THE TRAVELOUGE

IV EXPERIENCES

Industrial visits are a part of the Anna University curriculum. Every college has to take its students for at least 2 industrial visits. This was my first one.’ First’ in the sense, my first outing with college mates….away from my dear Chennai…away from my dear home….away from my dear family and friends.

The schedule was,
To start on 13th, September, 2006 at 9.45pm by the kaveri express.
To visit places in Mysore, coorg and Bangalore on 14th, 15th, 16th
To leave for Chennai on 16th, September, 2006 at 10.45pm by the kaveri express

Now let’s analyze the days, one by one.

13TH SEPTEMBER, 2006:

This was an irritating day for me. All because of a silly math re-test, not that I flunked the initial one, but because I missed it due to the delay caused by my college bus. My college, being 40km away from Chennai is not easily accessible (includes to and fro journeys).
Finally left college at about 1.30pm,missed a PTC bus, waited in the scotching sun for an hour, finally boarded a bus at 2.40pm, came to my home at 4,tired/exhausted/drained off of all energy, call it whatever!

Then it was time to pack. Heard of the saying ‘less luggage, more comfort’? Well, I never knew that I would realize it only at the end of the trip.
I packed up a suitcase n a bag that can be worn on the shoulder. On the whole, it was a bit heavy, but I never realized it as I would have, in the 3 days that was to follow.

I left for Chennai central station by auto with my mom and dad. On the way it was full of traffic. Reached the station at 8pm.we were asked to wait near a book shop (Higginbothams).
I asked mom and dad to leave. Then on, it was me by myself.
Boarded the train on platform no. 7, train no.6221, coach S11, seat no. 29.

Travel n I have never been good friends. Most of the travels (long distance) have made me sick. This was no exception. Being a person who enjoys silence, I was to experience excitement in person; at sound levels exceeding 100dB (might be an exaggeration).
Such was the atmosphere inside the train. Every one had planned not to sleep thru the journey.
And suddenly a thought/fact struck me. I hadn’t brought my ID card. If the TTR checks for it then I am sure to get a fine. This made me feel even sicker. Somehow I knew I can manage this. So taking it off my mind, I climbed up my birth and slept. The others tried to wake me up, but sensing that I wasn’t feeling well they let me off….for the time being!


14TH SEPTEMBER, 2006:


Through out the journey I kept hearing shouts/cheerings/hootings-generally termed as noise by me. The journey ended with the arrival of the station in Bangalore at 4.30am.I slogged out with my luggage and walked towards the exit. We took our travels bus-a 35 seater, an all boys gang. It had a DVD player and a TV. On the way to Mysore I watched kaakha kaakha- a film.
Good one but I didn’t like it as the heroine dies in the end (I like movies with happy endings).

After the movie I was free to open the screens so that I can see the scenery on the way. The winding roads and the green surroundings was tempting me to write a poem or two, but I had no pen, so I will write on it sometime later.

Came to vyshak international-the hotel we were to stay, at 9.50am. We were to settle down, 4 per room. My room mates were balaji, bharath and arun. All three are my class mates and friends. Room no 411 had a TV and a comfortable bed. We could watch all channels there as the state (Karnataka) had no CAS setup.


I took bath in the freezing water, had breakfast and started for chamundeshwari temple. No cameras were allowed inside, so had to be satisfied with a shot of the gopuram.
The scenic beauty of the place took me by storm. Very calm, peaceful, and more important, green!

The next stop was the world famous Mysore palace. It had an awesome exterior.17th century architecture was better than ours. Golden thrones, silver articles, antiques made of elephant tusks, several paintings-those were the highlights of the palace. The durbar was a big hall with several art works on the walls, ceilings, decorated with several silver framed Belgian mirrors. Here too cameras weren’t allowed inside.

A trip to Mysore is incomplete without visiting this exotic place. Do u get it? I am talking about the Brindavan gardens. The place is a major tourist hub. The weather was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing across the gardens. I took lots of snaps. Although we had to walk a lot the tiredness was never felt. The light and sound show-where the fountains dance to songs, was a visual treat. It was getting dark, so we escorted our class girls to the entrance. Back at the hotel I ate and went to sleep.

