The Crazy Ending.

Last time I talked about the beginning of my 10 day long last trip with the wizards. This time Im going to talk about our amazing end to the trip. If Im boring you with all this you can skip this and come back later :) This means sweet nostalgia for all those who were a part of these incidents.

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11th June 2009'.
Location: Dining room of our hotel, Khurpatal. Breakfast time.


The CC's (Comps Chics') are sitting around at the breakfast table, having shaken of some guys after great difficulty :P (Plz! we need GIRLS ONLY timeouts) We sat there discussing WHAT is it with North Indians and Paneer, eating YET another paneer dish and also wondering how come people just dont sleep after eating a breakfast this heavy. I mean our breakfast comprises of Bournvita and Apple slices, maximum some toast, while here we were eating chole bature :P


Me: (glumly poking at my omelet) What yaar guys, the trip is coming to an end.. We didnt do anything fun..
Mona: (firing up) Oh shut up Ta!!! this IS fun!!! (narrowed eyes)
(Mona is extremely touchy about the fact that we all kept comparing the Nainital trip to the previous years Shimla trip which was like WOOOOHOOOO fun!!! She had missed it because she was down with typhoid :( so bad luck)
Me: (retracting) Ufff Na, I mean, we didnt have gossip sessions save the one that happened on the first day. We should plan something.
Mona: (still glowering a little) Like what?
Me: Lets get drunk!!!!! (enthusiastic)
Zai, Varu, Shilpa : Awesomee!!!! great idea!!! so how do we do it!!!
Zai: Didnt xyz (name changed to protect identity :P) have beer last night? Lets go ask him.
Varu : HA HA HA HA!!! lets US go ask HIM? are u mad? :P
Shilpa: (nodding) Lets get drunk.
Mona: Maybe we can ask pqr (xyz'z partner in crime) Hes floored by Zai anyway :P
Zai: HA HA very funny :
Me: Ok so done - Zai get the address of the daaru ki dukaan, in the meantime well decide the plan of action.
Shilpa: (still nodding) Yes Lets get drunk!
Rest of us: Shhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!


*everyone puts head together while Zai successfully gets the daaru ki dukaan ka address. After 10 minutes of deciding all of us wear identical evil grins. :P*



We have formulated this plan - Me and Zai, will slip away from the group while everyone is shopping later that day, and go buy the vodka. Varu, Shilpa, Mona have divided amongst themselves the task of distracting the others and getting the orange juice. When asked by anyone about our absense, me and Zai have gone to buy Cheeries :P

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A few hours later. Mall Road, Nainital.


Team meet . Imagine Mission Impossible music in the background.
Zai: (whispers) Should we go now?
Me: (whispers back) No its too soon now. They will notice us gone.
Karan: (Loudly) Where are you guys going?
Mona: (smoothly) To buy Cheeries.
(We beam at each other, the guys are totally confused)
Varu and Shilpa giggle and wreck the moment :P

It has been decided that we will go boating on the Nainital Lake now.We crib a lot about being in the same duck (they had duck shaped boats) and then ultimately end up in the boats as thus : Me n Mona, Varu n Shilpa, Zai n Karan. And we also decide to hold hands and make our 3 2-seater boats into one 6 seater boat... Conviniently our boats are colored orange white and green :P Soon all people on the lake start taking pictures while we scream and yell and throw water on each other, try to shoot at Anoop (CH - Comps Hunk - SELF Christened :P though we dont disagree :P) and gang with imaginary guns :P I had the distinct feeling that we were going to make it into the headlines of the local news :D

We end up having so much fun on the lake that we almost forget the mission. Its not until, people start breaking away to go buy stuff like show peices and candles (what hello? you go to a place like Nainital and buy CANDLES??!!! I simply fail to get it!) Zai and me are least interested, so we are all set to disappear.

Zai: (whispers) Should we slip away now?
Me: (whispers back) Yes about time. Where are the rest of the girls? They need to cover for us...
(looks around here and there for Mona, Varu and Shilpa.. Spots Mona a few spaces ahead, surronded by CH and his gang, Shilpa and Varu can be heard bargaining for candles (sold 20 a peice :) and shawls from like 10 blocks away :P )

Zai and me depart.
(While 'slipping away') Me: Psssttt... Na! We are goin.. to buy cherries.
Anoop: (loudly) Hey get some for me too!
*imagine glass breaking music in the background. So far this has been anything but secret :P*
Me: (grumbling) GREAT now we will actually have to buy the damned cherries!!

Me and Zai walk around Mall road and finally take a left turn that leads us to a gurudwara and a long lane full of accessories. As expected I stop at everey stall to check out stuff while Zai taps her feet impatiently..

Me: Yeh kitne ka hai Bhaiya.
Bhaiya: 100 ka hai memsaab. Aapke liye 95 mein de dunga.
Me: Kya SHOT de rahe ho! ha! 100 mein aisa 4 aa jayenge!!!
Bhaiya: (wondering what on earth does "shot" mean)
Zai: (tapping feet impatiently while trying to scan the horizon for daaru ki dukaan)

After 10 similiar instances I realise the following things :
-- Shopkeepers in Nainital should be taken to Fashion Street/ Colaba Causeway and taught MANNERS! Hmmmpphh!
-- Eitherways Im great at bargaining :P :D got 4 bracelets for 50 bucks! Yayyy! :P
-- We are LOST! :O

Finally Zai decides to ask a shopkeeper for the right directions.

