Go ..

Ajay knew about this Dubare elephant camp near Kushalnagar and after making the necessary enquiries we decided to give this place a visit in the morning before starting to Mangalore. So off we went. On Ajay's insistence that the idli & upma at the camp itself was damn tasty we didnt have breakfast anywhere else. We reached the camp & an entire bus of school kids conquered the only hotel over there & the guy at the counter told us that nothing was available. So we decided to take the boat and go to the other side of the lake/river (basically the water which was separating the side we were in from the side the elephants were in). Now they actually do White-River rafting at this place when the water is enough, but now water was so low that people could walk around from one side to the other (well atleast one guy who seemed to know the exact location of the rocks underneath did it). We were approached by a guy who asked us if we wanted to do 'Still-Water Rafting' .. "rafting in still water??" we asked .. basically rowing in the water and if interested jump into the water (with lifejackets obviously). I was actually interested in the idea but thank god common sense prevailed on others and they ensured that we didnt waste our time & money on that.

On the other side we were greeted by a row of elephants just lazing in the water (acting dead almost) and a group of excited rich people (foreigners mostly) scrubbing the elephants with soap & brushes. All of them had paid to get themselves dirty and clean the elephants. Apart from having a good laugh over that there really wasnt much to do there. Elephant rides, we were told, started at 10.30AM and it was still 10 AM or so. The place anyway looked boring for a elephant ride. A wild tusker was prisoned behind a huge jail of wooden logs and as soon as lot of people gathered near it the officers started shooing people away saying that the elephant would get wild, just to make it seem dangerous. So we waited for our boat and went back. Thankfully the hotel was empty, but the food was bad.

We returned back to our room and set on our journey to Mangalore via the Madikeri ghats. Some stretches of roads in the ghats were uneven and they were a major pain for our arse's, but the stretches which were good made the ride in the ghats even more pleasurable. On one of those good curvy roads we three were riding with such uniformity (Ajay in the lead, Ashwin in the middle and me in the last) and common speed that I felt even a mosquito would have to wait for us three to pass by before it could cross.

We stopped for lunch at a totally cheap roadside place (intentionally) and after sitting down realized that it was a bad idea. But anyway we were not the one's to give up so easily, so we ordered the most decent clean items we could find -- kerala parota with some Veg curry. We reached Mangalore at around 6'o clock in the evening. Mangalore is the city I grew up in and I am totally familiar with all its roads (it also helps that the place is so small that you take three left turns and you will end up back in the center of the city). But then how would I know about the lodges there, I never was in a situation where I had to live in one. Thankfully Ajay used his PUC-CET coaching time experience to good use and suggested Hindustan lodge opposite to Poonja International. At 550 bucks for a night, it was damn good. I also ensured that they have a look at my school (Milagres High School, for those of you who might be interested) on the way to the lodge.



We freshened up and I took them to Ideal ice cream parlour. I was expecting a major crowd there as it was the 25th, but I guess people in Mangalore wanted to spend Christmas at home. I had a Chocolate Dad and suggested some popular one's for others. In the josh of the moment I even paid the bill myself saying it was a treat from my side. They of course were shameless enough not to even bother stopping me.


We then set towards the most happening pub in Mangalore- Liquid Lounge
Being Christmas night, it was crowded and we didnt get any seat. We however found a couple of our Mangalorean RV hostel batchmates chilling around, we greeted them, but we didnt want to join them and make it odd, both for them and ourselves. Ashwin however sat with them for a short time and probably boasted about our adventurous bike trip. The rest of us just ordered a beer and stood at the counter, waiting for a table to get empty.
Luckily even before we finished our beer we got a table and we slowly started to settle. It was getting kinda uncomfy. I have been to lots of pubs in Bangalore, but I wouldnt consider myself who enjoys going to such places. First of all I am not much aware about the kind of music played in such places and after a lot of trying I have realized that I am naturally tuned not to like such kind of music. Also I hate blowing money on tons of beer all of which is going to bloat your stomach and nothing else. However I do have good times sometimes with friends around. Even the others arent like some pro rock fans, but they are better informed than me and follow rock more closely. Maybe because it was the first time in a pub in another city even they were feeling a bit odd and we were actually thinking of walking out even though it was jst 10PM or so. We had decided that after we finished our mugs we would leave, thats when Ajay & Bhatta said that they wished the DJ play AC-DC. I couldnt even see the DJ & Ajay pointed me to a room in a corner right beside the restrooms and mentioned about a board above the DJ which said "No requests please". That's when
Me: Which song do you guys want?
Ajay & Bhatta: Any song by AC-DC ..
Me: Give me a name
Ajay & Bhatta (look at each other and in unison chorus): Highway to Hell
Me: ok
I got up & went to to the restroom, had a leak, washed my hands, wet my hair but it was worse than ever (long hair doesnt suit me). I came out, saw the DJ and the board above his head
Me: Hey .. (placing my hands around his ear) I know you say no requests but please play AC-DC Highway to Hell, if you can
DJ: I will try later
Me: Thanks
I went back and told them not to expect anything. All of them were in low spirits and were just looking here & there having beer. Thats when the song whichever was playing ended and the guitar sounds which started our night started .. the beat of the drums started .. vocals started .. and I joined in the others from the only part I knew ".. I'm on the higway to hell". From this point on there was no stopping us. Luckily for us all the songs that were played from then on were known to us (trust me, that is the best thing that can happen in a pub). So we were crooning at the top of our voices to all the songs and I sure hope that the people around were impressed by our rock knowledge more than they were troubled by our voices being louder than the actual song. In any case, we didnt care then and neither would we care ... ever. Some of the songs I remember were Pink Floyd's Coming back to life, Ozzy's I'm a dreamer and a few more which the others knew better than me. But the final point is that we ended up staying at that place till the shutters were put down, which is is the sign of a good customer.
Then I took them through these stairs which was my standard route from school back to home, showed them my old apartments (RNE) and we walked along the road beside Tagore park (in which I had played as a kid), reached KMC .. clicked a photo and just before we reached the lodge saw this omlette-gaadi shop the smell of which was too much to resist, so we all had omlette/bread-omlette.
After reaching the room, Ajay & Ashwin were too tired and fell on the beds immediately. Ajay fell asleep instantly. There were these two huge chairs & a glass teapoy (commonly known as teee paaayi) and nice whisky glasses. That's when Bhatta suggested that me & him drink like "proper uncles". (This was the booze we had bought at Hunsur and couldnt finish at Kushalnagar, if you can remember). I quickly emptied the chairs of all the thrown clothes, cleaned the teapoy, got the glasses ready, gave Bhatta his Old monk bottle, took my Royal Stag, made myself a large (Its my life should make it large right) and started
Me: So Bhatta, how'z life?
This is when Ashwin fell asleep. Since the rest of the conversation took place between me & Bhatta, I will let it remain there, suffice to say that even though it was a long nice conversation we finished talking before we could finish drinking.

25/12/08: Kushalnagar-Madikeri-Mangalore