Trip Tirupathi

Trip Tirupathi
For Sree’s Marriage

A Short Intro

I started writing this blog on 3rd May, 2008, couple of days after Sree’s marriage. And I am completing the same on 3rd May, 2009. Exactly one whole year to complete the blog. By the time I publish this blog, Sree even got a kid :). So I dedicate this blog to Sree’s kid. Long time since I spoke to Sree as well. Din't get time! I am not sure if she is in US or India by now. I have to find that out and talk to her to know about her kid!

Ok! Now lets go back an year via the blog.

Sree’s Marriage Plan

At last, finally Sree’s marriage was fixed in a short notice to be on 1st May 2008 at Tirupathi with an andhrite Krishnama Raju, a tall smart guy working in Tech Mahindra at Bangalore who was planning to go USA after the marriage.

Our initial plan was that, Giri, Ajith and I would attend the marriage function at Tirupathi. The surprise factor for all of us was the marriage was scheduled at early morning 3 AM on 1st May 2008. Can’t even imagine! But it is a usual practice in Andra it seems. So we booked the train tickets for 30th April 2008 evening 4:35 PM in Tirupathi – Mysore Garudathiri express. And the return tickets were booked for 1st May 2008 10:05 AM Madras express train. But unfortunately Giri could not join us due to his health conditions. So we cancelled Giri’s ticket to reduce the list to just Ajith and I.

My Plan for the day – 30th April ‘08

This was my plan for the day,
- Reach office by 9:30 AM
- Onsite Call to know the work for the day
- Not to do any work assigned for the day
- Get a greeting card for Sree
- Close the three Process Audit observations for the month of March
- Leave office by 1:00 PM
- Reach home by 2:30 PM
- Pack up, have lunch and start from home by 3 PM
- Reach Central Railway station by 4 PM
- Leave Chennai to Tirupathi by 4:35 PM

All reasons how things go as planned

Wednesday 30th April 2008 9:35 AM, I switched on my PC at ‘TDL08E10’ Tidel Park 8th floor north wing ‘A’ block. To my surprise I got some work for the day from Onsite. But as planed I decided not to do any of them. So just checked my Cognizant mails, UHC mails, Gmail and went for a coffee. Good start is half done! By 10:30 AM my cell phone reminded me to get a greeting card for Sree. I went to ‘Dawn's Blossoms’ shop at Tidel Park 1st floor. As I entered, a card with a cake on its cover hit my eyes. The cake and Sree’s face flashed for a moment and I picked the card instinctively.

I started working on the Audit observations by 11:00 AM. I gave a clean finishing touch to it with a mail to the SQAG QR with evidences to close the observations by 12:35 AM. So far so good! But will this go well till the end? My Project Lead came to challenge it. God! He wanted to review a presentation on “Spring” prepared by my team mate. I almost decided that the total plan has been collapsed. But fate played its game my way! Thank God! My Project Lead was called for a different status meeting. So we postponed the review meeting to Monday. Cool!

I started from my place to meet Ajith at 6th floor Tidel Park north wing ‘B’ block. I handed over the card to him to get it signed from the AUP team. After having a short chat with the team I called it a day. It was a perfect 1:00 PM when I unlocked the last access controlled door at Tidel Park with my ID card. So far so good!

I reached the Tiruvanmiyur MRTS railway station by 1:04 PM and a train heading to Chennai Beach graced the 2nd floor platform no 2 by 1:09 PM. It is a Mr. Ideal metro rail colloquially called “Flying Train” in Chennai. No Traffic… No Signal… No Diversion… No Staging… No Breakdown… Apart from all these ‘No Hassle’ factors, we have a few free value added services as well. Fresh air flow… Perfect Chennai city view… Fabulous view of the second largest sea shore in the world, Marina reflecting the streaks of the scorching sun… Enjoying the value added services with “No Hassle” factors; I reached the Park Town station by 1:38 PM. It took me 5 hard minutes in the sizzling sun to walk till the Central Bus stop nearby. Within a minute I saw a 7H coming to pick me up till Anna Nagar. MTC bus travel in Chennai is truly tough to manage; that too in summer. It is just converse of the “No Hassle” Metro trains. I reached the Collector Nagar bus stop by 2:29 PM. It took me another 3 hard minutes in the same boiling sun to reach my home by 2:32 PM. It’s just a couple of minute’s divergence from my plan. Still so far so good!

