The foundation for this plan was laid out nearly 2 months ago, with even the car being booked as far back as that. I decided to keep the ride a surprise for everyone, given it was a Mercedes that turned out to be quite a head turner over the trip.
The basic plan was for 4 of us to drive down from Bangalore to Mysore, and meet up with Pali's there. However, this involved coordination between all 5 of us boys, who were making a plan like this after a gap of 12 years. 2013 was the last road trip we went on, and that was to Mysore as well.
Given how much our lives have changed in this gap of a dozen years, I was circumspect about the trip even happening, let alone coming together in the way that it finally did.
First of all, it was really awesome how all 5 of us managed our family situation to seamlessly make this possible. All of us left our better halves with our in-laws at exactly the same time to ensure we get these 2 days for ourselves. Pali, Munda and China managed this in spite of their kids.
Next, we stuck to the plan like clockwork, starting exactly at 6am on December 25th, the booking start time for the car, and dropping it back exactly at 4pm the next day, which was the scheduled drop off time for the vehicle. It's very rare a plan can be this well timed, as far back as 2 months in advance.
So we began our trip in the wee hours of Christmas Day morning, a day I've always spent with family, but given Geet was working in Bombay, Jeeth was busy with Soha in Bangalore, and Pa and Ma were chilling in Kerala, it made sense to do this with the boys back home.
I managed to wake up at 5am in spite of spending the previous night drinking with Bala and Tunu at Church Street Social, where 3 of us were behaving like Drug Lords who owned the place. Bala the kingpin made us down shots that is never a good idea, and we ate the Empire Dosa Chicken that turned out an even worse idea.
However, it wasn't just me, Tunu was up and ready that early too, and I picked him up, followed by Munda and went to Indranagar to hire our ride, the Mercedes A Class for the trip. Then we drove to Banshankri to pick China, and began our journey towards Mysore. One of the reasons to start this early was to avoid traffic, but a lot of people seemed to have the same idea, and the roads were jam packed till Bidadi where we stopped for Thatte Idly. 
Easily the tastiest Idly's we've ever had, and China took over the reins of the car from here, something he stuck to till we returned the next day, and something that gave Munda enough fodder to take China's case given the way China drives.
We reached Pali's by 1pm, good 6 hours after starting from Bangalore, and sat down with the Jim Beam we bought on the way as a gift for Pali, and gorged on the Chicken Curry that he himself cooked for us, along with Mutton Chops and Liver Curry that he purchased from a well known place here. 
The meal followed a quick nap, and we headed towards Pali's farm that he recently purchased here. Throughout the journey Pali would be greeted by the people here, as if he were the town Zamindar that cared for his subjects. We soon reached a point where we watched the sunset. It was one of the most amazing sunsets we've seen where the bright red sun submerged into the waters of the KRS backwaters. We then drove to the farm, which was actually just walking distance from the sunset point and realised we could see the exact same view from the farm itself. What it made it awesome, was that by time we got here, the moon rose, and it was a full blood moon, rising up from exactly the same spot the sun went down. 
The whole thing was the most spectacular thing we've ever seen. While walking towards the edge of farm, where the land touched the water, China and I noticed twinkling objects around the moon, that Tunu told us we're satellites in the sky. Through the night we saw many more of these, distinctly cris-crossing across the star studded night sky. The moon itself was so brilliant, that it looked more spherical than circle, and the 5 of us sat there chatting away.
Tunu was talking about how distracted we've been all day, thinking about the issues in our own lives, rather than spending this moment with each other. Then we spoke of how the brilliant sunset followed by an even better moon rise was so significant given it was the turn of a New Year, and the space we all were with our lives.
It was an evening of connecting with people you've known for over 2 decades of your life in the most serene spot one could imagine.
Reluctantly, we had to leave once we realised restaurants would close leaving us hungry for the night, and drove to Chamundi Hills to have the famous Nipput here. It turned out to be a long drive for little use, as the stalls were closed. But we still chilled out at a point where the city of Mysore was visible from the Hills, and then drove back and bought Dosa's from a night camp, which we had with the leftovers from lunch. Then we sat looking at our old photos, and wanted to recreate some of those moments, but given how passed out some of us were, left it for the next day.
We woke up with just 4 hours of sleep, and post a scrumptious breakfast, managed to take a bunch of photos for memory, and began our drive back to
Bangalore.
China was at his entertaining best, arguing with us that Troy was a true story, and giving some logic of how reality become fiction and that becomes reality all over again. He wouldn't let go of any argument, by saying "but still..." and trying to figure a compromise. It's something we kept ragging him about throughout the trip.
Overall it was really amazing how China was just as entertaining, Tunu just as insightful, Pali just as caring, and Munda just as much a bully as they've all always been.
A trip we were so glad we managed to put together, and a trip we almost know for certainty would never happen again.
Merry Christmas 2015!
