Better late than never! Yup, though delayed by just 20 days, it’s never too late to relive some beautiful memories and moments! (Embrace yourself for a little lengthy journey:))
We were all set to rock Hyderabad with our New Year celebrations but guess Cochin was destined to receive us :) To begin at the beginning… it was a group of 8 adults and 3 kids visiting Prisha and Sajeen to make their new year!(am sure both would have taken not less than a week to recover from the aftermath of our visit ;))
Thinking we should give the couple a breather, we joined them in batches; first parent joined, followed by Rajani / Sandeep and 2 cute little kids Adi and Shreya (devadai – fairy!), and last but never the least Gops, Sangee, the little princess Kuchs, and myself. After a long time, it was absolute fun to travel by the train!
Landing in Cochin on 31st December, the first realization that hit us hard:‘Chennai was less hot and ofcourse less chaotic; better infra!’ – but with such a fun-loving bunch, these factors can never be of hindrance! So, after a quick refresher, we ventured to visit local shops for some essentials (;) for 31st December night out!!! After all it’s a once in a year night! One thing that stood out and need a mention here is the LOOOOOOOOOOONG Q for the ‘special drinks’… ha ha! You need to c it to believe it; yup so long that am sure most of them would have not reached before dawn of 1st Jan!
All set, our celebrations started with liquid and solid food, music, stories, and dance…. The songs of the night were ‘kodaana kodi’ and ‘chigi wigi’ amongst others! Songs that make you swing without your knowledge! And ofcourse with Gops and Rajani around, how can we not have ‘singing’ sessions – We were treated to beautiful numbers by Rajani, one other friend, and ofcourse Gops – and my observation says Sandeep is also a singer! Just that he underplays probably (What say Rajani and Gops?) – session went on with a final blast within Sandeep’s car – what a sterio man!!!! Can still hear it banging!!! And at 2 am, we finally decided to give the neighbors a break and retired.
1st Jan, a new year, a new start, and ofcourse we had to begin it with visiting a new place – Adhirapali – a beautiful waterfalls and a popular shooting location as well: yup saw 2 buddies ready to jump – as always the famous Suicide Attempt, a regular in our movies – but hold your breath, we weren’t standing there to see any real fellas jumping!! they were dummies:)
While this is a nice picnic spot, the most enthralling part is the journey through the beautiful greenery!!! WoW still in my eyes; we were so mesmerized that we didn’t click any! If you are in Cochin, DON’T MISS IT!
You could ofcourse enjoy the waters there but if Crowd is of concern, then travel down a few kilometers (on your way back probably) and ask for a private place to enjoy the waters with not much of a public view! But my experience says ‘forget public, forget private, but don’t forget enjoying the waters’ – It’s chill and refreshing (nope! Hold on Gops / Sajeen – no enlightening thoughts on what makes this water special pls ;))
After a happening 1st day of the year, we had more fun in store… Second day was ‘thanks to Sajeen’s Boss’ for inviting the family for a Marine Drive! Yup, Cochin is famous for this and again ‘Not to be Missed’… Ya, how could I forget the boat house and my ‘bang start’ of the evening and probably the new year! Yo, as Sajeen says, I tried moving the boat by banging my head on it! Ha ha! What a bang it was; I hear it and feel it till now! But its worth that pain and the all-time available mosquito bites! You can plan for a decent evening with friends / family in this place… Refreshments and Food made our evening with some games with little princess!
As is evident, we managed the most possible fun in 2 days and after all that is what life is for - right? Have fun, spread fun, be happy, spread happiness; rest life goes on!
We had written off our 3rd day for the Railways yes, we had to spend the entire day from 7 am till just 9 pm!!! Boarding the train at Ernakulam, thankfully we had planned to take some books and games… (wish people there would start respecting others as equals!) Day time went off well with books, catching up on sleep, and playing Ludo (but for upset stomach of Gops, followed by me after landing in Chennai)! After 6 pm, we felt as if we could have rather pushed the train physically but still would have reached earlier!!! Finally glad to see Chennai, we had the final & usual ice-toppings of our fights for autos / cabbies to reach our destination… and thanks to Karthik Tiffin Center at Adyar, we could have a decent / nice / hot dosas at about 11:00 PM!!! Back home all we wanted was to freshen up and hit the sack, and so we did!!!
WOW what an experience… For me personally, I have never had a new year like this! Full Funtoosh New Year Eve!!! You guys rock man and am glad to be part of this bandwagon :)) let’s hope to have more such fun in future! Can’t wait!
