… I have to pick up some cotton, short-sleeve shirts (like I used to wear in India). Some of my favorite shirts were from a village about 165 km away – called Valladolid. This time, instead of going there, checked out the local markets – Mercado 23 and Mercado 28 with some of my old i2 friends. When it came to comfortable shirts, the local markets did not disappoint.
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!!
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!!
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!