After lying down for a few minutes under the fan to beat the heat, I started packing up for the trip. It barely took 2 minutes to pack up with the help of my mom. A special thanks to Mathan for rumpling my neatly pressed shirt. I took my next 15 minutes for lunch and the successive 5 minutes to get ready. Finally I left my home as my clock ticked 3:00 PM. Perfect! So far so good!

I preferred a train to bus for all the good known reasons. So after a short while in the bus stop, I boarded a share auto to Nungambakkam railway station by 3:07 PM. On my way, I sought to make sure if Ajith has started from his home. I was surprised to see his reply for my “Wher r u..?.” SMS. It was because; he was on his way to home at around 3:25 PM. I really doubted if he would reach the station on time. But Ajith was confident that he would. I also wanted him to bring a Nokia charger as my mobile was running out of life. After another horrible half an hour horrible travel in the auto, I reached the metro station by 3:40 PM. I had a few minutes to relax in the station before I sight a train bound to Chennai Beach reach the platform. Ajith ringed me just as I got into the metro train to say that he has missed the train and he is on the way in an auto to Central railway station. This was not surprising to me as I anticipated this. He also added that he has to pay 200 bucks for the Auto which he did not have. So he asked me to wait in front of the Central railway station. After a 6 minutes train travel, I reached the Park station by 3:52 PM. Perfect isn’t it!? Its 8 minutes ahead of my plan. Hats off to my self! So far so good!

Ajith’s Plan for the day – 30th April ‘08

This was Ajith’s plan for the day,
- Reach office by 10:00 AM
- Planned to complete the “Session time out issue”
- Leave office by 2:15 PM
- Reach home by 2:30 PM
- Pack up and start from home by 3 PM
- Reach Central Railway station by 4 PM
- Leave Chennai to Tirupathi by 4:35 PM

All reasons how things go against the plan

Ajith reached office at11:00 AM which was an hour shift from the plan. The next shock for him was he has got a few more tasks other than the only planned task. Based on the priority of the new tasks, the already planned task took the back seat. The other tasks which occupied the front seat are, updating the HPSD status sheet, configuring data extract automation in FTP, send the CFS code change to onsite, update onsite about the status of a problem ticket. With these priority tasks, he planned to do the “session time out issue” in parallel with the help of Senthil. He started the data extract automation with the help of Vijay Bhasker as he is doing it for the first time. CFS code change was like Greek and Latin for Ajith as he was working in ASP for the first time in his 2 years of life in Cognizant. Struggling to complete the tasks, time went past 2:15 PM. The actual planned task, which was happening in parallel, started by 11:35 AM and got over by 2:35 PM. As the time went past 2:30 PM, Ajith decided that he could not complete all the tasks; so he handed over the HPSD status sheet update to Suganya.

He prepared 4 mails on different subject to onsite in next 20 minutes and rushed to catch the 3:00 PM train to Velachery. But he just saw the training moving on as he reached the station. So he got to wait till 3:20 PM to take the next train to Velachery. Ajith also took the same Mr. Ideal metro train to Velachery by 3:20 PM and reached Velachery by 3:30 PM. The same train would wait for 10 minutes in the station and start back to Beach station by 3:40 PM. Ajith’s plan was to go back to home, which was 600 – 700 meters from the station, pack up, charge the cell phone and come back to the station to catch the same train. All these should happen within 10 minutes of time. Possible..?? Impossible..?? Ajith ran all the way to his home to reach in 3 minutes time. Packing up, he spent 3 minutes to find his cell phone charger in vain but. Finally he just got 2 minutes to reach the station back from home. He again started running and even got lift from a biker to reach the station. An action replay was executed in the Velachery station. Yes! He reached the station just to witness the train leave for Beach. The next one is only at 4:10 PM. Obviously he can’t wait for the next one. So he decided to take an auto to reach the Central railway station. He called me up and said, he took an auto and need to pay Rs. 200 which he did not have at the moment. So he asked me to wait near the entrance of the station. As his cell phone was dying for charge, he switched if off. Wondering whether he would reach the station on time or not, he was enjoying the fast and furious drive in the auto. When he reached Spencer plaza, he called me up to boost my hopes. Finally he reached the station at 4:27 PM.

