I know this is coming really really late considering that the trip happened sometime mid Sep, but I had to write this post ! Had to coz of a multitude of reasons , the adventure , the planning , the wait , the fun games , the amazing driver and on and on. So the story begins..
I think it was Pooja and Shilpa who came up with the plan all of a sudden and I said a yes to it as I had never been there and also coz Shilpa assured that we would not have to wait for long in the queue as she would arrange vip passes. Well when some one from The Deshmukh Family says it you do believe it :D Gattu also agreed , but the most surprising part was when Rahul also said yes! The fun just began as Shilpa clearly told at her place "it is me lipi and 2 couples " , well how are we to get 2 couples , and then started the various permutations/combinations and we were finally ready with the 5 of us and Pooja's friend Amrita. The D day comes and we are supposed to start sometime in the afternoon. Now let me mention this first , I have this weird night-travel-0-phobia (esp 4 wheeler) and desperately wanted to reach the place before late evening, threatening everyone that otherwise we halt on the way for the night. Though I was mostly engrossed in my book , it was fun watching the others struggle to guess movie names especially gattu , and that too accompanied by Pooja's enlightening comments during the journey !
Anyways after some 4 -5 hours and darshan at the Ganesh temple on the way we finally reached Tirupathi and then started the frantic calls to Mr(Basha/Pasha/Badshah) to confirm the hotel for us only to realise it was already full. And so the group spilt , me and shilpa with the driver in the car and the other 4 in another group. Something I would never forget was Shilpa's statement at one lodge "aap ghante ke hisaab se charge nahin karoge" !! Anyways , the others were luckier and after 1 and hr hours of hotel hunting we found a very good place to fit in all of us very comfortably.A good dinner and all of us tired souls off to bed knowing that the next day would be hectic.
In the morning we planned to visit the Lashmi Temple first and then head for the main temple on the hill where (lets call him this) Basha would be waiting for us with the darshan passes. While on the way we got to know it was Hindi Day , and started the game of talking in 100% shudhh hindi having decided that the one who loses would treat the rest at coffee day. Rahul was smart , didnt say a word , I tried and gave up, it was too tough for me. I think Pooja was the clear winner.
And so we reached the Tirumala town where Mr Basha was no where in sight :( and we kept waiting at MBC-25 , was that it ? Guys please correct me !
A lot of confusion , wait and finally we managed the passes. I would not go into details coz everything is well that ends well :) And then the darshan , it was truly amazing, despite the crowd and the wait. And by 6 we were done, also kinda dead tired .I must mention here that our driver was a really nice chap , did not complain even once as we kept oscillating from one place to another although did redirect us towards the free darshan queue couple of times!
And so we started back from there late in the evening , with gattu assuring me that night travel is absolutely safe and he would ensure the driver doesnt doze off, thx gattu !
Most of us managed some minutes of sleep before we reached home close to midnight . Oh yeah , we all did plan to bug Mr.Basha with missed calls for all the trouble he put us through :D , and believe me we actually did that !
Before I forget ,
@shilpa , I pity all those people you blasted on phone :) , but am so glad we all had the darshan.
@pooja, you are an awesome organizer, a must include for all outings!
@rahul, I agree with u , we must do these trips more often, and yes, sorry for the funny pic on the way :D
@amrita , amazing enthu and thx a bunch for arranging all the passes.
@gattu , thx for being awake almost all night during the return journey and taking care that the driver is awake as well and playing all those lovely songs :)

No smoking ? !

So since Oct 2nd , smoking has been officially banned at well defined public places , and that includes the reserved for smoking spaces in our campus also. This place is now well guarded , not just by a security guard but a sign board bearing the amount one can be fined for smoking there. So that helps ? Am not really sure . The EGL campus , has a lovely golf course and the walk along it is just an awesome feeling , I guess it is not going to be so anymore. For a stretch of about 50 mts along it , all that one can see now is plastic cups , chloromint wrappers , and cig stubs. Yes ,that is the new habitat of all the smokers in the campus. And despite a huge bin sitting there (it was installed after observing all this litter there ) , I doubt anyone uses it since it is actually open space and unlike the closed smoking area within the office premises that we earlier had.
I have no idea if the new rule helps/does not help , active/passive smoking , but if this is what is going to be the consequence , definitely not anticipated for. Makes sense to revert back then , atleast public places would be a lot more cleaner !
On a completely different note , most of my friends have left for their diwali vacation , me is the last to go , missing the gang already :) Suddenly had a feel of how days would be without these folks around !!

