Day 0 and 1: the 22nd and 23rd of November

We greeted the day of departure after a sleepless night. Unni, Manu, Afsal, Ajay and I (niby couldn't make it) got together at the place we had rented for the last 3 years of our college life. It was a beautiful night. Our friend Sethu joined us all the way from ernakulam after a busy day of work. The plans for the day had already been made. We would cook ourselves a fantastic dinner, play some cards and chat senselessly before we met again the next day. And of course, i would be allowed my pint of beer.
We were to reach our place by 12 noon, buy the necessary stuff and start cooking by 6pm. Well, as luck would have it, not everything worked out as planned. I managed to get my ATM card holding all my tour money blocked, that day. All my shares, which i was supposed to sell before the tour crashed. I hadn't started packing. And the errands at home, that i was supposed to take care of wasn't yet done. And last, but most significantly, the LDF had declared harthal in Idukki, on the day to protest the arrest of M.Mani. So, Unni(our chef) and Manu were trapped. But finally, by about 5, we managed to get together.
We had chosen Unni's brother's place as the site of our culinary experiments. The cooking ware was obtained from my home. Chicken fry, Noodles, ready-made Chapathi and Pepsi formed the Menu. And of course, my pint of Tuborg. Unni and Sethu, who was supposed to be our guest, did most of the work, while the rest of waited impatiently. Finally, the dishes were prepared and we stuffed ourselves as much as our tummies would allow us( having a bigger than average tummy presents with certain advantages during such times).
My plan was to return home, pack my stuff for the tour, get a goodnight's sleep and handle the errands the next day. But the night was good and the pointless chatter and laughter went on and on and so it was decided that i would spend the night there, at our place. But before we went to bed, we decided to play one of our favorite card games "least count". The clock showed 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. Only then did the yawns begin. Having lived with myself for the past 24 years and having fairly enough accurate knowledge of my habits, i promptly declared that I would rather not sleep because I had to wake up early the next day.My friends, who are always keen on weird ideas promptly took it up and so we didn't sleep till it was 6, when i finally went home.
At home, i realized how much I had to do before I reported at the railway station at 2pm. I hadn't even started my packing. I had stuff to buy. I had to go to my bank and transfer the money to an account with a working ATM card. I had to give my bike to Joe, who agreed to take care of it while I was gone. And to shit things up, it started raining. Somehow, I managed to get it all done, with a lot of help from my mom.
At 1pm, Manu came to my place, left his bike there and my parents dropped the two of us at the station. Rony's Mom and sis had also come to the station to see us off. All of us were visibly excited. And some opf us, severely sleep deprived. And one of us already missing Kottayam. And so, at 2:30 pm on the 23rd of November, we boarded our train, the Kerala express and our journey began. Once inside the train, i slept off, only to woken up to play cards and to have dinner.
Our ticket status was confirmed only for 10 berths. So, the 13 of us had to share 10 berths. Having a bigger than average tummy, again proved to have some advantages and I slept that night on the upper birth while 6 of us shared their 3 berths. And so we gave rest to our already tired bodies.