An evening not to be forgotten!

February 9th - An evening not to be forgotten.

Tring tring ... tring tring..

Pals: Hey Jo... how u doin?

Jo: M good.. U gals comin right??

Pals: Yes Jo, the tickets are booked.. We are coming by the KPN travels..9 o clock bus from madiwala..

Jo: ohh good good.. Come soon.. I am waiting.. BTW have u got the bouquets??

Pals: Yes Jo, Its all ordered and will be delivered by 4PM.. So apeksha will be getting it ..

Jo: Ok good.. So guys get down in Nagercoil.. Ask the driver to drop u there..Morning around 6 o clock u will across some village.. and then u will see mountains at one end and lot of windmills everywer... So from there its another 30mins journey... and u girls get ready to get down.. ok va?

Pals: Yes Jo.. Will call u for any info..

Jo: Ok girls.. cya soon.. happy journey... Takecare

Pals: cyaaaaaa

Wow.. I am so excited.. Coz its my best buddy Joe's wedding.. And I am goin all the way to Nagercoil to attend her wedding..I am jus waiting for the D day! Feb 11th :)

A week before her weddin.. We girls decided to be her bridesmaid.. We all went hunting for similar saris . So many showrooms we visited.. Finally in one of the showroom we liked one sari and we asked them to make 5 such saris and give us.. He said he would give in 3 days time and we all were very happy about it..

I was damn excited coz for the first time I am goin to be the bridesmaid :) Have seen them in movies, in real when I was abroad.. They look so nice and pretty.. All of them wearin the same clothes and holding a similar bouquet and always with the Bride.. And the best thing is, U get to click a lot of snaps :) Which I jus love sooo very much!

Since we 5 girls decided to be the bridesmaid.. we had decided upon the sari which all of us would be wearing.. the bouqets which we would be holding and also the bouqet which the Bride would be holding..We had placed orders for flowers and we got them all ready on the day of our travelling.. It was beautifully packed in a huge box, and care was taken such that flowers remain fresh :)

Feb 9th 7:30 PM

Apeksha, Pranati and Myself started off from home towards bommanahalli KPN travels office to board our bus scheduled at 8:45 PM. We reached the travels office at 7:45 PM itself.. which is one hour in advance. I went to the booking counter and enquired about the bus. He said the bus is yet to come.. Its expected arrival time is 8 : 30 or so.. We will inform u guys wen the bus is here.. Dont worry!

Since we were travelling by KPN for the first time, we were a lil more alert.. as we hadnt known anything about the tour and also we were travelling to nagercoil for the first time.. So we did everythin possible not to miss the bus and be on time at the venue and also we dint want anything to go wrong.. Coz we were the VIP guests for the wedding and also we were the ones who were carrying the bouqets and other things which our Bride Joe very much wanted :)

Sitting on the empty seats at the corner of the long waiting hall at the KPN office was so boring.. So we girls took out our cameras and clicked few pics.. We thought we could put all these photos togther and make a beautiful album of Joes wedding memories! The time was 8:15 Pm.. The secutity guard there announces the arrival of some bus.. Language unknown.. cudnt understand anything he was saying.. I know tamil.. but still I couldnt make out what he was shouting! We went to him and asked him,is this the bus for nagercoil? He said.. no.. u r bus is yet to come will inform u wen it is there.. We came back to our seats and started chit chatting.. time was passing by... Now it was 9:15 PM.. We were all worried as to why the bus has been delayed.. We went to the enquiry counter and asked him.. When will the bus to trivandrum arrive?

Office guy: The bus has already left !

Shocked, frustrated, irritated, tensed, angry.. I guess one could see varieties of expressions on our faces..

Me: What ??? What did u say?? The bus already left?? How is that posisble?? We are seated here frm the last 1 hour and wen we asked u.. U said the bus hadnt come.. now how can u say that the bus has already left? [With all gussa .. anger.. frustration ...

