The Industrial Visit (IV) to Kerala

Count down for our IV had begun almost a month back. Organising had started during the semester holidays. Everyone was excited about it. A visit to kerala – God’s own country, a much awaited one. Our last IV to Bangalore had definitely raised the level of expectations.

Everyone who was coming for the IV was involved in some kind of pre-planning for sure. I still remember how we all had a tough time in deciding what to wear, what to bring, getting our cameras charged, preparing checklists, and some even went to the extent of buying some new stuff just for the iv!! The excitement had raised to a new level when our counterparts came back from their IV and shared their experiences with us. The build-up to the most awaited event of this semester was a much hyped one definitely.

5..4..3..2..1… Finally, the day came for which we had all waited. Everything right from the train journey has a story to tell, a moment to cherish. Sharing dinner, telling out our childhood mischiefs, trying hard to entertain our ma’am and Indu’s variety performance lighted up the night in train. A special mention of the uncle who tried explaining to a few of us what one of the thirukkurals actually meant. In his terms, he had laid the seed in us and Harini missed him once he left!! The first day in kerala was a real adventure. We travelled to Wayanad. Every single climb to the Edakkal caves gave us some shrills and thrills. Trekking in the rain and getting my white pants a ‘Cadbury look’ definitely marked my day.

Our next stop was at the Soochipara falls- a visual treat. I was personally in awe of God’s beautiful creation. The gushing water, the scenic beauty- wah! Absolutely no words.

The next day, we visited the Banasura dam and the Pookote Lake, again a treat to the eyes.

Boating here was simply too good. Trying to sneak out an extra 5 minutes after the allotted 20 minutes in water was fun not just because we could stay in water a lil longer but also because we could see the impatient expression on our fellow mates’ faces waiting for their turn.

That night we left to Trivandrum. Everyone wondered how on earth were we going to spend 9 hours in travel but I must admit, none of us felt it that long. The day that actually brought out the meaning for our ‘Industrial Visit’ was this 3^rd day when we visited ISRO. I felt the wait to get into the place was a lil too long with strict security check but the visit was definitely worth the wait. Although it had nothing to do with the subjects we are doing (IT), it still was a knowledgeable experience with a little stir to our patriotism. The evening visit to the kovalam beach made our day. Little did we expect that we would be completely drenched. Waiting for the water to kiss our feet and the little games that we played running around was some serious fun.

The last day of the tour was spent in veegaland, a theme park in Cochin which was nothing but solid fun. Personally, I liked Wonder La better, but with friends around, I guess even sitting idle would mean a lot to us.

The tour had to end and it finally did. We packed our bags and took our way back home- to Chennai!!

A special mention of the bus travel that was such an awesome time spent with dumb charades, song dedications( I loved it the most), random singing and dancing by every single soul in the bus right from ma’am and sir, some ‘tamil speaking abilities’ and much much more!! Every moment was captured, friendship bonds were made stronger, so many stories shared, got to know classmates better, blinking at what the ‘caring keralites’(!!!) were trying to tell us each time they saw us as a gang, hurried sleeps in the night, food that ranged from 10 bucks for two of us for lunch to 120 per head for dinner, sharing, living, loving, bonding- this is just what our trip to kerala was made of. The words of our guide on the final night, “so, your tour has finally ended” brought an expression on all our faces (probably, the only moment that was not captured) which would tell the tale on how much we wished the tour never ended. Yes, we did miss some of our close mates in the IV but it can’t take away the fun that we had over the past 5 days. A word on our organisers – Mani, Maheshwaran, Ananth and everyone else who worked behind the scenes(although words can’t describe the effort they put in) – ‘You guys did an amazing job. Wonder how many sleepless nights you invested on this tour!! We are grateful and a big THANK YOU to u guys.’ I am indeed blessed to be part of this class..

I finally come home by Wednesday mid-day tired, exhausted, trying hard to figure out which part of my body is in pain, unable to even move properly and my dad asks, ”So.. jeni, how was your tour technically useful?” and I am like,”huh??!!??!!” and I plunge in to the sea of sleep…