Being an Executive

A few days after I joined my new company, it was announced that I will have to travel to Delhi for a week. Within 2 days, tickets were booked and April 18, 2010 was decided as the date of travel. As the trip expenditure was to be reimbursed by the office, I took a cab to the Airport (else would have preferred the bus).
The flight was scheduled at 11:50 AM and I reached Airport in time at 11:15 AM. Reaching the Kingfisher counter, I was informed that the flight was delayed and it would depart at 1:30 PM. Shouting at the beautiful lady (Kingfisher standards) was of no help as the Airline had informed the travel agent but he didn’t intimate me.
After waiting for 1 and ½ hr, the announcement for boarding the flight was heard. With my boarding card in one hand, and the novel (The Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh) I was reading in another hand, I entered the flight. The seat number I was allotted was 2C. With no attention to the executive class section, I reached the economy class section of the flight and started looking up for my seat. The first seat no. I saw started with 15 and guessed that the no. might be in descending order. Oops, this means I have been allotted the seat in the second last row. After walking a few steps, I realized that seat no. is now 26C and the numbers are in ascending order.
With a little excitement (Am I allotted a seat in executive class?), and some courage, I turned around to check the executive class section. A seat allotment in second row in the executive class was the last thought I had in mind that day. But I was there sitting on the big cushioned chair in the executive class. There being no seats left in the economy class, the Airline had allotted me the seat in the executive class. Excited, I fumbled with all the buttons attached to the arm rest of the seat and it made the seat uncomfortable, worse than the economy class even. I brought the seat back to the comfortable position and decided to check with other facilities. The leg rest provided made seating more comfortable and relaxing. The headphones provided were of black color and far superior than the ones provided to passengers in economy class.
A passenger in the row next to me had a TV screen in front of me. The screen was attached by a rod to the chair. Why some of the chairs have TV attached to them, while there seems to be none at my chair, made me investigate the seat thoroughly. While I was about to give up and call the pretty air hostess to get a TV for me, I suddenly found that the arm rest is removable and there is something under it. Yes, it was the TV screen I was looking for. I was saved from the little embarrassment it would have brought had I called the Air Hostess for getting me a TV. The remote was attached to the chair and there were options to watch movies, TV channels, listen songs of your choice, or FM. Though I was disappointed to find out that the food served was same as the economy class, I was happy to find how to take the tray table out without the help of Air hostesses. It was below the other arm rest of the chair.

