JLR part 2

Before we start again, one quick ammendment, to the list of names, in the game of 'List of Names'.Vikram had appended to the list 'Jack Welsh' after serial #19, which he forgot in the game, but thoroughly remembered last week.

We hired 2 auto rickshaws, to drop us off at Jungle Lodges and Resorts camp site. We arrived at JLR, only to find out, we can occupy our rooms only at 12:00 Noon. We had about an hour and half to chill out.

We were all very hungry, as we had'nt had our breakfast. The guests and inmates at JLR had exhausted all the breakfast. We decided to go to the town of Dandeli and get breakfast for the entire team. Chethan, Guru and myself started our walk to the town of Dandeli. We discovered through local knowledge, that 'Hotel Ambika' on the link road, was the highly rated eat out at Dandeli. The three of us went on a search mission to find the same. Driven my Murphy's law, we took the wrong road at a fork, and walked adrift for about a mile and and a half. On our lost path, we enjoyed the aroma of open drains and managed to cheer a bunch of school kids playing a cricket match. By the time, we had savoured these local flavors, we were enlightened that we had lost our way. We decided to play safe from now on, and hired an auto to take us to 'Hotel Ambika'. We had idlis packed for breakfast, owning to the fact, it was the safest cuisine in an unknown land.

The 'just before breakfast' TT tournament, started by the rest of our team, was abandoned as soon as we reached JLR with packets of breakfast.

All of us assembled at the 'Gol Ghar' for breakfast. Gol Ghar is an open dining area, with thatched roof. The place offers an excellent ambience to dine and wine. We had our idlis supplemented with the bhyankara kaara chutney. Vikram alias 'Vicks' added more fun to the breakfast through the 'Chow Chow' he had brought along.

Our team.

1.Prashanth
2.Chethan
3.Sandeep (Wisor)
4.Sandeep (HP)
5.Vikram
6.Guru
7.Ajay

30th December 2005, 21:30 Hrs , Bangalore Bus Stand

Our team unites. We have a bus to Dandeli at 21:45 Hrs. The whole team proceeds towards platform number 1. We find buses to every other place in the world, but for Dandeli. We discover that there has been some confusion about the timings of the bus and now we have a status that the bus is going to arrive and start only at 22:45 Hrs.

Oops !! Now we got to spend an hours at Majestic Bus Stand. Actually we were quite lucky that day, as the Bus stand had a 'colorful' out look. We started off our converstaions based on our bird watching observations. Prashanth was a little aloof though, still in the memoirs of the 'USB keyboard'(Nick name of a dame at his office)

The bus we had to take, arrived at the bus terminus at about 22:30 Hrs. We finally started off our journey to Dandeli at 22:45 Hrs. We had a 12 hour journey ahead of us.
Soon after the bus started, we tried our night photography skills in vain. Prashanth did put in a lot of effort to take pictures of the team on the bus, and was pretty successful in the endeavor.
Sandeep - HP, was not very well aware of Chethan and his employer. So Chethan siezed the opportunity to inflict the concept of 'Doshification' into Sandeep - HP. The rest of the team too got a chance to refresh upon the concept. Actually the conversation went all through the night and also into the following morning.

The bus stop for a short break at 'some place' on NH 7. The whole team, except Vikram and myself got off the bus to get a sip of Tea. We went to the road side resturant and ordered 2 Cups of tea. It was over 10 mins and no 'Tea' came. So we decided to drop the idea of tea and walked out the the 'Dabba Hotel'.

Right after that, almost all of us went into deep slumber till dawn.

31st December 2005, 07:30 Hrs

Some place on NH4, about 22 Km from Hubli, at a road side hotel again, We had our morning coffee/tea at this place, before resuming our journey. Chethan and Prashanth resumed their theories of 'Doshification'. The rest of the team was engaged in some chit-chat.

At this point of time, we started to feel the boredom of a long travel. We started the game of '20 Questions to identify a personality' to keep ourselves entertained. The game did not last long as there was a major dispute, as 'male' personalities out numbered the 'female' personalites.

Guru, at that point in time, suggested a wonderful memory game. The game goes like this. One person in the group, starts from uttering the name of a personality. The person next in line, has to remember the name of the person(s) told before, as well add another name to the list. We finally end up handling a long list of names. Below is our game snapshot

1.Atal Bihari Vaj.. (Guru)
2.James Bond (Ajay)
3.Sarojini Naidu (Vicks)
4.Lata Mangeshkar (Sandeep HP)
5.Remo (Eno) Fernandes (CK)
6.Asha Bhonsle (Sandeep Wisor)
7.Phuley Narayan Guru (Guru)
8.Veerapandi kottabomman (Ajay)
9.Nivedita. (Vicks) (*Sandeep HP drops out here)
10.Suppandi. (CK)
12.Raja Ram Mohan Roy (Sandeep Wisor)
13.Damodar Veer Savarkar (Guru)
14.Penelope Cruz (Ajay)
15.Bill Clinton (vicks)
16.MKG (CK)
17.John Bon Jovi (Sandeep Wisor)
18.Sangolli Rayanna (Guru)
19.Sheik Abdulla (Ajay) (*Vikram, CK and Sandeep Wisor Drop out here)
20.Chatrapati Shivaji (Guru)
21.Edward Johnson 3D (Ajay)

Its no longer fun, with just 2 fellas left.

When all this happened, our Delicate Darling, Prashanth was enjoying a deep sleep. I am sure, he had sweet dreams about his cute office mates.

We finally reached our destination 'Dandeli' at about 10:20 Hrs.