Ultimate perplexity at 11th hour

As soon as I reached the station, I rushed in to check the platform number. It was platform number 7 which would grace the Tirupathi Garudathiri Express. Then I came out to wait for Ajith to come in the hot sun! I though I should call Ajith to make sure where exactly I should wait in front of the station. But I was irritated by the pleasant voice saying “The Vodafone number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later.” I got a bit tensed. I kept on trying to reach him in vein just to hear the same irritating message in the same pleasant voice. I also dropped him a SMS which was pending for delivery. I could not realize what is happening and could not imagine what would happen. The time was 4:15 PM and yet to get any update from Ajith. I almost decided that we would miss the train and the total plan is screwed up! As the time passed, I started thinking about reasons to tell Sree for not making it for her marriage!

Finally my mobile vibrated for Ajith’s call at 4:19 PM. I got my hopes back and attended his call. Ajith told me that his mobile is also dying for charge; so he had it switched off. And he added that he has just crossed Spencer Plaza. All my hopes rose a few seconds back fell to ground! I thought he could not reach the railway station in another 10 minutes. When the situation was shitted, a crow wanted to make it more explicit. Yes! A crow shit my shirt. Cleaning it, I waited anxiously for Ajith. I was looking into every auto that crossed me to find Ajith inside it. All praise to the auto driver who took Ajith to the Central railway station in just 6 minutes from Spencer Plaza. Ajith called me up at 4:25 PM asking where I stand? Yes! I missed his auto. Ajith said that, he is standing near a tree in front of the station. The station is at least 300 meters long with lots of trees in front. Where to search for him?!? Finally, after both of us running here and there I sighted him after 2 minutes by 4:27 PM. He was just 10 meters away from me! Adding sour to our situation, I found the CCTP (Chennai City Traffic Police) barricades betweens us. I ran around 15-20 meters to take a U turn to catch him. I handed over two hundred rupee notes from my purse to him and waited for him to come back.

It was 4:28 PM and my hopes were back again; we had 7 more minutes for the train to start. Still we started running to platform 7 overtaking the entire crowd in the station. The railway clock showed 16:30:04 when we reached the platform to witness that the Tirupathi Garudathiri Express did not leave Chennai with out Ajith and I. We got a bit relieved and started walking leisurely when I just wanted to make sure it is right train. Then we started searching for our coach D2. We walked till the end of the train just to realize that we did not see the coach D2 at all. Crap! Our fate was still chasing us to ditch. We started running back and it was too late; the train started. So we just got into a compartment near by which was a jam packed general compartment.

There! Started out second innings of the wrangle for the day!

Get… Set… Go… Search D2…

Ajith and I were just relaxed that at least we got into the train. The scorching sun and the 11th hour tension evoked our thirst. To our surprise, we saw a guy selling cool drinks coming our way. Ajith got a sprite bottle to yield our thirst. We were standing near the door awaiting the train to stop at the next station. We enquired a guy sitting there to know that D2 would be just two compartments away from the one we were in and also the next stop would be Perambur. The train stopped at Perambur station the next 15th minute. We got down in a hurry from the train on to a horrible station which did not even have a proper platform. We ran in search of D2. To our surprise, no coach had its name posted on it and every coach looked like a general compartment. We even enquired a few about D2; but just got back a perplexed look as if we asked their month’s salary! No one knew that a D2 coach existed. Crap! The train started moving in less than a minute and we rushed into another coach which also happened to be a general compartment. Ajith and I were really disappointed that we are standing in a general compartment even after booking a ticket in advance.

