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I took the Vande Bharat, India's best short-medium distance train (probably). It took me from Bengaluru Cant (BNC) to Coimbatore Jn (CBE). The train itself was pretty good, with air-conditioned coaches along with clean seats, trays, and a charging socket for every seat. I don't think I can ever take another train.

And halfway through the train journey, I realized that Amrita Coimbatore is in a village called Ettimadai at the edge of the Kerala border, around 20 km from the CBE railway station in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.

So I had to book a cab at around 8:45 pm from the railway station, and I almost got scammed. I first booked an Uber since it was the cheapest at around 600 INR, but the driver called me and said, "It's going to cost 1500 INR minimum since it's close to the Kerala border and there's a strict speed limit," and so on. I just (respectfully) told him that I did not have that much cash at hand, and I cancelled the ride.

Thanks to my friend Noel Tom, who had told me about "RedTaxi" while I panic called him in the train after realizing how far the campus was from the train station. I found a RedTaxi for around 620 INR. The driver took me there without a hitch and was very kind, worthy of a generous tip.

(P.S.: The IRCTC train food was mediocre; opt out if possible and get your own.)

Here's a list of things I've forgotten to take on my journey, which also happens to be a checklist for the basic necessities that one must pack to a hostel.

• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• A bedsheet and a pillow
• Locks for the cupboard and the room
• Washroom slippers (I just wore my sneakers)
• And other sanitary items

I'd like to use the excuse that it was my first time going to a hostel and not a hotel, but goddamn it, there wasn't even a 24/7 convenience store.

I got allotted the Vyasa (Sri Vyasa Maharishi Bhavanam) hostel with a single sharing room like I had asked for. For what it's worth, as a first time hostel stay, it wasn't too bad. Clean restrooms, a room that didn't smell bad enough to drive me away (although it had the distinct smell of a building from the 50's, like the one at my grandma's home, which was also in a village). All in all, if I could survive a single sharing room, you could probably survive it too. Although, don't have high hopes for comfort.

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. like I'm used to, and the whole hostel seemed desolate. Not a single sound, nor a light was on. It was more lively at 3 a.m. than in the morning. Apparently, since classes start at 8:50 a.m., most people wake up at 8:30: the absolute bare minimum to not miss class.

Surprisingly, minutes later a cat arrived at my door. Unlike most cats, it was absolutely unfazed by humans, offered me a leg rub, and went straight to sleep on MY BED. Thankfully, I was able to stop it before it ever got on. No hate against cats sleeping with me, just that this one might've been a stray and was literally living in the hostel. In my attempt to stop it, it tried fighting back by trying to bite me (which thankfully it couldn't), and it even resisted as I sent it away and locked my room.

Later, I met up with Madhumitha and a friend of hers; we explored the campus a bit. Then Mitran and I made a quick pit stop to get some basic travel needs mentioned above and a coffee from a convenience store. It's pretty cool! And THANK GOD THEY HAD (WHITE) MONSTER ENERGY DRINK. We then made our way to the hackathon, which was in Academic Block 1 (AB-1 from now on).

AB1 was really beautiful, and I'll get more into that the next day. But one thing for sure was that I really liked the huge campus that was 15x the size of the Bengaluru campus. I got around ~20k steps on all the 3 days I was there, and I still didn't manage to explore everything I wanted.

Tip: Don't go late for the lunch break on a Wednesday, especially at 1. It was too overcrowded, and by the time things stabilized at around 1:30, all that was left was egg "biryani." It was basically just egg curry and white rice, and apparently it was really, really bad. I just got chicken cup noodles and a white Monster energy drink, and decided to mix them together. Never again.

While registering for Anokha, I had no expectation of a cultural fest, since it wasn't mentioned on the website at all. But I did confirm over the phone right before leaving that there would be events. I gotta say, it was a really good time. Although it wasn't a concert per se, rather the music club's performance, which was really good and had plenty to cover across the time. While no one was allowed to dance, it was still a really good time with some very good songs sung by talented students.

We met Noel Tom and our friends at dinner, had some sandwiches and puris, and left satisfied after a wonderful first day. Also, Noel had gotten tandoori naan, which had run out by the time he checked the bill. To compensate, they offered 14 parottas, of which they only took 4. Something similar happens later too, so note: If the item in the bill is unavailable, ask for a compensatory food instead.

I woke up early as usual, except this time I decided to freshen up and head out myself. I slept at around 1:50 a.m., and I knew Madhumitha probably slept even later than that (it was 4 a.m.) and that Mitran hated waking up even 5 minutes earlier than the bare minimum.

So I went on a whole side quest, planning to explore as much as possible during breakfast time. In the next 90 minutes, I managed to visit Academic Blocks II and III, the swimming pool, the other canteen called the IT canteen, and more stuff like literal farms.

