Mode C is as much for Calvin as it is for Chaos, as much for Cool as it is for Cold, as much for Class as it is for Crass.

Mode C is a way of life, the Calvin way of life which I am so fascinated by as to keep trying to make it my own way of life. But what exactly is Calvin's way of life, you ask...and I say that there are no clear answers to this one.

I strongly believe, however, that almost all the seriously critical fundamental concepts of life, they are just the bogies under Calvin's bed that he is afraid of. Everyhting else...Miss Wormwood, Susie, Mom and Dad, and of course above all, Hobbes...aren't they all merely the means that he uses to attack these bogies?

It is nothing, therefore, but the perspective of each of these players on the stage of Calvin's dramatic life that helps him fight these bogies and move on in his own unique way...listening to all but doing only what finally makes sense to his own individuality. This is what comes closest, I guess, to the Calvin way of leading one's life...

Friday, August 05, 2005

Water water everywhere and quite a lot to drink




Hi!
Oh, hello!
Are you from here?
Well no, not exactly. What about you?
I am from the US. We are here for a short visit to some folks.
Oh ok...I am from a nearby place, doing my MBA there.
Cool! Is this ride too scary?
Oh no, not at all. It is just that when it gets to the top and stops, hanging you upside down in mid air, there might be, you know, just a bit of a problem.
Oooh, it is going to be fun, all right!

This is not too bad.
umm...humm..yeaah?
Hellooo (waving to a bunch of people on the other slide)
Hee Hee (wondering why those people look familiar)
Wow, hey are they stopping?
Are they? Wow!

The Space Gun at Veega Land was worth all the rides I have ever had in any other amusement park anywhere else and wonderfully, that was not all that there was to it. What was it all about, you say...well, it was nothing much, not more than a group of 17 people, one dts mini bus, one driver and cleaner who presumed anything coming from us to be understood only through signs (even though the person speaking might be a Mallu), one movie and the beginning of another, 10 bottles of beer, raiding of a Pizza Hut outlet, DVDs, excellent breakfast and some heart warming hospitality, water, water and more water.

Starting off with a plan to go sight-seeing in the hills of Wayanad and changed later to a trip to this amusement park in Cochin (it helped that one of the trip planners was from Cochin), this one turned out to be one of the most well-spent tours over the last year or so that I have been here at IIMK. We started off at 4 in the morning and by the time we were through with catching some sleep and the movie "The fast and the furious", we were almost about to reach Cochin.

An excellent breakfast of idli, wada, halwa, chole, and excellent tea at Sandeep Gopal's house was mixed with Bunty's excellent rapport with Sandeep's mother (given her soft spot for Bengal). We reached Veega Land by 11 and honestly speaking, there was nothing happening till then to give any indication of what was about to come.

We started off with dashing cars and all my visits to Appu Ghar and Essel World came back in a flash as each of the group wowed to dash the other cars off the floor. As if dashing the cars around was not enough, we went on to spinning cars and after that came the much discussed by now Space Gun in which I had the fright of my lifetime. I couldn't even place the people waving to me till the last time when I was hanging upside down. It was only then that I realized that they were part of my group and here was this girl from the US, waving to them as if there was no tomorrow while I was hanging tight to my buckle.

The rollercoaster and horror cave were interesting, too (the one boob skeleton witch was particularly hilarious and so was the message in Malayalam telling us that the power had gone off...pray how did they plan to scare non Mallus?) but the best part of the day was still to come and how it did come!

The water rides opened with a bang. After the usual slide, we saw something different and went right ahead to try it. It was a rapid river flowing through five channels with ropes that you had to hang on to if you want your life belt to drag you down the rapid. Oh, what fun! Getting toppled over and toppling people over had never been this interesting.

The Water Rugby (we plan to patent this game and offer it to the Olympic Committee) was up next and the wave pool made sure that we had more than our heart full. As the weaker team (with Sam and Ravi being in the other team) scored 10-6 over the more heavy weight team, it was just the right omen for the waves to come calling. Having been in Chennai for two years, waves were not new to me but being able to go to the source of the waves, knowing fully well that I won't drown was another experience altogether.

Some more rapids and water slides and we were as exhausted as anything and what better to relax us than piercing streams of water. This platform had jets from all sides trying to go right through you while the bucket at the top kept toppling every few moments, pouring sheets of water on those below.

The pizza was something I had been looking forward to for quite some time and so were the DVDs (although I was unfortunate in not being able to get more of Amitabh collections). Some shopping later, we were ready to go into deep slumber, aided for some by the beer bottles and for others by the humming audio of The Bourne Identity which ended even before it started.


 

2 comments:

Paro said...

hey nitai...i agree tht veegaland offers the best thrills this side of the country:)) infact its my fav.....

Nitai said...

and now it is mine, too :-)