The noise was basically the toothbrush falling out of my shirt pocket, bouncing on the footrest and taking the exit route out of the closet on to get in touch with the sleeper logs and pebbles on the railway track. The tube of toothpaste was probably inspired by this valiant act of the toothbrush and decided to take the jump out of my shirt pocket. Unlike its predecessor, however, it couldn’t make a smooth exit and landed between the footrest and the edge of the toilet. I had no choice but to nudge it towards its destination.
Feeling like a complete idiot first thing in the morning, I simply washed my face and returned to my seat. I narrated my sad story to my mother, who much like Abhishek’s mother (read the last portion of this post) gave me a quick admonishment on my irresponsible behavior and having at least the sense not to keep my phone/watch in that pocket (actually it was only my morning laziness that prevented me from taking my phone from the jeans and restore it to its usual position in the shirt pocket) and handed me her tube of toothpaste. My father remained a bemused spectator to the whole event. I then proceeded to brush my teeth using the loaned toothpaste and my own right index finger!
After this auspicious start to the day, I was eagerly looking forward to a refreshing cuppa. But for some vague reason, the coffee vendors seemed to have closed shop by 7 AM itself. My parents were of course waiting even more eagerly than I was for the same reason, but to no avail.
Not wanting to stay put in that coach and with an equally eager intent to wake up my friends, in case they were still sleeping, I walked over to their coach. I was disappointed on that count as well; since Mahendran was already wide awake when I checked his berth and Raji had also just woken up and was pondering about her next activity. The 3 of us then went out and stood near the exit doors to discuss our plans for the day. I think we actually made a clear order of the places to visit, but as history would record in its annals, we didn’t execute that plan to the letter, but we stuck to it in spirit.
We retreated back to the coach and finally found one of those omnipresent railway food vendors coming towards us with a can of coffee. We ordered our coffees and also ordered the local delicacy that was on offer – the Madur vadai, so-called because it is a vadai made in the town of Madur. It was strongly recommended by Raji with the claim that it was very tasty and very different. I don’t remember the exact details now because it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. But if I remember right, it is a flat vadai, like the ones you would find when a vadai maalai is saathufied on Lord Anjaneya. But the taste of the Madur vadai, was very unlike the aforementioned one. This one tasted a little bit like that, but also had a liberal dose of the medhu vadai taste, while also resembling its distant cousin the aamai vadai.
After I gulped down my coffee, I went back to my coach to check if my folks had had their share of the elixir. They had. By then, the train was nearing Mysore and we finally reached Mysore around 8.30 AM. As usual, before the train came to a complete halt, a swarm of porters rushing into the cabin. But this time around, I refused to avail the services of one and with the help of my parents, I managed to get the luggage on to the platform in one go.
We then bid farewell to Mahendran and Raji at the station since they were headed to the hostel in the office campus and we were headed towards the Jag Mohan Art Palace, since our hotel was located opposite this landmark. The plan was that, Mahendran and Raji would refresh themselves and come to my hotel with the car that Uthra had booked. Breakfast would in all probability have to be independent affairs to save time.
The hotel staff at the reception were quite a courteous lot but were apparently new to the concept of using computers. After spending 5 minutes with them, showing my internet booking voucher and explaining the type of room I’d booked, it was quite apparent that these folks were new to the hotel and not so experienced using computers. They took so much time that at one point, they suggested that we have our breakfast first and they would sort out the allocation of the correct room for me.
We were quite famished and warmed up to this suggestion. We moved on to the restaurant section and had our breakfast. The taste of the food there was quite unlike the standard Kannadiga food that people talk about – sweet sambhar and the likes. The sambhar here was actually spicy, but the size of their idly and vadai were matching local settings – these were real big ones. The food was okay in the overall sense and after paying the bill we were informed that the room was ready. One of the bellboys took our luggage in a cramped lift and insisted that the 3 of us also join him. When we got out at our floor, and followed the bellboy, we found the corridor to be quite narrow. After reaching the end of the corridor, the guy opened a room and let us inside. One look inside and it was clear that we had received a bad deal.
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