My trip to Goa with two……..

Rrrrrrrr……..rrrrrrr…… my phone started vibrating. I was attending this extremely boring “induction” programme, conducted for new joiners by my employer, on a Friday. Torn between the desire to sleep till the programme ends and to get out of the hall, I stepped outside the hall wondering who’s the caller, since the number was not stored in my phone book.

“Hello” I said

“Hello Nrupesh, this is Kapil from Valuation. You need to go to Goa for a week with two others for an assignment.”

The phrase “Goa for week” transported me directly to the beaches of Goa, bikini clad women, water sports and what not. What Kapil said next I don’t remember, but I exactly recollect my responses….. “hmmmm”, “ok”, “achha”, “sure”.

Have you read Lemony Snicket’s “A series of unfortunate events”? Even if you haven’t read it, the title is suggestive enough. Little did I know that sleeping would have been a much better option than taking the call.

With the tickets in my hand on Saturday, I was all set to go to Goa. I got another call from Kapil and he explained me that I have to accompany an engineer and an architect and my work would involve only coordinating with client, which seemed to increase my anticipation multifold..... little work means more time to spare and that too in Goa. “It is too good to be true Nrupesh”, the pessimistic in me tried to warn me but I paid little heed to it.

I landed at Goa on Monday morning. My colleagues who were flying in from Coimbatore, were to join me in an hour. I was waiting outside the airport reading a book when somebody tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and my eyes met an elderly man in a safari suit, who I vaguely remember seeing him somewhere, but couldn’t place him at that moment.

“Are you from ABC consulting?” He asked

“Yeah” I replied, a little puzzled

“I am Manikant, K.L Manikant” he said as if that solved the puzzle. I know that I am quite popular in Hyderabad and wouldn’t be astonished if something of this sort had happened there. But was I that popular in Goa too? Unlikely. The only dreaded logical conclusion I could jump to was that he was one of my colleague. He was rotund and spoke with authority which would make a lesser man cower behind the suitcase. Trusting my logical ability, I said

“Hello Mr. Manikant, I am Nrupesh. Where is Mr……….”

“Mr. Mohit is with the luggage trolley. Where is our mode of transportation?”

How the hell would I know where our “mode” is? I said I would search for the placards and then comeback in a moment. There were no placards with our names on and that I conveyed it to Mr. Manikant who was now flanked by another elderly person, who could be none other than Mr. Mohit. Mr. Mohit was exactly the opposite of Mr. Manikant, not exactly “Laurel and Hardy” types, but close enough. I was not mistaken when he greeted me, his “hello” was similar to a “hello” spoken from a flawed flute, as opposed to the booming “I am Manikant”. I called up Kapil and our “mode” was going to be a little late. We waited in silence for the vehicle. “One week in Goa with two oldies for company” snickered my pessimistic friend. “But its Goa dude” assured my optimistic pal.

Within 20 minutes, I was nestled in the front seat of an Indica with the relics in the back seat.

“How far is the hotel from here?” I asked the driver expecting it to be not more than half an hour.

To this question the driver replied somewhat confused “We are going to the Company guest house sir. Its in Karwar in Karnataka, 120 Km from here and will take at least 2.5 hrs because the road is not good as it used to be a month back”

To be continued…..