`There is nothing like a reunion with your friends after a yearlong toil. I was all excited to be heading back to where it all started- Mysore, so were most of my other batch friends from different DCs.
We were 5 of us from Hyderabad, 2 girls and 3 guys. We boarded the train from Kachiguda station and we reached Bangalore at around 10 in the morning. We were tempted by the cab drivers to be dropped right at the campus gate for around 400 per head. Instead we took a train to Mysore and a cab to the resort, the whole thing came up to 100 bucks per head, saving 300 bucks and it took about the same time. Wuhu!! We booked this resort called Palmyrah Resorts which is about 2 Kms from campus. It’s a lovely, decent and affordable little place. We freshened up and went to the campus; we were the last ones to get there. Nothing has changed-the same stringent security checks, bag scanning’s etc but this time we were reentering with black tags :-D. There is something about walking with a black tag in Mysore DC, among all the colored tags. For one you don’t get lost in the crowd and you have a hop in your stride, strutting with confidence and feel like a Big Brother…‘Kyon ki Production Waale bhi kabhi Trainee the’ (Production folks were also Trainees once).
I was really elated to meet everyone after a long time. Some had a makeover and others remained unchanged. The training day memories came flooding in, the struggle, the despondence of getting a re-exam, staying late nights in the class rooms with your friends helping you out even though they didn’t have a re-exam, the joy of clearing it on the second attempt, celebrating it with friends and treating them in Gazebo, having pizzas in my room, prank calls to friends late in the night… the list is endless. As soon as we reached we went for lunch to our favorite food court-Oasis on Lady Birds!!! (I never thought I would say this..but I missed these little low-bar pinkies). I like Oasis because I like the food there and also because that’s where I met most of my friends in Infy for the first time. I tried the new item on the menu, American Chopsuey from fusion bistro. Having lunch together was nostalgic. We usually had a hurried lunch, talking about the modules, CGPA, java, single swipes, hands-on, compris etc. But today it was as relaxed as ever, all relationships broken and divorced with time we were talking about movies instead of modules, mocha instead of Java, single and the girl they ‘swiped’ off their feet :p, hands-on… the latest gadgets, girls about capris instead of Compris….well you get the point.
After lunch we went for taking the movie tickets. Some things never change, the same old looong queues for the movie. We stood in the non-membership queue and bought tickets for 50 bucks for the movie ‘Dil to Bacha he’. We had 1 and a half hour to spare before the movie, so we went to the bowling alley, luckily got the slot reasonably quickly (The Mysore DC Facility spirits were with us I guess). It was so good to be back into this A/c room with loud music, wooden floors and stinky shoe-racks. I didn’t win, I was a bit rusty and was concentrating on having fun (That’s my excuse & I’m sticking to it, lol :P). By the time we were done with bowling there was only 15 min left for the 8:30 movie and we were hungry, dinner would be only after 11 at least. The next 15 min is still a bit fuzzy for me coz everything happened so fast. We Rushed to Loyal world made someone stand in the billing line and shopped like crazy as if there was a happiness sale with flat 50% discount on all the eatables. We got anything we could get our hands on-cakes, chips, biscuits n cookies, chocolates, pet bottles of mazaa , pulpy, frooti , you mention it. We dumped everything on the guy who was standing in the billing line, people were staring at us in awe :p (Technically we dint break any C-Life, hehe). We had 8 minutes left to finish all the goodies as eatables were not allowed inside the multiplex. We frantically opened everything and ate like there was a hogging competition and the winner was promised a date with Shiela and Munni. People were still staring at us in awe but we didn’t care. We finally finished everything with 2 min left, rushed to the multiplex still munching the food and settled in our seats. The multiplex was as beautiful as ever, the polished wooden dais smiling at us, we missed her alright. I spotted the seat where I was sleeping..ehh.. I mean listening on the induction day. The movie soon started and around 90 minutes later we came out with a bad head ache. Sad movie man!!
It was dinner time. All Food courts were closed but luckily there were midnight meals at maître. We had our dinner there, it was the first mid-night meal for some. We were walking towards the gate2 on the well maintained roads thinking we have experienced everything there was to experience- Food courts-check, Pool-check, bowling alley-check, multiplex- check , Midnight meals-Check, when suddenly we heard a familiar sound after ages, the security guard was whistling at us for walking on the road. Ok so getting whistled at by the security again-check! Lol and finally getting out of Mysore DC after the curfew time- BIG TIME CHECK!
We started to head for our resort. We walked till the auto stand not expecting to find any at this time and our expectations were not disappointed. There was not a single auto driver or his uncle waiting there. One of the girls shrieked asking “Where are all the auto-waalas? ” It didn’t help when I suggested that they might have finished their 9 hours 15 min and wanted to go home. The security guards outside said that there are usually a couple of autos even at this time, but not today. It was not our day I guess. Well we were kinda mentally prepared for this, so we started walking towards our resort in the cold deserted night. Funny thing was that not one person knew the entire route. One person knew 50% of the way, somebody else knew the other 25% and yet another person knew the remainder. Sometimes the least of the planning are the times when you have the most fun. We were singing and dancing on the empty roads, taking snaps. There were silent moments as well when ever we passed a dark stretch of road and then suddenly one would sing “Andheri raato mein ..sunsaan raahon par”. We walked for about 30 min, for a moment I myself thought we were lost :-p . But finally when the resort came into view we were all relieved, it was like finding oasis in a desert. We rushed into our rooms and changed. I thought everyone would be tired but we sat down in a circle in the common living room, turned off the lights and placed a lit candle in the centre, playing the good old ‘Truth or Dare’ one of which made everyone do some pushups when one of our friend Shubam told he could do more pushups than everyone put together, not to mention he lost coz not to brag but I myself did almost 50 :p Then when we were bored with T&D we switched on to some dancing on music from our cell phones, songs varying from kishore kumar and rd burman to the Munnis n Shielas. All in all it was a fun filled night and it was about 2 or 3 in the morning when we retired to bed.
Next morning we woke up at around 9/10 and quickly freshened up and checked out. Took some last moment pictures at the resort and headed for the campus with our luggage. In the campus we visited our old class rooms in the GEC1 and the august GEC2. It was really a nostalgic moment, can’t put it in words but one can only experience it. Then we went to Gazebo and had some snacks as breakfast, nothing was changed, the same old samosa-bun, garden roll, veg roll, chicken roll, Hawaiian chicken etc. We wanted to try the 2 new mini food courts but one was closed as it was Sunday and the other was yet to be functional. Then did a little more roaming about and took pictures at places we so took for granted during our training days. Had our lunch at Fiesta, told my friend to call the other girls and meet at gate2. The train from Bangalore was at 6:20 PM from Majestic and it usually takes around 3 hours to reach Bangalore from Mysore and given the Bangalore traffic we would need at least an hour’s buffer time. We reached at the gate and got onto the local bus but one of the girls was yet to come as she was waiting for her friend who was going to Bangalore to come along with us, the bus driver was getting impatient as there was another bus coming so got out with our luggage and got on to the other bus. Finally they showed up and we started from campus, reached suburban bus stand and got onto the Bangalore bus and at around 2:15 we were off. One of our friends had gone to Bangalore earlier in the morning as he wanted to meet someone there, so he would be waiting for us there.
So this was about the Soaring adventures of Mysore. If you think I am going to say we went back home all happy, nice n comfortable with pleasant memories you are so mistaken. Some of you might find it hard to believe what happened next because the cascade of events that unfolded was a truly unbelievable.
….To be Continued
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