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*.
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*.
part-4 pls... :)
ReplyDeleteMaddyyyy !!! :D
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