What is it with me and going to Cochin? This is the second time that my trip there has become such a harrowing episode. The first time I went there, I woke up at 10:30 for a 11:15 flight. All because of an unwarranted booze party the previous night which ended up putting me in a deep slumber till that time when on every other day, I wake up by 6, no matter what. I can never forget that day. I wake up at 10:30, realize I have a flight, threw whatever I could find into my bag, took my cell phone which didn’t have charge (and that was the reason my poor mom couldn’t get through to me to confirm if I’ve woken up and on time for the flight) and was out of the house at 10:32 sharp. I ran outside without realizing I didn’t have any money in my wallet and just jumped into the nearest auto and told him to rush to the airport. All through the journey to the airport, I was almost shivering, worried like hell that I would miss the flight. I was going to Cochin for a very important occasion, it was the house warming of my parents newly constructed house there, and they really wanted me to be a part of it. I wanted to be a part of it! And I knew that there aren’t too many flights from Mumbai to Cochin in one day. And even if I do manage to find another one, it would be way to expensive at this hour. I just had to make it to this one.
The auto guy reaches the airport and makes a wrong turn as I knew KingFisher flies from the old terminal and not the new one. So I jumped off and planned to run the last bit of the journey. It was then I realized I didn’t have any money on me. I just took out whatever change I could find and told the guy to go back to the place he picked me from and my roommates would be pay him as much as he wants, but please let me go just then. I actually didn’t even wait for his approval, just turned around and ran. Ran all the way to the KingFisher counter for the guy to tell me that the counter closes half hour before take off. And the time was 10:55. I missed the deadline by 10 minutes. There was a nice gentleman behind me in the line who tried rooting for me by saying that KindFisher has such a lousy process. You tend to go the new airport first, and on finding it is not there, you come to the old one, and there you have to stand in counter in the ground floor for them to tell you that the boarding is actually in the first floor. I was feeling so bad for this guy who seemed to have gone through a lot of trouble in reaching the same spot I took exactly 25 minutes, from waking up till the front of the counter. But I obviously didn’t stop him. Any help at all to get KingFisher to give me a seat on the flight. But the guy at the counter didn’t budge. He told me a nice sorry with a big smile. I turned around, told the gentlemen thanks and started walking feebly back when someone yells at me from behind. I turn around to see another guy standing with the KingFisher dude and they were calling me back. I was just praying as I went up to them, and yes, they were allowing me on board. I couldn’t believe my luck. And when they asked me, ‘What seat would you prefer?’, I told them ‘Anything’ and thought to myself ‘as long as I’m on that plane’.
That was my adventure the first time. Thankfully I met an uncle in Cochin who put me in a bus to Kottayam where my parents were and even gave me money for the trip, so things were ok after that.
And this time around, being fully aware of my fiasco during the last visit to Cochin, I left home at 4p.m. itself for a 6p.m. flight. Cleaned up everything in the house because I knew no one would be staying here for the next week and wanted to leave the place in a good condition so that it would be a welcome sight when I get back. I packed my bag properly, made sure the ipod and cell phone was fully charged. Ensured I was carrying sufficient cash. And I was all set to make no mistakes this time.
I reach the airport, check in, get my boarding pass, and inside I notice a huge commotion because of a lot of people waiting for their Delhi flights. There was a delay in these flights because of bad weather in Delhi. My flight was at 6 and I was waiting for the sign board of Deccan to change to my flight, but it wasn’t changing. So I went and asked an Air Deccan attendant what time the Cochin flight would be, and she told me its only after 7. I thought the delay was because of this pandemonium regarding the Delhi flights and messaged mom saying I’m going to be late. Then I sat in front of the Deccan counter and in between my 40 winks, I was checking the Deccan sign board, but it never changed even at 7. So I once again go up and ask about the Cochin flight and they tell me this time that the flight has already left, at 6:40 itself. I lost it. I was fuming, yelling at them asking how could they do this. I found the woman who misdirected me and asked her why she had given wrong information, and she says I was asking about the Coimbatore flight and not the Cochin. And as for the Cochin flight, there were a lot of announcements being made as the sign boards weren’t working and it was my fault for not hearing those announcements. Well, I probably was asleep when the announcements were being done and maybe the woman didn’t hear me clearly because of all the noise inside when I asked about the Cochin flight. And the bottom line was, in spite of making absolutely sure that nothing would go wrong during this trip, I still end up missing the flight. I just couldn’t believe my luck.
I just went out and sat after collecting some money back from Deccan and was wondering what to do. Had informed my mom about the mishap and she promptly even cancelled my return ticket from Cochin expecting me not to come there. I was really disappointed with that. Now it didn’t even make any sense to think of an alternative to getting to Cochin. I began thinking of other options, either going to Bangalore, or going to Munda’s place in Bombay itself. I was really at wits ends. That’s when the idea of trying the international flight struck me.
At this junction, I’d like to do another flash back.
During our first ever visit to Bombay as a group, Bala, Muni and I went about hunting for a house, and we had finalized on the one in which I am currently sitting and typing this. Things were pretty rough and we were on each others necks that day. But at least glad we found a place. We were just on our way back, and we realized that there was a problem with the trains that day. There was some renovation work in progress and we were going to take much longer than usual in getting to the airport. We weren’t even aware of this incident at the railways because we spent the whole day running around looking for houses to really be concerned about the news. So we missed our flight and found out that the earliest flight back was the next day on the domestic route and we were planning to go to Munda’s house to spend the night.
That was when Muni came up with the idea of giving the international airlines a shot as they might have a mid night flight from Bombay to Bangalore. Bala was completely against the plan and another big altercation ensued, just carrying on the legacy of the days events. We somehow reached a consensus to just give the international airlines a shot and if it doesn’t work, come back to the domestic, book a flight and spend the night at Munda’s. but at the international airport, we encounter this really nice lady at the Air India office who not only gives us a flight back home leaving in 2 hours, but gives us the ticket at a cost lower than what our original flight tickets back home were.
We were so happy with the turn of events. Booked the tickets and got home that night. A little late, but at least home.
This time around, I knew where the Air India office was. I went there straight wondering if there would even be a flight from Bombay to Cochin. I see that same lady there and when I asked her. She said yes, there is a flight. And only 3700. Once again much lesser than the domestic flights available. I wanted to test my luck and just ask her if there was a flight to Bangalore. And she says yes to that also. Man, this woman was like a fairy godmother to me. This was the second time she was saving me from all sorts of trouble. I chose Cochin as, though mom had cancelled my return ticket from there, I knew my dad was coming back by car and I could come along with him. And more importantly, I wanted to go to Cochin.
So I took the flight, reached Cochin at 3, where my parents picked me up and we drove to Kottayam. I troubled my folks so much that night. They had to wait till 3a.m. for me to reach Cochin when I could have done it by 8p.m. itself. A 7 hour delay and an extra expense of nearly 5000 bucks, just because of a bunch of event going wrong at the airport.
But reaching Cochin was such bliss. It took me some time to get over the way I screwed up and the guilt for putting my parents through so much trouble, but in a while, I was basking in the beauty of the Cochin house.
Its just a beautiful place. I was just relaxing in the balcony and I suddenly see water shooting up. My dad had just turned on the fountain. We had a fountain! Then at night, he shows me the ‘magic painting’ on the ceiling. Basically radium paints of stars to give a look of the night sky from within house. I slept under this vicarious sky in a bed big enough for 10 more of me, ate really nice food my mom made and was thoroughly pampered for the next 3 days there to completely forget my harrowing path to Cochin.
One funny incident that happened when I was at Cochin was this once when my mom and I went for a walk and landed up at this Home for mentally challenged kids. We were just taking a look around when this one kid comes up to us and starts entertaining us with all sorts of stories. He then asks my mom when she would be leaving me there. He basically thought that my mom had come there with me to enroll me also in the Home and this became a big story amongst my relatives where all of them started telling me that if I don’t shave and have unkempt hair, this is what would happen. Well, I’ve heard a lot of this even when I had my really long hair. And its never bothered me. But this time around, I was doing a professional course like an MBA, did I really want to look mentally challenged? Naaa, what’s the hair got to do with it. Absolutely nothing. And I like the unkempt look. Who cares what people think.
I came back to Bombay with a neat hair cut and shave.
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