Travel Log

Log 1:

My wife and I reached the airport at 9.30 PM. We got down from the auto and walked towards the entranceand joined the queue. My attention soon fell on Mr. X. He was standing ahead in the queue with a red duffle bag on his right hand, a laptop dangling from his left shoulder and a novel in his left hand. He had strange mannerisms. He would either scratch his nose or turn his head here and there or pretend as if it was stuffy and would often stretch his hand. He was probably trying to attract everyone’s attention or was trying to impress somebody else in the airport “Lakshmi, look at that guy” I murmured to my wife while pointing my finger to Mr. X. “Must be one of those YO chaps” said Lakshmi. We kept giggling at his mannerisms. Soon we reached the airline desk and checked-in the baggage. Mr.X was traveling by business class in the same aircraft. He was standing beside me, but in the next lane. “So, when does this aircraft reach Chennai? Is there any book shop in the airport? Do you have any special lounge for the business class people where I can relax for sometime?” At this, a frustrated Lakshmi said “Tho daa... Irrukkartho local airport...approm enna aatam”

Soon we joined the queue for security check and it was a very long one. There would have been at least 100 people in the queue. Mr. X was already in the queue and was very impatient. He was in conversation with a gentleman standing behind him “I am a business class traveler, dunno why they want me to stand in the queue”. We were pissed off and my wife was already muttering ‘wonderful’ words about him. Suddenly, Mr. X walked out of the queue, to an airport authority, who was almost close to me and asked him “Do you have a separate queue for the business class? This queue is big and I can’t stand in this”. At this the airport authority said in a loud voice “Sir, there is only one queue. Please go and stand there”.

Log 2:

I had just boarded the aircraft. I was traveling in this airline for the first time. The interiors were good and quite appealing. I reached my seat, dumped my luggage and settled down. I started fiddling with the seat belt and soon my hands reached out for the newspaper and the magazines. A middle aged man in a blue blazer entered the aircraft and walked towards my seat. He put his laptop and sat on the aisle seat next to me. He had a Sony palm top in his hand and an organizer on the other. He updated something with the stylus and soon picked up his phone and started talking. He had an excellent accent. The in-flight announcements had begun and safety instructions were in progress. I was searching for the earphones all over the place and finally it stuck me that it could probably be beneath the seat. I put my hand under the seat and picked a large pouch. The guy sitting next to me gave me a stare and his eyes were really wide. I turned around to realize much to my dismay that I had picked the life jacket! And it so happened, that the air hostess was explaining about the life jacket.