Re-Union 10 years @ Sakleshpur

Off late, most of my friends circle been put up in different part of India or even world. After engineering, first time we all met was in Bannerghata park followed by the Great Bike trip (2006) else it as always been during marriage parties or some where else.

Idea of Re-Union was there for quite a long. Even there were plans to go for Goa last year. Due to Swine flu, it as to be shelved. This time, it all started on July-21-2010, mail by Pradeep Shetty to celebrate our get-togetherness of 10 years post engineering life @ his newly bought Coffee estate. We are friends who include Arvind TM, Chikkamath, Channappa, Pawan, Santosh, Pradeep Shetty, Praveen, Basavaraj DS, Vinod Duradi, Subbramanya, Arvind BC, Mahantesh, Niranjan, Pankaj & Myself. Main idea was to celebrate the re-union, but it also had flavor to add with Shetty's new estate & Pawan turning to entrepreneurship. To begin with anything, we needed everyone to be part of it. Except few guys, almost everyone agreed to come & join for the occasion. We had our first re-union call arranged by our host Shetty via "sabsebolo.com". I think, this was the only call which most of us attended and everyone had a great feeling. This call was mainly to decide on the people who are joining plus other activities like travel dates. I was very happy to see even Mahantesh Amaldar calling from US and saying Hi... to everyone. It was very good Mahant. After shifting to Pune, you almost been very busy i would say. But it was great to see. Anyhow, he didn't make it since he was in US.

Four more meeting calls were followed in which tour scheduled was decided with stuff to get ownership being given to everyone to take care of. Second week of August, all the major Grocery stuff was done in METRO with Sachin's Metro card. In every call, couple of them started to drop from the event due to unavoidable circumstances. As the D-Day was nearing, we're finally left with 10 people. It become quite a pain in my ***, to call each n everyone n keep asking about their plans. Till the last night, i was not sure whether this is going to happen. The last night before leaving, even i got a call from TM saying his better half wont be able to make it since some work as come down n she as to be there on Monday. With things rolling down n myself getting some bad looks from Sneha, i've to call Shetty and get confirm that there will be a company to Sneha for the remaining part of the tour since Mr/Mrs Sachin & Nirmala-TM will say bye on Sunday evening. Sachin was there only still Sunday evening since he has to attend the Induction programme in his new company. With all these things, in one call even Pawan suggested to drop this week plan & will have some other time. I do still remember TM saying, Gouda, lets do this union we two of us or who ever comes with us. I would say these were just small hiccups for any of big things when we organize

Date: 21-08-2010

Finally, Dusk has to go off as there was a Dawn on August 21-2010 with TM-Nirmala, Sachin-Nirmala, Shetty-Amita, Laxmangouda-Sneha, Pawan & Subbu making it for the trip. During the last call, it was decided Pawan will start from his House at the max... 5.30 a.m. and will follow-up by picking TM & Shetty from HSR/JP Nagar. I'll catch up with Sachin & Subbu. By the time we all reached Kanakapura/NICE Road Intersection, it was close to 8.00 A.M.

After saying a morning hello to everyone, we decided to have the breakfast at Kunigal or some where close by. Didn't thought much of afternoon lunch on where to have it. We had our Breakfast on the outskirts of Kunigal at Hotel Brindavan with most of us settling for Idli/Dosa and few ones with Shira/Kesaribath.
A bit of road rage at NICE road by Pawan n Myself, we finally hit the route via Magadi, Kunigal, Yediyur, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Doddahalli & finally to estate.
Had a small breakout before Hassan. Here, it was decided to make the afternoon lunch at the estate itself instead of having it outside. I think Subbu was not able to resist the Cranberry Breezer & he wanted to have it during the journey, it didn't happened though :). Few things still need to be taken care like vegetables, eggs, chicken n all was done at Sakleshpur. It seems Shetty is a regular customer over there as said by Subbu since many of them were eager asking Shetty to buy from their end. Passing through the Sakaleshpur town, we entered the estate route, road being pretty decent. Towards close to estate, we need to go via mud road bit of challenge for any driver and that to with cars. Finally, we saw the entrance gate of the estate and driving slowly, we hit the accommodation part as time was already knocking 3.00 p.m. I think, most of us had a different view about our stay, but it was still good, may be bit tough for the ladys.
By the time we got down n had a look at the estate, everyone got busy with their chores. Guys need to bring water which we started at no time and Ladys got busy in getting started the Chula. Instead of going multiple items, it was decided to make Fried rice for the afternoon and followed by more exuberant food for the night. Best part of trip was that everything as to be done from the scratch.