Office guy: I dont know anything.. Go and ask the security guy.. He was supposed to inform you right.. Go and ask him..

I in the meanwhile went to Apeksha and pranati and told them that the bus had already left .. All of us were shocked.. We dint know what to do ?? but we dint loose hopes..

All three of us attacked the office counter..

Me: When did the bus leave?

Office guy: It left at 8: 45 PM

All of us: how the hell did the bus leave without boarding us into it.. We have been waiting fro so long.. u guys never announced anything.. This is really bad..

Office guy: We have shouted thrice..may be u girls were in ur own world that u dint realize..

Apeksha: Oh yes!!! if you scream a name in some alien language how should we understand.. That old man.. the so called security guys .. we have gone to him and asked if our bus has arrived.. he always kept on saying its not come yet..So how do u expect us to board the bus.. We are travelling in KPN for the first time ?N we dint know that it wud be so horrifying if we dint dint know your language..

The arugument continues.... Each of us raising each's voice.. The office guys were horrible.. They were abusing us in alien languages.. and infact they stopped listening to us after a while and they got busy with their work.. It was as if we were atlking to wall.

Pallavi: Can u stop the bus? Therez no point arguing to find out whose mistake it is.. can u do somethin to stop the bus.. coz we have to board thebus and we have to be there in nagercoil 2,rw at any cost.. So tell me what can u do to stop the bus..

Office guy: No nothing.. We cant stop the bus...

Pallavi: Why ?? Why so?? The bus has left jus now right .. it might have reached electronic city only Coz therz too much traffic today.. U guys call the driver and stop the bus. We will take a taxi n reach there..

Office guy: No we cant do that.. I do not have drivers mobile number.. N we cant stop the bus... U girls book your ticket for 2mrw!
saying this, he turned towards his other customers and compleetly ignored us..

In the mean while, we asked pranati to stop some taxi.. some guy who could take us to some distance..

Pallavi [in her broken tamil + english]: Can you please do something to stop the bus.. If u dont have the drivers number somebdoy else should have.. why dont u call them and find out the drivers number ... U r jus wasting time by ignoring.. [ All loud and furious] The people there are looking at 3 crazy girls who are shouting at top of their voices.. and none of them speak tamil ...

Office guy: Ok wait.. Lemme call my boss..

He so hesitantly picks up the phone.. dials somebody else number and starts conversing in tamil. The first 2mins he talks all nonsense & then I remind him to come to the point.. Now he starts explaining the situation to that guy.. No idea what that guy told, but this fellow was in deep thought. For next 3- 4 mins there was no conversation at all.

Pallavi: Hello!!! dont waste time.. find the number and call back the driver n stop the bus..

Office guy: Mam... we do not have the number. The bus cannot be stopped. Why dont u guys take a bus to madurai and travel to nagercoil from there..

Pallavi: Madurai? why madurai.. I dont want to go there.. Our seats are booked in this bus.. so u stop this bus so that we go...

Office guy: No mam.. we cant stop the bus. If u want we can book u tickets to Madurai. Thats all! & again he ignored us..

Pallavi: Can u call some passenger from the bus.. I remember u guys take the mobile number of the passenger. so call one of the passenger and then we can speak to driver..

Office guy: No that cannot be done.. madam u go to madurai.. or u leave the place.. we cant help u .. its ur mistake that u missed the bus..Please allow us to work .. Do not disturb us..

All angry.. almost about to throw his computer.. Will u listen.. u dont have to call them.. give the number.. I will call to them n speak to them.. u dont have to waste ur money calling them.. I will make the call.. now please give the number..

Office guy: Ignoring..

Pallavi repeats the same thing 10 times.. now almost screaming.. and jus about to bang him..

Office guy: Ok wait .. lets see if I can give u the number..

He takes 5 mins to search.. Finally he said "ok mam take down this number.. 99 .800.. 92..."

Pallavi: Hello.. thats my number.. give me sombody else's number..

