Wanderers - The Evolution !!

Phew! It's been a loooong time that I wrote a blog post. (Why do I keep telling you that every single time? Well, I must stop doing that) I don't think I've told you the story of my family's favourite thing. Eating and roaming and Roaming. So, here's a 1000 or more words telling you about that. (Yes, 1000 words. I'm a branchy story teller) I know you're not a branchy reader. You'll skim most of this post. But skimming is bad for health, just in case you didn’t know.

So, you guys know that we've been in a lot of places due to my dad's job. Mostly dad gets a place, like a town/village. But it didn't matter until me and my brother grew up. Because when we were little, we never bothered going out with friends (typically called "Hanging out"). Yet, after one comes to High schooling, no matter what, he/she requires at least a coffee shop to spend time with "someone" (and by that I mean, friends. Ahem! Well, not that I had someone, but if I had had someone, I would have required the so called "Hangout spot").

Even if my dad gets a place that's city like, it's only like a city but not a city. It'll be big. It will have a large area. It'll have a huge bus stand. But it would not have a single freaking place to hangout. And yes, Cinemas are the only spots for us with terrible seats and sucky toilets. (That matters). Enough of this hangout whining. I'll get to the point. So, back when my dad got transferred to Dharmapuri, he did an awesome thing:"buying a car".

Frankly speaking, our family has always been ‘roamers’ both with the transfers and in the place that we have been transferred. At first when we were in a village named Kallimanthayam, we didn’t own a cycle. So, the three of us (Vidhuran not being born) would walk around the village. Getting the fresh air from the atmosphere. Then we got transferred to a place called Saayalkudi. There we had a cycle and the four of us would go out once or twice a week as a family. It would be such a fun family time. Then as days ran, dad's cycle became an LML Scooter which was a pre-owned one. Dad is not much of a biker. So till date, I've never seen him ride a bike. I mean, seriously. I don't know why. I guess he doesn’t like shifting gears with his legs or whatever. So yeah, the scooter. It was around 13K bucks I guess, at the time he bought it. We were in Ahmedabad that time.

I and my brother were so little that we would fit in front where dad rests his leg. I still remember enjoying the rides in that scooter with the wind blowing on my face. Occasionally, dad lets me and my brother use the accelerator throttle. We would accelerate as strong as our little arms allowed us to. Dad, letting us does that felt like he was giving us a plane to ride. We have our moments. Ahmedabad is where the roaming (not the phone's) started in us like a routine thing. We would go out thrice every week. Gujarat is famous for its Chaats. We would eat something on every outing. We start from our home by 9.30 pm or some time like that and we'll return only by 11.30 pm. In Tamilnadu, by 10 pm most of the shops would be closed. Ahmedabad was entirely different. Ahmedabad WAS such an awesome city. I have had my great times only there. If only I had been there in my Teenage.

There was this Godka or something that we eat. It would come with a Chilli Chutney where we dip these chips like thing and eat to give our taste buds a hard time. My favorite food while we were there was the Maska Bun. See, it's just butter and jam kept inside a 'cut' bun. But was an awesome snack for us. Well, a number of people ate there. It was like a drive-out, I mean, on the roads that we don’t have to drive into any compound walls or whatsoever. It was literally on the corner of a Four-road junction. The Maskaa Bun maker is simply the expert in cutting and stuffing it with Jam and Butter. The quantity of Jam that he puts in it, well it'd be a ton of jam literally. My mouth waters even by just thinking of it. I now think of it and realize that “How could he offer that much butter along with Jam at such a reasonable price?” (Maybe it was pig butter) Yeah. Ahmedabad provided us with so many places to visit and enjoy. And in the New Year’s Eve, it'd be splendid. (Would've been more spectacular if I had been there during my teens with someone. Again I mean, friends) Then I guess Tirupur is the only place where we haven't roamed a lot.

           

When in Arupukottai, I grew quite a bit. So, it actually became harder for the four of us to ride comfortably in the scooter. That's the main reason dad bought a car. At the right time, I would say. When we were in Arupukottai, we would occasionally go to hotels. But the frequency was less as I was in my Tenth standard. (People consider it to be 'important') In the third year of our stay there, I couldn't sit in the scooter properly and when they decide going out, I would say no because I would have to strain a lot during the ride adjusting to the 'bumpy jumpy' ride that the town offered. Since dad doesn't like riding bikes (I think) he bought the four Wheeler.

Just like the cycle, the scooter transformed into a Four Wheeled beauty. A pre-owned Beauty. A Tata Indica V2. Diesel powered. I think it is the best car for the road trips our family does in it given the fact that it would give pretty good mileage. Being a Diesel engine, it didn’t give us the necessary pick up while driving, but we picked it up a lot for our rides. So, as I said in the paragraph before the last two paragraphs, we bought the car in Dharmapuri. It was there where I had to write this second 'important' thing: my twelfth public exams (No, I didn’t write it twelve times.). So, there also the roaming had to be minimized but it wasn't. Since I stayed longer inside the classroom and my home tired with books, my dad always suggested that we go out. It was the most fun family time we would have. On the drive we would talk about so many things. We would argue at times. Yes, everything altogether makes the bonding special. Even if I had a very important exam the next day, dad would drag everyone out for a ride without fail.

In Dharmapuri, we had this specific interest for burgers. Actually, I'm a big fan of burgers and we found out that a McDonald's was located at a highway of about 65 km from Dharmapuri. We would drive all the way there and have a nice crunch of burgers and come back. Dad immediately became a fan (of burgers) and this ride became our routine. On the other hand, in the Salem road there was an Adyar Anandha Bhavan where we eat vegans' stuff. On the whole, we have driven lot of roads just for having food and having a good time. But we don't restrict ourselves to just the big hotels. 'Kaiyaenthi' Bhavans and Parotta shops are also inclusive. Dad has a saying that, "You learn to eat anywhere, you learn to survive". Yeah, my dad is awesome most of the times.

And then came the Karaikal stay. Here it was just the two years. But even in the two years, we drove to every direction with Karaikal as the Centre point. All directions covered. Parotta shops, Pani Puri Stalls, The Beach Shops, Bajji Shops and so and so. But it's good that our car didn't have a stereo. If it had had that, our talks during the rides would have been inhibited. So, it's now time in Coimbatore. But we really haven't gone anywhere out. There are the malls, and plenty of tourist spots. Don't worry places, you'll definitely see our car's tire tracks and our foot prints. Until then, let the car's tires be screeching.