Bombay to Delhi

While waiting for the boarding announcement the things that run through my head aren't about what I'm going to do once I'm there. It's not about the people I'll meet. It's not about my college days. Although these are the things I expect myself to think about.

What do I think about?

Getting up at 5 in the morning and waking everyone else up for the 6 AM cricket match. Getting back home by 11 and then playing a game of Business with my oldest friend. Then a lunch break before we get back to the field.

Those summers just don't come back. The Delhi I left is not the one I keep coming back to. Perhaps I left 'home' long before I went to Bombay.

Not that I don't enjoy visiting this 'new place' and ALWAYS consider staying back forever. I still love going to Khan and drinking up with my favorite friends and will always do :)

I hate Heroes

As a kid I wanted to master every profession. My dream job was the Profession of the Week at that time. Everything was possible. One day I could be whatever I want to be. Therefore I loved all the larger than life characters despite grown ups calling them unrealistic. Now even I hate such characters(except Batman) because that day never came. Because I no longer dream to be like them. Because I've grown up.

So is this what growing up is about? Coming face to face with your own shortcomings? Being realistic?

Or is it about losing the confidence that you once had and now you're just trying to 'fit in' with the ordinary?

Make My Trip

One of the downsides of living away from home is that most of your vacations are used up in traveling back n forth. And somehow friends and family always feel that you could have stayed for longer, I don't blame them. But there comes a time when you want to go for a real vacation. New place. No pending work to take care of (there's always some at home). No worries about missing somebody (It's so annoying to hear "arre tum dilli aaye aur mile bhi nahin"). So I replaced a Delhi plan with Kerala and the trip was totally worth it! More on that in some other post.

So this trip meant I couldn't go home for more than 5 months. Now even for a guy like me it's long enough to start feeling homesick. The Diwali vacations due in another month or so seemed far away so I decided to plan a short weekend trip for the time being. I booked Rajdhani tickets keeping in mind that I've to spend again for Diwali tickets. I also got a day's leave approved which along with the weekend and ganesh immersion seemed like a long enough 'short trip'.

But a day before I was scheduled to leave for Delhi something came up at work and I had to cancel my ticket and consequently the trip as I didn't want to spend 5k on flight tickets. So to drown my sorrow I went drinking. It seemed like usual beer but as my friend pointed out then it had more than the usual effect that day. I joked how could she be tipsy on two beers. So I returned around midnight and there I was on MakeMyTrip.com. I saw there was a 9 'O clock flight to Delhi. I called My roomie and asked if I should just book it. I got a diplomatic response "if it makes you happy then by all means" which was good enough for me then. So there I took out my credit card and Air India Xpress got richer by about 5 grands. I got the confirmation email but what I read got me completely out of the beer high that I was enjoying. It said

Itinerary and Reservation Details

Air India Express IX-143 Departure New Delhi (DEL) Sat, 18 Sep 2010, 09:30 hrs Arrival Mumbai (BOM) Sat, 18 Sep 2010, 11:45 hrs Non-Stop Flight Duration: 2h 15m Non-Refundable Fare Cabin:Economy

Passenger Name Type Airline PNR Mr kanishk arya Adult IX08264821

In case you missed it too it says from DELHI to MUMBAI. I'm sure I read this at least a dozen times. I just couldn't believe my luck. I also noticed that the ticket was "Non-Refundable". I don't remember how many call centers I called that night but I do remember that i found out that Air India Xpress has NONE. They've nothing to do with Air-India except the fact that they use air-crafts deemed unfit by Air India after use. (And there I was already wondering if I can enter the duty free as this was an International connecting flight)

I finally recovered as much as I could and then I started doing some math. I was 3k down for no good reason but if I put in 5k more then Delhi will welcome me with both hands :)

I booked the ticket again after CAREFUL scrutiny. The flight was scheduled for departure at 6 in the morning so I decided not to sleep at all. Instead I reached the airport early and checked-in (How would they leave w/o me now? :D)

I decided I won't tell anyone about this height of stupidity (of course most of my friends knew about this before I caught the flight).

For the record I'm not reckless with money and hence I decided to not celebrate my Birthday which was due next week (Like that was gonna happen) ;)

Tipsy App

This morning I got a text from a friend asking me to check Times of India Page 19

Now if this app was already in use I wouldn't have been able to post this one tonight :)

Let's us assume that such an app is actually available and that too for free. Now the question is should we really use it?

Saving oneself from the embarrassment to be faced the next day being the obvious upside. But then don't we get away with it most of the time anyway? Don't you want to receive calls from ur drunk friends and talk about it for years to come?

One thing everyone loves about drinking is that it cuts out all inhibitions so if we put this prohibition then we're canceling out the awesomeness of liqueur. It also brings about ( let me quote Vriti on this ) "the best rhetorical side of you". Now don't we want to savor it somewhere like I'm doing right now?

But if you want to get rid of all the REAL stories to save yourself the embarrassment later on then go ahead and get that software, ok braveheart ?

Control your own world

As more and more ppl are becoming active on FB and the likes, these sites are giving them more and more options to customize as much as possible. They let you control your own [virtual] world. Who can visit? What privileges they get? You can even create a new identity in no time. And anything can be erased with the click of a button! And I believe this is another reason why ppl are more active in the virtual world now-a-days.

This sense of control/order makes it addictive as its absent so to speak in the real world. All this cracks me up. If you have a mouse so do everyone else. And all clicks do is hide/unhide things you like/don't like.

It's like playing an endless video game bcoz you couldn't play the real sport. Having said that, social networking is fun when played like a game. So obviously i shall be reducing my visibility on fb... See you in the real world.

Go for It

I didn't know how to swim when i was born. I doubt if you did either. In-fact I used to be quite afraid of water. It embarrassed me that my friends could just float when I was holding onto the ground beneath for dear life. I always thought I'd learn one day but it took me quite some time to realize that I can't do that sitting inside my safe, comfortable, familiar room. In-fact I can't learn pretty much anything after a point until I let go the familiarity of sameness, the tranquility of repetition and the protection of my parents. To learn I have to explore unfamiliar grounds and dive into that swimming pool. Its new so it'll be scary, uncomfortable and risky. I might tap the water in anxiety, look around for help, gasp for breath and may be I'll never be able to come out but if I do, if I do survive, if I do hang in there then I WILL know how to swim. The time in that unfamiliar terrain will teach me more than any lecture could, any tutorial would. I can always quote from others' experiences but I can learn only from my own.

I have one life so I'd rather say yes than no, I'd rather move ahead than hold onto my past, I'd rather take that chance than look for excuses to maintain the status quo, I'd rather win the world than live a compromise.