Chp 913. Who let the dogs out

Mizoram doesn’t have the same stray dog population found in many other parts of India. Most of our four-legged friends here have homes, names, families, and a favourite spot to nap in. 

But every now and then, curiosity (or poor gate-keeping) gets the better of them, and they wander off to explore the neighbourhood, chasing cats, or leaving an unwanted “gift” on someone’s driveway. 

I live in Chaltlang (though I stay at my farm), and every morning, our Chaltlang M-I section’s WhatsApp group is usually filled with complaints about dog poop in front of somebody's gate or garage.

Our Chaltlang Local Council, also known as LC (which is our version of the Municipal Corporation), has tried to tackle this issue before, like capturing and leashing loose dogs and imposing a fine on their owners when they come to collect them. But I guess it is not that effective.

Over here at my farm at Neihbawih, Sihphir, we have the Village Council, also known as VC (which is our version of the Panchayat), and recently, our Sihphir VC came up with a new initiative, and I figured it’s worth sharing here for both my Mizo and non-Mizo readers.

On 15th April this year, the Sihphir VC summoned every dog owner within Sihphir for a meeting at the YMA hall. As a dutiful Neihbawih farmer, I fulfilled my civic responsibility by hiring a 2-wheeler taxi and heading down to Sihphir for the gathering.

By the time I arrived, the YMA hall was already packed.

A cute veterinary doctor spoke passionately about the importance of vaccinations, how parvovirus spreads, ways to prevent it, and general tips on proper dog care.

I think it was a really good talk because most people were listening attentively. She spoke about the importance of getting not just anti-rabies vaccines, but also combined vaccines, regular boosters, and even vitamin shots. I could see the faces of people around me light up. Good job, Sihphir VC.

After that, the VC leaders unveiled their new initiative. 

Every dog owner would have to register and be assigned a unique ID. All dogs belonging to the same owner would share that ID, which would then be printed on a dog tag for each of their pets to wear. That way, if a dog were found wandering around, the owner could be quickly identified.

We were then asked to line up according to our YMA sections to register. Since I’m from Neihbawih, I fall under the Chawngbawla section, so I joined that queue. Eventually, I was registered and assigned the number "324".

Once everyone had their registration numbers, we were told to wait for further instructions and for the tags to arrive. I returned to my freezing, lonely farm on the same 2-wheeler taxi.

And then on May 24th, Sihphir VC announced again that all the dog tags had arrived, and I went down from Neihbawih again to collect my tags. Each tag cost ₹50, so with my five "kids", that came to ₹250.

They were neat, round, white tags with my number “324” printed in bold. I proudly clipped them onto all five collars. Other dog owners of Sihphir too did the same, and a lot of them shared their pet photos featuring their new tags.

Once everyone had collected their dog tags, Sihphir VC rolled out the next set of rules, which I’ll translate and keep as simple as possible:

1. Dogs aren't allowed to roam freely outside their owner’s house, compound, or farm.

2. If you see a dog outside without a leash or its owner, you can take a photo and submit it to the Village Council.

3. If the dog has a registered tag, the owner will be fined ₹500.

4. If the dog isn’t registered, the fine doubles to ₹1,000.

5. The fine amount will be given to the person who submitted the photo, along with the location and time.

And believe me, it actually worked. Overnight, dog owners became far more cautious about letting their pets wander off, knowing there was a fine (and a neighbour with a camera) waiting for them. At the same time, the lure of a little cash reward gave people extra motivation to play "watchdog" for the community. Sihphir’s streets suddenly felt cleaner, quieter, and blissfully free of four-legged traffic accidents.

A truly effective initiative indeed.

Kudos to Sihphir VC.

There was one tiny hiccup, though. The VC-issued dog tags were made of light, plywood-type material, and this wasn't a problem for those people with only one dog at home. But for those of us who have multiple dogs, yeah, you know how rough they sometimes get when playing with each other. In less than a week, my dogs had chewed off most of their brand-new IDs!

And so I turned to my trusted tag-maker on Amazon - JYPR, from whom I’d ordered customised tags a couple of times before.

The VC’s rule required the ID number to display prominently, but none of JYPR’s listed designs matched that requirement. So I contacted them directly, explained the situation, and they told me not to worry. All I had to do was order the number of tags I needed, and they’d custom-design them exactly the way I wanted. A few messages and a design proof later, I gave the green light.

A couple of weeks later, my shiny new dog tags arrived, perfectly in line with the VC's rule. 

And the best part? They’re made of steel. Good luck to my dogs trying to chew through that, lolz.

When some of the other dog owners in Sihphir saw my customised tags, they wanted the same for their pets. So I placed another order with JYPR (at this point, I really should start charging commission, lolz), and soon enough, more dogs in Sihphir were sporting their new indestructible bling.

