Friday, September 18, 2009

Mekedatu -> A team outing near Bangalore

The Beginning :

I was deep into the work and suddenly a mail popped up in my Inbox with Subject “Working Sunday”. I was like …….ohh yaar….not again….We’ve been working since last 3 consecutive saturdays apart from our normally streached 10-11 hour Weekdays. Sunday working…..that means saturday they are assuming or what ???? And only sending mail if required to come even on Sunday. But the Senders Name caught my attention…. It was not my manager but one of my teammate, Kapil. I opened the mail out of curiosity and got to know about the plan. He has taken initiative of our team outing.Then it all followed by a long chain of mails, sharing of excel sheets ( as we are software engg - making use of all the tools availble). Deciding date, venue, priorities, number of people and hosts of other things. And finally we zeroed on to the Location Mekadatu -> A kannada word which literally means “Goat Cross”………. A lot of explaination to come below……13 Sept , Working Sunday at Mekedatu…….. The numbers were enticing….We were 16 of us….

15 from CTS and 1 from HTIPL ( our client)…. I thought to make one video saying


…….15 CTS members…….…..
1 client……
………Taking on One On One…… …… at Mekedatu………
13 Sept 2009………………….
……….Be there …………..
A live Performance…………………..

Get Set Go :




We were all set to hit on our first team outing………everything is in position….contribution collected … bus route decided…pick up points finalised….and a consolidated mail we got on Friday……….On Sunday morning….Me and Kshitij…. boarded the Bus…as we were the first one to start off………at Sharp 7 AM………… Only half an hour late……… c’mon its India…….we are following IST……….???? So 6:30 was assumed as 7.
Kshtij said “Suyash, This is height of professionalism yaar, Sunday morning everybody is leaving for a trip and on saturday…….. we did not have a conversation with the joinees at all…….Do you think the Friday’s mail will do everything???? Will People come on time ????? Will they even remember that we had a trip planned?????”.

Then we both started chewing our old memories of college trips……. where everybody else used to call up each other….That please wake me up by 5 AM…….. otherwise i’ll miss the bus and all that stuff……..
Then as the discussion about professionalism continued, Kshitij asked “Suyash, What do you think?? We already have half an our slippage in our deadline…… Whats the mitigation plan?????”

Ohh man……. I know we are in IT company……. It affects our personal life so much….But after that…. we followed the designated route and picked up everybody from Bangalore’s periphery……ON TIME…..3 people cancelled plan……..on time…..but am sure….they will regret of not joining us after looking and the photogaphs that will be shared soon…..

 

 


Eat Inn:
Mekedatu is around 100 kms from Bangalore… Once everybody was into the Bus…. and Hi… Good Morning formalities are done……. we realised that its already 8:30 and its time for breakfast…. A lot of snaks…. ( which partially served the purpose of our luch as well..) were already into bus… Lays, kurkure, nuts, buiscuits, cadbury sticks, Gems., polo and what not… …….. It all followed by Two Rounds of Sweet Pedha……..










Singers Unleashed:
Now after eating all this stuff, people were enegetic and it was time for Antaakshari…. 1st rule…… all language songs allowd…including English, Tamil, Telgu, Kannada, Malaylam , Marathi and Hindi of course……The space segragating the two seats played the role of divider and The Two Teams were formed….. All Antakshri favourite songs were finished within first half an hour e.g ‘Ramaya Vasta Vaya’ , ‘Na Na karate pyaar….. kar baithe, immediately followed by ‘ Thande Thande pani se’. Some special performances came from Supriya and Chetan on public demand……. And after that people started facing difficulty finding songs from characters like ‘Ha’ , ‘Na’ and all……And then…….The regional languages played the role of saviours……. We never knew …… the person who is singing……Which is the song……if it ever exists…….or its impromptu……????



Eat Outs:
At Kanakpura, A Taluka Place, we got down for breakfast…..We were not sure about the Restaurants available at Mekedatu…….. a remote and very small place… so we thought of having heavy breakfast….. Found one Hote ” …… Sagar” ( Don’t remember the name exactly…..but we made sure that its ending with Sagar…….. a typical south Indian ……breakfast point……..






