Hey There Pondy! - Part 4

I'm sorry for the delay in the blog post. As the days go by, its harder to remember clearly the events that have passed. And it doesn't help that my mother has serious son issues. Oh, and I discovered twitter. People can follow me at here:https://twitter.com/#!/godofMAD Anyway, lets get on with my Pondy Experience. Sometimes, I feel that should come with a little TM with it.

So we walk down the skywalk, sweating like people who just ran a marathon and walk down the road, past the bus terminal. We come up to this little ATM around the corner. It had a little queue before it, and I began regretting it. Miraculously as we got there, the queue disintegrated. We walked up to the ATM, and found out why the queue disappeared. The servers were down.*God's a joker*

So our third quest in Pondy was a failure. I was down 2k(deposit for the bikes), and left with a little over 1k on me. Thankfully Susanth owed me a little cash and it held me till day three.

It was already afternoon and we hadn't had a decent meal in one day. We were all hungry so we found our way back to our hotel, and hit the restaurant. It was a relief to sit in there*A/C*. We thoroughly enjoyed our food. Meals in 135 bucks a man. Unlimited rice, tasty curry. Boon. We filled ourselves to the neck and went to our rooms to get ready to hit the beach.

Something I forgot to mention previously: Kritarth, Anirudh and Susanth had the brains to chat up the security guard, give him a little *something* and get him on our side as soon as we booked our rooms. It helped us a little to have a happy security guard. So when we asked the guy directions to the beach, he was more than eager to help us out!

Now, when I say beach, we wanted a shore, water hitting our faces, and all of us getting wet. We got on the hired bikes, and ripped down the road to the beach. The best part of Pondy is the loose traffic rules, compared to Bangalore. So you get to feel the wind in your face when you are ripping down the road at 80kmph on a fine bike from Yamaha. To all the FZ haters, go to Pondy, hire one, and go to beach boulevard. It'll change your mind. It changed mine.

I am an avid beach lover. When I am just kilometer from a beach, my hair stands on end. My back feels ticklish. My vision becomes vivid like I just ate a *mushroom*. I can feel the salt in the air. When I finally get to see the vast expanse with no seams at the horizon, the glazing glassy surface with ripples as countless as the stars, its pure poetry. I'm in love. And I can't stop looking. Correction; staring. A pair of the fines double Ds wouldn't captivate me that much! *No offence ladies*

So, when we approached the Prominate beach, and I got my first look at a beach in 4 long years, I had a visual orgasm. My hand twisted the throttle to open fully, and I sped down the road, and came to a stop in front of the most magnificent of water bodies: the ocean.

The Prominate beach, Pondy's main beach, now has a fully stoned shore. No pun intended. It literally is coverd with rocks! At first, the rocks were like a major turn off. We wanted to cool off. We wanted water. We wanted wet clothes. We got a rocky bitch, with a violent see. *pun intended if you get the joke, but its lame anyway*.

But the good part of the beach is, the clean maintenance it has. The boulevard that runs the length of the shoreline, is a treat to the eye. It is immaculately clean and peaceful. It has one all night cafe, like right out of a fairy tale. The boulevard is lined with the government buildings, all in french style. A good part of Pondy is filled with the beautiful people of France. Or French-Indian people. Or whatever they are. So, for these beautiful people, a good part of Pondy is now the white city. With sensible board signs, neat grid streets, clean*super-clean* roads and really nice buildings that look out of place in Pondy. But all the same, this part called the white city adds to the Pondy Experience.

With all the charm of Pondy working on us, we digested the fact that there's gonna be no water for the day and went to a nearby beach hotel, took the back route and got onto the beach. Krit disappeared for a minute and got back with a couple of bottles of *welcome drinks*.

Aah. That was the dream. With the bottles of *welcome drinks*, the rocky shore and the beach, Pondy felt more like Mumbai. But it was still the dream. 

Hey There Pondy! - Part 3

It was 9 15am. Pondy was already hot like a furnace. I missed the Bangalore temperature already! I am a spoilt brat after all. What I didn't know was: it was gonna get a lot hotter. Sweaty person I already am. Pondy made my sweat glands do over time. The walk from the platform to the rickshaw stand had me sweating worse than my most tiring basketball game*over-exaggerating*.

Pondy railway station was much like its Bangalore counterpart. Crowded, hot and the rickshaw-wallahs hounding everyone within earshot. We had already decided on the train to split into two groups: one to go hunting for the Bikes. Another to go hunting for the hotel room*well thought out*. Two rickshaw guys looted the youthful tourists. Classic story. Damn, we even fell for it.

What all of us had overlooked, was the fact that it was the weekend and there were probably many more guys*not to mention the chickas* like us filing into Pondy for the dream weekend getaway! There was even this drunk dude*notice the use of "DUDE"* waiting on the platform giving away pamphlets of a party that very evening!

