Coorg and me...................
It was after work that Anu, Kari, and Raj decided to take a bus to Mysore and then go from there to Coorg. A lot of expectations along with a lot of apprehensions accompanied Anu, as this was the first time she is out on a trip on her own, especially with two of her male colleagues.
The three of them took their usual drop off the Tata Sumo and alighted at the Kempegowda Bus Stand, where they thought they would take the next available bus to Mysore. The night was not very cold, but pleasant, temperatures ranged between 20 degrees to 22 degrees Celsius. The three of them were travelling light. Anu took along with her a blue coloured Reebok bag; Raj on the other hand sported a Jansport bag, which was rather flashy coloured for his personality; and Kari was travelling with a leather bag. They walked towards the usually busy, but now desolate bus stand with their luggage. Raj carried Anu's bag for her. Raj regarded Anu as one of his best friends and wanted to do everything to make her feel comfortable as well as make this trip a memorable one for her. The three walked towards the platform where they could catch a bus to Mysore. They did find one leaving in the next couple of minutes. They bagged the luggage in the bus and alighted for a cup of 'chai'. Kari and Raj wanted to in fact have a smoke. There were boys at the bus platform selling tea with the help of flasks. The boys were aged anywhere between 16 to 25 selling tea there.
Raj felt that these were hard-working boys, who never probably relished the comfort of a cushioned chair, a/c, computers, cafetaria, transport provided, etc. Thoughts flashed his mind about his past when he saw the far end of the bus stand. He remembered how his brother and he had taken shelter and slept on the bus stand floor about 7 years ago, when their father had died and they had come away from home to avoid all the debtors. Thoughts raced his mind as to how he had come to a status where he could travel for a holiday, which was a far fetched idea 7 years ago.
The 18-year-old boy was called and was asked if he had coffee or tea, to which they got a reply that the boy could get both, but he had to get them as it was over in his flask. They boy wore a checks shirt, partly torn at places, dirty and he wore a pair of dirty hawaii slippers, but no sign of complaint or lament on his face showed. Kari, Raj, and Anu waited patiently for the boy to get coffee for them, when Raj and Kari lit their cigarettes and concealed them in their palm efficiently enough. There were other boys who came up and asked for tea, but the trio decided to stick with the promise to give the first boy business, who was supposed to give them coffee. Anu never drank tea, preferably. The boy came back telling the trio that there was no coffee available. Kari and Raj agreed to settle for tea, but Anu refrained from having tea. Suddenly, out of the blue, the boy asked, "Aunty, nimage?" ("Aunty, how about you?"). The trio burst out laughing when the boy addressed Anu as "aunty," because she was the youngest of the lot, 26 years of age. Laughing and mocking Anu for the next 10 minutes was how they passed their time. It was about 02:15 in the morning when the bus driver finally decided to leave for Mysore. The bus driver and conductor were in fact waiting for more passengers, but when they saw that there was nobody on the Mysore platform apart from dogs, they decided to leave. The bus was an ordinary one. In the daytime, it would have probably been full with all sorts of people around you, but at that brink of night, it was rather empty, housing only about 8 people and the trio.
The bus started, Anu took the window seat of the bus. Both Kari and Raj were extremely careful and made sure that Anu got what she wanted. Raj sat next to Anu, and Kari took the aisle; it was a 3-seater. The engines roared and the bus started. There was cold wind blowing in from the window. Raj guessed as to how excited and at the same time scared Anu was. She was enjoying the ride, allowing the the wind to blow into her open hair. The trio engaged themselves in a conversation for some time. They spoke about everything under the sun until Kari got a little groggy and decided that he would take a nap before getting to Mysore, which was about 3 hours from there. Raj and Anu decided to keep talking, as both of them could not sleep. As they neared Mysore, Raj almost dozed off, but for Anu, who was all excited about the trip, kept awake. They reached Mysore in wee hours of the morning, about 04:00 am.
They found a bus immediately enough to go to Madikeri, the Coorg Headquarters. Kari's wife was there with the newborn baby and it was a pretty cold night actually. Anu was sporting a jacket, but Raj felt it was not enough for her. As usual, Raj kept thinking about his companion all the way from Mysore to Coorg. They had never had time to spend in Bangalore, or rather Anu kept the distance maintained knowing what kind of a person Raj was. The bus roared and left the crowded Mysore Bus Terminus. The bus was named "Rajahamsa," the royal swan as literally translated from Kannada. It was a rather noisy vehicle, but the three of them could find comfortable seats as most of the bus was empty. The driver a rather burly man in his mid 50s was well versed with the vehicle he was driving and manouevered it with ease. Any other fluent driver would definitely find it tiresome to manouvere such a vehicle, but for him it was life.