Shopekeeper: (eagerly recieving us into his pinecones-showpeices dukaan) Madam aapko kya chahiye?
Zai: Yaha pe alcohol kaha pe milta hai?
Shopkeeper: Eh?Kya?
Me: Daaru? Sharaab? Kaha milti hai?
(Shopkeeper looks like he is stuck by lightening. Me and Zai shrug and give each other a look that says "wtf- who-knows-us-here-anyway?!" :P)
Shopkeeper: Aaapko kaunse type ki chahiye? Whiskey chahiye toh yaha pe mil jayegi.
Zai: (business like voice) Humko Vodka chahiye.
Shopkeeper looks tonguetied for a moment and then points us in the right direction.

Me and Zai start walking in the right direction half wondering if at all we ARE in the right direction.

Zai: (exclaiming) Oh this is it! I overheard (xyz) telling someone about this Antiquity signboard.

We turn at the corner and find ourself facing a shady daaru ki dukaan.This place has grills with LOTS of daaru on one side, 2 men inside who look like they have practised selling daaru all their life, and a CRAZY HORDE of men on this side where we stand.

Me: Errm.. Zai .. precisely HOW do we plan on getting in there?
Zai: (drawing money from the bag) You keep a lookout. Ill go buy.

(Imagine MI2 Music.)
After like 30 seconds I get bored of keeping a lookout and decide to go have a look.
The men magically clear the path for me and look at me like I have just crashlanded from Mars.

Zai: (busy arguing with the shopkeeper) Yeh 160 ka kyu hai? Aaapke paas Absolut kitne ka hai? Smirnoff ka bada bottle kitne ka hai?
Me: Buy the big bottle!!
Zai: No! You people will get all drunk and act crazy!
Me: (rolls eyes) You DO know I have had vodka before right? And so has Mona and you *snigger*
Zai: Shilpa and Varu havent so we are buying just one.
Me: Take two!!! pleaseeee!!!!

(Men have a look like their wildest dreams have come true.)

Shopkeeper: (putting out the bigger bottle) This is very cheap madam. And very good also madam.
Zai: (firmly. leaving no room for further discussion) Ek Smirnoff dedo. (a second later) Aapke paas flavoured vodka hai kya?

Men and Shopkeeper : (EH expression) ??!!

Zai: (mutters to herself) Dont even bother.
Me: (does a jig in her head)
Zai: And now we actually go buy cherries

(Calling Mona up)
Me: Where are you? We got the "stuff"
Mona: Oh yayyyyyy!!!!!!!! Errr...We are still at the same place (like 7 kms away :) We are buying candles..
Me: WHAT??!!! YOU ppl are still THERE! Ok come fast. We are like in the middle of nowhere!
Mona: Ya ya we will be there soon!
Zai: (taking the phone) Come fast. We are going to buy cherries now. Meet us here the High Court wala turning. SOON!
Mona: ya ya.. well be there soon.

Me and Zai begin the walk uphill, looking for cherries (which we did get) Orange juice (which we got after a LOT of searching) and Soda.

I stop to recharge, and make an ISD call that finishes off all my balance. Im grinning as I walk towards the spot we were going to wait. And realise people are looking at us in a weird manner. It is SHIT cold and getting wet in the Nainital lake is making me freeze double bad. It doesnt help that the lamp overhead isnt working, people practically STARING at us, even stopping on the other side of the road, and Zai happens to dislike navycut.

Finally Zai calls up Ron and Anoop in a frantic voice demanding they come and rescue us. After a long wait of almost half an hour we see the two hunks come jogging uphill and the rest of the idiots folllowing them from behind. They come and like nice guys take off their windshis and give to us and shoo away all the rowdy people who had accumulated there.

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Back in the hotel room.
Around 12.00 AM.

Everyones nicely dressed in warm cozy clothes after having taken a hot water bath which feels like heaven, I shoo the people out of the room for a while and have my own timeout, Varu comes in just as I was resting idly switching channels between MTV and VTV. Lying beside me she says 'Lets rest for a while and then we will get drunk'. I agree and close my eyes.

The next thing I know is that Im opeing my eyes to our last day in Nainital. I wake up and realise yesterday night everyone was too exhausted to touch all the maal we got!!! :P

I walk over to the bathroom grinning as the others are just waking up to me singing 'I love you.. Im not gonna crack...' :D (Thats Lithium - Nirvana incase you didnt know :P)

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-Annie.
P.S: We are probably the only girls for whom the process of BUYING alcohol was more fun than actually having it (which we did the next night! :D).

P.P.S: Thresholds of getting drunk :
Zai is drunk if she is throwing down JOKERS while playing RUMMY :P
Mona is drunk if she is dancing like mad, jumping up and down on the bed, to "Kyaaaa huaaaa joooo Larrrriiiii chooootiiiii..."
Varu is drunk if she is screeching "Theres something in my haiiirrrrr!!!!"
Shilpa is drunk if she is demanding more shots in high pitched voice.
AND...
Annie is drunk if she is pointing to everyone present and saying 'youuuu areeee drunkkkk!!!! I ammmm nottttt drunkkkk'!
(in my defence this is the rest of the CC's description of me. I DONT get drunk even with 7 neat shots down and I have people who will vouch for that! HA! :P)