And that, in a nutshell, is the new Sihphir system for keeping dogs from running wild on the streets.

Do you like this new system? Feel free to leave a comment. 

Perhaps this same method may not work out that well in the city, where it's quite easy now to just superimpose a photo of your neighbour's dog on the street using AI, lolz, but for a quiet hamlet like Sihphir where everybody knows everybody, good luck trying to fool anyone. Here, community is its own watchdog, and no amount of fancy tech can outsmart the close-knit eyes of the village.

Cheers.

Chp 912. Buying games without spending!

The Steam Summer Sale 2025 just got over, and I did something wild and crazy. For the first time in my life, I bought tons of new games WITHOUT spending a single rupee!

Yup, you read that right.

In fact, I purchased games that came to a whopping total of more than 10,000 rupees (that too, after the Summer sale discount prices), and yet my bank account remained unchanged.

How did I pull this off?

By hacking Steam!

Just kidding.

So, every year, a large chunk of my money would be spent during Steam Sales. I would transfer a substantial amount of funds from my credit card to my Steam wallet, and then spend those funds to purchase all the glorious, deeply discounted games.

However, with my recent misfortune of purchasing a really expensive new rig, only to have it destroyed by lightning and then spending even more on replacements, I was devastated when the Steam Summer Sale started this month, as I realised I couldn't afford to spend more money again. :(

I thought this would be the first Steam Summer Sale where I would not purchase anything, as my Steam wallet had just ₹60/- in it.

Super sad. Poor me. 60 bucks. I couldn't even buy a packet of Farstar ciggies with that. :(

And then it struck me. Heyyyy, why don't I sell some of my rare items on the Community Market?

There was this game I used to play a lot called Team Fortress 2 (TF2). It is a fast-paced, team-based multiplayer FPS, kinda like Counter-Strike, except it is more cartoony and you have different classes, each with their own abilities, advantages and counters. 

The huge success of this game inspired many others like Overwatch, Paladins, Dirty Bomb, Garden Warfare, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, etc., all of which followed the same class-based strategy.

I had played TF2 for more than 500 hours and won many matches, tournaments and rare item drops, but ever since I returned to Mizoram six years ago, I stopped playing, mostly because of the bad internet connection here. Which means that I still had a lot of TF2 items that I no longer used.

Now I’m not gonna bore you with the properties of different items like “quality,” “type,” “grade,” “exterior,” “killstreak,” “unusual effects,” “sheen”, etc., which all affect the rarity and cost of each item. In layman’s terms, let’s just say I have a pretty rare collection that many TF2 players would be envious of.

And so I delved deep into the Community Market and looked at which TF2 items were in demand, how many were being sold, how much they sold for, and which items I was willing to let go of (I still kept the primary weapons and cosmetics of all my main classes in case I do come back to this game one day, lolz).

Finally, I selected the items below and put them up for sale. And boom, they were all sold off within a few days.

Yup, I made a killing in the market. The items I sold were:

Wildwood Revolver (Factory New) - ₹ 611

Coffin Nail Minigun (Factory New) - ₹ 3176

Strange Flash Fryer Flame Thrower - ₹ 805

Strange Half-Zatoichi - ₹ 683

Pyroland Weapons Case x 3 - ₹ 871 each
Warbird Weapons Case x 3 - ₹ 586 each
Warbird Weapons Case x 2 - ₹ 617 each

This came to a grand total of... drumroll please... ₹ 10,877.

KACHING! 10 freaking grand, baby. Bwahahaa.

Hell yeah, it was now time to go on a Steam Summer Sale shopping spreeeee! Let's Goooo. :D

So, the first thing I always do during any Steam Sale (be it Summer Sale, Winter Sale, Autumn Sale, or even Publisher Sale or Bundle Sale) is to visit steamdb.info and log in using my Steam ID.

Once logged in, I look at all my wishlisted games as they're the ones I really want to play. I check their current discounted price, and then compare that with their historical low price. If it’s the lowest it’s ever been, I buy the game. If it’s not, I skip it (unless I really, really want it). Because here’s a trick that some publishers play during big Steam Sales - they don’t give the best discounts because they know people will be spending anyway. They reserve their best discounts during their own Publisher sale or other events.

Once I purchased my wishlisted games, it was time to discover new good games and buy them. :D

For this, again, I use steamdb.info, where I set different filters and criteria, the details of which I will not bore you with, and eventually, these are the games I bought during the recently concluded Steam Summer Sale 2025.

125 new games as well as 3 DLCs. Notable mentions: House Flipper, Borderlands 3, Kerbal Space Program, Tiny Glade, Schedule I, Cloud Gardens, and Path of Giants, just to name a few.