Foto Photo :


A quick round of photo session was conducted outside hotel … and the bus left from Kanakpura… We left the state Highway…….and a small road started……. destination Mekedatu…….40 kms…. A lot of stiff sopes… and sharp turns…….. It was nice photogenic place…..Subba stopped the bus at one location…..The purpose was CRITICAL OUTAGE…………but we all thought …..he stopped because the location is photogenic…….. Everybody got down…….and we had a quick photo session….. By looking at our group some more people stopped at the location and they also started taking photos …… We thought………… Next time we come this way…… We will be seeing a board here………”FOTO SPOT”………. :P……….too much optimistic….


DJ Vinay & The Dance Floor :







Again back to the bus….. and the journey started……By this time the Anatakshari Craze was over and DJ Vinay…… has taken charge of the Remote……..One by one people started recommendations…….( uff……how poor is enlish language… I can’t find a word as emotional as ‘Farmaiish’ in English ) …… and soon the front space in the bus became ‘Dance Floor’.Eveybody had to give a solo performace…..and then finally we all had a group performace within the 2 X 2 space…..everybody falling down at every moment……at it was a perfect road with obstacles…..sorry……….between the obstacles……..



Ka…….ve ……..ri………:
Suddenly the bus stopped……and then we realised……that we’ve been already to the desination……Sangam of two rivers………Kaveri and …… ( Hey did anybody remember which was the other river………??? am too lazy to google it out)…………..As it was Rainy Season We’ve anticiapted of heavy rains…..or at least cloudy skies….. but we were disappointed by the shining sun……and scorching heat…… Then Girls …. pulled out sunglasses…..and sunscreen from their bags…….. and we had no options but to wear caps and specially braught Cowboy Hats………….
First we needed to cross the River…….and then we had to walk for around 4 kms or take a Govt Bus…….to reach the tourist spot……..Normally people cross the river by walking as water is not much….. around 3-4 feet……but that day…..It was more and we had to opt for boats….. It was a thilling experience…………The Boats were round in shape ……. pretty small…. can accomodate only 4 people + the Sailor……. We had 4 cameras with us…….we manged one Cam per boat…Had a lot of pics in water ……intra boat as well as inter boat…….. hi hi hi…….

 






























Palace on Wheels:

After crossing river….. We went to the Bus Ticket Collector ….. He already collected the money before showing us the vehicle……because after looking at the condition nobody might have paid for it…….. I still doubt it was a govt service……… Govt Buses are faaaaaaaaar better than this one….A 20 sitter bus…….Not a single glass…..No mirror………No indicaor…….No horn……… and not even front glass for Driver……… Mohit confirmed that we can even go on roof and sit……..so everybody ran in excitement towards the bus…..but soon disappointed after noticing that there was no provision for going up……no stairs…. But the driver showed us the way to go up…….first step tire…. second step….window…. then hold the carrier bars on top………and then……….dhishummmm……… you are done…..

The Tunnel:
Kshitij tried to go up……but gave feedback that …….the tin roof is horribly hot and one can’t manage to sit…….4 of us still gave it a try and tried the HOT SEATS at the roof……… It was fun to be on top….. Typical ”Chaiya Chaiya’ song style dance we did on the top…….. what if its not a train…….. doesn’t matter…….we will enjoy……. The road was very small….. only one vehicle at a time……. going alongside the river….. it was a beautiful experience….. the water running very fast from the gorge…….a typical photogenic place…As the bus was moving forward…… we found that the trees alongside the road….. were such that it was a perfect tunnel and anything more in height than the bus were not tolerated………oops….. we are in a situation…….. we are sitting above the bus……… I remembered the ‘The Mummy Returns’ movie scene……. where Uncle John drove the Bus on the London Bridge…….. shaving off all opponents with the help of tunnel and bridge top……. We had no option left but to sleep on the top of bus…….. Hot Seats we had heard..but here we were experiencing hot beds……..uff …….. jal gaya……..As soon as we reached the bus stopped we thought off jumping off…. but hey…..c’mon…….. we are advenrurist……… we have taken deision to go on top…….. how can we regret…. We had to show off….. Bahot maja aaya………on the back journey everybody should join us……. ……. why should we alone suffer man……..????




