After a loooong time.. after the loooong weekend...

Thittam:

This easter weekend was the longest weekend for me after coming to UK. Couldn’t really imagine sitting at home on all the 4 days.Thats when the Lake district plan took shape. It was a pretty good learning right from the word go.. One of my team mates took care of the car booking as I was not really aware of the intricacies involved in it. Instead I took on to booking youth hostels for our entire trip….After a bit of brainstorming on which place to visit,we decided on Lake district. Initially we had planned to go to Scotland but due to unavailability of the preferred youth hostels, we decided on Lake district..

Lake district is a scenic location some 300 miles from London. For more details on this place,visit http://www.lake-district.com/
It was almost too late as all the hostels were fully booked atleast the private rooms. But somehow managed to get a dorm accommodation at 2 places Langdale and Matlock.Finally this is wat the iternary read:

Friday:
9:00 am leave from home to Lake district.
2:00 pm---Reach lake district and go around for sometime
5:00 pm—find the way to the Langdale Youth hostel

Saturday:
Go around Lake district and return to Langdale for a peaceful sleep

Sunday:
10:00 am—leave Langdale and drive towards Manchester.
1:00 am – reach Manchester and go around the city for sometime
3:00 am – head towards Matlock for a night’s break

Monday:
10:00 am —Leave Matlock and travel to Sherwood Forest
1:00 pm— Reach Sherwood forest and meet Robin Hood
3:00 pm---Start the return journey back to London

I wouldn’t say the journey went exactly as planned. In fact it sometimes went so awry that we even started wondering if we ll complete the trip as scheduled and reach in time atleast for next day’s work!!

But it did go very well..some last minute changes going well….Of course we had to miss Oxford University as we were a bit late to start on Friday.Otherwise it was almost perfect….

Payanigal:
The 5 of us:
Mainak
Vishal
Moazzam
Sandeep
And urs truly..
Were all set to travel after getting all the required stuffs.. We had also planned to cook our own food in the youth hostels. So the previous day, we got all the vegetables,rice, coke,juice,munchies and some mouth-watering deserts( ya, my favourite black forest pastry and chocolate fudge was on the list)

Payanangal mudivadhillai..
It would begin in the next blog…..

Time to say goodbye to 32,Connaught Avenue

Things are happenning.. Its been an eventful week..but its not the ghooming act this time.. Its a thought process I was trying to show direction......

First of all.. I got this pretty cool mobile Nokia 6111 after 3 months of stay in UK without a mobile.. Ya.. its already 3 months I came here.. Sometimes it looks pretty long... sometimes pretty short.. overall its been good.. and experiences here kept re-instating the fact that life goes on.. come what may...Had decided not to put in any distasteful events in the previous blogs as the excitement was manifest in them... but cant keep this blog in my mind's draft folder for long.. the story is now a flashback..

But sometimes I am amazed at how things could turn around.. one day i am very happy and the next day.. it seems like the world would end.. But life has to go on.. it must... and it did for me..

As weekend would usually be,it was a game of cricket on saturday and badminton on sunday. Its becoming a bit banal..isnt it? but wont let this happen.. weekends got to be different.. even though the usual is still good and interesting.. the unusual is a touch better( atleast for the blog.. )

Mainak, a teammate came from India joined me in our room this weekend. And ya.. the interesting part is we ll now be 9 ppl in the room for the next 20 days.. difficult it would be.. but its all a part of life.. 32,connaught avenue is all set to be vacated by us.. It had become a nightmare during those heater-less days.. More so for my roomies.. after the most unfortunate event that happenned.. before i moved in......

Ever wondered how I suddenly landed in this place? With people i have not known at all..and at the right time.. here is fate's version....

I came to know of this place from a family friend's friend. He just asked me to pay a visit to his friend's place when he was there. It was a Friday evening,almost 3 months before,20th January to be exact. I somehow managed to find out that place in Hounslow. The friend of Sashi( my family friend in Cardiff),Ramesh and his friend..(hope its not confusing.. ) came to pick me up from the bus stop and accompanied me to this place.. 32,....

When i went in,lots of friendly people were around... boozing.. smoking.. but all were pretty friendly to me.. Ramesh asked me if it was ok for me to stay there.. Why would i say no.. It was a mini India .. andhra to be specific.. after i went in i never felt i was in a foriegn country.. So i immediately said yes.. and got introduced to each one of them... a truely multifarious working group..
Anil.. a technical project manager... who was my roomie till mainak came..
Malla Reddy.. a bio medical engineer..in and out of temporary jobs..
Bala.. working in a betting company...
Vamsi.. the lab assistant..in an analytics lab..
Madhav.. a night shift-er at a huge supermarket...
Shiva.. a job seeker.. now in India,all set to get married on the 14th of this month..

Ok.. good that now I have a place.. but how?
I asked shiva.. "How come there is place for me just when I land here? "
Shiva had said.. " A friend of ours left..."
"Oh,then I am here at the right time.. isnt it? " I said
Shiva and Ramesh were feeling uncomfortable at that.. Well,, what could it be??
Oh my god.. the memory bell rang.. quite hard..

Sashi had told me.. "Ramesh has come from Newport to London for this weekend. His roomie's friend had expired.. so he has come to London to send him in Cargo to India.."

Shit!!! Now i know why they felt uncomfortable.. I asked..Ramesh.. "Sashi meant THIS room friend who just expired?"

A sad nod seemed to indicate that I had come to replace this guy who died. But actually I never hesitated to move in.. Whats there.. it happens sometimes.. So thats how it would be.. I was to share the room with anil.. occupy the position of Kalyan.. the guy who passed away the day i came to London and was sent to India the day I joined the room...

I never said this to anyone till date as it would unneccesarily frighten them..

Two days later I shifted with all my belongings.. and then one day I asked Anil about this guy Kalyan. He was working in a gas station and had some ear infection which he dint pay heed to.After 4 months it had slowly affected the brain and by the time he took it serious and went to the doctor it was almost too late.. The surgery which the doctors performed was a success for a week and then one fine day.. he never woke up to see the day.. Anil was saying.. he was a very quiet guy.. and recollected.. i just remember.. he was right here sleeping a month ago.. and it was right here he slept on the night after which he never woke up. He was pointing to where I was lying listening to the story!! I immediately asked the question which would ve come to anyone s mind at that moment.. "Is that contagious? You said its an infection?" He said.. it was not contagious as that was the question they also had asked the doctor the day he came to know of it. Generally ear infections are not contagious it seems. Thank god.. Of course i value dear life..

It was a tough time for my roomies. Its easy to replace someone who shifted the place. But it was difficult for me to replace someone who was dead. I would never be a replacement for them.. for a lost life.. but still they were good to me.. teaching all the things i need to know which are different from the way of life in India.. Right from using the bathtubs and toilet papers to places to visit in London.. they were always there to help..

Its time i got this story out as its time for us to bid adieu to this mysterious yet memorable place..
32,Connaught Avenue
Hounslow
TW4 5BW