This was on the past Sunday. I can only recall what day it was because we were leaving that day. A check on days and dates on a holiday, otherwise, is a difficult one. I had managed to note things for some days but I lost the track eventually. Nevertheless, the arrival and departure are tough to miss even if you are not making a note of it.
I got up with fever and fatigue. The kind you have after a hectic couple of days in sun and heat. Call it the lack of fitness or adaptability but moving around traveling in the past week turned out more tiring than I had thought.
I didn’t want to be stopped at the check-in gate; a paracetamol tablet was just fine for the rising temperature. But this was going to be the least of the worries. I had to attend a virtual workshop at 9 pm which should have been easy with the schedule. Wellness was not entirely on my side but time, I felt, was. Until it felt it wasn’t.
We checked in time as per the scheduled departure only to find that the departure is delayed; by 45 minutes. I realised I had some semblance of zest left before this deflating delay fell upon us.
The wait was becoming more difficult with the television in the lounge area playing a “top” Hindi News Channel. It felt like it was playing on loop. The brazen display of uninhibited provocation with details, I doubt, anybody needed at that time. It was tough to decide what was more disturbing. The display or the people glued to the screen who should have been more concerned about the screen for the flight updates. I felt like asking someone to switch that thing off. Of course, I didn’t.
The time came for us to board. The plane took off and the baby dozed off. There were no lags in the flying time. By the time we reached, it had started getting dark and by the time our luggage reached us, it was dark and another bout of tough wait was lurking around.
One of the cab drivers in my contact list informed us of the difficulties on road due to PM’s presence along with his party meeting in the city, and rains. Rains were a welcome relief, other not as much.
After a long wait, we got the cab. Rain was lashing down. We were moving ahead at a decent pace. By the time we reached, it was 10 pm. Well past the schedule of my workshop. We got out of the cab, got to our place, and sat down to take a breathe. I was in no shape to do anything.
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Ten days ago on a very early Saturday morning, we had left in very similar situations. The kid was sleepy, we were also not the most awake. But the zest to go out superseded everything. It was fun.
The trip back was more of a relief. A relief of not the happiest kind.