Blue Litmus

I was on a training excursion if I could call it that, for over 2 weeks last month. The places we covered were Ennore, which is North of Madras, Bhandara (near Nagpur, Maharashtra), and Mysore. While Ennore and Bhandara were plant training exercises that lasted more than 2 weeks, Mysore was a combined industrial visit. Let us begin.

Ennore is about 20 km north of Madras but needs to be accessed only from Madras. We reached Madras in a very comfortable bus arranged by the company. The distance of 300 odd kilometers was covered in 5 hours, most of which was spent sleeping. We were put up in a hotel in Parry’s, a dubious, multi-storeyed, commercial slum situated near the Madras Central Railway Station. Though the surroundings were shabby, the hotel in itself was quite habitable, and considering we were gonna be out 14 hours of the day, we didn’t really get bothered or have the time to be bothered by the surroundings. The daily excursion to the Ennore Plant felt more like a picnic. We were sent there to work on non-critical machines for a hands-on experience just in case there is a need, when the associates call for a strike. The weather in Madras is abominable, and it was not very hard to realise that it was the heat that was killing us. September 23rd was good riddance, we were on our way to Nagpur.

The Trivandrum-Korba Express halts in Madras for less than half hour between 2250 and 2315 hours. We were delighted as we boarded our air-conditioned cabins, all of us trainees together in a coach. We slept soon after. Scheduled to reach Nagpur the next day at 1630 hrs, we reached at 1730, the usual fare in India. A pre-arranged bus was to meet us there and ferry us to Bhandara. Bhandara is 65 kilometers East of Nagpur, in Vidarbha district, a name that rings a bell with farmer-suicides. However, Bhandara has not had a problem of suicides. Bhandara town is spread over 3800 sq Km; the weather system is moderate; the average literacy rate is 80.3%, that is higher than the national average of 59.3%; land rates, housing rentals are very very cheap; primary occupation is agriculture– almost every conceivable vegetable is grown here making Bhandara self-reliant in food; wheat, bajra, paddy, pulses are chief crops; the built-up area of residences, lodges, etc can be covered on foot. Most people travel on bicycles here. There were more bicycle shops than pharmacies within a mile. The accommodation in Bhandara was a lot more comfortable and much more spacious. The drinking water tasted funny and we learnt later from the inhabitants that it is heavier. Deuterium!?! We decided to guzzle down Aquafina instead. Adarsh Lodge looked creepy from the outside but was very hospitable. Run by a couple of old bags who looked like Maratha War Veterans. The best part about the whole thing was the food. The folks in Bhandara go full-on with groundnut oil. Everything has oil in it. Simply superb dishes were waiting to be gorged on and gorge we did. Four of us hogged at the dinner table and were full to the throat. What surprised us even more was that it cost us less than 250 smackers in total. The stuff that we ate- at least 16 butter-rotis, egg-bhurji, malai kofta, dal-fry, vegetables-do-pyaaza, paneer butter masala, and a round of lassi. Awesome what!

The food took our minds off the real crux of the trip– the plant training. Bhandara gearbox plant works from 0630 hrs to 1430 hrs. The plant is about 14 km from Bhandara town and it takes about 30 minutes to get there. The timings were so amazing, we got back at 1500 hrs and had the whole evening to us. Just the right conditions for food hogging. Yours truly weighs 70 kilograms now, which is just right for his height (6′ 0″). I used to be 67 kilograms. There is a 6 hour daily power load shedding but hell, one can’t have everything. We went on a sightseeing trip on the 2nd of October. We saw 3 places- Ramtek, Ramdham, and Khindsi. While Ramtek was just a temple on a hill, the elevation gave a breathtaking view. I will upload snaps asap. Its too good put in to words. Ramdham turned ou to be a town just like Bhandara, only with a religious past something to do with Lord Rama. We had lunch there, cheap as usual. Khindsi is a fabulous lake, picturesque to the T. We went paddle boating, and watched the sun set behind the hills, simply magnificent. Snaps are coming.

October 4 was finally the time to leave and we were all so disappointed that we had to– so soon after falling in love with the place. Some of us have decided that we will put our career interests on the side table for a while, opt for Production and take the first train to Bhandara. After all, what great mountains are you gonna scale in Marketing or Product Development, when the whole idea of life is to live it. The new bottomline is hard to ignore.

I’ll save Mysore for another time.