Desti MEKEDATU :


 





When we got down from the bus….. the fast flowing water between the rocks…….making a catchy sound……….pulled our attention…. From the location where bus stopped ….we had to take around 200 steps…… appox 50 feet downwards to reach the spot…… the steps were well formed at some places and dangerous at the others……. We gobbled them up as fast as possible and reached at the spot…….. ohhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyy Goshhhhhhhhhhh……….. Sahi……..Excellent rock formation because of flowing water……. The water running in between…… Must be at the speed of 100 KMPH………. you keep looking towards the water and you will feel like……uff……am falling…….bachao……. a proper vertigo kinda feeling……




The Name (My Dear Shakespere……does it matter?????):
When we crossed the river in boats…. it was around 100 m distance… and as the river flows along the way…. the banks keep coming closer and closer ………. and at Mekedatu……. they are so close that even a Goat can jump and cross the river…….. thats why the name Mekedatu ( Goat Cross ) . Journy Back:We had a lot of photos… in different poses…….some were on the spot and some were the famous once from movies…….’Rock on’ Pose…….’Dil Chahata Hain’ Pose……..and hey….. its water… how can you forget “Titanic Pose”????????? Its not Atalantic but its Kavery……..and its not the gigantic ship……Titanic but its……the hard rocks….. but ahh…….no problem……..From there we started journy back….. after climibing the steps back…..everybody were feeling thirsty….. and the 4 lit water that we carried along was already finished…….. We saw a person selling colddrinnks…… and the Typical question came……….
“Bhaiya…….Cold drink Thanda Hain kya…………????”……. Abe colddrink thanda nahi to kya garam beche ga kya……….Each one of us…..chose our own brand…… soft drink of course… and supported it with their punch lines…..we had a quick revision of all those including

Sprite buzaye pyaas, …… all bakwas

Thanda ……. coca cola

Thumbs up……… of thunder

Piyo …….. utha ke

…….. Sab ko lagata hain, ……. sabaka sukhata hain……..par ,………. ke aage jeet hain

( Those fill in the blanks are meant to refresh you…..in case you are still reading and … started feeling sleepy
Please don’t use a lot of intelligence ….. They don’t mean anything different………:P))))

Mandavali ( sorry…again can’t find proper english word) :
We were so tired that nobody thought of asking the price to the hawker… and when we were finished…. he demanded…. more than twice the price…. 8 Rs. was the MRP and he told a figure in kannada…..It meant 20 each…… we had to summons Indira and Chetan……to reach for our help……. bargain with the guy….. and zeroed on to some reasonable figure…… Then the Mandavali was done around 15 Rs………….per bottle……(hey … not ruppees……..INR -> Thats what we configure inside System SMAP)……….The project doesn’t leave you alone……. Remember you are on “Working Sunday”

Again Chaiya Chaiya :
 






On our journy back, again in the same bus….. I preferred to stand inside bus instead of going up…..But we had praised the roof so much that rest of us……. who were regretting that they can’t take the opportunity to go up can enjoy …… wen’t up…….. and believe me…..They did enjoy……..Inside the bus….it was pathetic….. we had grabbed 2-3 positions… with the help of hanky’s and Hats…. and manged to sit 4 persons….. “Thoda adjust kar liyo yaar……… Rang De Basanti” The bus size was same as what we had hired from Bangalore to Mekedatu……Just the difference was…..there we are

1 driver + 13 people
Here we are
1.driver + 73 people…….

Fish Fiesta :


As we reached back to Sangam, it was time to enter inside water and enjoy…… But the hardcore non-veggie amongst us….caught the person ..cooking fresh fish….. Uhh laaa laaa……… All of them ordered one each…..and savoured the taste of each organ………right from eye…till the tail…….Again Dil Chahata Hain……….Aamir Khan pose ……..we had a quick photo session…… Splash in water :Three of us……again crosses back the river…….and taken back all the luggage and food that we have packed up from Bangalore………. Rest of us ……were waiting……Eager to went inside water…..but somehow controlled ourseleves…..we need to change man……. Levis Jeans…and Leather Belt….naah……how can we take inside water….. we can wait…. you see……there is a different kinda enjoyment in just keeping ur legs inside water…… …And then the Cargo Ship arrived……. we changed our clothes….and zoomed into the water….after having a quick round of Paratha and Aachar shots….ya…….tequila shots……. some of us were missing……. but can’t help……..Manager ke saamane kaun Piyega………

Ring Ring Ringa……
We had a flying dish…..and water balls……to play inside….But as soon as the first flight went off….. the wind carried it into the Mainstream………( ?)………. Mainstream current of river…….and it we had to let it go………After that we had a ball…. And as we know……Experience is the best teacher …….. this time we were careful……… Two of us…….best swimmers….. were standing way ahead…….. the goad keepers…….in case the Ball goes the Flying Dish Way……….We had Two odd instances…… where Indira,,,, n Kshitij………. has followed the Ball……And finally manged to catch it……. Not only us…..but they got a big round of applause from other people also ….

