Travel Guide : Fun, Love, Friends.
After a very successful blog about 14 hours in Mumbai, I think I should give my readers some hands up if they ever wish to visit Chennai.
Tip 1: Drink lots of fluids. [:P]. It’s really hot and you don’t want to get yourself dehydrated.
Tip 2: Keep a notepad, or keep saving the names of places on your cell. You are bound to forget names like tirusuvalum, mambalam, kodambakkam; these are few easy ones which I remember.
Tip 3: Have lot of money, for the auto walas you are their Christmas pie. Astonishingly, you wouldn’t have idea how much to bargain. Buses are too crowded to travel. Local train system is the best. Not at all like Mumbai or Kolkata.
My very own Chennai trip is a collection of few of the very special moments which I will cherish my whole life. First and foremost, I met people who are very dear to me, besides that the biggest worry of me picking a complexion was negated by the cloudy weather for the only 2 days I was in the city. I felt as if the city was alluring me to come again. But there are too many other goodies for grab besides this.
To start off with the trip, I was late from Bangalore to catch the bus. But as all things happen for good, so was this, met a girl at the nearing bus stop. As we shared an auto for 55-60 mins I had an awesome conservation which literally set-up the tune for the trip -> crisp and fun. For newbie at majestic, the bus stand is a fascination in itself and anyone can get easily lost in there as we experienced while going to Wonder-La. But this time I had my previous experience to ask as many bus conductors you can to get to the right platform.
Once I was in the bus, by the way which was running 1 hour late because of the Bangalore traffic, the only excitement left in me was to reach Chennai as early as I could. Lots to my ignorance and innocence I was in for some good spotting stuff. From here on the blog becomes categorized as above 18 for few lines, so all kids reading this part kindly jump off the quoted lines.
"If you are alone in a dark AC bus with everyone sleeping around you, what can make your travel interesting? Any guesses? I hope some of you might have got it right. Everyone's fantasy is to meet some girl on bus have some rocking conversation before you exchange your numbers and continue the story. If not better what I watched has to be in everyone’s (top 3) time pass in a bus travel. How about a couple smooching right in front of you for say 2 hours(not gonna share details with you, after all I paid for the bus fare so I will only have the fun you have all the J part). I may be seen as a desperate frustoo here, but in my view it’s better to sleep or watch other buses overtaking ours. So for about 2 hours I had the best seat in the theatre which was screening a movie which had more stuff and duration than a Hollywood movie. The only problem was the itch in my hand having a digi-cam and could not capture the glorious moments to be shown to you guys." Whatever, no clue when they slept and when I slept.
Finally, I reach the grand bus stop of koyambedu, with only one piece of information to reach Chennai central before 7:30. So excited I was, I was there by 6:45. Waiting in anticipation and happiness of meeting raju. In short we had breakfast, strolled along Marina, saw forbidden kingdom at city centre, some [:D] shopping at Spencer, had jhaal mudi(a famous Bengali snack) too.
Enjoyed all of it, so much that I still have the hangover.
Disclaimer: This part was kept concise on purpose.
No stinginess from now on, at mambalam waiting for Vishal was the most boring time of the trip. As I saw many local trains come and go. Leave me, even they had no idea what all we will do. By THEY I am introducing 4 new faces, Vishal, Sachan, PK, Raju (this one is a different from one mentioned above). From station to the most crowded street of India - ranganathan street, T.nagar - where there are shops as high as 7 floor dealing only in gold where a stretch of some 200 meters took nearly 20 mins to cross. From there to high time - hotel GRT - watching the match between mohali and Chennai. As the clock was nearing mid-night, time to head back to home. Again to the station, this was the part till where everything was planned. It was now when I heard someone mentioning about going to Pondicherry. A wacky thought, who would support that ?, all of us. Pondicherry, 3 hours from Chennai, known for scenic beauty and union territory privileges. A night out after a long time, and this time Counter Strike was not the purpose of that. A beautiful sun rise providing lot of opportunities to click before the sea with scenery as beautiful as ones we used to draw in school (not me off course). [Travel Tip:] While going to a beach, take a spare set of clothes and towel, you have no idea where all places in the body the sand makes in-roads. In all this time of 2 nights I would have hardly slept for 4 hours, it was then when I realized that I have lost my specs. Tracking back the specs from the pics, it seems somewhere along the beach it got lost. After so much of activity it was sleepy, lethargic time after that, eating junk food, sleeping shamelessly. The only way to regain the lost energy.
As I was boarding back for Bangalore, all the memories of the two day trip flashed in front me. Reminding of the events which could not have been more fun filled, which could not have been more touching, which could not have given me any hint that I want every weekend like the one which was just ending.
