Our taxi driver was furiously burning rubber on asphalt in his endeavour to drop us in time for us to reach the airport and board the last flight to Bombay. It also seemed that he was fighting a loosing battle. Our taxi was right in the middle of a cacophonous multitude of Delhi’s irate drivers on the newly constructed flyover at IIT and by now even he was edgy and blew his horn more obstreperously than his usual. The traffic not having moved for a few minutes, he took upon himself to locate the root cause of this unplanned halt and the resultant time for clearing the same. The momentary opening of the driver seat door brought in a wave of cold windy draft sending an instant shudder to all us passengers, none of who were particularly enjoying the Delhi winter or the disorderly traffic discipline of the capital. He arrived a few minutes later with a blank look on his face, opening the door once again for us to repeat our shudder and then deposited himself snugly to restart his loosing battle with time in ferrying us to the airport.
It is not certain whether he won his battle against traffic and time or we lost against the weather gods. All flights out of Delhi were cancelled, disrupting flight schedules of airlines and passengers alike, due to severe fog conditions – unsuitable conditions for flying. My mind questioned my intellect – what happens when flights are disrupted in Frankfurt or Chicago?Delhi isn’t one of my favourite cities, especially when it is cold and foggy and to compound problems it looked, sounded and felt dreary when my thoughts wandered to the fact that I would not be able to make it to Bombay tonight. Thoughts of impending doom pervaded my mind and I could visualize all my friends set in party mode for Christmas eve and my anxious spouse, not sure whether she was partying tonight, that hinging on my return to Bombay. Having mustered courage I called home, a huge relief on hearing my daughter on the other side. My wife seemed in no mood to engage in conversation with me and we talked to each other using our daughter as a near UN emissary and all she was instructed to do was to interrogate me into getting monosyllabic answers. ‘Mama asks – are you coming to Bombay tonight? Yes or No’. The salesman in me started my pitch by blaming the meeting, the traffic, the weather, the taxi driver, the airline companies but I think I had rather missed the now seeming distinct click indicating that the phone on the other side had been laid to rest halfway through my pitch. Delhi suddenly felt more cold and lonely.Chaos reigned at the airline offices and upon enquiring I was suggested to try my luck for a flight to Bombay the next morning – no guarantees.Pandemonium prevailed my early morning arrival at the airport. A friendly advisor urged me to start an elimination process of the odds and the chances of getting a seat on the various airlines. Nineteen questions, two cups of tea, standing in three queues and forty minutes later I had arrived at a conclusion – the best chance was with our national carrier airline as not only did they have the largest fleet but they had the most number of flights to Bombay.Viewed from a distance the scene at the national carrier airline offices was no different. Bunches of travelers with heavy bags slung on their shoulders, tickets in hand, querying every uniformed airline staff on the prospects of their getting a seat. Amidst the choppy seas, there were few islands of calm. The newly sprung coffee shops were doing brisk business, their young servers seeming busier than ever. The older apple juice and machine made tea and coffee vending machines were less in favour with the onset of these smiling servers in their pleasantly painted and cheerful kiosks. Adding to the frenzy a group of over restrained children finally broke ranks and ran in between the table and chairs set up for guests of these coffee shops, kicking a few chairs upside down. Respective parents sprung immediately to take corrective action. Security guards seemed extra vigilant and so did the housekeeping staff acting busy with their wooden mops and pails reeking of cheap phenolic disinfectant.Getting closer to the line of control I was taken aback at their courtesy and speed in ticketing. I was amazed to see their poise at handling the already incensed tempers of weather god harassed passengers.Maybe the newer airlines have younger and often better looking staff but in a crunch situation like this the older hands were handling frayed tempers with the finesse and class of Rahul Dravid nullifying the hostile Australian attack in Australia.
Now it was time for the salesman in me to rise above the banal and get one of the booking clerks to choose my distraught looks and endorse eligibility to my ticket to take the earliest flight out of the misery I was undergoing in Delhi.
A few minutes more and salesman closed the deal.I was now deciphered in to some logical binary code on the airline computer and Ahoy Bombay - Here I come.Bye Bye Delhi.
Comments