The Road Trip

03/01/09 Saturday

400 hours:
The blaring horn of a Van is heard.
“Wake up! Wake up!”
“No! We shall assemble at 500 hours. Let me sleep.”

600 hours:
One more bike needed.
Lesson #1: Get hold of borrowed bikes from the owners on the previous day itself.

800 hours:
Breakfast at mess.
Guys’ bags in the girls’ hostel. There was no bag raiding. Honest. Only Screwbey Doo can get ideas like that!
One Bajaj Pulsar.
One Yamaha Fazer.
One TVS Victor.
One Scooty Pep.
4 girls.
4 guys.

815 hours:
One phone call to mom.
Kaboom! Kaboom!
*wink*

And, that’s how we set out on a road trip to Pondicherry. The fun was just about to begin. There was Saturday morning traffic and there was dust. There were confusions about directions and there were imaginary gunshots. A couple of pictures were taken at VGP to show off the mega pixel strength of the different cameras. Vani’s uncle’s ostriches tried to add to the entertainment element but sadly, they didn’t even dig their heads into the ground. One round of Lakme Sun Expert followed by a water break later, we were back on East Coast Road.
Lesson #2: Take a lot of Sunscreen along. Moreover, apply profuse amounts of the same.

The rented Victor was a unique experience in itself. It would drive on auto-pilot mode; one speed only and no human intervention was required to maintain that. The pressure was on Pressure to drive it during the forward half of the trip. It revealed its screwed up self even more when its tyre burst. Two bikes and four of us spent half an hour at a repair shop where we ended up deciding that we would have to make it a road trip to Mahabs and not Pondy, over Slice and Lays.
Lesson #3: Rented bikes are invariably, screwed up.

One attempt by an amateur MRI on a bike ended up being a vain attempt at a wheelie. And he was banned from driving a bike ever after. Peace.
Lesson #4: Check for driving license before handing over a bike to over-enthu looking person.

The tender coconut water by the roadside was salty. Welcome to Pondicherry.

Lunch overlooking Rocky beach followed! Well, we tried to overlook and see the Rocky beach but there was a wall separating us from the view. Imagine a 6-7 pages menu with only half a page of vegetarian dishes. And, imagine a bunch of vegetarians coming to terms with this harsh reality.
Lesson #5: Continental dishes can look real yucky.

From there we headed to Paradise beach where the much sought after ferry ride was closed just ten minutes before we reached. Even Tam fundaes did not work at this place.
Lesson #6: Tam fundaes might fail. Be prepared.

A couple of phone calls later, we embark on this unique route through a village to reach Sand beach. One of the best beaches I have been to, so far. The waves were shallow and soft. They seemed to say, “I will only touch your feet; I will not startle you.” Some crazy Coked people ended up collecting shells too.

Tip: If someone has a sleeping bag with them and happen to be peacefully resting on it in an almost mocking way, be unanimous in zipping the person up in the sleeping bag.

Warning: Shampooed people might end up laying a cowboy hat, after a while.

A castle was made. And sand was thrown at whoever thought about attacking it. All hail her Vainness! And shells were collected. And a bike key was lost.
Lesson #7: Use a keychain for a key. Try not to lose it. But if you lose it, try your luck with other bike keys.

The return drive was more like every bike for itself. The air was cold and the rare roadside Rs. 3 tea was heavenly. And the drive continued with loo stops and water breaks. It was fun to tie a red scarf for a Poisonous guy who ended up looking like Little Red Riding Hood.
Lesson #8: Take necessary warm apparel along.

Good ol’ insti CCD marked the end to the wonderful trip. Lol level laughs and bike bitching followed and culminated in a group photo with wide Colgate smiles, in spite of the tiredness, on everyone’s face.

Post-trip discussions continue even three days after the trip. Need I say more?

PS: I am going more bike crazy than ever!

18 comments:

  1. :P....i miss insti....at such times :)

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  2. How dare you have all the Slice and Lays for yourself?!! I didn even know about it! Talk about 'team spirit'!
    Lesson #8: share! or save some for absent junta!

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  3. Confusion about directions? To Pondicherry? It's a straight road, almost straight from Taramani!!

    Doesn't "Know the road" feature anywhere in the lessons?

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  4. How come you have not mentioned your visit to the rocky beach and some market to buy candles without letting others get a hint?

    And all that while others were blaming your bike!

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  5. Where do you get rented bikes in Chennai?

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  6. @Abhishek
    :)

    @sm
    ...and you are back to insti, finally!

    @cl
    Muhahaha! I suppose the same team spirit took you to Mahabs when we were waiting at the mechanic's.

    @Anon1
    There was confusion once before we reached ECR itself and once again whether we had to go to Mahabs or Pondy.

    @Anon2
    Why am I getting the feeling that I know you? That's a little secret. Even we blamed the bike only! It took us back to the beach and to a shop to buy souvenirs. :D

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  7. @Abhinav
    I don't know. One of the guys got one rented from someplace outside.

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  8. hmmm....cool....but
    eww...why was the coconut-water salty?
    er...vegetarian?who?:P
    what's tam fundae?

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  9. The beauty of joy lies in sharing and that's what I did, by giving others a chance to continue riding bikes rather than getting pained with a scooty..and imagine the situation if i had drive correctly, then it would be a conundrum as to who would drive the scooty, which I had foreseen ( my premonitions are right, read my blog for that !)and hence, prevented a huge problem from arising :) Thankfully, the Scooty was not allowed to 'Pep' up above 50kmph while coming back, which saved me from developing 'cold feet' unlike most others :P And by buying the souvenirs alone, you proved me right when I called you an RG once, although in a trivial sense :)

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  10. oye u gt 2 more pending comments ;)

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  11. @Neethu
    I really don't know. I found it tasteless actually. Besides, I was more worried about finding a loo on the way. :D
    Er. Others with me. :P
    I live in a Tam city. People talk Tam in a Tam city. You may need to get things done in Tam cities by negotiation. Get the drift?

    @MRI
    O! What a sacrifice was there, my gentlemen! It was pure selflessness, wasn't it? Could the Scooty pep up above 50 anyway? We all know who had the worried expression while driving. :P
    Yeah, I RGed. I went to the beach too.

    #Neethu
    I can see that. :P

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  12. well dun jus sit thr n see.go comment chinky...my previous 2 posts await u;)

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  13. haha! seems like you had quite some memorable moments :):)!! Where are the pics????

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  14. All good trips are made up of many screw-ups!

    :)

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  15. @Neethu
    Roger that!

    @Shrav
    Totally! I shall upload them some day.

    @Jean
    Wah! What wisdom!

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  16. Did the Scooty Pep make the ride? There's no way it could have.

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  17. @Anand
    Yeah, it did. All the way!

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