Playin Reconnaissance with the master of espionage ... Hell with them.
I started walking down the empty pavement, with those six pairs of bloodshot eyes still following me.
If eyes could kill, I wouldve been dead by then.
Nailed.Nowhere to go. I sprinted across the street to nearest crowded spot.
I jumped into the waiting vehicle and shut the doors on them.
Escape.But only after getting a taste of hell.
I had to bear with all those so-called funny jokes ( that ve been told ages ago) throughout the twohour journey uphill to Yercaud. Anu, a SRM MSc student commented on the two other lads other than me as very silent, and one look at me she said, hmmm a prankster pretending to be a sadhu. Unmasked in an instant.
A stalky, short tenth grader with an aura of innocence..Rishi was my first friend there. We had contrasting interests but managed to be hooked in a conversation for a long time, while waiting for our Master Suites to be ready. And when all the expected families arrived, the rooms were ready and the programme was already running two hours late !



The clerk handed over to me the key to my Cottage.
No. 19...Uh - hoh
The number 19 usually gives me Circuit Creeps! The first time I flunked in a test in college ( as a matter of fact,in my entire life) .My debut in Failuredom.Reminds me of those sundays (which turns out to be the eve of ciruits exam), when i should be going through problems where circuit diagrams look like some puzzle in yesteryear tinkle book with heaps of reference books stacked beside me, but usually I end the day with hours of gameplay and dawdling.
After relaxing for a little( i dont mean it) while, all the 30 odd families assembled at the Hall for tea and then the much anticipated Games started in the Grand ( i dont mean it again! )Auditorium.Some event managers from Bengalooru were running the show for us. It started off with the usual Elimination game, where i lost in the first round.
Meanwhile, I met a pair of twins...christened Ram and Laxman, standing 6'3" who towered over me and two other big guys Mohan and Vishwa. And while playing swing at a park right in front of my cottage, I met Rishi's young sis Sruthi and another little girl called Kavi. Two polar gangs, U- 15 and A -20 and I am an integral part of both !
Back to the auditorium, the B'lore bloke called upon some five gentleman to the stage and when noone volunteered, he pointed me out ( gosh...wasnt he talking about gentlemen! ) and the game goes like this...My mom has to tie as many rubberbands as she could within a minute...the sad part is tat..it must be done on my head ! We eventually won, given the fact that the rest of my contenders were well over 50... A perk worth five bucks was all that i got for enduring with myriad insults and comments. And fuelling the already burning fire, i was asked to rampwalk with all those rubberbands sticking out of my head ! ( praying that the girls are blackened out for a few moments)
I gave a sigh and perched in the last row. I yelped at anyone who talked to me. But glad that everythings over.
It didnt though, as the compere beckoned me to the stage again...that gentleman with blackshirt!
~Now what?~
I had to pick a coin from a plate full of flour.
~Haha...Am game!~
Thats when he said. I had to that handcuffed, using merely my mouth.
~sucka~ I couldnt back out, too much pride at stake.When this second horrible game was over, I had to rampwalk yet again ( one more time, let the girls be blinded! )
Ahaan, everythings over finally.
The Bengalooruean was exlplaining the rules of the next "game", something related to dancing and singing.
I gave a wicked smile at the victims-to-be.
And that sonofa***** pointed me out again...That gentleman with black shirt!
parakarathu,odarathu,nadakarathu,podrathu and some vegetarian stuff i dint bother to look at...everything so delightfully placed on the table for us to snaffle at.
Watched Real Madrid V Barca football match at midnight with Ram,Laxman,Vishwa and Mohan ( current PSG student), though except Mohan and me, the others could argue about why there shouldnt be a legside in football. Played Swing in a park at 1.30 am with Laxman and chatting on worldly matters.

The soccer field at MOntford...... Emus in a school
!!!

We continued on our journey to Shevroy viewpoint ( 1500 m), the highest in yercaud. Perched up near the peak is a temple, which claims to home a cave that leads to Mysore, as a means of escape for our "brave" rajahs. After returning to our terminus a quo i.e the hotel, we have a magnificient luncheon and head towards a coffee estate.After some lectures given by the workers about the ripening of coffee plants ( me commenting from last row), me and Ram set out on an adventurous expedition downhill towards a prohibited area, in the coffee estate and after some cautious steps down the convolute bunch of trees and twigs, we landed near a glorious stream ! We were thinking of naming it "Ramkanna stream" as the first ones to set our eyes upon it when we heard numerous voices that ended our moment of exuberance...yaaruppa athu?? from behind...Uh - hoh!
Me at the coffee estate
An evening free of boring trips to dull and sultry view points...I started playing swing with my U-14 friends in the park.Me and Ram had a twenty minute walk just to buy few balloons for Sruthi. And there were moments when I wished I had a lil sis like her. A bonfire to end the day, where my A-20 gang were asked to sing! When the rest of the city sound asleep, me along with Ram,Lax,Mohan and Vish started dawdling and gossiping about all sorts of gibbetty stuff till two AM !
The next day's start was an exact replica of the previous day, and we went out for boating ( even glided the boat in reverse direction!) ,Bakoda Point ( baffled about its etymology), Gents and Ladies Seat ( Ayyo they are view points! ) and headed back to Headquarters. After a heavy inexpiclably tasty lunch, there was a grand farewell party and we bid adios to each other... A trip which I thought was boring all along, only to realize that it wasnt so when I was about to leave....


View From Gents Seat View point












