Thalla Ezhathu ;)




Hi frenz,

One movie that has always inspired me is Ayudha Ezhathu. Don’t know why it didn’t get a commercial value; however, I liked it so much. This is my attempt of creating yet another version of the same, but (rightly) termed it as Thalla Ezhathu ;). Maybe u'll enjoy this if u've already seen the movie.

Well, this is all abt the trip that we (my pg frenz & I) made to Kodai 2 years back. A long wait was finally accomplished.

U'll be reading some portions of this from some of the guys' point of view. I know that for a third person to read this, one may not follow who I’m talking abt, so lemme briefly introduce you the star cast:


Ramanathan (alias ‘Guide’)

Typical ‘Maduraikaran’ ;)

Authoritative

He guided us through this tour

Suresh

The Organizer

Very Assertive

He initiated this tour

Arun (alias ‘Mic’)

A Soft Guy

Extremely Humourous

He'll surely see to it that when he's around, he makes everyone laugh out loud !!

Sriram (alias ‘Badam’)

Loves to enjoy

Sentimental

Guess he enjoyed this trip the MOST !!! Very enthusiastic guy !!

Ashwanth (alias 'AVM')

Second Victim to get teased badly ;)

Sportive

Loves to make fun, yet takes them too in a sportive manner

Kailash (alias ‘Dhadha’)

The teaser !!

Dominant ;)

When he's around, just be careful, he'll tease you to death !!

Ramkey (alias ‘Uuuuuhhhhhhh’)

Third Victim to get teased

Vulnerable

Tends to lose his cool at times, anyways, an understanding guy

Munni (alias ‘Jakku Bai’)

Lateral Entry

Feeble

You can take up a challenge to make him angry, sure you wont win !

Madhu (alias ‘Snake Buster - Dead Snake’)

Perumal Koil ___

Calculative

He's the compliment of Ambhi ;)

Balaji (alias 'Balaaaaaa')

The first Victim to be teased !

Reluctant

Very slow & steady wins the race ;) (not cos of his weight)

Bharath (alias ‘Uruvam’)

Its actually Uruvam alias 'Bharath' !!

Quite the most Talktive !!!

He's a Dead man walking !!

Vidi (alias 'Inba')

Finally, its me !

hmmmm ... (?!?)

Well, My scraps describe abt me ..

the story ... no, the reality begins here ...


11th June 2004, Friday, 11 am (Madurai):

Meenakshi Temple:
vidi: hey arun, soon da, its getting late, lets leave ...
suresh: alrite guys, lets leave, balaji, come soon da ...
bala: machan, i'll just pay for this & come da ... munni, hold this (giving a God idle to munni) ...

National School:
sriram: ashwanth, whats the time ?
ashwanth: its 11 da, the train is at 12, its already late, lets leave machan ...
sriram: machan, last ma'am da, she's the sweetest ma'am i've ever come across ... her name is Mrs.Vidya.
ashwanth: hey, they'll be waiting da, its already too late, lets leave, come ...

Veg. Restaurant:
madhu: kailash, howz ur ghee roast ?
kailash: pretty good for my standards ... !
madhu: want anything else ?
kailash: hmmm … a better ghee roast maybe … !
ramkey: dai, enough da ... see v.bharath, he's not having anything, if u dont like it, atleast he'll take it ...
v.b: machan, no da, stomach upset da ... i dont want anything ...
madhu: guys, check out the time, its late ... lets leave soon ...

Ramanathan's House:
raman: ma ... i'll just see them & come ... they have their train at 12 ... if i'm there, it'll be helpful for them ...
raman left to his lodge (Abirami lodge)

Outside Meenakshi Temple:
munni: hey, where have we kept our slippers ...
guide (ramanathan's friend): its in the other entrance, lets go there ...
balaji: hey, i'll pay for the archanai items da, just wait ...
suresh: u guys come da, we'll take an auto & leave ...

suresh, munni & arun got into an auto & left to Abirami lodge (ramanathan's lodge) ... the guide, balaji & myself took another auto1 & left ...

