Its a Mad Mad Mad Week

Scene I

Location: My apt at Ayanambakkam, Chennai
Date: 11/10/2009

My parents arrive on their way to hyd (train at 4.30pm tht evening), which assures a gud culinary treat for me for atleast coupla days.

As expected home made idlis (made the previous evening) for breakfast. The remaining ones take the form of Upma for my dinner. Menu for lunch- Beans thoran (fried with grated coconut), eruli (a gravy made with fried grated coconut), potato fry and pappadam. the former 2 items were prepared keeping in mind my food for the next day too. I dropped my parents at the station at 4.00 pm and went to my frendz place in royapettah. reached home at arnd 10pm. too drained out, i skipped dinner and hit the bed rightaway.

The next morning I got up with the usual monday blues and had to rush to work after a quick bath and no breakfast.

Scene II

Location: My Office at Annanagar

The first coupla hours pass as programmed- phone calls, emails n the usual chores. At 40 past 11 i get a call from a client calling me for an urgent meeting at bhubaneshwar. guess wat, theres no direct flight to bhubaneswar; i usually go via hyderabad. the only flight from hyd to bbsr is at 5:20 pm everyday. tht rules out the option. decided to go via kolkata (6:30 flight to bbsr). departure time for kolkata is 2:20 pm. i get my tickets at 12:13. luckily i got to work in my bullet instead of my jeep.

rode like a man possessed, only to find roads blocked abt a km from my place due to roadwork.thro this mad rush, i was on the phone trying to navigate the cabbie who had no clue wer i was residing.after few impatient minutes i decided to go over the rubble , gravel and the virgin tar..managed to reach home at 1:04 pm. dumped some clothes into my suitcase, while desperately trying to direct the cabbie to my apt. just as i locked my house the taxi arrived at the gate...guess wat?? he's asking me for the way to the airport...already past the boiling point, i tried to remain as calm as possible n explained to him the route. he has exactly 35 mins to reach the airport (usually takes arnd an hour and 10 mins from my place). the 100ft road was clogged with the lunch time traffic and our man was honking non-stop to beat the next guy. "cyle gapla car poguma"? i hav no respect for the yellow board vehicles who are definitely the most despised ppl of the road (atleast in chennai). but at this point my situation overruled me (hypocrisy?).

Was travelling well ahead of time until i came to a screaching halt at the end of the new flyover in front of le meridian. a pot-bellied cop clears the road for some idiotic VIP, who has no respect for the common man's time. the tension increases by the minute and was accompanied by the blarring horns (hulla bulla)! the time is 1:55..being the over optimist, i ask the driver to prepare the bill since we wer doing nothing but waiting for the road to be cleared. paid the guy and sat back, hoping to somehow catch the big bird.finally after all the drama i reached the airport at 2:04 pm. the cute girl at the boarding counter on seeing me helped me rush thro the security check, wher they had already annunced the last boadring call..i cud infact see another couple trying to cathc the same flight (i had company).. alas enetered the cabin inviting a lot of frowns (or was it guilt?)....the journey from kolkata to bbsr was less eventful apart from the glitch at at the security check, wer i had forgotten the security tag for my laptop bag..reached bbsr at 7:45pm to a very pleasant weather.the drama will continue!