Cursing our fate, we were standing near the door watching the hot Chennai moving on… We had to wait for quite a long time to see the train stopping in the next station. We could not even change our topic to talk something other than finding D2! We even thought that TTE would have cancelled our tickets by this time and even if we find D2 in the next station, we would have to continue standing in a general compartment. But still, Ajith was so determined that at least a single station before Tirupathi we should find D2 and occupy our seats. After all we reserved it for us na! In our course of standing in the general compartment and running for D2 in platform, we enquired about D2 to a lot of people. The funniest part of it is that none of them knew that a reserved coach called D2 ever existed. Such a bad time of ours!

The train halted in a station at around 5:30 PM. Still with 100% hope, we started running back and forth the platform in search of D2. Unlucky Ajith and I did not find it again till the train started again. Fate was still chasing us! With 102% disappointment we got into another coach which looked a bit free giving an impression that it was a reserved compartment. With no hope, we enquired an old chap about D2. For the first time we got a convincing answer that it was a reserved coach but he did not know what the coach name is. As the old chap boosted our hope back to 100%, we were just roaming inside the coach. There we sighted a guy with specs reading a Sidney Shelton book, who had all the very looks of a typical software engineer. We enquired him whether it was D2. We were really exited to hear him saying, “No. It is D3.” Thank God! At last we met a person in the train who knew about ‘D’ named coach in the train. We ran to the end of the coach to see the name of the coach posted on it. Ajith hanged out of the door to make sure it was D3. Yes! It was. So we ran to the other end of the coach assuming the reserved coaches would be connected to each other. You know; our fate was still chasing us and the chase episode was yet to come to an end. The coaches were not connected. I just hanged out of the door to see D2 posted on the next coach. We were on cloud 9! Finally we were relived to a great extent. The reason why we could not find D2 so far was that the train had stopped in stations where the platform happened to be on other side of the train where the coach name is posted. Height of Fate’s game! Ajith and I were eagerly waiting for the next station.

Finally into D2

The train halted in a station at 5:55 PM. We rushed to the next compartment and identified the seat numbers 64 and 65. Alash! Finally, at last, after 1 hr and 20 minutes we reached the seats we were supposed to have started our journey from. Our 1 and a half hour wrangle inside the train ended there. It was really a great experience in a train for the first time both Ajith and I.

The bogie was occupied by a small family; a mom, dad a two daughters. I would call them a perfect middle class family enjoying their trip. Both the gals were not really great but not bad too! A good relaxation after 3 hours of struggle. After relaxing for quite some time, Ajith and I started talking something or other for a long time. Our topics shuffled between A à Z of 0 à ∞. Chennai… Tamil Nadu… Andra… Andra meals… Kerla food… Kerla gals… AUP… College… EPD (PBD)… Electronics… Trees… Lake (which passed by)… Nature… Universe… Java… Struts… Spring… JSF… College love stories… Love break ups… and what not….!!??!! As usual chatting with Ajith was interesting.

Fun with Sowmya & Saranya

Just being in the bogie for some time with the family, we learnt the name of the elder gal to be Sowmya and younger one to be Saranya. It was real fun to listen to their conversation. They both were teasing each other. Occasionally their mom too joined the fun to tease the dad. Ajith and I stopped our chat and stated following them! Then Sowmya took her dad’s Nokia mobile to play the traditional ‘Snake’ game. The bet between the sweet sisters was “will Sowmya score 500 points in the game?” Saranya was trying to distract Sowmya so that she does not reach 500 and she was confident that Sowmya would not reach the target. But Sowmya was determined to win Saranya and the game. Ajith and I just did not gamble on them; but were really exited to know who will win the game. Finally Sowmya won the game for her determination. She killed the snake with 540 points on board. There was a chaos for a few seconds.

Nenu Ra… Renigunta Reddy…

After crossing a few small stations, the train entered a major station at 8:10 PM. It was typical Andra Pradesh. And it was Renigunta. Ajith and I got down the train and checked for something to eat. We got a biscuit packet and a Maa bottle. We just stayed out to have a short chat. What else we have got to talk about now! Of course it was about Sowmya and Saranya. We started debating who was better. Saranya vs. Sowmya. But Ajith came up with an out-of-the-syllabus answer. He said the aunty (Saranya Sowmya’s mom) was better than both of the gals. I was shocked to hear his answer which was ethically, morally, psychologically, sensitively, perceptively wrong. In spite of all the said “ly” wrong factors, I had to accept with Ajith as his out-of-the-syllabus answer was a fact.

