Mangalore trip

What would you feel if you have been planning to go somewhere since 1 year and finally you make it? You know that you have taken a lot of efforts to make this plan workout and have been praying to the god for success. The same was the feeling when we went to Mangalore on a trip and also to meet our college friends who have got posted to Mangalore from the company.

The planning of this Mangalore trip was going on since January 2009 over mails, calls, meetings but due to some or the other reasons it was getting postponed. Now finally after a long discussion on this topic somehow 4 members decided to go to Mangalore and they were Bhushan, Ninad, Pavan and Aniruddha. As much as we were interested in going over there, the manglorians i.e. Ashish, Vishal and Aviraj too were excited to meet us. They had booked the tickets for us online and also got some discounts over the trip. Some other members of our group were unable to make their visit for this trip due to various reasons. Abhishek had his GRE exam, Aniket had to go to Delhi with his parents, Pramod was stupid to ask his Manager for leave and hence couldn’t get it, Mahesh had some unwanted exam for which he had not studied for even an hour and yet wanted to give that exam.

After the tickets were booked we all were totally enthusiastic, and all the time we were getting those feeling of going to Mangalore and meeting our friends and enjoying. Finally the day arrived when we had to leave by the KSRTC Volvo (Airavath) from Swargate. After boarding the bus we made ourselves comfortable with the seating arrangement by adjusting the inclination and wrapped the blankets around us. The blankets were necessary as the bus was complete AC with a temperature of 25 degrees maintained. The first movie which was played was the SpiderMan3. The bus took a halt at the Natraj hotel near Shivapur and we had our dinner there. To get a feel of south India (the place where we were going) we ate Dosa, idli sambar as our dinner. Then, after taking some snacks with us for our journey we got to sleep. Actually it was Aniruddha (Ghante) who got to sleep. In our trip of around 96 hours, Ghante might have slept for almost 60 hours. He was the one who didn’t require any reason to sleep. He used to sleep anywhere and at anytime. And on the contrary it was Pavan (PD) who didn’t sleep at all while reaching Mangalore in the bus. According to him he doesn’t feel sleepy when something is moving around him. We three used to sleep for sometime and then would get up; every time we got up we saw PD doing something or the other with his mobile.

The journey was going very nice and smooth and suddenly something hard struck our bus and we heard someone shouting. Actually it was our bus who had hit a truck. The driver had dashed against a truck while overtaking that truck, damaging the door and the left part of the glass instantly. As this was an accident, they took the bus to the police station and we waited there for almost 2 hours for the next bus to arrive. In the meantime Ninad, according to his habit, gave some poses and took photographs of him and also the broken glass. We were standing in the jungle side road at around 4 am and waiting for the next Volvo. Then the Hydrabad-Manglore bus arrived and we boarded into it. Inside the bus the movie Yarana was being played and we enjoyed the movie. It was the NH17 by which we were traveling. Up to some point it was very nice and smooth, but suddenly it turned out to be the one going through villages and having almost 1metre deep potholes. As the bus was having full air suspension whenever the bus went through these potholes inside the bus it would be like we are playing see-saw. Bumping our heads once to the left and then to the right. The condition of the road was the same till we reached Mangalore. Our every part was dislocated, but once we reached Mangalore and met our friends, everyone forgot all the pains and hugged each other. The manglorians had become so fat and gained so much fat especially around their neck, that they were unrecognizable from far distance. There was no need to book a hotel as we stayed in the flat of our friends. It was a big house (2 bhk) with a single restroom (toilet cum bathroom). The restroom had the basin, the toilet, the bathroom all combined into one. Hence at a time only one person can either go for toilet or he can go for a bath. If anyone is inside then the others were not even allowed to brush there teeth, as the basin too was inside. As half of the day had past in travel we just decided to roam about Mangalore on the first day. Then we went to Gajali (Sea food special) where everyone especially Ninad liked all the varieties of Fish which we had taken there. No need to mention Ghante who on hearing the name of Fish goes crazy like anything. After having our lunch we went to Cherry Square for eating deserts and had some mouth watering Ice-cream. This place was near the MG road which was very similar to the MG road of Pune, with some sophisticated people and well dressed girls(very opposite to those typical south Indian girls) we went into a mall named Bharath mall and tried some of the garments to kill the time. After that the plan was to visit some of the famous temples in Mangalore and we did so. The temples over there were beautifully designed and sculpted. Especially the ones with golden plating on them named Kadri temple. The temples and the music played within it were so beautiful that we were enthralled by the feeling on being in such a religious place. After visiting these places the plan was of a party, and hence we ordered pizza and danced on some of the new movie songs.

