Prijesh’s Wedding @ Kannur – Prelude (Part 2)!!!!!!!

04/06/06 – The day Prijesh got the LLL (Learner’s License – Life)

I was the first to wake up, as decided the previous night. I was maybe in a slumber of sorts, when the alarm set in my mobile started off. Damn it – I said to myself and got up. The agenda was to get up by 0530 hours and finish off with my ablutions by 0615 hours. I then had to wake up SS (Snoring Sachin), who would then get ready by 0700 hours. The last to go to the bathroom would be Arvind (lucky bugger). I got up and watched in envy the two sleeping giants. Damn them – I cursed and walked into the bathroom.

I always judge hotels by the upkeep in the bathrooms. The room maybe could be lavish or decently kept. If the bathroom would not be neatly kept, it would instantly trigger my temper. I found the bathroom to my liking. It was spacious and had great degree of cleanliness attached to it. We stuck to our schedule, and got ready by 0730 hours.

The pals in the other room were getting ready. Nithin was a gracious host. He had insisted the previous day, that we make it to his sister’s house for breakfast. We are not the ones to refuse breakfast / lunch / dinner!!! The thought never crosses our mind to say a “No”, even though it might be just for a formality.

We were greeted with a great Kerala breakfast @ Nithin’s place. We were sure, we are going to make good justice to whatever would be dished out to us. We were in a mood to play a long innings. The breakfast included the following:

1. Puttu with Kadala curry.
2. Some sort of Shemiya (Shavage for kannadigas) with a dish for it too.
3. Bread slices.
4. Egg Omelet for those who loved them.
   

Now this was a deadly combination of Kerala & continental breakfast. I really lost count on the number of bread slices I had or the number of times I served myself with Pottu & Shemiya. There were very few words spoken, as we hogged like never before. To top it all, Shamila (Nithin’s sister) was doing her bit by coaxing us to have more. I don’t think, we needed any amount of coaxing. I remember the dialogue of DCH, when Saif Ali Khan tells Dimple Kapadia “Hum cake kane ke liye kahi bhi aa sakte hai”. In our case it was not cake but food!!!!!

I and Sachin engaged in a game of carom with Nithin’s Nephew & Niece. Anurag & Arvind did themself good with a few comics. Ravi was giving some well know “gyan” on Vastu. Ravi apart from being a temple man is a Vastu Expert too. So, whomsoever, has any problems do get in touch with Ravi. I am sure, his recommendations can only hold you in good stead.

We now realized that we were getting late for “Prijesh’s Engagement”. All this while, we were just freaking around, without actually thinking of the occasion. We hurriedly bid adieu to Nithin’s Sister & her family and thanked them for the sumptuous breakfast. We never forget thanking people who have provided us with good food. That I suppose is a great trait that we possess after the royal munching that we do!!!

We drove down through the narrow alleys and reached our destination. As is our wont, we decided to take the last row, given that the hall was all but full with elders. One thing that stuck me was the clear demarcation between the men folk and the women folk. They were seated separately.

The weather was driving us crazy. It was so pleasant, when we had reached Kannur the previous evening. It had done a total reversal and was hot and sultry. I suppose Kannur being a coastal town has these weather extremes. The sun was beating down and we were all sweating profusely. We just wanted to see some action.

Prijesh was his usual self, smiling and socializing with the guests. We suddenly spotted a girl who was gold laden!!!! We were amazed at the amount of gold on her. We then realized it was “Shajila”. There were a few bets being thrown amongst ourselves as whether the girl we spotted was Shajila or was it somebody else. We finally came to a conclusion that the gold laden girl was indeed Shajila, as none of the other women folk were dressed in the same manner. Given the occasion, we kind of confirmed it amongst ourself.

The ceremony itself was a very simple one. This was the first time I was attending a Mallu Engagement. The men folk wore the traditional White Shirt and White Mundu and the women were in sarees with good display of their golden collection. Now I know, why the men dressed in such a simple manner (most of their hard earned money spent on getting jewels and ornaments to the women). We were all waiting for the action to begin.

We finally saw some action. There was a congregation of family elders, who got together and were speaking a few words on the occasion. Prijesh, who was standing by our side (the last row), was clueless on what was being told. He was just happy to get his LLL. We looked on clueless. Finally the girl and the boy were summoned. Prijesh made a gala entry to all our excitement. Shajila was her smiling self. Prijesh was no lesser. Both were trying to outshine each other with their Colgate/Pepsodent/Close Up smiles. I have always believed that smile/laughter is something very natural. Fake smiles can be easily detected. I found the smiles to be very genuine from both Prijesh and Shajila. It also reflected the fact that, both were very happy to have chosen the other as life partners.

Prijesh was now entering a point of no return. He was going to make maybe the biggest commitment of his life time. He was now turning from a hard core bachelor to a mature man ready to start his own family. I am sure, Prijesh would have had a few butterflies in his stomach, though he did well to hide them. Cometh the hour, cometh our man Prijesh. After the elders rendered their wishes, it was time for the LOI to be released. Prijesh and Shajila were asked to exchange rings, as a part of the LOI. We were smiling ourselves to glory, thinking that this glorification of his equated to the glorification of lamb before the slaughter.