Ahhh, these will keep me busy for the next few months. The perks of not being able to find a girlfriend, I guess.

These purchases had also bumped up my number of Games Owned to 2586. :D

Anyway, now that the sale is over, I have unlisted some of my items from the Community Market (the ones that weren't bought) since I don't need the money that badly now. Some of them, like my Balloonicorn Sniper Rifle (Factory New), are currently selling at around ₹ 6500, lolz. Maybe I'll list them again before the next sale, by which time the price could be even higher. I'm loving this.

So I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and remember to sell off your rare items, especially if you no longer play those games. And do comment on the new games I bought. Cheers, everyone.

EDIT: Since I got a couple of messages from people asking me how I ended up with so many rare (meaning expensive) items in TF2, the trick is to play as "Medic".

TF2 is a game about shooting or sniping or chopping your opponents. Everybody loves to play those roles. And they all need healing during a battle too, but if they all play those roles, then there's nobody to heal them. And so I would usually play as Medic (even though my main is Pyro).

I really enjoyed playing as Medic, running around in the thick of the battle and healing teammates with my Kritzkrieg or shooting a health dart at an injured teammate running at a far distance with my Crusader's Crossbow (FPS skills) or ÜberCharging a Heavy at the perfect moment to win that final push. I may not get many kills, but the satisfaction of knowing you played a very crucial role in your team's victory is amazing.

And so, usually after many sessions of winnings, some of these top global players would sometimes gift me something to show their appreciation. And that's how I ended up with a lot of rare items. In fact, the "Strange RoBro 3000" that I got as a gift from a user called "Mylva" is currently selling for more than ₹ 13,000/- in the Community Market right now. :D

Chp 911. Lightning attack... again!

I had just started enjoying my new computer setup for barely 3 weeks, which I wrote about in my previous blog post, when lightning struck my farm and fried it!

I suppose you could say my build was so epic that the God of Thunder himself got jealous and smited me. Or at least that's what it felt like.

Now I actually have a long and stormy relationship with lightning here at the farm. I've been living here for five years now, and let’s just say this isn’t my first rodeo with high-voltage drama.

Every year, I end up replacing something, be it my inverter, inverter batteries, fridge, CCTV cameras, or whatever didn’t get unplugged in time. I’ve grounded my system, taken all the precautions, and still, lightning finds a way. 

So then… how did it strike me again? Well, it was partly ignorance on my part, and a classic freak-of-nature.

Here's what happened.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was enjoying a good session of Age of Empires IV (with the 4K HDR video pack that my new config now supports with ease) when I heard the first rumble of thunder. It wasn't a big deal because the monsoon season was still going on, and so I calmly saved my campaign, exited the game, and shut down my system.

Then the thunder kept rolling in... louder, closer.

So I did the usual - switched off my UPS and CCTV and unplugged them, then did the same with the main inverter.

But here's the strange part… even though I could see lightning flashes above, it wasn’t even raining properly. Just a gentle pitter-patter on my farmhouse tin roof. Birds were still chirping. The clouds weren’t even that dark. I figured, Eh, probably a false alarm. Or... maybe someone up there is shooting blanks, if you know what I mean. :D :P

And that, dear readers, was a BIG MISTAKE. I should have taken it more seriously.

Suddenly, BOOM! A blinding white flash lit up my room, followed by an instantaneous, deafening blast right next to me. It felt like a grenade had gone off inside my CCTV box (you know, that metal DVR unit where all the camera feeds come in). The explosion had this high-pitched metallic screech that went straight into my eardrums, "kiiiiiiiiiiii!", and my new computer, which was peacefully shut down, gave off a tremendous spark!

Both my farmhouse fuse and the chowkidar's house fuse tripped immediately as well. Just like that, everything went dead. All my dogs too yelped in terror and scrambled under the bed to hide. Yup. I’d been struck by lightning. Again.

So what went wrong?

Turns out, even though I’d unplugged everything, I didn’t unplug the individual CCTV camera cables connected to the DVR unit, since there wasn’t any heavy rain or lightning yet. And through those long exposed wires running around my compound, lightning found its path straight into my office desk (even with the power supply off). Boom!

I learnt two important lessons that day.

1. Dry thunderstorms are way more dangerous than heavy rain ones. Because when there’s no proper rain, there’s no moisture to help discharge the built-up static. The air stays dry, and that makes it supercharged, perfect for lightning to do maximum damage!

2. Lightning travels through Ethernet cables. Yup, if you’re thinking, “Okay, that explains your CCTV setup getting fried. But what about your new PC? You unplugged everything. How was it affected?" Well, the culprit was the LAN cable. I totally forgot to unplug the external line bringing internet into my system from outside. Aaarggh.

