Day 1:

When I landed in Cochin I was somewhat uncomfortable… With all the apprehensions disintegrating me from within… After i reached the hotel and was redirected to the fifth floor….
I was blankly standing outside the lift…. Not sure where the conference was….
Meanwhile I heard a loud voice of (must admit) an impressive speaker… I could hear a huge round of applause after every few sentences….
The voice was almost echoing in the corridor and it took me some time to find the actual source….

Iopened the door and to my surprise found a giant addressing a herd of blacks…
Oops!!!! I was the only one in white…..But it did not take the devouring black wave long to paint me black….
Sanjana with her infectious smile surely affected many including me…. The day had a lot to offer, with inputs flowing in from all the sides; ideas, experiences and plans were discussed…. in FULL….. with a few digressions….

By the end of the first day of the conference everyone was nauseated by the heavy overdose of ideas….
Until we had dinner the hunger pangs almost made us feel as if the heart had found a new home… coz the stomach was making more noise than the heart…
And the hangover of the entire week was making it all the more difficult to keep the eyes open…. We all seemed skeptical whether we would be able to survive for another two days….
The intoxicating sea breeze and the sound of the crashing waves detoxified and mesmerized us…. And then we all retired to our respective rooms, too tired after the day’s work….

Day 2:
B’fast at Aamara
Breakfast!!!! so called only because we had it in the morning otherwise the amount that we had easily qualifies that mouthwatering treat to be promoted as dinner ….
A lot of delicacies were served…. oops!!!! i don’t remember the names…. but the taste still continues to tickle my taste buds…yummy… mouth-watering….

I’m sure after visiting Amaara many people had almost wished that they owned a place like that or at least a few sections of that traditional heritage property must have left their marks on the road less traveled and carved a niche for themselves in the dream houses of many…..

Second day brought a lot more clarity and the future course of action was formalized..

By now the boundaries between the various cities had completely resigned to the world of oblivion…. A perfect manifestation of national integration…
Smiles were freely exchanged from one corner of the room to another…. Smiles that made the need of audible conversation dispensable…  Sarcasms, jokes, appreciations, admiration, agreements and disagreements were secretly shared by employing the diverse mechanisms….
The end of the discussion was gratifying and all the girls in Sanjana’s car were warming themselves up for a magnificent peek into the history of Kochi Fort; not many knew that very soon all of us were gonna be led through the winding streets of Cochin that were once frequented by the royal families and invaders from various countries…
Many structures there till date continue to boast about their noble birth….
Our lovely guide was religiously relaying all that those structures were whispering into the ears of the thin air to us (We who were both old and new to Cochin….)

The visit to one of the homes served as the cherry on the cake…
We witnessed one of the finest court proceedings….
The relationship that the kids and the volunteers there share is exemplary….

After bidding them good bye we dispersed and hibernated for a few hours….
Yes… We were to meet the next day…. The last day….

Day 3:

the beginning of an end….

Wow!!!! lovely morning….
Everyone was tired but still managed to be ready after very little sleep…
The very idea of wasting the time sleeping that we otherwise could spend together made us all feel guilty….
Adrenaline rush was driving us all….
The long ride to Allepy was memorable….
With we all racing with each other….
And personally speaking serving as a navigator in Sanjana’s car was fun…. I openly showcased my tendency to act foolish at times (most of the times)….

Allepy house boat ride was heavenly…  The weather was pleasant…. The sky being overcast….
We played a lot of games and sang a lot of songs….

We surely made the people traveling in all the other boats envious….
Thanks to Paul, there was no dearth of “laugh till you drop” moments….
Every passing moment just made us keep wishing for more….
By late afternoon almost everyone was overcome by the sad realization that the closure of the conference that we had all looked forward to attending was now drawing close…. And that the end was inevitable was all the more difficult to accept…

May be the tears were not visible…. but they surely poured….
And finally we parted with a promise that we would meet again.. next year…

Before the Conference we wanted to do a few things for the welfare of the society and for bringing to life the dream of an Equal India… After the conference, we have many more things to do for making our dream of securing a bright future for the underprivileged kids come true…. We also have one more reason to do all that we wish to…. and that reason is that we have each other…

We have MAD and all the MADness that is so much a part of us… All.