Hubby’s khala went off for Hajj yesterday & MIL called us from her place to pick her up on our way back home. Once there, the dinner was a compulsion. But the surprise came, when suddenly a ‘plan’ emerged to see the departing couple off at the airport.
Since three families had come from out of town to see them off we of course had no excuse not to go along with the plan – But then, things went a little crazy.
In the Ideal World: We would have drove behind them to the airport – seen the insanely long queue of cars outside & decided waving at them and texting ‘bye, have a great haj’ would have sufficed.
In a not-so-ideal world: We would have braved the insanely long queue –jumped from the car in the drop lane, hugged them a harried/hurried good bye & left for home.
In the real world: We braved the insanely long queue, found a parking in a parking lot that seemed so full that getting out of the car took guts, walked what seemed like a kilometer without a sweater or a shawl, saw the airport resembling some thakka hoa train ka station, waited for the other THREE cars occupants to find parkings and gather around, hugged long, luxurious good byes, watched in horror as all relatives, proceeded through a throng of men to wave them good-bye AFTER they entered the lobby & disappeared – waited, waited, waited – intervened – found out people didn’t like to leave cause they hadn’t switched their cells off, which means they were in the vicinity – realized with dread that at this rate, they’d wait till 4.a.m. which was the departure time – brainstormed for excuses to leave cause hey you CANT leave without an excuse when you live ten minutes from the airport and everyone else who is NOT dying to leave, lives in a DFFERENT CITY. Prayed – saw relatives turning and queuing up for final good byes – finally tried to leave – remained stuck in traffic for another half an hour. Reached home at 4:11 a.m – crawled into bed, only to remember that the chicken roast meant for dinner is lying in the car. Got out of warm, warm bed – searched for car keys – went downstairs – collected the Broast – deposited it in the fridge. And slept – fitfully, cause we couldn’t afford to be late to office today.
Today has been spent sneezing, sniffing, coughing & trying very very hard to make sense of what is gong on in office. Sleep deprivation makes my IQ drop to a 50 I think.