Friday, March 27, 2009

Tirupati.. day 1.

Scene 1 : approaching the end of discussion at Ashoks cubicle.
Thursday evening : 4:30 PM

(loud noises in the background. Sridhar, Arvind, Shiva, Vinay, Mahanth , Neeraj discussing someting animatedly at Arvinds seat)

Ashok : "you can make this section more generic. do not mention interphonic etc. zyada details denge toh phir se har server ke liye update karna padega."

Me : "thik hai Rawatji.. i will take care of it."

Ashok : "Aur kaunse pending hain?"

Me : "Bas. ho gaye Rawatji.."

as i got up to return to my seat, i noticed a big bunch of people hanging around Arvinds seat and proceeded with caution to find out what was going on. if Mahanth and Sridhar were involved, then it could mean some solid discussion on the validity of a scenario which was causing a weird behavior in the system, which meant that both would continue arguing without noticing the passage of time, space and the life breath of other individuals. hence it would be prudent for nearby residents to avoid even glancing in that direction for the fear of getting sucked into the discussion and being forced to take sides in spite of all attempts to remain neutral.

Hence the obvious caution on my part. call it foresight or past experience.

looking at Senthils smiling face and hearing Arvinds laughter, i decided to investigate the situation. as soon as i was within earshot, Sridhar and Arvind both began speaking and it seemed their queries and statements were directed at me. worried that it was something of a technical nature and cursing myself for having been deceived by the smiles and the laughter, i said "whaaat?"

Arvind : "Vinayaka, we are planning to go to Tirupati, want to join?"
Me : "I'm ready. Who all? How? When?"
Sridhar : "Shiva, Arvind, me, Vinay and if you join, you"
Arvind : "we will take my car."
Shiva :"leaving tomorrow evening by 4"
me : "im game. but why so suddenly? also... i have one training at 2:30 so.. 4 might be difficult"
Arvind : "4:30 then. ok Five.. is that fine?"
me " should be fine.. but will we get darshan? last time i had gone, we did not get, i was so disappointed.."
Shiva : "Dont worry, we will reach there friday night, we will stand in the queue and get tickets saturday morning, and have darshan on sunday morning."
me : "how come out of the blue?"
Arvind : "senthil just returned from sabarimala and was telling us about it. and we thought we should visit tirupati."
me : "doesnt make sense. but fine."
Sridhar : "Done.. me, Shiva, Arvind, Vinayak and Vinay. Arvind is main driver, Vinay is backup driver. bring all things that are needed to office tomorrow morning. we will directly leave tomorrow evening from office."

Scene 2: At my house, getting ready to go to office.
Friday morning 9:15 am.

ah, i will not be able to punch in before 9:30. gone. one more late punch this month

where is that damned baniyan? must be in the almirah. where is the key to the almirah? why do you lock it you fool? isnt the main door lock enough? by the way, what can a thief expect to find in this? who wants your baniyans? and the damned thing is made of wood.. ply-bloody-wood. an axe, and no lock of yours is of any use.. throw away those keys man.. ah here it is. smell good? sniff sniff.. okk

should i pack and take the clothes now? maybe i can come in the afternoon and take it... then i can take the bike now, and bring it and keep it here in the afternoon. ok i will take the bike.

9:30 AM Still in the house looking for a decent washed and ironed shirt.

dammit.. no choice then, i will have to wear this wrinkled formal pink shirt. the ironed one i will pack and wear when visiting Balaji. once in a blue moon we visit him. and on that day if i go so untidy he may take offence..

9:35 AM ready to leave, change of mind

i wont take the bike. its better. i will have to finish off things, so wont have time in the afternoon to come home. pack pack pack..

9:45 AM on the road, catching the first autowalla whos looking for potential bakras to charge double

me : "Manipal Hospital battiraaaaa?"

Thickly set Auto fellow with 3 day stubble: "Yaaawwwn... Manipal hospitalllaaaaa? U-turn haki barbeku saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar. 30 rs agatte."

bloody m.....f.....
me : "ok.. fast hogappa, late aithu.."

Tring tring to Sridhar.
me : "Sridhara, pls tell Archana to tell Gowri that i would be late for training today."
Sridhar : "im walking to the officeVinayaka.. tell someone else.."
me : "i thought you were in office early as usual.. cheater.. byee."

9:54 AM After getting looted by the auto driver, paying 30 rs for a 12 rs fare, i reached Leela security check point

Security Guard (looking solid suspiciously at my bag): "Is mein kyaa hai sir?"

grrrrr.... getting late.... 10 more minutes and then i will have to apply for half day
Me : "kapda hai bhaiyya.. toothpaste, chaddi baniyaan, Tirupati jaane ka pilan banaya hai aaj shaam ko"

Security Guard : " ye zip nahi kholta kya?"

haai raam
me :"Woh extension hai bhaiyaa.. kholke dekhlo.. bag ko bada banata hai."

Security guard : "ok! thank you sir"

me : "Thank you bhaiyya."
delay kar diyaaaaaa . late ho jaegaaaa.. boo hooo.. gone half day..

"OYYY VINAYAKAAAAA"

me : "oy sridharaaa.... neenuu ille naa? bega security finish madake helo.. late aithuu"
Sridhar : "lets go..."

9:58 AM at the punch in machine which is refered to as the time machine in the internal memos circulated by the Chinese secretary, no doubt a mis translation of time keeping machine

Beep..

Beep..

me : "Abaaaaaaa.... just in"

Sridhar : "still 2 minutes were there.. the security could have taken his time.."

me : "maaaaddd... he could not have found me out if i were carrying some explosive... its silly rather.. just formality."

