Thursday, January 04, 2007

The Spirit of Latcha...

Long Christmas weekend, 2 years since the last ‘reunion’, few rustics back home for the December break, recent blood tests revealing acute deficiency of vibes and wing lingo, aging memory struggling to relate names with faces – did sound like convincingly strong enough reasons for Latcha to have a reunion!

After diligent dissection of map of India, a million mails exchanged on Latcha yahoo group, matching holidays, arrival and departure dates, googling for places to visit, calling up junta places for bookings, getting kela from more popular tourist spots, we finally decided to freeze the place as ‘Dandeli’ in North Karnataka as the venue for ‘Latcha Reunion’, 2006!

The trip was amazing – tons of fun. After careful deliberation, the blog topic approval committee rated the trip arbit-enough to feature on this blog! I then started off with documenting the 5 day long trip. I had typed out 7 pages, word for word – exactly how the trip went. Just when I was about to copy and paste the document to this blog, I realized that there was a need to be politically and socially correct to maintain the decency levels that this blog has surprisingly withstood since its inception. I probably needed to sensor some part of this document. So, I downloaded some fundoo ‘lingo-control software’ and then fed my 7 page trip document thinking that it would probably crib at a couple of places. The result surprised me no end with the software reducing my well documented trip to a small paragraph! Moreover, I was served a warning and tagged unfit for society in general– probably a loser with no exposure to hostel life would have coded the software. Anyways, here is what the output looked like:

“Thatha reaches Chennai Central, picked up, we discuss <beep beep beep> and then drive down to Bangalore <beep beep beep> then talk about <beep beep beep> Bangalore traffic <beep beep beep> Samar’s home <beep beep beep> Ajay joins us <beep beep beep> Ranga picked next morning from his uncle’s place <beep beep beep> breakfast <beep beep beep> highway we hit <beep beep beep> road fundoo <beep beep beep> Samar puts the most embarrassing fund of this century <beep beep beep> reached Ankola by night <beep beep beep> Next morning, chai and then our temporary navigator Samar goofs up <beep beep beep> vibes <beep beep beep> rusticity <beep beep beep> reach Dandeli <beep beep beep> fundoo lunch <beep beep beep> sac out <beep beep beep> the next best thing <beep beep beep> island visit <beep beep beep> fundoo snaps <beep beep beep> tree top house <beep beep beep> 3 hours of Dumb C with video recording <beep beep beep> new found Dumb C guessing god <beep beep beep> Ranga’s vibed up movie names <beep beep beep> movie on laptop <beep beep beep> crash off <beep beep beep> Samar with enthu for early morning ‘bird watching’ trip <beep beep beep> Samar gets a kela <beep beep beep> rest of us sac out <beep beep beep> shift to a slightly more rustic resort <beep beep beep> river water rafting <beep beep beep> forward, left, right, go-down, hit the rock, life jacket <beep beep beep> potential babes <beep beep beep> 30 kms F1 ride in local jeep <beep beep beep> evening tea <beep beep beep> Dumb C again <beep beep beep> Ajay learns Hindi movie names <beep beep beep> Thatha goofs up yet again <beep beep beep> movie on laptop <beep beep beep> sac out <beep beep beep> laptop movie time <beep beep beep> crash off <beep beep beep> early morning chai, a few clicks <beep beep beep> drive down through rustic roads <beep beep beep> play TN Express ‘Connections’ game <beep beep beep> nth order connections <beep beep beep> 20 questions <beep beep beep> female, alive <beep beep beep> next reunion strategy <beep beep beep> serious discussions for a change <beep beep beep> reached back Bangalore <beep beep beep> collate snaps <beep beep beep> next morning off to Chennai after psenti bye bye <beep beep beep> serious life discussions <beep beep beep> reach Chennai <beep beep beep>”

Turned out to be rather inefficient - 7 pages cut-down to a paragraph, thanks to the lingo control software. Anyways, the full version of the story shall be made available on yahoo group. Ranga is currently working on it as he was ‘making notes’ all the way.

While we missed the other rustics of Latcha (Axis, Bachcha, Bong, Harry, Maharaj, Maxu, Popes), we made sure we had fun on their behalf too. It was amazing to get back to the 3rd year and psenti sem days, wing-lingo, funds, vibes, rusticity, etc. The previous reunion in Alleppy (Kerala) was hazaar fun as well and it served as a reassurance that Latcha would remain a closely knit group for a long time to come. It has now been 4 years since the wing physically ceased to exist, but surprisingly, we all have become much closer post-campus. Two important factors have contributed to this – the first being the general enthu/willingness of the group to stay in touch and the vital second factor being the support that the group has been. Four years since campus days, we all have had our portfolio of great times and not-so great times, but at the back of our minds, we know that a latchaite is just a call away!

Okay, enough of gen psenti, it’s time to acknowledge and honour each latchaite for having made a significant contribution to the success and failure of this trip:

Samar: For coming up with the most fundoo statement of this century. Details cannot be shared on this blog, but Mr. Bones, wishing you good luck. You will need it!

Nene: For goofing up with the bookings in Goa. Without your goof-up, we would have never seen Dandeli. Thank you very much!

Ranga: For adjusting to ‘Indian’ rustic conditions and keeping a track of expenses and ‘interesting statements’ made. On a personal note, no one else has ever doubted my driving skills to this level, will even scores with you soon!

Thatha: For initial intention to sponsor the entire trip that got rest of us interested in the deal. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way, but still feel free to contribute!

Maharaj: For not making it to the trip and putting long distance vibes. However, given the fact that you supported me against Mote’s allegations, I shall spare you here.

Popes/Axis/Maxu: For peacefully gussing all trip related mails. Sac out!

Bong/Chotu/Harry: For finding seemingly convincing reasons for gussing the trip.

Me: For driving through challenging conditions. Junta, please allow me to add Rs 100 a day to the trip accounts. Slightly, atleast maintain dignity of labour!

2 comments:

Rangakrishnan Srinivasan said...

hmm... ur attempts at humor, self-flattery, non-technical writing, etc. are pretty impressive! keep it up!

Rangakrishnan Srinivasan said...

not to forget the psenti and quote-from-memory levels.... me had forgotten a few fundaes like tea after the rafting... thanks to three ppl, the dumb-c panga challenge didnt happen!