And then there were Seven

Ufff!
It has been a planning marathon. For the last two weeks, we have made plans after plans, some new, some updating, some scraping, and finally some changing so much, it looked like new ones.

Ever since I got to know that I had a extended weekend holiday (credit to Republic Day), my mind was reeling with holiday possibilities. With 6 months of constant exams, I was so desperate to go out, I started asking everyone I knew, for a trip.

Ravi (IIM-A 1st year student), one of my closest friends was here for the New Year, and that was when the plan to do a Goa trip started. It was a long cherished dream of me, Bala, Srinath and Ravi. Initially we wanted to do this trip, with just the four of us. Since Ravi would be joining us in Goa directly from Ahmedabad, the rest of us decided to do this the 'Dil Chata Hai' way. Driving to Goa would be in itself an experience to remember. Till then it was FOUR.

Driving in my SX4 would mean there would be 2 vacant seats for the journey. This would imply extra cost per head. So we decided to call up common friends to join us. First it was Atul who gave the thumbs up. Then we were FIVE.

Viji and Naga decided to hold back their response and kept us guessing. Pnadey initially gave a thumbs up. So there were SIX.

Naga finally succumbed to the temptations and caved in. So there were SEVEN :-) . By this time we had ditched our plans to travel by my SX4. 6 grown men and a giant, even my SX4 cant handle that :-(. We had started to pursue other modes of transport. Self driven SUV's, Taxi's, Train and even Bus. Bus was unanimously ruled out. The waiting list in train was shocking. And to our surprise the Tatkal was also not available. So that was ruled out. Since it was our dream to drive to Goa, we pursued the Self driven vehicle concept till the end. But it turned out to be a costly affair. The rent itself was Rs 3000/- per day. This excluding the petrol bill. Although I was a bit disappointed, our only option was a taxi.

By now, even Viji was tempted to come. So there were EIGHT. But unfortunately Pandey had other commitments, so he had to drop out :-(. Finally there were SEVEN of us, six of us approaching Goa from Bangalore and one coming from Ahmedabad.

In between there were plans to go to Dandeli. That was scraped. The Gokarna part was planned, re-planned, scraped and again planned. The much hyped Goa part has had lots of planning. Hope it lives up to its expectations.

The planning itself has been so eventful. My eyes are gleaming, dreaming of the sunshine and sand.