked Yogesh, shouldn't we make a call to a "friend" of ours (sorry, no names), but no! Yogesh wasn't prepared to, and that left me with no choice, but to forget it! (How would it be if she asked me, why Yogesh didn't call?)
Later, I learnt that Venky had come to Suresh's place at 10.45 PM and didn't make the 2 minute trip to where we were staying telling the house owners will be disturbed! (An excuse I still haven't figured out!)
Myself and Yogesh got up early on 15th morning and set off for Shalini's marriage. (The rest of the gang didn't bother, due to obvious reasons!) We reached the place without much effort (though we had to jump out at a signal having passed our bus-stop!)
It was nice to meet Kamal (I was meeting him after more than 2 years, though it didn't feel like that, because we are in touch through email. email has become so much a part and parcel of our existence that I'd now feel crippled without it!) In addition, of course! there was SP. According to Kamal, I missed SP's appearance of yesterday, all beard,veshti and what not! (What are the seniors upto, one is all yoga, while the another is trying to be a sanyasi?)
There was Shalini's "other half" (according to Yogesh) Deepa A.K., the lone senior girl present. (There were no supers) Ramesh and Sreeraman turned up too. Have I missed out any one ? Yes! there was, of course! Vidya (VP).
We wished Shalini and spent the rest of our time, chatting. Come 10.20 (the marriage long over) who should come, but some of the Ramco juniors - Manoj, Meduri, Rachu, Balaji and Shaila. (Ramesh had a nice way of remembering one of them, by associating with Damian! Ask Ramesh for details!)
Thanks to Kamal, I got a marriage snap of Shalini (for the records!). Now here is where I made yet another blunder as a Don of the Class of '97. Soma had given a note to be given to VP and how stupid of me, not to have asked Yogesh to do the needful! (I never thought about it until we got back home) The end result was, according to SP, one downcast and miserable-looking/feeling friend of mine. (Mind you, according to SP!) Yogesh seemed to agree, for, when I told about this , he said that, I always realised my "mistakes" late! (I'm thinking of ways to make up for it)
A final visit to Suresh's place to bid goodbye resulted in an unexpected meeting with Amudha, Renju and Madi. This meant we met most of our Madras classmates.
This done, we moved to the Tank bus stop, I, to catch a bus to Ambattoor for the next leg of my schedule, the others to go to Madhavi's place.
It would be unfair to burden you with the narration of the rest of my visit. However, some of them are worth mentioning. I
shuttled between one end of Madras (Thiruvanmiyur) to the other end, Ambattoor (which is, in fact, not part of Madras) twice, as I went to my relative's place for the night! This gave me ample opportunity to "see" places!
Ever tried making local calls from (near) the Railway Station in the evening ? It is real fun (neither to the caller nor to the recipient)! I found two automatic telephones (put a coin and dial), one dead, the other, visibly alive. (No STD/ISD booth allows you to make a local call, even if PCO is written) I inserted a coin and called. Only after the connection was established did the fun begin - I could feel/hear the echo of my voice, while the voice on the other side was pretty unclear. Somehow, I managed to end the conversation before things became worse. Did I learn from my mistake ? You bet not. I found a row of manned booth, from where you could make local calls. This time, I tested the receiver, heard the dial tone, and dialled. Things were no better. I could hardly make out what the other person was telling. I dread to think how I sounded to the recipient of the call! (I know, you must be curious whom I wanted to call so desperately. Let there be some secrets in life, folks!)
The return train journey was uneventful (no snores) and home I was by 6.30, making a crowded bus-ride from Majestic. As of writing this, Uma isn't back from his Coimbatore visit. (Why this should be mentioned is because, there were serial bomb blasts there, the day he landed!)
Raghuram (17th Feb 1998. 7 PM)