Missed a flight - Finally

As the title suggests, it finally happened. Saturday the 10th of September @ Mid- Continent Airport - Wichita, Kansas I managed to miss my first flight.

Given my past history, that I just about manage to catch all my modes of transport, be it bus, train or a plane; eventually i was going to miss one,  was a prognostication. The closest I had got is checking-in 10 mins before the departure time @ the Mumbai airport. Luckily those were the days when the 45 minute rule wasn't there and i managed to catch that flight escorted by the airline staff. 

The irony is that, all those times i managed to get onto my flight. This time i missed it even though i was at the airport more than 60 mins before the departure time. Worse part was that i could see my plane standing on the tarmac a good 10 mins and then take off. Blame the Delta airlines check-in procedure or just having 1 person at the counter handling a huge queue. 

The bottom line for me is never be at the airport on time; else I will miss the flight. They have put me on the next morning flight; guess i should just show up at the airport 15 mins before the flight departs.

Discounted Independence

Of all the silly telemarketing messages that i receive; ranging from winning a $10 million lottery to pest control adverts, from helping a lonely girl reach home as her scooty has given up to offers of a no limit credit card, i thought i had seen the gamut of such messages.

15th August, 2011 - I got a message which was implicitly funny. The message was from the matrimony site 'Jeevansaathi' offering me a discount on registering my profile. What an oxymoron. Receiving a message to get hitched, that too on the independence day. I couldn't have asked for a better timing !!

Two Facts of Life

Today, I had a very interesting conversation with an absolutely amazing person. The crux of that 54 minute conversation was two facts that I thought were extremely interesting. So I have decided to grace my ‘piece of virtual space’ with it because I am sure some years down when I read this, it would definitely get a smile on my face J

Fact 1 - MBA – You invest so much of time and money in getting into the course. You invest double the time and money, once you have gotten into the course. So once you complete MBA, the least you should do is become “smart”. I have never thought of MBA as “Nirvana” … probably I should!!

Fact 2 – Girls – Girls are dumb. They are supposed to be dumb. And it is perfectly alright if they are dumb. They have been manufactured that way – without logical reasoning. But guys are supposed to be smart. Imagine this - Dumb girl + Dumb guy coming together, they would make excitingly dumb decisions. I personally think it would create Endless Stupidity + Entertainment (for others of course).

Ladies, before you pick up swords, these are not my words. I am just quoting the words from my conversation.

And to the initiator of this conversation, thanks a lot. You are amazing J

Dairy Milk – Kuch Mithaas Faila di Jaaye

For all those people who love chocolate, dairy milk would surely rank as one among the top notch. Eating a dairy milk chocolate all by you is probably the best feeling. But yesterday I bettered the best feeling.

It was bettered by giving away the Dairy Milk to street children at a Vile Parle traffic signal. The smile that brightened the face of the kid was priceless. It was much more satisfying than eating the bar of chocolate myself.

Not to take any credit for this act … someone made me do it. Thanks. You made me do a good thing.

Belief

Simple as it may sound; never did I realize that this word defines me in some way. Even though it may define me, yet I am blissfully ignorant of it. So when the most beautiful girl that I have ever met or come across asked me the question, “What do you believe in?” – I was stumped. Perplexed. Bewildered. The sheer simplicity and yet the difficulty (just like her) of that question got me thinking.

So what is belief for me? Belief is something that comes from within. Some reality that lies within. Some incoherent force that stops me from doing something. The same incoherent force that compels me to do something. Well, I might be talking about conscience but then again it is based on some values and belief which I call the core. So do the things I believe in form the part of my core and yet I cannot define it? Is that plausible? Does it mean that I do not know myself well?

Luckily, it not all grey for me – I found some things that I could define my belief in. Foremost would be the supreme power or reality – the force that controls or drives everything. Then there is a famous Hindi saying that I have utmost belief in – “Jo hota hai acche ke liye hota hai”. This line might not seem correct to the person affected but when I do look back at events in my life – this surely holds true. In a relationship I find three things most important that I do believe in – Honesty, Trust and Love. Simplicity and humility are two characteristics that I firmly believe in – but they are the most difficult to achieve.

And on a lighter note, I do believe that if any of my friends read this post – firstly they might get a heart attack and secondly I will get a phone call full of abuses – No one is used to me being so serious about life J

The Rickshaw Driver

‘United we stand, Divided we fall’. It’s a line that we have been hearing for ages. I saw that first hand in my recent trip to Bengaluru.

As we got into a rick at BTM Layout to go to Race Course, I braced myself for an uncomfortable ride in the Bengaluru traffic and pollution. Add to it that the rick driver was a budding schumacher, made matters really worse for the bad back that I was carrying.

Somewhere in the middle of the journey, I saw another rick had broken down and the driver was pushing it hoping to find a garage. The Schumacher guy (my rick driver) stopped and asked the other driver about his problem. After a few exchanges in Kannada, he placed his rick at a strategic angle and put his left leg out on the back of the broken down rick. He then pushed that rick for almost 20 minutes through the horrific and unrelenting Bengaluru traffic. He risked his leg (and more) to help another driver whom he did not even know. He was at a risk of losing his leg due to uneven road, bumps, sudden brakes, people crossing and the two wheelers snaking through the traffic. Irrespective, he kept pushing. He kept pushing so that the other guy could reach somewhere near the garage, get his rick fixed and move on to earn his livelihood.

This was yet another simple incident that strengthened my belief in the inherent goodness within people. Probably we should stop building walls and start building bridges.

P.S - Just to put perspective - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bizZeYvH3VI (this is not videoed by me)

Sin Free 4.0 – Tirupati

14 months after Sin Free 3.0 I realized that my sins have reached dangerous levels and they might get back to me. It was high time to get rid of all them so that I can have a clean slate and start my ‘paaps’ all over again! So it was a trip to Tirupati again and this time I had 2 of my dearest friends along for company.

We left Bangalore on May 20, 2011 @ 19:30 hours and the bus reached next day at 01:15 am. The journey was uneventful with my friends sleeping like logs while me not even getting a minute of sleep. After refreshing ourselves, we boarded the state transport that took us to the top of the mountain in an exciting 45 minute ride. By 3.30 am we had joined the line for the darshan and at the exact moment of 5:00 am on May 21, 2011 I became SIN FREE.

I have started a new sin a/c again and would need to make Sin Free 5.0 – Tirupati sometime next year. So till then … tension nako … paap karte raho bhaiyya !!

Good Job BMTC VayuVajra

Most of us who have travelled through the new Bengaluru Airport agree that we are capable of building world class infrastructure. But building the infrastructure was never the problem. The problem is supporting that infra with facilities all around so that people truly enjoy the world class airport. I had a firsthand experience of these support services last weekend when I landed at the Bengaluru International Airport.

As I got down from the aircraft at 22:50 hours, I made a mad scramble to the exit as the last bus (BIA 11) that was supposed to take me to the city left at 23:00 hours. Unfortunately I lost the race and the bus had left by the time I made it to the bus depot.

I checked with the employees at the depot and they put me in another bus (BIA5). They said that they would call the driver of the bus that I just missed and tell him to wait. And they really did. The bus I missed was waiting for me 30kms away as I travelled in BIA 5. Needless to say I was truly impressed by the co-ordination that we are so not used to by the government run agencies. Add to it that the drivers and support staff are extremely polite and helpful, the buses neat and clean it makes the travel to the city less painful. All in all, a good job done … BMTC.