It's been a year. Precisely a year, since we took that vacation to Leh.
I have packed my bags and am heading to the airport. Been to brother’s places to find all the woolen wear and associated accessories like gloves and woolen socks. I am on the flight now a late night flight. It’s exact departure time, I forget. On the Bangalore Delhi flight there is this group of kids, engineering 2nd or 3rd year who are returning from some techfest. It looks like they might be from the IIT. The demographic of the group is pretty diverse, the arrogant Delhi boys, the reclusive shy kid from some interior part of Andhra Pradesh, all are together. And they are literally pulling the flight down and giving the worse once in a lifetime experience to the air hostesses. I think it is in our blood that with, someone like an air hostess who is paid to be courteous to us, we assume a superiority complex because we have paid the flight fair, we the cosumers are the king. So the kids were making them run for water and perhaps only to press the call button and see the plastic smile, just once more. It was obvious to everybody, what was going on. Then out of the middle of nowhere this flight attendant gives a nice whacking of words to one of the kids, I don’t remember the exact words, but it had something to do with respect and the whole flight is dead silent with only the lady yelling at the kid. They deserved it. But I never expected a always smiling air hostess could gather so much of courage and tell the ever pampered Indian customer to go to hell. There is also this false pride we associate with ourselves that when someone criticizes us in person, it’s OK, but when the same is done, in attendance of an audience, we feel humiliated, rather vengeful.
The flight was mostly quiet for the rest of the time, with kids now talking in whispers. I loved the air hostess who had the gall to give it back.
I reached Delhi somewhere around 11:30 PM. Ok, I remember now, it was a 9:30 PM flight from Bangalore. I got out of the airport and tried to locate my friend who was to pick me up, but the dude was nowhere. I called him up and he said, he was in an auto somewhere very near the airport, and I knew how near he meant. Meanwhile he asked me to come out of the airport and wait at a particular road. Now, that was too much to ask for but I trudged into darkness, reluctantly. Why should only I have these kinds of friends? Finally out of nowhere I heard my name being called and there was the angel friend, hanging out of an auto, just like a superman. He asked me to come in and I parked my luggage in the auto.
Me: So , we are going to your home right.
He : No, no, no, no. There were some guests at home; I will take you to my hostel room.
M: Thanks, so nice of you.
H : Relax man, it’s better than my house.
So he took me to his hostel room, I think some hostel in DU – south campus, I think it was the south campus because the airport was not very far from there and the airport is in the southern part of the city. The typical Delhi type hostel guard gave me a key and bedding.
Maybe I just stop making caricatures of people depending on where they have been brought up. Some other day.
Helpfully his room was on the same floor and there was also an internet room, so I was at ease. We then went for some Chinese type hotel, to have dinner. When I asked him what he will have for dinner, He said I have already had it at home and he will just have an ice tea. We were kind of lucky as the restaurant was just closing and since my friend knew the owner, we weren’t thrown out.
Then we went to the campus and he introduced me to many of his friends. We also took a round of the campus. He showed me his college and I told him and let's go in and see it from inside. He was a bit reluctant but I pushed him. Sure there was a sleeping beauty of a guard, so we were extra quite when we were closer to him. He showed me the campus and all with great pride. Then we quietly went back. The devil in me wanted to wake up the guard after we were leaving as anyways we had seen the campus, so I banged the door loudly, but as happened so often with me during the past, I failed. I could not pierce his sleep.
When back in my room my friend asked, so..you will sleep now, right? No, I want to see the India Gate..It is far, it is night, I don’t have a license,the policewallah are real bad, there is no petrol in the bike….I don’t care, I have come to Delhi and I will see the India Gate and go.
He finally relented; he said that in his two years at campus he hasn’t come out at night to see the India Gate. And I told him, precisely because you lack my type of friends. They usually call me impulsive. The roads in Delhi are good. Wider than Bangalore and Mumbai put together. We spoke of all things, our solitary common friend, his gf( they have broken up now)and all things under sun. At gateway( On review I realize, this should be India gate, but I will allow the mumbaiya in me, some liberty) there were people playing football along the road, hawkers selling ice-cream, an army guard standing in a STOP( The game we use to play when we were kids) position , though all at a smaller scale, but it was not deserted, as we had expected.
Then we went to Comesun near nizamuddin station and some drunken bloke tried picking up a fight with me, why are you staring at me? Come on you are drunk, out of your senses, blabbering, why won’t the whole world stare at you. But for a moment there was a rush of blood to my head and I was ready for a mortal combat, thankfully his friends intervened, and we celebrated world peace. We had some ice cream and fruit juice. But it was a spectacle; these many young people right in the middle of the night, there were also families and kids, and no place to sit chattering away to glory as if it was the middle of the day.
There is a hotel near Mumbai airport, where I have seen something like this, not this density of people though.
We came back to campus sometime later, I caught half an hour of sleep. Y had called a taxi for me and paid him in advance. I left for the airport and probably caught the longest flyover of my life on my way. Met S at the airport who had come from Mumbai, an hour back. I hadn't taken an early morning flight from bangalore, because there is none, But not so for Bombay. The flight was delayed from 6:30 to 7: 20. As it was a flight coming from Leh where the weather wasn’t very good. as they say in airport parlance, due to inclement weather.
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