So, what was the damage report?

Well, the CCTV system was completely toast. No surprise there after that explosion. A few other appliances like my electric kettle and toaster didn’t make it either (thankfully, my fridge, deep freezer, microwave, and washing machine all survived!).

But the one I was most heartbroken about was my brand-new computer. I had just assembled it less than three weeks ago, after saving nearly five months’ worth of salary to buy all the parts.

Check out the LAN cable fuse that blew up my computer!

Yup. My brand-new computer wouldn’t turn on anymore. That night, I had a long (and rather emotional) heart-to-heart chat with GPT, pouring out every little detail of the incident. It told me that in most lightning strike cases, the PSU is usually the first casualty, but it often acts like a sacrificial goat, absorbing the damage and sparing the rest of the components.

But, in my case, the lightning didn’t enter through the power line, it freaking came through the LAN cable. Which meant the surge probably bypassed the PSU entirely and could have fried everything in its path. Not great at all.

GPT then guided me through the next steps: checking each component one by one using my old system. So I dug out my ancient i3 CPU, unhooked its dusty PSU, and connected my new PSU to it.

The fan spun and started up my old system, meaning, my PSU was fine!

Which, funnily enough, was bad news, because it confirmed the PSU wasn’t the issue. It was something worse. Most likely the motherboard. I also tested my internal drives on the old system, and thankfully, they were all safe.

Then GPT told me to check my GPU using something called a paperclip test, and I was like... bruh. :D

With no other choice, I booked an appointment with Hmingthana, my Montfort senior and the owner of GI Infotech. I also booked a cab to pick me (and my wounded computer) from the farm. Tried sleeping that night, but my dreams were full of sparks and fried circuits.

The next morning, my cab arrived, and I made the long, bumpy journey to Aizawl, clutching my rig like a parent taking their child to the hospital. 

We went straight to GI Infotech, Zarkawt, where Hmingthana's technicians were all over my system immediately, ripping it to pieces and testing each component one by one.

My processor was fine. Phew.

My cooling tower was fine. Phew.

My internal NVMe SSD was fine. Phew.

Both my DDR5s were also fine. Phew.

They also reconfirmed that my PSU was fine. Phew.

And finally... my GPU was fine too! Phew.

So, after a loooong diagnosis that took almost the entire day, turned out, only my motherboard was the casualty. I mean, it's still bloody expensive, but at least all those other components were not affected.

Since I needed to head back to my farm the same day, I decided to get a replacement motherboard right there at GI Infotech. Hmingthana didn’t have the exact model I was using (the MSI PRO Z790-P), but he offered me the next best thing he got: the Gigabyte B760M Gaming AX.

It’s still a solid gaming motherboard, but yeah, a bit of a downgrade. It has only two DDR5 RAM slots instead of four, fewer NVMe slots, and a couple of missing features compared to the Z790-P. But honestly, I was just relieved I didn’t have to replace my CPU or GPU, so I took the deal.

Once the techies assembled everything in and powered it up, they also reinstalled Windows 10 with a proper licensed copy. I had to go through the usual drill of reinstalling all my software, but luckily, it wasn’t much as this PC was only 3 weeks old.

As for my Steam games? All safe and sound on a separate SSD. Bless that little drive.

Hmingthana charged me only for the motherboard and no servicing charge as I'm not just his junior from school but also a regular customer as well, having bought many parts from him in the past. What a great guy.

And that, my friends, is the tale of how I got struck by lightning… again.

Once the new system was up and running, I packed up and headed back to the farm

After reaching farm, I plugged everything in (a little more cautiously this time). Still can’t believe it happened barely three weeks after my upgrade. I also looked up a few LAN surge protectors on Amazon and will be buying them.

In the meantime, I am connecting to the internet using my built-in WIFI only from now on, no more LAN cables to my PC, which begs the question, even my previous motherboard had that feature, why the frick didn't I do that then? Aaarrghh.

Anyhoo, I’m just glad most of my parts survived, and now I’m a bit older and (hopefully) wiser.

Thunderstorms? Bad.

Dry thunderstorms? Even Badder.

LAN cable plugged in during a dry thunderstorm? Super Baddest.

I hope you were able to learn something from my experience and maybe take a few precautions of your own. Until the next post, cheers.

Chp 910. New Rig, Who Dis?

I realised I still have two more reunion blog posts to update, but I'll get back to that later as I've ordered a photo scanner from Amazon to scan some of our wild school days photos, which I want to include in those posts.

So in the meantime, I'll get back to regular blogging.

One notable event that took place recently was when I finally decided to upgrade my computer! 

