Our trip: Kodai and Munar it was...

So the one thing I had been looking for, from the time I have been in Madurai, is also finally over.
After about 2 weeks of being posted in Madurai, Sourav, Srinivasan and I had started planning for the 15th August weekend trip, and zeroed in on Kodaikanal. Well, beyond that I should not be taking the credit for any planning because right from the task of bookings to the tougher one of convincing people (which included starting an email chain with bollywood ishtyle dramatic lines of : "at the crossroads of life.."), and enthusing the mailing list individuals, was shared majorly between Sourav and Srini. I remember how in the usual hectic work day , I waited to open gmail at the end of the day, or sometimes during it, to read some comment that someone interested in the plan has left.
In a way, I was apprehensive about the trip right from the beginning, because in a way, everyone had been in touch with each other after we had passed out in 12th, everyone had been meeting each other on and off- I was the person who had not only left the place physically , but somehow also lost touch with most (Sourav being my sole point of contact with their lives at least)- and i was feeling like i would do a mini Prodigal returning through this trip.
After about two and a half months of planning, we had 7 people finalised for the trip, and 5 people finally being able to make it ( Our very own over burdened Indian railways did not help much resulting in the absence of the other two, who remained Wait Listed on the train and ..the trip).
And the three days thence- from the night out bakars- i was surprised we did open up despite the time gap, all at once- to the travel time singing (or call it producing entertaining noise) , from Kodai to Munar- to the fireplace talks in our beautiful (over big for the final number) cottage, and palm reading in half consciousness- shouting "Rooock Ooon" at the echo point as if trying to leave a mark: we came, we shouted and echoed- it was FUN all the way.We also did manage to have really intense conversation and discussion on issues that plagued us all (the quantum varying for each)- the social obligations of dowry and rituals involved in marriage, the burden of being the " generation in flux" that is neither here nor there on most matters of such social consequences, where an individual desires change but is caught in the complicated web of how to bring it about.
But the Highest point of my trip (the question that Amol posed at me during our 'spin the bottle' game) was when while walking through the most important tourist attraction places in Kodai, called Coakers Walk, we ended up singing (all too loudly), all the TV serial/soap Title tracks of our childhood, the few but memorable ad jingles of the time, the shloka of the Mahabharata and the famous(even enacted by Srini and Sriram at the point) scene from Shaktiman...we were just short of earning money, and as Dad suggested later, we shouldve utilised it for funding some part of our trip :P
Notwithstanding the Post trip blues and almost paralysing effect of the memories on work, I just realised how much such trips mean to me and are precious, not to be missed while the age and opportune time lasts.