A Tour During Graduation...Part 1 of 3

I was in final year of graduation at Aurora's degree & post graduate college....there was always a dissatisfaction in the whole class that we had not gone anywhere in the last 2 years of graduation....it was then we planned to go on an educational (namesake, as there was nothing as such...as it was just way to go out....) tour either to Bangalore or Pune to understand and apply for the colleges for a meaningful post graduate degree elsewhere than Hyderabad. Surprisingly there was never a mention of any college staff coming with us.

We had planned to go on a tour in the month of august, 2005. It was season of the year where in we had lot of rains and with a hope that everything would go well....we had approached our principal....who with the sort of nature the students of my class where studies was always second to everything...would never accept us going to Bangalore....decided to send us to Pune....for which we all gleefully agreed...and now started all the fight....when to go where to go and how to go.....luckily we had a lecturer who was from Pune who helped us sort out the issues....and was the person who gave us the details of places we visited during the tour...in and arnd the city of Pune....

After putting lot of efforts for 15 days.....we at last decided the date to go...it was 28th August, 2002...when we checked for the status of the railway tickets.....as it was only way to go and comeback cheaply....the trains were all full....by the time we booked the tickets.....the status was such bad that we even didn't know whether we would get a seat to sit forget about sleeping in the night.....and for me it was a now another fight to convince to go on the tour....but with help of aunt.....who always stood behind helping us.....I got a nod to go....and I think it was one of the finest moments of my life.....the day had finally arrived and we all were ready to go.....on the most memorable tour...as a class..representing the college...wearing college t-shirts...aah....it was a proud feeling.....

Once confirmed that we were all there in the station...to our dismay we observed that we were all divided to 3 parts of the train and couldn’t help but to just go and sit.....and another memorable thing was the spat with the TC over a petty issue over seat allocation....and the way we convinced him...we slept late in the night narrating each one's experiences in the college and recording them to the then cassettes.....taking photos...hoping for a great start to the tour from the next day morning...the train was scheduled to reach Pune at 8.30 AM...and as usual was late by 1 hour....which we had spent sitting and waiting for us to get down.....we reached Pune at 9.30 am....we went ahead to a hotel where we had completed all the formalities and started for a place called "PARVATI" (on a mountain) which was the highest place in the whole city of Pune..something like birla mandir for Hyderabad....going to the temple of lard shiva and parvarthi devi....was a energy sapping thing as we had to climb steep rocks...but was very interesting to have a look at the whole city. We returned back in the evening...and as it was a Sunday.....we resigned ourselves to the hotel rooms for the rest of the day...watching TV and sipping hot tea.....in that chilly weather.....also planning what to do for the next day....the Monday.....

The next day we all go to the NCL hoping to get an entry to the lab so that we could have a look as to how things go at the best chemical lab in the country...but our hopes were dashed as the recent fire at the lab prevented outsiders from visiting the lab....we had to return dejected and disappointed...but that was it....we moved ahead to the symbiosis institute which is famous all over for MBA programme and students from different countries come and pursue courses...it was a great experience as the institute welcomed us in a very good manner and arranged lunch for us as the time we reached was a lunch time...we spent lot of time there understanding the institute as such and taking snaps whenever possible with the faculty and students as well.....it was 4.30 in the evening.....not hearing anything to the driver we planned to go to "SIMHAGAD"....a fort in thick forest...50 KM away from Pune...

It was very risky going to the place in the evenings as it gets dark very fast and there was always a chance of encountering wild animals....still our young minds were ready to take the challenge and see how strong we can be...but we started feeling the heat of the challenge as it had started raining...still we were adamant on going there....after covering half distance we could see no vehicles...coming opposite to us nor on our way.....it was clouds and only clouds....and once we were on the top of the fort it was pitch darkness and rain..no cell phone signals..we could barely hear what the others were speaking...and I think it was one of the scariest moments for all of us...but was one of the best moments for all us..as friends. We had to stop our adventures as the driver of the cab which we hired was a worried about us reaching home....but as we were coming down to the cab..we lost our way and we were moving to an altogether a different direction...at that point of time we all thought it was all over but for a dog..the best friend of man..showed us the way back to the cab...we thought we have to believe god is still there....

We thanked the cab driver for the drive of the day...and left to the hotel and I still remember celebrating India's win over England in a test match in their own backyard.....

Be prepared for lots of stories of the tour in the following parts.....

Will continue the rest in the second part.....