P.O.A. = G.O.A.

Time flies. Last week at this time, SV and I were making a mad dash to the airport. We were heading to Goa! And boy, were we late! 

I had had a crazy three days prior to that Thursday at work, and didn't have much time to pack. Heck, I didn't even have time to get my eyebrows done. And that day also marked the civic elections in Mumbai, so I had to exercise my franchise amidst getting a zillion things done. I was busy on my laptop sorting out work email from home (I was officially out of office on 16th and 17th + the ensuing weekend) and trying to ensure I could leave with my sanity intact. Finally, just after noon, I rushed to vote, and silently started panicking seeing the long queue at my polling booth. Just before my turn, I received a text from DD telling me to have a good break... How thoughtful! 

The finger inked, I rushed to the one place I hate but can't avoid - a 'beauty' parlour - to get my eyebrows done. More rushing. Lunch was a blur. And guess what? I had barely packed anything. :| Everything was just lying around, and my mind was blank. SV called to say we'll leave around 1530. Our flight had been rescheduled twice before the kind people at Kingfisher decided overnight on 1705 as the auspicious time to take off. I'm truly grateful that at least they didn't cancel our flight like they did with so many others. *shudders* 

By the time Madame SV arrived to pick me up, I had just about managed to lock my bag, wear my keds, say bye to the folks and steal cash from the ATM - my own money, promise!

Phew!

Reaching the correct terminal was another adventure too. Our rickshaw driver dropped us at the lower terminal, and we didn't realise that the KF one was "on top". Bloody hell! Seeing us drag our trolleys, one very kind rickshaw driver offered to drive us up... It was a short distance but on a slope and did I mention earlier, we were late. Feeling touched by his gesture, I gave him 20 bucks instead of the minimum fare of Rs. 11. The bugger goes, "Kya madam, itne se kya hoga?". SV and I went, "Huh?" before realisation dawned on us. He was expecting a minimum of Rs. 50! If it weren't for the slope and the fact that we were terribly delayed, we wouldn't have needed him. We refused. To make matters worse, he even refused the 20 bucks. Grrr. SV tried to reason with the petulant child, but we couldn't afford any more time wastage, so she left the money on the rickshaw seat. I was too tired, too rushed, too worried to let him bother my thoughts. 

The KF counter staff were extremely annoying. "Ma'am, you are late! You need to be here at least 45 minutes prior to boarding", she admonished us. I was tempted to say, "Yes, teacher. Sorry, teacher. It won't happen again, teacher." My watch said we were 35 minutes away from boarding. Told her we were held up at the wrong terminal. Told her her airline's website was throwing up errors every time I had tried the web check-in option since morning. She was still unmoved. But I guess some powers-that-be were looking after us... We got our boarding passes (seats were apart though) and proceeded for the security check (lost my precious scissors which I had forgotten to remove from my stationery case - *sulks*). 

And then we were off to Goa...