It was official. Prijesh would wed Shajila on a date decided by the elders. We all enquired with Prijesh, but he was clueless on the date. It was time for a few photographs to be taken. We were more than game to have our photographs taken, as is our wont. We also had a brief interaction with the newly engaged ones.

It was getting hotter in the hall. So we decided to cool off our heels by going to the Cannanore Fort. We had heard a lot about the fort and took our vehicle towards the fort. We were now again left @ Nithin’s mercy. We did miss a few roads, but given Nithin’s proficiency in Malayalam, we somehow made it to the fort. I must admit, I enjoyed the walk around the fort. We took some great pictures of the fort. The fort seemed in itself a great monument. The end of the fort facing the sea was the clincher. Waves after waves of water would come and hot the rocks and base of the fort. It was a sight to behold. These are places, one should visit when lonely. You just need to face up to the sea and retrospect. I am sure, clarity in perspective can be gained by a few moments spent in solitude just looking at the sea.

We were feeling hungry again. After running around the fort and posing for a few funny pictures, we decided it was time to visit Prijesh and Shajila again. We did not want to be going too late to the lunch party. We were in no mood whatsoever to miss it. Food is something, the whole of Bangalore Sales team is crazy about. We enjoy good food. Maybe our tummies are an apt indicator of the same!!!!!

We reached the place in the nick of time. Things were being wound up and lunch was being served. We made it to the place, where Prijesh, Shajila and other family members were around. We took our tables opposite to Prijesh, Shajila and their families. This was our first one on one interaction with Shajila. She came across as a very humble person, who just loved to sport a smile. There was a lot of leg pulling that was going around, with jokes flying from one table to another. I am sure, Prijesh after hours of inactivity (in terms of PJs) came back into action with his own brand of PJs. The married folk (Sach, Ravi & Arvind) were at their humorous best. We all had a great laugh riot during the lunch. The laughter would be broken by a periods of absolute silence, where in our Non Veg friends would feast on the Chicken Biryani. I had some plain rice with raitha and a cup of payasam (kheer). I somehow find it quite difficult to be myself (in terms of eating capacities) where non veg is served.

We had our lunch and decided it was time to leave. Prijesh insisted that we visit his house before we left Kannur. We rushed to our hotel, checked out and moved towards Prijesh’s residence. I still do not remember the route we took to get to his house. His house was at an altitude from the main road. We had to go through narrow lanes and a few by lanes to get to his house. We were accorded a very warm welcome by Prijesh and his family. We were introduced to his parents. Now we had our second opportunity to munch in less than 2 hours. We were in Prijesh’s house for the first time. That made it difficult for us. We just could not say “No” to what was served to us. There were a few cookies, cake pieces and some mixture which we devoured on. I then had maybe one of the best lime teas ever. It tasted just perfect and refreshed me to no end. We were all rejuvenated no end. I must admit, most of us were floored with the hospitality we had been accorded and were indebted to Prijesh for having made such elaborate arrangements for us.

We now had to leave Kannur. It was close to 1500 hours and given our estimate, we thought we could reach Bangalore by early midnight. None of us wanted to leave Kannur. We had such loads of fun that we wanted this to continue forever. But alas, we had to leave. We bid adieu to Prijesh and his family and got into the Quallis. Before we could leave, we had another surprise from Prijesh. We were asked to take a gunny bag full of home grown bananas. We again did not refuse.

We hit the road with a sense of purpose. Each one of us was reflecting on the time well spent. We all needed this break badly and this break had revitalized us. We as a team, felt closer to each other. There was a sense of oneness amongst us. Yashu was driving with great zeal and enthusiasm and in no time we had hit the ghat sections. We virtually ripped through the ghat sections and were extremely pleased at the way we were going about covering the distance. In no time, we were done with the ghat section too. We traced the same route, by which we had come to Kannur. We hit Mananthavady and took a detour. We went through the mini ghats again and were amazed by the way Yashu was negotiating the blind curves. There was a sense of contempt and an aura of being supreme, that Yashu exuded.

We were quite happy at the progress we had made, but were a bit concerned. The concern was the route we had taken. We all somehow had an inkling that we were on the wrong route. Suddenly we find a Karnataka Checkpost. We are stunned!!! When we had come via Waynad Forest range, we had 3 checkposts on the Kerala side. We had hit a Karnataka Checkpost, without even encountering a single Kerala Checkpost. This got us intrigued and a bit confused too. We crossed the checkpost to find the Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole Forest Range). We knew that very instant we were in trouble. Though this route was a shorter one, but going through the forest range was something that we had not thought off in our wildest imagination.

