How to spend 5 hours waiting

0411 hrs - Woke up and found the bus cruising on Ahmedabad's pothole ridden roads.
0420 hrs - Ahmedabad railway station, got down. Thought of exploring the area. Seven minute walk later, reached the main entrance. The entrance to the station is all nicely done.
0430 hrs - Bought the Times of India. 3 Rs.
0432 hrs - Realized that the guy cheated me, Ahmedabad Mirror was not present.
0435 hrs - bought the Ahmedabad mirror, 1 Re.
0445 hrs - Settled in the nicely lit waiting area of the station, and started reading the News paper. Stimulus package details. More updates on the terror attacks. Article about how security can be breached at the Ahmedabad airport (Sometimes I feel, these news channels and the papers themselves, provide terrorists with ideas). Staring at the girls and the costly cars passing by once in a while.
0550 hrs - Finished the Times. Started reading the Ahmedabad mirror. Realized that the rupee I spent on this was a waste. The news was crap anyways.
0600 hrs - Finished the mirror. Interrupt by a voice, a lady voice at that. Asking for time. 0600 I reply, and she takes the seat nearby.
0610 hrs - Again the same voice, asks me where am I going. I reply airport and start looking at the pictures again. One more question and I was thinking whether I should talk. After some deliberation I decide otherwise.
0630 hrs - Hunger strikes. Exit to the nearest tea-shop. The tea tasted great. But the 'gaatiya' that he served for the snack was horrible.
0655 hrs - Entered the restaurant for a proper serving of breakfast. But, the Idli sambar served there was horrible. Re-iterated my belief about having south-indian stuff elsewhere.
0710 hrs - Auto to the airport.
0725 hrs - Ticketing and Security check. The wait starts. My flight is at 0900.
0840 hrs - Boarding call.
1000 hrs - Land at Mumbai.
1255 hrs - Chennai

Alone around Udaipur

Atul made his exit to kota, early on the morning of 8th. Sankha took the late morning cab to Ahmedabad. My bus to Ahmedabad was late in the night. So that left me alone and pretty much with the whole day to roam around Udaipur.

Udaipur is a nice quaint little city. I thought that roaming alone would be the most boring thing to do, but yes, It lets you observe what's happening around you, take in the scenery without any intervening thoughts. I hired an auto, the driver promised to show me the sights of Udaipur for 250 bucks. We started off with a park, moved on to the famous lake pichola, the zoo at Udaipur. Then headed to the City palace, which was a musuem of the mewar heritage. It was quite beautiful, and well maintained. An hour there and it already was 430. Then we headed to a garden and a small science museum inside it. Once out, the driver took me to a crafts store. There i ended up spending a lot to buy quite a few things. Exit and straight to Brijwani's house.

Small nap and dinner later, headed out to catch the bus. A nice little trip comes to an end.

Brijwani is now Puneet

This post is dedicated to Brijwani, oops Puneet, who ceases to be a bachelor from now on...Congratulations to him on his change in role. The consensus in our friends' circle was always that he would not be the next one to walk the line, but he sprang a surprise. Dec 7th D-day. I, Sankha and Atul were the only ones present. Others dropped out for varied reasons, some convincing and some not so convincing.

The stage was set. This is prob the only Sindhi wedding that I'd be witness to, and should say it was a grand occasion. Let the flow (of liquor ;)) never stop, seemed to be the motto. And everyone seemed to be having a great time. Being witness to South-Indian wedding, of which the song and dance is not a part of, this one seemed quite different.

Leaving Chennai on the afternoon of 6th, witnessing un-precedented security everywhere (atleast at airports), weathering multiple baggage checks (Yes, my single carry-on was checked 5 times), I reached on the morning of 7th at about 2 am. And since then it was a great time for the next couple of days. We were curious witnesses to most of the rituals that were taking place. As a part of a ritual, the clothes of the groom were torn to bits, leaving just about enough for him to protect his modesty. (Of course, we too contributed generously). Parties followed parties, and our room was the centre of all activity. Evening, we embarked on the search for the Mystery gift, which we vowed in college, would be presented to all the friends. 7 p.m - It was already time for Brijwani to mount the horse. Should say it was a comic sight, the groom weighed down under layers of heavy clothing, a turban on his head, and a mini-sword too to go along with it.

Dance, more dance and we reached the bride's place. Reception and a sumptuous dinner followed. We were mostly tired, and I managed to keep the jinx behind me yet (Yes, my past visits to friend's marriages were not great, health-wise). A simple marriage ceremony followed, witnessed by not more than 30-40 people. An hour later, at about 1:30 a.m on the 8th, Brijwani and Nisha were man and wife.

Congratulations! Wish you a Happy, Great, Wonderful, Fabulous, Fantabulous Married Life.

Off to Udaipur...

Finally, the much needed break. Going for Latte's marriage. Though I'd have wanted the break to be longer than the 3 days currently planned. But, only 3-4 ppl are turning up for the marriage. So my plan of heading to the hills has been dropped. Even before starting off (2 days before) comes the bad news that my early morning flight has been canceled (Damn, these so called low cost airlines). It means now i'll start flying late afternoon, and reach Ahmedabad by night. Also I'd have to head to Udaipur alone now.

Unprecedented security measures at the airports, for Dec 6. Some e-mail threats too for kidnapping planes out of Chennai airport. So the hope is that I at least fly out, although delayed. I dont want to get stuck up here, now, after planning things so much in advance.