F.R.I.E.N.D.S. @ Sterling Puri

Enough of the knowledge worthy stuff I have been writing in the recent times (I feel so when I recall my golden olden days!!!), so thought that I will write something that’s close to my heart (very very close). Off late I have been touring all parts of the country right from a colleagues wedding in Erode, TN to Puri, Orrisa... has been quite hectic but, could not feel it as I have been happy and satisfied with some developments personally as well as professionally... mind comes before the body ..isn’t it??

I went home for a long long vacation of 2 weeks to get some passport formalities cleared and also meet family and friends.... The last part of the vacation was specifically very memorable because of the fact that it was an innumerably planned and once executed F.R.I.E.N.D.S reunion at Sterling Resorts in Puri. The place itself makes me nostalgic given the fact that we had visited this place 4 years ago during college days when we were freaks in the true sense. At that point in time we reached the place with anticipation of two adjoining suites, one occupied by us and the other??? Pushkar will relate to this better....


Day #1:
So now we had finally reached the place..... Here we means myself, Ankit,Thapa, Pushkar and Goldy, with Saket joining us a few hours later. We just had a couple of days in hand and ready to relive it all. The trip started with a Bakar session in the wonderfully air conditioned room at the resort and a perfect English breakfast. Then, we finally moved out of the comforts of the room to the arms of the sea in one of the less crowded beaches of Puri in the middle of killing heat. Yes, that was of course preceded by a sumptuous lunch at Bideshi Hotel suggested by Thapa wherein Ankit was completely unable to lose his Los Angeles charisma. Our high pitch conversations were being frequently interrupted by Ankit saying dhire bolo kya sochega aas paas ka log and was very ably reciprocated by Thapa with the lines saying I'm on holiday..... I can f@#$ everybody this way..... I'm cool!!!. The expression on Thapa's face and the hand-eye coordination while delivering this was simply amazing... Thapa is true genius (read CS... we know what that means?). And, also not to forget Thapa had a very eye pleasing Donkey ride, on the dirty beach of Puri, which he thought to be horse initially (I guess you don’t have horses and donkeys in Nepal??). O.K. then we all headed back to the resort completely tired and desperate to take a plunge in the not very well maintained swimming pool, and to add to the icing of the cake Pushkar made it even dirtier courtesy some unique act of his, I assure no one else is capable of such acts. And then, Saket joined us in the resort after a hard day at office (feel the sarcasm...), by this time we were hungry enough for our dinner. Then, started the big plans for the booze party... Where's the party tonight??? ...... On the sea Shore!!! So, the issue in hand was to get enough stock for a night long sustenance, so the most intrepid of the lot i.e. myself and pushkar (2007) were given the charge and we got the pre-requisites and requisites at the expense of 350 bucks for 10 kms (mind you we're in Puri not Pennsylvania). That night was magical, it was pure, it was undiplomatic, it was we and we were together. The fun was of course acknowledged by our very own Ankit Pushkar (read Cat-Dog) fight, that’s a signature authenticating the genuineness of the parties we have, nothing unnatural. Then came the best part of the night (im still confused whether that was night or morning?).... We suddenly realized that the first rays of the morning sun had descended upon the lovely beaches of Puri and I must tell you that’s a particularly weird feeling!!! And, Goldy with his pran of no booze and meat until he achieves a personal goal (the goal referred here is the baap of all accomplishments and it is achieved but for a mere formality and the ever tensed Goldy!!) was sleeping in peace. Now, I should introduce all of you to a concept of H2O Treatment which is capable to accomplishing the impossible too... We'll see how in the lines to follow.... The simplified definition of H2O Treatment is Water on a bottle head and Bottle head emptied onto the Human Head. That was it; a well executed H2O Treatment by Thapa caused Goldy to rise from the world of his dreams (Wat dreams?? It’s beyond the scope of blogger to express!! Very dirty!!!). By this time Saket also woke up from his sleep after finishing the whole Vodka bottle (13 pegs down.... 14 pegs down!!!!), which was later found hidden below the bed cum sofa in the living room. Then started the song.... "Kya khabar thi jana ki humko pyar ho jayega........Kya khabar thi jana ki humko pyar ho jayega" with Pushkar, Saket and Thapa dancing and me and Ankit uncontrollably laughing. And, poor Goldy thinking How on Earth can these hopeless people do this to me and with a mechanical movement of his feet and elbow in a poorly synchronized tandem. The scene was such that, its beyond my capabilities to re generate it, but rest assured it was one of the funniest and most humorous events of my life. This circus went on for the whole of that hour and finally we went to sleep for a couple of hours at 7am, (Goldy also had a strategy behind letting us sleep) and abruptly woken back to reality with a revengeful H2O Treatment by Goldy for Thapa (respite to me, Pushkar and Ankit that we were not targeted) and Saket was enjoying the show with complete indulgence.

