1AM: Do I go home? 8PM: AT my doorstep, 2000km away.

I will have to keep the travelogue on hold, for I have funner stuff to talk of.I think the title explains the gist of this post, especially since it's Diwali time and people are scrambling for home. But my readers know that I am not one to disappoint with banal and uninteresting incidents, and they (or rather you) won't be disappointed.

So it went like this. OASIS had just concluded (a post awaits) and people were leaving, PCrites and wingies. In case you don't know, I live in the most beautiful and smallest Indian state, GOA! and being over 2000km away (without exaggeration), it become slightly impractical for me to just pack my bags and leave without a plan, and as a result of this inconveniencing impracticality, it has been only once that I have left for home amidst the semester. This was last sem, during BITS Goa's fest, WAVES, but it was for official purposes, I was Pilani's ambassador there :)

Leaving that aside, the point remains, I never go home, which makes this trip all the more memorable. As Chussi's brother (who had come for OASIS) had to be dropped to Delhi, I decided to accompany them just for fun. Weird you say, just for fun. Come to psentisem and the thin line between weird and routine disappears. Now we were 7 on the Tavera, and I was to come back alone. All were leaving for home. Chussi, his bro, his roomie, Kattu, Aditi and PD (PCr juniors) and of course, yours truly, alone and dejected.

At about 12:30AM (that's at night) I get buzzed by a friend from Goa, he asks me when I am to come down. Without thinking I reply jokingly,"In December and... maybe in a couple of days". After the conversation, I almost dream to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to finally be home for Diwali. But when and how?" I was almost smiling to myself thinking childishly, Yeah right, as I logged on to cleartrip.com, and looked for ticket prices. It was still just a silly little idea, like one's dream to be a 10 pointer, I didn't even expect it to come true. But then again, I was just having fun with the idea.

In comes Kattu,(1 AM) after his packing. I tell him my childish idea, and he says, "Dilli to jaa hi raha hai, aur Diwali bhi hai. Aunty ko surprise de de". But don't have a credit card, and definitely want it to be a surprise. So I use his credit card and buy a ticket for 5k on SpiceJet. 1: 15 AM. It had hardly dawned upon me that I had here an opportunity to give my parents the surprise of a lifetime, and the opportunity had already materialized, THANKS KATTU!!

So a plan, that couldn't be made for 3 and a half years, was made within 15 mins, with no plans of return..yet(am in Goa presently and still no plans of return). Now if you thought the excitement ends here, you're mistaken. The journey to my front door, is worth two more posts. And the Diwali celebrations in Goa, many many more. I am going to be a full fledged ambassador for Goan tourism here. Only when I left Goa for 3 years did I realise that it is without doubt, THE MOST AMAZING PLACE ON THE PLANET, 24X7, 365 DAYS A YEAR!!

Picture Travelogue I: Pilani to Haridwar

Had a test today, Heritage Of India. Brilliant course, one of the best in BITS*. Truly wonderful course material. Yaar, Bharatwaasi hokar agar, Bharat ke itihaas ke baare mein nahin jaanoge to laalat hai tumpar.

Anyway, coming to the travelogue. We left Pilani around 8pm on 7th, the ones with outstation forms coolly sat in the car while the others.... well, we sent them back. But somehow when we were outside the gate they returned. I don't know how they got their fax so soon, but I never asked. A funny thing happenned here, we first got two Taveras, one was parked at Ram, the other took me and Chhotu there from Bhag. Now on that little journey, we realized with increase unease the competency of our driver, he somehow drove on a straight path as though it was a hilly area, so one could only imagine which side of the cliff we'd be when he's driving. So we had to send the guy back, and arrange for a new one. I wonder who gave him a license, or rather let him touch the car.

So once that was done, we drove towards Rohtak to pick up Sabbu. The journey was made pretty eventful, by the young crowd in our car. It was time for some psentisemire orientation. The young recruits got some personal attention, and we enjoyed it. :) Also LJ added to the fun with a piece of paper that he had gotten printed. Now if I post the contents of that paper here, some of you would probably report

At about 11.30 or so we reached Rohtak, and lo and behold, before us was the posing Fash-P, Sabbu.....taliyaaan. For Sabbu, photographs are a lifeline. We have a theory, the rest of us, by which whenever Sabbu is dying, just say, "Sabbu, photo". And even Yamraj, wouldn't be able to stop him then. Needless to say, aunty had packed some goodies for us all, and hum sab kood pade.

When we awoke, it was morning and we had reached Roorkie. After half-an-hour, Haridwar. I haven't been there before, and was looking forward to getting my sins washed away. But when I reached I realized that it was Gnaga that needed a wash. After a trip to Sulabh Souchalaya (Sabbu has a slight fracture so I wonder how he managed Indian style :) ) we had dressed down (as opposed to dressing-up... HAHA I am AK, blogging and awesome) we all jioned in.

Now we've all heard of ice-cold, some have experienced freezing cold, but only a lucky(or unlucky) few have experienced beyond that. Now I won't go into specifics, but everything shrunk... literally.

So all 13 of us shameless, undrunk but high, nude BITSians took it all in. It was brilliant, the current was electric, and after washing our sins' list clean, it was time to start over. So he had breakfast, Pushkar style. 3 plates, 13 empty stomachs and 26 busy hands. 'twas nice....

So after a few million pics, with Sabbu in all of some..twice in some (no idea how that happenned, I guess he's in the camera's cache.. roflmao), we were off to Rishikesh.

More later...

*Actually, main maska lagane ki koshish kar raha hoon. I missed T1 and T1 make-up. So make-make-up ki raah dekh raha hoon. Please don't tell him.

Picture Travelogue

Its been a long time since my last post. I've been out of station, tripped to Rishikesh and adjoining areas. Well, not tripped... you know 'car'ed or rather 'Tavera'ed, with PCr. ( :) ... seriously man, that was bad, even by my standards) By the way, for those on my gtalk and who like me spend most of their time reading through others' status messages, I guess my status message gives a good idea of what I felt about the trip. For those unfortunate souls who aren't and haven't, respectively, it was the season of awesomeness and we all had a fucking great time.

Just for something new to do, I am going to make a picture travelogue of the trip. Hope it'll be nice for all. And by the way, this travelogue is dedicated to PCr: Professionally Crrazzzy(hope I got that right)... Great going guys and gals, WE ROCK!!

It was a long trip and I'm gonna write about each place leisurely, one at a time. If I miss anything, I'll add them later.

The Itinerary was as such:
Pilani-Rohtak: To pick up Sabbu-Haridwar:To wash away our sins... they had accumulated to a Hellish degree-Rishikesh: Rafting, drowning, jumping off 18 foot cliffs... and stuff like that-Bifurcation to two groups: MEN and boys-rest is a chronicle of men, let the boys play with toys-Ookhimath: Night stay and km trek to Devariyataal-Chopta: Night stay and 5 km night trek to Chandrashila, a temple 4 km above sea level, for a piss and to leave our Id cards there-Haridwar: To collect water from the Ganga, and eat at Baba Ramdeo's 5-star ashram-Back to Pilani.

Details in next post...

Cheers,

AK :)