That I have spent a fortune to arrive in time for Arun's wedding, and that I have a history of missed buses and trains (I was not the one to blame for any of them), I decided to check on the flight dates and timings. I got the date correct but the timing wasn't so right. The stupid daylight savings had confused the airlines. Or atleast, I would like to blame it on the stupid daylight savings.
Next, I had to figure out my inflight and transit entertainment. But I am not going to worry too much about the inflight entertainment. The kingfisher girls sure know I am flying this Saturday night. But the problem is when I arrive at Bangalore the next morning and when I have to wait 7 hours for my connecting flight to Madurai. Sure, I can use that time to finish a few levels of NFS or The Satanic Verses, but my bum is not very happy to sit on steel chairs for the full 7 hours. So I arranged for Sridhar to pick me up.
I know Sridhar through Arun. For years Arun and D used him as the sidekick who is ready to accompany them on dayouts, dinners and movies. While he was genuinely overwhelmed at their including him in all their activities, he never suspected their evil plans. Otherwise why would Arun's bike have only two seats that will fit only Arun and D while Sridhar rode the bus? Or why would he be part of D's birthday party when there was no party on his birthday? But the unsuspecting Sridhar will know nothing of it. And again, this weekend, they have guiled him into coming to Madurai. So he will not be available to pick me up.
My next option was Collins. But I can not expect Collins to come to the Airport after his hangover from the previous night. So I rang him up to find my way to his house. But there was bad news. The Bangalore airport is an hour and half away from anything that is Bangalore and Collins' house was a 2 hour journey from the airport. Discounting all the travel, check-in and check-out there is probably going to be just an hour for me to spend at his house. Cushioned chairs at the cost of Rs 150 each way and one free beer (that I assume Collins will pay for) are no way better than the free steel chairs. 'Could you send a couple of your girlfriends to the airport.' He almost hung up the phone. People are becoming too selfish to share.
I then trashed out a million exciting ideas for another million unexciting reasons. I finally decided to settle in at the airport. So I looked into the airport website to check out the facilities offered by the airport. To my ill luck their restaurants, food & beverage section was blank. I suppose they did not have anything to offer there.
As the mind wandered around in search of new ideas to keep itself busy, two thoughts struck me. 1. Why are there not people thronging to pick me up? Don't they know that all people flying from overseas bring with them cheap liquor which they generously distribute? 2. Why is the Bangalore airport so far off from the city? Why can't it be shifted to the centre of the city? For sure, space is a constraint and planes need long runways to land and take off. But why can't we move to VTOL aircraft? Now there is an idea. And that is an interesting way to kill my time. So I will build a case to show the government why we should and how we could move the airport to MG Road. And in that 7 hours, I probably will also convince the airport authorities with my idea so that the next time I fly in, I don't have to travel 2 hours for a pint of free beer.
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