Water dumbsherads: 



Juhi suggested on playing // (ctrl + v)……..uff… its not copying……..
dumbsherads // hmm… copied now….with proper spellings ]
inside water……… // These are not comments in C++ its Me ++

Two or three of us ……tried out hands …..even face…..on acting…..But somehow the idea didn’t click.







Truth and Dare :
Again its from Juhi… Lets play truth and dare…… Nobody opt for Dare though……Everybody went for Truth…….. Such Ka Saamana…………The questions were equally dangerous at the highest TRP serial of these days……… But here nobody was there to catch if you are speaking Truth or you are lying so everybody managed to escape somehow…….When the Question Came to me…..I tried to get one rock……kept it on my chest…and told………”Main mere dil pe patthar rakh ke kehta hun ki………………”I won’t be posting the Q & A here…….You can reach me at mail@Cmail.com to have detail description of the same.

Mummy Bhuk Lagi :
It was almost 2 n half hours that we were inside water…. as the sun started heading towards West…. The water was becoming colder and colder…. it was time for us to come out…… Now Hunger was also catching us all……..We all came out… dried ourselves……. washed hands….. and the cat is out of the box……… Get Those Birayani’s out………. Tut Pado…………..I somehow tried to grab the first dish and started eating ……. others suggested that we also have spoons…… but …… nobody has patience…….
and then……
yukkkkkk………its smelling bad…. hey…. its bitter in taste……….its not in good conditijon………Such dialogs…..storke us off……..The food got spoilt because during the journy and the heat……. We had no option but to throw off everything and go back……..
We crossed back the river and The journy started…….It was preffered to curb your hunger and have food near to Bangalore instead of Mekedatu………….

Sleep Catching on :
The return journey was silent and nobody sung excep the DVD Speakers in our Bus…….After some sleepy shots of people and some reviews of daytime photograph…. it was a silent journy till Bangalore’s periphery……….Its time for Lunch……..That is being taken at the dinner time………..

Dinner Masala :

Vaishnavi Palace……Sounds nice….”Wait me and Vinay will check the Hotel.” Said Kapil and the duo left from the bus. By the time we woke up all those who are into deep sleep….Were they still dreaming that they are inside water????? Veggies and Non-veggies sharing the same table and still segragating themseleves were a true picture of Unity in Diversity. The food was ordered…. The AC room ….and the dim lights ….. The ambience was nice …… But as the time went by we started experiencing the outside beauty of the hotel……nothing much was good in reality…..Having ordered food we started recollecting the moments of the day…..But we could not keep patience as the time exceeded beyond half an hour… and only Roti was served…. and no curries…. But the waiter managed to pacify us by serving one subji….. Mohit commnented that probably he was serving in EMIs. Two curd rice has been ordered and finally we lost our temper when he served only one curd rice ….that too after 45 mins… And when we told to cancel rest of the order…. The waiter told us that its too late to cancel order……
.

Self Service?? :

And then There were brutal war of words between us and the waiter, the Manager cum captain….Dialogues like “Excuse me, Do you have Spoons in your Restaurant???” ,“My Dear Waiter, your time is important and our time has no value???”,“Are you going to Serve the Nan Tomorrow???”,“15 Persons and 7 sponns…….is this the way you guys function”,“Why can’t you recuit some more people???”has been thrown by some of our group members.
It all ended with 3-2 = 1 Biryaani……after finishing which……..Raitha came….. and then the Bill…..Again we had to fight back for reducing all those extra non consumed items….. By that time creative minds of ours were still working very fast… We managed to get a tissue paper on which we wrote ” S E L F S E R V I C E” and sticked it on the Restaurant Wall……..

Back to Pavillion :
Cherrishing all those memories…. laughing … enjoyin… cheering…….our Organiser …..Kapil….we travelled back to the city. One by one everybody got down to their nearby location… ending the journey back at GVC.Nice one……….. Hoping for more and more of them……….Are you joining……….????