Ever since I arrived at Chennai, the weather has been eventful. Manish kept on complaining that I should’ve been there since the start to know how things evolved, not only in terms of weather, but the way everything turned out. I was supposed to wake up at 6AM today and workout a little bit before leaving, but my sinus didn’t let me sleep nicely, so I excused myself through the alarm. Thankfully, I woke up just in time, at around 8:15 AM. Any later and I would’ve been woken up by my dad, who’d have figured out that I am late and probably going to miss the flight. Somehow, I knew I won’t miss the flight, and in foresight, I was right. I quickly sprung into action, since I had already packed everything last night, I just had to freshen up, put on the new clothes and pack the ones that I was wearing. My dad rang 15-20 minutes before I was supposed to leave, around 8:45 AM. I was going to take a bath and I let him know the same too. He was a little worried, but he knew I will pull through so he didn’t say much. On the other hand, I was worried because I had just checked my Uber reservation, which was cancelled for some reason. Maybe they couldn’t find me a driver or whatever. I had no choice but to call a cab once I was ready. It was no factor though. I got ready on time, and in order to cheat my out the doors of the hostel, I woke up Manish to con the guards. He would carry my main luggage, if the guards were to ask if he was checking out or something, he would say that it belongs to a friend and that he is going to give it to him. I was carrying my laptop bag as usual, from a safe distance. The guards wouldn’t question me because I always take the laptop bag to go to work or something. I took the cycle with me just in case to make it believable, and to make it seem like I wasn’t really with Manish, though later down the road we did merge.

I insisted that I should carry the bag, but he didn’t listen. I felt bad having woken him up and making him walk all the way with my stuff, but I had no other safe choice to get out of there. We were chatting all the way, the driver was waiting for a few minutes already by now and was under the impression that I was Tamil. After seeing me off, Manish took the cycle with him, and I was in the car off to airport, with the driver trying to make small talk with me in Tamil. I understood some bits of it, most of it I guessed. I responded in English only, which should’ve been clue enough that I wasn’t really Tamil, but it doesn’t matter at this point. The ride to airport was slow and quiet. The recent elections had the whole world in a frenzy. The stock market, the diplomats, the government, the communities, everyone and everything was losing it. In the south, it was the usual government, I wasn’t surprised.

I arrived at the airport at around 10AM. The check-in and bag drop was quick. The attendant at the baggage counter was a sweet lady. She asked what seat I would like, I obviously said whichever one she can get me. She clarified after she was done getting amused, whether I wanted the window, aisle or the middle seat. “Window would be nice, it’s a beautiful weather,” I said. She understood the assignment and gave me the best seats I could’ve asked for. Window seats on both the flights. The wait in the terminal was slow. I wanted to get some cheeseburger but not only were they outrageously expensive, I couldn’t pay because they were all about scanning and stuff. Besides, it’s all full of fats and nothing else. I lied for the first time in the day, when my parents asked if I had eaten something from the food court. I ate the usual roasted chana and gudh, a little bit of cashews. I made sure my devices were charged, and in the meanwhile did some trading too. A lot of good opportunities for the ones who want to make a fortune. Unfortunately, you need some fortune yourself to make the fortune here, something I had very little of. I reviewed some other market related things, and then I logged out. Once it was real close to boarding time, I packed up and got myself 2 chocolate bars. 1 milk KitKat and 1 protein bar. KitKat because it was worth trying something out of Germany, and protein bar to keep myself running in case I am too hungry later. 20g of protein in that little bar was outrageous.

Boarding was done, and I realised that more than half of the plane was empty. No wonder that attendant offered me to choose. I could’ve sat wherever I wanted and nobody would care. Though, I sat at the assigned seat because it was much better there. The whole row just for me, the wing in the view, along with the clouds and the sun. The direction in which we were going, the sun would be facing my side. Good excuse to wear my aviators again.

Up in the clouds, I spent my time listening to music, eating soaked almonds and looking out the window. Occasionally I would click some pictures so that I don’t forget what I saw, given that I have been experiencing a lot of that lately. Somewhere around the time when we were starting our descent, or at least I felt like we were, there were these huge clouds coming right into my face, as if they were calling for me. I wished I could stay there, wish they’d throw me out of the plane and into the clouds, where I would stay forever. No wonder people want to go to heaven for this stuff.

I arrived at Bombay well on time, the check-in was quick and easy, after which I moved towards my gate, which was coincidentally close to the food court. I made my way to the court in order to get myself a seat and start working on the things I was supposed to. The place where I was sitting, I could see the whole terminal, the runways, the boarding gates, everything. All sorts of planes kept coming in, given that it is an international airport. My work was done well within time, and I packed up to leave before the boarding started.

This flight was a little more packed, not that I cared. I got a similar seat this time around, near the wing, facing the sun. That attendant really was a kind soul. The way back home was just as eventful. When does it ever stop been eventful in my life.