The new face of terror , operation BAD , more bombs diffused ... and on and on , we have seen all of it grabbing most newspaper front pages and TV channels breaking news off late. I must admit it hit really close in the last few months. Whether it was the Bangalore serial blasts or the ones in Delhi market or just watching how security has been tightened all around .. at times brings a feeling of helplessness. Especially the thought of so many people losing lives or possibly handicapped for the rest of their lives , just coz a bunch of inhuman people wanted to prove a point , a point that no one really understands . Panic , fear , distrust.. is wide spread. Suddenly one is safe nowhere. This definitely is not the even remotely ideal world we want out future generations to be a part of. I can see the change right now , we think a lot more before visiting any mall in the weekend , weekdays is less crowded , so lesser chance of someone blowing it up.
The victims of 9/11 or the London/Mumbai/Delhi bombings bear physical and mental scars that might never fade. Wonder how many more people are going to bear them.Wonder if there is a solution at all. I am reminded of an MTV mock interview of a Mr. Terrorist , who when asked on why they revert to bombings had absoultely no answer . All that he stammered was we will keep doing it , but we dont know why. If thats in reality , it certainly leaves us with a sad and scary picture of how things are going to be...

Ps: I wrote this post after having read what Anu and Rahul had to share on similar topics..

This one is funny!

Someone forwarded this to me , hmmm.....

whats in a name..

Thats what people say , but then a name does matter ! Lipi Tripathy , now how difficult is that to spell /pronounce ? I would say quite simple , short and simple in fact. Apparently Airtel folks have a problem with this , how else does my name transform into Mr. Lee Tirupathi one fine day !! The dude on phone drastically changed my gender , nationality ...
Or the polite lady who wanted to speak to Mr. Lips , ahem ahem . commonsense please madam , what is the probability of a Mr.Lips existing on this planet ?
I have seen quite a few modifications of my name , lips,lipsy,lipsiku but Lee Tirupathi beats them all !

Drunk Tales

All characters mentioned in this post are very much real , and you could find a lot of resemblance to someone you know well or even yourself ;) , but lets declare the norm here .No names please !!
The first incident that comes to my mind is while we were still on PS in Bangalore and this pg-mate of mine decided to gulp down much more that she could take . Problem was to get her to the room which was on the first floor from the car with the pg aunty sitting right across the hall. Somehow we managed to send aunty off for a while and 2 of us were helping this very much on-the-high friend up the stairs with all hush hush , when suddenly in full spirits she shouts " where is aunty ?"
And to think of all our efforts in making this a not so obvious affair ! But we managed and aunty did not have the slightest doubt.
The next episode has to be the most hilarious one , it involved the subject locking up a friend in the balcony , almost ransacking someone else's house and swearing all the time that 'I am fine , F.I.N.E fine .. " I should also mention that we had a movie to catch after that , and on the way also caught up with a lot more confessions from the subject very much to our amusement.
A long and happening day, that had completely drained out this person and a friend suggested a drink , the subject's first ever .A baby's dose , as termed by mr. bartender , but enough to make sure our subject was tipsy and drove the rest out of the house with "you will have to get out now !!"
There is also the case of a friend who in a royally washed out state was kinda violent , kicking the poor soul who carried her , and throwing the bucket at the rest of us.Well , the acts of violence did end with few hugs though :D
It is pure entertainment for those watching , I still remember when a friend had a sip or 2 of kerosene mistaking it for something else !Not much fun though when the person is all quiet with a look that says "just dont come anywhere close to me or talk to me" . This guy never admits it , but me and a friend can very much imitate this pose and look ! Another friend was quite a bit out after few drinks at a party and would just not let us drive him home , he was adamant on biking along while the rest of us just kept praying .
A lot more incidents that flash across now , more later . .... :)

Ugly Aur Pagli , neither actually. Watched this one last weekend , expectations were quite high , something along the lines of Pyar Ke Side Effects and it was such a damn squib comparatively.Well , the comedy was damn good in most parts , the expressions of the lead pair , especially Ranvir , just priceless but then I thought we needed something more concrete to hold all this in place . Perhaps a script . Some of the reviews on this movie have claimed this is a remake (read copy) of My Sassy Girl , I haven't watched that one but would like to believe it was a better original.
Nevertheless it was entertaining at times despite the absolutely-not-needed-and-pathetic-songs .My eyes were more glued to the awesome and smart bags Ms.Sherawat carried ;) Oh yea , if you are wondering about the 99 slaps bit as in the promos , it pretty much lives up to that mark , I was actually wondering if the guy had become immune to them after a while !!