I walked into the business class lounge in Kolkata airport at 1:30 am and as I was checking in, I chuckled at something. After settling down and grabbing a glass of wine, I went back to take a picture of what I had smiled at. There was nobody at the desk. The lounge was pretty empty. My flight – at around 4AM was the only flight left.

I was taking a couple of shots when the young guy who checked me in came running..

“Kuchh chaahiye kya, saar?” (Do you need something, sir?)
“Nahi. Bas yunhi photo khnich raha tha. Aur hna – yehan pe ‘Ask FOR your Wifi password’ likhna chaahiye tha” (No. I Was just taking random pictures. Oh! BTW, I noticed something. This should read Ask “FOR” your Wifi password)

The totally hapless guy looked at the sign, looked at me, looked at the sign again and then finally looked at me again and said “Hamara yehan to aisa-hi chalta hai saar” (Here, sir, this is how it goes). I am sure he gathered that I was not from around here.

And then immediately to divert my attention, he asked “Kuch khaayenga piyenge kya saar? Sab aapke liye free hai”. (Would you like to eat or drink something, sir? For you, everything is free).

That was the second time I chuckled at the checkin desk in five minutes 🙂