15TH SEPTEMBER 2006:

This was to be the most satisfying day of the visit. I took bath, once again in the freezing waters. Ate and checked out of vyshak international. My next destination was Philomena’s church. It looked like the twin towers, or more like the petronas towers in Malaysia. It had painted glass works, bee hives in its high rise areas and an underground chamber where the names of all those who contributed towards its construction was scribed on the walls.

Then came the most interesting and most heavenly experience of the day- the Tibetian settlement. It was an extremely calm and peaceful place. Wheat and sugarcane fields surrounded the settlement. It can be described as heaven on earth. The people there had a monastery, a university and a colony. The monastery was the home for monks; all of them had the traditional robes of red and yellow. Cameras were allowed inside. The main prayer area was a huge hall, with 3 statues, about 20 feet high, made of gold. Near the statues was a golden throne, with a picture of the Dalai Lama on it. Before them were several low level benches for the monks to pray and chant their prayers. The walls were covered with several paintings, all done in recent times. To summarize, it was a country inside a district.

From there it was time for the highlight of the day- Abbi falls. The bus couldn’t go all way to the entrance of the pathway to the falls because the roads were inaccessible for big vehicles. So we had to walk 2.5 to 3km in the rain to the entrance of the pathway. And then onwards another 1km walk downhill to reach the falls. It was a small one-21.3m high. Information about the falls- the daughter of an English governor slipped to her death in the falls. The falls had a bridge in front of it. Standing on it we can feel the spray of the falls. There was a path to lead us to the base of the falls. I didn’t get into the water because it was too cold, yet some of my friends got into it. We took photographs standing on a rock in between the waters, a risky venture! The place was infested with leeches. Many of us got stuck to it. The trip uphill was more exhausting because we had to walk against gravity, against the slope.

Next stop-Raja’s seat. It was just 6.30pm but the thick fog had made visibility close to nil.
The big fog lights kept at the park cast our shadows in the sky. Such was the thickness of the fog!

The sight seeing at mysore is over with raja’s seat. Boarding the travels bus we then proceeded to Bangalore.


16TH SEPTEMBER 2006:

It was 12.15am; we hadn’t had our dinner as yet. We stopped at a restaurant on the
Mysore-Bangalore highway. The place was closed for the day, but on our request they opened it and prepared food for us. Then we came to the bus and slept thru the rest of the journey. We reached Bangalore at 3.30am, checked in at hotel pavana residency and slept again.
I woke up at 7.30am, took bath for once in hot water (my previous ones were cold water baths). Breakfast was taken and we started for accomplishing the goal of our trip- visit an industry. As it was a Saturday CPRI (central power research institute) was working half day only. We went there past noon time, so were denied entry initially. After a prolonged requisition we entered, stayed there for half hour and then came out. Had lunch and started out for ISKON. The security procedure there was a bit too elaborate (must have been the impact of the recent blast at an ISKON rally). It can be described as a heaven amidst a hell (I meant the busy city). We chanted
‘Hare rama hare rama
Rama Rama hare hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna hare hare’
thru out the pathway to the sanctum sanctorum. 108 steps lead the way to it.

Got some mementos there-a poster and a keychain. There were all sorts of eats there, popcorns, doughnuts, pizzas, samosas, veg cakes and many more. Because of lack of time we couldn’t stop for eating.


By that time I had started feeling sick, but I did go along with friends to majestic- a shopping area, like Ranganathan Street in Chennai. The people there were talking in Kannada, so couldn’t do much of bargaining. But I got a t-shirt as a proof of being there to that place.
The walk had made me sicker.
We had to walk to the station, platform no.5, train no.6221, coach S5, seat no.57.
I took my upper birth as soon as the train started moving and slept.

17TH SEPTEMBER 2006:
Woke up at 5.30am because I felt uneasy, then brushed my teeth, woke up the others, took snaps with friends.
Arrived at Chennai central station at 7.30am. Walked with friends to the park station, boarded the electric train to mambalam station, took an auto and reached home at 8.20am, was flat out with fever for the day. I had digital electronics unit test the next day, couldn’t prepare for it, and so thought of preparing for it the next day in the bus.

18TH SEPTEMBER 2006:
I woke up at 5am as usual but felt tired, so I switched off the alarm and went back to sleep. Then I decided not to go for college, woke up at 8.15am and started working upon this travelogue. This is the first day I am bunking college (great Na!!)