My tryst with the airport...

I’m leaving on a jet plane

I don’t know when I’ll be back again.

Oh babe, I hate to go.

These very lines by A.J. Frost kept playing in my mind while I was at the Domestic Airport this Thursday. The airport, I must say, is one place in Delhi which I would any day prefer over any of the scores of malls spread in every nook and cranny of the city. Its majesty, its overpowering elegance and its great organization make me marvel all the time. It may not have the same effect on most of the people who fly in and out of the airport every day without even sparing a glance around, but it surely caught my eye and how!


A strange kinda feeling engulfed me the moment I entered the arrival area. Sitting in the waiting lounge, looking at the hordes of people of all states and nationalities, creeds and colors, faiths and beliefs, it was - not humbling, as anybody might have expected me to say – it was rather quite entertaining. The screen in front of me showed the names and timings of all the expected international flights, and the places from where they were arriving – omg, they were a spectrum in themselves! Bahrain, Jeddah, Kabul, Beijing, London, Taipei, Singapore, Addis Ababa – you name a city and there was a flight from there! Then there was this particular flight which caught my attention. Simply because a large – and by that I mean a very large – group of Muslims alighted from it. All but one of them were wearing typical pathani suits. It must’ve been the flight from Kabul, I presume. The one guy I excluded above, was dressed quite modernly, more like a photographer or a trekker, and was strangely enough - given his companions’ hulia - quite handsome..lol.. And thus flights kept coming in, people kept pouring in and out of the arrival area, and there I sat, from 8.20 right until 9.30 am, when finally the one we were waiting for, landed. Our guest was, given the eminent personality that he is, taken straightaway to the reserved VIP lounge. How we got there, employing all sorts of jugaad that we Indians are known worldwide for, is another long story. Anyway, we got there, met the guest and I really felt ecstatic just standing in his vicinity. It was a divine joy. Why? That’s simple - because he is my spiritual guru. :)

But this wasn't the first time I've been at the airport. My tryst with the Airport dates back to many years ago. The first time I was at the Domestic Airport was on my trip to Srinagar. And unfortunately, that was the last time J & K was ever known to be calm and quiet. Since then, it has been ripped and burnt off by all those inhuman terrorist attacks, raids, fights, curfews, in short, lots of violence. I doubt if after us any other tourist would ever have got a calm, peaceful and near-to-God experience on a Kashmir trip like we got. At that time I was around 13-14 years of age. And all I think I noticed about the airport at the time of departure was the fish tank in the lounge area (fish and fish tanks never cease to fascinate me!:-D), and the coffee we had while waiting to board the plane. It was terrible. :-| Well, my next unpleasant encounter with coffee was on the flight to Srinagar the same morning. I was very enthusiastically gorging on my breakfast – spreading butter on the toast with care, slurping up that yummy mango yoghurt and making the coffee while smiling to myself (why, it was my first time aboard a plan, for God’s sake!)– and marveling at the lofty snow-white Himalayas beneath us. And suddenly the plane began to rock, first gently, then violently. No, nothing to worry folks, we weren’t on our way to a crash. Presumably, it was a routine happening in those areas. But the rocking of the plane – it spilled my coffee all over my white top.

My next airport adventure was on the morning we returned from Srinagar. But I’ll save it for another day..hehe. For now, I’m waiting for the renovation of the International Airport to attain completion. After all I’ve been invited on a guided tour of the entire International Airport by a very sweet and chivalrous old Customs officer right there at the airport. Unbelievable? Okay then, does it help if I say that this officer is my uncle? Well I guess it makes no difference whatsoever. Who wouldn’t offer that to a pretty lady anyway?!

Okay folks, I really think it’s time I let you navigate away from this page, that is, if you’ve even bothered to read right until this line. Hearty thanks for that
See you soon! Take care! :)

A tete-e-tete with my confused world...

Hello world!

Here I am again, back with full energy and spirit, to write another entry for my quite-newly-born blog, which has been missing me I’m sure. Now, one would surely ask, what kept me away for so long? Some would reason that I must've been busy, others would say I had lost inspiration. Some would downright declare me as not having what it takes to be a true blogger….bah! But you know what, to be frank, I don't really know what it was. Maybe I got too stuck up with my life, what with all these crappy programming classes, teaching kids, going out with friends, watching loads of movies (nice, I know :D), being advised full bed rest after having sprained my ankle yet again, for the third time, within a span of 2 months...Yeah, I know, sounds ridiculous, but true anyway. So the point remains, I could not write. But today I really feel the need to write...to express.


I was playing back random little snippets of my life in my mind recently, when I got convinced that I've been up to no good in these past few months. I've been cut off from the real world and stuck in my own tiny li'l messed up universe that consists primarily of reading books, texting(I admit I am a textaholic), teaching kids for charity, giving coaching classes, watching movies, sleeping, eating, drinking and merry-making. Yes, that's about it all. How many times, in the past few months, have I not been attacked with an "OMG...don't you read the news???" along with a very genuinely horrified facial expression, to add to the brutality of the attack? Okay, people, I realize I haven't been very up-to-date about the recent developments taking place all over the the world. I admit. And to get back on track and to avoid any further embarrassment at being asked the same question yet again and again, I have finally vowed to myself to read the newspapers every day. And and and...I am keeping my promise as of now (feels nice to mention that here!)

Okay now that's one issue I've taken care of. But what about the other issues that have been nibbling away at my mind and plaguing my thoughts? For instance, these goddamn C Programming classes. I had the language as a subject in my first year at college, and God knows how I managed to scrape through! As soon as holidays began, the nice little studious girl buried somewhere deep inside me surfaced, and decided that it’d be good if I learn the language in these holidays so that I may find my future years as an engineering student easier. So I found myself attending C programming classes for beginners at a premier institute in the city, known for its great faculty and even better placements (I wonder what made them create such imaginary notions about themselves). But howsoever sincerely I might have attended the classes every other day, even with a swollen foot and an injured knee, I really don’t think the efforts did much good to me. Yes, I surely have a better idea of the subject now, but the sky-high claims that the people back at the institute had made at the time of fee payment, of making me an expert programmer, etc etc, have all gone down the drain. So now, here I stand, thinking of getting hold of a good book on the subject and starting off my own studies yet again. Wow, it’s a totally out of this world feeling to realize that I’ve been duped so royally (sarcasm intended)!!

Aahhh…how nice it feels, writing so much after so long. It reminds me of my childhood passion – writing. I used to be an avid storyteller as a toddler - and an unintentionally cute one at that - coming up with all kinds of hilarious stories involving every single animate and inanimate object I could lay my eyes upon. So be it a table lamp, a scooter, a family member or a cartoon, everything and everyone found a place in my stories. As I grew up, this knack for expressing ideas and thoughts got me inclined towards writing. And so, I used to write loads of poems and stories and even create science articles and puzzles. But the passion gradually fizzled out with time, and I really regret not writing any more. Sometimes I lie in bed at night - which is practically the only personal time I get in the whole day - and think. And when I am in my “thoughtful” mode, I come up with some real gems of lines and ideas. But being caught in the throes of sleep, I usually postpone penning them down until the next morning, which as they say, never comes. So, the last issue that I’m gonna address today is the need to reignite my writing habit. I think I need inspiration…lots and lots of it…but maybe I’ve got some of it today. So I guess I’m surely gonna come up with something worthwhile in the time to come.

Here I would like to sign off on a hopeful note. Take care and stay blessed! :)