This was a wonderful space to hang out in and share our thoughts! But now we've all moved on and simply left our memories behind :-) ...

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Most memorable Journey (DJ)

This is something that I wrote on the plane on my way to Germany. Hope you all enjoy it.


As I am writing this, I am at a height of 33000 feet above the ground level somewhere around the boundary of USA and Canada; I think I have already bumped into Canadian
province though I am not sure of it. It is so hard to tell from this height whether I am into one country or the other. We are moving east at a speed of 650 mph to reach Frankfurt, Germany. Yes, as you might have guessed, I am typing this while I am comfortably seated in a 747 savoring the tangy taste of red wine along with cracker snacks; though while I finish writing this, it will be Sunday evening (GMT+1) as my laptop battery will die soon.

A very beautiful young girl is seated right next to me, and as of the moment she is sound asleep with her head almost five inches from my shoulder and moving towards it every second getting as close as three and then suddenly gaining senses to pull it back ten inches away. And on and on. I know you might be thinking of this to be some stupid movie scene right now, but believe me people even I am surprised..... So let me take a little latitude to bore you all, and tell you as what happened that has motivated me to document this. If not everyone, I am sure Keshi is going to appreciate this as I feel right now to be in her shoes. I have always read these kinda stories on her blog; noteworthy of which was the train incident.

My friend dropped me at San Francisco Airport at around 10:15 in the morning wishing me all the luck for a happy stay in Germany and chances to meet European girls. As soon as he left me alone, I walked straight with my baggage to the Luftansa ticket check-in terminals to get my boarding passes. As I was standing last in the line, I saw this beautiful girl in black overcoat and a red sweater walking with a trolley in her hand that carried her bags some fifty feet away from me. It seemed that she was a European. I did not concentrate much on her and waited for my turn to get the boarding passes. On my turn I started to walk towards one of the open counters and as I glanced on the side, there was she standing right behind me waiting for her turn.

Somehow I ignored everything and kept moving towards the currency exchange booth to get some Euros. Later I proceeded towards the terminal. I still had some two hours before I had to leave. So I decided not to go to the departure area which was on the ground floor and instead be seated on the first floor waiting area. After a while I again see her on the escalator to the ground floor. She was looking at me and suddenly turned her face away when my eyes just met. It somehow felt all this quite funny.

After some time I boarded the plane. I had a left hand side window seat towards the end of the aircraft. I kept my bags, removed my jacket, seated myself and started reading "for one more day" by Mitch Albom. The seat next to me was empty and I was waiting to see who comes here. I have read and also believed (until this day) that "Ninty percent of the girls in this world are beautiful; but you will always have one of the rest ten percent in your neighboring seat". However, this does not hold true anymore for me.

Few minutes later I saw someone pushing bags in the luggage compartment above my seat. I looked out of the book to find the beautiful girl waiting to be seated next to me. What a surprise, I thought. She is the one. Exchanged a formal "Hi.. Hello.." and I went back to my book and she started to read Sidney Sheldon's Stranger in the Mirror.

--- Until here, I had written while I was on the flight. Starting here on, I wrote on that night in the hotel in Braunschweig ---

After a while, the air hostess came to ask for food, and I asked for vegetarian. To my sheer surprise, she asked for the same too. I thought, a European and a veggie? She slept after the meal. After some time she put on her earphones and was listening to music. And it was real loud that even I could hear it. And I was swept away by yet another surprise. I heard a hindi song sung by Lata Mangeshkar from the 80's movie "Hero". Wow, I thought. Indian too! Sounds kewl. Anyways, I thought I would not bother her as she looked to be one of those sharmili (shy) types, and I did not for at least three more hours.

Once we reached somewhere over the North Atlantic, I started getting bugged and as everyone knows, nothing helps a bugged mood than spreading it around. With this thought in my mind, I started the conversation and it went on and on after that. I bugged her until we reached Frankfurt where she had to move into another flight to India and I had to go to Braunschweig. We chatted on this and that and what not, details of which would not be furnished here.

Did I enjoy the flight? You betcha. But I let her go without even taking any sort of contact info from her. I thought its better that I not, which on contemplation now, I find was a really dumb idea. So people, remember, all adages are not true and always keep a watch on the neighboring seat. You may never know when Murphy is proved a dumb ass again.