It was the year 2010, when I was firmly established as a prominent copywriter at Webchutney, that I decided to buy a new PC. What excited me the most (I still remember that day like it was yesterday) was that I was finally going to use a DDR3 RAM instead of my previous DDR2s. Yup, I drooled at the thought of all the better games I could play, lolz.

It was an i3-2100 processor, considered high-end at that time. It didn’t even need a graphics card, and I basked in the glory of having such a good setup.

As the years rolled by, of course, things started getting defunct. I needed better graphics power to play some of the new game releases, so I bought my first-ever GPU - the GTX 750 Ti, and that took me to a whole new playing field. I also bought more HDDs for extra storage and replaced the PSU a couple of times whenever it conked out. And that was it. That’s how I’ve been using the same system for 15 years now.

And then I looked at my Steam games and realised there were so many titles I owned but couldn’t play, lolz. Even the ones I could play gave me issues like slo-mo dashes to kill enemies and frame-rate drops everywhere. Some had different outcomes. For example, when I played Cities:Skylines, I couldn’t fast-forward the game to speed up building and population growth due to my system limitations, lolz. And so I had to play at the slow-ass minimum speed. Can you imagine how freaking long it took me to reach Megalopolis like that? Ahhh, I have so much patience, lolz. (If you’re single, do know this is a good quality in a guy, ahemz...)

So finally, during my recent office trip to Pune, I sat with Tanishq, one of our developers at Ronin Labs and a complete tech nerd, and he helped me select the best parts for my new setup. Here are the things we got.

First up, I went for the i7 14th-gen processor. Yup, that’s a humongous leap from my i3 2nd-generation, lelz.

I also bought a separate processor cooling gel, not knowing that the new processor comes with its own tube of cooling gel. :D

For the motherboard, I went for the MSI PRO Z790-P with built-in WIFI.

Just look at this beauty. It supports 13th and 14th gen Intel processors, has 4 DDR5 compatibility, and excellent heat dissipation. Oh, and it even has four NVMe slots! To be very honest, I didn't even know about the existence of NVMe SSDs before this, lolzzz. For those of you who are uninformed like me, NVMe SSDs apparently plug directly into the motherboard, so there is no need for separate SATA or power cables. Nice.

To cool my powerful processor, I picked up a CoolerMaster tower fan. Do keep in mind that my old system didn't even have a CPU cooler, other than that sad exhaust fan at the back. :D

Coming to the RAM, I ordered two 16GB DDR5 sticks, 5200MHz each, giving me a total of 32 Gigs. Imagine jumping straight from a single 4GB DDR3 stick to this, lolz. The monstrosity!

Now, the GPU took me a long time to finalise, not because I didn’t know what I wanted, but because I didn't know what price I could afford, lolz. 

I debated heavily between the RTX 4060 and 4070 (the 4080 and 4090 are wayyy out of my league, a ₹2,00,000 GPU, are you kidding me?), and finally settled on something in the middle - the RTX 4060 Ti. A good mix of power and future-proofing, without burning a hole the size of a wormhole in my wallet.

I actually ordered the 4060 Ti 16GB initially, but somehow, after reaching Mizoram, the product got "returned" automatically even before reaching my doorstep. No idea why. I got refunded, and so I ordered the same 4060 Ti again immediately, this time going for the slightly cheaper 8GB variant instead of 16GB.

For the power supply, I went with the MAG A650BN, delivering a solid 650W. It’s 80 Plus Bronze certified and perfectly suited for my setup.

For storage, since my motherboard supports four NVMe drives, I decided to test the waters with my very first 1TB Gen 4 NVMe. I’ll be using this drive purely for Windows and software installations only.

I also got a 1TB SATA SSD just for my Steam games. SSDs load games much faster than traditional HDDs, so no more waiting forever on splash screens or level load times.

Finally, the case to house it all, a GALAX gaming cabinet. Sleek, spacious, and, most importantly, deep enough to fit my skyscraper of a CPU cooler. Plus, it came with enough jhing-jhang RGB lights to make it look like the front of a North Indian night supply truck, lolz.

As a final accessory, I picked up the Kreo OWL webcam for client calls and team brainstorming sessions. It comes with Full HD 1080p support, dual mics, auto-focus, and even low-light correction, perfect for late-night meetings or sudden video calls in dim farm lighting.

And with that, my setup was complete!

All the parts took about a month to arrive in Mizoram (including my GPU that was returned and reordered). I prayed every day that none of them got damaged during the long transit. Once everything was finally here, my good friend Sanga (aka blogger BlackestRed) came over to my farm, and we got to work assembling it. We kept my laptop open the whole time, watching tech YouTubers step-by-step as they guided us on how to plug in and install each component.

Aaaand finally, we were done! 

So here is my new PC. Hello, you monster!

