Wilderness, greenery ,comedy, fiasco
When four old
college day friends met after decades, the memories came rushing back.and the
years melted away. Reliving those times again brought a warm and bittersweet
feeling, especially while reflecting on the dear friend who passed away, the ludicrous
road trips made in the distant past ,
the silly moments becoming the most treasured topics. Every shared
memory brought back the joy of the simpler
time in life as if it happened yesterday
If you
don’t speak Malayalam, the opening line of our trip will sound like a broken mantra:
"Let’s just buy an audio CD Kanro
!" Imagine hearing that 100 times in a row. By the 20th time, I
was ready to drive the car straight into the Arabian Sea and by the 60th, I was
even ready to make a CD out of my own eardrums. Other than the wretched unpredictable
monsoon turning the road towards the
Coast into a car swimming-pool
the traffic entering Gods Own Country
and the "rural" resort that was basically a waking nightmare forced
us to deeply confront the unsettling
reality of our own mortality,
To
combat the traffic K invented a game: Kollywood Medley. It turned out, you can ruin any timeless melody by
changing the lyrics to absolute gibberish We were screaming inanities at top
volume, purely for "mental health" reasons. It’ had to be either that or committing violent
offences in the middle of a traffic jam,
right?
Still,
I’d say it was the perfect Holiday. Pure rest, Kulukki Sharbath, Sulemani Chaya, fluffy aappam
, Chenda Melam , and we had nature (teeming with Humanity) all to ourselves. But let’s talk about how we
handled the chaos, because we were clearly nervy.
There was this "authentic" nature
resort. When we booked, we were dreaming like, "Yes! Let’s be one with nature ! Rawness! Local Culture! and all " Turned out, we are total
city snobs who recoil at the slightest hint of ‘minor’ inconveniences .Yes that place was a nightmare—a total
stampede, and the service was just a petite Hostess ‘Checchi’ laughing at us
from time to time. As wise friend P pointed out, it was less “peaceful getaway" and more " Natural Disaster refugee crisis."
We hit the road in a flash and made a hasty retreat from the much acclaimed
Retreat. That resort will never see these five faces again for sure. So much
about the nightmare.
Now,
let's talk about what I am best at naturally: “Award winning” Cynicism. We had
planned a surprise party for V, and I happened to be the nominated lead Character in orchestrating the deception.
My friends always trusted my bluffing skills way too much—I don’t know
if I should be proud or terrified that they know I’m such a crafty Mastermind.
Be that as it may , I did my best to ruin a perfectly good surprise with my
excessive Drama(edy)
