Kerala - "Industrial Visit"

Sunday, 6 January 2008

I never thought I would put up a posting of the “Industrial Visit’ to Kerala as I felt I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the trip, as there was so much to write about and too long tends to get boring at times. But since I was forced to write about the trip, here I am trying to put down a few things that happened on that trip.

Day: 24th November, 2007.
Place: Munnar

Well, when it comes to writing about those days, I just can’t help but smile remembering all the things that happened over the time we were there.
Before I start writing further I have to mention watching Mallu music videos which were as good as semi-porn. Imagine watching similar videos for every song (which of course we didn’t understand), with a horny girl or a guy, rainfall, 'pe-cock' white-wet saree etc..... Boy!!!! Didn’t we laugh our asses out that day, or at least that’s what we thought (lol)
Another great thing about the stay at Munnar was the football games between the ty's and the fy's. We kicked butt that day. Go fy's. The ty's lost 12-4 against us.
Further, it gets better, you know how when people get drunk they act stupid, we had one of those days as well. With most of us drunk and dim, that day was a complete entertainer. Some trying to stand up straight, some others quoting 'I am a duck', some who start puking the moment some alcohol went into their bellies, while some others capturing the whole scene on video just for the fun of it.

Apart from this, I havnt even mentioned the petty hilarious incidents, like when Prerna, Vaidehi, Kanchan, Rash, and I were at the gate, and Kanchan was tryin to prove how brave she was by walkin from there to the building all alone, while she was at it someone yelled 'look left', she howled and started crying just by looking at a flower, the brave woman that she's turned out to be, hehehe.

Day: 26th November, 2007.
Place: Kottayam

Despite Kottayam being a fucked-up place, it was quite enjoyable for us guys. To begin with all of us sat in the balcony, singing old hindi songs in a unison backed by some wonderful ‘late’ music by none other than our dearest Mahesh. ;)

Hahahahhaahahahahahha.... This was what we (B, M, Mahesh, Rash and Me) did for nearly four hours that day after we were done with the singing. Curious to know the reason for us laughing our asses out??? Well so are we, simply for the fact that there were none. There were times when we started laughing just by seeing each other's faces. We laughed to the extent till our eyes started watering, stomach's started aching and we rolled off our beds. WE WERE NOT STONED OR DRUNK WHEN THIS HAPPENED.

Day: 27th November, 2007.
Place: Cochin

The last day of our ‘industrial visit’, an eventful day it turned out to be, starting with the ty’s fucking the tour guide Mahesh’s case for improper accommodation. He looked so terrified at that point of time, mahn!!! The expression on his face was worth a look. They protested for nearly two hours, sat at the reception, not ready to go to their respective rooms till appropriate accommodation was given to them. The Hoteliers had to put their hands down against of their remarkable unity. Hats off to you guys!!!

After we settled into our respective rooms, later in the night, there was this huge argument, which I am sure none of us are ever going to forget, concerning the video that was shot in Munnar. Apparently the content of the video was ‘offensive’ and hence was deleted without prior permission. The video was supposed to be edited and sent to desimad, but since it was deleted, it ignited a lot of anger in quite some people, and the story doesn’t end there, there were roomers about some ‘offensive’ pics being clicked of someone from one of our camera’s, this was something which added fuel to our anger. While all of this was happening it was the ty’s to the rescue, they were the one’s who calmed us down and helped us understand how dull the whole issue was. This whole matter was finally sorted out by none other than our coordinator, Shivani Madame the following day.

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Aside from the time we spent at the hotel's the bus is definately worth a mention if i am write about the trip. Despite us spending almost 5-6 hrs of each day in the bus, leaving aside the tiring aspect, it was fun, watchin people sleep with their mouth wide open and stuff some banana chips, which they would realise only after a while. Singing songs, eating and sleeping were the major ways of time pass for us (I think Prerna will agree with me about sleeping as Tp).

I still feel i havnt done justice to the trip as a whole since there is so much more to write about, but to conclude it was simply an amazing trip, and the amount of fun we had was unlimited. The whole trip brought to light a lot of facts which remained in the dark earlier. Overall, to terminate, the first industrial visit of the course couldn’t have been better.

Janjira (Jaljira) - The Unconquered Fort

Tuesday, 4 December 2007

Janjira Fort (Janjira may have originated from the arabic word Jazeera meaning island), also known as Jaljira, for the fact that it is one of the few forts of its kind - surrounded by sea.

