Team Outing!!!!

Team Outing.....huh!!! Quite after a long hustle bustle & hesitation, finally our plan to team outing was decided. But then one more dilemma came into picture...choosing the best place!!!! where each one of us had different thoughts & plans as always...it was difficult cos our team is a multi lingual one wherein we had to accommodate each of our concerns...finally we tot some hindi movie will help our situation & planned for "New York"

Before the day of team outing, one more team dinner was arranged to our surprise...Dinner at Basera!!!! They have multiple options in seating. You can be seated in the open, under a tree on wooden tree trunks for a table and stool, or you can opt the traditional indoor air-conditioned seating, or for the more adventurous, you can climb up to the room on stilts. We opted for the first one, cos we didn’t want to loose out on the pleasant and breezy outdoor, as the moon played hide and seek between the thick clump of trees and shrubs. That’s the other part, the number of trees, shrubs, plants and other stuff they have taken time and attention to grow and groom. Dinner in a open expansive area with the outdoor seating! Good bites...that’s what the mosquitoes say after they got us in the open air section of this restaurant. However, we planned our seatings carefully as "not to mingle up"...strictly!!!! as usual gals & guys seated opposite, so that there was a good opportunity for both to kid each other...!

To our big shock, someone was literally screaming while getting settled in our tables...upon investigating it was Sailaja giving this shock reaction seeing something strange under the table! everyone gave a sigh of relief after hearing to it & cleared it away. The main attraction was the food itself. It was good to great. We started with as usual soups & starters, all were well done and marinated. Basera, too had different cuisines to offer typical of most places in Chennai, it had the regular north-indian punjabi, chinese, continental and a small offering of south-indian too. Before the ordered food hit our table, we had an oppurtunity to bring everyone outta their comfort zone & either make 'em sing or dance..! This gala time started with a gr8 surprise to all, sailaja's attempt to sing in "TAMIL"..it was really enjoyable to hear someone singing in an amateur slang as "oru kal oru kannadi"...then each one took their turns to their fav numbers..lemme try to recollect the numbers..! Alston from "Kadhal Konden"...myself, "netru illadha maatram"...Prabhu, Vaaranam Ayiram & Villu...raj ...ram, "Oororama & anjali anjali"...sakthi ...Ooops i dont remember much!!!! :( Then Ram made good try to make prabhu dance, but finally ram performed..as we completed the dessert & took everlasting pics !!!!

As we turned (Only me sailaja & sakthi...Shhh secret ;)) the corner inside the parking lot, the children squealed in delight on seeing the small playground. We played in the merry-go-round along with the affectionate kids over there, while others unnoticingly went towards the tempo..! There we took a beautiful group foto..!

Thinking of ending the trip to Basera with this....na...cos the return journey was much more eventful....Prabhu's fuss for expressing his dancing ability did not extend for long time...he started dancing as the driver contributed by playing a pakka "kuthu" song...!!!!!! :)

Finally the trip ended with all happiness & thinking about the next day's team outing plan....!!!!:)

Finally the day of Team Outing popped up...! Unusually people came up in all set formals...mostly black was the dress code for the day... First our plan was to dine at “Centre Point” & then to Mayajaal...

Most of the people who don’t have vehicles to commute planned up to meet up at office & move to the point accordingly...! The hotel is situated in a strategic location with the major attractions of Chennai at its close vicinity. A welcoming smile from an eager-to-serve staff on your arrival, the ambience of the large open plain air-conditioned restaurant will immediately make you feel at ease. Centre Point is an excellent multi-cuisine restaurant serves a wide variety of delicious and wholesome dishes. It was well suited & hassle-free. The ambience was so soothing with a special warm & inviting atmosphere & its a perfect place for a peaceful dine. We took a perfect seating in one of the spacious & cozy restaurants of chennai..Everyone was literally hungry, so we had no much entertaining stuff, instead some chit chats & desperately waiting for the food to arrive..food came & it was completed with an urge cautiously not to miss any part of the movie...Some momentary shots were photographed...were all our placements were as perfect as that..;)) & we all started to our main outing point..!

P.S: This exact photograph was published in ERGO (Twice we were nominated as “Partners in Crime” ;) )

Off to Mayajaal...Ppl with bikes came up to the place directly & we gals came up in the arranged Sumo... Travel in ECR is all time favourite of mine cos it’s out of city & most importantly it’s peaceful when compared to the hopeless traffic inside the city..! Mayajaal has everything that one could think of for a weekend - all in one roof - Some 8 or so different movie theatres, food court, children’s play area, bowling arena, snooker, music place, shops, an entire gaming complex (with facility to play any game literally)..Ideal for Corporate Parties...We just had time to enter into the screen where the movie was played up..! Already 5 minutes of the movie was gone when we actually entered..!

