This is a blog on my scintillating chicago trip (though I would not like to compare it with my aug'07 trip that will forever be etched in my memory).
So Kaka Kaka style , "Naanga naalu beru...yengalukku planning-na yennane theriyaadhu".
Myself, PT (Vijaykarthik, my classmate from PSBB), Koushik(my flatmate), Ganesh (koushik's frd)
were the so called formulators of the trip. Later , another person named Yoganand(PT's colleague) joined us in our venture.
I was supposed to be the one to land in chicago first and and was supposed to meet PT at O'Hare airport at 1:30 PMon Friday. PT had told me that he would take time off from work and meet me at the specified time. As usual , I could count on PT to bungle and I wasn't disappointed. PT turned up at 3:30 PM and took Ganesh and me home. Till that time , Ganesh and I had been scratching around in O'Hare , spending half the time cursing PT and the other half looking at pretty girls ;)
Finally, we reached PT's house and waited for Koushik to arrive at the airport. Koushik landed at 5:30 PM and after PT decided to mete out the same 'late' treatment, we picked him up in a semi-frozen state from outside the airport . That very same night , we decided to eat at an Indian restaurant and therefore, borrowed a GPS (Global positioning system- which is a device that gives us driving directions) from a friend. This GPS was given the nickname 'chellam' as it had a female voice and became the object of ridicule for getting us lost most of the time.
On the way to the Indian restaurant, our trip got off to a flying start with us having a flat tyre. After managing to get it changed, we used the GPS to locate the Indian restaurant. But 'chellam' got it a tad wrong when it led us into a restricted airbase. After evading threats of arrest by the officers manning the base, we located the restaurant , had dinner and returned home hurling abuses at 'chellam' all the while. The next day started off without anything bizarre and we reached the rapids for our big activity of the day. White Water Rafting !!
After cracking some 'wise guy' jokes about the lurking dangers invloved in rafting, the Instructor showed us the rapids. And behold ! What a treat to the eye !! The rapids were looking dangerous and promised a lot of thrill. What followed was the experience of a lifetime :D We felt like daring marines intruding into enemy waters , braving huge waves to reach across the bank. I personally had a great timeright at the front of the raft, where I came up-close and personal with them monster waves. After the dangerous portions were over we came to the placid portion of the river. I took the permission of the Instructor to to swim across the bank and took the plunge into the river =))
After a few measured strokes, I reached the opposite bank only to learn of the hilarity that had transpired after I had jumped. PT had also taken the plunge after me. The hilarious part- he didnt know how to swim !! Thankfully, we were all strapped with lifevests and so safety was never an issue. But however, PT floated like a toad and was ultimately picked up by the boys when he passed alongside the raft.
We headed towards our camping site after rafting and as usual 'chellam' screwed us up big time - almost. we were supposed to take a turn at a certain point. But however after endless mistakes by 'chellam' we were left with a tough choice - to trust 'chellam' and turn left or trust our gut and turn right. We went with the latter and were proven right - thus enhancing 'chellam's reputation of being useless beyond measure. But however, by that time, we had run out of expletives and were floundering for words to express chellam's ineffectiveness. We arrived at the campsite at 10:30 PM to find the camp in charge totally sloshed. Luckily, he was sober enough to help us set up our tents. To beat the freezing cold, we tried to camp fire, but to no avail.Unable to bear the cold, we slept in the car that night and awoke the next morning feeling exhausted from the previous day's ordeal.
We made our way back to chicago bruised, but with a strange, inexplicable sense of accomplishment.
As we were just about to park the car outside the gates of PT's house, 'chellam' hummed
"Please make a legal U-Turn at the next available junction".
WHAT CAN I SAY EXCEPT ,
"CHELLAM !!! I LOVE U !!!!!!!!!!! (PRAKASH RAJ ISHSTYLE)
4 comments:
That was a good one about "chellam". The world over people are raving about them gadgets providing these GPS facility, but enlightening to know it could help you get lost too!!
Ivanukkulleyum ivlo irundhirukku paaren! Tejaswi the Writer! I always knew your English was good, but that you're taking soooo much time off to sit and write all this stuff slightly surprised me (as also indicating how much you [hopefully ;)] miss me). Anyways, just had time to see that you have written so much, didn't have time to completely read any one post, would like to do justice to (apparently) good writing, hope to do it in Chicago. Keep going.
@Mom
Yeah Maa...this was a total ottai GPS
@cow
wow , thalai has read my blog. Thought the day would never come =)
Chellam seems to rock indeed :P Restricted airbase and all! what more could I have asked for other than that you get to spend a night or two in gaol? Those folks wouldn't even have to take a mugshot of you, coz you already have so many :D Pity that didn't happen. Sigh. Oh well, there's always next time ;)
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