A voyage to the Malabar Coast

A voyage to the Malabar Coast

Place – Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Date – 9 to 12^th March 2011

                                                  The tour was organized with a basic motive to provide an industrial exposure to the future engineers. Somehow it turned out to be a pleasurable journey and not just a mere official tour. After lots of planning and preparation we finally settled in for going to the Techno Park, Trivandrum for our industrial visit.

9^th March, Bangalore (A warm sunny day) – Bags packed, foods ready, recharged ourselves and we were ready to take a leap into the world of fun. We all gathered at our College premises by 1.15noon. A beautiful white bus was eagerly waiting for us. After a while we had a short photo session with the Principal, and then boarded the vehicle with an ‘eclairs’(gifted by our college) in hand. The journey started with a huge round of applause that encircled us for the next half an hour. As the bus stepped into the highway, the HD LCD TV inside the bus flashed up with the movie ‘Band Baaja Baarat’. For the next few hours we enjoyed the movie while passing all sorts of comments on those naughty scenes that the film helds. Gradually while passing through the Bandipur Forest Reserve, the sky became dusky. We crossed the Karnataka-Kerala state border at 7.30pm. Thus entering Kerala – God’s own country. We had our dinner at a small restaurant(Roti-Gobi Manchurian) and then started rolling again through the dark jungle and hilly roads of the Western Ghat. I was listening to some pure forms of folk music until then, when our bus had its first flat tyre at around 11.30pm.

10^th March, Kerala – The journey continued as usual but it was time for the second interruption. Again the tyre punctured (1.30am). Somehow we managed the crisis and started travelling again. We passed Cochin early morning and reached the main city of Trivandrum at 11.30am(4hrs late). We checked into the Hotel Silver Sand and had a short refreshment break and lunch. Then we head off to Techno Park (40mins drive). Reaching there at 2pm, we were already late and had to cancel our first session. 

The second session began with Toonz Animation Studio (The first animation company in India) where we got an inside view of the animation industry (They prefer the word ‘Studio’ more than the word ‘Company’). The session was divided into two halves, a seminar(theory) and a studio tour(practical). The hell lot of information came on my way turned me on. It was all over by 4.10pm and we moved on to another wonderfully decorated auditorium for an interactive session with 

the Project Management Institute’s Kerala Chapter delegates. That was the most interesting stuff for me in the entire tour. It was a lifetime experience that we had inside that campus. It was 5.30 in the evening, and we rolled on to our entertainment segment. We went to our Tour Co-ordinator Miss.Sneha Philip’s Trivandrum residence for a short recreation and then directly to Azad Restaurent for our dinner. It was a hectic day indeed. I came back to my room jumped straight into the bed. I called it a night.

11^th March, Trivandrum (Hot and humid morning) – All set for sight-seeing tour inside the city. We left the hotel at 10am and went to a South Indian Restaurent for breakfast. Our first stop for sight-seeing was Trivandrum Zoological Garden. We did stopped there and watched those well acquainted creatures for the next 3hrs.It was lunch-time by then and we definitely had it in Punjabi style. Bon appetite. From there we took a straight drive to the famous Kovalam Beach, one of the most beautiful beach  of India. Naturally I was expecting to see lots of bikini babes but was utterly disappointed. Nevertheless I enjoyed the roaring waves and bathed for almost 3hrs while watching the sunset and inspite of the Tsunami warning issued by our Tour Co-ordinator. We returned back to our hotel by 8pm and a special dinner was awaiting for us at the roof-top of our hotel. As soon as I remembered the proverb “Stay hungry, stay foolish’’, I couldn’t fool myself. Ate out of my limits. We planned to leave for Bangalore by 3’o’clock in the morning. So instead of sleeping, we enjoyed the whole night through wild parties. This time I couldn’t call it a night.

12^th March – After having a half night fun, we left Trivandrum at the scheduled time, in total darkness. Returning was never easy for me, especially when you have to travel for 20hrs with an upset stomach and no latrine inside the bus. But I did it, and that’s just because I can’t afford to lose some lifetime memories. Afterall, “Nothing but memories remain…”.

Unforgettables :-

• One night at the lonely highway due to repeated tyre punctures.
• Ishfaq Sir's bhangra dance with Abhishek Kumar.
• An anonymous letter written to Ishfaq Sir, praising the beauty of his eyes.
• Sneha Ma'am's hip hop dance with Amar Kumar.
• The project management game played with PMI delegate.
• Ravi Ranjan's non stop commentry and gyaans.
• An elastic girder found on Ravi Bhusan's dinner plate.
• Sea bath at the Kovalam Beach.
• Last night party at the roof-top.

Courtesy :-

1. Miss. Sneha Philip, Lecturer (Tour Co-ordinator)
2. Mr.Ishfaq Yasheen, Lecturer (Tour Co-ordinator)
3. All my classmates.

Written by Niloy Paul

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