Anyway, what I am getting at is that we were pretty late for the weekend. Akshay's sister informed our woefully unaware asses of how late we were! So the 4 of us with the original identification cards went on to mission street for the rental bikes. Upon reaching Mission street, we looked up and down the road wondering if we had come to the right place. It wasn't a sight I expected. The street only had what looked like owned vehicles! No rental vehicles in sight. None at all. We look at one of the boards and recognize it from the internet. When we enquired there, we found all he had left was an Avenger and an Activa. *sob*

I panicked. I think we all did. For a moment it looked like our perfect weekend was over*picture horror*. Thankfully, there were other places up and down the street that had a few bikes in front of them. So the 4 of us, again split up. Kritarth and Akshay went left. Susanth and myself went right. What got into Kritarth I do not know. He planned big. He wanted to spend the weekend riding a pulsar. What did he end up riding? A Passion Pro! Akshay hired a Shine. Susanth and myself on the other hand had some immediate luck and chanced upon a couple of FZs standing around the corner.

Fast as ever we booked the two bikes, and I don't regret it at all! I hated the bike before this. Now  I can't resist the bike at all. All the rental takes is the deposition of an original ID(like your DL/Adhar card) a phone number and a little Tamil*the Tamil helps*. The four bikes in tow, we asked directions to the closest petrol bunk*straight down the road, 4th left*, and went to the petrol bunk.

The petrol bunk we saw looked like any other petrol bunk in Bangalore. The comparison ends there. For one, I have never seen such a long queue in a petrol bunk! The place was over flowing with vehicles and the 4 dispensers were working every bit their worth. The station was under employed and over stressed. Frankly, it was a little over whelming! The other thing about the Pondy petrol bunks is that they are quick in their work. They don't keep you waiting, not even for change. The third thing is, they have amazing petrol. I'll get to that a little later.

So we fill the bikes with petrol and call the other guys up. We were gonna stay at the Sapthagiri hotel. My recommendation? That should be your last resort. We drove around the new pondy area a little. It can be pretty confusing on the unfamiliar streets. We actually passed the Sapthagiri once before finding out that we did. Anyway, we reached there in a while*seemed like forever*.

The rooms were just what we needed but we could have done better. We hired three rooms, one a/c deluxe, two non a/c non deluxe. Kritarth, Susanth and Ankit took the deluxe. Sid and Anirudh shared one non deluxe and Akshay and myself  the other. The non deluxe rooms were cooler*evil smile*. We went up to our rooms and finally finished up with our morning work, or should I say afternoon work, because by the time we reached our rooms it was 12 in the after noon.

We decided to do the toilet work, bath and meet up down stairs to have lunch. I bet we all were feeling the pressure and nobody said it, but I had to take a shit urgently. I mean, come on! I am used to the early morning toilet thing, and the bloody trains had no water! No paper roll also*grumble*.

When I finally got the toilet to myself, and finished with my urgency, I got to the mirror to wash my face. I found the hard water was already getting to my gums. People with ultra sensitive gums should carry good water.

By the time we met downstairs, we were no better than when we went up. All of us were already soaked in sweat. And in all this, Kritarth wanted to find an ATM on foot. Yeah. Good plan to kill us all. So like fools we walked up the road. then back down the road. Down the road was a skywalk for the New Bus terminal in Pondy. We tottered up the skywalk, chatting, drooping like flowers in the heat, when we saw it. It looked like someone with my situation had found no place to stay and had to do it on the skywalk. A sight it was. Lucky none of us threw up. Cant say the same for the french couple that passed us on the way down*poor people*.

Hey There Pondy! - Part 2

We were supposed to leave Yelahanka at 8pm sharp. That meant 7 30pm for Ankit Amtange. It seems we totally over estimated his worth. To Ankit, 7 30 sounded like 8 30. Wonder what he was doing? We all have our theories. Difficult to say which is true. I'll go with the theory that he had to kiss his boyfriend goodbye. Lovers!

While we waited for Ankit to turn up, we helplessly watched on as ten empty buses left the bus stand. So when Ankit finally turned up, we wanted to loot him of his money and dump him in the closest dust bin. Sadly we were in too high spirits to do anything that extreme. Lucky break for the guy if you ask me.

Luckily we did get a bus and it was pretty empty. We had a comfortable and very noisy trip to Yeshwanthpur. You know how it is with a gang of perverted guys. We probably had the whole bus wishing we were outside the damn bus. Oh well, we did not do this often so what the hell! We reached the railway station hungry and well over an hour early. We wiled away time in the smelly station talking and being noisy as usual. We earned our share of stares and I have to say, it feels damn good to stick out!

At 10 45pm the green coaches of the Garibrath rolled in. We lugged our bags into the coach and found our seats. And Ankit's seat. Ankit had been given the number 52 seat. A full two compartments away. So our immediate goal: Find the guy who had the closest seat and get an exchange. The train journey was good. We had a mini party going on in our compartment. We were disturbing the whole coach with our loud ruckus. With plans about the first thing to do in the morning to playing Noah's arc, we tried our best to keep everyone awake!

