It was one Saturday late evening and decided to show IT park in Trichy to my family ..Well Trichy Boys are very patriotic to their city ...No matter who says what a hardcore Trichy guy will never ever stop boasting on what the city offers (even if it offers nothing); Just like how Maduraikaaran loves Madurai and Kongu guy like Coimbatore, Trichy guy's love for Trichy will never fade. Trichy is known for Steel and Bananas and one of the unique aspect of Trichy is it is centrally located and shares as many as ten borders with neighboring districts. Trichy has got some world famous temples ...BHEL and OFT are big public sector companies in their respective fields. Trichy has got army of educational institutions especially on the Arts category and according to the latest research a leading agro based corporate wanted to store its seeds in Trichy area by that way when they want to send the seeds to be planted they can send to anywhere in Tamil nadu within 6-7 hours from Trichy. See that's what I said ...you talk to Trichy guy and they will start portraying Trichy as one of its kind place on earth.
My wife has heard enough of Trichy through me and agreed to join the ride to see the IT park ....we started from home around 8.30 pm and never did I realize the way to IT park would be pitch dark ...but what to do I have to keep up the spirits because all the three in the car came with great expectations ...best part was we were standing next to IT park and still searching the buildings ....just like how Sachin looks to Chris Gayle with his head held straight all of us were looking for sky scraper and finally we realized we all were standing right next to IT park and the building just appeared to be like a shopping complex. My wife and my son started to make fun of me and especially "Trichy" since I was singing hymns on the city ....I was embarrassed and worse thing was I didn't want to accept that so I had to convince my family IT is mainly for Chennai and Coimbatore people and Trichy is famous for Industries. I decided to show them OFT (Ordnance factory) in the weirdest of times ...It was Saturday 9.15 pm ....Ordnance factory is very famous public sector company where they manufacture rifles and stuff related to military. We entered the compound and it was strictly monitored in all directions and every nook and corner there was security gate which we had to cross. We kind of got lost since the campus was around 160 acres and we were right into the middle of the campus not knowing which direction to go ..Google maps wasn't really helpful since it looks like Google is yet to visit OFT. Elder son wanted water and younger son says "Appa enaku ucha varudhu" ....Wife was mad at me for taking around the pitch dark campus of OFT on a saturday night ....I had no clue what am I supposed to do ..
Time was ticking and finally after coming out of OFT I got into BHEL ...Trust me no kidding the place I got into BHEL was very unfamiliar spot and BHEL is 3000 acres campus ....That was like asking to watch Sura and Puli back to back ....When it rains it pours and worst thing was my petrol indicator blinked with 'E' meaning I was about to be empty tank. There are three kinds of people - fill petrol every now and then, fill petrol when it reaches 1/4 tank and third category fill petrol when it is almost about to be empty. Unfortunately I belong to the third category and this time I was afraid because people in the car were mad at me for all the reasons in the world ....Trust me my prayers were as similar as when I gave my +2 exams. My wife said never ever in your life boast about Trichy and my facial expression was similar to how Bhagyaraj looks in front of a choreographer. If Indicator 'E' gets you 15 kilometres of mileage I would have definitely driven 14.5 kilometres...Finally after the hustle and bustle we spotted BP petrol bunk and I was as happy as we would be when we have rasam rice without spilling from plantian leaf.
Our adventurous ride in 2023 to see IT park, OFT and accidentally BHEL may not have come true but it was one memory I will not forget in my life.