From water pulling from the well to start the Chula with sticks, coconut shell, Infosys share papers, I would say Shetty as really mastered the art of cooking on Chula. After having the fried rice, it was time for some very nice Tea prepared by Nirmala-TM & Ladys. In the meantime, things were started for the evening dinnerwith Sachin-Nirmala busy in chopping the vegetables, TM & Pawan with their help in breaking the sticks and here n there n am trying to keep the fire on till all the cooking is done. We also got to see the some antiques b/n Pawan n TM, which made Nirmala-TM to think about their behavior. Only missing link was Santa Singh alias Santosh. If anyone wanted to know what is team event/building, this was one true example. Following up with the Fired rice, we took a quick tour of Coffee Estate with Host/Owner leading our way. Rain was about to start, anyhow we didn't wanted to waste time. Going through the estate, we found all the varieties of masala stuff we normally use in our day to day food ranging from Sunti-to-Cardamom-Pepper and many others to follow.

It started raining but we didn't felt any bit of it since we're walking under banana tree which totally shielded us from the rain. As the day went down and night started, it was time for evening dinner plus liquor time. Most of started with Breezer followed by Wine and ending with Black Dog.After finishing the cooking and enjoying night with drinks & some cool Dumb Charades, things really started jelling with all of us. It seems the DC was rigged by Shetty :D(Reasons known over there). Sachin was feeling bit high and we can really see it by the way he was commanding to everyone. He just couldn't take off his eye from the Chicken :P. Ladys had their part of dinner with TM & Myself joining. Subbu/Shetty/Pawan/Sachin wanted to have food after their drinks. After finishing and sweeping the kitchen part, it was time to dig on old stuff from Engg... time. This as always been a part of our life before married life. It was the same even after married life. These things wont get bored, they get better every time. Everyone had their own stories to say. Some time @ midnight, Shetty called Chikkamath with lots of love being exchanged b/n them. Subbu/Pawan were already sleeping, around 1.00 A.M. Shetty, Sachin, TM n Myself went outside for one final drink & to decide next day of course. Not sure when did we slept, may be it was close to 1.30 A.M and we've to coz morning we need to get start with the usual stuff. It was decided next day that we'll leave to "Bettadha Baireshwara [BB]", the hill top temple of Mudigere road.

Date: 22-08-2010

Next morning, with heavy chill, almost everyone got up by 6.00 a.m. As usual, we need to pull water from well to suffice for the whole day. It was one heck of exercise to fetch the water and get it uphill. Instead of everyone going through from Source-Destination, we started passing on the water cans from one point to another such that it wont be much of burden for anyone. Even as we're getting water, calls were made to come & have the tea prepared by Lady's gang which we guys enjoyed a lot after getting the water. Morning breakfast was divided with Bread-Jam and Bisibele bath (No need to raise your eye brows, it was the mixture of last night's Rice n Dal, but the best you get over there). Time for some game what would be other than game of Cricket. Not sure, why the Ladys didn't joined us, may be they were more happy to just watch us play as spectators. After team division, it was a fun filled match. Again, it looked the cricket matches were also rigged or spot fixed reasons known to Shetty :P. We may have carried a bit long, but seeing the looks on the ladys eyes, decided to scrap it and went for bath. This was the first bath under Nature's care by the Well side. Everyone will pull the water for other. It was damn cold with Pawan/TM shivering even before getting drenched. Everyone enjoyed a lot and were back for the days activity. As discussed, we set for the BB via Sakaleshpur, Mudigere road. All roads on that part of world look similar. We stopped there for a while to have another cup of tea which accidentally happen to be the junction of some scene in Mungaru Male. Now this will known by some other name as seen in the picture. After having tea and some pic... snaps, we started hitting the road to BB. Since we gonna be at BB most of the afternoon, we packed our food at Hanabalu Plantation club with Veg/Egg fried rice.

