So that i remember


It is almost one in the night. Inspite of the sultry weather outside, thanks to the AC the room is cool and pleasant. There are 4 people in the room , 3 fast asleep and the 4th trying to capture this moment. Me, ma, dad and bhai. I am sleeping next to mum, holding her hand like i used to when i was a little girl. Coarse but beautiful and for me the greatest comfort in the world- her hands. I feel such a sense of peace each time this thought crosses my head.

Knowing that you are surrounded by people who love you, whom you love - such an amazing, warm, fuzzy feeling. Everyone has been sleeping together since i came. And these time of the night is fast becoming my favourite. The quiet comfort of being in the midst of love.

Sleep tight.

Love

Ruch

A night at the Airport.

How many of you have spent an entire night at the airport?

I have!

Back to Jet Airways, yet again!
So I was flying from Delhi to my city. Flight time was 1 hour and the flight was supposed to take off at 7:55 reaching my city at 8:55.

I reached the boarding gate at 7:20. We were told at 7:40 pm that the flight was delayed by 2:30 hours. A couple of groans. yes, yes but we all got back to our books or our phones.

10:30 and still no sign of boarding. Soon the passengers went and surrounded the lone Jet Airways guy sitting at the boarding gate. What ensued was nothing short of drama. The airlines came up with the following bits of 'information':
1. The pilot is sick and is being treated
2. The pilot is in another plane that is hovering at the moment
3. When asked at 10:53 pm when the boarding will start, '11:00 pm' pat came the reply. No boarding announcement had been made by then. No, we did not fly at 11:00 pm!
The crowd started getting very angry as officials contradicted one another making it apparent that they were lying. One gentleman in particular went ballistic. There were abuses, there were threats to the staff, police was asked for, docyors were called. Yet the airlines would not give us a concrete answer. They kept beating around the bush which made the crowd all the more angry.

Finally at around mid night we were told that the flight had been cancelled. We had been expecting that. The criwd really did not know what to do. We did not trust the airlines at all. Hence even though the airlines offered to put us in an hotel we collectuvely decided to stay back so that we could ensure that these people got us on the earliest flight the next day.

We demanded fresh boarding passes as the original ones had been cancelled and refuse to budge unless that was given to us. After hours of confusion, at 3:30 am, i got mine for a flight at 6:05 in the morning.

There was a sense of friendship that developed amogst the passengers. The girls got quite friendly and spent the night yapping away. Sat on the floor, discussed life, charged laptops and phones while waiting for dawn. So that i could go home.

Finally, 12 hours after scheduled departure, i reached my city. Jet lagged from the international flight abd deprived of any sleep. Yet happy, supremely happy to be back home :)

Needless to say, i do not recommend the airlines ;)

Why?

I landed in India today morning and had to go the the Jet Airways Customer services centre to get my departure date changed. I came back with a better understanding of why we suck.

With the 'yes please's and 'If could be kind enough's of London I put forward my request. The young girl about 3 feet away from me had this to say in a loud clear and sarcastic voice, 'Badi jaldi yaad aa gaya hai isko ticket change karwana'.

She then paused and repeated the same line knowing fully when that i was right there. What exactly she was trying to do i could not understand and why would anyone speak like that was beyond me. No, really. Why would you speak like that to someone you know nothing about? who is customer? and has and is paying for the services?

I asked them for the fare for a particular date. After 15 minutes, got my reply. Then I asked for an alternate date to see which price was lower. The women exchanged looks and sighed and rolled their eyes.

The next bit came when we were deciding which date to pick. I don't quite recall what exactly happened there i soon found my voice raised. Irritated and defensive at the Jet Airways lot.

This was uncalled for and left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe I should have shouted more, and put them back in their place. I did retort but like always the best replies come to you after 2 hours.

In London, this has NEVER happened. I can imagine this conversation happening with lots of thank yous and pleases. ( Right so, I did not thank the Jet Airways people for their help, my big revenge :P) Back at work, I keep telling people how much of heart there is in Indian and this incident has made me wonder about so many things.


It was a simple bit of work really. May be this is the delhi way of speaking but really why? why would you speak like that? You had a fight with someone? you think you are very smart? you think this is cool?

This has to change, right? It was just a rude reminder of what actually happens in India. I never thought I would say this, but this really made me miss London!

Random

So I know I have been ignoring the blog. I know i know. I know my posts have become very irregular. I know my posts are smaller now. I know they are hurriedly written.
I know and I cant help but feel apologetic.

Well, a lot of something is happening. And that something is called work. Yes, am busy at work. It has been quite crazy of late and I will be very glad when it is all done and dusted. In the mean while I am a cranky girl.

Most of the times I am irritaed, cranky and angry. No, not the type you would want to hang out with..but I am trying to cut this out of my life. so for starters let me talk of some things nice.

okay so the book is progressing at its own sweet pace. These things just take time, nothing can be done about it. But sometimes i sit back and think about how it has come this far. I cannot wait for the day when i will hold a copy in my hands. Just cannot wait!! and yes, you ALL will need to buy a copy ;)

We are discussing/ arguing about the title and cover at the moment :) It is such good fun infact I will miss this phase of the book once it is all done and dusted. We are hoping for a publication date of July and the first few copies should be out in June, though these dates might get pushed around.

So I am VERY VERY excited about the book. And simply cannot wait for it to be out now!

India trip. Enough cannot be said about it. Really not possible, Also this will be the longest i will be staying at my place since my wedding, and i am really looking forward to that. This Friday morning and I will be in India. Importantly, I need to get work out of my head and just enjoy my time back in India.

India! Yeaaaaayyyyy!