Office guy : ok.. so he gives me somebody else number.

In the mean while pranati had managed to stop a taxi.. n he is waiting for us.

tring tring tring..

Girl: Hello

Pallavi: Hey can u please give the mobile to the driver.... i want to talk to him..

Girl: Hello.. whose this.. why do u want to talk to the driver.. whats happening.. [All scared]

Pallavi: Hey we missed our bus.. n we want the driver to stop the bus smewer.. so can u please pass the phone to him..

Girl: Ok ok.. will do that

Sub driver: Hello... [ all in tamil]

Pallavi in her butler tamil : Sir, we are 3 girls.. missed our bus from bommanahalli.. can u please stop the bus?? we wil come by taxi n board the bus..

Sub driver: Where are u now??

Pallavi : Electronics city

Sub driver: ok we are almost reachin Hosur.. u guys can come quickly?? we will wait only for 10 mins.. u come quick..

Pallavi: Ok sir thank u sir.. we are on the way.. please wait sir.. dont go..

Sub driver: ok ok come soon..

Actually the driver hardly understood wat I was speaking.. So we were still in confusion if he would actually stop the bus..

But anyway we asked the taxi driver to take us till Hosur. He was another sample.. he demanded Rs 1000.. He started off tellin his own stories.. We said ok u start now.. lets reach hosur.. and in the mean while we can bargain.. finally he said Rs 800.. no penny less than that ...

we all boarded the car and we were travelling.. he was ok ok driver.. not driving too fast nor too slow.. some places here n there we did get stuck in trafiic....

In the mean while we tried calling the girl in the bus.. Her mobile was switched off... We were all worried.. Wat will happen now.. its more than 10 minutes.. the bus will not stop and we would be stranded in mid way.. neither here nor there...

we kept on trying her number so many times..

Suddenly, I started getting a call on my cell phone from some unknown number..

Pallavi: Hellooo

Unknown caller: Mam.. ************** [ tamil]

Pallavi [ Sigh] : Oh ok.. so its teh driver calling..
Sir, wer r u? We are jus appraching Hosur.. We will be there in 2 mins..

Driver: Wer have u reached so far?? We are waiting near the Hosur KPN office .. Come soon.. Will wait only for 5 more mins..

Pallavi: Yes sir, We are on our way and we will reach there soon sir.. Sir please wait sir.. Dont go leaving us behind.. We are coming fast ..

Driver : Ok ok..

After 5 mins we get a call again..

Driver: Hello madam.. wer are u?? Its more than 5 mins now... All passengers are waiting.. We will have to start the bus now.. come soon..

Pallavi: Sir, we reached Hosur.. jus near the fly over.. searching for the KPN office.. will be there sir 2 minutes..

Driver: Wat ma.. from that time u r tellin 2 mins 2 mins.. but u dont seem to be reachin..Wer r u now??

Pallavi: Sir jus 2 mins sir.. we will be there..

Driver : Ok ma.. come soon.. We are gonna start from here.. u better come by 2 mins. otherwise we will leave..

Almost at the end of 2 mins.. We spot our bus and we ask the Taxi driver to stop the bus and we start running towards our bus with the luggages..
We paid Rs500 bucks to the taxi driver. But he was not happy with it.. He tried to stop us and started an argument. We kinda told him for 25kms or so u r charging Rs800 which is way too much.. Rs 500 is more than enough.. Do not create a scene for no reason.. He still was fighting.. We gave him another Rs100 extra and jus ran towards the bus..

We faced the wrath of the fellow passengers in the bus.. But we apologised to them all.. We stood and we loudly said sorry to all of them for the delay.. and also narrated them the actual incident wat had happened..One of the passengers even supported us telling he had seen us all in the KPN office bommanahalli wen the bus had come there..

Finally we all felt a huge relief.. Yes we got the bus! and we are attending Joes wedding :)

That was one helluva journey.. A journey which I can never forget in my life :)