It was dawn and Kari dozed off, probably thats what he did every time he went home. Raj and Anu on the other hand kept chatting. For the first time, Raj felt that he could speak to her more freely, away from all the menace in Bangalore, the so-called "Silicon Valley" of India. For the first time, Anu opened up the conversation, something which Raj had longed for in Bangalore. She kept talking about her family, her school and her past, which Raj listened with utmost intent. He did not understand why he was immensly drawn towards this girl. He had actually sworn never to get intimate with any female species in this world after what he had been through with Rajani, but for some unknown reason, he was drawn towards this girl; "WHY???", he did not know. He thought to himself and listened to her intently throughout. He felt that he came to like her more and more as she went on. Her silence was mystifying to Raj, when she was in Bangalore, and here she was, totally different. Raj had never expected her to speak so much. Every now-and-then, he thought as to why he had said "yes" to his mother for a marriage. His mother had selected for him a girl called Radhika, who was very beautiful, typically Iyengarish, which is what his mother had sought for him. With every word that Anu spoke, Raj began to appreciate her inner beauty and also by far, he thought that she was definitely good looking. Raj had wanted to tell her that he had developed a liking towards her, but was apprehensive about the fact that she might think otherwise; and besides, he thought that she was too good for him. She was young, beautiful and intelligent, and what was he, an aging man, who just broke up from a 7-year old relationship, which he revealed without any shame to Anu about four months ago! He thought otherwise, and kept it to himself. Anu went on and on and at one point in time asked Raj as to what it was that he wanted to tell her. Raj had told her a couple of months ago that he wanted to say something, but withdrew because he did not know how Anu would take it.
The bus leered on along the smooth state highways of Karnataka, until it arrived at the mouth of Coorg, Kushalnagar, where the roads took a drastic turn. Suddenly, Raj and Anu felt they were travelling by a sea and not by land. The quality of the roads had suddenly taken a hideous turn, they suddenly seemed to be more potholes and ditches than the actual road itself. Raj decided to tell Anu what he felt about her, this being the best time to reveal it. Raj thought to himself, gathered all the inner strength, even went to the extent of praying to God before he revealed it to Anu. He told Anu, "I wanted to tell you from a very long time that I have taken a liking towards you and wanted to propose to you many a time, but then thought that you deserve somebody better, somebody who can really take care of you well; besides, I am too old and awkward to be associated with a beautiful person like you." Raj sighed with relief that he had taken this burden off his chest, but to his surprise, Anu did not react very badly towards it; instead, she said that she also had developed a liking towards him. Raj was ecstatic at that moment and thought that if it was not the bus they were travelling in, he would have screamed with joy. Alas, Raj had already said yes to the marriage alliance brought to him by his mother and to him his mother was the final word and he dare not confront her decision. Both, Raj and Anu were mature in their own ways to understand the situation and said that they would remain good friends for life.
The bus rambled on, across the Ghat sections of the Coorg countryside. The scenery was beautiful, fog covered all over the valley, mountains were barely visible with the fog all over. Raj was very happy and showed the sceneries to Anu as if he was giving her a tour of his private estate. Raj felt responsible for her and swore to himself, an undying promise of trust towards this girl, who gave him immense happiness, just by her prescence. She need not say anything, but her silence said it all. Like Ronan Keating once said in his OST for Notting Hill, "You say it best when you say nothing at all." The bus stationed at the Madikere bus stand, which was actually part of the main road leading to the bus stand complex. It was crowded like any other bus stand areas in India. Street hawkers all over the place, displaying their goods, trying to catch hold of somebody whom they could sell their goods to, tryig to earn a decent living. Shops, which sported advertisements of Coorg honey and coffee, two of the most widely cultivated cash crops of Coorg. The language of these people was not very easy to learn. Raj and Anu could not understand most of it when they landed there and it sounded more gibberish to them. This language they heard in Coorg was a mixture of Malayalam, Kannada and also a little bit of a local lingo, which was beyond their understanding. Raj first lit a cigarette, which he was waiting for since the time they left Mysore. It was heavenly, thought Raj. He called home as he knew that after this there would be no mobile signal.
