We were to wake up at 4 am. Let me repeat that for the casual reader who’s skimming through the lines– 4 a.m. Mysore is about 165 km from where I am and to be in time to Automotive Axles required us to start early. For the first hour and a half, no one knew which way we were going. At 0830 hrs when the stomachs started making the demands, we halted at Janpadaloka for a quick breakfast. Great food. The pig-out session lasted a mere 30 minutes.
Automotive Axles is not in Mysore, we were 5 km short of the land. We’d been tricked. So this blessed place called Hunsur was quite an eyesore and not Mysore. They make axles, a component you’d have a lot of respect for should you consider travelling in usually packed-to-capacity public transport. Packed to capacity may be an understatement, the buses are regularly seen leaning to one side (God help us!). We had the most despicable lunch there. The worst factory food ever.
Next stop- JK Tyres. If you like cars, buses, trucks, and absolutely love the safety these have to offer, I request you not to visit a tyre factory. You are sure to lose your confidence. A most depressing place. Dark, smelly, unbelievably hot, claustrophobic, and everything else you’d associate with a poorly kept work environment. As one colleague exclaimed – “Yeh to pakka baniya company hai.”
We were only glad to leave. On the way back is Srirangapatna, a name that rings a bell if you ever watched Doordarshan in the 90s. I’ll tell you why. 3 rivers meet at this point (I didn’t bother knowing which). There was also a large but obscure monument or garden of sort with a huge doorway that looked like an imitation Mughal fort. Some of the chaps started to walk towards it and I enquired with a colleague who stood closest to me as to what the place was about. What follows is the dialogue as spoken:
Me: “What is this place and where are those guys going?”
Colleague: “I think they do some horse-breeding in there.”
You must appreciate the chap’s imagination, now why didn’t I think of that? The place looked every bit the sort that would inspire an enthusiast of horse husbandry. A few minutes later, I discovered that it was the tomb of Tipu Sultan. No offense to his persona or his feat but what a way to preserve a tomb huh. Disgrace. Now you know why I mentioned Doordarshan; they used to telecast the Tipu Sultan story.
We returned to Hosur at 11 pm after a couple of blunders by the man at the wheel. It took him half an hour to realise that we were as a matter of fact circum-ambulating Electronic City. Anybody can get lost-agreed, but these guys are in the travel business for crying out loud!
Out Bound Training next ..uhm.. I’ll post that in a week?
