[drrajasaravanan]

Hi SupremeBaleno,
I am sorry to hear that the meet is called of. If there are any last minute changes let me know as i have already planned the weekend and can join in any time. I will PM you my account information. Cheers

[anachronix]

I just transfered the money

Why is it cancelled!?

[supremeBaleno]

@Anachronix : other than you, me and drrajasaravanan, no one else came forward. So, it seemed pointless for a meet with just 3 of us driving down.

However, John is still holding the rooms I believe. So if atleast a few others come forward, we can still revive the drive/meet.
When I called Ph03n1x, he said he was in for the meet - just that he was not able to surf the net and confirm - will call him again today.

@Arun/Drrajasaravanan, as mentioned in my previous post, me and couple of friends are still doing the Pondy trip on the planned date.
If you guys are OK with joining us (inspite of the Chennai annas not making it), we could still go ahead and book the rooms. Let me know.
My friends are not exactly petrol-heads, but they are good company - one of them has a Punto-D and the other moved to a Ritz-Vxi from WagonR.

@drrajasaravanan, you have 1 person accompanying you - I assume that is a friend.

P.S.: I will anyway hold returning the payment for sometime - looks like we "might" end up having this meet.

[drrajasaravanan]

@ supreme baleno: No problems there mate. I can join in any time. Let me know the plans. My take is we should do it and have some fun. Cheers

[supremeBaleno]

OK. The meet is on. Atleast for the few of us who made it.

I started from Chennai with my friend in his Ritz-Vxi around 2:30PM, picked up something to eat from Marrybrown ECR. Reached StJames around 4:30PM and checked-in.
My friend started from Trichy in his Punto-D around 1PM and we caught up at StJames.

At 18:35, get a call from drrajasaravanan - he has just reached StJames and checked-in - we will be meeting up later in the night.

The weather was sultry - same as Chennai. But nothing that the a/c cannot manage. Looks like there is a private party on at StJames - some Lions Club stuff.
Looks like we will have a free orchestra all night long.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

OK. The meet is on. ...

Wonderful, supremeBaleno Glad that at least a few could make it finally.
Do keep updating here as the spirits rise .

[supremeBaleno]

@Thanks, BlueThunder. Got too busy after the last post and could not post any more updates.

And finally we did give time a break. At peaceful Pondicherry. Aptly conveyed in the Tee worn by drrajasaravanan.


Ritz and Punto catch up just before St.James.


The Ritz which brought us to Pondy. I drove most of the way. Sedate driving - max 100.


Friends catching up along the ECR after many months.


Punto entering the StJames premises.


And finally the steed that did not make it to Pondy.


More pics coming in.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

...More pics coming in.

We are waiting, supremeBaleno

No pictures of the beach and the waves ?!!

And did you do any "special" shopping there

I guess you need to wipe clean the lens of your camera : the misty effect in the pics is probably due to the lens having fingerprints or other smudge marks.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

We are waiting, supremeBaleno. No pictures of the beach and the waves ?!!

Sorry. Got busy at work and could not post the rest of the snaps & a short meet-report. Hopefully should be able to get this done by Friday or weekend.

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

And did you do any "special" shopping there

I did not, but my friend did some extensive shopping.

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

I guess you need to wipe clean the lens of your camera : the misty effect in the pics is probably due to the lens having fingerprints or other smudge marks.

Yeah, I realised this only later. Thanks.

[supremeBaleno]

A brief meet-report :

Attendees :
TBHP-ians -> supremeBaleno, drrajasaravanan
Others-----> DrArun, DrNishaan, Seetharam, Siva

Turned out to be 3 Doctors and 3 Engineers at the meet.

25-Jun-2011 : Late evening, Dr.RajaSaravanan and his non-tbhpian friend Arun drop in at our room. Introductions later, we are happy that we could make it after all the uncertainties. For me and my friends, it was catch-up after many months. For the doctors, it was a chance to unwind after a long time. My friends were kinda surprised to know that I had not met drrajasaravanan before and yet we had planned a get-together.