Outside National School:
ashwanth: lets ask that automan ...
sriram: coming to abirami lodge ?
ashwanth: lets get in da ...
ashwanth & sriram left to the lodge in auto2

Outside Restaurant:
v.b: auto ! auto ! can u plz take us to abirami lodge, near titan showroom ...
kailash: just get in da ...
madhu, lash, ramkey & v.b left to the lodge in auto3

Abirami Lodge:
sriram: ah ! atlast we've reached in time da ... lets go up ash ...
ashwanth: ok da, come ...
after sometime, ramanathan arrived to the lodge
raman: (to the lodge keeper) what, have they all come ?
keeper: no, they left at 9 itself, they've not yet come ...
raman: dont they know that they have their train at 12 ... irresponsible ...
madhu & guys come ...
raman: there they come ... atlast ... but only these people ... where r the others ...
madhu: hi da ... not left to thiruchandur yet ?
raman: waiting for u guys da ... thought i'd tell a bye to all of u b4 leaving ... where r the others ?
madhu: i dunno ... some have gone to meenakshi temple da ... they'll come, we'll go up & pack our luggages
raman: ok ...

just then ... guys from meen. temple arrived ...

suresh: hi da raman ... what r u doing here ...
raman: whats the time da ... dont u know that u have ur train at 12 ...
suresh: ok da ... its alrite ... we'll just leave ...
raman: ok ... just now madhu & guyz came ... sriram & ash have not yet come ... it seems they've gone to sriram's school ... u leave them & go ... when they come, i'll arrange a bus for them to Chennai ...
suresh: ok da ... we'll wait for them for some time & then decide ... u said u had to leave, u leave da ...
raman left home, as he had to go to thiruchandhur with his family ... the meen. temple guys went up to the 2nd floor where their room was …
vidi: hey suresh ... sriram's here da ...
sriram: yes da ... we came some time back ...
suresh: alrite guyz ... its already 11.15, lets leave soon, pack ur luggages ...

Room 31: (v.b, lash, madhu, ramkey & vidi)
vidi: hi guys, how was the perummal temple ?
v.b: yeah ... fine da ...
madhu: how was meen. temple da ?
vidi: good ... but very crowded ... had ur breakfast ?
lash: we've already had it ...
vidi: oh ... ok, we're yet to have it ... we'll have it in the train ... hey, guess what da … on the way, I saw a photo on a shop & it looked exactly like me !!! I jus cud’nt believe my eyes … even munni, bala saw it …
madhu: we also saw kailash’s brothers on the way …
vidi: brothers … ?
ramkey: we saw 2 monkeys da … that’s what he’s saying …
vidi: oh … ha, ha !
kailash: they were not monkeys … ‘ramkeys’ !!!
v.b: ha, ha !

Room 29: (sri, ash, mun, bala & madhu)
sriram: man ... it was a great visit da ... my school's changed a lot ... but not the teachers !
munni: alrite da ... u save some for the train ...
balaji: sriram ... u missed it da ... meen. temple was so beautiful ...
sriram: my school is my favorite temple da ...
ashwanth: apparam, anthu athu ... !!!

the guys got ready & suresh, v.b, lash, ash, madhu, bala & ramkey left to the railway station by 11.40 ...

then sri, arun, munni & myself, took another auto & started to leave but suddenly ... the lodge keeper was asking for one of the room keys ... but none of us had it ... we told him we'll go to the station & ask the other guys if they had it ... and the keeper agreed & suggested to send the keys through the automan itself ...

so we left & reached the station & asked the guys ... and v.b had it with him ... we quickly called the automan & gave it to him. we later called up the lodge keeper & confirmed the receipt of the keys.

the time was 12 & the train had not yet arrived ... we were waiting for the guruvayur express that wud bring us back to chennai ...

as we were waiting, i just thought of the wait we had ... 3 days back ... same time ... same feeling ...


8th June 2004, Tuesday, 12 noon (Chennai, Egmore):
It was Vaigai Express that we'd booked on the 8th, at 12.30 noon. We were waiting at Egmore station. I saw each one's eyes & felt their anxiety within them ... each minute they were waiting, each second they were waiting, they became more & more anxious. We were all waiting for our train which was late by 10 min. Everyone's face was immediately enlightened at the arrival of our train. The wait was worth an HOUR, for us.

We had planned to go to Madurai on 8th, stay at Ramanathan's lodge that evening ... next morning, leave to kodai & on 10th evening, return to Madurai ... leave next afternoon to Chennai.

Suresh & Kailash had booked the train tickets for 10 of us, excluding Ramanathan, who was in Madurai & Munni, who told he was'nt comin. Then suddenly, Munni changed his mind & wanted to come, (thus was given a new name - 'lateral entry' !!!). So we had to get him a ticket & we did.

Very soon, everyone got into the train (actually, rushed to get the window seat !). When the train started to make its first move, everyone of us felt within us that we had to make this into a wonderful & enjoyable trip, but, at the back of our minds, we also had a bad feeling that we were going to miss OUR Chennai for the next 3 days.

