The Peninsular Expedition: Day 1

I’ve hit a rut of sorts with respect to the content being served up on this blog. All rather stale and mundane stuff – movie reviews do not really qualify as intellectual fodder or gripping reads. In fairness, I can squarely put the blame on the fact that nothing really exciting or worth mentioning has happened for a while now. Now however, I find myself more than 2,000 kilometers from what I like to call home.

Well, I can’t really say it’s unexpected – this trip had been planned weeks ago. Friends and family were intimated. But meh, dragging myself away from the city, especially when I’m due to take delivery of both my checkbook and my driver’s license (more on that later) in the next week, was a bit of a faff. The whole concept of courier’s being sent with the explicit intention of having them returned to the sender or just stored at the shipping office is mind boggling. Apparently, neither my bank (due to inane rules and regulation), nor the transport office (because they can’t be bothered) can put a hold on the shipping.

Back to the point, today was a motley collection of typical things-to-do-before-you-die-you-leave-for-a-pseudo-vacation: washing, drying, ironing, folding, packing, unpacking, repacking, things not fitting, bursts of genius involving dynamite, sobering down, fits of rage, snappy tempers, booking taxis, reaching airports…you get my drift. Sadly however, there are no photos I can regale you with, so you’ll just have to settle for drab textual comemmentary.

Well, keeping things strictly travel related, I should tell you all about the fact that Easycabs (in Delhi) charges an extra Rs. 30 as a convenience charge if you book a cab via the call center, which is why using easycabs.com is a much better option. It’s both convenient and economical. (Disclaimer: I’m not making a plug for Easycabs. Use any other cab service like MERU for all I care.)

Additionally, I advise against putting anything on the roof-rack of the cab when the weather’s overcast. Seems logical, but we had to throw caution to the winds (quasi-pun not intended) because we had too many bags. I should elaborate that we = me + Mom + Dad. This can only end well.

This was also my very proper visit to Terminal 3, at IGI Airport, Delhi. Lots of gleaming counters when you begin, giving way to retail space that could rival the most upmarket of Delhi’s malls, followed by a multitude of gates along with moving walkways that make people walking along them look as if they’re running. Very nice, overall, I’d say, especially with the aerobridges and all. Met a lot of Francophone people which makes me wish I’d taken up French at a higher level, like at Allianz Français or something.

Flight was uneventful, apart from the nice girl sitting next to me squirting most of her tomato sauce all over my jeans and hand. I gave her a meaningful look when she attempted to attack her small container of very liquid pudina chutney while the aircraft was in some turbulence. In-flight entertainment on Air India has a long way to go, if I’m honest. I mean, the display was so horrible that I mistook streaking lines I saw running across the screen when the aircraft was taxiing for the feed from an undercarriage camera looking at the tarmac. It just turned out to be a rubbish screen. On the plus side, I did get my first glimpse of the show, Glee. Nice music, overdone drama. Oh, and I miss the airhostess’ demonstrations, seeing that video demonstrations have taken over.

It’s now 11 PM, and I reached IIT, Madras’s Tiramani Guest House about 3 hours ago. It’s a really good campus, and saw a fair bit of it on the ride to the guest house, and the subsequent trip to Tifany’s a popular cafeteria. I may not have a DSLR, but I do have an AF digital camera, and might get around to some light photography, just to make my point about the campus.

Also, roaming rates have set in now: 1.5 bucks per minute to my local Delhi numbers and 1 buck for those outgoing SMSes too. But you cannot even comprehend how happy I am that my GPRS/3G plan remains untouched. I use a / because it has a mind of its own and switches between the 2 on a whim.

Oh, and on a side note, the engine in the Hyundai Accent is actually a very good piece of machinery. Had the opportunity to drive one around the campus tonight.

P.S. These posts are not going to be very well formed, formatted or edited. That’s because I’m just interested in keeping a log of sorts for myself, which friends and others are welcome to dip into. Ciao for now.