Day #2:
I really cannot differentiate between the two days, after all one needs to sleep to see a new day. The second days are never as enjoyable as the first ones, coz you start feeling that its the final half of the trip. Plus, Goldy had his flight back to Hyderabad from Kolkata, so he had to leave that day itself.... Sad but true!! The second day we went to the pool again withstanding the disaster caused by Pushkar followed by TT Games thanks to the poor table, poor racket, hot conditions (Grapes are sour … I lost even to Pushkar!!) and then Goldy irritated me by stealing off my favorite shorts …. Goldy should mind it (to be read in Rajnikanth style)!!! Then came the high point of the second day, we went to the Sterling private beach which was truly serene, deafening and monstrous. One needs to feel the sound of violent waves hitting the beaches with closed eyes... that’s the door to creativity, divinity. We played games like shoe (one has to jump on the opponents foot in a bid to win the game), followed by a mad Saket summer salting in the beach. And of course, accompanied by the wonderfully contrasting moods that Thapa posesses... i.e. when everyone is high, Thapa is low and when everyone is low Thapa is high... you need to have high caliber to act or even behave like Thapa. One needs to witness this phenomenon to realize it. Hats off to Thapa.... eeeeee Thapa!!!!!!! Now came the time to see off Goldy in the Kolkata bound express..... Bye Bye Goldy!! By now, Our hunger was killing us and to our delight, it was followed by a very satisfying meal consisting of a variety of sea food delicacies at Chung Wah, Puri. That night too we took some bottles of beer to the resort, just for the sake of relaxing for of the stressed nerves and enjoyed it well along with a nice IPL match involving the Kolkata Knight Riders (that’s my favorite team). Our bodies had been starved of sleep since a couple of days and that night we needed some sound sleep as we had to leave Puri for Bbsr early morning so as to catch my flight back to Bangalore. So Lights Off and Sleep..........

The next morning we were off to our journey to Bbsr at around 9.30 in the morning and reached the destination at 12 noon, thanks to a very matured driver, his logic of driving slow was that its not good to decelerate in congestion, so drive slow.... God save me!!! That was the end of the Puri Trip for us... Thank God that after all it materialized.

It seems that it will be long before all of us are together again, given the fact that Pushkar is leaving for London for a span less than a year and me to Manila (AIM) for one and a half years. Goldy will also be moving to Delhi soon (FMS) and Thapa does not plan for his future, so I can’t say. Ankit, also might fly to the UK for a couple of months thanks to his Vodafone and Sony projects (Ankit bhai is our Vodafone regional head)... He is the most dedicated worker of the lot.

So, the pure fun will elude us for quite some time it seems. However, cannot predict because all the memorable plans have been unplanned. Hoping and looking forward to another such even in the near future.

*The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever

*High Hopes - Pink Floyd

Disclaimer: This is a very personal blog and targeted only to a specific set of individuals. So, if you are unable to relate to it, it’s not your fault, may be you are not a part of the target audience.