The three of them took their usual drop off the Tata Sumo and alighted at the Kempegowda Bus Stand, where they thought they would take the next available bus to Mysore. The night was not very cold, but pleasant, temperatures ranged between 20 degrees to 22 degrees Celsius. The three of them were travelling light. Anu took along with her a blue coloured Reebok bag; Raj on the other hand sported a Jansport bag, which was rather flashy coloured for his personality; and Kari was travelling with a leather bag. They walked towards the usually busy, but now desolate bus stand with their luggage. Raj carried Anu's bag for her. Raj regarded Anu as one of his best friends and wanted to do everything to make her feel comfortable as well as make this trip a memorable one for her. The three walked towards the platform where they could catch a bus to Mysore. They did find one leaving in the next couple of minutes. They bagged the luggage in the bus and alighted for a cup of 'chai'. Kari and Raj wanted to in fact have a smoke. There were boys at the bus platform selling tea with the help of flasks. The boys were aged anywhere between 16 to 25 selling tea there.
Raj felt that these were hard-working boys, who never probably relished the comfort of a cushioned chair, a/c, computers, cafetaria, transport provided, etc. Thoughts flashed his mind about his past when he saw the far end of the bus stand. He remembered how his brother and he had taken shelter and slept on the bus stand floor about 7 years ago, when their father had died and they had come away from home to avoid all the debtors. Thoughts raced his mind as to how he had come to a status where he could travel for a holiday, which was a far fetched idea 7 years ago.
The 18-year-old boy was called and was asked if he had coffee or tea, to which they got a reply that the boy could get both, but he had to get them as it was over in his flask. They boy wore a checks shirt, partly torn at places, dirty and he wore a pair of dirty hawaii slippers, but no sign of complaint or lament on his face showed. Kari, Raj, and Anu waited patiently for the boy to get coffee for them, when Raj and Kari lit their cigarettes and concealed them in their palm efficiently enough. There were other boys who came up and asked for tea, but the trio decided to stick with the promise to give the first boy business, who was supposed to give them coffee. Anu never drank tea, preferably. The boy came back telling the trio that there was no coffee available. Kari and Raj agreed to settle for tea, but Anu refrained from having tea. Suddenly, out of the blue, the boy asked, "Aunty, nimage?" ("Aunty, how about you?"). The trio burst out laughing when the boy addressed Anu as "aunty," because she was the youngest of the lot, 26 years of age. Laughing and mocking Anu for the next 10 minutes was how they passed their time. It was about 02:15 in the morning when the bus driver finally decided to leave for Mysore. The bus driver and conductor were in fact waiting for more passengers, but when they saw that there was nobody on the Mysore platform apart from dogs, they decided to leave. The bus was an ordinary one. In the daytime, it would have probably been full with all sorts of people around you, but at that brink of night, it was rather empty, housing only about 8 people and the trio.
The bus started, Anu took the window seat of the bus. Both Kari and Raj were extremely careful and made sure that Anu got what she wanted. Raj sat next to Anu, and Kari took the aisle; it was a 3-seater. The engines roared and the bus started. There was cold wind blowing in from the window. Raj guessed as to how excited and at the same time scared Anu was. She was enjoying the ride, allowing the the wind to blow into her open hair. The trio engaged themselves in a conversation for some time. They spoke about everything under the sun until Kari got a little groggy and decided that he would take a nap before getting to Mysore, which was about 3 hours from there. Raj and Anu decided to keep talking, as both of them could not sleep. As they neared Mysore, Raj almost dozed off, but for Anu, who was all excited about the trip, kept awake. They reached Mysore in wee hours of the morning, about 04:00 am.
They found a bus immediately enough to go to Madikeri, the Coorg Headquarters. Kari's wife was there with the newborn baby and it was a pretty cold night actually. Anu was sporting a jacket, but Raj felt it was not enough for her. As usual, Raj kept thinking about his companion all the way from Mysore to Coorg. They had never had time to spend in Bangalore, or rather Anu kept the distance maintained knowing what kind of a person Raj was. The bus roared and left the crowded Mysore Bus Terminus. The bus was named "Rajahamsa," the royal swan as literally translated from Kannada. It was a rather noisy vehicle, but the three of them could find comfortable seats as most of the bus was empty. The driver a rather burly man in his mid 50s was well versed with the vehicle he was driving and manouevered it with ease. Any other fluent driver would definitely find it tiresome to manouvere such a vehicle, but for him it was life.
It was dawn and Kari dozed off, probably thats what he did every time he went home. Raj and Anu on the other hand kept chatting. For the first time, Raj felt that he could speak to her more freely, away from all the menace in Bangalore, the so-called "Silicon Valley" of India. For the first time, Anu opened up the conversation, something which Raj had longed for in Bangalore. She kept talking about her family, her school and her past, which Raj listened with utmost intent. He did not understand why he was immensly drawn towards this girl. He had actually sworn never to get intimate with any female species in this world after what he had been through with Rajani, but for some unknown reason, he was drawn towards this girl; "WHY???", he did not know. He thought to himself and listened to her intently throughout. He felt that he came to like her more and more as she went on. Her silence was mystifying to Raj, when she was in Bangalore, and here she was, totally different. Raj had never expected her to speak so much. Every now-and-then, he thought as to why he had said "yes" to his mother for a marriage. His mother had selected for him a girl called Radhika, who was very beautiful, typically Iyengarish, which is what his mother had sought for him. With every word that Anu spoke, Raj began to appreciate her inner beauty and also by far, he thought that she was definitely good looking. Raj had wanted to tell her that he had developed a liking towards her, but was apprehensive about the fact that she might think otherwise; and besides, he thought that she was too good for him. She was young, beautiful and intelligent, and what was he, an aging man, who just broke up from a 7-year old relationship, which he revealed without any shame to Anu about four months ago! He thought otherwise, and kept it to himself. Anu went on and on and at one point in time asked Raj as to what it was that he wanted to tell her. Raj had told her a couple of months ago that he wanted to say something, but withdrew because he did not know how Anu would take it.
The bus leered on along the smooth state highways of Karnataka, until it arrived at the mouth of Coorg, Kushalnagar, where the roads took a drastic turn. Suddenly, Raj and Anu felt they were travelling by a sea and not by land. The quality of the roads had suddenly taken a hideous turn, they suddenly seemed to be more potholes and ditches than the actual road itself. Raj decided to tell Anu what he felt about her, this being the best time to reveal it. Raj thought to himself, gathered all the inner strength, even went to the extent of praying to God before he revealed it to Anu. He told Anu, "I wanted to tell you from a very long time that I have taken a liking towards you and wanted to propose to you many a time, but then thought that you deserve somebody better, somebody who can really take care of you well; besides, I am too old and awkward to be associated with a beautiful person like you." Raj sighed with relief that he had taken this burden off his chest, but to his surprise, Anu did not react very badly towards it; instead, she said that she also had developed a liking towards him. Raj was ecstatic at that moment and thought that if it was not the bus they were travelling in, he would have screamed with joy. Alas, Raj had already said yes to the marriage alliance brought to him by his mother and to him his mother was the final word and he dare not confront her decision. Both, Raj and Anu were mature in their own ways to understand the situation and said that they would remain good friends for life.
The bus rambled on, across the Ghat sections of the Coorg countryside. The scenery was beautiful, fog covered all over the valley, mountains were barely visible with the fog all over. Raj was very happy and showed the sceneries to Anu as if he was giving her a tour of his private estate. Raj felt responsible for her and swore to himself, an undying promise of trust towards this girl, who gave him immense happiness, just by her prescence. She need not say anything, but her silence said it all. Like Ronan Keating once said in his OST for Notting Hill, "You say it best when you say nothing at all." The bus stationed at the Madikere bus stand, which was actually part of the main road leading to the bus stand complex. It was crowded like any other bus stand areas in India. Street hawkers all over the place, displaying their goods, trying to catch hold of somebody whom they could sell their goods to, tryig to earn a decent living. Shops, which sported advertisements of Coorg honey and coffee, two of the most widely cultivated cash crops of Coorg. The language of these people was not very easy to learn. Raj and Anu could not understand most of it when they landed there and it sounded more gibberish to them. This language they heard in Coorg was a mixture of Malayalam, Kannada and also a little bit of a local lingo, which was beyond their understanding. Raj first lit a cigarette, which he was waiting for since the time they left Mysore. It was heavenly, thought Raj. He called home as he knew that after this there would be no mobile signal.
posted by rajeevmalur at 9:45 PM
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