Tuesday, August 04, 2009

The Jaipur Charm

I have never visited Jaipur even though it is pretty close to Delhi, and in spite of the fact that I have heard everybody finding something or the other that they love about the city. But guess what! I found something fun about the city without even visiting it.

This morning, I left campus much before the scheduled flight time. Went to Good Luck Cafe for my standard cheese omelette and ban maska. There I shared a table with an old lady who was originally from Jaipur, but had travelled all of India. Had a nice conversation with her, heard her speak pretty flawless Marathi, English, Hindi, and Punjabi, and figured that she was in the same line of work as me. And we thought it is a new field!

From there I moved straight to the airport. I was there less than four months ago. And they've constructed a whole floor ever since! It is quite possible that the observant me nicely overlooked the construction process last time, but I was pretty surprised to see the first floor today. But let's not digress. We're talking about Jaipur stuff.
In the lounge, two seats away, I saw a super-hot guy. I'd say, if ever there was a man who did justice to a big moustache in the contemporary, non-military context, it was him! Casual chappals, jeans, and a blue tee.. with the moustache! Oh man!!
Between his newspaper and my Kite Runner, we exchanged a smile. Overheard him speak on the phone - definite north Indian touch! There were four flights to Delhi scheduled over the next hour. My superfast, analytical brain immediately figured he must be on one of them. And how I hoped it was the same flight as mine. Next thing I knew, he turned to me, asked me to keep an eye on his bag as he excused himself to the men's room. I was having fun imagining things in my head when he came back and sat one seat closer to me! Ha! I SO saw a conversation following. :-) So I shut my book too. :P And there we were!
Hometown Jaipur, mechanical engineer, one month in Pune, had made a trip to Lonavala last week, and the works. He was on the Jet Airways flight to Delhi. Damn! It left 30 minutes before mine. If I had got those extra 30 minutes with him, I am sure I would have got a ten-digit number too. :P We were two polite people. Exchanging numbers would have been TOO quick a gesture. So I just said good bye to him, and shook his soft, warm hand. :D :P


"Nice talking to you!" :-)


P.S. - I am not sure if you know this, but I have a thing for certain names. They sound absolutely perfect in my head and have a charm associated with them. Moustachio's was one such name. :P

7 comments:

P. said...

Nice going Bhardwaj !!
Me likey =p

Subhadip said...

Go on ... what else did you fantasize about him? Tell us... anyway, he is not going to read it, right? Unless you did actually tell him your blog address!

BTW, "moustachio" was a common adjective for me for the longest time!

RB said...

Priyam,
:D

Subhadip,
I'm trying to gather courage for the stalking business. :D

SS said...

hehehe...
I really enjoyed reading this post. Brought a big smile on my face :))

I think, this is my first visit to your blog and I quite like it.
Keep it up :)

RB said...

Rhapsody,
:) Good to have you over, and glad you enjoyed reading. :)

Hope it brings you back a second time. :-)

Cheers!

R said...

What? 30 more minutes? What are we in, 1993? Come on man, you gotta be fast these days ;)

Hey man dau, your moustache is long gone..unless you think looking young has happened. :D

RB said...

Mister R,
Arrre!! Please. We barely spoke for 10-15 minutes. Ohh maaaan... he was hot! Maybe I should have asked. :|