First time solitude

Seemed like the poor guy (the king :P) had never been alone. His Google Search History went like

• “What are the things people do when they stay alone?”
• “what to say”
• “blog search”
• “chess game in internet”
•  “delhi daily tour + Saturday”
• “delhi places to visit”
• “delhi seight seeing” (Remember Ishan Nandha Kishore? :))
• “jumping + malls + kids + gurgaon”
• “learning something new”
• “staying alone” 

Good grief!

The King of Earth

“I am,
indeed,
a king,
because I know how
to rule myself.”
~Pietro Aretino

I were to meet this guy somewhere in the middle of 2008. The telephone conversations earlier weren’t very impressive. While travelling to meet him, ‘Hope the guy isn’t troublesome’ was my mindset.

He picked me outside the guesthouse and led me into the room that we would share for a few weeks. When he opened the room, a pungent blast of cigarette smoke hit me in the face. I were super-pissed. I shuddered to think of staying in this room for weeks till I find a room for myself. ‘Gotta find a room for myself’ quick’, I told myself.

“Do you smoke?”, he asked.

“Not actually”.

Nonchalant disappointment.

We had breakfast and went to office. While we came back, the roomboy had cleaned the room and managed to get all the smoke out. I were determined to tell him that he can’t smoke the very first time he lights a cigarette in the room. He never gave me a chance.

That was enough to strike an impression on me. But, he didn’t do it for the sake of impression. I weren’t worth an attempt to impress, in the first place. And, that was just a beginning.

Getting along, I found out,He

• never overeats even if the greatest dish on earth is served free. Whether we go to a buffet for 50 bucks or 500 bucks, he wouldn’t eat a morsel more than required. While, people like me would eat to avenge the robbed 500 bucks.
• understands corporate mechanism/politics like a prodigy.
  (If Subbu appreciates my attention to psychology, he’ll adore this guy’s.)
• has pride camouflaged as tenacity of a hard worker.
• has an attitude that a king would envy, spot on sense of humour and a completely open mind
• The way this guy listens, you would think that he thinks you are gonna die.              
  
  

  When people think you're dying they really listen to you, instead of just waiting for their turn to speak

  –Tyler’s figment with Marla.

If my memory weren’t like a sieve, this list would have been endless.

It was a good feeling for me to realize that we shared a few feelings, though silly, in common. Like, a common beauty prototype, a common reverance etc. Working with him was like re-entering the corporate world with a brand new mentor. I should have met this guy before meeting Prabhu. Damn me, God thought I were ready for Prabhu.

Apart from being naïve at times and spelling like Ishan Nanda Kishore Avasti, I couldn’t find any fault in him.

History books never told me that there exists a king of earth. But, I got to meet him. It’s not like, I am the only guy who ever met him. But, I am not quite sure that everybody recognized him as the king of earth. Did he realize it himself?

So, once while walking around, I said to him, “You’ve got a unique name, you know? What does it mean?”

“The king of earth”, came the reply. Clairvoyant parents?

The day had come when we had to part ways. This guy who completely reigns over himself and who is fit to reign over the world, directed me to a kingdom where nous reigned and left me all alone. I felt a sharp twinge in my heart when I realized we would discuss nothing more than Data summarization or Agent compliance risk analytics in the future.

First flight - Continued

As I happily took my privileged window seat I typed, “First flight. Donno why I ain’t excited”. Verbatim, this is the message I sent Subbu before I switched my mobile off.

Tyler’s presence was palpable.

A virtual reel of his dialogue with a co-passenger (you bet, am good at maintaining suspense) flashed before me:

"Tyler: [pointing at an emergency instruction manual on a plane] You know why they put oxygen masks on planes?
Co-passenger: So you can breath?
Tyler: Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows.
Co-passenger: That's, um... That's an interesting theory.
Tyler: An exit-door procedure at 30,000 feet. Mm-hmm. The illusion of safety"

He was there waiting for me to look at the safety instructions card. When I saw it eventually, I had to snigger.

An empty seat nearby meant, an even slower progress of time. Single serving friends could have been helpful there. With no luck, I decided to sleep.

Traveling towards north early in the morning, sitting on a right-row-window-seat meant perpetual sun-rays. It was very soothing in the beginning but then turned irritatingly inconvenient, as I couldn’t sleep. So, as always, I found an unnecessarily-novel idea to block the rays. I took the safety-instructions card and slid it in a slot over the windowpane. Then, I slept feeling smug.

Later when a voice boomed, "please fasten your seat belts and leave the window shutters open", I woke up to see my bubble burst. I were like… "Eh? What shutter?" And then, I pulled the card before anymore would see it.

Amidst all these, I had clicked some pics to keep my promise to Ms. L. Well, now, I don’t have the necessity to paste them here anymore. She would feel it for herself on her maiden trip to Canada.

first flight

June 5, 2008

I never thought it would be so insipid a feeling. In fact, no feeling at all.

Right from my childhood I were brought up with the thought that flying in an airplane would vindicate success of my professional life. Now, right when I am feeling like the most successful loser, I was gonna fly, for the first time. Woke up at 3:30 am and got into the cab by 4:15 and reached the airport by 5 or something. The flight was to take off by 5:45.

I had heard stories of people who embarrassed themselves by doing something stupid in the airport during their first flight. I asked the I-will-do-it-myself-explorer within me if he wants to try this time. No reply. He must have been sleeping. Or he must have been dead. I explained the Spicejet attendant my first flight predicament and told him that he got to tell me everything possible for me not to make a scene. So, he made me wait near the helpdesk for the guide to come. Yeah, I got a guide in a bloody domestic airport. Hmmm… I probably could have followed other passengers. But, it’s quite risky, you know. What if I follow the wrong guy and end up on a plane that would take me to krakozhia.

As other passengers proceeded past me and my wait went on, my parents outside must have gotten perturbed. Just when my dad called me to enquire if everything’s okay, I realized they were still waiting outside, feeling proud and elated watching me walk towards glory. Or probably they were just making sure that I didn’t wait for them to leave and escape from the airport. By the time the guide arrived, we had some misinterpreted glances exchanged. I bid them goodbye and followed the guide like a little lamb, who knew that it’s gonna make biriyani better the next day. I was lost.

I never thought it would be so insipid a feeling. In fact, no feeling at all.