All the cables were neatly managed, and I tucked in my three internal 4TB HDDs at the back, along with the new 1TB SSD. I also connected my external 18TB HDD, and counting the 1TB NVMe, I now have 32 Terabyte of storage. :D

I think overall, it is quite an upgrade from this. :D

The total cost of this entire config came to ₹ 1,42,358/- after product discounts, Amazon Prime offers and Amazon Pay credit card benefits, and though that's still a lot, I think it's worth it, especially if you consider the condition of my old system above. This is an investment that can last for a long time.

The biggest insight I learnt from Tanishq while selecting my config was that you should always set two limits for yourself when you are shopping for parts. A "Do Not Cross" limit, and a "DO NOT BLOODY CROSS, FINAL WARNING, DEFCON 1" limit. In my case, I set my first limit as 1 lakh, and the second limit as 1.5 lakh. Because trust me, you will easily cross your first limit. That's just how nature works, lolz.

As the great Confucius once said, "If a man cannot find a girlfriend, at least get a new computer", I will now bask in the company of my shiny new companion for the next 10 to 15 years, by which it would be time to upgrade again, so hopefully I'll see you around by then too.

Cheers, everyone. Hope you like my new config and feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments!

Chp 908. Reunion venue!

Welcome back! So after two nights of madness in Bangalore, it was finally time to head for our reunion.

It was still unreal to think that 25 years had gone by since we graduated from school.

We all woke up at 5 AM, alarms blaring everywhere. We quickly got ready and I rushed to the hotel's reception to settle our bills. 

The name of our hotel was "Liwa" and I do recommend it. Also, we booked it via agoda.com as it was cheaper than direct booking (two nights, two rooms at ₹ 9104 total, that's just ₹ 2276 per head!).

Our cab was already waiting for us and we headed to the airport, still groggy and still mentally reliving the glorious seafood feast from the night before at The Fisherman’s Wharf.

We met Ujjal and Bei's group outside the departure terminal. Bei had come from Thailand with his fiancée, her brother, and our beloved senior Sam, who tagged along from Thailand to help Bei with all his luggage because there were a lot since Bei had taken up the responsibility of manufacturing and printing our batch t-shirts for the reunion.

Once we were through security check, we decided to have breakfast at La Alta Vita, which, for an airport lounge, had a surprisingly good unlimited breakfast buffet spread and was only just ₹ 829 per head! Sausages, toasts, eggs of our choice, bacon, ham, etc etc,—basically, all the energy we needed to survive the chaotic adventure that lay ahead.

Some people that I will not name decided to order a glass of whisky too, and that ended up being more than twice as expensive as the breakfast buffet, lolzz.

Once the announcement was made for us to board, we headed to our gate, and all of us could fit in one bus, with much room to spare. That's how few we were. As the airport bus dropped us at the tarmac, I couldn't help but look at all the other planes and think, "All these planes in sight, and yet my future wife is hiding in plain sight." :P

Our aeroplane reminded me of the good old Vayudoot days. For all you Gen Z and Gen Alpha out there, Vayudoot was a tiny regional aircraft that used to operate from the now defunct Tuiral airport back in the 90s. The plane was so tiny that we had to crouch while entering, and it flew in any direction that the wind blew. Sometimes the engine would stall during mid-flight and we had to step outside to push it and give it a "running-start". :P

My view, as we took off.

I sat next to Stephen, and there was this really creepy uncle with dark glasses and a mask behind us who kept posing in our selfies. Super weird, you know, like the type you would not want to introduce your sister to. Or your kids. Or your pets. :P

We landed at Salem airport in less than an hour. There was just a single runway and I was unprepared for the heat! I really shouldn't have worn my thick hoodie!

Salem airport was cute. The single pink terminal building stood proudly in the middle of nowhere, exuding small-town warmth, as if it knew it didn’t need to impress anyone with flashy glass facades or moving walkways.

Azuala, our resident aviation enthusiast, eagerly pointed out the red plane that landed beside us, explaining that it was a trainer aircraft—I forgot what name he called it exactly, the kind used to teach rookie pilots how to fly.

I was sweating profusely as we stepped inside the tiny arrival lounge, the humidity hitting me like a warm, unwelcome embrace.

As I glanced around, the signboards written in Tamil triggered a wave of nostalgia—after all, I had spent my entire school life from Class 7 to 12 in Yercaud and then went on to do my engineering in Coimbatore. I still can't read Tamil, but after spending a significant chunk of my life in the South, I can effortlessly tell the difference between Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu scripts—something I'm proud to boast of. :P

Soon, the ground staff manually brought our luggage one by one. No conveyor belts. No announcements. Just good old-fashioned human labour. Once we got all our luggage, including Bei with his 5-6 large suitcases containing our batch t-shirts, we proceeded outside.