We come to know that the docs are avid bikers - Bulleteers to be precise and part of MadrasBulls. drrajasaravanan owns a Xylo and a Getz apart from a 350cc Bullet. They had driven down in the Xylo.

Since me & friends planned to drive into town to pick up food&drinks, we decide to catchup with drrajasaravanan & friends the next day.

26-Jun-2011 : We meet up at the balcony near the restaurant after breakfast. More discussions on cars (what else?), work etc.

We decide to meet at the swimming pool after some time. Since the sun was blazing, we thought it would be horrid in the open-to-sky pool, but the water was slightly cold and we spent close to hours in the pool, honing our swimming skills. By this time, their doc friend Nishaan had joined the party - he is doing his PG at Pondy and met these guys at a Bullet ride to Yelagiri - he rode from pondy to chennai and then from there with the group to Yelagiri.

After the pool, we gather at the doc's room for a quick bite and more discussions. drrajasaravanan has offered free consultation to any tbhp-ian, not only about mdecial conditions, but which hospitals to go to, which to avoid (unethical ones) and which docs are the best etc.

Me & friends then return to our room. We decide to lunch at the resort itself - did not feel like driving out in the sun - and had a loooong lunch. Get back to the room and doze for an hour or so and it is time to say bye-bye to Pondy. My Trichy friend drives off first, with us leaving the place an hour or so later.

Was a nice meet. If only the other tbhp-ians who had committed had joined, it would have been even better.

The remaining pictures :

The salt-pans at Marakkanam on our way to pondy :


View from our room :


View of the rooms at the resort from beach side :


Beach-view 1 :


Beach-view 2 :


Another view of the resort :


From L-R ; DrArun, DrRaja, Seetharam & Siva


drrajasaravanan's Xylo at the resort :


A sweet Safari parked at the resort :


And finally we say bye to Pondicherry after giving time a much-needed break, after tanking up the Ritz and Punto full of fuel at Rs6 less than Chennai prices.


P.S.: drrajasaravanan also had taken some snaps. Waiting for his snaps and comments.

[drrajasaravanan]

Hi guys
For me and my friend it was a perfect wind out after couple of weeks of hectic schedule and this trip really recharged my batteries. It was a pleasure meeting Supremebaleno and gang. Supremebaleno has summed it out nicely.
Me and Dr.Arun started around 4PM from global hospital since drarun's rounds were delayed. We reached the resort around 6 pm. We decided to buy some goodies from pondy and went into the city. We got into a jam which took nearly 45mins to clear. We managed to reach the resort aruond 8pm and got in touch with supreme baleno and gang. Shared a few bites with them and retired to the room.
Next day we had a decent breakfast and we decided that one of us will be clean to drive back and arun voluntered. We were joined by our colleague Dr.Nishant and we spent the rest of the day in the pool chit chatting. We went back to the room for a quick bite and we left pondy around 4pm.
I stand by what i conveyed to supremebaleno. There are far too many doctors out there who are doing a honest job compared to the big honchos in coroporate sectors. You might not believe that there are doctors who are on a rotational basis fly out to remote parts of india to help the people there. Its a pity that with the latest corporate boom in medical tourism the natives are being given a bitter pill.
@supremebaleno: Yaar, though i had posted a review on xylo in tbhp i have never got around completing it or posting any images. Your photo of my xylo is the first one in tbhp and a good reminder for me to complete my review. Keep me posted about any plans in future.

[Abhay]

I just got back from a very looooooong drive. Yes from here all the way to Pondy and back - also to Mammalapuram on my way home. I wish I had seen this thread a bit earlier. might have changed my dates and tried to see some of you guys there.
ECR was nice though but the weather is what spoiled the fun a bit ...I was almost dehydrated!
Was quite happy to get back onto NH4 - lots of rain from Bangalore till Pune