Up in the air

Throughout my childhood and teens, I stayed near the airport. While most would consider this a nuisance, given the drone of an airplane taking off or landing every fifteen minutes (or whatever is permissible as per ATC regulations), I went on to love airplanes and everything associated with aviation. Each time a plane took off, I would go running to the window to see which one it was and conjure stories about the passengers aboard. If it was a particularly fancy one, i.e. an Alitalia/Air France/British Airways, I wished desperately that I could be on it too. 

I grew up and the fascination for airplanes faded (Kandahar and 9/11 to be blamed), or rather metamorphosed into a love for airports, one that lasts until this very day.

I absolutely love the thrill of anticipation I feel each time I go to an airport. The buzz of activity that goes on 24/7, the aroma of coffee (I am told the CCD at the Mumbai Airport brings in the most revenue from all the CCDs in India), the distinct feel of duty free shopping, the ever changing status boards of airlines…bliss. I remember standing in front of many of those status boards and day dreaming about where my next vacation/work trip would be…Cebu? Melbourne? Geneva? Not a single one has materialised, but the day dreamer in me loved the indulgence.

It’s also the place where I get the maximum thrills over silly things-bags showing up first on a baggage belt, not having to wait in serpentine security/boarding queues since I showed up with my foot in a cast, getting my name announced all over the airport since I was busy finding billabong chappals for a friend and completely forgot that I had a flight to board, doing a little jig with a Santa in his grotto before a Christmas flight, getting a free coffee voucher since my reservation was mistakenly cancelled..the list can go on and on.

But what I love most about airports is that they are the best place to see love exhibited in its purest and truest form. Children jumping up and down to meet the father returning from a business trip, A husband stowing away his laptop bag with reckless abandon as he rushes to meet his pregnant wife, A girl crying buckets as her best friend leaves for further studies…I have yet to come across another place where such unadulterated emotions are on display. It makes one believe that the power and beauty of love, friendship and family bonding still very much exist.

So the next time you feel down on the world, I urge you, unless you are aviophobic (I looked that up and it does exist), to go the nearest airport, take a coffee and sit down. Let the warmth of all the love you see around embrace you. Take a flight of fantasy (pun intended) to some exotic location. It will do you a world of good. Or so feels this self-proclaimed philosopher of the twenty first century.

Fractured foot, strengthened spirits

About two months back, I suddenly couldn't walk that easily. Every foot step made me wince with pain and after a battery of tests and tons of doctor visits, I got diagnosed with a foot fracture and screeeeeccccchhhhh…. went the breaks on my long impending bollywood dance classes, travel plans, gym routine…and on life. Overnight,  I was forced to go from being a duracel energiser bunny to a partial egyptian mummy with a bandaged leg.  The doctors prescribed the usual medication and rest, and I prescribed to myself a heavy dose of self-pity.

To be fair, it really wasn't easy to cope alone with an injured foot, manage doctor visits, work, food and just life in general. I had never had this degree of  severe illness while being away from home before, and more than ever, I came to appreciate and miss the love and attention that had been bestowed upon me during illnesses by family and friends back home. However, at some stage, I got too caught up in the frustration of partial immobility and incessant pain and almost felt like life would never return to normal again.

It was during this phase that I realised who my friends were, who cared and who didn’t.  The sheer indifference of some people that I  previously thought cared appalled me. At the same time, the warmth, concern and love of people that did care brought vast cheer into my life. It made me appreciate just how important it was to be there for friends during both good and bad times. I also felt blessed to have wonderful colleagues who tried their level best to distract me whenever they noticed that I was writhing with pain.  The kindness of complete strangers (from never having to stand in a bus to the patient MRI staff who dealt with my sudden case of nerves due to the 20,000 disclaimer forms that I had to fill in) made me have the epiphany that the world is still a very nice place after all.

Long hospital visits and sleepless nights gave me a lot of time for self introspection. Instead of running on the treadmill of routine day to day life as I had been doing thus far, I paused and started asking questions. Not the heavy duty “what is the purpose of life” type of questions..let’s leave that to the Deepak Chopras and Sri Sris of the world-but  more the usual, quarter life crisis type.  I suddenly realised that half of 2014 was already over without me having ticked off even a single item on my new year resolution list. The solitude helped me to take some really difficult, heart-breaking decisions to get my life back on track.

But what made the most difference was a visit from my father for a few days- There ain't no medicine even half as powerful as the love of one's family. That visit made all the difference and helped me get back on my feet (literally and otherwise).

A big thank you to all of those that cared and stood by me during this time- I can never appreciate enough how much strength it gave me. More than anything, it has hopefully made me a better friend and  a better person. And rest assured, the energiser bunny will soon be back into action…she has a whole list of items to tick off before 2014 ends and only five months to do so. She is raring to go now! So watch out world, it will be you that will knocked off your feet this time round!

Life's lessons...we live and we learn

1.  Study for the sake of knowledge, work for the sake of commitment to your role and to your company-always do things for the right reason, else you will never be truly happy.

2. We have always been taught  “we reap as we sow”…but friendship isn’t always recognised, however faithful it may be- don’t give up…cuz life is too short to be scared of forming relations due to the possible pain that they may cause.

3. Be kind to strangers…you never know when you may need someone’s kindness.

4. Don’t be scared of loneliness…it sometimes is the ideal way to bring out the best in you.

5. Be true to yourself and your beliefs…make your own identity…you will live to cherish it

6. Popularity is fleeting but the pain you may cause in a bid to get that popularity can scar forever

7. Spend as much time as you can with kids-their innocence is probably the only pure emotion left in the world today.

8. Appearance is very important…for the longest time I was an idealistic fool who believed that there are people who don’t care about what one wears or how one looks, but I think those people are as pre historic as dinosaurs.

9. Never have orange juice just after you brush your teeth-just trust me on this.

10. Say hi to the watchmen, cab drivers, cashiers and waiters-they sometimes have really interesting stories to tell you.

11. Judge a guy by his actions and never, ever by his words.

12. We don’t always deserve the bad things that happen to us-but then, we don’t always deserve the good either. Life is a mixed bag and its best to enjoy all the good times and learn from the bad ones.

13. Read, read, read….books are truly a person’s best companion.

14. Have strong values but malleable opinions.