Bhartiya rail mein aapka swagat hai

Err!!! I think this is what I heard when I was welcomed during my low cost ‘no frill’ air trip from Bangalore to Ahmedabad. Despite having been on the airport well before time I was to board the craft while the last call was being announced and I guess my book helped me immerse a great deal in the mélange of the airport hustle to have missed the prior announcements. Also not to forget the last minute boarding calls for Mr Batra who I guess never boarded his Kingfisher flight.

After having boarded the flight, I realized my misfortune of having gotten a corner seat and the gujju Uncle (sitting adjacent to me) asking the hostess for chocolates was not too much of a succor either. Paise leke chocolate nahi dete ??? kyun nahi dete ??? I could have literally shrieked after the long day … I even bothered to check my bags for some mint or anything to shut him up and the kid crying two rows ahead. No wonder kiddies manage to have a way their parents.

And if you thought this was all, well the ordeal did not end here. Adding fuel to the fire was this very uncle’s urge to go to the loo and I swore to myself that if he woke me up once more I would just swap sweats. So now that I couldn’t read or sleep in the 2 hr flight all I could do was watch the couple in the adjacent row which also got boring after a point in time as the female couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of me staring ..

As the flight landed amongst more wailing I suddenly realized how I liked my train trips more than this one and only wished Bangalore was a little closer….Never in my wildest of dreams had thought that even rail sewa could be alluring…