O! Mamallapuram

The Carnival at Mamallapuram

I take great pleasure in sharing the fun and excitement we had at the recently concluded “Champions of South” meet at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). This meet was conducted to reward the best performers in the four circles of South Hub. Ravi Mathur being the leader of the hub deserves all the accolades for arranging such a wonderful event

The day began with all the Champions arriving at the sprawling sandy beach resort on the coast of the Bay of Bengal at Mahabalipuram. The weather was the best it could have been in this part of the world, slightly warm and muggy. I, Sundeep, and Yashpal too joined the fun, ofcourse at Ravi’s expense! All of us were geared up to make the most the two days we had at this beautiful place.

Personally for me, it was a dream come true as the magnificent sea water gushed towards us with froth and fury to engulf us and subsided by a mere touch of my feet as if the fizz was gone. I was humbled by the hugeness of the sea!

The breakfast spread was simple yet filling with Idlis, Appams, Vadai, Poha, and fried eggs to boot. I gobbled up a couple of Idli’s and a cup of hot filter coffee, you could nt be to the south of Vindhya’s and not have it! Ravi was at his best as the leader of the show and had lined up the items on the agenda quite meticulously. After a sumptuous breakfast, Sundeep & Ravi, presented trophies and certificates to the “Champions of the South” amidst applause and cheers. India may no longer be the T20 champion now, but it sure has a good supply of talent witnessed during the cricket match played on the beach.

Cracking the ball in this wind was next to impossible but some of the shots played by yours truly broke the wind shield and soared high and high towards the sky. Ravi was the umpire and was wearing the devil’s jacket and emerged man of the match for his umpiring skills!

The incredible “Five Rathas”, the epitome of the Pallava monolithic architecture in historical times, was next on the stop. An english speaking guide gave a download about the architecture and it was incredible to see such poor people work with great passion. I am sure all of us felt a bit for the old man who made 20 rupees per session in this heat and humidity. We went on a photo session spree as we posed in all possible positions with the great monument to capture our moments with history for posterity.

Next on the pit stop was the great Shore temple, another remnant of the great and rich Pallava architecture. It was on the shore and noise of the tides hitting the shore and a thunderous evening cloud presented a spectacle as beautiful as the rainbow! Gerard was speechless and so was I at the splendid beauty of the temple. The sun was behind the clouds, but we knew that the wonderful day was coming to an end, but the immensely popular night beach party was on everybody’s lips. All of us were exhausted by now and on returning back to our shack hit the pool and played water polo in pitch dark. It was a great relaxing exercise just the tonic everyone needed for the wonderful night beach party. Beneath the starry night sky, the entire group sat munching & humming their way to glory with sporting attempts to sing ofcourse after downing two pegs of whiskey. However, the renditions were joyful and though not worthy of remembrance, but certainly deserved an applause for the spirit of participation. People tried all types of concoctions with their drinks till midnight with the sea shore as the sole witness to the revelry. Dinner was served at the stroke of midnight but most of us had tids bits the whole evening and preferred having curd rice. We all dispersed to our rooms to catch some sleep after a long tiring but joyous day and charge ourselves for the next morning as Captain Razi Hashmy, an Ex - IAF pilot, was to arrive with a promise to make all of us diamond merchants in two hours!!

For a moment we thought we have become the diamond merchants but we were obviously fooled into thinking so by the vibrant and dynamic Captain Hashmy, whose energetic classroom session left us high on motivation and food for thought. We confronted several moments of truth while playing the diamond game and wondered why we need such sessions to pep ourselves in work and life. There could be no one else but your own self which makes you a winner in life not taking away anything what such sessions teach us. I am sure it was an eye-opener for all of us or shall we say game changer in the way we work as a company, team, and individuals. At the end of day, we are all responsible for our success and probably this was the greatest learning I took away at the end of these two memorable days. I could not have imagined that such events could have taught us so many invaluable lessons such as team work, performance, leadership, and strong work ethics. As we stood pondering and absorbing the excitement of the last two days, it was time for all of us to bid good bye to each other and ofcourse to Mahabalipuram. We headed straight to the Airport and boarded the flight which will take us back to Delhi and as I sat buckled to the seat, I said thank you Mahabalipuram for the joy you gave me!!