Calicut

This happened sometime last July. I did not quite have the time to pen it down coz work was at its peak. We had finished some work in Calicut. And i had a flight the next morning from Calicut to Chennai. The airport is about 35 Km outside the city and my flight was at around 10.30 am.

I had planned to leave the hotel by about 8.00. Even if it took an hour i would reach by 9.00, which gave me sufficient time to get through check in and security check. I had booked a cab, completed my packing and was all set to start. I even left early, i was out of the hotel by 7.45. Perfect - or so i thought. It had been raining the previous day and had continued through the morning.

Pretty heavy rain but visibility was good. We were driving down. Got out of the city and we were on the highway. Light traffic - not something to worry about. We had done about 20 km and had taken a turn towards the airport. The little towns were starting to disappear and there was one lonely stretch only surrounded by trees very typical of Kerala. I was admiring the rain and the lush green, and thinking about how a day in such a place would be worth a thousand holidays.

Pfffffftt.. the cab stuttered, splattered and came to a grinding halt. I thought, perhaps it was coz of the rain and few minutes would get it going. Well, the vehicle just refused to start. As in, there was just no sound at all when the driver turned the key. In my broken Malayalam i tried figuring out what was happening. Rain outside, isolated area, 10 km to the airport, it was already 9.00 - totally my idea of perfection. The driver told me there was no way the cab was gonna start. If another cab had to come from Calicut it would take atleast 45 mins. Which meant, the cab would come say by 9.45 and i would reach the airport only around 10.15 - no chance was i to catch the flight.

The worst part was, there was only one flight out of Calicut in the morning. If i missed that i would have to take a flight in the evening, and that too on a totally different carrier. Super. I begged the driver to even stop a passing lorry so that i would get to the nearest town where i could possibly get an auto. Much to my dismay - not a single lorry passed that way. Arggggghhh!!!

Finally an auto passed and to my luck it was empty. Yahooooo!. My driver stopped him, and the auto guy agreed to drop me off at the airport. It was around 9.20 - i would somehow reach. I thanked my stars - only too soon. The auto choked and stopped exactly 1 km before the airport. I was actually thinking of carrying my luggage and laptop and running the last kilometer. The auto guy was determined to make the vehicle move. He yanked the self start. The engine slowly came to life. Hallelujah!!!! The auto moved. I could see the airport. I would have cried.

I went in thinking things would be a cake walk after that. Well the day was meant to be tough and i had no choice. My flight was from the international terminal as it was either going to some place in the Gulf after a stop over in Chennai or was coming from somewhere - no clue. I went in with my luggage and was told to go for immigration. Huh!! Im going to CHENNAI from CALICUT - why wud i go thru immigration. I had to and I did. After that i was asked to get some no due or some dumb form signed. I really wondered if i was gonna be packed of to some 'Al Habada' kind of place surrounded by men in white robes.

Finally, i was put through security check and i went up to the waiting lounge. My first sight - it was isolated and there was not a single soul. I walked a little ahead and saw a couple of signboards. Voila - i did not have to go to 'Al Habada' to see men in white robes - they were right here in front of my eyes. Was i really in Calicut?

I sat for a bit awaiting for my flight announcement. My flight was announced - it was not clear but from what i could make out it sort of sounded like 'all passengers travelling on blah blah blah to Sharjah are requested to board through gate no. blah'. Hello that was my flight, i was going to Chennai - WTH was it going to Sharjah. I walked to the Gate - and managed to find some folks from the Airline - told them i was going to Chennai and why on earth was my flight going to Sharjah. They were like - Madam ur flight is coming from Sharjah and its final destination is Chennai. Phew!!!

I got into the flight. It was packed. There were Indians of all shapes and sizes and of course smells. It smelled like i had walked into a perfumery where fish was being cooked. Good god how was i to survive! I found my seat - luckily no one was sitting beside me. Divine intervention!!! There were three guys behind my seat - not something that i cared about except that they sang some crappy Tamil song ( i like Tamil songs but the one they were singing was downright crap) repeatedly till we landed in Chennai.

Kamaraj airport came into sight. My journey was drawing to a close. I was relieved. My relief was short lived. We were at the international terminal - no issues this time coz i knew i would be out and home in an hour. Well if i had the chance to walk out on ground level that would have happened. There was some renovation work happening - i walked up 4 floors on a spiral stairway before taking the escalator down 4 floors on the other side. Arggggggggggghhh this could get no better.

Luckily, my luggage came out fast and within minutes i was out breathing Chennai 'smoke -filled' air - a relief for the first time!!!