And I gotta say, I spent the entire 90 minutes in absolute awe with nothing but an incredible sense of contentment and peace for some reason. I appreciated every moment of it. I found the campus so beautiful, and every sight a painting-worthy view.

I came back and ate breakfast (butter roast, 3.5/5, good). I waited till 9:30 to see Madhumitha struggle to buy breakfast in the now incredibly overcrowded canteen. I managed to get her a sambar vada since the pongal had run out. The bill still said pongal, so if they don't have something that you paid for, always ask for a compensatory food instead. I also bought cup noodles for Mitran, who was attending in for us at the hackathon while we got food.

As for lunch, all of us quite overate by buying a big plate of:

• chicken biryani (6/10 mid),
• chicken sandwiches (8/10 good),
• a plate of chicken manchurian - 12 pcs (6/10),
• a white Monster (10/10),
• sugarcane juice (8/10),
• and sapota juice (9/10).

Not to forget dessert:

• honey cake (8/10)
• and a red velvet cake (6/10).

All of it to say, we crashed the moment we went to the hackathon, and the submission was due in 2 hours. We also believe that something about the food or the environment over there makes one very sleepy after eating. We somehow managed to pull off an okay submission. If we don't pass the first judging phase, we'd be out of work for the last day and possibly not get our promised on-duty leaves by our Bangalore campus. That was my worst nightmare.

After the hackathon, we went to the ground to check out the stalls and the cultural fest. I (not so) jokingly wanted to buy a pair of bunny ears headband that was on display, and I was able to convince Mitran to get it for me. We then spent the time exploring the campus with me as a tour guide, since I had already explored a lot of it in the morning.

On the way to the swimming pool, the thought of us not qualifying for the next round was lingering in the back of my head. Then the dreaded message arrived: the selected teams. I was very reluctant to open it, but decided that it was better to know sooner than later.

AND OMG WE GOT FIRST PLACE!?!? All of us screamed at the same time after seeing it. We were the number 1 team to pass the student panel. Not to flex, but mine was the most high-pitched scream. I felt much better knowing that our OD's were secured, and we had a shot at the sweet sweet cash prize.

After checking out IT canteen, AB 2 and 3, the swimming pool, and a few more spots, we went back to the stalls, got some really cool temporary hand tattoos (neck tattoos weren't allowed sadly), and decided to call it a day.

The final day was a bittersweet one for sure. We might have gotten a bit too excited during the judging phase and accidentally went (wayyy) overboard, which led us to secure a solid 4th place in the hackathon. Unfortunately, no cash money for us. We were really exhausted, so all of us went back to our rooms to catch a bit of rest. After a nice power nap, we went back at it. It wasn't easy for us to shake off the 4th place, but thankfully we were all able to after some cheering up. In no time, we started goofing around.

We marched straight to hit the food stalls and the "proshow" of the 3 days. Unfortunately, the proshow wasn't the concert I hoped for. It was instead more of an annual day, starting off with boring speeches and chairs all over so that very few could stand and enjoy the show. The choice of music too was anything but party. We still managed to get in some dance moves and enjoy the show. We left at around 9:30 for our midnight bus.

We booked a RedTaxi to Gandhipuram bus station in Coimbatore city, as there aren't many buses from Ettimadai. The ride was smooth, and the driver was extremely kind and friendly. We had a good chat all the way to the bus station. We reached at around 11:30 p.m. and had some time to spare before our bus arrived at 12:30 a.m. It got delayed by 30 mins. We grabbed some drinks from a nearby bakery and waited for our bus to arrive in the midnight cold.

It was a Volvo sleeper bus that took us back to Bengaluru, specifically Silk Board, at around 6:30 a.m. From there, we took the FIRST BMTC bus (a MF-1) to each of our stops and finally reached our homes (or hostel) at around 9 a.m. on Jan 10. That marked the end of the trip, and honestly, a paid vacation.

We had LOADSSSS OF FUNNN! I LOVED the campus & the weather! The people were great too and attendance was taken care of. What more could one ask for? Insane trip, would recommend, Although pack better than me.

• I posted the initial version of this blog on Feb 8th during my first IndieWeb meetup, it was already 80% done by then. But the publishing of this blog was just as spontaneous as the trip itself.
• I tried to curate the photos to a reasonable amount, but I ended up with 51 finalised photos, which is still a lot. I had to cut out a lot of good ones, just know that there's always more to the story than what I could ever capture.

If you've read through the whole thing, I'm truly thankful from the bottom of my heart. It was my first ever long-form post and I hope you didn't find it too cringey, I'll promise to do a better job next time (-‿-")

pic dump: