The second day was planned to be spent hopping from airport to airport - breakfast in Chennai, lunch in Kolkata and dinner in Guwahati. We awoke to the sound of our alarm blaring seven chimes but lay in bed a while longer, putting off getting on with the day for as long as we could - oh, the ecstasy of sleeping in for just a little longer, snuggling down deep into the recesses of the quilt.
Once putting off waking up was no longer an option, we reluctantly went about our morning chores. Ordering a couple of black coffees to kick start our day, we set about repacking. Soon there was a knock on the door and a little waiter boy came in with our coffee. Scandalized by Anu's legs beneath her tiny shorts, he nearly spilt the coffee all over himself. Blushing, he blustered his way out of the room.
 |
| Herbivorous Morning |
Once ready, we climbed one flight of steps up to the dining room on the terrace. A tasty assortment of local cuisine was served - puri bhaji, idli sambar, vada chutney, idiyappam and kesari baath, the combination of which kept the demons at bay for the time being. The friendly Bihari cook was thrilled at meeting someone who could speak Hindi and hung around our table for far longer than necessary while the poor little Haryanvi helper boy was still embarrassed by the morning encounter with Anu's legs and could not meet us eye to eye. After wishing Ashi for her birthday, we set out for the airport.
 |
| Carnivorous Morning |
Check in was uneventful and we had our bags transferred straight through to Guwahati. There began the airport hopping day. Exploring the shops at the airport was one of my favourite activities to pass time and I began with Chennai. As nothing piqued my interest, I quickly found myself eating from KFC while Anu had yet another cup of bitter coffee to get her six hourly caffeine recharge. Boarding was crowded but uneventful. The flight to Kolkata was longer than anticipated and we ended up listening to several matronly lectures that the Air India aunties had to dish out.
 |
| Kerala Flood Relief Efforts |
Between taking naps, trying to shovel down Air India’s excuse for a lunch and watching a movie, the two and a half hour flight went by without much incident. Landing at Kolkata Airport, it seemed there really was something about Bengalis always being hungry. Despite having just eaten a number of small meals, it seemed to have gone nowhere, as once again a hunger built up. And sure enough, as we passed security, there were a line of airport stalls selling everything from barfis and pedas to dahi puri and chaat, coffee shops with an assortment of pastries to KFC with its ever tempting aroma.
Suddenly both of us seemed to have been stricken by some new hunger pangs and we started off with lemon tart and coffee at Flurrys, then moved on to dahi puri at Kailash Parbat and finally topped it off with chicken popcorn at KFC.
A couple of hours later, they announced the flight to Guwahati and we boarded a smallish aircraft. This air hostess went about her pre flight announcement in the funniest sing song we had ever heard. Most of the passengers couldn't hold back their giggles. A cranky child and her parents sat in the seat ahead and we quickly donned our earphones to block out the whining. Another movie was devoured in the turbulent flight across the chicken neck into the seven sisters. An hour passed and finally we were descending overlooking a spectacular view of the sun shimmering over the mighty Brahmaputra.
Collecting our bags, we called an Uber and set out toward Brahmaputra Jungle Resort. The drive was longer than expected, nearly an hour and a half along windy, dusty roads, culminating finally in the resort perched atop a brick laid road with a scary incline. The Maruti Alto we were in groaned its way up to the parking lot and we walked up the last bit of the way.
The resort was built around a small man made lake with jungles all around. Checking in, we dropped our bags in the room and went up for dinner by the lake. We ordered a glass of beer and chicken and as we sat waiting for the order to arrive, a flock of ducks came sailing by where we were sitting, probably thanking us for not having ordered one of them. Food was a mediocre affair and on the expensive side. We made our way back to the room, and Anu handled some logistic issues for delivering relief material for the floods in Kerala before we retired to bed. 
No comments:
Post a Comment