AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 136 of 332 from the Coromandel Coast. Here the high mountain range is virtually on the coast and in many places it cuts into the sea or is it the other way! The mountains are dense forest because of the heavy monsoon, up to 4000 mm annually. We left Ganapathipule after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Rathnagiri was 22 kms and the drive is to die for. Spectacular is an understatement by a long way. The winding road on the dense forested mountain nestling along the scenic coast with very little habitation and crossing a river at one or two places have to be seen to be believed. It may give a run for the money to the famous Route 101 in California or is it the other way! Passenger ferries are common there. We were one day behind already and we decided that we would reach Goa that day itself. We drove eastwards from Rathnagiri and caught the Bombay Goa road. The coastal road was time consuming and the Ganaputipule Rathnagiri stretch had satisfied our senses fully. Nothing could be better than that, we decided. The distance was about 275 kms. It is a national highway, two lane but not divided. The traffic is not heavy and the drive through thick forest most of the time was very enjoyable. The only problem was it was high season in Goa with the carnival approaching. Sterling holiday resorts said they were full. I remembered that Thomas Cook, the famous travel company had taken over Sterling and the Managing Director was Mr Madhavan Menon, nephew by relation and cousin by age to Krisnana (Doc) Menon of F batch. That did the trick. Rolls reversed. Sterling Goa was contacting us by the hour and were profusely apologetic that they could accommodate us only in South Goa. Red carpet was out when we reached there. An exclusive dinner was organised by the pool side and it was complimentary. Since the resort did not have a bar license, we pulled out our “Bhairoba brew”. Savitri was peeved but took it in her stride. Our rooms were upgraded. We left in the morning after a fabulous breakfast. The manager who saw us off wanted a good word to be put in. The man of the hour was Madhavan Menon. Our next stop was Karwar and this was the only venue we had booked accommodation but we were a day late. Vivek Bhat of B2 batch did the honours for us through his paediatrician friend Surgeon Lt Cdr Sumit Lakhanpal at INS Karwar. It took us just about an hour or so to reach Karwar. We had no problem entering the naval base but the accommodation had been cancelled. Hesitatingly I spoke to the youngster. He was not from AFMC. He was annoyed but managed to get us some rooms which were not exactly what we were used. Our expectations had gone upscale after Corinthian, Mahabaleshwar club and Sterling. But what made up for it was the Karwar naval base.