Shailu's Marriage

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Life's full of Ups & Downs &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



Friends,As suyash suggested the trip to Jaipur was a really memorable one. Amproviding a compilation of Chennai Super Kings experience for u toread. It was total fun all around the trip and we really enjoyed eachmoment of it.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 13:00 Chennai -Meenambakkam AirportFrank, Me, Selvin, Shyam & Georgie assembled at Chennai Airport atMeenambakkam. Shyam was sporting a brand new Fast track goggles and ared Tshirt with casual jeans. Frank in a Red Tee adorning a red TCSMaitree cap. Georgie with a funky Tee and blue jean. Me in a formalwear as i just returned from office receiving my final relieving orderfrom TCS. Selvin chipped in finally with a formal wear and a laptopcarry case dressed up in business atire. We were hungry and we plannedto gourge some fast food at the airport entrance. We had in mind thatwe are boarding the flight so planned to have a good lunch aboard.We checked in by One thirty and took a few snaps around the airportand proceeded to the waiting hall. Shyam's sporting goggles was thehighlight of the hall. He resembled Sachin. I wud hav believed if wewere waiting there for another half an hour lots of ppl would havemistook shyam to sachin and wud have bombarded him for autographs.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 15:00 Aboard Indigo AirlinesAs we were about to enter the flight we thought of sneeking a fewsnaps in front of the majestic blue giant. We were rightfully stoppedby the airport flight attendants not to take any snaps for securityreasons. Never knew we might have looked like terrorists. :-) Finallywe boarded the flight and then started the mysterious Georgiesyndrome. We had planned to take the window seat. So frank and selvinwere taking the sixth row, followed by me and shyam in the seventhrow.But Georgie who had well crafted his plan to sit alone with the hopethat he would end up sitting with some one young and pretty for theentire five hour duration. A very well thought over plan. We were alleagerly awaiting to see who that lucky person might be who givesgeorgie company for five hours. Georgie was praying hard. Peoplestarted trickling into the airline. With each girl passing bygeorgie's heart beats were racing hard.Finally the moment arrived. A group of Rajasthani's boarded in. A wellbuilt man with big moustache approached Georgie. Georgie's faceshrinked cursing all gods above. We couldn't stop laughing at thepiece of luck shining on top of his face.There was a twist in the moment and it seems the person was notsupposed to sit near Georgie. The air hostess politely came and askedhim to move to another seat. The seat next to our hero again laidvacant leaving hopes for the poor chap whostarted praying again for lady luck to smile at him. Ther was a twistagain and a old grandpa strolled in finally and made his way to thevacant seat. Curtains drew to a close in georgie's smiles. The worstpart was that the old man didnt even respond to georgie when heofferred him to help in fastening the seat belt. When the flight tookoff ten minutes later we found the man gaping his mouth and fell fastasleep and Mr Georgie's face was innocently smirking.We captured afew shots of his expressions. You cud find them in the picasa's linkwhich frank and selvin share with u.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 16:45 Mumbai AirportOur plans to have a good meal aboard were broken to shatters when wefound that not even water was served free in the flight.Even mineralwater bottle costs Rs.30 for a 100ml. And a malabar paratha costs Rs.150. We were gazing at each other whether to choose the treat aboardat such costs. We chose to sit calm having little water. We knew Ourthroats were going dry but we chose to sit calm and composed as thoughwe were very fresh taking snaps in different angles. Next came in ouramateur photographer Mr. Frankie who was capturing each and everysingle angle above clouds missing no single angle and portrait view.Nearing Mumbai we appreciated the fact that Mumbai was huge whenviewed about 1000ft above sea level. The weather was really good onTuesday evening. There were mild showers in the outer peripherals ofMumbai and it was a bright evening grey clouded on top. Georgie bythen chose to read a novel rather than enjoying silence of his age oldcompanion gaping his mouth vertically. We had a thought if he wasalive or georgie had managed to revenge him.When we reached Mumbai airport lady luck seemed to smile at Georgiesince the old chap was departing at Mumbai. Georgie was eagerlysmiling. He was sure he would find some younger company in Mumbailooking eagerly. But when ppl boarded at Mumbai again his luck shinedso hard that a age old couple strolled to him and took seats besidehim. Georgie couldn't help but close his eyes and buried his face intothe novel he had in his palm. He knew he couldn't do much than cursinghis luck and dumping his plans going to shatters.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 18:30 Ahmedabad AirportWe landed next at Ahmedabad airport. Our stomachs were singing themusic of hunger. We couldn't suppress our hunger at such highaltitudes. We chose to have sandwich and cake. Selvin enquiredpolitely the air hostess if there was something we could get for freeaboard what was it. The beautiful air hostess gave a snookered lookand smiled with a reply that they could offer a cup of water for free.This opened doors for all aboard and every one started getting a cupof water to quench their thirst. Thanks to the software Chairman &Managing Director - Selvin for his initiative to quench our thirst.Ahmedabad topography was filled with a lot of canals and water bodies.There were many tanks to store water and there were many lush greenfields waving at us from below the crystal clear clouds shiningreflections from bright day light sun rays. Our amateur photographerdidnt miss to capture the various angles again.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 20:00 Sanganer AirportIt was almost evening 7:30 PM and still the SUN didnt set and thecolors of sun was glittering and giving us an excellent view aboveGujarat and Rajasthan. After about half an hour later we gushedthrough severe lightning and gush of rainfall with dark black cloudsaround. We finally landed very hungry at Jaipur airport at Sanganer.The lights around Jaipur were welcoming us in the dark backdrop.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 20:40 Sanganer Airport -Durgapur Railway StationAlighting out of sanganer airport we enquired a taxi man to drop us atDurgapur station from where we were directed by Shailu to take a trainto Sawai Madhopur. The taxi fellow clearly recognised our faces andasked us a whopping Rs. 550 for adistance of 5 Km to the railway station. Java jeans got extremelyaroused by this and started arguing with the taxi driver in Rajasthanihindi. Finally we came out of the airport and a auto wala hai na daadiwala agreed to take us to station at ameagre Rs. 150. We started our next phase of our journey towards SM (Sawai Madhopur ) from Durgapur. When we reached Durgapur our throatshad gone dry and there were not even any shops near by to get somewater or have some refreshment.It was a lonely station with no trace of ppl around. Very few wereroaming around. We were delighted to see a person who was sitting idlein a counter which was bannered ticketing. We happily asked him whenwould the next train to SM be. He scratched his hair and replied witha snapped up face he didnt know. He directed us to a station master,who confirmed us that the next train to SM was at 21:40 hours. Andwhen we asked him to give us tickets he was surprised. He said notickets. He directed us to another person who was equally astonishedas though we had asked him something which we are not supposed to ask.Seems generally none collect tickets at that station and he gave ustickets with a blunt look.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% June 30th Tuesday 21:40 Train JourneyNext phase of our journey was still more interesting. We alighted theun reserved compartment which had no vacant seats in it. We sat on thefloor in the train nearer the compartment door gazing innocently ateach other with a hungry and thirstylook. We were contemplating in our minds the symbolic philosophy oflife ( LIFE IS FULL OF UPS & DOWNS ). It was very apt to our situationthen. But still we managed to stay awake and enjoyed a few jokes andsnaps of our posture on the train floor with cock roaches around. Whata journey, we'll not forget it.The train slowly pulled in to SM junction and the time was mid night,Time when ghosts are known to squander around. We called up shailu andhe had arranged for a Gaadi for us to reach his home. The land was wetwith showers and cool breezewelcomed us. We arrived by 1 AM at shailu's home. Shailu was bright asalways and smiling with his dimple cheeks. We had some fun teasing hismehendi hands which imprinted the name Teena in it. We finally managedto gulp down glasses of water and beat the humidity in the earlymorning wee hours.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1st Wednesday 01:30 The Exquisite ResortShailu then took us to a resort where he had booked us accomodation.We rode our way through dense forests and finally reached the welcomegroup of hotels , a resort of the ITC group. When we reached there byaround 2 AM, we were scared to have a look at the resort in the darknight. It was a lonely place and there were many cottages around witha dark path illuminated with garden lamps on both sides leading toeach cottage house. The cottage house had four rooms in it. Two in theground floor and two in the first floor. The beauty of the resort wasfelt by us only after we woke up in the morning after sound sleep. Itwas an excellent place. We could hardly believe there could be such agreen place in the desert land of Rajasthan though we were away fromthe actual deserts.The next day morning, we were woken up by the voice of two more C38friends outside our cottage rooms. Dharm bhai and Ruchi expressscreeching voices of C38. We then went to the swimming pool in theresort and had some good fun playing water polo and football monkeys.Captured a few videos and snaps every angle was our premier C38amateur photographer MR. Frankie Edwards.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1st Wednesday 10:30 The Marriage dayWe then got ready and marched our way to the marriage hall. Shailu wasdressed up as Maharaj. We managed to swallow down our breakfast withshailu. The atmosphere of the marriage hall was electric andresounding. There was buzz everywhere amdist the humidity whichengulfed the air. We were later joined by Dada and Siddhu from Kolkataby around 1 PM. There were lots of customs which were happening aroundshailu who was the HERO for the day.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1st Wednesday 13:30 The Royal LunchLater followed the lunch of the marriage day. It was all sweets everywhere and we couldn't gourge down so much of ghee. The main menu whichi cud remember were dhal bhati and charch. We gulped lots of glassesof charch - buttermilk. We wereaccompanied by Dada and Siddhu and we started to the resort again fora break and some rest. Reaching the resort we again jumped into theswimming pool and messed it up for about four hours taking crashcourses in swimming from the professional swimmer Georgie, Selvin anddadha.Our plans to visit Ranthambore National Park were shattered to pieceswhen we learnt that the park wud b closed for three month monsoonperiod starting July 1st to September 30th. After our crash course inswimming we left the resort at about 7 PM dressed up for the marriagereception. When we were waiting for our CAB to pick us up we managedto take a few snaps with a Camel sledge pulling its way down theresort lane. Believe me, the time was around 7:30 but the sun hadn'tset and it was apparently like evening 5:30.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1st Wednesday 20:00 The Gala receptionWe reached the reception gala hall and it was a festive mood there.The whole village had turned up to see our maharaja and his royalwedding but 90 % of the ppl were dumping their faces into the dinnerplates on hand. Shailu maharaj was all set to start his Royal horseride. The mega event started and the dance party began on street. Themaharaj was seated in his royal horse and there was a mass bunch ofppl dancing for tunes which were pucca rajasthani. We never heardthose tunes before but still danced our way on the street with themajestic crowd. It was almost mini C38 rewinded to our united partieswe had at Barista and Hotel Vishnu Priya, Coimbatore.When we finished our dance party along the majestic path of theMaharaj to the marriage hall, we witnessed a intrigue custom. Thehorse of the Maharaj was stopped at the marriage hall entrance andshailu maharaj disagreed to come into the hall to marry the princessTeena and to convince shailu maharaj each person from the bride'sfamily came out offerred a lot of gifts to the Raj and pleaded him tomarry the princess.( God we alone knew how eager was this Shailu fellow to marry Teena -How deceiving was this custom )And finally after about an hour of pleading by the bride's family onlywhen the princess came out to welcome the king did Maharaj oblige andagreed to come in to marry the princess. The wedding began and we wereso hungry that we turned our way towards the starters for the dinner.We finished our first course of starters and the wedding ceremonybegan. Garlands were exchanged and every one clapped their handswishing the couple a happy married life. The princess and the Rajawere truely made for each other very innocent looking faces.Long live the fantastic couple



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1st Wednesday 23:00 The Mega DinnerAs the other customs were happening around, we were busy munching ourdinner with a lot a jokes shared. We were waiting for our turn to geton stage to wish the young couple and pose for the video and the photosnaps on behalf of all our ppl in C38.When it was mid night, the couple were ready to have dinner followingwhich was another ritual called 'ferah' which was to start by morning01:30 AM. We were feeling very sleepy and so we made our way to theresort greeting the maharaj and planning for our next two days ofouting at Jaipur.Ruchi and Dharam left by around 12:30 to board their train to Delhi.



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 2nd Thursday 09:00 - 23:00 Day In JaipurThursday morning we made our way to Jaipur on Cab. We reached Jaipurby afternoon 01:30. Had our lunch. Went around places in the eveningin jaipur, Jantar Mantar - was a astonishing place where there werestructures of age old significance for astronomy. We were surprised tosee the inteligence of ppl at such age old days in astronomy andmathematics.Next we entered City palace and took lots of snaps of the rulers ofJaipur and their life styles. Later we visited Birla Mandir after alot of shopping. In the night we sent off Dadha and siddhu to Delhi.%



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 3rd Friday 09:00 - 15:00 Roam Around In JaipurFriday started with our Camel ride. It was a nice bright morning. Butat the end of the Camel ride there was a shock awaiting our JavaJeans. His mobile had fallen down from the Camel and we didnt noticeit. When we ran to get back the mobile it was no longer available onthe road. We did a few couple investigative detective work but stillit went in vain. Bit interrupted by the loss of the mobile we consoledthe young hero and he kept delighting us as always with his uniqueantics.Finally after roaming around the fort, we were taken by our Cab driverto a restaurant where the maharaja of jaipur used to have his lunch.we took some snaps with the 90 year old man who was the official cookfor the maharaja of jaipur. Finally weboarded our train to Chennai. Selvin left us and went to Delhi for hisofficial CMD work.We enjoyed our return back to Chennai. Till Nagpur we were accompaniedby an old couple who kept fighting with each other. From Nagpur wewere accompanied by a young couple who were studying third year in SRMCollege Chennai. Had some real good fun on way back home.In total it was an excellent trip with a lot of memorable moments.when u look at the snaps at picasa U cud envisage the narration incorrelation with each of the snaps.



Vijay Dinesh