Team heads to Olde Bangalore

This team outing was first mentioned in my other blog.

Nothing can be too bad a reason to celebrate. And this time we celebrated premature closure of out project. Tried asking a few people around the place why it was called Olde Bangalore. None wanted to answer, though one of them smiled and said “aayise hi, sir, style ke liye”.

I liked the place for its ambiance, the friendly staff that made a mad crowd of people feel welcome and the good lunch that was arranged. The outdoor/indoor sports facilities were decent. Though we were visiting for a 9 to 5 team get-together, I would definitely like to go back once and stay in the tent accommodationJ.

The only problem was that place near to new airport was a bit far, considering that our company is in Electronic City and most of us living around BTM, Madiwala and Koramangala. But then it might be more attractive to some other around Hebbal.

The idea of commuting 1-2 hours for a team outing was bad, most of us teamed up and put the BIAL (Bangalore International Airport) Volvo to good use, and got down near ITC factory. Though there are BMTC busses going very close to the resort, they are rare. But there are share Autos to help you out.

For the net savvy generation, they have a nice website too.
OLDEBANGALORE

Shakthi hill

This is a post that first appeared in my other blog. Relocating to this blog as this blog focuses more on team outing.

Great teams are build in resorts’ this is the company policy. So this year too we went to a resort (Shakthi hill) for our team building.

Location

BEML Layout, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Off. Mysore Road,

For Details of resort you can visit http://shakthiresorts.com/

We started for Shakthi hill from Madiwala office at 9am Indian standard time as decided, unlike all SemiIP (my team) activity which starts at SemiIP standard time. SemiIP standard time is 1Hrs lagging from Indian standard time. Ride is fine except for usual problems of Bangalore road. During bus journey the competition is who makes maximum noise and sings the worst. I always feel I can be the best at it with some effort.

All team outing starts with confusion for starter and this one was not any different. So our gang got into analyzing the place, of course hearty laugh, cosmetic smiles, comment, and grumbling, swearing all is a part.

Then started the games. The resort promises big grounds and facilities like indoor shuttle court, table tennis and other indoor games. But the ground is a small patch on top of hill and first tennis ball was lost in the first minute. Some of us who were awed by the crowed in the small cricket ground started the trip to find the shuttle, TT courts. This took us around 2 km away down hill to some remote place. It was some club rented by the resort. It one those clubs you see once in life time. It had a small shuttle court placed in some awkward manner in an irregularly shaped room with low walls. TT table were in basement room with toilet attached (named so because of the smell). But all this was just the dull part of it.

Fortunately they arranged a big ‘plot of land’ nearby (probably this was the 2nd ground they meant). And then as heat got unbearable we got back to the resort and jumped into the pool. Pool was the one of the best part of it. Then came the lunch. Bird flu took some glam off the lunch. Food arranged was average with fish and mutton for non-veg. Then was the best change of this outing. The usual corporate team building games were not there. It always a pain to see sorry faces singing and sad faces telling jokes when forced during such game. Worse is the realization that the next joker could be you. After some voluntary performances we got back to playing, swimming pool etc. And then they also had a small trek with attraction like hanging bridge, caves, waterfall etc. Although it failed to attract many of us, it was not very bad. In the evening we converted the stage to our dance floor and had a hearty dance. Although the DJ there was not great some of us made thing better by seconding as DJ. Song were good enough to bring even the non-pub going otherwise “sedentary” team mates to the dance floor.

Over all the place is not too great but reasonable enough if the group you are with is lively. After completion of the development work in progress is done at the resort, It will be quite a place to arrange get-together.

Over all the place is not too great but reasonable enough if the group you are with is lively. After completion of the development work in progress is done at the resort, It will be quite a place to arrange get-together.