Now the story of searching BB starts. We lost the track at the Mudigere junction & went in different direction. On the way to whoever we asked, people over there didn't knew much about BB. This took a lot of time and finally we decided to have the food by the river side. Since it was getting late for 3 of our tour people (Sachin, Nirmala/Nirmala) as they have to catch the bus back to B'luru, it was decided Pawan will drop them to Sakaleshpur and the remaining ones (Shetty/Amit, Subbu, Sneha/myself) will go and hunt down BB. Pawan & TM will visit the Manjirabad fort by the time we go back n catch them at Sakaleshpur. We need to return back to the Mudigere junction where we saw on the Milestone clearly written with BB 15 kms from there. It was so much of relief, but anyhow this was only the beginning and we just found the right route. After driving through the road, we go to see another water falls (not sure about the name), a good one. From here, Shetty started to see all the landmarks which leads to BB (Rotti Kalu, Jenu Kalu or something). Again, no one really wanted to take chances since it was slowly getting dark with 1 or 2 hiccups, we finally made to the top of BB temple where Shetty as attained NIRVANA. This is really beautiful & secluded place. You wont see anyone here except the local guys grazing their cows. Towards the Hill top, my vehicle almost, not almost, it actually got stopped due to lots of cows standing all over the road. Since this was very steep, first time the vehicle was able to take the load, second time, i've to ask everyone to get down the car, Subbu lended his help by putting two big stones behind the rear wheel. Finally, after much racing of engine, we pulled it up to the BB temple hills. Its a worth going there and spending some peaceful time with no one to disturb you.

After spending close to 45 minutes or so, we started back heading to estate. Had mirchi bhajji & tea at Manjirabad junction and then went back to estate. The scene at manjirabad was literally gloomy with full mist everywhere. On the way back for about 5 kms, the visibility was totally down to say some 100 ft. We really need to drive very carefully with Shetty saying not to stop or slow down when we're close to Estate fearing about some thing else. Now, 7 of us were left at the estate. Since most of the time we spent outside, didn't thought of cooking anything more. We boiled eggs & sliced them & sprinkled with some salt, lemon and had it with bread.. What ever we made over there, it tasted much much better. We tried to make fire, we couldn't since it was raining. We wanted to play some games but not the DC's. Only we're left with two couples (Shetty/Amita & Sneha/Laxman), thought of some game on the lines of "Sajan/Sajani". There will be five set of questions asked to Shetty about Amita n vice versa. Amita will tell the answer first to anyone of us. Then Shetty will answer the question seeing whether it matches it or not. Same thing will be applied to Sneha & Myself. This really went very well and it was lot of fun seeing when the answers didn't matched. Pawan was slowly getting high, more to come though. He took a lot of time in thinking n thinking about what questions to be asked to us. This was one of the best part of game and we really missed the 3 guys who have to leave to b'luru. This was followed by TDH (Tom/Dick/Harry). Shetty/Amita/Pawan/Subbu were one side, TM/Sneha/Me other. Shetty & Pawan went on drinking binge with Black Dog. Subbu went with Beer, TM n myself went with the remaining Red Wine. This was the first time ever i enjoyed a RED WINE in my entire life. Pawan & Shetty were getting into groove. They wanted to make it since the previous day they didn't had much. At one point of time, Pawan was so happy to see his team mates get the right answer n he jumped so high that he twisted his ankle. From now on, it was all Pawan's story. Not sure, how many times he has said Sorry to us and how many times he tried to be conscious about his behavior. Best part of any trip or when never we've had booze only comes when atleast one guy gets high. Subbu was also not lagging behind with all his English lectures. This was finally bout down by another game where one person will talk about another (+/-) and the remaining guys can also chip in. Pawan talked about TM & TM talked about Pawan, I talked about Shetty, Subbu talked about myself. Finally, we called Chiks at midnight again, yes it was midnight asking to talk about Subbu. This will be followed by Ladys talking about all of us. This was real fun. Part of call made to Chiks was recorded by Subbu and its the best part where we can see the real voice of Pawan. We really didn't wanted to disturb Chiks, but as known we couldn't resist calling Chiks at midnight. We all love you Chiks but in a very different way :). After a while, Everyone was shouting about their love to their dear ones. Not sure, how many times & how many songs Shetty dedicated to Amita or how many times Shetty/Pawan said I Love You to us. Yella olaghey iruva paramathma was making to talk like that. This is how the day of 22-Aug-2010 ended.

