wheres my baggage

Hey, No introduction..... I come straight to the eventful part of the journey i.e. when I am trying to get back my luggage from the clutches of ‘ NO FRILLS AIRLINES’. Why skip the initial part of the story??.... because as the saying goes ‘ NO frills, no thrills’.

It was so uneventful being a no frills flight.More seats mean the seats were cramped together so that one can’t get out of his place. You want to get out of your place... because the airliners told you, the free citizens of free India, that all passengers are free to choose their places. No classes: that’s communism at its best.Very conveniently, I take a place, leaving two for the good company and very conveniently all the good company passes by without even sparing a thought or more importantly a look. So all I get is the old company. I bet you would like to get out of your places.

Another part of journey goes uneventful when the nick nacks come for munching. Your old company enlightens you by telling that there is nothing in life as free lunch. The not so stylish (so sad) airhostess confirms that there isn’t a thing in the plane known as fair priced lunch. You try to look convinced of the fact that your survival doesn’t really depend on the tetra pack of juice or a sandwich priced Rs 50.So this was the uneventful part of the journey.

Coming to the eventful part of the journey i.e. the baggage claim or recovery or discovery depending on the time you spend around the conveyer belt.First few things you notice is an empty slow moving conveyer belt, passengers crowding all over it and of course butterflies in your stomach.This is one of the few occasions when I wished I were taller so that I could manage more than a peep over one of the ladies shoulder to locate my baggage (don’t get me wrong, ladies are shorter in height, that’s it). First of the luggage comes on display and then more and more of it comes. But they disappear as they come without lighting up one pair of eyes and you wonder if they light no displayed is correct.

First pair of eyes light up, first pair of hands claims their baggage and my faith on the good old Indian aviation industry are restored.Then there are more and more claimants, but why is it that they are always the guys standing far off. My vicinity is still as crowded as it is unlucky.

My cell is ringing “ haan baba , I’ve landed . it is just a matter of 5 mins(fiercely optimistic)/ 10 mins(optimist)/ 15 mins( glass is half full,but who drank the first half ) / 20 min ( politically correct ) /45 mins (realist)before I get my baggage”.

I can’t agree with my neighbour more when he notices that the adjacent belt is moving much faster. We need communism more than anything else. All belts should move equally slow.).

Hey, look at that guy. He got his stuff so fast… What luck man. He is not half as handsome and cool as I am and he was sitting with the prettiest face in the flight, must be his sister. Look he is already on his way home.

Aah ….at long last, I can see my bag coming. There is no greater joy known than regaining a thing you believed you had lost. So, I haven’t fared that bad. But wait. Who is this guy picking up my stuff? “Hello there, you must be mistaken. That’s m stuff”. I cut a sorry figure but not before looking embarrassed and losing my prime spot next to the belt. I wonder how similar they looked. Thank god its not communism, else how could you figure out your stuff among hundreds of similar looking pieces?

Yours truly and his neighbour are the last men standing. The two of us have discussed everything under the sun. Together we have solved the Kashmir problem, showed out concern for the Iraqi population, picked up the next govt in UP and off course figured out what BCCI should do to bring home the world cup 2011. Ban all endorsements and who knows we can even lay our hands on FIFA world cup also.But I like it when he speaks of the virtues of patience and advises to travel light. I help him him with his four suitcases before I pick up my bag. We bid adieu….. he reaffirms his faith on ponting and co. while I know that sri lanka will win the world cup( higher sense of loyalty you see, if not India then at least some asian countryThe two realists get out. Its dark already and the taxis are charging double…
Labels: journey
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by prashant singh