After 26 years of planning we decided to leave at 6.00 a.m. and promptly left at 7.30 a.m. Rubecon employees on the whole are all foodies. So i was not surprised that we discussed breakfast as soon as we all assembled (the reason to start late).
We ambled along in 3 cars - Bens Car (pronounced as 'Benz Car" which is an Opel), Swift Varghese, and a Japanese make that sethu brought along and which was touted to be fast. 14 of us in 3 different cars. Racing did not start because co-ordinating does not happen in Rubecon without food. First stop - highway motel after poonamalee. And concentration takes some time after food at rubecon, so I dont remember anything after breakfast till we reached Vaniyambadi. I was told we were picking that bangalore boy (Karthick) at the bus stop. After this racing started. We were lagging in our Opel (though Ben is a very good Driver).
Our delay was because Francis tried desperately to ask direction from a goat. He did not realise that mehaa means right, meh means left and tapping of the hind legs mean go straight. What confused Francis was the goat jumped straight up, tapped its hind legs and bleated mehaa-meh. That means 'U' turn. Anyway we sauntered along at 100 kmph and reached the foothills. In between a guy from the lorry ahead decided to spit paan on Francis.
Lucky we had the wind screen. the climb started. First stop. No guessing. The view of the town below from a high point. We behaved exactly like tourists. Climbed on rocks and took pictures. After 9 hairpin bends (in between the guy driving the japanese car tried to overtake us, not realising the South African has seen more wilder beasts than an outback Aussie chasing kangaroos) we reached the hotel (very originally named Hotel Hills) in about 5 and half minutes. Not a big hill huh? The Organiser cum public relations manager cum booze man cum ex shipee cum stud boy told us where to go. The unpacking began - 2 bottles of Rum, 2 bottles of Whiskey, Lots of cans of Beer and a few soft drinks (he does not believe in soft drinks as you see). The dilemma started - Now do we go sight seeing or just drink and get high and just halucinate. Then the Rubecon thing happened. Lets EAT first. We were ushered into a semi-lit dining hall. The chaps at the hotel must have had a feeling of welcoming Barbaric vikings who were at sea for 14 months and nothing good to eat. They were pretty aprehensive first about serving us. Lot of us had 2 plates each. In case it got over before the 2nd helping. (we are very very cautious about food). Ria was the only who was not greedy. We stuffed ourselves and then debated whether we were too full to walk even to the hotel gate let alone the lake.
After much thought, we said afterall this place has got 10 people and 3 goats - so the place cant be THAT big. Even if we rolled along we could finish sight seeing in 3 and half minutes. Thats too much work. Why tax yourself when on holiday. Thoo. Then suddenly The Millionaireness Serah Kurien of the Conoor Royal Family Sporting a very sporty dress announced "anyone wants to play TT" There was a fight between The Organiser cum public relations manager cum booze man cum ex shipee cum stud boy and Karthick for grabbing a racket. Since i was so full of food i only notice these important things. I dont know who won and who lost. We were all equally pathetic at Table Tennis. Skinny not wanting to exert too much energy decided to take on a very strong player like Ria at carroms. Ria being the baby had the entire board to herself. She had her own rules. She would use the striker wherever she wants and hit whichever coin she decides. This scheme of things suited skinny very well.
The focus shifted and Her highness decided to play badminton and rest of us slaves were handed down the TT rackets. Francis for some strange reason was absent. Our driver Ben decided that the G force from racing was too much decided to take a nap. Somebody then mentioned that there was a lake and we needed to see it. So everyone decided that TT and Badminton was passe and we walked along to the lake which was just a stone's throw away. As usual as per rubecon rules whenever we go out we normally go to eat, so the outbackee decided to buy mangoes with chilli powder. That took us about 25 mins. The largese was distributed to everyone present and by the time we walked another 25 meters, the aussie decided we need to refill again and we bought some guava with chilli powder and salt. it was yum. Ria led the way to the boat house. Your truly, Sneha, Anoopa and Nam reached there first. We waited for awhile and the rest the bunch took a long time coming so we decided to take a boat for ourselves, which did not go down very well with the rest of the BOYS. They then decided to become pirates and decided to chase us. It was chaos. 3 boats filled with rubeconites screaming on top of their voices shattered the lives of those 10 people and 3 goats. We returned back to getty completely exhausted and engaged ourselves in our favourite pastime - Egg omlettes and chai. he he. It was getting a bit dark, so we decided to head back to the hotel. The hotel people meanwhile had very sweetly organised a campfire.
Meanwhile the darling was missed sorely. Every girls lips had the mantra - 'where is Bharath ya'. Bharath was on his own mission. Please contact him for details.
The fire was lit in the middle of Millionaireness Serah Kurien of the Conoor's badminton court. The Aussie was trying to out do the south african. He was jumping around the fire doing the zulu traditional dance but to Desi beats. We do not know if he was drunk, But all and sundry had good fun. karthick was most of the time half naked. so he had to be very close to the fire. either next to the actual fire or next to his flame. Anyway he was warm. The table with eats was strategically place. very close to all of us. No one knows how much each one drank. But the spirits were pretty high, coz suddenly there was pole dance which erupted out of nowhere. Ram and sethu started and was in between interrupted by half naked karthick. All these going ons was making me sober by the minute. Sigh. Then group dance happened. Yelagiri had never seen a night like this. 10 people and 3 goats had a rough night.
