What’s that smell?

I have always had the travel bug inside me which was perennially irritated when I was at home. So when I learnt that my new job requires me to travel to atleast 2 cities every month, I was a bit excited. Excited because it meant getting to see new places, ‘a bit’ because it is work after all. So there is an objective which cannot (and will not) be compromised. But thankfully, there is a way I can have the cake and eat it too. These visits almost always happen on Thursday and Friday. So I can just as easily take my return flight on Sunday and go ghooming from Friday evening to Sunday morning. My first trip brought me to Varanasi.

Flights from Mumbai to Varanasi have weird timings. All flights land in Varanasi between 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. So given the fact that Indian airports are almost always intelligently located miles away from the city, a whole day is wasted. What’s even more weird is that there is a direct flight from Varanasi to Mumbai , but evidently none in the opposite direction. My flight was a Spice Jet 4 and 1/2 hrs flight with a Delhi stop-over.

Long flight, yes, but it gave me an opportunity to see how certain people behave. I do not mind people shouting in the flights. It is a personality disorder. Maybe, even I must have indulged in it while travelling with my friends. However, what appalled me was the manner in which people utterly disregarded safety instructions in the flight. For whatever reasons, mobile phones are supposed to be switched off while flying (or atleast in ‘flight mode’). However, there was this moron who was talking loudly as the flight was taking off on the runway. What’s more, my neighbour took a call as the flight was landing at Varanasi runway. Obviously, he never switched off his phone or even put it in flight mode. People! Sigh.

So the flight finally reached the UP Cow Belt. The flight journey did not seem that long as I got time to catch a movie (LA Confidential). Since it is raining in Mumbai, I expected the same in Varanasi. Me, not having done my homework AND wanting to be well-prepared for the trip, carried an umbrella with me. Only when I got down at Varanasi I realised that monsoon was yet to hit these parts of the country and the place was a baking at 43°C. Clearly, my umbrella was redundant. I walked on to the arrival lounge. I was in for a shock. All my senses were rudely awakened. First was my eye-sight. When you get into the arrival lounge of an airport you expect clean ceramic tiles, nicely painted walls, space, air and LIGHT. At Varanasi airport lounge, all I could see was Human beings. The lounge is a small pathetic room which would have struggled to pull-off as a Railway station waiting room. There was barely any light and it was crowded with everyone looking for luggage on the sole conveyor belt. Given the fact that it was crowded, everyone was shouting and the very interesting acoustic system meant that my ears were in for a treat. But both these senses (visual and aural) were completely overshadowed my the third sense – nasal. The lounge, if I can call it that, had this overbearing pungent smell. It was unreal. To me it was a blend of the smells at Kurla railway terminus, Mohammad Ali Road and Dhobhi Talao. I felt choked for fresh air. Maybe this is how it felt when Borat was under Azamat.

As I looked towards the conveyor belt, the indicator said Indian Express and therefore I waited. After I while I realised that the Spice Jet luggage was coming in though the indicator still said Indian Express. Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh. After waiting endlessly I got my luggage and went out. The Spice Jet personnel were checking everyone’s luggage tags and tags on their tickets. Very sensible, I must say. While it causes major inconvenience, I sure it prevents a lot of theft in the small crowded room they like to call the arrival lounge.

Ok, I gotta rush now for work. Today after work, my micro vacation starts. Kashi Vishwanath temple and Ganga Aarthi on the agenda today