Paradise on Earth?

(continued from "Holiday! Celebrate!")

Or so it seemed to my SO* and me. But not before an eventful (?) flight. Drumroll please.

My vacation begins as soon as I step out of the airport lounge and into the aircraft. For that very reason, I fought hard and long against SO to convince him to pay a little more in order to fly by Thailand's national airline. I secretly also wanted to collect frequent flyer miles on the Star Alliance network! I looked around the familiar interior of the aircraft and wondered in amazement how much at home I felt even though I absolutely hate flights. As I mentally geared myself for take-off (I hyperventilate until the aircraft reaches its crusing height and the seatbelt sign is switched off) and the plane began to taxi, the GPS map on the cabin TV screen was replaced by a live camera strategically placed on the window of the cockpit. Was this some sort of a practical joke? Why would I want to see what the pilots are seeing as we take off? But it was an option between looking outside the window or at the screen and the view was pretty fascinating. It was a matter of a couple of seconds before I chose to see the runway melt into the nightsky instead of strain my neck to see New Delhi at night (SO was at the window-seat).

Unfortunately, my post-ascent composure was shortlived. Flying over Calcutta has never been pleasant, but what lay ahead this time was the after-effect of Cyclone Nargis. Not much of a story to tell, other than the constant switching on-and-off of the seatbelt sign by the captain and the relentless turbulence that continued until we reached Bangkok. However, for me this was unbearable and I was so terrified that I neither managed to catch some sleep, nor did I watch the in-flight movie. What resulted was grogginess, bleary eyes and a heavy head. I thanked my lucky stars for the good food on the flight. I'm serious. The salad was bearable, but the Masaman Chicken Curry with Rice gave SO a flavour of what lay ahead for the coming week in terms of food. Of course, the real thing was going to knock his socks off!

4 hours later and a very sulky me emerged from the aircraft at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. SO had slept for most of the flight, waking up in between for a few minutes to hold my hand during turbulence. All sulking was lost at the familiar site of the sprawling airport, its moving walkways and the heavenly duty-free shops. I thanked my stars that we had made the decision of getting a visa from Delhi itself. There was no way of managing visa-on-arrival, immigration, baggage collection (you cannot book baggage through if you don't have a visa on check-in) and check-in for the flight to Krabi in the mere 2 hours between flights. So we strolled around the airport while I mentally ticked off things on my shopping list and urged SO to remember prices for me to compare later.

The flight to Krabi was uneventful and I was thrilled about it, mostly because I could then spend my time fretting about how we were going to get to the hotel from the airport. I was being damn stingy, considering it was the 1st time I was funding my holiday myself. SO, of course, slept. Until we landed at Krabi airport. All exhaustion had disappeared and SO, surprisingly, wasn't sleepy anymore!

*SO = Significant Other

Choices, Life, Destiny

I'm someone who believes in God on and off. But I do believe in a higher force that keeps this whole world together. Call me old-fashioned, but I find comfort in believing that someone or something knows exactly what is going on in each of our lives. And that same force has a plan for all of us.

A recent event regarding a friend has made me think more about this belief. Ending a chapter of his life, to start a new and exciting one. How was anyone to know that the earlier chapter would be his last? Was it never meant to be? Had he chosen to stay on, would things be different?

Is there more to it than life just pushing us in a certain direction? Perhaps this is a test. A test where you're required to choose at certain points in time. If you make the right choice, all's well. If you choose wrong, there's no telling what might happen. You may be unhappy, ending up regretting the choices you made. Or life may decide not to allow you to make any choices anymore. How many times are we allowed to make the wrong choice? Is it the same for everyone? Have I run out of my allowed number? What will happen the next time I am at a crossroad? Wait! I AM at a crossroad and am trembling as I make my decision. Will this be my last?

All said and done, none of us have any idea about the tapestry that is our lives. A new weave takes place and the pattern changes with every chapter, every decision. I just hope that everyone's tapestry is completed when they leave.

