Today was supposed to be a fairly relaxing day with minimal travel. A day of rest prior to the wedding.
All started out fine but the tide quickly changed when we arrived at the airport. We checked into our flight and the attendant acted as if all was fine and on time. When we arrived at our departure gate I immediately realised that this would not be a slow and relaxing day. A large group had congregated at our departure gate and was shouting at a pair of SpiceJet employees and really on the verge of a riot.
I looked at the departure board and could see that a flight to Chennai had been delayed. No worries, I thought. When the board refreshed, however, I could see every single SpiceJet flight of the day had been ‘delayed’. Our flight was still listed as on time but I knew that Spice had simply given up updating the board.
After a couple of hours of continued heated arguments the mob broke up and everyone started migrating to checkout. All flights had been cancelled and from what it looked like SpiceJet had then and there gone out of business. Checking into a flight is an ordeal in itself, but nothing as arduous of reversing the check in. We had to reversely go through security and then go to check in and reclaim our bags. All but one bag eventually appeared but after a long wait Padma appeared with the final bag in tow.
The wedding would start in 22 hours. What to do? There was pandemonium at the airport and only one other airline flew into Rajmundry. That was full. The only other option was by a long 600 kilometre road trip. Ravi put his local contacts to work (his son, John, lives in Hyderabad) and after another three hours a mini bus came to collect us and take the seven of us direct to Kakinada.
It was 3 pm when we finally departed. Progress was slow as the bus fought against the busy traffic. At 9 pm the driver stopped and got out and disappeared. Time of his dinner apparently. The wedding would start in 13 hours and we appeared to be only half way in our journey. I got out of the bus and walked around to stretch my legs and wondered if we would ever make it to Kakinada in time for the wedding. I had already learned that in India nothing happens according to plans.
On all of our family trips I am always in the driver’s seat and end up spending most of my holiday working out the logistics of how to get from A to B, what to eat, where to stay. In this trip I am clearly a passenger and could just relax and let others make those decisions for me.
In this case, we were in good hands as we were being taken care of my locals – our family. The drivers came back from dinner and I boarded the bus again. It was still a long way to go and the start of the wedding was fast approaching.
I took a back seat in the bus and closed my eyes and drifted away. When I awoke, the drivers were conversing with someone in the street. We were lost! I asked what was going on and yes we were lost but within five minutes of our destination! Within a few moments another van passed us and tooted and I could see we were following it. Minnie said it was 1.30 am. We had been on the road for 10 and a half hours.
The van had barely stopped when the door rolled open and a man jumped in and lunged for Mercy and began weeping. ‘My sister, my sister’, he cried. It didn’t matter what time of the day or night it was. Mercy’s youngest brother, John, would be there to great his sister on arrival to the hotel. John, his son, Kumar and nephew Sampath all stayed up late not only to greet us but to bring us some hot curries as surely we must be hungry after the trip.
When I put my head to the pillow at 3 am, I fell asleep instantly.