Ah!!! Here comes the tour with memories of the jubilant days we spent together. Perhaps the most memorable tenure of our college life. We set out on 4th of November 2005, ready to embrace the varied experiences that the journey would throw up……
It all started on an ominous note with the major part of south India engulfed in torrential rains. We had our Kerala express cancelled which made us board the unreserved Sabari express. It brought us all together into one accord.
Ooty was our first destination. The imprint of the city as we watched from the Coimbatore station was awesome. A hill with a dwelling at a height of 2570 meters was graciously covered with clouds, inviting us to explore!!
The journey was exciting with steep curves and gleaming waterfalls. There was a magical serenity in the place. Fresh atmosphere and tall trees against the backdrop of lush green grass was a treat to the eyes.
We visited the geetanjali spot and enjoyed the chill freshness of the waterfalls. Boating was the event of the day. Come evening and we lit a camp fire with our feet tapping to the beats of disco.
The Shanti gears at Coimbatore was a heaven for mechanical engineers. We had a chance of coming across complex manufacturing techniques which could only be visualized when we studied MT-II.
The next destination was The Garden City - Bangalore. Our stay over there was busy with lots of shopping and outings mainly to MG road and The BRIGADIER road. We visited the prominent ISKCON Temple and the Visweswarayya museum, which dealt exclusively with science.
Then we marched towards our next industrial visit, NTTF ( Nettur Technical Training Foundation). It dealt mainly with planing operations and sheet metal works like bending, piercing, blanking apart from grinding and reaming operations.
The journey to Goa reminds us of the troubles with the Big–Bellied TTE at LONDA. The bumpy journey along the ghat roads with scorching sun and a very humid climate was well punctuated with the songs of antakshri.
Beaches, Wine and night long parties are synonymous with GOA. Our stay was no different either.
We visited Dauna-Paula and played in the beach. Cruising was an exhilarating experience with breathtaking dance by a gracious foreign dancer and disco on the ‘move’. St. Xavier’s church, of monumental importance which contained the relics of Saint Xavier was a majestic construction.
We had a chance of visiting Dil chahta hai fort. In our desperation of re-enacting the trio from the movie, we captured many Kodak moments there.
We drove past Goa heading towards Mumbai in a seven geared monstrous Volvo which gulped in a whopping 500 litres of diesel before our arrival.
After a desperate night we reached Mumbai. On making ourselves comfortable we zipped across the heart of the city, past high raise buildings and stopping at the historic Gate way of India. Having spent some time there we went along Marine drive and the rest of our venture comprised mainly of shopping. The journey back to the hotel was colourful passing through the infamous Dadar and the surrounding Lal Batti Jagah .
We organized a special get-together to mark the successful finish of events. Had a summary of the proceedings and opinions were put forward. We cheered those who put up special efforts for the tour.
The Konark express brought us back home on 16th Nov with our heads full of the past, which now suddenly seems more palpable than the present.