We Mizos had initially planned to book an Innova to take us from the airport to Yercaud, but Bei had already arranged a tempo van for just the four of them due to all his luggage. So naturally, being the freeloaders we are, five of us—including Ujjal—happily hopped into their van like stowaways. :D

We all fit in perfectly inside the van, pretty much like those five remaining air tickets earlier. Lady Luck was clearly still on our side. And with that, our road trip to Yercaud kicked off—two hours of pure road-trip vibes, nostalgia, and the thrill of heading back to where it all began.

Now, what’s a road trip without a little booze? It was not yet 12 but it was sweltering hot outside and nothing sounded better than cracking open a few chilled beers. We started looking for a wine shop on our route.

Eventually, we spotted one, and just like I remembered from 25 years ago, there was already a long queue of eager patrons waiting for it to open, lolz. (In Tamil Nadu, wine shops strictly operate between noon and 10 PM only)

Soon the shop owner arrived on his scooty and the crowd buzzed with excitement. Like a superhero, he strutted up to his shop in slo-mo (or at least it felt like one), reached into his pockets for the keys and bent down to open the lock to his shutters. And then he slapped his forehead with his palm and went, "Ayyo!"—because apparently, he had brought the wrong set of keys, lolz lolz lolz!

Other people immediately cursed him and kicked him (jokingly of course, as it looked like they all knew each other, small town after all). Grinning widely, he ran back to his scooty to fetch the correct keys from home while the others laughed. I loved the camaraderie.

Unfortunately, our tempo van was blocking the narrow road, causing a mini traffic jam and so we decided to move on and look elsewhere.

And that’s when we found it—some random roadside shady shop, where we finally got our hands on a case of "SNJ 10000" beer, lolz. It was super strong and, let’s be honest, a bit sketchy. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Cheers!

As we began our climb up the winding roads of Yercaud, memories came flooding back. Jeez, the number of times we used to travel up and down these very hairpin bends to take part in a tournament at one of the schools in Salem, or a dental appointment, or a class outing. And of course, many of us used to get roadsick on the way and puke our guts out from our bus window. Ah good times. :D

And oh, the weather shift! From melting in the Salem heat, we suddenly found ourselves rolling down our windows and turning off the AC as we climbed higher and higher. That’s the Salem-Yercaud road for you—one minute you’re sweating your ass off, the next you’re freezing your ass off.

Finally, we reached the top, greeted by the ever-familiar sight of "Big Lake" shimmering in front of us. From there, we took a turn onto a narrow road leading to our resort.

We were all quite hungry and Sam suggested we stop at his batchmate’s new resort for lunch, as it was on the way to our resort. Unfortunately, when we got there... it was under renovation.

We debated going back to Yercaud town, but Google Maps showed our reunion resort was closer, so we decided to just check in first and then head to Bei’s fiancée’s resort for lunch (ok here's the thing, our reunion was strictly batchmates only. Wives, kids and other fam members weren't allowed, so Bei's fiancée, her brother and Sam were staying at a nearby resort).

Finally, we reached our Reunion destination - Bison Rise Resorts.

As we all ran down from our van excitedly and screamed out names, it turned into an epic Hug-Fest. Batchmates everywhere, laughter echoing, arms flailing. My poor limbs took a beating from the endless bear hugs, back slaps, and overenthusiastic handshakes, but hey, that’s the price you pay for reuniting with old friends after 25 years.

The sheer joy of seeing familiar faces, some unchanged, some… let’s just say, “well-aged,” was absolutely priceless.

As part of the welcome committee’s grand entrance ritual, we were garlanded with pearl necklaces, handed our welcome drinks, and—most importantly—offered the beer of our choice. Priorities.

So many close friends we had lost touch with, all in one place together! And, best of all, even classmates who had left before 12th grade had come! 

Tlawmlova, Azuala, and Hminga, who had joined Montfort in 11th, didn’t know some of those who left before 10th, but Stephen and I, having been in Montfort since 7th and 8th grade respectively, knew everyone.

After many more hugs and laughter, we were given our room keys, along with our assigned bunk mates.

Then came the official check-in process. We were given a welcome kit—a cabin-sized strolley filled with goodies, including our batch T-shirts, caps, towels, and other essentials. Huge kudos to the organisers for putting this together!

Our room assignments were on point. Stephen and I bunked together, Tlawmlova and Azuala paired up, while Hminga got his own solo room. And the best part? All three rooms were part of a single cottage, connected internally as well as from the outside.

Just as we were about to leave for lunch at Bei's fiancée's resort as planned, our batchmates stopped us because lunch was already arranged. And so we decided to remain at our resort.

