Adi 2sem finished uneventfully and it was time to get home. He first got us to book tickets a week after exams citing hostel room change and some miscellaneous but "important to him, irrelevant to us" reasons. I used all my "Maa ki Mamta" and got him to predate this by 4 days.He agreed and before the end of the phonecall Amol got the flights changed. This meant he had to pack his stuff and leave it in the new hostel room that was not yet allotted(IITB has strange operational delays like that, for eg ID cards took 2 sems to issue.) all in 24hours and catch the flight. 24 hours is also the time frame engg students study for any exam. By extension of this universal law I argued it was ample time to wrap up stuff and head home.
I got down to making my dream reel on insta with K3G song in the background welcoming my "laal" back home.The whole world had to know about the Mama Drama queen.Modakam had to be Adi readied, snack boxes were refilled , Amol had to move out of Adi's bathroom, Adi's room had to messed up a bit (too sterile a room turns off hostelites I have heard, and with the welcome placard to be waved at the airport made, I began the countdown.I felt Every minute pass by that day and waited by watching some DDLJ on TV(I watch DDLJ for every emotion). Life was too good to be true. I felt like Waheeda Rehman dancing in Guide
Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai
Aaj phir marne ka irada hai
Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai
Aaj phir marne ka irada hai
Apne hi bas mein nahi main
Dil hai kahin to hoon kahin main
The Indigo flight was at 10:30pm at night and last seen by Adi on whatsapp was at 2 pm. Amol had enquired if he will manage the ride to the airport on his own and was replied in the affirmative by the boy at 5:30pm. I kept up the charade of not calling Adi and all communication happened on Whatsapp.
8:45 pm - Amol storms home and in between lots of expletives I gathered Adi was running late.Now when we are proud of ADi's achivements we always call him our respective son. From this minute onwards Adi was referred to as my son.So you get the drift. Amol was shaking with anger while I unleashed all my zen on him and I remained annoyingly calm.I reasoned that all we had to lose was money on the flight bookings but Adi would learn his lesson, from time management to eventually self discipline. My insta reels also were cursed and Amol was convinced that this has resulted in this situation.I was banned from social media.Adi was asked to share live location. The GPS signal was moving in the oppsite direction of the airport. More curses.We spoke to the driver and he rattled off some landmarks and sounded confident about reaching the airport in 20 minutes. 600kms away We just had to trust him with the directions and our son.Amol stress ate and Captain Haddock could have learnt a few curses from Amol.Adi was given instructions to pay the driver in advance and scram for a rapid security clearance at the airport. My zen riled Amol visibly and I was patting myself on the back for not losing my cool. I had indeed become the cool mom.
9:30pm The GPS signal stopped 1 km outside the airport. It refused to budge for 5 minutes. Discounting for a traffic jam and winning with my unruffled zen I tried not to think too much. 10 minutes and still no movement. I was getting teeny bit worried.I tried to call Adi. The call connected but no sound. I thought ADi was answering on his wretched headphones and tried calling again. Now no response. Whatsapp call - no response.I challenged Airtel network for the next 10 minutes with 50 phone calls - no response. GPS signal -still stuck. Amol now said that the driver had kidnapped my son and now he wants to see me practice my zen.As these words rolled out- full blown panic- I was splayed out on the floor in front of my Gods to bring my son back to safety. I suspected Amol's lips curled in evil laughter.
9:55pm Adi answers the phone with the words"I am at the boarding and they have not yet announced boarding"
hah
Aditya's version of the same
The day began at about 8 am with me bleary-eyed and dazed. First things first, I started cleaning up the room, an activity I had begun the previous day but still needed to be completed.
The moved-up schedule meant that instead of 4 leisurely days to pack up my things like a swaddled babe, I was stacking and shoving like the Brits out of Ireland. Running away from, or rather towards, my personal IRA, I stormed toward the library, benching 225 in books. Procrastinating porter that I was, I had forgotten to return the bloody things.
After a hasty lunch at ye olde mess, the next order of business was clothes. The process of folding clothes is usually meditative in its repetitiveness, but not this time. Clothes were not folded so much as squashed into an approximately rectangular shape in rapid succession. Tired and seeing the time left, I decided to take a short nap.
The "short" nap ended up taking three precious hours. With no time left to procrastinate, everything had to be kicked into high gear. An hour later, I was done packing and ready to move my stuff to mi casa futura. Finally, I had a bath and freshened up to travel since there were temporarily no taxis to be had. The Taxi drought continued till 7:30 when one lone man arrived, ready to ferry me.
Getting on the darkly lit discount Pumpkin carriage, I was already late per the original schedule. After a quick riposte with a guard, I had my worldly belongings shoved into a room that made Tihar jail look palatial, and I was about ready to leave on my jet plane.
The taxi apps then decided to play a prank on me. First, the Uber I had booked cancelled on me, which was quickly followed by the Ola guy somehow transmuting a 1-minute distance to a 10-minute distance that refused to change for five. Finally, with my dad screaming instructions in my ear, I girded my loins and ran out to catch an Auto to T1.
What followed was an intense ride through Bombay traffic, with the pollution in my hair and far too many vehicles on the road. All the while, my parents were trying to give me a heart attack by proxy. Unfortunately, being Aditya and not Noah, I could not part the sea of cars ahead and had to wait and pray.
With five minutes to boarding, I descended upon the airport like a short Viking berserker. Luckily, security was rapidmente, and I got through in time for boarding and some Bhakarwadi on the way.