The sea fort of Janjira has been unbeatable by any of the kings of the time and still remains unconquered and has thus gained the reputation of being the strongest marine fort of India. The stone walls of the fort are as high as 40ft. This fort, originally made of wood was made by the fishermen of Murud to protect their village from pirates in the late 15th century AD. Buran Khan, the minister of the ruler of Ahmed Nagar, Nizamshah, demolished the fortress later and built an impregnable stone fort in its place. This fort is spread over an area of 22 acres and it took 22 years to build it. The fort once boasted of nearly 500 cannons in its rein but today only a few are left. The largest of the cannons (Kalal Bangadi) is so huge that it was brought in pieces and then joined with the help of molten lead.

Within the walls of the fort are two deep sweet water wells, now, you may wonder how can there be a sweet water well when the fort is surrounded by sea. When the fort was built a large quantity of rocks were taken from the center of the fort, which brought the underground water to the level, and hence made a sweet water well.

Since it is an island fort, one has to get a sail boat (wind boat) from a small village on the coast, Rajapuri. It is a 15min ride from Rajapuri to the fort. The deep well with cold and sweet water - a wonder of nature in the midst of the saline sea, still provides water to quench the thirst of the weary visitors.

The fort of Janjira is an architectural marvel. Parts of the fort are being carroded and washed away after facing the fury of the ocean for centuries but it still stands promoting the history of its time.

Murud-Janjira & Kashid Beach

Monday, 3 December 2007

The Hotel you shouldn't go to if you are in Alibaug - Hotel Sunglow

15Th November, 2007. A day which will haunt my memory for a lifetime for the primary reason that i never thought spending a day in that manner would ever be possible.

It took us friends (Tanu, Sonali, Kunal and Me) what seems like a countless failed attempts to make this one successful. After our two day trip to Hedvi got cancelled, we decided to go for a day, considering we had no other option. It was then that we decided to go to Murud-Janjira and Kashid beach. We found out the necessary information about the timings of the ST buses.

After we missed direct bus to Murud from Dadar departing at 06:00 hrs, the day wasn't off to the greatest of starts. We got a bus to Panvel thinking we would get a bus to Murud from there. We got down at Panvel at round 08:00 hrs only to know that we didnt have another direct bus to Murud for long, so we got a bus to Alibaug deciding we would spend some time there and then leave for Murud. We reached Alibaug at 10:00. Stopping at Alibaug was really frustrating simply for the reason that it was a sheer waste of time and the only cup of tea we had was the worst we had in our lives, and it gets worse, the hotel in which we had tea, Sunglow, asked us for Rs.40 for using their restroom (now what the hell is that). Believe me its one hotel you would never want to go. IT SUXX!!!!

Considering the amount of time we lost by going to Alibaug it was now for us to decide to go to Murud-Janjira Fort or not. Kunal, Tanu and I were in for it as we are of the adventerous sort but Sonali was a little reluctant. None of us were able to come to a conclusion about the same so we finally decided to flip a coin.

The coin was in the favour of us going to Murud and Sonali had to agree, though she did it a sulkingly (God!!! she gets frustrated way to soon, lol). We got down at Murud at around 13:00 hrs and from there we went to Janjira Fort in one of the wind boats. An experience of a kind it turned out to be. The history and the architecture of the fort was something really fascinating. The beauty of the fort and the fact that it still stood there unbeaten in its lifetime was remarkable. We spent an hour there clicking pictures and listening to the guide we hired explain the history of the fort.

The way back from Janjira to Kashid was enjoyable purely for the reason that Kunal and I kept waving calling out "Kaise ho" and stuff to completely unknown people on the way, and the fun part being looking at the varied expressions on their faces, some smiling and waving, some puzzled, some frowning, while others with an expressionless face wondering who we were.

We reached Kashid Beach at 16:15 hrs. Relaxing was precisely the reason for us going there. Hunger after the whole day's travelling was killing us, but all we could have was Maggi. We also had to find out from the locals the schedule for the buses back to Mumbai-Dadar.

We got a bus from Kashid at 18:00 hrs for Dadar via Alibaug and reached our respective homes by 00:00 hrs.

To sum it all up in short, i would say, the whole trip was a great experience for the mere fact that we planned and organised it by ourselves and also that we went by the ST buses of whose schedule and route none of us had the slightest clue. And not to forget, the mind blowing wind boat, the miraculous fort, and of course the overwhelming beach.

Lastly, it was highly satisfying to go somewhere out of town after numerous foiled plans.