As the time passed on, we started playing cards, doing a couple of tricks with it, then, we all played dumb charades for some time ... we ate, then we took a couple of snaps ... then we played antakshari, then we whiled away our time chatting, and guess what ... we'd reached Madurai !!!

Ramanathan came to the station to take us all to his lodge (Abirami Lodge). We took a couple of auto rickshaw's to reach that place. We were alloted 3 rooms ... i'll tell u what, there were a lot of mosquitoes ... anyway, it was Madhu who was flat, i mean, he was off to bed very soon, maybe he was too tired. Raman went home that nite & told us he wud com next morning.

Then we started playing cricket within the room that nite and took a couple of funny snaps ... we had pillow fights ... then again chatted for a long time and finally went to bed.


9th June 2004, Wednesday, 6.30 am (Madurai):
we had coffee in a nearby shop and quickly got ourselves ready. Raman had arranged for a van to take us to Kodai.

We left at around 7 am. We had break-fast in a hotel on the way and started off to Kodai. In the van, we took a few snaps, we sang (rather screamed) as loud as possible, along with the ayutha ezhuthu song that was being played in the van. For the 'Fana' song, we replaced it with 'Thalla' & teased our thallai, Arun.

On the way, we saw a falls. It was such an amazing view, a falls & a dam nearby ... a lake ... all surrounded by mountains ... it was such a breathtaking sight ...

We finally reached Kodai at around 11 am and 1st visited Coaker's walk. It was simply a long stretch of walk, but the slight drizzles and the cool climate made it a wonderful experience. We saw the mist covering the trees besides us ... eachone of us was trying to see thru the mist to find something real ... the mountains, trees, falls and lot more were partly visible behind the mist. It was all so natural & panoramic that it can least by appreciated by simply words.

We then went to a church ... it was Sriram who was appreciating the christian culture so much, their way of telling prayers and many more.

Then we went to the pine forest. This was also an awesome experience, we were surrounded by around thousand trees ... it was sensational, very impressive ... for a person like Mani Ratnam, he wud plan to take his next movie there, if he sees it ! It was so amazing.

Then we went on to Guna caves (named after the movie Guna which was shot there) ... it was a bit of trecking that we had to do to reach to that place ... it was well protected with fence as it was around 500 ft deep ! we took a few snaps out there & finally left that place.

the slight drizzles became heavier & started to rain ... so we cud not continue visiting any further places ... so thought we'll have our lunch ... so we went to a hotel called Hilltop, which provided with a pure veg restaurant & besides it, a non-veg restaurant too. it was a fabulous restaurant ... every1 was happy abt its service & food.

we then went to the lake ... since there was a boat race going on, we cud not go for boating, nevertheless, we enjoyed all the other aspects of the trip. we then went for cycling around the lake ... took some snaps ...

we finally reached the youth hostel where we had earlier booked a dormitory ... we played inside the room itself ... cricket as well as throwing & catching the ball ...

we later went to a nearby restaurant for dinner ... we finally slept after a tired day ...


10th June 2004, Thursday, 7 am (Kodai):
we had coffee in the youth hostel's hotel itself ... and later went for breakfast to a nearby hotel ... it was very good ... we went for a few places like moir’s point view, suicide point, pine forest (once again by public demand !), govt. park & another private park. all these places were of scenic beauty & we took a lot of snaps ... the parks were so colourful ... so many different types of flowers ... plants, trees & so on ... its a rare sight for people in Chennai to c these things ...

we then went for lunch to the same restaurant where we had breakfast ... then we went to the lake ... still, no boating because of the boat race ... raman & madhu went for horse riding ... while sriram was attracted by an artist to whom he asked to sketch his face ... i'll tell u what ... the artist did a great job ... the sketch that he drew was so much like sriram itself ... seeing the sketch, arun also decided to give it a try ... even his sketch came out very well ... anything natural & artistic need to be appreciated, isn't it ... it was really good.

in the meanwhile, suresh, lash, ash, madhu, ramkey, munni & myself went for roller-skating ... it was a truely amazing experience as none of us knew skating ... but every1 of us wanted to give it a try ... we fell a thousand times each ... but again tried to skate each time we fell ... we had races among ourselves ... it was fun ... we enjoyed it ...

it was already around 4.45 pm, so we decided to leave to Madurai ... so we all got into the van & left. while comin back, we took a few snaps inside & outside the van. i thought the driver really got irritated with us as he drove very rashly ... we kept him waiting for a long time to take snaps …

finally we reached madurai at around 8.30 pm ... we thought of going to some movie out there ... but every1 was so tired that we had to drop that idea ... we then again had some pillow fights, played room cricket ... & slept off soon after having dinner in a nearby restaurant.


