Monday, January 31, 2011

Get together in "The Andamans" - Volume 1

I wanted to do some research with my English before writing this one but could not hold the excitement and hence writing it sooner than I intended to write.

Chapter 1 : The initiator
Date : 21st September 2010
I was overjoyed to receive an email from Srihari at 7:24 AM. It made me very happy to even think of the fact that we would get a chance to spend time together.

Guys,
When was the last time where ALL of us shared funny incidents of college that tickled our bones??? I can't remember anything very recent. It's time to bring back the the moments and joy to be fresh in our memories, so lets plan for a something Grand...
This will be NOT be the routine get-together, Will NOT be the regular meet, but we are going to make it big and special.
To the plan a Grand get-together, you guys should be send me your available dates.
My suggestion is last week of December, either the weekend ending Christmas or the New Year. I know there are married, going to get married, out here. So we will need to plan that will be convenient for all of us to spent some valuable time together.
We need suggestions on the place and I will take responsibility of planing the get-together.
The get-together will only become GRAND if there is maximum participation
-Srihari

Subsequent threads followed up and we narrowed down on the place, Andaman and the date, 26th Jan weekend. We knew we would miss the company of Dams, Sethu who opted out and Karthik who was in UK. Truly, the content and timing of the email was worth millions.

Chapter 2: Didn't your mother tell you - PLANNING
Date : 30th October 2010
We had too many discussions on the flight we should be catching and finally on this date Gopal booked the flight tickets, came up to around 95k for 9 folks.
Date : 26th October 2010
Meanwhile, Santy took the lead on checking out the places we should visit. He did a huge amount of research with the list of hotels and locations and shared the same. He sent his proposals with the complete itinerary. It was very helpful in planning. Hotel bookings were done well in ADVANCE, which proved to be highly useful as we ended up having a no tension holiday.

Chapter 3 : The Folks
Me, Shruthi, Srihari, Gopal, Aparna, Santhosh were all in in the first call. Arun Raag had to attend his mothers retirement function in Ooty the very next week but he was in. And our Suryavamsam Sarath Kumar had to wait on the confirmation dates of Devayani's exams. Somehow, even with these three slightly doubtful, they readily nodded in for booking of the tickets and hotels, which made it very easy for folks who were making the bookings.
Date: 11 Nov 2010
Vijesh and Abirami confirm their presence in the trip. Her exam dates did not conflict and to add to it, it ends just the week before the trip eventually giving her the required break.
So we were all set, close group of classmates with their family done with all the preparations for a trip to the Andaman Islands.

Chapter 4 : Shopping
Place : Hyderabad
Date : 25th October 2010 - 24th Jan 2011
I am not aware of shopping plans for other guys/girls, but trust me if I have to detail just the Hyderabad girls share in it, it would be lengthier than a Chetan Bagats book. They kept shopping and shopping and shopping. I stopped counting the number of footwear my wife was buying as it was difficult to remember the count. They would take us out saying they would buy something for us and all we learned to buy was patience. To be fair to them, we purchased one or max two items, in the span of 3 months. We landed in Chennai with our bags packed and assuming all shopping was done, but the Besant Nagar shopping ghost haunted us this time, the reason however was to get us beach shirts and of course, you would have guessed we did not get one.

Chapter 5 : Get Ready Folks
Date : 18 Jan 2011
Vijesh initiated the mail "A week to go". Objective was to plan, confirm, carry and not to forget.
We crossed checked and confirmed flights, hotels, ferry and prepared a list of stuff to bring, though not rigorously, but it helped. Gopals idea to bring a lot of munchies turned out to be quite useful.
Date : 25 Jan 2011
Time: 7:50 AM
Gopal and Aparna arrive at Chennai airport. I get a call. I call Santy and Arun Raag. Everyone is on the way.
Time : 8 AM
Me and Shruthi arrive. Gopal and me go the departure section, check the timings and grab some coffee.
Time : 8:20 AM
Everybody is in. Greetings are done. Some of us are meeting Abirami for the first time after their marriage and are yet to mingle with her.
Time : 9:15 AM
Flight is on schedule. We are on the bus to the flight. I am thinking of the next five great days we are going to spend together. I definitely knew on that day it would be great, but was hoping it would be, whats the word, Legendary.