Nat AGM - Tr. K J Santosh - RT 162

Dear Friends.,

The Goa AGM was one of the most memorable days which will go down permanently in my memory lane for a very long time to come.

I had just no idea where I was heading to since I had not attended a RTI AGM at all. What fascinated me was the destination was Goa with some "co-tablers". It had been quite sometime since I was away from work, therefore it was a worthwhile idea to chill it out with family for a few days before Pongal. Since I did not want to be left away from the crowd, I had asked Prem on the schedule he was fixing for his Goa trip and the next day there was his email with flight details and the car journey he was to take between Chennai to Bangalore and return. I made my schedule exactly as per his except for the second holiday to Yercaud which he was to undertake.

A pre- Goa meet was arranged for the already revved up crowd at Prem's place with Dolly making some authentic Goan dishes to suit the programme like Calamari, Fried Rice etc. As usual it was the laughter combined with booze which started with us making plans to cancel the train tickets of Joops, Shri and all of us driving down on the 12th night, staying at one of my known villas over bonfire and booze. Shri was at his usual best trying to convince Vani that we take the night drive. Anyway, the pre Goan dinner ended up without anything much to finalize but the usual blabbering on things most unusual and unachievable. This was quite obvious since Joops and Shri stuck to their original schedules and Prem and myself were to drive to Bangalore and thenon to take the noon flight alongwith the entire troupe: Destination Goa.

So the next day morning, I recd a wake up call from Joopz at 4 in the morning. We got ready and Prem and me were to meet at Motel Highway at 5. Prem was late by 30 mins so my wife thought that we should have breakfast so we ordered up some steaming idlis and Boost (for the energy required) and as we were in the final stages of gobbling up the last pieces, I heard Prem's Toyota roar into the parking lot. "Come fast KJ , we are late already, just pick up 2 mineral bottles he said". With these 2 water bottles in hand I went up to his car when I convinced him to have breakfast and then scoot. Having finished breakfast we left for Bangalore. The car journey was fun as usual with all the children in my car dancing, singing, popping up their small, beautiful heads up the sun roof and enjoying the cool breeze.

So we were into the Airport at 11:30 when me and Prem parked into the parking lot. I thought we were comfortably in 2 hours before the scheduled departure time of 1:35 PM. Little did I know about the high drama which was to just unravel. As soon as we parked we asked the security guys how much was it for parking the car for 4 days and he said it would be around Rs.1800 per car totalling Rs.3600 !!!!!!!! Prem was definitely not comfortable with this. The time now was 12:15. Prem was now dialling up all his contacts in Bangalore as to whether we could park at his place. Infact he was found asking some tablers as "I am not comfortable with the security at the parking lot so we need a place somewhere to park nearby", I just could not hold up my laughter when someone told a somewhat dismayed Prem that he should pay another 100-200 bucks extra to the security so that he could look after the cars well. At around 12:40 we recd a call from Rajiv Ramamurthy who confirmed that we could park at The Park Hotel, Bangalore. So Prem and me were whizzing up to The Park and we arrived at 1:05. It was sweet on Rajiv to come out, recieve us, arrange transport back to the airport. So we just left the keys and whizzed back in the hotels cab. When we arrived we were smiling since we arrived at 1:28. As we entered the boarding gate, the Spice guys were politely scorning us such as "Where where you guys". The gate was already closed and since the bus was not there, we started to run to the aircraft where I could see the pilots angry face. We were in our seats and at 1:32 and because of the two of us the flight was delayed by 10 minutes. Goes to say that 162 ers can even stop a flight if they wish to !!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived in Goa in good shape and memories. After an hour of drive from Vasco Airport and registrations to the AGM we finally arrive at Calangute where Govenia Holiday Hotel was situated. As we entered we found that none of our names figured in the list of rooms alloted. Joopsz really organized the entire group as well as those for to arrive and we quickly settled in with our families. After a short nap we were all ready for the Hippie party that night. At the hippie party it was easy to recognize the tired faces and the main topics of discussion on the beach front were comparisons to previous AGM's in Mumbai and Kolkata. The entire group really looked like a group of hippies with their long kurtas imprinted with Om all around.

The next day the AGM was to start and the Quorum was establised around 11 AM. Prem and Sunil were the delegates for 162 at the AGM and they had done very well in making it known that 162 had arrived. After 2 hours at the AGM, Shriganesh and Shriram suggested that we leave the place and buy a few beers. When we went down the bar was closed so we went about to a nearby provision store and bought about 6 beers , Budweiser @Rs. 25 each. After, exactly half an hour we were found buying 6 more. With beers in hand we entered the AGM and were witness to the many awards presented to 162 and I was given the Bob Chandran's award which was indeed a motivating experience !!!!! Prem was to take care of the main door and Joopsz had loads of cash with him collected from tablers all over India, which finally he revealed that the final tally was about a lakh of rupees.

