"Magic Carpet Ride..."

Nah I didn't find any lamp or genie or the fabled magic carpet. I was just fortunate enough to avail one of the technological marvels of the twentieth century made more accessible to the common man with the introduction of low fare airlines in India. Yes I had my very first flight experience and man was it exciting (although the build up to the event wasn't).

Normally the reporting time for any flight is not more than 3 hours but I had to reach the airport 15 hrs in advance. Welcome to God's own country where even though the courts have declared a ban on 'bandhs', gross violation of this ban happens by calling 'hartals' (frankly I don't see any difference between the two). So anyways I reached the airport at 10 the previous night and rented a room (needless to say the rent was hiked by 100% on account of the hartal). By the way did I fail to mention that the day I came to Trivandrum was also graced by a hartal by the shopkeepers association. I slept for as long as I could so that I would have less time to while away waiting for the flight.

I was travelling by Air Deccan which is famous (or rather infamous) for its long delays. But God seemed to be smiling on me coz this time around everything went according to schedule. There is a free seating policy so I found myself a nice window seat.

Let me cut to the chase. Speed thrills me and I got a new meaning to the words power and acceleration. Its just an amazing feeling to be flying above the clouds (almost spiritual). For a moment I felt as if the plane was just standing still in mid air (which of course is impossible by the very basic principles that govern flight). If a commercial flight can do this to me I can't wait to get into a fighter jet plane (yeah I wish).

There is no place like B'bay and more so home. I caught up with a few friends of mine. One of the important issues I had come to take care of was to get Mahek (my bike) transported to Trivandrum and so I did. Recently we fitted my roomie's wheels with a kickass audio system. Its not too high end but the speakers from Lightning Audio (Rockford) coupled with the head piece from Pioneer do an awesome job (it should considering the fact that it set him back by 13 grands). Finally my CDs have been put to some good use.

So far we have visited just 2 beaches in Kerala, Varkala and Kollam and I am starting to love it (except for the part where sand gets into my jeans and I gotta wash it too)