Pune to Delhi via Lucknow

The Nasty Weather
As feared, the Delhi fog did me in on the night of the 26th and my flight from Pune was diverted to Lucknow. The Jetlite authorities put us up in ‘Tulip Inn’, about 10 kms from the airport, where a hot meal awaited us. Travel weary that I was, sleep was not difficult to come by and sometime past midnight, I flaked out.

And Miles to go
Why do I always find that I’m on a voyage of discovery when I stay in a new place? The room at Tulip Inn was good in aesthetics with a well designed layout and with the latest contraptions fitted, that gave it altogether a swanky look. But navigating thro’ the switches and the taps of the washroom was a nightmare for me. Finally, with the help of room service, I was able to access hot water for my requirements. When Jagdish, the service boy just turned the taps left thro’ 90 degrees to show hot water gushing out, I could only sheepishly grin and apologise for my ignorance! Similarly, the toilet flush, too, did give me the heebie jeebies – my fear being that the lovely piece wouldn’t come into my hand with all the unwanted force that I was applying!!

The Love talk
Rajat, a youngster, who’s just joined the TCS out here, was my roommate for the short stay. A charming young man, brought up in the best of values and traditions did give me valuable inputs on the way he looked at life. Could understand that he’d a lot of talent in music and dramatics beckoning him and it could be just a matter of time before he chucks up his present job, as he feels himself to be a ‘9 to 5’ prisoner in his present ‘avatar’. He’s shown an eagerness to interact with this ‘sir’ nay ‘uncle’ and has taken my contact number and given me his. He talked to his girl all thro’ the night – no exaggeration at all – and knocked off at 6 AM pronto. He’d initially warned me of this disturbance when I’d made my case for him to be my roommate to the concierge at the reception!

Tailpiece
It took me just 19 hours and 5 minutes to reach Delhi from Pune and that too via Lucknow - from the time of take off from Pune to the time of touch down at Delhi.