After lunch, Shri-G (SG), Shri-R (SR) and me planned to go out to the Baga beach nearby as it was thought that the AGM would be boring. As we stepped out of the AGM we hired a Bajaj Avenger and a Hero Honda Bike. We drove back to our hotel to change. When we arrived we found our ladies were all ready for the beach too, and they had with them an open top Gypsy and a Santro. SG later decided that he had to catch up on some sleep with all the beers inside him, so SR and my self decided to go with the ladies and kids to Baga beach. There at the beach we found Sanjay and Latha too. The kids were at their best frolicking in the silent, soft waves and the ladies were busy with foot massages, tattoing etc. SR, Sanjay, Dundoo, Urmila, Varsha, Samyuktha (Thitha,SR's daughter) and myself were taken into a motor boat after which each of us were seen parasailing. Returning back we did a lot of Jet skiing. Unfortunately or is it fortunately, my jet ski went out of diesel in the middle of the ride and the ski toppled and the waves brought me back to the shore. Again, after a couple of beers we were back at our hotel to get ready for the evening party at Titos.

Titos was simply memorable. All of us for the initial round had some beers or Bacardi with us after which I lost count of the situation, since blood alchohol level for many of us was on the rise. All 162 ers did an amazing jig at the dance floor. Sunil was always found at the Tequila Bar gulping down shots of Tequila with lime and salt. He was also inviting loads of his acquaintances to try out this zing thing. I found the situtaion toooooo much after sometime and at around 2AM slept off in a sofa nearby with my mask on so that passerbys wouldnt recognize me. SG came at around 3 AM woke me up and the group was ready to leave. Joopz was to take control of the Santro. As he pressed on to the ignition, he reversed and smashed into the motorbikes parked behind the car. Enough was enough for Prem and he politely removed Joopz from the drivers seat to occupy it himself. I was enthralled by the steadiness of Prem as he drove us back to the hotel at 4. At the hotel, I remembered that I had not had dinner so myself and SG took the Bajaj Avenger and drove back to Titos, had dinner or was it breakfast ??????? and came back to the hotel at 5 AM after a very chilly drive.

Met the entire crew at Breakfast at 09:30 AM after catching up on some sleep. The AGM continued. After some time at the AGM, again SG,SR and myself decided to explore Goa. So we started off on our bikes. We went to Panjim for some sightseeing by the beach, had a couple of beers and drove down the pictorious highway to Vasco. SR remembered that he had a friend nearby (the Khemkas of NEPC group), so called him and were invited to his place for a sumptuous lunch. As we entered the luxurious villa, we found pigeons all around and Mr.Khemka was feeding them. He took us to his balcony and we could see the entire Goa from there. He ordered for some Biriyani, fish and some beers. He had a lovely swimming pool, jacuzzi and all the frills that accompany a Portuguese heritage villa. After lunch and some discussions on Goa we again drove back. We had done around 120 kms on our bikes for that journey and on the way, SR and myself were caught by the cops as we had no helmets. SG escaped. We payed a Goa salutation fee of Rs.100 to him and we were back on the highway.

We were back at the hotel, got ready for the President's Banquet at La Calypso. The Ultra formals theme had been dropped and TRS and CRS could come in any attire right from bermudas' to banians. It was so nice to see Prem at the dias getting awards on behalf of 162. Abba was great and all around were jiving around to some great numbers. We collected a lot of beers for the coupons remaining and ready to be consumed for the next day. We left after a nice evening and great food.

Next day we relaxed and time flew fast. I was with the kids for a swim. Just before long Sunil and Urmila were checking out of the hotel. A feast was organized for the afternoon and we feasted like hungry lions on Prawns, Chicken, Fish, Mutton with Beers and Breezers around. Before long SG & family checked out and we too were out by 5 PM for our flight to Bangalore and thenon to Chennai. We bid adieu to holidayers, Joopsz,Shriram and their respective families.

GOA WAS GREAT AND SO WAS 162 AND 162 ERS. RECORDED IN MY MEMORY CHIP4EVER. WL NOT FORGET:

JOOPZ for : "Laid back destination", organizing capacity
PREM for: his passion for Tabling and attending AGM
SUNIL for: his Tequilla and Indicators on the Gypsy on that trip to some forests nearby
SHRIRAM for: his cool nature
SHRIGANESH for : his "NAAN MANASTHAN YA" and "ANDHAKALATHU JEE"

For investigations on this contact the individual directly and not on GOOGLE GROUPS.

All in all GOA was GREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREAT
GREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREAT
GREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Regards,