TKM Diaries-10: Getto Revisited...!!!

        Should I shouldn’t I …?? That was the question in my mind on attending the Getto . The question hung in my mind for quite some time. I had a long pending family vacation to Ladakh scheduled before the Getto. And  the dates for Great Lakes of Kashmir Trek were scheduled immediately after the Getto. Hemant and me were planning for a game of tennis for quite some time when I was in Bangalore.But  for some reason or the other it didn’t happen.So when Hemant planned for a game of tennis prior to the Getto at Kollam itself the entire scheme of things seemed good for to me to take a plunge and do a cross country trip for the Getto from Delhi.

        Boarded the Garib rath train to Kollam in the evening, the same day I had returned to Bangalore from Ladakh. It was welcome onboard the Garib rath.  While helping a co passenger to pull the side berth down .. it straightaway fell-down and hit top of my head . I was dazed  and my head was spinning after taking the hit . The buzz in the head remained for quite some time. I was  thinking what to do next. Shall I get down at the next station ? But thankfully managed to get some sleep. When I woke up the train had reached Palakkad and previous days dizziness had gone away. My train journeys from Palakkad to Trichur are always done  standing near the door side, enjoying and capturing the scenery enroute.

         On reaching Kollam Railway station took an auto from Kollam to “Samira by the Ashtamudi” ,my place of stay for the day before the Getto. Soon found out that there many of our batch mates were staying there itself. It’s fun meeting old batchmates,  and to go and recreate events that we did during college days was even more exciting.The lunch at Punjabi restaurant was back to the good old days.The evening game of tennis was good one, playing with Johnny, Deepak, Hemant , Ganesh, Christy, Ajayan and Kinnan.The evening was made more special with the settup done by Mahesh for drinks and snacks.

           The high of meeting college friends after so long and having a great evening after a game of tennis hadn’t even subsided when the day dawned for the  College Getto. A late start from the Samira meant we were late in arriving for the Getto. We were advised  to get a room first and check in our luggage. The scare of the Mind reading event which was going on at that time in the auditorium further prompted  us to stay in the Hotel lobby itself  and wait for the room allotment. 

         But I realised later that I shouldn’t have been scared of the mind reader in first place itself.For  I came to know later that I didn’t  remember many events  that had  happened during the college days .This realisation dawned on me only when I went around meeting our batchmates. After having the room allotted , by the time the time the mind reading game also being over ,went to the Auditorium. After meeting many of our batchmates I I took out my camera .Saw  my fav Archie’s gang standing for a group photo and I positioned myself for a better angle to click. Soon it dawned on me that it has pretty hard to identify who was who.  Age had come hard on some and some had aged gracefully. The most awaited Then and Now video showed how young we were.  Inspite of that it still it was pretty  difficult to remember whom you have seen /met when moving around. 

         After the lunch the college trip was a breeze, time flew off after the high of the band melam. Moved around the college trying to find the old Mechanical  classrooms which weren’t there now. As we went around the old Men’s Hostel time appeared to stand still when we had a glass of lime soda and the ammavans shop.The evening programmes were entertaining and reached the crescendo with Vidhu pratap show. I had positioned myself in the back seats with my camera to get a good view. Enjoyed clicking thoroughly. But that meant I hardly had Photos of myself. Santosh Annans flip was the other most memorable event of the day besides the special appearance of Libin.After enjoying clicking pics handed over the camera to Suresh (Oachira) which allowed me to join the bunch of batchmates who were dancing on the music .Enjoyed  dancing around for some time  after which I decided to quit as I had an early morning train to catch.

         On reaching the room, sleep if I had planned was not to happen as Sudheer, Ajayan and Shyam were playing pranks on Sudheer’s wife.Nevertheless managed to get some sleep and before all of the crowd would be awake I got into the lift for checking out from the hotel. Biley droped me at the railway station and I got onto the early morning Vande Bharat  from Kollam which took away me from the Getto in a breeze.After spending a day at home in Kottayam I headed back  to Delhi for preparation towards my Great Lakes of Kashmir Trek. A quick scan of the pics I had clicked and shared by others in the 1996 Grp reminded me of what a good time that we all had had.

   Now eagerly waiting for the next Getto.