January 10, 2012
Have you ever thought why the Emirates flight on the second Sunday of the new year on its way to Dubai would wait for a reckless and careless passenger, stranded in the Mumbai traffic? Well if you think that this post is iffy, well think again. That person is the careless ME.
For once, I didn't pay heed to mom cautious advise and the golden rule any air passenger should religiously and obstiantely observe while traveling:Always make it a point to reach the airport three hours before your flight take off. I could have heard the voice of maa chiding me for being such a 'whipper snapper'. On that day, I was woken by the heinous call of crows and pigeons that was crawling near the window of my hotel in Colaba. Time to be set baby coz I gotta play the part of superman the time I get ready and go down. Bingo! It's hell. As I jump out of the bed to reach the bathroom for the morning ritual that is to take a shower, the bathtubs are filled with the inhabitants in the hotel. I do the waiting game as I light a cigarette. Finally, its all done and get down for breakfast at Picadilly and say Hi to uncle who owns the cyber near Colaba and which is frequented by hordes of foreigners. Uncle is ma university friend Wilbur's dad and he did everything possible to ensure that I don't sleep on the pavement with my luggage looming on ma head at 1 a.m in the morning. I just landed in Mumbai all the way from Pune.
The big question is..is..is how the fuck I almost missed my plane? I so wanted to buy a new laptop and I went to Vijay Sales to acquire the new machine. But, since there was something wrong with ma credit card, it was not meant to be and instead I went shopping for some accesories at Fort. Bah! It was the new year sales and the devil tempted me to buy stuffs like shirts, t-shirts, trousers at Global and Westside. Then, I headed to Oxford bookshop to buy books, clicked pictures at Marine Drive. On my way back to Colaba, I huddled with carry bags and as I hurtled, straggled towards Levi's store to acquire my new denim, I realized that it's almost 5 p.m.
Back to the hotel, I was faced with an uphill and herculean task. There are three suitcases and I struggled on how to put the whole possessions in the bag. I mean I just stuffed them inside imagining the suitcases to be the mouth and the clothes, the paranthas. I left my hotel at 6 and my flight was scheduled at 10.30 all the way at CST International airport, Santacruz. My red-and-yellow iconic Mumbai cab was caught in a swirl of traffic and the vehicles seems to amble slowly. I was worried and constantly fidgeting with the phone to check the time. As we pass marine drive, I clicked pictures, trying to lift the burden off my mind away from the traffic woe. As the taxi driver swirled towards Wilson college, near chowpatty beach and converging towards Mahalakshmi, I could sense trouble with the frantic snarl where vehicles were not moving at all. My cab was simply wiggling and the road ressembled like a a hotbed of countless robots cluttered in the city. Yes! I am thinking of Rajnkant's marquee spread across the globe. There is no word that shall describe the snail pace movement of traffic. Then, it is Mumbai and I should have realized about it long time back.
As we cross Mahalakshmi, the phone start ringing and it's Meghna calling to wave goodbye. Hey, where have you reached..I share my apprehension with her and she's like probably you'll reach in tym..I share with her that I don't wanna leave Mumbai and comforts me by insisting that I'll be back very soon and forever. To beat the stress out, I toggled between radio mirchi, red fm to kill time. Finally, we had to make a choice and opted for the toll road in order to kill time. The easiest route is indeed the more tough one to negotiate as we are stuck in the human and immovable traffic where the vehicles seem to say, hello it's our birthright to go through this route. Finally, we reached the airport as I express relief.
Relief..aha! You must be joking! The airport resemble the western railway station as there is a huge queue swirling and straggling its way inside the airport. Finally, I jostled to the Emirates counter. I just freaked out as I was told that I am running an excess of more than 20k. I reached the HDFC ATM, withdrew money and paid. I just fucking freaked out as the helpful official sensed trouble did not feign to help me with the filling the immigration form. As I hustled towards the airport lounge where I had to carry a shit heavy loaded hand luggage, the cute Emirates official told me, Sir, please hurry we are only waiting for you before we take off. I am like what the fuck!Am I Some kinda celebrity. I just had time to say the soothing and charming words to the air hostess, Hi lady. She exudes a charming, Thank you, sir. Finally, I can breathe as the Emirates plane gets ready for take off. Who invented aircrafts?