P.S. - None of these details here is a fabrication or a figment of my imagination. I know I have rushed hurriedly towards the end of the story, but it's 'details' people ;).

[ADMINS:: Though it is not a train journey, but this has been posted with a special request prior to publishing. As it is a Journey, we are allowing this as a special request ]

19 comments:

  1. oh sigh Dj.. y didnt u take her contacts?? we may have had the luck to hear a wonderful love story which began with a journey ;)he he

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  2. Dj that is one hellava memory to last for a life time dude...and u wrote so well...hope well encounter such journeys and yes what was her name again :)

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  3. Aww man.. did you ever wonder afterwards, what happened to her? I think you might find this blog post of mine interesting.. it's on a very similar theme to yours..

    http://l0stinthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/08/do-you-remember-me-too.html

    :)

    I had the same-ish experience with a French guy at a barbeque.. I still regret not having taken down his contact details... sigh!

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  4. @diya
    i wrote that... that was the dumbest move i made :(
    i so regret it too...

    @deepthi
    yeps... :)
    what was her name again
    ahem ahem.... :)

    @sunrise
    i still remember her :)
    i'll chk ur post...

    same regrets here too... sigh sigh!! :)
    tc...

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  5. sometimes when u come across such an interesting stranger, its best to part without taking each others' contacts...that way it remains magical and precious.

    A story doesnt always have to end with a 'happily ever after' for it to be a good story.

    Wonderful encounter DJ!

    Keshi.

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  6. @keshi
    exactly... that's what i thought too... may be this way i will never forget her... :)

    and actually i believe, stories that do not have a 'happily ever after' are more remembered than the other ones :)

    thanks...

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  7. Deja-VU!

    Lets hope you bump into her again, while coming to India next or maybe in another flight!

    :)
    right?

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  8. @abhishek
    u speak my heart man :)
    wish me luck :D

    tc

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  9. ' "Ninty percent of the girls in this world are beautiful; but you will always have one of the rest ten percent in your neighboring seat". However, this does not hold true anymore for me. '

    "Anymore" or for this once in a blue moon when you have leprechaun luck... :-)

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  10. @naren
    "anymore" is the word precisely...
    during my entire trip to germany and france, i boarded six flights...
    five times out of six, i had divine beauties in my next seat...
    5/6 is not a bad score i think...
    only on the final flight from munich to SF when i was all alone in two seats...

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  11. u shudve tried keeping in touch dj!! atleast u wont keep wondering what 'cud have been' if u did...i bet u drove u crazy thinking about that situation!

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  12. hey..interesting read!

    DJ..u lucky man! am already J
    ive never had this chance until now and i travel a lot too..

    hmm..u didnt take her no..dun worry dude..tis alite...since u already lucky..u gonna hv more chicks...:)

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  13. hey...it surely is a very engaging post.....n u never know she might just be reading this post....im sure ul love me fr dis comment ;)

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  14. @michelle
    yeps... very true... but time has passed now :(

    @wacko
    wish me luck :)

    @isha
    thanks :)
    and u r very right... this is the best comment :P

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  15. interesting DJ..

    and welcome back :) to BUF!

    I had a similar incident...i was single then and got the guy's contact details *ahem* but didn't keep in touch once i got back home... hmmmm... too bad I wasn't all that familiar with emails 12 years ago...and no cell fones either back then! :P

    and yeah would be truly fimli if she were to come across this post and say..."hey that's me he's talking about?!" :)

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  16. @ishita
    thanks :)

    *ahem ahem*...
    how idiotic of me that i didn't even take her contact.... :(

    and yes, i hate filmi ones :), but i would pray if this comes true... lol

    tc..

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  17. Interesting!!

    How come i never get a hot guy next to me ever??

    Its either a hot girl who'll make me jealous top to bottom ... or some punjabi aunty who'll bore me with her ghar grahasti .. gold and jewellery and then test mny punjabi speakin skills .. or some old english guys who wud flirt with me by askin questions like "am sure u asked for this seat coz u saw me sitting here" .. and i go "if that makes u happy!"

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  18. dats one helluva journey... come to think of it.. murphy is proved to be a dumb guy at times... but not always.. and wen he is wrong.. it's party time dude!! :)
    dats teh beauty of a journey!!
    now my turn... lemme see wot do i write abt!! ;)

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  19. oh btw, am sure u do keep a watch on the next seat from den on.. who knws u might meet her again!! :D

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