A few minutes latter the journey started again. To our surprise the train started moving toward Chennai. Within not more than 10 minutes before we realize the direction, the train was entering another major station. It was Tirupathi! Hooph! We reached our destination. Though we did not sight any board, as everyone got down, we also did.

@ Tirupathi

Just getting out of the platform, we saw a huge number of clean shave headed people to confirm we are at right place. We both switched on our cell phones. Ajith had 2 and I had 3 missed calls from Sree and a SMS which read, “Contact 9840865755 for any help”. Good to see that SMS. We got out of the station around 8:30 PM and called up the number which Sree gave. I spoke to Sree’s cousin and was told that we would be picked up in 5 minutes. Standing in front of the railway station in a busy road we were looking at the shops doing their peak hour business. Suddenly Ajith asked me, “Can you read the shop’s name board?” I replied, “I just can’t read a single character of it.” He was jumping in joy hearing my reply. I failed to understand the reason for his joy! Then he said, “This is how I feel being in Chennai for 2 years.” The very moment I understood the pain of the people who stay away from their home town for earning their daily bread. Hmmm… In a few minutes, a brand new Hyundai i10 came to pick us up to the reception hall. We met Sree’s brother in the hall and Sree’s cousin who was equal to 1 Ajith + 2 Lachus took us to a hotel nearby for refreshment. It was IPL season. We got ready watching a hot IPL match and came back to the reception hall by 9:10 PM.

The Reception

Sree & Krish were looking gorgeous on the Dias. Sree looked thin in her dark red designer saree dropped in northy style. But Sree & Krish could have smile a bit more. Ajith and I sat in the hall to relax for a few minutes. We decided to go to the Dias to meet Sree. As we just reached the Dias, the couple started clicking pics with Krish’s family. After waiting for a few minutes, we came back to our seats. After a few minutes latter we went back to the Dias again. Our fate was chasing us from Chennai till Tirupathi or what? Yes. Now the couple started clicking pics with Sree’s family. We came back to our seats again. For the 3rd time we went to the Dias after making sure that no one was at the Dias, except for the couple of course. So finally we met Sree & Krish. Ajith did not even remember to hand over the card to the pair posing for the photograph. Sree had to remind him to get her card!

What next? The aim of the experiment; yes the dinner. It was a original agmark Andra meals. Finishing the dinner with an ice cream we came back to the hall. After having another short chat with Sree we left the reception hall. Sree’s cousin took us to Tirupathi Devasthana Residence. It was close to midnight when we got settled in the room. And we have got to get ready by 2:30 AM the next day morning for the marriage. Horrible. In spite of this Ajith went for an evening walk and finally we slept at around 1 AM in the morning.

Miss Sree to Mrs Sree Krish

After snoozing both our mobile alarms twice, we both got up at 2:25 AM in the morning. Ridiculous. I have never seen the clock ticking 2:30 AM in my life time. With a high degree of reluctance, we both started getting ready. Finally we got out of the room sharp at 3:00 AM. We took an auto to the mandapam for Rs. 25. Only after a few minutes of travel we came to know that the driver did not know the route to the mandapam. The auto driver was speaking in Telugu, Ajith in Malayalam and me in Tamil. Ultimately no one understood each other. Great! It was a perfect mess. The auto driver showed us the whole of Tirupathi. The railway station… Two other Kalyana mandapams… APSRTC bus terminus… Two railway gates… Finally somehow he took us to the mandapam at 3:10 AM and we ended up paying Rs. 40 for the trip.
It was a perfect timing that we reached the mandapam. Sree was being taken to the Dias with a huge gang of relatives escorting her. Next it was Krish’s turn. He was also taken to the Dias. The funniest part of it was a screen was dropped between them. As some kind of religious rituals was going on, someone brought the so called ‘license’, ‘Thali’ with atchathai around the crowd. We were just waiting for our turn and the person just skipped us to move to the next row. Great insult!

It was 3:27 AM; the ‘D Time’ for Sree. Yes! Sree bowed for Krish to become Mrs. Krish. Actually Krish was under the process of tying the knot for about a minute. Was he knotting more than 3 or it was tough to get around Sree? Anyways, it was a strong knot. For the next few minutes the whole hall went to the Dias to bless the couple.