I woke up in Dubai after two hours and thirty minutes. Finally, I am in the plane and missing maximum city. It's been a day. Oh! Mumbai you are faraway from me and you just loomed away from me. I am heart broken.
Have you ever thought why the Emirates flight on the second Sunday of the new year on its way to Dubai would wait for a reckless and careless passenger, stranded in the Mumbai traffic? Well if you think that this post is iffy, well think again. That person is the careless ME.
For once, I didn't pay heed to mom cautious advise and the golden rule any air passenger should religiously and obstiantely observe while traveling:Always make it a point to reach the airport three hours before your flight take off. I could have heard the voice of maa chiding me for being such a 'whipper snapper'. On that day, I was woken by the heinous call of crows and pigeons that was crawling near the window of my hotel in Colaba. Time to be set baby coz I gotta play the part of superman the time I get ready and go down. Bingo! It's hell. As I jump out of the bed to reach the bathroom for the morning ritual that is to take a shower, the bathtubs are filled with the inhabitants in the hotel. I do the waiting game as I light a cigarette. Finally, its all done and get down for breakfast at Picadilly and say Hi to uncle who owns the cyber near Colaba and which is frequented by hordes of foreigners. Uncle is ma university friend Wilbur's dad and he did everything possible to ensure that I don't sleep on the pavement with my luggage looming on ma head at 1 a.m in the morning. I just landed in Mumbai all the way from Pune.
The big question is..is..is how the fuck I almost missed my plane? I so wanted to buy a new laptop and I went to Vijay Sales to acquire the new machine. But, since there was something wrong with ma credit card, it was not meant to be and instead I went shopping for some accesories at Fort. Bah! It was the new year sales and the devil tempted me to buy stuffs like shirts, t-shirts, trousers at Global and Westside. Then, I headed to Oxford bookshop to buy books, clicked pictures at Marine Drive. On my way back to Colaba, I huddled with carry bags and as I hurtled, straggled towards Levi's store to acquire my new denim, I realized that it's almost 5 p.m.
Back to the hotel, I was faced with an uphill and herculean task. There are three suitcases and I struggled on how to put the whole possessions in the bag. I mean I just stuffed them inside imagining the suitcases to be the mouth and the clothes, the paranthas. I left my hotel at 6 and my flight was scheduled at 10.30 all the way at CST International airport, Santacruz. My red-and-yellow iconic Mumbai cab was caught in a swirl of traffic and the vehicles seems to amble slowly. I was worried and constantly fidgeting with the phone to check the time. As we pass marine drive, I clicked pictures, trying to lift the burden off my mind away from the traffic woe. As the taxi driver swirled towards Wilson college, near chowpatty beach and converging towards Mahalakshmi, I could sense trouble with the frantic snarl where vehicles were not moving at all. My cab was simply wiggling and the road ressembled like a a hotbed of countless robots cluttered in the city. Yes! I am thinking of Rajnkant's marquee spread across the globe. There is no word that shall describe the snail pace movement of traffic. Then, it is Mumbai and I should have realized about it long time back.
As we cross Mahalakshmi, the phone start ringing and it's Meghna calling to wave goodbye. Hey, where have you reached..I share my apprehension with her and she's like probably you'll reach in tym..I share with her that I don't wanna leave Mumbai and comforts me by insisting that I'll be back very soon and forever. To beat the stress out, I toggled between radio mirchi, red fm to kill time. Finally, we had to make a choice and opted for the toll road in order to kill time. The easiest route is indeed the more tough one to negotiate as we are stuck in the human and immovable traffic where the vehicles seem to say, hello it's our birthright to go through this route. Finally, we reached the airport as I express relief.
I woke up in Dubai after two hours and thirty minutes. Finally, I am in the plane and missing maximum city. It's been a day. Oh! Mumbai you are faraway from me and you just loomed away from me. I am heart broken.
1 comment:
Traffic can be disastrous for flights. Good that you could make it :)
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