23-Aug-2010:

As usual, Our morning started by 6.00 a.m. Started with the tea and Subbu offered his help in making the best UPMA (Uppittu). We all had to eat it on banana leaves with mixture, chips and stuff. Everyone was almost done to the full. This was followed by another round of fetching the water and storing for the rest of the day n also for the departure day. After having uppittu, played another game of cricket this time with ladys also joining us. Pawan as to nurture his ankle and wasn't fully available for almost the whole day for any of the activities. Since it was kinda dry compare to the previous days of raining, we thought of taking bath in Pond. Shetty said the Pond at the max... is 7 feet at the center, since none of us know much of swimming except Shetty, he took the plunge into the water to gauge the depth of pond. It was much much deeper than expected even at the very beginning of the pond. It was not a good idea and we shifted our water activities to the nearby stream. Believe it or not, this was much more fun and enjoyable than the Pond. Each passing day was beginning to feel much better or rather a very different one than the previous day. All of us had a very good time with lots of time for picture snapping, water activities, some weird photos. Come eveing, time was say bye-bye to Subbu since he has to catch the bus back to b'luru. After finishing of the water activity plus the bath, we prepared the Egg Burji, Rice & Dal for noon as well as night dinner. Subbu left around 4.00 p.m and he got a drop from Chandranna, estate manager. I forgot one of imp... thing. While fetching the water from well, the rope round the koda got loosened and fell in the well itself. Our luck, it had fallen down upside down. This was taken out by some mastery by Chandranna. This was very imp... since it seems this Koda was part of Shettys family for 30 years. Unfortunately, we dont have any pics... of this event. Lots of thanks to Chandranna.

As the sun set for the day, we decided finally to go for the camp fire irrespective of rain. After much hurra curry, the fire was finally on and we enjoyed our last night drinks over the fire side with another round of DC's. Santosh had plans of joining the event on this day. He was planning to leave around 4 or 5 p.m evening. Since, we all will be leaving back the next day early morning, it was decided for him to drop since it'll be just a traveling for him.

24-08-2010.

Come now the departure day, after finishing all the morning chores, we started back to B'luru. We left the estate around 7.30 a.m. Had a full stomach Breakfast at OSOOR, Sakaleshpur. This is one of the best hotels there and its a highly recommended one if you guys pass on this road. Mine was for the second time i had food over there. In my car, it was TM, Sneha and Shetty & Company in Pawan's car. One final bye after reaching b'luru at the Nice Road. Thanks again each n everyone who made it and who were part of it. One of those moments i'll cherish in my entire life.

After finishing the tour, this is what i've left with:

"Nagme hain, shikwe hain, Kisse hain, baatein hain Baatein bhool jaati hain Yaadein yaad aati hain Yeh yaadein kisi dil-o-jaanam ke Chal jaane ke baad aati hain Yaadein, yaadein, yaadein"