Mukha nodi mane haaka beda...

Fig 1 : Sand....Stealth....Phone Camera.....Cat!


Title of post is a kannada proverb, which means do not judge by face value...

Exactly that is what I should not do in ze future is what I've learnt!

First of all, a prelude to this post please? Bheemeshwari, Jungle Lodges and Resorts! The destination for our first ever section offsite....Which meant hanging out with unknown folks most of who shall, almost as a rule, remain unknown folks after the outing too! But what about the ppl u know and who u work with? Well turns out u get to see very interesting sides of them! ;) Intrigued??? Lets dive right into the details!

Friday the 27th of October!

8:15 is bus departure time as intimated through electronic mail the previous day. Ally being pursuaded to have a spot of breakfast by the almighty mom! Looks at avlakki with undisguised loathing cos at that unearthly hour, he'd rather eat leaves growing on his compound wall....

After some avlakki has been forced in, a distressed look at the clock with the minute hand at 12 and hour hand at ohfuckeight!, ally makes way for the gate rather hurriedly! And who must appear out of the neighbor's house, but a shining pearl! Turns out some article had to be returned by this delicacy to our house and I bumped into her without any form of any regret! "Whoa! My day's started out pretty well!" Me thought.... At that very second, God was goin "he he he ya sure paapu!"

We manage to leave for bheemeshwari finalleee at 9:10 am....Instead of takin a direct road to vidhan soudha, we are taken for a ride around it...THAT! that is the point where I shud've taken the hint and braced myself....All I did though, was munch on some lakeview sandwiches and pastry.....

Well, wat do i say of the journey oh patient readers?!? All of FOUR FUCKING HOURS to cover a measly 100 kms, albeit most of it was off Mysore road on a bumpy track.... To make the journey just that smidgen more pleasant, there was bellowing of its passengers in what was termed a 'singing competition' called antakshari....As if this wasnt enough to stifle the musician inside me, there was also a dance by a grown MAN in a tumbling, bumbling bus aisle to 'Kajra re'....Man! Once u've seen THAT, u've seen it all I believe (MY EYES MY EYES!!!!!!)

The only bright spot was probably that delightful face, that smile, that calm demeanor amidst all the chaos that stood out and caught my eyes! Who was she? Which team is she? Where does she live? A weird sort of exhilaration! Must make contact with this particular instance of Class Human! is what registered in my mind....But noh noh noh! I didnt chose the topic of this post jus like that! Lets just say that she was in more than one way a rather huge disappointment, once I got of the bus and well...."got" more of her!! Lets just leave it at that ok? It hurts way too much to talk about it! Alas! Akatakata!!!!! :D


Now the story takes another twist....On landing at 1.30, we were censured quite deservingly for being whoppingly late...And hence were asked to wait for lunch....And how did I spend that half hour u ask? By playing frisbee with a project and a section manager! :O Man it can be a relaxing and entertainin game!

Lunch...well wasnt just lunch was it?? There was some mention of champagne being served which evaporated like petrol being exposed to air....My chances of gettin some into my own system went kaput! Still there was no dearth of beer though....And someone somewhere better be damn bloody appreciative of the fact that I did not drink!!

Post lunch was a coracle ride, where I saw three crocodiles!! While this isn't exactly an 'aamir khan swallowing a fish that he caught in DCH' kinda proud moment, it was pretty cool to watch this deadly, deceptive creatures barely show themselves and disappear instantly! We all sang "jhalak dikhlaaaaaaja" like good boys, but nothing doing....

After that, some quality time spent amidst the hammocks and small rock kinda formations humming to myself, splashing kaveri maa water on me fayce, taking in the scenery and saying things like "ah this is the life" out loud...It also involved me sitting on a rock which had some traces of tar on it, the afternoon sun just starting to melt it....God help my mom take THAT off mah pants :D

And then THE moment....it started raining!!!!! You have an expanse of water and u have water coming in from the heavens and oh my god thats a scene to behold!!! And when some laidies wanna party in the rain and get wet, you just sit there, with ur lips sealed (probably in awe) savoring the sight and some hot tea baibee.........

Thats it follks! Time to get back onto the death machine and trudge back to the place we know as earth..err ...bangalore... Wait a minute! Lets make it more tiring shall we? We'll add an hour this time....FIVE ! thats the number! We'll take five hours to get back!! Yippee.....Get off bus @ 10.30 with "mercy! pls show us mercy!" on our lips and rush back home in ten minutes on mah bike!

Phew!