So, when Shila asked me if I would accompany her to Chennapatna to attend her friend's wedding...I didnt think tooo much...
*1stly....It was just the thing I had always wanted!!...only difference being that I got dropped by my early morning office cab to Mysore Road....n another KSRTC bus took me out on my outing:)
**2ndly....tho I didnt know Shila's friend...I was pretty sure that they wud know me...thanks to Shila:)
***3rdly...I actually took a half day off...to do all this:)
Our journey to Chennapatna had Shila talking non-stop.....there were times when I thought I should stop the bus and buy her some water:)....but it was her moral responsibility to entertain me :)...n to buy me toys in return for my valuable company:)
We reached the place even before the bride made her entry to the mantap...n ended up watching all the rituals from near start to finish:)...It was ...I think...the 1st wedding in recent times....where v actually watched a wedding in progress.....n ofcourse Shila's friend was my friend after all:)
Shila did keep her promise and got me some wonderful toys....all of them were extremely colorful n artistic.....
After getting back to work, I had not a clue that Chenna part 2...was not 2 far off...
Wat I meant by Chenna part 2...is pretty simple....a mere suggestion by a genius of a brain[Now u know who I am talking abt:)]....to visit Chennapatna to buy toys for children from the funds collected for Chrysallis gifting...
Praveena, Deivanai, Sudha n me ended up travelling together..on our mission to get the best possible toys and deals!!
I remember having a whale of a time laughing....n listening to Sudha's tales on her many experiences in Japan, US n Germany....n not to forget the IISc incident...
She was actually describing her study years at IISc and about how unconnected u can get ..with the rest of the world...when u r deep into ur research...n about waking up one day and walking down to the canteen...n finding everything around her empty and silent...only to realize that a national holiday had been declared:)
V land in Chennapatna...n end up driving around in circles ...to locate the shop...Shila n me had been to a week ago....to get our toys....But it was a good thing..v lost our way:)
V actually stopped at a point n asked an old granny to point us to a toy factory....I think she pointed to her left n right...as the place is like flooded with toy factories...
She then offered to take us to a godown, where they had like.....5 or more huge truckloads of toys piled in different boxes....n where they very kindly let us hunt for the kind of toys v were looking for...
V bought pretty cautiously and after about an hour when the final billing was done..v had only got stuff for 3000 bucks...n v had another 9000 more to go...
Thats when v went a lil berserk:)....n sometimes ended up buying huge quantities of all that he had in the godown...
After making our purchases, v stopped by at Kamat for lunch...only to discover that Praveena n me had a Ekadashi on the very same day...so no rice...no onions....not too many options available on that joladha roti oota ...very famous in that part of the world...
V settled for Joladha roti n chutney...while I cudnt stop myself from envying the food on the other's platter:)
After reaching B'lore....v almost gatecrashed:) to Sudha's house n got to meet her mother......who had us in splits with her talk:)
Gift wrapping toys for 748 children is no small task....but ya...my friends made it seem all easy:)
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