Tour diaries.

Hey there everyone.

So, here we are, finally done with our 9 day field trip to Kochi. I must say we've all had our fun and learnt to live away from home. But, this time, with a group of eight other people who we had not really got close to during our stay at FLAME. I will take this oppurtunity to introduce our group once again, in case you have missed us, which is very much possible. Our group comprised of Avinash Vasu, Adithya Prakash, Anish Tiwary, Tanvi Dhuru, Arushi Jindal, Aditi Gopalani, Priyal 'Kareena' Hemani and myself, Apurva Mehta. Really scattered group, I must say. But, these nine days, for me have been one of those most exciting days away from home especially since I come from an another country. We fought, yelled at each other, had mood swings and things that usually happen in a group happened. But, as the trip was coming to a close I felt that the main uniting factor was the fights we had. We fought for trivial issues such as using the washroom to deciding a place to dine at. We worked really hard all the nine days with an exception on the fourth day when everyone was so tired that we kept sleeping and didn't really bother about anything else. Everyday was a new beginning for us as we left our rooms divided into two groups to go to different places so that work would get done faster, efficiently and so that everyone got a chance. All of us would get back at night and discuss of we had done as groups. There would be some days where one group wouldn't have done as much as they were required to but they wouldn't be spared for that. :)

Getting to the food. The non-vegetarians had a blast at every restaurant they went to. As for the vegetarians, it was a little difficult. But, no one complained because I think, we always wanted to stick as a group and that food wasn't really the thing needed to keep us going strong. It was team work and love for each other that acted as fuel and kept us running strong throughout. I am totally going to miss this trip and had it not been for all of you, I wouldn't have cared as much. Avinash for his amazing ideas. Ideas that took birth in his head whenever he wanted them to and for his amazingly awesome photography skills. Adithya for all the hard work he put in. Anish for his ability to walk. That man can walk miles and miles without getting tired. The only thing he requires is a lot of non-vegetarian food. Arushi for her amazing capability to write notes during an interview or while visiting any place. Tanvi for 'TIFFIN', Aditi for the HARD work she's put in from day one of the formation of our group which was way earlier than the actual field work began and finally Priyal for being our Kareena and taking all jokes lightly.

I would also like to thank our hosts, the Prems for letting us stay at their home and treating us like their family. I have never met anyone who would let us use their kitchen to cook food at 1.30am.

There were moments on the trip when we totally lost it. To cite a few examples, when I bargained at Baskin 31 Robbins, or going to a five star hotel just to use their washroom and getting out in one peace. Or spending a magnificient Rs. 1021/- at the Taj Malabar.

Some very legendary moments were when were allowed to stand on the Chinese Fishing Nets, one of the most talked about things at Kochi, or interviewing the ex-mayor of Kochi, visiting the Naval base and INS Sharada.

I think all of us got a lot more out of the trip than we all expected to. We have worked very hard on this project through all the difficulties we faced and I take this oppurtunity to thank all of you for making this trip beautiful!

Go DIP Kochi! :)



P.S.- A special mention to Dr. Mukta Sharangpani, our professor at FLAME, for helping us out with contacts at Kochi.

And, also a big thank you to Prof. Nandita Wagle and Prof. Vinay Hardikar for being there with us always even when they were not.