The new smart catch-phrase in post-Obama America is post-racial. (to those who’ve suffered slurs in the name of race). On the same lines, Prez O’s talk of closing down of Guantanamo Bay is a great gesture, but it will take years before the world forgets why that penitentiary was stuffed with suspected terrorists.

Kabir Khan’s ‘New York’ is about three friends (who hang out on campus, in pubs, but never seem to go to class) impacted by the fallout of 9/11: it was not just the twin towers which were destroyed; a whole way of life died too. Americans began looking at people not of their nationality and religion with hatred and deep suspicion: if they are brown and worshipped Allah, they were terrorists. The movie was all about this!!!!!

Well the movie had a good script, but actually the whole plot was predictable. Also the music score was not exceptionally good...! The script direction was underplayed when it comes to relationships & their feel towards each other...! Movie was ok kinda stuff, but could have been sculpted in a better manner..! That’s wat most of us felt while peeping outta the screen..!

In the intermission, we all were glued to our seats & din move out, wherein a gang of ppl went out & we were wondering why those ppl actually did not turn up, even when the movie was screened..! Suddenly Siva came in asking for a cam...we were not interested to hear up what was actually going on, since the movie was on...! Then finally the movie ended up with all tragic climax...& some ppl literally had tears in their eyes..!

Now comes the actual fun part...

Bowling – a game which can soon make you become an addict....

We entered the Bowling Alley, where we had 8 lanes... though some of our eyes turned up to the Snooker board...but no one around to entertain our thoughts... All were a kinda amateur in bowling...Ram & Siva went to collect the tokens for bowling, to mention.. as this was the bday treat sponsored by Siva (who was enjoying even when his wallet was draining out!)....While enquiring only 7 opted to play the game... It was Ram, Siva, Shakthi, Sailaja, myself & dunno the other 2 names...! Others were so conservative at the start, but quite acquainted when we actually started the game...In the mean time of collecting the tokens & searching for our lane...Sailaja actually tried lifting the ball...the first word uttered by her...”Bapre, pls cancel my token, cos I could not even lift the ball”...Literally the ball was toooo heavy to lift...!!!!

The first shot was given by Ram..as usual the enthusiast amongst all...! in the literal sense..! hee hee! Then try was given by Siva...slowly Ram pulled me to give a shot & the first series of tries were all utter flop, as the ball din reach half way as it took a different dynamic direction...but managed to hit up all finally..& jus leaving one ball for a shot had become our usual!!! similarly we made all comfortable to take up their turns & ppl caught up the enthu very soon & then it literally became a chota fight for their turns to come next...for bowling!!!! We had 54 good turns for our team... & each one tried to compete others..!!!! Many fotos were captured while the event of bowling continued... Though all were enthusiastically playing up, one guy actually stood outside the lane, jus spurting out comments not participating in the game...Showed up his enthu only to comment others...it was none other than Alston... Finally we managed to pull him up to the lane & he too tried some shots...some good ones actually...Ram was so lightened up as he always go flooring along with the ball till it reaches it destination to bid a farewell.... ;) lol..! I took the pride to complete the last beautiful turn & finally the show ended up with the sporty entertainment...& certainly arm pains which was felt the very next day...!

We managed to roam in the lounge of Mayajaal...were we caught up the Games Arcade of Mayajaal.. it was well stocked with latest electronic games that captivate the kids and adults alike with its audio and visual treats…but none opted to play around, but jus a window seeing..! While everyone rushed out through…myself & sailaja took some adventurous fotos, which is a censored part to the team even now…!!!! ;) While we came out, others were already out readily packed up their stuffs to leave around..! But we were having a tot to shoot out different poses to make the event more memorable…but some hesitant faces as always wanted to act in a more matured way..wanted us to get rid of all the stuffs & also they din take pains to participate in our effort in bringing ppl together..!!! but we managed to capture some different shots which were even sent to the “Ergo Column” describing as “Partners in Crime”….though we were (not all) so innocent..!

Finally ppl were back to their pavilion left with all happiness & seemed to be relieved & contented with a good outing, in different atmosphere….

As someone said, Well begun is half done, goes the adage!!!!….we were almost done, when we actually planned out the proper transport…A big thanks to Ram for his arrangement towards a comfy commutation…!!!! & great thanks to ppl who actually made it energizing by their lovely presence…!!!! Three Cheers to Siva....!!!!! it was an amazing outing!!!! :)