Before dawn, I woke up at least twice to say 'Hi' to Mother nature when the bus halted for a couple of minutes. It was very early in the morning and it was mid-February. The morning cold was much worse than in Hyderabad. I walked down the road side to relieve myself and was a bit surprised at what I saw. My 'stream' touched the grass on the ground and I saw steam and dew forming there. It was a good sight to see. But of course, these are a few of the sights that are better enjoyed alone :-)
I then went to sleep and woke up when everyone else were awake. Ahmed had called up the Bangalore office to check how we are going to complete the remaining part of the travel. He informed that we were supposed to get down at Kalasipalayalam as our cab will be waiting there. Sathish advised that Kalasipalayalam was too far. Instead, we get down at Hebbal.
He took a right decision. Kalasipalayalam was deep inside the Bangalore city. Our destination was near ITPB (International Tech Park of Bangalore). It is in the outskirts of Bangalore. We took the cab driver's number and asked him to come to Hebbal directly. Finally, we got down. The time was already 7:00 AM. We were tense as this was the time that we were supposed to report there. However, as this is arranged by the company and not our mistake, I was not that paranoid.
Before we actually got down, we were playing with the Driver's nerves. Each of us forgot at least one thing in the bus. Everytime the driver wanted to start off, we used to stop him and get the thing! We waited there for at least half and hour before the cab arrived. It was a Tata Sumo which accommodated all the eight of us. Sathish, a Banglorean, started conversing with the driver fluently. Incidentally, we came to know that even the driver was not aware of the route. Suddenly, I remembered that the Invitation letter that was given to us had the directions for the venue. Since the vehicle was jam packed, only James had his back-pack on his lap and removed the letter. This helped a lot as we were almost near that center and didn't know that we reached it!
The center for CALS was ECC (Ecumenial Christian Center). Although the road between the main road and it's gate is a bumpy ride, inside, it was a paradise! The road was between the trees and shrubs. Although, it was a beautiful place, as we were in a hurry and desperate to reach there at the earliest, we couldn't enjoy it. The time was already 9:00. We were stopped by a pretty girl in a jersey and jeans. She asked us if we could get ready in 15 minutes. She directed us to Guest house #3 after we were affirmative.
The first look at the house was not that impressive. It was an old British style bungalow with Granite finishing. It was surrounded by a garden and the roads were well laid. The main entrance is in to a sitting room. It had a neat cane table and chair set for six people. It really looks very relaxing. Our company had booked four rooms in the guest house. In the left wing, there were three doors. The one towards the right is a bathroom and there were two bedrooms - one in the left (bedroom #2) and the other at the far end of the left wing (#1). In the right wing, there were four doors. The first one towards the left was a reading room. It was a kind of spooky room! The second room (#5) towards the left was a bedroom that was locked out as it was not booked. Towards the right, there were two bedrooms (#3 and #4) as well.
Once we got in to the house, Ahmed was the first one to occupy the room. Later on, others came and started to occupy the rooms. Me and James were the last ones to come. The three ladies occupied room #1. Praveen and Sathish took room #2. Ahmed had already occupied room #3. I thought of taking a separate room and started to barge in #4 and 'thud' came the sound. Bedroom #4 was locked. We called up watchman outside. He said that the room was locked by another person who had come in last night.I said that there were only eight of us and we were here. The watchman then informed us that another person had come from Chennai last night and was staying with us. At that moment, James jumped in to Ahmed's room and said that he'll be staying with him. Well, what now... I had to share the room with either Ahmed or Sathish as we didn't know where exactly this Chennai guy had gone.
I then knocked in to Sathish's room and threw my suitcase on the bed. We didn't have the time to rest at all. There was only one bathroom with a Water Heater. Remaining had to use our natural skills to complete the bath! The girls couldn't do without hot water. I had a problem. My body had habituated it in such a way that when I get in to bathroom, I had to complete my brushing, good morning to mother nature and bathing in an order and get out of the room. So, if I got in to bathroom, I cannot let Sathish or Praveen to use it till I complete my chores!
I, then asked Praveen to use the bathroom. But even he had his own terms and condition. Unless he smokes, he cannot get the 'pressure'. He went in, started puffing and took his own sweet time to come out. By this time, the pretty girl who met us at the venue came running and started to call Praveen. Praveen asked me to answer the call. I answered the call as if it was Praveen. I did not let her know that she was speaking to me not Praveen. She called up at least thrice and each time I imitated Praveen. Finally Praveen took the call and I wonder if she recognized the change in the voice. By the time I was done with my bath, the people who conducted the assessment had arrived the center. It was later that we realized that although the we were asked to report by 7:00 AM, the assessment would only start at 9:00 AM.
I thought that I was the last person to come in to the room. There were three more chairs left empty. Then came Azmuth, Urimila and finally our mammoth, Sri Laxmi.
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