Before we knew it, the clock had passed two in the morning. I had just started to wonder why the people in the train were being such sissies going to sleep so early. There I knew, the next three days will go before I could catch them. With these guys, time files. So we finally decided to get some sleep. Siddarth immediately fell deep into sleep in his berth. As for the rest of us, we whipped out our books and got to reading. Susanth took to music as did Anirudh. I for one had trouble sleeping. For one thing, I was excited about reaching Pondy, so I was restless as ever. Every half hour I would wake up, grumble and go back to sleep. And every time, Kritarth, Ankit and Susanth would be up talking, or messing around with their phones. Ankit got playful with the handycam and took some spooky clicks of all of us.

Then I slept. When I woke up next it was 6am. Ankit and Kritarth had finally fallen asleep. Susanth was still wide awake with the earphones plugged into is ears. Everyone else was sleeping like logs. We all finally woke up in a while. Brushed our teeth in mineral water. Not as good as it sounds. The Indian railways finally did show their niyath. No water supply on the train!

Time passed and those of us awake started to get jealous of the sleeping beauties. We woke them up in the most cruel ways. It was worth it to get their swearing early in the morning!*bwahahahaha* The next station we stopped was the final junction before we set foot in Pondy, our destination. We were all very hungry so we grabbed what little food we could and filled our hungry stomachs.

In 15 minutes, the train rolled into the Puducherry railway station. 

Hey There Pondy! - Part 1

Now I turned 19, sweet 19, and it immediately started messing with my head. The last of my teen years and what have I done to be proud of? What every other guy does: score a couple of distinctions, make your mother proud, get addicted to Facebook, Tweet your life out, find the love of your life, give in to your calling, fail only the most prestigious institute's entrance, make the best of friends, rot at home, become fat, struggle to become thin, try everything your mom says to stay away from, etcetera etcetera. Yeah, not much to be proud of.

So, I get together with the gang and Kritarth gives this great idea: "lets go to Pondy". At the time, that sounded like: "lets go to vegas". FYI, my exams had finished a couple of weeks before that and all the action I had was a little *stuff* from the net and of course, my beloved guitar( for another time). So when Kritarth said "lets go to Pondy" we all dreamed of a bling-life. What with all the tight pockets we had, the cheap life of Pondy was an allure to the teenage mind and body. Everyone had their expectations. Pondy lived up to it. Period.

Let me tell you something about Kritarth. He is a lousy student and a pain in the ass son. But he is one heck of a travel manager. But for the short patience fuse he's got screwed into his amazing brain, he is flawless. He planned the trip from the scratch and made sure we didn't go running to mummy-daddy to get bookings and make the trip a comfy experience. We lived the three days like the Teenagers we were. Respect dawg.

Now this trip was a big deal for me. I was looking forward to a lot of things. One: three amazing days away from my mom's over-protective mushiness. Two: the rocky beaches of Pondy. Three: cheap rental bikes and cheaper fuel. Four: Three amazing days with the gang. Five: refer one. So I did a lot of research. Looked up places to get the bikes. Looked up affordable hotels for rooms. Looked up stuff to do in Pondy. I started hyper acting and forgot: Kritarth was there for all the work. I am the guy who wants the highest level of assurance before doing something new. So I naturally tried bookings and stuff. Kritarth put his foot down *thank god* and asked me to chill. If we have to sleep in the railway station we will. But we will not act like 40 year olds. Good advice.

It was hard enough to convince Kritarth to book the return tickets. Good we did. Airavat is a blessing in disguise. Slept like a baby. Thankyou K.S.R.T.C.

Train tickets booked, Garibrath A/C coach. Seats 25-30, 52 and 53. Anmol*youuuuuuuu sonofabitch*left to Andaman and Nicobar a couple of days after the ticket booking. I've already mentioned what a Pain in the ass he is*refer "A Friend To Remember"*. He was coming for the first day of the trip only. Returning the very day we arrived at Pondy. Anirudh had already left for Saudi Arabia. Anmol arrived 22nd and Anirudh arrived 26th. So the plan had to start on the 27th.

25th I find out Anmol isn't coming. Why? Dad not allowing. Why? He spent a lot for the Andaman-Nicobar trip. He apparently took the family scuba diving and all. Respect for his dad. But I still fail to understand why he wouldn't spare a little more and let the guy come with us to the damn trip. Anyway, F@!k Anmol. He'll never change. Neither will his father.

26th was a full day. Ankit has a little calculation attack and is convinced that our 5K per person budget wasn't enough for the 3-day trip. My whatsapp screen was full of his gory calculations. He murdered the teen spirit that day*youuuuuuu sonofabitch*. We finally told the guy to shut up and that if need be, we would sell his kidney for the right price. Yeah, we're a shitty lot.

Packing was an affair, it was! My mom made me shift from my wildcraft backpack to an american tourister travel bag. Mine was the biggest and he heaviest bag of all. Thankyou mom. You held my head high for me. Again*main reason for the trip*.