The second day we had to go to Kerala by train, and also go on the boat house to enjoy the scenic beauty of back waters. But as you all know, getting up early in the morning is like going on a war. And even more difficult is to take all of them along with you for the war. In short for all to get ready early is impossible. The same happened with us and we left our room at 11 am, after that we had our breakfast and then went to Kasargod by bus. From Kasargod we took another bus to Kannur and got down at Nileshwar. As soon as we got down I came to know that we had forgot the bag(containing Ninad's digital camera of 12k and my spectacles 1k and the bag price 0.5k) inside the bus. As soon as I came to know this we all ran behind the bus, but as all the drivers of South are N.Kartikeyn we couldn’t follow him. All of us got tensed and we were looking out for any contact number which we could get. From the ticket number we called the mobile number mentioned on that ticket. After calling that number the customer care gave us a number on the plate as RRC300 (we will not forget this number in our lifetime). She said it’s of no use following the bus but you can track down the same bus at Nileshwar on its return journey from Kannur to Kasargod. This incident happened at around 3 pm and according to our calculations the same bus would be coming at this station on its return journey at around 6:30 pm.

In the meantime we went to the boat house and enjoyed the back waters there. Initially we all were tensed and it was getting reflected on everyones face and hence no one was in the mood for enjoyment. But we all hoped that we would certainly get the bag if we track the bus and hence went into the boat hoping the same. As the boat started getting far from the coast all started gaving some poses and took photos. Actually we all were very hungry at that time, and requested the boat owner to provide something to eat. On this request he provided us with Tea and Parle-G which we ate till the packet was clear. On the boat life jackets were also provided, if anyone wanted to dive into the river and enjoy more. But no one from our side did so, as we had not got spare clothes. This ride continued for around 1 hour and then we came back to have some snacks. As we had not taken the lunch that day, we ate pretty much in the snacks.

Again at around 6 pm we came back to the bus stand and started our hunt for the bag. Whenever we use to see any similar kind of bus we use to get into it and check the shelf for our bag. We had made a plan for this. 2 members were standing besides the main gate. 2 were standing inside the station and 2 went to the next station where the bus would be going. With proper communication between all and praying our gods, finally our prayers got answered and we got the bag without any scratch, without any item missing from it. That day went with complete adventure and as soon as we reached home we had our dinner and went to sleep.

The third day was the day to visit the beaches near Mangalore and play football. On that day we had decided not to waste the day and hence we just got up early and went to the beach without having a bath. To reach the beach we had to cross the back waters by a small boat and then enter the beach. At a distance of about 1 km from the beach, the sea was roaring and now you can imagine how the water at the beach must be like. When we reached there we just were able to enjoy the beauty of the beach. It was very dangerous to enter the beach as the water level had increased a lot and the water pressure was much high for anyone to easily get drowned into the sea. We took some photos and as it started raining we came back from there and had our bath. Then we packed our bags and went for lunch. That day we had decided to eat Sizzlers and hence we went to Sizzler Ranch. A funny incident happened over there. We all were deciding what to order and were asking the captain (typical south Indian) what should we take in English. While talking with each other, someone said”are te nako gheus, tyat mushroom aste”. On hearing this the captain who was a south Indian said “te without mushroom pan gheta yeil”. After hearing these words from him we were shocked. He was actually speaking in Marathi and that too very fluently. After ordering the sizzlers and some soft drinks we just talked about some old memories of our college and by the time the order was served. Almost everyone ate those hot sizzlers along with the cold drinks and enjoyed the dish.

We had our lunch and went to Mangalore bus stand to catch our return trip bus. After seeing off our friends we got into the bus and enjoyed our first movie 8x10 Tasveer. Actually we enjoyed it in our dreams. Almost everyone (even Pavan) slept on the return journey. We had our dinner at Kamat hotel somewhere at around 11 pm and then I don’t remember anything until it was sunset and we had reached Natraj hotel again (near Shivapur). We had our tea and then reached Swargate from where we took Tum Tum and went our respective house. Even after reaching home we were having a feeling as if we were traveling and all those fun days were getting into our memories. This trip was a success and now we are hoping to arrange for many such trips as and when we get time and all the people are present to make it a success.