Riviera Diaries

Any reason to take leave from college didn’t really need to be thought about. Having missed a chance to be there at Saarang’10 owing to the periodicals made it more reasonable to be a part of the Quenchies visiting Riviera’10 , a sports and entertainment fest at VIT. Immediately after the last exam was over, I had to rush to get my things packed and make sure that I didn’t miss anything. It was perfect time to meet the team which had Ram, Ajith, Nikhil, Anand, Paul and Phani. The trip was up to a rocking start when an auto refused to take all seven of us for 100 bucks. Eventually we managed to get one though (Courtesy: Nikhil). There on was a quick bus trip to Cbe and a spicy dinner which I feared could have a counter effect on the Telangana buddy (Thank God, nothing such happened).

Since the journey was planned on the basis of keeping it economical at any point, we decided on travelling in the unreserved compartment of Cheran. While awaiting the train, we got ourselves weighted and purchased the recent editions of Filmfare and India Today ( with a real good cover story) . Fortunately we were lucky to get a seat for all of us in the same compartment. It was quite a memorable travel playing dumb c and anthakshari ( Yup! I managed reciting the lyrics at least) and Nikhil had good fun resting on the shoulders of a sexy aunty sitting beside him. Reached Vellore by five in the morning amidst heavy cold and took an auto to VIT. It was quite tedious to get ourselves registered and accommodated but with Ram there, you don’t have to worry. We had to walk at least three kilometers to reach Subash Chandra Bose block (one extreme of the campus, might be because he was an extremist) before settling for a brief sleep.

With no gal to wait for, we guys were quick at getting ready and sneaking in to the hostel mess for breakfast( Why couldn’t BIT provide such food!!!). From vadas to coffee, we left no item untouched. Once again it was a 3km walk back to the epicenter but this time with the sun, the view was brilliant. When we reached our destination I felt a bit disappointed to see the place with very few around. Only after a while I noticed a crowd jogging towards us marking the end of the Green Marathon, sporting identical T-Shirts with a message (Could have ran! Would have got a T-shirt!). We checked out with the schedule and decided to walk in to the Ambedkar Audi for Scrabble (It really wasn’t my idea). Kept trying my best to get a few answers right when someone walked in and said that we had a guest. Even before I could look up, I was able to hear Paul exclaim ,’Laxmanaaah!’. Yes it was VVS Laxman. He just peeped in for a while and left.

The Scrabble thing didn’t catch up well with me. So Paul and me decided to walk out to have a look at other events. The entire place was totally different from what I had seen an hour ago. Cool guys, smart gals, jarring music, announcements over mic (My part. Ain’t it?), adventure buddies crawling through tires, couples walking hand in hand, men tuning guitars and quite a lot that I failed to notice. Surging ahead a few yards, we reached the marketing challenge zone where stalls where laid on the sideways with a huge crowd in front of each one of them. The reason was because they didn’t sell any product but paved way for fun providing a chance for everyone to earn money (to lose as well), like the Casinos. I later learnt that there was a stock market functioning with indexes of each stall’s share price where you could buy and trade shares( Wow, what an idea sirji!).

We finally ended up watching bands perform light music till 1pm when Ram texted us that General Quiz was about to commence. So we rushed in to find everyone waiting eagerly to crunch their cranium but the quizmaster arrived quiet leisurely. Had a number of interesting questions but with all brainy ppl around it was just a learning experience(Hoping to compete one day). Then we all left to the informal stage area to have some food stuffs making up for the hunger. We returned back to have a sneak in to the finals of light music. MCC was truly brilliant in handling the crowd that everyone danced along and they took away the honors. But Ram really loved Ethiraj’s band (So did I) who hummed most the time with just one keyboard. The rest of the day went on roaming in and around the campus while Phani had been to Devi Sri Prasad’s Show(Golti thing) which had performances of Sneha and Nikita (Kodana Kodi, Saroja) as well.

I was the first one to wake up next day that I managed to get myself ready before others could wake up. If not for Nikhil, everyone else were quick in getting done. Clicked a few photos while walking back to the venue. Me and Andy took part in creative writing but nothing creative creped out of me. Walked in to Holmes Alone( as in Sherlok Holmes). It’s an event where they play you a crime video and introduce you to the characters who enacted it. You’ll be given a bio data of all of the characters, a detective’s notes, sketch of the crime site and recent calls list of the victim. You need to find out who the murderer is and what was the motto with proof. You’ll be given time to question the characters in person as well. I enjoyed it thoroughly as I came out with a few correct assessments. Spent the noon session with Nikhil, participating in Tamil Anthakshari. Surprisingly made it to the final too. In the evening me and Nikhil went on to Vellore while others witnessed Shaan perform.

The third day passed on with nothing planned. Walked in to everyplace we found and tried having as much fun as we could. Never to miss out the basket ball matches that took place. Was great to watch ppl dunk so casually. JAM was sort of good. We had to pack our bags by 4pm to retrieve our caution deposit( Getting that by returning the mug and buckets is another story though). Met Yuva, one of my best friends at school, while walking out. Was a masti three day trip except for missing out a chance to see Kamalhassan and Parvathy Omanakuttan(Miss World Runner up) that evening. But we somehow made up by watching ‘Goa’. Funny flick. Caught an air conditioned bus to Sathy by 11pm thereby bankrupting everyone of us. Reached BIT with a few pennies to spare but nothing did matter when we had to look back at the past three days( Life at BIT a reason too).