Trip to Coimbatore: The sequel

Hi readers who have come here on your own and those asked by me to come,
This is a sequel to Trip to Coimbatore. Read it if you haven't.

Last time on Trip to Coimbatore...

It was the end of day one and it was time to go to bed. I went to my bed and found all my belongings gone. What?How??!!!

OK...I was looking at the wrong bed. My things were there, just where I left them. How stupid of me? !! ? I always do this :) Keep things in one place and look elsewhere.


Ok, it was day 2 of Kriya. It is uneventful from here on. The symposium events went on. We couldn't get anywhere after going to the second round. It was 4 pm and I was getting hungry. Manoj had gotten into the second round of some event. I decided to go out for an ice cream in that bakery outside. It started raining when I was having the nutty choco bar. I was waiting to cross the road to get back to the college. It took me 6 minutes and 24 seconds to cross it. That was when I realized how hard it was to cross a road. I was wet and the hair on my head was not standing as usual.

It was the grand quiz and I sat there in the auditorium. The questions were projected onto the wall and we were required to write the answers on a piece of paper. I couldn't find the answer to more than 2 or 3 questions out of 30. Nothing more to about that :P. Same with the sports and entertainment quiz the next day.


The rain stopped and we played box cricket with TSR and his hostel friends. I've never seen that before anywhere. There is a large box draw on the sand and we had to play inside it. You're out if you hit the ball outside the box directly, without touching the ground. There was a stall that sold books in the college. I bought a really old story book for Rs. 10 :) There was a chocolate fountain too!!♥

It was the night then and we were going to eat outside. We got into a city bus with the hostel friends and it lead us to a remote area outside town. Then we walked for over a kilometer and then I could see "SUBWAY". How come there is no Subway in Madurai?We each had a Submarine Sandwich. My first ever. We then headed back to the hostel. With tired legs, sleep was easy to come. In the morning we got our participation certificates, bade goodbye to TSR and PSG; left for the bus stand :)


We decided not to have lunch. So, we drank a glass of Watermelon juice and bought a pack of biscuits. This time it was better, the trip :) We sat next to an old man and there was no drunken man in the vicinity. It was not cold and the sun was shining. Not too much though. The bus journey was for four hours. I was reading the book I'd gotten for 2 hours and looking out the window for the other three :) We finally reached Madurai and that is it for now. The trip ended here :)

Trip To Coimbatore

Hi Readers who come here on your own and readers who are asked to come on here by me,

This post is about my trip to Coimbatore. My friend Manoj and I went there for a 3 day trip in the name of a Symposium called "Kriya". We had decided to go there cos our friend TSR Vinoth studied there and thought we'd catch up on old times.

It was Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we have holidays on all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Manoj and I decided to meet up at 11:15 pm at the nearby bus stop. I carried my little backpack which was filled with clothes for 3 days and a pack of biscuits for the night in case we get hungry. We weren't even sure about staying for the whole 3 days cos we were said that it costed each person Rs.250 for food and accommodation. We were low on cash :P.

So, as I was walking to the bus stop with my little backpack on, in the deserted road at 11 pm which would be otherwise packed in the mornings with people of all kinds... Who says Madurai is the city that never sleeps? It sleeps like a bear during winter!!

I had to cross a tiny alleyway to reach that road where the bus stop was. It was really dark. That lane was just 2 feet in breadth. Just two normal sized people could walk side by side in that lane. I had a Swiss army knife in my pocket for protection :D When I was midway in that lane..a large black black dog appeared out of nowhere, it's eyes glowing in fluorescent green and ran past me rubbing it's fine hair against my Jeans. May be it was sleeping there in the shadows. May be it was Sirius Black. Who knows? My heart was racing. I was just absorbing what had just happened and I turned back to see if the huge dog was still there..I couldn't believe what I was just seeing!!!!..A man was standing there..his face was hideous..One eye was blue and the other one had an eye patch covering it..He was white and bald; had a hook for one hand and a machete in the other. He had an evil look on his face and all his yellow teeth were showing. As I looked down the huge black dog was standing there at his feet..I almost pissed my pants..My hands were shaking..!! my pocket knife was no match for that machete..My feet too..I was fixed to that spot; couldn't move from there..Suddenly a flash of lightning appeared in the sky followed by a loud thunder!!
AS this happened i snapped out of my day dream..I mean night dream..You know what I'm saying.. :)


Ok, I was waiting there sitting at the bus stop bench waiting for Manoj to come. Buses were scarce. He finally arrived and we decided to take a share auto. We were seated with complete strangers. The strangers were talking among themselves about the upcoming elections, the heavy rains that day, the traffic, their salaries and how they were not getting a raise. And we were on our way to Arapalayam bus stand. That's where we had to board our buses to Coimbatore.


We finally got there. We got a bus as soon as we reached Arapalayam. The only empty seats were in the last row. We sat there..Near the window. We talked for a while and then decided to sleep cos we had a big day ahead of us..finish registration for accommodation...take part in events..etc..
There was no support in front of me to hold on to when i slept. The bus ride was not smooth. It was throwing us up and down, left and right. Damn suspension and Indian roads!! I decided to sit in the seats infront of me, to the right..that guy was sleeping and when he woke up. He smelt horrible. He had eaten something stinky.Drugs may be..or cheap alcohol..The whole bus smelt of him. I was telling myself "Just five hours, just five hours". Don't ever travel by bus to Coimbatore. If you have to, at least don't make the mistake of going there by night.

I didn't sleep at all..May be for five minutes max. Coimbatore finally arrived and the breath of fresh air..Whew..It was 5:00 am when we finally reached Coimbatore. We got to the college campus around 6 am. We were a bit hungry, so drank some tea/coffee at this bakery which was open at 5:30 am near the college entrance. The roads there were wide and pleasant to look at, under the LED lights from the bridge that connected the College main campus and the Hostel.



We went to the hostel to do the accommodation. It was rs.100 per day for food and accommodation. We registered for all three days. We were shown to the dorm; a large hall with lots of mattress arranged in an array. Nice way to make money. It was warm and comfy though. Much better than the bus ride here. It was 6:30 am and the symposium would start in a few minutes. No time to sleep.


We then went to the main campus in the morning. Registration for the events there. Rs 100 for all events(except for workshops) plus a bag, notepad, & pen. Reasonable. As i was waiting for Manoj to bring back the bonafide certificate which he had forgotten in the hostel, I was watching the students of PSG as they were walking down the bridge;the girls especially. Most were having a book in their hands. Why did I come here??? There were some good-looking ones though.


It was then the opening ceremony at the main auditorium. It was an air-conditioned auditorium. You know what is gonna happen next..Yeah, all the college management people started talking one by one over the mic. Finally it was the turn of the chief guest to give his speech. He was an alumni of that college and the founder of something. He started his speech. Manoj was already asleep in his chair before he came, bending his head down and sleeping with his bag as a pillow.I started going lower and lower on my chair and I then closed my eyes. I was then woken up by Manoj. Everyone was clapping their hands. It was the best sleep I've had in a really long time. Thank You Mr. chief guest and the air-conditioned auditorium. My relative was there in the opening ceremonies. I was talking to her after coming out of the auditorium still asleep.


We then attended a few prelims of some quizzes. We got selected in the final rounds of a few events but just missed the prize in most of them. We then met TSR and had briyani lunch outside. I almost forgot about the breakfast we had in the mess. Unlimited bread, pongal, vada..it was tasty :) It was the end of day one and it was time to go to bed. I went to my bed and found all my belongings gone. What?How??!!!




thodarum....


Trip to Coimbatore: the sequel