Smokies-Awesome Trip-II

6. They don't call him the 'Silent Killer' for naught. Mallikarjun
Basavarajappa might sound like the name of a righteous prince, but
this character has a rogue written all over him in invisible ink. I am
tempted to pit his 'ey, chaddi nikal' as the trip's greatest, but I
must go with the prodigiously pedestrian soliciting act of
'Chaai-eyyy, Chai-eyyy" on our ride back. Its a pity Venky never
witnessed it, but Mallik got as close to the quintessential railway
train chaiwalla as anyone could get. He's one of those guys whose
assured of a job back home just in case this great country called
Unforgiving Stockpile of Assholes decides to render us poor PhD
candidates jobless. Mallik - you are just one heck of an entertainer,
man :)
7. And last, but certainly not the least. He was the behind-the-scenes
guy in this trip who brilliantly helped our casanova chauffer navigate
into, through, and out of the moutains. Abhishek seemed quite in
control of his senses and came across as the jolly good guy - but only
until a playback of Jim Morrison's Gloria revealed the carnal mad man
hiding inside ;) From the rear seat, I was silently witnessing his
gradually broadening grin when Jim crooned, 'you make me feel so
good..you make me feel awriiiiiiiite'. But as Densmore the drummer
dragged the sexual pace of the song and Jim went on to his famous
lines, "wrap your legs around my neck / wrap your arms around my
feet", our navigator par excellence now lost all direction of his
senses in sheer disbelief. "Oooooooooooooooooooh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan"
he yelled and his laughter transformed into an uncontrollable fit. His
legs were flying in air, hands on tummy, and eyes skywards - all
emotions exemplying uncontrolled lustful mirth. Venky summed you up
rightly during our mutual moment of quiet: he said, "yeh Abhishek
bahut chilled out sahi banda lagta hai" :)

Thanks guys, for making this one of the most memorable of all the five
summers I've spent here..:)))

Cheers,
Santosh.

No one better than Santhosh could capture the right tone and the feeling of our trip.

Chetan has uploaded the pictures here

Smokies - Awesome Trip-I

This is what Santhosh Vijayakumar has to say about our Trip to Smoky Mountains, Tennesse.


What a terrific weekend. A bunch of 6 gung-ho lunatics, 1 sole voice
of sanity, a never-seen-before opulent cabin shrouded in the mountain
jungles, liquor, cigars, river rafting and chopper rides - if I were
Steven Soderbergh, I'd make a top grosser called Mountains Seven. As I try to recover from scattered sleep, fast food, and rounds of epileptic laughter, here's seven moments from our trip I can never forget:

1. Let's start with yours truly! It will HAVE TO be my undie jumping
into the jacuzzi pool on the patio. With sparse dry hair that would
put any opium-ridden sadhu in the Ganges to shame, and a bod that can best be described as an advertisement for a crusade against first-world malnutrition, I unfurled my physical magic into the mountains. And I could really see even the forest birds turn to look the other way, poor them. However, I doff my soiled grey hat to each one of you for ridding me off my inhibition :)

2. This time the scene's the pool, again. But the protagonist is our
good ole' master jester Venky whose almost-nude pelvic thrusts to my
sporadic rendition of Radheshyam Rasiya's Aaja Aaja Aaja will remain
unparelleled in Smoky Mountain's history of performing arts . For
those who missed the grand recital, Venky rose from inside the pool
waters like a belly dancer sworn to seduction. He then thrusted,
gyrated and shook in wild rhythm as mounds of happy, wet flesh
smothered the air of the hills only to be interrupted by his insane
chuckle. We can't imagine the trip without you dude :)

3. The man liveth the moment. And you can see it. We're talkin of post
chopper-ride stylist, none other than Chaddi aka Chetan. I would pay a
million bucks (okay I agree I exaggerated that by a million times) to
watch his almost triumphant war pilot kind of gait after he jumped off
the chopper's gruelling blades. With dark shades in tow, a rugged
jacket, and classy vintage cargo shorts, we were all witness to Chaddi
playing desi Top Gun on that almost allegorical scene - a yellow dusty
evening and a proud, handsome lad off a successful sortie - the only
difference was Tom Cruise came with a halo of chicks, our man arrived
with a halo of chic beans ;) Your planning and execution of the whole
trip was immaculate dude :)



From Left to Right: Abhishek Mahnot,Venky Jagannathan, ,Santhosh Vijayakumar, Dr.Mallikarjuna Basavarajppa, Dr.sivakumar Gowda, Aswin Garimella, Dr.Chetan wasekar.

4. Next up, the one calming influence on the whole trip, Mr. Gowda.
After all the rash rafting and traveling, Mr. Gowda's marathon
chronicle of chapatis will be unforgettable for times to come.
Kneading the dough with seasoned, toughened palms, and changing them from small brown globes to smooth, flat wheat discs, Mr. Gowda went about his task with unbelievable obsession - a count of nearly 80 chapatis tells the tale. His various deputies (Mallik, Ashwin, and at one stage myself ) came and went, but he remained the sole point of patience in that night's dinner gig. Saludos, Mr. Gowda, I bet none of
us could blend into a group of loud yuppies as effortlessly as you did
:)

5. We have all been witness to Thalai's (Aswin) bursts of exuberance ;) each
one memorable in their own way, but none would rank as highly on my
list of favorites as his frenetic exhibition around the pool table on
Night 1. When each of us rookie poolies in the opposing team were
struggling to meddle the balls, Thalai reveled in our misery. As soon
as he figured he would get a cue ball for his turn, he would break
into an exotic, ecstatic dance of thrill and victory, jumping and
yelling, "cue, cue, cue!!!!!", inspired probably the Anyako Atsia
tribe. You're a great sport, dude :)

Continued.............