Dumpy, Macha and Magne were wondering what to do on a long weekend which is a thought that crosses through their mind every time their is a “long weekend”.

“Long Weekends” is a off day from office either on a Friday or Monday that makes a normal Saturday/Sunday weekend into to a long weekend. This is probably somewhat new to us in India as trips were not that common and mostly if at all the trips were done it was either to a relative’s place or to Holy place for Pilgrimage.

Anyways Dumpy was the only guy who has gone around places in India in his school days. Their family used to make trips during the Durga Puja holidays but making sure they don’t miss the final days of Puja back in Kolkata. If there are people who like travelling in India they are the Bengalis   who ensure that they keep covering places in India every year. Dumpy’s family album is full of such images and the family displays it on a collage at their home. He has a family portrait in his room with that image in the background.

Macha is a die hard fan of Thaliava and has been basking in the glory of latest movie “Kabali”. Some of his mannerisms are nothing but inspiration of Thaliava. His home in Chennai was also flooded last year as many others. His family car was submerged in those waters and he still feels very bad it. Normally he has train tickets booked months in advance, cancelling whenever he is not going which is not that usual. This time on the long weekend he had already booked ticket but his family was going out to relative’s place somewhere in Tuticorin and he was not very keen.

Magne is another Mandayada Gandu and is also a big fan of our Rebel Star, Mandayada Gandu Ambareesh. In southern states on India Filmstars get a very good fan following and loved and respected than the Bollywood stars. Magne was very calm and friendly, was the cool guy in the group that his schooling in Bangalore contributed to. He was the only guy in the group who had some contacts in “Ladies Hostel” during the college times and still has many in Facebook Friends. Dumpy and Macha get all the updates browsing his profiles

These three stay together in a small 2BHK that they have rented out on Banerghatta Road which is close to their offices.Its already been 2 years of staying together in this flat but all this started way back in college first year triple seater hostel rooms. Room were allocated by the Warden and he used to make sure people of the same state don’t get the same room. This was a rule and hence people of three different states in one room. This helps in the National Integration and is proof for “Unity is Diversity”.

Four years in College has changed these young men in ways that they can’t imagine. Magne can eat food on a table which has non-veg served. Macha can sing couple of lines of hindi songs and he even likes Rabindra Sangeet that Dumpy loves so much. Dumpy can go through the winters without a monkey cap. All three have started enjoying parties and have started tasting beers, wines and on-the-rocks. Its been a change that their families notice when they go back home on vacations. Each year the change was more profound and stands out more than the last year.

All of them were here in Bangalore for a long weekend and wanted to make use of it. Recently Dumpy after his many failed attempts in order to convince his parents to buy a bike went ahead and got a car. With his budget of as minimum as possible the only car he could think of was Maruti Alto and he got a mid-variant of the car. Unfortunately Dumpy was not ready to drive on the highways but Macha had a Maruti Omni in Chennai and was fairly confident with driving. After discussing about the probable destination and  knocking out  Mysore,Ooty, Yeracud & Madikere, everyone agreed for Hampi. Since Hampi is over 6 hours drive from Bangalore they decided to take a day off from work making a 4 days trip.

Early Friday morning the trip started with Macha on the driver’s seat. Dumpy on the front passenger seat and Magne sleeping on the back seat. They have all that was needed for a road trip good music on the iPod, bunch of snacks and usual tea breaks. They stopped in Chitradurga for lunch. It was a normal Darshini hotel with vegetarian food and Dumpy was not that happy with the food but after 2 years of Bangalore he can manage the meals.

Dumpy wanted to try his hand on the wheels and took from Macha for sometime. All of the had put their seatbelts, even Magne. Dumpy was driving fine but then there was KSRTC bus going to Hoskote which used to honk whenever it was close. Dumpy would just accelerate and not let is pass. But each honk disturbed his concentration and finally he gave up and Macha was back. This delayed their arrival a little but Dumpy was happy.

The plan was to stop at Kamalapur’s KSTDC Hotel which was about 6 KM from Hampi. They reached there around 3 PM and Friday evening was spent in the Hotel with relatively better dinner and pint of beer.

The beer made them high or it was something else, but they were transported to a different world that they had never thought. This Hampi Trip was going to very different that none of them had realized.