WLAN goes trekking

CHAPTER 1
People, Bags and the Plan that never took off.

When I decided to write a trek-a-logue, I had a few aspects to plan before I started writing. Should I be cheesy/realistic/sarcastic/whatever? Should it be short/detailed/come-what-may? Well, like a professional that I am, I got a rusted coin decide my log's fate. After a considerable number of tossing and nudging, the coin and I agreed. My style would be whatever and the length come-what-may.

The Night before:
'How many Engineers does it take to make 40 people board a bus on time?' - 'Forget it! Too many variables'

The original plan was to start form Campus @ 8:00, stop at some dhaba for dinner @ 9:00 PM, scream/yell/booze/dance/sing (whichever applicable) till midnight, catch some sleep, reach by 5:30. Freshen up, have light breakfast and start trekking at 8:00 AM. Funny seeing firsthand how the mind proposes and disposes of all helpful ideas in a matter of minutes, while the disgusting ones seem to linger like the bad aftertaste you just want to shake off.

And to make this Plan work, we had a million discussions.
Sample Discussion:
  "The Bus will start at 8:15 (PM)"
  "No, Let's make it 7:45. So when people actually turn up, it wouldn't be too late"
  ..
  "Everybody, Get your tents at 3:45 from Benares (Yeah, conference rooms are places of worship)"
  ...
  "Try walking 5 Km per day starting a week ahead of the trek to build up Stamina for the actual haul"


The actual itenary:
7:45 PM:  SQUARE 1: No one's gonna be there. Start after 10 minutes. Snooze!!
8:00 PM:  SQUARE 2: Forgot ATM card. Go back to SQUARE 1
8:05 PM:  SQUARE 3: Wait for Buddy to catch up
8:15 PM:  SQUARE 4: All cards and No cash, make Jill a poor lass. Go to ATM
8:20 PM:  SQUARE 5: Cash - Check! Bags - Check! Bragging - ???! Find Friends who cannot make it to the trip.
8:30 PM: SQUARE 6: Try spoiling the weekend for those who can't make it with fantasies about how awesome your trek was gonna be.
8:45 PM: SQUARE 7: Are you trying this for the third time? If yes, Give up and Grow up. Go to SQUARE 11! If no, Better luck next time, Move to SQUARE 8
8:46 PM: SQUARE 8: Forcefully hack Visakh's Matrimony profile. Gang up and give him a hard time. Find suitable boy/girl for everybody around. Someone's gotta get married
9:00 PM: SQUARE 9: Ramble about any place anybody's been to. Filter out photos of each and Rate
9:10 PM: SQUARE 10: Talk about X-Y-Z, Catch up with old friends. Go to SQUARE 7
9:15 PM: SQUARE 11: We should get going!
9:20 PM: SQUARE 12: We should really get going!
9:30 PM: SQUARE 13: We should really really get going!!!
9:35 PM: SQUARE 14: Reached BUS. No one inside? Go to step 14. Else, Climb up and pick random squares, till the bus takes off
9:40 PM: SQUARE 15: Well, how about a quick snack/drink.. Really quick 5 minutes
9:45 PM: SQUARE 16: Everyone decides where to 'snack'.
9:55 PM: SQUARE 17: Orders ready.. Start eating. Big plates.. Lots of food. Did we say Snack? Scratch it. This is Dinner.