The road was clumsy. We knew the road would lead us to Mysore, but maybe it would be a while we reached Mysore. We were concerned about what effects the road would have on our vehicle. Yashu was at his best negotiating the bad roads. Reo wanted to hear the sound of the forest!!!! We therefore maintained a few minutes of silence. That was that. We were trying to be normal, despite having a few apprehensions. Whomsoever we asked, on the bad roads, had the same answer “it’s this bad for the next 10 kilometers”. Damn, it felt like it was a stretch of 100 kilometers with real bad roads. We also were apprehensive of the fact of facing off with the wild life, as we were in the thick jungle. On a lighter side, people would pay 2K to come on a safari to this part of the woods. We were doing it almost free of cost. It was as though, we had this as a compliment.

We somehow waded through the jungle terrain. We reached a few checkposts which signaled the end of the Forest terrain. We were pleased to have come unscathed. We immediately hit off on the fast track and were amazed to find the roads to be just great. I had not seen such roads towards Mysore for a long long time. This road was link up between Mysore and Kabini Dam. The roads were just as flat and smooth as they come. It was nearing 1800 hours and we were making great progress. Yashu was at his best, zipping the Quallis at speeds above 100. We just loved this. None of us had ever come over to this part of Mysore and were all praises for the road. Now we knew, Karnataka or some parts of it were making good progress with infrastructure in place.

We were pleased to be making good headway towards Bangalore. At around 1845 hours, as the sun started to set, Yashu gave us all a shock. He told that the lights (inclusive of the dipper and dimmer) were non functional. Now we were caught in dilemma. We did not now, how long it would take us to reach Mysore. We did not know of any shop which would be open on a Sunday en route to Mysore. Yashu tried his best to make up the distance, but we reached a point, where driving would just be risky without lights. For a few kilometers we just followed a bus, but that just was not helping our cause. Now we knew, we were in for a long haul.

We stopped in a nearby village and enquired for a shop. To our good luck, there were a bunch of amateur electricians, who were willing to help us out. They did their levels of R&D on the vehicle, but come what may, the light just would glow up. They requested us to drive the vehicle down to their yard which was close by. Now there were a few more mechanics on the job. We were getting a bit restless, as the time was ticking by. We had plans of reaching Bangalore latest by 11 PM in the night. But that just looked impossible. We just were hoping against hope, so that the lights could get ready. Now they say, where there is a will there is a way. This was amply demonstrated by those amateurs. The lights were all bright now and glowing in full glory. We paid them INR 100 and immediately made way towards Mysore. In a situation that we were in, we would have paid them any amount to have the vehicle ready.

The whole incident had taken a toll on us and it was almost 2030 hours when we hit Mysore. We were so relieved and we still believed that we could be in Bangalore by 2330 hours. We had another surprise in store for us. Our reliable Quallis had a puncture. Now we knew, things were just getting a bit bad. Yashu, the professional that he is, got us going in 15 minutes time. We were all just hoping that things did not get any worse than what it had got in the last few hours. There were two opinions doing rounds in the Quallis. One was” let us skip dinner and reach Bangalore safely first” and the other was “let us have our dinner and things will be fine”. I am sure, you know by now, which opinion would have held its ground.

We stopped at the A-1 Punjabi Dhaba on the outskirts of Mysore, almost near to Srirangapattana. We were all exhausted with what we had gone through the entire day. An early start with lots of activity since morning, with hardly any rest had started to take its toll on us. I suppose, most of us were hungry, but were quite tired to even eat anything. We made our orders with the waiter and asked him to make it fast. We still had some stock of Whisky and Vodka with us. A peg or two revitalized our spirits and also our appetites. We had ordered for rotis and couple of veg and non veg gravies. We feasted on the food, needless to say. We had a great dinner. The food tasted better, as we had been through quite many trials since evening and we were all quite relaxed now.

It was 2130 hours, when we left the Dhaba. Most of us were so tired, that we decided to take a nap. Yashu, I must admit was just the professional driver you could think off. Arvind and Ravi kept him good company as the rest of us just dozed off. Yashu was ripping on the Bangalore – Mysore Expressway, as we just went into deep slumber. It was close to 2345 hours, when we finally reached Sachin’s place. Sachin, Nithin and I got down. Reo got dropped at his place, as Ravi and Arvind then got dropped at theirs.

Nithin and I picked our bikes and drove back to our houses. By the time I reached mine, it was close to 0030 hours. It was a pleasure to drive on the empty roads in Bangalore. The distance during normal hours of a day would take me 45 to 50 minutes to traverse. The air was fresher too. I got a stare from my parents for having driven in such wee hours back home, but I cared none for it. I was in my own Trans and still was in the holiday mood. I was relieved and happy to be back in my house. But the thought of getting back to the office just hit me. It’s when I realized, it was time to hit the bed.

This trip had a lasting impact on us. For those of us, who were seeing Kerala for the first time, we had just fallen for the natural beauty it possessed. We all wanted to go back to the place again and spend some more time. The place had refreshed our minds and body alike. This sojourn had brought us closer as a unit. This was the first time we all had gone out and been with each other for such a length of time. We came to know and appreciate facets of each other that otherwise we would have never known. All in all, we felt a sense of togetherness. This time off from our regular office routine got us bonded as friends forever.

Thanks Prijesh for having helped us make this trip a memorable one!!!!!