3 Days...Memories of a Lifetime...

Life always has pit-loads of surprises in store for me and I love meeting them head-on & give them my best shot…and as I write this, last week at this very time I was drinking away to glory in Gurgaon with my best buddies just having fun knowing that it was all possible due to some divine intervention!!!

Yes, I travelled to India for a very short trip of 3 days and had fun worth 300 days…

The Reason…

Some of you might have thought that I had planned this trip well in advance but well quite contrary to that this trip took its shape in almost an hour!!! I was in office oblivious of the fact that my visit-visa renewal application had been rejected by the Ministry here in Kuwait, the Government Services told me at 4 PM about this and I was completely taken aback, a frantic process then started to book my tickets for Dubai as I had to fly out of Kuwait before 12 Midnight on 26th May 2010 to avoid any Government action, the tickets were blocked but then I asked them what about my Dubai Visa and nobody had an idea about that!!! What a revelation!!! I was given an idea to go to India for which obviously I needed no Visa and I just pounced on that idea; I mean who would say no to going back home on a company-paid trip!!! And the best was yet to come, due to paucity of time only the Business Class tickets were available, inside I just laughed out loud, Gulf Air Business Class is one of the world’s best, I had to go via Bahrain & left office at sharp 5:30 PM to begin a journey about which nobody knew back home…and to say that I was excited would be an understatement!!!

Kuwait –Bahrain – Delhi

I reached home, just picked up a bag and then reached the Airport at 7 PM for a 10 PM Flight…and travelling by Business Class has its own special advantages, you have a different counter to check-in and relax in the Business Class Lounge at the Airport with some hot coffee!!! I indulged in all of this and just passed my time roaming around in the Duty-Free shops & just could not wait to get on the flight and have some chilled beer!!! And the best part was that I was travelling in my Che Tee, Jeans and Slippers and I am sure I would be one of the first to travel in such an attire on Business Class, people gave me weird looks and must have been wondering "iske paas itne paise kahan se aa gaye!!!". With Kuwait being a dry country the flight back home is always ultra-special…had a nice snack of Chicken & Prawns with Amstel Light Beer and within some 40 odd minutes was in Bahrain, quickly bought 2 bottles of Liquer for my collection back home; this time it was a South African Cream Liquer and Italian Peach-flavoured Vodka…also picked some Bahrain Memorabilia for home…then got on to the flight from Bahrain-Delhi, the plan was clear, enjoy my sumptuous dinner with another round of chilled beer(this time Carlsberg) and then slept through the 3.5 hours flight, the seats were really comfortable with a relaxing back-massage feature; with this sleep came in no time and I woke up finally at 6:15 AM moments before we were about to land, saw Delhi from the top and my excitement was simply uncontrollable. As I was carrying no check-in luggage I exited in no time, booked a cab for Gurgaon and was up & away for another trip of a lifetime!!!

The Homecoming…

The heat & humidity was omnipresent but I didn’t mind it at all. All I wanted was to see my parents’ shocking expression on their faces when I would reach home and meet them without any prior notice…as I reached home went inside without making any sound and tapped my mummy on her back while she was reading newspaper without any wildest idea that I was just behind her!!! The moment she saw me tears started to trickle from her eyes and I went numb…hadn’t see my mother crying since ages and I got really emotional and hugged her lightly & soon it changed to a happy mood and she just could not control her happiness, papa also came out to the garden and said “abe tu kaise aa gaya?” I hugged him so tightly; wish that moment never passed by!!! And then mummy cooked one of my favourite breakfast snacks – Poha for me and I just lounged at home!!! Enjoying every moment of it…dumped in my washroom and re-lived the good-old days!!!

The Next Surprise…

The next POA was to go to my Bhai’s home and give them another big shock…when we reached Bhabhi opened the door and then another shocking look welcomed me!!! Bhai shouted like mad and hugged me and then the best moment of the trip came when I saw my nieces…Chunni came running towards me and said “Chachuuuuuuuuuuuu”; Guggi was cautious in her approach as she was trying to locate me in her system!!! But slowly she also started playing merrily with me and talking in her own gibberish style which I am simply crazy for…Bhai had cooked some amazing Chicken Biryani and mummy had brought another of my favorites – Baingan ka Bharta!!! After indulging in some much-needed home cooked food I just lounged around with the kids and playing with them as if there was no tomorrow!!!

The Lazy Evening…

All of us reached Gurgaon for another big family bash and the plan was clear in my mind…I had decided that I would have all 9 meals of this trip at home and no outside food, I have had enough of them here at Kuwait and mummy was too excited to hear this…all of us had dinner together and then me & Bhai went to Machaan for a round of beer…this time my favourite – Tuborg…the official beer of BOP!!! After having such a heavy dinner just had 1 beer but Bhai was in no mood to stop and had Corona after Corona…finally an ugly dust storm made him budge and we literally had to run to our car to stay away from the dust…Gurgaon is in such a construction mess that there is no dearth of dust here and the storm made the matters worse…reached home at some 1 AM and then finally slept…sadly the 1st day of my 3-days trip was over and I was really sad…

The Bullet day…

Woke up late and had my breakfast…then me 7 Bhai went o pick up my Bhai’s bullet to get it repaired at Zaheer’s…let me tell you Bhai’s Bullet Machismo 1999 is the first Bullet I ever rode and it has some really special memories for me…I roamed around on it in my college days and some wonderful moments of my life riding it!!! And when I started the Bullet Thump never sounded better…it was symphony for my ears and then I rode it till Zaheer’s…had rode The Mighty One in March 2010 and these 2 months of separation felt like 2 years!!! And when Zaheer saw me he just could not react for some 2-3 minutes, after that it was another tight hug and then our legendary Bakchodi!!!