Rest in peace, my dear friend.

Vacation Aside

"You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully."

- Anthony Robbins

Holiday! Celebrate!

Taking some advice from Madonna, we headed out for a mini-vacation 2 weeks ago. It took a good month of planning and waiting till we were finally off to our "break-from-it-all". Worried that the immaculate planning and budget control would get the better of us and we would come back disappointed, we were apprehensive as we got into our taxis to head to the airport.

And as luck would have it, the worst of Delhi hit me 10 minutes after I left home. All alone in a taxi called for from the local taxi-stand, it seemed safe enough to make it to the airport. When you're set to take one of the busiest roads in the capital, there is hardly a worry in the world. As I mentally ticked off things on my packing list (even though I had checked and rechecked my bags numerous times over the previous week), I was presented with a traffic jam that would have clearly taken an hour to get through, optimistically talking. The driver suggested we take a detour through a very famous engineering college close by and I agreed. What I didn't realise was how large the campus actually was. While finding our way out (and the cabbie insisted that he knew the way), we reached a dead-end in a deserted area with nothing but a dirt road to turn back on. Frantically, I called up my significant other (SO) to feel safe and hyperventilated until we reached civilization again. I finally made it to the airport on time with a little less than 3 hours to spare until the flight left. SO was worried about not reaching on time!

Check-in, immigration, security check was smooth but not without the hordes of Indian tour groups littered outside the airport. Like lost sheep, they had no clue where to go, waiting for their tour guides to assist them and in the bargain ruining it for individual travellers like us by blocking all possible doors to the airport. I hope that after the Delhi airport renovation is complete there will be more order than chaos. Dinner was a non-event as the trusty Subway outlet inside the airport had disappeared and we had to make do with trashy snacks from the airport-owned vendor which left us with full but disappointed tummies. The duty-free shop had been reduced to the size of 2 toilet cubicles with a aisle space only for a size zero (whether I managed to squeeze my way through is something never to be mentioned!). I think I caught a glimpse of the shop attendants peeking out from behind the tiny cash counter waiting for someone to knock a bottle over so that they at lease made a sale. We fled before anything disastrous would happen (getting stuck in the aisle is counted).

As we emerged on the other side of security check we realized that all the action had been there. Restaurants galore and a small but better version of the Duty-free changed my initial view of the really boring security check area. Earlier it was a place where one was trapped and could only escape when it was time to board a flight. The pre-security check but post-immigration area was meant to be the fun part and I have spent many outbound journeys maximizing my time outside before moving to the next stage.

Considering the fact that the Delhi airport was far from exciting, we were literally shaking with excitement when they announced boarding for our flight. Actually, SO was shaking with excitement while mine was more of a nervous shiver.

What's Missing?

4 days left until I leave for my long awaited vacation. It's been a tedious countdown to D-day, but it's been totally worth it. The effort that has gone into the planning and decision-making has been unimaginable. I hope everything turns out well. I can't wait for the satisfaction to set in as I walk out onto the sunny (but not scorching) beach and head towards a lounger with a book in my hand.

Books...aaah! I thought I'd left them behind when I returned to Delhi. Mumbai had given me the perfect opportunity to catch up on my reading. The Mumbai local trains may have been a nightmare, but on days that I was lucky enough to get a seat, I managed an hour of reading one-way. 3 months into Delhi and I realized that I had barely read 3 chapters of a book that had been pending since Mumbai. Determined to get back on track, I visited my favourite hole-in-the-wall bookshop to give me a jolt of what I was missing out on. Mission accomplished and I'm back in the saddle!

But the real problem has now arisen. What book do I take with me on vacation? If I can see myself sitting on the beach reading a book, the problem is that I don't know which book it is. A discussion with Doodle has not resolved my problem and we continue to debate it as I type out this post. Bridget Jones would have been the best companion, but alas, I have already been down that road. No amount of searches online have come up with a decent solution. I have 4 days left, and my packing list is still incomplete. I'm still searching for the perfect book.