We devoured the most flavourful Tamil-style mutton biryani, legendary Kothu Parotta, and an insanely good gravy that was famous at outlets like Murugabhavan next to our school.

Stuffed and satisfied, we headed back to our rooms to freshen up as more batchmates continued arriving. The greetings and hugs continued.

Soon, it was tea time, and I had these absolutely delicious pakoras along with filter coffee.

As the evening rolled in, an announcement was made—it was time to collect our custom house T-shirts! These were the ones Bei had printed in Thailand, featuring our names and numbers on the back.

But... there was a "tiny" problem.

Apparently, Thailand’s sizing chart is different from India’s, so all our shirts were a bit too tiny, lolz. Let’s just say, some of us looked more like body-hugging fashion models, and others... well, like we had accidentally borrowed a kid’s shirt. 

Thankfully, our black batch reunion T-shirts (made in India) fit perfectly. At 6 PM, we all gathered at the resort ground, rocking our matching shirts, ready to kick off our first official reunion party.

The bar was well-stocked with everything from smooth single malts and dark rums to crisp gins and classic vodkas—something for every kind of drinker.

For cocktails, there were plenty of mixers and aperitifs, from zesty lime and bitters to herbal vermouth and orange liqueurs (oh did I not mention we had just launched our new Mixed Reality app called "Mixology XR" which is all about learning how to make different cocktails?).

We even hired our own bartender for the night, ready to take our orders.

And here's the best part. 12 cocktails were selected to be the drinks served that night, and each one was named after one of us along with that person's unique "quirk" that made him famous among our batch. If you look closely, you can find me in that list too. :D

Here's a zoomed in version. Yup, "Kim's Stinky Breeze". That's me. Because I was infamous for farting back in school! I was the undefeated champ of farting, I could let one rip (almost) anytime I wanted, and anybody who dared to challenge me to take away my coveted prize was left humiliated. :D

People had a great time reading through the cocktail choices and deciding which drink to go for.

A great start to a wonderful evening indeed.

Soon it was time for the evening function to begin. Kamalesh and Eshwar (now the current Montfort Old Boys Association President) asked everybody to come and sit in front of the stage.

We began with a solemn moment of reflection, standing in unified silence for one minute to honour and remember our fallen brothers, as their names were read out slowly one by one. Francis Lalhrilhtluanga was one of them. If only he could have been there that night, he would have enjoyed so much too.

The function continued.

All the organising committee members were called to the stage one by one, and they talked about all the "behind the scenes" action that took place, like how they actually visited Yercaud a couple of times to look for the best resort to book, all the food tasting they did at different venues, discussing which memorabilia to get for all of us, contacting all our former teachers and inviting them, budgeting, and so on. A big round of applause to these guys.

And then all those batchmates who generously contributed large sums of money for the reunion so that the individual cost per head could come down were called upon the stage and they were each given a gift of appreciation.

A massive thanks to the organising committee and sponsors for their relentless effort in making this reunion an unforgettable experience. This celebration wouldn’t have been possible without their dedication and support!

After the show of gratitude, Kicha had planned a competitive game for us. We had to log on to a website from our mobile phones and register. 

Once we did that, the quiz round started, where various old photos were displayed and people had to choose from multiple choice answers who that person was. And then there were many shenanigans-based questions too, like who bunked classes the most, who got whacked by Sheikh (our study-time warden) the most, who was caught smoking in the toilet in 9th std dorm, who kicked open Brother Susai's door, etc etc.

Correct answers not only earned points but the faster the input, the higher the score, even among people who entered the same correct answers. Yup, it was intense. :D

Some of the photos and incidents really brought back laughter among all of us.

Once the event was over (I came third, urrghh), we continued mingling and catching up. The starters were really yummy too, consisting of boiled eggs masala, prawns, peanuts etc.

And then suddenly it rained heavily. The seasoned drinkers immediately ran to the tent that had the bar. :D

Those who ran to the first tent showed off that they had the music and danced to make fun of us, so we simply showed them that we had the bar and they kept quiet. :D

Once it stopped raining, we headed up to the restaurant, where a grand dinner buffet was waiting for us.

I don't remember very clearly because of all the things we drank, lolz, but I do remember I went for two servings. I started with the biryani and rice...

,,,and then I took another serving, this time consisting of chapatis and uttapams because the gravy was super dillu.

A truly satisfying meal indeed.

Of course that didn't mean the fun should stop, as people continued merrymaking inside the restaurant.

One last drink with the boys, as we all had to sleep soon because the next day was our main Reunion function at school.

It was incredible catching up with everyone, reliving old memories, and making new ones over endless laughter, drinks, and a whole lot of nostalgia. Tomorrow, we step back into our beloved school, where it all began. So stay tuned for the main event and hoping to see you here again. Cheers!