For the next 10 minutes it was real fun. The couple was made it sit facing each other and both were given a bowl of rice. The ritual was to take a hand full of rice and drop it on the other’s head. It was suppose to be a ritual. But Sree & Krish made it a game. Sree was not able to rise to the Krish’s head to drop the rice. So Krish would twice do the same by the time Sree does it once. Everyone in the hall enjoyed the game along with the couple.

Tamil Vs Malayalam

With one down, Ajith and I started talking about who was next on cards in AUP. I said “Next would be Ramya”. He said, “Oh! Remya.” There started a lingual war between Tamil and Malayalam. We started discussing the difference in accent between Tamil and Malayalam. Starting with Ramya Vs Remya, we went to RAM (PC RAM), ROM, Ram (person’s name), Rome and so on and on… As the couple was playing a few other games, Ajith and I were playing the lingual war. As usual it was fun with Ajith.

Full Andra meals @ 4:00 AM in the morning

At around 4:00 AM in the morning Sree’s mom and dad asked us to go have our food. We went to the dining hall to have a full Andra meal at 4:00 AM in the morning. This was the first time in my life time to have food at 4:00 AM in the morning that too a full meal. We felt like being in a dream. It was another typical Andra meal starting with ‘pappu podi’. It was really an amazing meal. But still Ajith felt that the Andra meal near Tidel Park was better :). We just relaxed for a few minutes there after our heavy meal at an unusual time. By the time, we could not find Sree & Krish. So we just informed her parents and brother and left the mandapam at around 4:30 AM. We again took an auto to the Tirupathi Devasthana Residence. We were surprised as he asked for just Rs. 15. He took a short right from the mandapam and a U turn in a while and we were at the destination in less than a couple of minutes. We looked at each other and thought how we were cheated by the auto driver in the morning. Anyways, it’s all in the game! We went back to the room and decided to have a short nap, get ready by 9:00 AM, roam around the city for a while and board the train at 10:05 AM. But as usual after snoozing the alarms for couple of times, we got up only at 9:00 AM. So our plan was a flop. We got ready in a hurry, vacated the room and went back to the mandapam to hand over the key to Sree’s brother. This time we were clever enough and decided to walk to the mandapam. The railway station was also walk able from the mandapam.

Kingfisher Strong

As we came out of the mandapam and crossed the railway gate, we saw a Bar. Ajith wanted to have a chill beer to beat the heat at Andra. So we went into the empty bar; may be we were the first customer for the day! Ajith asked for a Kingfisher strong beer. The waiter said, they had only Kingfisher Premium and not Strong. Though Ajith was not really happy with it, after a while of thought he ordered for Kingfisher Premium. The waiter brought a chill beer with 2 glasses. Ajith filled his glass very professionally. I asked him to fill a little of my glass. I just took it and was about to taste it. He stopped me and said, “Say cheers and continue”. So after the formal cheers, I tasted it. Crap! What the hell. I felt like drinking a juice made out of a rotten fruit. The smell was disgusting than its taste. By the time I came out of the feel of its taste, Aiith had started filling the glass for the second time. My god! I wondered how he is able to. Paying Rs. 68 for the crap, we left the bar. I badly wanted something else to get the bloody taste out of my taste buds. We searched for a boomer and got it only after enquiring a few shops. Finally we reached the railway station at around 9:40 AM. This time we were well in advance for the train. It was D4 for the return journey. We found D4 in first attempt this time and landed in our seats 25 and 26. The sun was even worse than the day before. Finally the train started at 10:10 AM. Though we got the seats on time this time, beating the sun was really tougher than the earlier. We really struggled during the journey. We alternately slept on and off till Chennai. At last we reached Chennai central by 2:20 PM. We departed from the station and we left home from there to end the Trip Tirupathi.

Moral of the Story

Below are the moral of the story “Trip Tirupathi”
- Be on time for train journey.
- Don’t plan for day time journey in April / May. Try A/C coach.
- Don’t gulp Beer. Try Rum instead.