Lat night, I returned from Chikamanglur, where I had gone on a team outbound activity. The place can be well related as Indira Gandhi’s constituency as she has never lost elections here. Unlike the name, the place did not have any chicks. Our stay was arranged at Taj Retreat Resort ( I think its another 5-6 kms from the city itself). Its 6-7 hours travel from Bangalore, quite a long journey but thanks to SRS travels for sending a comfortable bus.
The schedule was as follows:
Thursday -> Start for Chikamaglur at around 12.30 pm. Reach the resort at around 7 pm. Have dinner, get introduced to the trainer and take rest.
Friday -> whole day team games and team oriented activities, and break for tea/coffee, lunch and a dinner near the bon fire.
Saturday -> trek to highest point of Karnataka in the morning, have breakfast at the peak point and come back. Start for Bangalore at around 1 pm.
As per the schedule, we had hardly delayed the things. It might be due to the reason that the delay time has already been buffered by the organiser and he announced the schedule accordingly. Thursday morning, everybody was very excited in the team and as expected, no one was in mood to work on that day. We were just waiting for the clock to struck 12, so that we can proceed for lunch and then, way to go, start for Chikamaglur. Someway or the other, we passed the time and then a call from the organizer to head towards cafeteria to have lunch. We finished lunch, carried our bags and headed towards the bus, waiting for us near the exit gate of our company.
After a playboy photosession near the bus, we started our journey. The climate was also kind of cloudy. The journey started with ragging of new colleagues (as per our team custom), dumb charades and some other small activities. One of my colleague has brought a DVD of comedy classics - Chupke Chupke, Golmaal (Old) and one more. Unfortunately, it did not play in the DVD player. Later on we found that the DVD was not burnt as per the media format. We had two options then, either watch Himesh Reshammiya video songs or watch cartoon movies. All of us preferred original cartoons over a crap cartoon(Sorry, Himesh Bhai... no offences). We passed time by watching, Monsters Inc. and Madgascar. Both are such a wonderful movies. I hope our Indian animation Industry will also compete one day in the international market.
Finally, reached Taj Retreat at around 7.30 pm. It was slightly drizzling there. I tried to take some snaps, but it was too dark to
click a glossy pic.We carried our luggage and reached reception where we were offered a welcome drink(dont know what it was, but tasted very good)
. Our trainer, Col. Bahadur was present there to greet us. We were told to gather for dinner within half-an-hour. The rooms and room-mates were alloted beforehand, so we took our keys and headed straight to our rooms.
The rooms were great and warm. On entering the room, we found a packet of chips and a box of dry nuts on a table. (Well, I feel sorry for the people who started eating... paid stuff guys.... 175 bucks for a small box of cashews.. too much)... We also noticed some beer cans and bottle of cold drinks in the mini-fridge. (Again, the paid stuff)..... After freshing up, we headed for dinner, but before that its drinks time... the non-drinkers were playing pool(in the bar itself)... After spending about half-an-hour there, finally, it was the turn to sooth the rats...... i mean dinner time.... The food was simple but it was good... soup, veg, non-veg, rice, desserts and salads... Ate quite a lot... A round table in the middle of restaurant was already reserved for our team..... There was no activity following as it was quite late.... dicsussed next days activities and went to bed for sleep... Other morning, new morning but looked quite hectic and enjoyable to... woke up at 6 am as we had to go for a morning walk at 7. My roomy was still sleeping, so didn't disturb him.I wore my shoes and took out my camera to take some early morning pics.... Took some pics and headed towards reception..... At that time, only me and one of my colleague was there.... I would not like to mention Mr. Col Bahadur also.. as it is implied that army people and time are best of buddies..... Slowly and slowly, everybody gathered.... and we started off with our first activity for the day..... It was a walk of around 3-4 kms...could be more than that.... took some pics on the way.......... When we returned back to the resort, we felt as if we had not eaten since so many days..... Quite natural, not habitual of morning walk and all of a sudden you are made to walk for this much distance...
So straight headed towards breakfast.. had 2 omlettes, vada, idly and juices...... We were given 30 minutes to freshen up, after which, we were to start the team activities. So, took bath and gathered in the ground for the games. When reached the ground, I saw 19 chairs arranged in a single row for us and 1 chair facing the other 19... obviously for the trainer..... After everybody gathered, the formal introduction from trainer started. He had arranged around 5-6 games followed by deep briefing after every game, wherein, we were to discuss the learnings from each game. In between, there were two sessions of tea and a lunch break. I didnt have much as I already had a heavy breakfast. At around 4, came the most awaited part for which my team members were eagerly awaiting for.... "A DIVE IN THE SWIMMING POOL".... It was too cold there in the evening so I preferred not to go..... The dive in pool alongwith KF(KingFisher beer, I hope if it were KF girls), made the people's eveing very relaxed.......
In the night, we had good dinner around the bon fire...... and finally we end the day with a good sleep...........
The next morning, we were to go on a trek to the highest point in Karnatka.. I could not go as I was not well... but looking from the pictures, I can assure it was the place, not to be missed....
I was sleeping in my room... (such a bore....)........ woke up, had bfast, played a game of pool with my friend(he also didn't go)... (Not everyone who doesnt go is a bore)... he he he...
When everybody returned back, we had a final session by our trainer, where, he asked each of us to tell about our expectations, and whether they were met or not..... Learning by fun, getting to know the team in this way, is such a great experience.. and everyone looked satisfied.....
Finally came the time to leave the paradise. We started at around 2 from there.... and reached Bangalore, at 7.30 pm... The cabs were waiting for us to drop at our respective address.....
Well, it was a good experience... I must say, a place to go atleast once......
Chow, njoy reading
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