Che goes to UHG again…

I had to go to my old office and see my office friends and more importantly meet Arunima and have tea at the Cyber Park Food Court(FC as me & Dips call it)…I met Arunima and was so happy to see her…though have been in constant touch with her through calls, SMS & chats but still meeting her after 2 months was really special…I reached my bay and then there was commotion all over the place…my entire team simply could not believe their eyes and made wild sounds of oohs & aahs!!! Me & Arunima then went for a sutta together and relived our good-old days together…then I went to see my HR Head Riyaz whom I am really fond of and I was simply elated to see him…then me & Dips went to enjoy our Tea Session at the FC and also enjoyed Baadaam Milk together…

The Promise…

I had promised my niece Chunni that I would take her out for her favourite activity – Bungee Jumping at one of the Malls in Gurgaon and as promised I took her and she had a ball…did it twice and also had her favourite chicken hot-dog…seeing the smile on her face makes my life really worthwhile and I can do anything possible to see her smiling…she is the one I love the most in this world…



Vedaant ki Dhaani re-loaded!!!





I had another heavy dinner and then went to the Vedaant ki Dhaani…a Govermnet-approved drinking place where BOP have had some legendary BBB sessions…Sunny, Rohan, Dips & Vihans Paaji also joined in…the weather was getting better and am sure God was also getting generous in his mood and must have thought that this guy has come for just 3 days, let me make the weather better and give everybody some relief!!! We had a long Bakchodi session with loud laughter, the newly launched Tuborg Strong Beer and pit-loads of chicken!!! Called it quits at 12 midnight as the next day had an ultra-special plan and had to wake up early…I was dead drunk while riding back home and the moment we reached home I puked!!! Was so good to puke after such a long time!!!

The BOP Tijara Titans…

http://cheguevaraontheroad.blogspot.com/2010/06/bop-tijara-titans.html

And then it rained...

Everybody knows about the heat in India this year and it has been particulary bad in North India but as some of you very well know by now that the relationship between me & the rains is a very special one...they never miss an opportunity to treat me when I am around...I brought rains & good weather to Kuwait and this time as well the rains blessed us...at around 4 PM on 29th May 2010 it rained...even though just for 15-20 minutes but stil it brought much-needed respite to the parched people...hope this lovely relationship blossoms further in the future!!!


The last evening at home…





I came back at 12 PM and mummy had cooked Rajma-Chawal, another of my all-time favourite, I gorged on it and then played with Chunni-Guggi and just talking to my parents about my Kuwait experiences, how I spent my time there and how life is different there…they were all ears and heard my stories excitedly…inside me I knew the time was ticking away and I just had few hours remaining at home…completed all my shopping tasks in the evening and came back home for dinner…then Guggi took over as she was in a hyper-active mood and was a bundle of energy till midnight…never stopped and kept playing with me…I finally slept at 1 AM and had to wake up at 4:30 AM to get to the airport for my flight back to Kuwait at 6:45 AM…

The Mishaps…

Both the flights were relatively any special incident free and I didn’t have any beer as had to join office straight from the airport…but when I landed in Kuwait the troubles started again…it was actually God’s way of bringing me back to the ground after the 3 fun-filled days…first my Kuwait SIM Card was not functioning and to make matters worse my check-in baggage never reached Kuwait, after searching frantically for it I logged a complaint at the helpdesk and they tracked my luggage to Bahrain…it was shocking because I was flying Business Class and in spite of that fact my baggage was not transferred at Bahrain…but I was told that it would be surely arriving in Kuwait the same day and was told not to worry…I was extremely tense as I had some really important stuff in that baggage…with these 2 miseries I reached office where tones of work was waiting for me as I am handling some critical hiring projects and I knew the upcoming week was not going to be too easy…

Luckily I received my baggage with everything intact and I heaved a big sigh of relief…once again got lucky as I heard some horror stories of mishandled baggage at Bahrain from my colleagues…they had never ever received their baggage once it got lost at Bahrain!!!

Finally the frantic trip came to end; filled with so much emotions of all kinds…exhilaration on the road, reunion with the Bullet, Beer with my Bhai, seeing so many shocked faces, yummy food cooked by my mummy, the gala time with my nieces, the chilled beer, Bakchodi with BOP buddies, going back to UHG, the tea at FC, the business class experience and the mishandled baggage misery!!!

Could not have asked God for more and just can’t thank him enough for these 3 days…wish I can make more such trips back home and have the same amount of fun!!!

Che would be back on the road again…

Till then ride safe & have safe sex…

Hasta la Victoria Siempre…