First Day Out

It had been getting planned for quite a few days – our first day out. We both were going for the first time together on a day out, so all our target was to make it memorable and special. After juggling through all the possible places we can cover in a day, we zeroed upon Bheemeshwari Cauvery Fishing Farm. The place is around 120 Km from Bangalore on Kanakpura Road, and a drive of about 2.5 hrs from the city. The Jungle Lodges Resort located at the place provides facilities to stay overnight and activities like river rafting. Since it was only one day before we decided for the place, the booking was not at all feasible. Still we decided to go and explore the place on our own.
As usual our plan to get up early and start at 6:00 AM failed. We both share a similarity here and the mission (yup, it is !!!) to get up early fails almost every time. (Although this time it was because both of us had had a long previous day and we parted from each other as always late at night).We started our expedition at 10:00 AM (hmm, late by 4.5 hrs), stopped for breakfast at Woodies, struggled through Bangalore traffic and were finally out of the city at 11:30 AM (not bad. day being Saturday helped us as the traffic was not much). The drive on the Kanakpura road was extremely pleasant. Greenery on both sides of the bumpy road, small ponds at regular intervals, very less traffic, thrill to drive bike at 90-100 KMPH (my aged bike does not go above that), and especially the company of one of the most beautiful girl on this earth (my best friend fiancée) made the drive very endearing.
After driving for an hour, we reached Kanakpura town. The roads in the city were in a pathetic condition. The day being a holiday, the market (hawkers) on both sides of the road was extremely crowded. People were crossing road as if they least bothered that this was a highway and need to follow at least the basic rule of seeing both sides before crossing it. An auto guy further directed us to the road that goes straight to Bheemeshwari (a left turn from Halagur Village on NH209). After a drive of 2-3 KM, we stopped for a cup to tea and rested under a thatch shed nearby (huh, quite romantic).
We reached Bheemeshwari at 2:00 PM and there were many vehicles parked. Also, the road ended here and the Cauvery River was flowing after it. We parked the bike here, had cold drinks and some snacks from one of the many small shops there. From the shop keeper we came to know that there is a waterfall on the other side of the river and everyone who comes there goes to see it. The Coracle boat ride was the highlight of the area. We hired a boat for Rs. 60. Though I was given a receipt for the same, am not sure if it was organized by Government. The boat was a little dirty and there was some water inside it, which the boat rower cleaned for us. The ride was for 10-15 minutes and we had some snacks during the ride. Hmmm, that was the surprise of the day. Priyanka had fried potato pieces and it was the first time she cooked for me. I can be punished if I do not mention that it was very tasty and the effort put was worth an appreciation.
After reaching at the other bank of the river, we wandered for some time and then went a little inside the water. The local villagers were enjoying bathing and swimming in the river. We sat there for some time at the stones inside the river.
The waterfall was further 3-4 KMs from there and localities ply a bus to the waterfall. The ticket cost was Rs. 30 per passenger. It took around 20 minutes for the bus to reach because the road was very narrow, bumpy and unpaved. All we could find here was a guy (he would turn out a villain soon in this whole story) selling some cold drinks under a shed. The waterfall was a few steps away from the place bus dropped us. We took the stairs down and after a little trekking, climbed a rock. By the time we reached on the top of the rock, the sun was on its high. It was quite thrilling to see the water rushing at its full speed from the top. We found a shadow and rested there for some time. The small walk over and between the rock is worth a mention here. After realizing that we were the only left there, we came back.
The bus which had escorted us there was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was exhausted and desperately waiting for the bus. We took shelter under the same shed the cold drinks seller was, started having the eatables left with us, and were on the story telling-listening spree again (a regular exercise between us). After a wait of around 20 min, still there was no sign of bus coming and a few of the visitors even started walking down.
After a further wait of a few minutes, we decided to take a small walk. Suddenly Priyanka shouted, “where is my mobile, I had kept it here only?” She had put the mobile near her on the surface we were sitting and the cold drinks stall was right behind us. We searched our bags and the place around but the mobile was not found. So, it was sure it had been stolen by someone there. The culprits can be either one of the visitor who came with us in the bus, or this cold drink stall owner. Firstly, I enquired this guy and he confidently refused. A few youths standing a little far asked in a loud voice if we were searching for a mobile. How come these guys know that we were searching for a mobile? One of them told that they saw this cold drinks wala going towards the bush and throwing an object there. I got a little angry and asked that guy again about the mobile? But he again replied firmly that he went there for toilet and didn’t throw anything. The language was a big hurdle here. Whatever I asked this guy in English/Hindi, his response in Kannada was interpreted as No only. I called ‘111’ 2-3 times, but as is the case every time, no one responded the call.
Our suspicion now revolved around this cold drink seller and the group of young men who informed that they saw something being thrown by this guy. I and Priyanka started searching in the bush and by the time we were doing this, this group of young guys left from there. The other visitors who had come with us in the bus also walked away. We were still searching when this group returned and started helping us in the search. After searching for a few minutes, one of them located the phone and we all could see it lying there. Hooonn.. Priyanka could breathe now !!!
Though we were nearly sure that Cold Drinks seller was the thief, we sided to not put blame on any one and be happy that mobile was finally found. What timing. The bus also arrived, and we all boarded it and returned back.
It was around 5:00 PM when we reached to the place where our bikes were parked, and decided to drive back. There was a restaurant on the way back where we had some refreshments. The Jungle resort was around 10 Km from there and I decided to see the place from outside at least. The drive was a thrill, a narrow unpaved road between the forest, with nothing to hear except the sound of the river water flowing. On the way, a gurukal was there and I had a small chat with the caretaker there.
By the time we reached the resort, it had started getting dark. But how could we have wasted the chance to sit on the bank of the river inside the forest, with no one but silence around us (ultimately romantic it had to be, only the silence and the sounds of river gushing through, and we sat hand in hand head over each other, just the perfect place to be in and situation for time to stop). Uhhhh!! How do I dare forget the first lil dance we had together ;;), me as always shying away to glory :D.
The return journey was equally charming. Full dark, no vehicle to be seen, and we left with nothing but only the bike head light to assist us. Though I was tired, we stopped only two times to take a break that too after quite some cajoling from her. The drive enjoyment kept me moving. We reached Bangalore at around 9:00 PM and had our dinner on the way home.
All in all a day full of memories, thrills, and expeditions.