Life over the weekend or how small towns never change...

Decided to throw caution to the wind and make mockery of my previous post by actually going out of bangalore for a couple of days. Classmates from college were getting married... to each other so that seemed like a nice enough reason to run for the hills. Seashore rather but run anyway. So did the usual anal list making and last minute damn-i-forgot-my-extra-undies- panic act and finally got onto a bus to le Pondicherry. Now what's really disturbing is the policy KSRTC has on its air-conditioned buses. For the less knowledgeable, KSRTC is Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and for the slightly more enlightened but still not quite where it's at, they have a/c buses now. Not just in the city (almost got run over by one), but between cities too. But be warned as the a/c only works for the first hour and half or so. By which you are to be asleep. If you aren't, or if you're the type who doesn't really enjoy sleeping in a pool of sweat, have fun. But the upside is that its cheap (and so am I) and they give free water and a blanket (QED).
so reached Pondicherry at some ungodly hour, found my deja-vu-esque tea shops open with a recognisable face manning the kettle. Tea and a few hours later (including a pongal vadai which if I start waxing eloquent about i'll probably never stop) I found myself on a non airconditioned rattling death trap to chennai/madras. It turns out, surprisingly that its still impossible to live in that city without air conditioning. I'm not sure why I thought it would be possible, just one more delusion down the drain. But never fear, I have the aliens, the paranormal, the Matrix and a heady dose of mythology to still keep me going. To cut the story short, attended the reception in a shiny red shirt that... this is the important part - my Dad bought. It's not a shirt I would be caught dead buying but I have to admit it wasn't so bad. The other good thing that happened at the wedding, besides the fact that the bride and groom got hitched without a hitch was this bar that was making a really neat lemon juice-sugar syrup-vodka thing called an 'Ibruzo'.
Back in Pondy the next day and the first thing I see are these larger than life sculptures of human heads and upper chests, one smiling with a helmet the other not-so-smiling with a scalp gash and blood on his face. I'm still laughing about that.
The key to a happy existence in a place as small and as boring after a week as pondicherry is a simple cheap thrill philosophy. Food (beef biryani at JA Arcot Biryani Centre, near Muruga Theatre, Rajiv Gandhi Circle) that despite inflation costs Rs. 10/- (it was 6 6 years ago...). Drink that has changed in the last eight years (nannari - extracted from the root of Hemidesmus indicus, and MGM apple vodka that still can be procured for less than Rs. 15/- for 60mL). A friend's airconditioned house (that's not cheap but what the hell, and friend if you're reading this, thank you). Good music, a couple of good mindless movies (Underworld Evolution and Constantine) and I just had a holiday!
Returned by sleeper bus. Which is a trip in itself... and now back to the wonderful world of bangalore... Back to being quietly amused.

PS found a brand of instant puliyogare mix called 'Dhideer'. for those who understand hope you laughed as much as I did... for those who didn't knowing more languages isn't a bad thing.

PPS Oneliners on a really pesky dude who landed in Houston for his masters - Houston, you have a problem. And Kansas for his residency - Kansas is going bye bye... courtesy the ill humored bunch.