Height of absent-mindedness

What am I doing still in Bangalore? I was supposed to be in Goa by yesterday evening. Did I say I missed my flight? Well, friends close to me will say nothing new! This one is a totally irresponsible and absent minded guy is what they'll say to themselves. And why not? I have done that before too.

Yesterday, I had a flight to Goa at 14:30 hrs. What do I do? I leave by 13:20 from my flat, about 25 kms from the Bangalore airport, get into an auto at about 13:25. On time I thought! But alas, the auto simply doesnt seem to cross 30 kmph on a lonely Bangalore road. Lonely, compared to the standards associated with Bangalore!!! Finally, I make it to the airport. As I didn't have any check-in baggage, I thought I would finally make it. I reach the boarding counter at 14:15 and is nicely greeted by the lady there! Then all of a sudden, she says, 'Sorry sir, all seats filled up!' Then what do I do? I meet the airlines supervisor, and take out my entire frustration on her :( 'I have a valid ticket. The receptionist at the boarding counter says all seats filled. Do you mean to say you have given my seat to somebody else? How on earth can you do that?' The lady just listens patiently and even though I was on the verge of shouting, manages to keep her cool and is very polite. 'I understand sir, that there might be some problems due to which you couldn't make it 30 minutes prior to the departure. But I'm extremely sorry, we cannot make any adjustments now and let you board the plane. But as a special case, we can reschedule your flight for tomorrow. However, you will have to pay the difference in the fare as an additional charge'. Frustration had already gotten the better of me by this time. After a lot of argument with another supervisor, I just ask for a refund. 'You will get only the taxes as a refund', is his final say. Well, I wasn't feeling well that day. Was feeling a bit feverish in the morning and also a bit of nausea. So I go back to my flat after that and have a good nap. And its after the nap that I suddenly realized how wrong I was. There was absolutely no need for me to take my frustration on the airlines staff! I couldn't make it on time and it was totally my mistake. Well, I've another flight in about 2.5 hrs from now. I'll see if I get a chance to apologize to the airlines staff today...

As I've said earlier, my misery with flights is not a new thing at all! About two months back, I went to the airport 23 hrs after my flight's scheduled departure. But as we all know, today can't be yesterday, and I decided to take a bus to Bangalore. That time, I had nothing to say, even for the sake of an argument ;) In another separate incident, I had a bus ticket from Chennai to Bangalore. In this one, I just forget my ticket at the place of residence and reach the Chennai Mofussil bus stand. The gentleman at the KSRTC booking counter was not as gentle as I expected and simply refused to help me. I had to buy another ticket to be able to travel. After all, absent mindedness, has a price to pay!!! Nevertheless, I still believe the gentleman could have acccepted a valid photo Id proof and let me travel, without additional charge as the booking counter was computerized and had the details of the passengers stored...


Ok, its time for me to leave. I don't want to miss today's flight. Hope to catch you soon...