24 October 2023

This is not normal for me

But it did happen to me. Turns out, I shellacked the competition in a trivia contest. Admittedly, this was a competitor set of only another 300 people thoroughly jet lagged, alcohol addled and more interested in Bollywood thrillers than obscure facts.

The thing is it was a competition in the plane which had 5 levels. Each level had 16 questions. Level 1 needed you to clear 8 correct answers. Level 2 needed 10. Level 3 needed 12. Level 4 needed 14 and then of course – the final round.

The intriguing part is that I went to the final round before getting kicked out. As Jacob Zodikoff will tell you – I (and actually he too) can knock off most science, math or geography trivia. But the problem is most trivia is about art, music and pop culture. And I am a zippo there. For the record, the last movie I have seen is about three decades back. And I do not listen to any Western music.

I just go with educated guesses. My educated guesses were off the chart today!!

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24 October 2023

This surprise by the numbers

Number of different airports I had to go thru: 6
Number of different airlines: 4
Hours in transit: 75

Hours in Durgapur: 75
Families surprised: 6

Number of Pujas seen: 10
Last time Pujas seen in Durgapur: 1992
Discovered friends from 50 years back: 3
Aunts/elders from met after 50 years or so: 2

Hoping the return segment will be smooth now. Regardless, this was one of the better surprises I have pulled off!!

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24 October 2023

Serendipity strikes yet again!

I had kept some time to do the formalities in New Delhi Airport. It took a fraction of that time. I was done checking in, immigration and then security in 9 minutes!! Tried to keep myself busy perusing the various shops but, none of them were to my interest.

So, went to the lounge that I was assigned to and was just going to settle down in a chair, when I saw Nilanjan next to me!! Nilanjan (DJ’s brother) and Masha have become great friends from to the meetings we have at bars when they visit DJ and PJ. I have some fond memories of Covid times when a few of us were an informal bubble and we got to interact with them a lot!

He was taking the Doha route to get back to the USA. I am taking the Amsterdam route!

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24 October 2023

This makes so much more sense

I have two flights – KLM taking me from Delhi to Amsterdam and then Delta taking me from Amsterdam to Delhi.

But I have one piece of paper as Boarding Pass. Never seen this before. Even when I travel domestic with the same airlines they give me two boarding passes if I am connecting.

This makes so much more sense. The bar code has all the details including what lounges I have access to in which airport!

Have you experienced this before?

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