Venue-Pune Airport
Reason of travel-Friend's marriage reception
Well..It all started on previous evening with a thought that i have the flight at 8:30, which needs me to reach airport before 7:30. And as i have to travel on unknown road, i left early, at about 6:45. With my nokia's automated girl telling instructions, it wasnt really tough to find out a place as large as airport. So moral of the story, i reached there before 7:30.
Thats when first 'event' struck.. I check for my flight on the list, its there alright.. But wait, why is it scheduled at 9:30? I check my ticket, and damn! It really Is at 9:30.. So my thought was well its not too tough to spend about an hour on airport, correct? Wrong! Even the checkin window had not been opened, let alone the shops. So i thought, anyway, now that i am here, can't do anything but wait..
Second one: Finally the checkin window opens up and puts up the number and destination of the flight. Yeah the number is correct, and the destination is also.. huh? Hyderabad? I booked ticket for B'lore.. The lady on the counter told me that the flight is going for b'lore only, with just a li'l detour and halt at Hyderabad. Li'l! Now was the time when i had started praying like Kareena in Jab We Met, 'bhaggu ji, thats enough for today, dont you think..' I dunno whether he didnt like me calling him Bhaggu, or he didnt agree with me, but more was yet to come.
After above two, when i went for security check in. I sent my bag through the X-ray scanner, and myself went through the probe. Usually its the bag which comes out winner in the race, not this time. This time, my bag brought a police man with it. He said there are tools in the bag (Wham..Third one) I remembered, i had given my bike for servicing, and forgot to put back the tools in the bike after servicing. he gave me two options, keep it in Check-in luggage, or throw it. I opted for third one, went out of airport to parking lot; kept the tools in the bike and came back again to get new boarding pass, and second round of probing... This time, again i won the race with my bag. There was one small tool, which had fallen out of its league making its way into my bag. I was faced with 3 options this time. Two suggested by the police guy, one of my own. I opted for the second option provided by the security, and went on ahead to Boarding Gate.
Once near the boarding gate, i remembered that i need to call my sis and tell her that i was gonna be late to her home. So i dialled her number, only to find no network on my cellphone. Only silver lining was, i had another sim with some balance in it. So i called my sis with that number. The second call went to network operator of first sim. And even that got fixed. So now i had two sims and two phones; except both the phones were drained to about half the battery.. Letting Bhaggu take over from me, i boarded the flight, and slept for straight 3 hrs in it.
So, this is how i reached b'lore. Frankly, after so much 'fun'; journey in the city was pretty lame. Anyway i roamed around in city, met relatives and friends, specially the one for whom this all began. And yeah, how can i forget.. There was one part of the journey, which wasn't lame. Return to airport part.. The driver of the cab i had booked, drove approx 35-40 km through evening traffic in about 30 mins. And thanks to that, i reached airport just in time to catch the flight back.
Flight landed 10 mins before time on Pune airport. Still it was pretty late, about 10:45 in night. I came out of airport, and thanks to one of my niece, playing on my phone, my trusted guide was off the hook. In other words, i was on my own. Well, not too bad either.. Nice cool weather, a bike with more than 3 quarters of tank full, and a self-proclaimed travel enthusiast.. Dangerous combo.. So, finally i left from airport, only after trusting my own memory to calculate return road. It took a full 5 mins for that... :D
Mind didn't completely betray the trust. Well at least till the halfway, till it was still on the 'road'. Somehow it started wandering after that. And i took a left instead of right. Or was it right instead of left??? Arrrrrr.....
Anyway..After that, after travelling about 5-6 km i realized that i had taken wrong turn and started wondering where i would end up now. Think! Yeah this road leads to a place which is about 10 km form my house (This discovery came from a milestone on the way, and Not the Brilliant mind in which was was somewhere else!) Well not too bad, i can still get home today itself - thought the brain. Whats so hurry - argued the mind. Shut up both of you - that was me..
Well thats exactly where i made a mistake. Brain, being obedient, stayed silent. Mind, doing what its best at, kept wandering. This time i reached an intersection from where i can go back home even without looking at the way. But again i took a right instead of left and went on ahead. This time, i came to know about my mistake pretty early. But since it was a highway, had to go 3 km to take a simple U turn. As i am here to tell the tale, its needless to say that i finally reached home, after travelling a whole of 15 km more than normal distance.
After going through all this, or reciting all this.. Is there going to be any change i my old habits of getting lost or having 'eventful' trips.. Well i pray to bhggu, not to let that happen.. It would be just too boring...
