29 th March.....

hmm... well the dat day started at 5.30 for me... with a urge to wake up early and travel upto andheri banyan park... its a TCS office... my ex employer.. and the best one till now... wondering how will i reach there at 8 precisely.... gave me a feeling that i wont...but suddenly a ray of hope came to my rescue... in the form of a very dear best friend... and i got ride till andheri... free of charge and free of hassles...

voila... reached at the place at required time and in required enrgy levels.... hmmm a lot of rush.. a lot of people.. a lot of commotion... and a sunday morning... picture did not fit well.. but there i was... wondering... where and how did i manage to come on sunday morning to my ex employers place... and the answer was on big white board.. placed on all the trees.... giving the direction for place of meeting.

on the board..was mentioned... G.U.M.A.R 2009

the Great Urban Mumbai Adventure Race 2009...

midst of all the people.. trees.. row houses... and wonderful cool breeze which was suddenly turning warm... i met my near dear coordinator.... Sumeet Samat... who helped me get thru the gate ans well as the program since it was only meant for the employees... and i was an ex.. one...

then it all started... the meeting of the team members.. registration of the teams... giving out of he accessories and then breakfast and then debriefing of the rules and regulations and the game plan...

it seemed to be fun day ahead of us... sans the planning , team work, the constraints, the time frame and the smartness and he decision making power.... but as the day progressed... it turned all that was needed... was the all mentioned things.

Our Group was actually CROSSWORLD CREWS.... which was not was what we registed with... we registered with ACE'rs ... and then when we changed the names... it turned into CROSSWORD CREWS... an innocent mistake in not speaking clearly and hearing perfectly...

the day started with 30 clues direcing to 30 diffenrent places all placed beyond the rnge of eyesight... and were supposed to solved in the time frame of 7 hours.

Never have i seen mumbai like this and nether did i knew that mumbai existed like this... all the normal places which i have been visiting for last 10 years.... just for the sake of being out of home and just to a 'tp' had so many historical... significance.. and history attached to it... and took so much of stories and hings relate to it for so many years....

hmm... just to be on time... i could know the place ... and then get off for another one... the objective of the game was to find out the place... know the signifaicane and click a picture of your team at that place.. and prove that you actually came to know the place and reached there....

it was great initiative on the part of the co-ordinators... to make us aware of this in not s boring way... but actually the hard and fun filled way.... HATS OFF.... really a million THANKS to all those involved in this game plan.. in any slightest way....

I was teamed with the non - mumbaiites.... non - indians... and hey were not even of same country other than india...

1) serbian 2) russian 3) hungarian 4) south american

and

5) me.. indian..

what my thoughts in the morning at 8 o clock were... i have seen many english movies... and american ones too.... i know and understand their accent.... but what about these people... and yeah on the idiot box... i can view a movie 100 times... and increas the volume.. or ask some one else... but in real life.. all poeple talking to other... and some have harsh vocie.. some soft... some speak fast ... some dont... some open their mouth...some speak with closed ones.... i had tuff time ahead....

and yes... it was true... 1st one hour... was tuf... after every 10 th word.. i understood the 11th... and i made sense of the whole sentence... but later... all peices.. fell into place....

I knew the 'z' was 't' and the 'zheee' was 'the' and all that minor accent stuff...hmm the whole day went without a problem... and i now i can proudly say... i can very well survive i foreign land... :)

Finally to sum up a long story short.. inspite of not being woth Mumbaiites.. knowing the history of the places in mumbai... not being with the most knowledgable person iin the group... and with not getting help from the helplin numbers provided to us... we won CONSOLATION prize and made a mark..

yes... the serbian, the hungarian, the russian, the souh american, and the indian, found out 20 out of 30 places in time... 3 of which were wrong.. and yet enjoyed... with all the difficulties... and differemces... and the fun that we got with it... and made 29 th march the most remarkable day and will always be special for me... for years to come....

because not only i did learn many thing about the city i was brought up in... but also about 4 diiferent people.. their countries... and the poeple of mumbai... and the spirit that mumbai and its people have... no matter the caste religion or creed....

HATS OFF to TCS/GUMAR COORDINATORS/TEAM MEMBERS.