United States or Syria ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
As I was also eager to return to my favourite Croc Bank and since Pondicherry is not very far from Mamallapuram I proposed to my parents that I be allowed to go to Pondicherry via Bangalore, complete the eye course there and then proceed to Croc Bank where I could spend a fortnight or so before returning to Goa.
All decks had finally been cleared for my long awaited trip to the Crocodile Bank at Mamallapuram. Nearly three months earlier my dad had written to Romulus Whitaker the legendary snakeman who now runs the Croc Bank asking whether I could spend some time there.
Babu, Uncle Mano's nephew, reached me by bus to the Croc Bank on the 9th of December and I spent one glorious month there, the nearest I got to living in the wild. Although I was supposed to return home for Christmas I begged to be let off and was in the seventh heaven when my parents agreed. The Croc Bank is situated at Mamallapuram which is about 37 kms from Chennai.
I started asking around and eventually I was directed by a bus driver to the Mamallapuram bus. Before I could reached the bus a man dressed in a conductors' uniform walked towards me. "Where are you going?" he asked. "To Mamallapuram", I replied. "Come, come with me", said the man. We both got into the bus, I took a seat and he put my luggage on the overhead rack. "Ticket", he demanded.
Another reason of course was that I was dying to get to the Crocodile Bank in Mamallapuram and being in Chennai which was close to the Croc Bank was infinitely better than being far away in Pune where Dr Bhawalkar works. Although Uncle Mano, being a heart patient, does not usually travel by bus, he deliberately took me by bus that morning so that I could get to know the route to New College.
After the course was over I was eager to get another look at the Croc Bank and as per the prior arrangements made on telephone I set out for Mamallapuram, once again, on the 7th of March. A funny, but expensive incident happened to me on the way. I got to the interstate bus station early that morning and waited till 8 or 9 a.m. for the bus going to Mamallapuram to arrive.
Word Of The Day