11th June 2004, Friday, 8.30 am (Madurai):
the guys were all so tired that they woke up at around 8-8.30 only. some of us had planned to visit the Meenakshi temple ... some wanted to go to a Perummal temple & sriram & ash wanted to visit sriram's school.

the guys left to their respective places at around 9 am. suresh, arun, bala, munni & myself took raman's friend to guide us to the Meen. temple. we took 2 auto rickshaws & left to the temple.

madhu, lash, ramkey & v.b left to a nearby Perummal temple by auto. having seen the temple, they had time to go to a nearby restaurant to have their breakfast. Kailash, in this trip, always ordered only for ghee roast (!). v.bharath had an upset stomach, so did'nt have anything ...

sriram & ashwanth went to sriram's school by auto. sriram was staying in madurai for around 6 years & did his schooling there ... but never got an opportunity to go to Kodai ... so it was his 'dream comes true' situation ... very memorable for him ... also, he wanted to visit his school & his teachers ... he was accompanied by ashwanth ... most of the teachers recognised sriram which made him feel really happy ...

when we went to the Meenakshi temple, it was pretty crowded ... anyway, we got good darshanam & having finished seeing the temple, we bought a couple God idles ... at that time ...

vidi: hey arun, soon da, its getting late, lets leave ...
suresh: alrite guys, lets leave, balaji, come soon da ...
bala: machan, i'll just pay for this & come ... munni, hold this (giving a God idle to munni) ...
munni: hey, where have we kept our slippers ...
guide (ramanathan's friend): its in the other entrance, lets go there ...
balaji: hey, i'll pay for the archanai items da, just wait ...
suresh: u guys come da, we'll take an auto & leave ...
suresh, munni & arun got into an auto & left to Abirami lodge (ramanathan's lodge) ... the guide, balaji & myself took another auto1 & left ...

Auto3:
madhu: hey look there … its ramanathan … what’s he doing here …
kailash: he wud have come to chase us out of his lodge da …
madhu: I think we r the first to come …

Auto1:
vidi: hey … I think we have come before others da …
balaji: there … there’s suresh’s auto …

the guys get out of their autos … and are abt to cross the road to go to the lodge …

arun: hey … madhu’s already come da … look up … he’s standing there …
suresh: machan … their temple wud have not been that crowded maybe … hey, what’s raman standing here for … cancelled his trip or what …

Room 29: (sri, ash, mun, bala & madhu)
sriram: man ... it was a great visit da ... my school's changed a lot ... but not the teachers !
munni: alrite da ... u save some for the train ...
ashwanth: shave ? munni … ni athulaye yerru …
munni: aay … save da … aaay !
balaji: sriram ... u missed it da ... meen. temple was so beautiful ...
sriram: my school is my favorite temple da ...
balaji: oooooooooooohhhhh !
ashwanth: apparam, anthu athu ... !!!

Room 40: (suresh & arun)
suresh: yenna thalla ... for whom r those gifts ...
arun: oh no ... now dont start off ... its just for me ...
suresh: ok ... ok ... continue ...
arun: if I show this to uvraj sir, that’s all … he’ll start eating it … !
suresh: machan … true da … don’t ever show it to him … then he’ll say … ‘yenna pa … prasadama pa … & start eating it !’

the guys got ready & suresh, v.b, lash, ash, madhu, bala & ramkey left to the railway station by 11.40 ... then sri, arun, munni & myself, took another auto & started to leave but suddenly ... the lodge keeper was asking for one of the room keys ... but none of us had it ... we told him we'll go to the station & ask the other guys if they had it ... and the keeper agreed & suggested to send the keys through the automan itself ... so we left & reached the station & asked the guys ... and v.b had it with him ... we quickly called the automan & gave it to him. we later called up the lodge keeper & confirmed the receipt of the keys.

the time was 12 & the train had not yet arrived ... we were waiting for the guruvayur express that wud bring us back to chennai ... as we were waiting, i just thought of the wait we had ... 3 days back ... same time ... same feeling ...

as I was thinking, the train arrived ... most of us did not have our breakfast ... so we ordered for it in the train itself ... as the train was going towards chennai, each1 of us really felt that we were going to miss those 3 days in our lives ... we also felt that the next time we plan for such a trip, the whole class shud participate ... we reached chennai at around 8.30 pm ...

It was really such a memorable trip indeed ... :)