Just as i was about to plop down on my chair...
"Vinayakaaaa...." Arvind..

me : "Bolo sir..."

Arvind : "show me.."

me : "????????"

Arvind : "travel baaaaggg."

me : "ohhh... heh heh.. here it is.. wheres Shiva?"

Vinay : "Hes not yet come.. i thought the trip would be cancelled.. you guys came so late"

Archana : "Vinayak, training..."

me : "carry on.. i will catch up.."


Scene - 3 (In the training room)
Friday afternoon 4:30 PM

Ashish : "So a singleton class will have only one instance, no matter who calls it when. so many of real world applications are based on singleton classes... try and do this program as an exersize.. try to overload the equals method to find if the "

tring tring

me : "excuse me.... hello .."
Sridhar : "We are leaving.. come quickly or you will be left behind.."
me : "everyones ready?"
Sridhar : "we are going ... you have fun in training.. "
me : "wait.. im there.. one minute.."

me : "Gowri, something urgent. i have to go.. they are waiting.."
Gowri : "ok.."

4:31 PM
me :"lets go .. im here.."
Sridhar : "wait.."
me : "mad fellow.. i left the training to come here thinking i was late.. you are still not done.."

4:45 PM
Shiva : "i have switched off my machine. i wont allow you to work any more.. shutting down yours also.."
me : "......"

5:00 PM
Rajeshkumarvs : "I thought you guys were leaving at 4:30.. what happened.. project delayed?"
Sridhar : "we will most definitely leave by 8 "

5:10 PM
Arvind : "Chalo... Chalo.. lets go guys.."
Shiva(in a very bad broken voice) : "First stop my house, need to collect my bag.."
Arvind : "whats with the soundbox?"
Shiva : "dammu.. cold.."

As we started off on this rather sudden journey, i had several doubts in my mind.. whether we would be able to find our way to Tirupati, whether we would get darshan, whether we would be able to gel and have a fun time together.... but all that was put behind as we headed straight on old madras road on the way to Tirupati.. Vinay had a hand drawn map, in which Ayush had scribbled some diagrams also. It was lifted off wiki mapia

The road to Tirupati from Bangalore goes through kolar and then chittoor. Getting out of bangalore was as usual tedious. so much traffic. and on the way too, a lot of vehicles. a busy stretch. the road is getting converted from a 2 laner to a 6 laner and hence a lot of work ongoing and lot of diversions to be taken etc.

Arvind : "see.. how can i drive fast if i cant see the road? it seems like the road ends there.. i cant see beyond that point..
me : "its like the headlights are like the present moment.. you cant see the past which is darkness.. you cant look too forward into the future.. but the headlights..."
All four of them : "oh shut up.."
me : "just trying to tell you the philosophy behind it.."
All four of them : "No need.."

we stopped at the kamat's hotel halfway between bangalore and kolar.. and ate idlis, dosas, chilli pakodas.... Sridhar seemed to be on a juice only diet.. he was adequately warned that no stops will be given for any emergencies that arise with excessive consumption of liquids..

It was fully dark by the time we entered Kolar and a fork in the road caused a slight amount of panic in the car.
Arvind : "left? right?"
Shiva (broken voice): "Right.. im 99.9% sure its right. last time we went in this way."
Vinay : "We can ask some one.."
Arvind : "i will stop near that auto.. Sridhar ask him.."
Sridhar : "hello.. hello.. Tirupati yava kade?"
unknown auto driver: "aa rodalli hog beku sir.. stright aaa roadalle hogi.. straaighttt... straighttt 100 kms.."
me : "he was very keen on straight.."
Arvind : "we will take the road he tells us to, but we will reconfirm as we go ahead"
Sridhar (targeting an unsuspecting person waiting for the local bus) : "hello.. tirupati yav kade?"
unknown pedestrian : "ide road.. straight hogi.."
Arvind : "thats confirmed then.."
me : "Shiva krishnaaa.. 99.9 % sure? :D .. you will get us lost man.."

but one thing about the people of Kolar.. if you ask them about tirupati, you will most definitly get a "straight " answer out of them :D.

riding on the way, songs playing, chit chat on going about.. the kilometers melted under the swift, and we moved on quite fast. in between we saw a sparkly beam of laser going into the sky, cutting across the night a single green beam.. it was cute.. we all had our theories about it.. and each one probably had equal chances of being right or wrong..

as we reached chittoor, we again had to ask for directions and a friendly neighborhood milkman guided us all through chittoor till the road that took us out of it.. he was a friendly person.. i always maintain that people who drink milk are a optimistic lot.. it has calcium etc..

we reached tirupati without any incidents.. apart from the occasional yahoo who sped by on his splendor in a totally raash manner..

Tirupati itself is a small town. the temple and the town of Tirumala is located on a hill which is about 22 kms by winding road. we first bought some medicine and coffsills (brother of strepsills) for Shiva who was now communicating with us by writing messages on his cell phone. we checked the ticket counters to see the crowd and decided to return at 3:30 or so. the counters would open at 9, though some people were already sleeping on the benches waiting for the counters to open. patient lot.

we checked into a hotel, bhimas residency and took a 6 bed room .. though we were only 5. Some of us were hungry, and we decided to have a late dinner after a quick shower. All the while making plans about what time we would be waking up, and standing in the queue.

As friday ended, some of us set up the alarm on our mobile phones. all eager to stay in the queue and buy the tickets. a small prayer went out to Balaji, hoping that we would be fortunate enough to get darshan this time around.

(To be continueeeddd)

No comments: