Kolkata Here I come (Back)

Tuesday morning, I got up and headed to the Radio City Office in Okhla as that would be the most convenient place to give to the Taxi guy, as Vinay’s place was a bit hard to explain. I had spent the night at his place and truly appreciated the hospitality right upto the cornflakes for breakfast. How did he know I loved cornflakes and it was my staple diet every morning? Anyway while I waited for the taxi at the office, I caught up with Siddhartha Prasad my friend from college, who happens to work for Radio Mirchi just a couple of buildings away. We chatted over a smoke and I also met with Abhijeet and Abhinendra while I was there. Then I caught my cab and headed to Gurgaon.

On the way there Priyanka messaged me that her show was going to start and I tuned into Fever 104 FM. I was pleasantly surprised that Priyanka sounded so full of life and she had that excitement which was evident in every link that she did. They were short, crisp slick. Way to go girl. Radio needs more RJ’s like you.

Once in Gurgaon, I set about the task of putting my Backpack together and packed in all my stuff. Yeah 1 suitcase, 1 oversized Rucksack and one backpack, I was definitely going to be charged for excess baggage. Anyway we’d see about that. After I had a quick lunch put together by Faye, Parantha’s, anda bhujia, gobi sabji, dal and pickle, we said a short prayer which was customary in my Brother’s house before setting out anywhere and I said my goodbyes and headed down the twenty floors. I was truly going to miss my angel Lavanya.

Anyway I got into the cab and headed to the airport and caught the end of Priyanka’s show. Yes, she was definitely sounding better. By now I was a bit concerned and was wondering why I love cutting things so fine. It was nearing 2pm and my flight’s scheduled departure was 2.45pm. I managed to get into the airport at about 2.10 and as I stood in line for the baggage checking, they announced boarding for my Indigo Flight to Kolkata. But proper management by the ground staff and the quick handling of the passengers got me to the counter for my boarding pass. I put both my suitcase and Rucksack on the weighing scale and the girl at the counter gave me a look indicating I had excess baggage. Well it was 32 kgs and I was aware of that, but I refused to pay, saying that I was a frequent flier on their airline and I had just flown to Delhi a couple of days ago on their airline which she said she was aware of. So after a bit more of a struggle I told her I just had Rs. 300 on my person and if she wanted to charge me excess baggage, that’s all I’d pay. So she charged me for 4 kgs, which worked out to Rs. 280.

All done, I bumped into a friend of mine from Greater Kailash – II, Rahul Kapoor, looking all dapper in his Pilot uniform. Rahul Kapoor was the first officer on my flight. How about that for a co-incidence? I boarded the bus that would take us to our aircraft and as we neared one crossing, that had marked below STOP, LOOK, GO, our driver stopped the bus and I thought to myself, wow these guys really follow the rules, unlike most drivers on Delhi’s roads. Thank god for that, because as these thoughts were going through my mind, a huge Go Air Airbus crossed from in front of us. Phew!!

Anyway boarded and got to seat no 12A, which happened to be the one right next to the emergency exit. So while I was getting settled in one of the hostess’s came to me and enquired whether she could brief me on the execution of the emergency procedure in case the exit had to be engaged. Why not? She was the prettiest girl on board and I listened to her with all the concentration I could muster up. When she finished and asked me if I had understood what had been told and whether I’d volunteer to engage in the procedure in case it was called upon, I said yeas and added that I hope I wouldn’t have to on this or any particular flight. She smiled and went back about her work of assisting other passengers settle in.

The flight was without incident, and I caught up with a few more pages of Red and wrote in my diary about the expenses in Delhi and other stuff I could recall for my blog and landed in Kolkata.