On the fly
Traveling alone is generally boring and most of the time, I just sleep through my flights. But the last two trips I made were totally different.
First, I had a flight from Bangalore to Delhi. And like any other person traveling alone, I was hoping to find someone cute to be my co-passenger. Who doesn’t hope for that now? Even though luck has bailed on us year after year, flight after flight, hope never dies :P. But as they say, n-th time is the lucky one 😀 So I boarded my flight and as I proceeded towards my aisle seat, I saw a cute looking girl sitting on the opposite aisle seat in the same row and cursed my luck for her not being on the same side. Nevertheless, I occupied my seat and just as I was trying to come up with something good to start the conversation with, she herself started the conversation! Now that is what you call luck! She said that there is a creepy guy two rows ahead who has been asking her all sorts of strange questions and who might want to switch seats with me. She asked my not to comply with any such request and I happily agreed, obviously :P. Well the ice was broken, but it wasn’t much of a conversation topic either. So things became quiet again, apart from a casual smile we passed onto each other once in a while. Also, she plugged in her earphones, which wasn’t a good sign for me :P
Then the complementary lunch was served, and once we were done with that, I saw that she had started drawing on the tissue paper. After she was done about halfway, I asked her whether she was a designer, to which she answered in affirmative. And then I knew I had enough to talk about 😉 We talked for the rest of the flight, mostly about what she studies and what they learn in designing and stuff like that. She apparently knew many engineers, and didn’t have much to ask me about, but I sure had a lot to ask and learn about jewelery design 😛 It was part genuine interest — for I actually knew nothing about design — and part just my desire to continue the conversation. Anyways, we had a pretty good time, and I got a “nice to meet you” written on the same tissue paper with the design on it. Maybe not a big deal, but I guess it’s good enough for a noob like me 😀
On the return flight, I had a stop at Hyderabad. The seat next to me was vacant, and as people started to board, a girl occupied the seat. “Well”, I thought to myself, “maybe the (n+1)-th time is also lucky” Little did I know what was in store for me. As soon as the girl occupied the seat, I don’t think she even took a single breath before saying that she would want me to switch seats with her mother! And being the good samaritan I am, I obviously agreed :P. And now, all of a sudden, I was seated next to a talkative dude, and not the small-talk-talkative but the intrusive-talk-talkative one. Within a few minutes, he threw a bunch of questions on me, right from the company I work for, to the languages I program in, to my college, and even my salary!! And if that isn’t bad enough, there was this young lady in the same row who — as it turned out — was all in for a tell-all conversation with strangers. The next thing I knew, there were discussions about the lady’s new home, the dude’s girlfriend, and people going to the US on company's dime and putting up fb pics! “(n+1)-th time was certainly not lucky 😛 “ I thought to myself as I finally got off the flight.
But both the flights — lucky or not — were interesting for sure. From cute girls who do jewelery design and avoid creepy guys to intrusive dudes who don’t hesitate at asking a random person’s salary on the first meeting, there really are a range of people around. Oh, and I also ran into Arnub Goswami (from the TVF fame) when I landed in Bangalore. Not bad, right? 😀
Here is hoping for a few more lucky flights!