Of coincidences, events and people - an interesting weekend!

On 13 Apr, I was off to Madras on duty and it was the day of the elections in both the states! The journey was uneventful but the coincidence was uncanny - I'd to fly the domestic carrier and the flight numbers, up and down, were AI 519! And my roll number at school - 519!!

I was in attendance at an old friend and coursemate's farewell. As the proceedings started winding up, I decided to toss away my shyness and sang the 'Jamaican Farewell' to lighten the mood. By the end of the evening's proceedings, I seemed to have picked up a lot of admirers and friends! The next forenoon saw me fetch up at Laila Samson's doorstep as I was determined to meet her and spend time with her, this time. And boy, it was a delightful experience indeed and time well spent! At 86, she's full of life and was more worried about looking after me, during the period I was there with her and wanted to know the details of Lekha's ailment and her current state of health!!

On return to Kochi, Lekha and me set up the 'vishukkani' that we saw at 0230h on 15 Apr, as is the normal custom amongst us. We'd then set off for home to be with Lekha's dad and my parents for the weekend which, also provided ample scope to meet up with people of our village and it was an exhilarating experience!

The final leg of the trip was to Thiruvananthapuram to attend the wedding reception of my classmate's daughter. As we met, I'd told the proud couple that Lekha and I'd kept our promise of attending the 'do' despite constraints of time and distances to be traversed. And their prompt reply - 'We always knew you'd surely be with us!' - reminded me of the expectations. A humbling experience, really! We'd kicked off from Thiruvananthapuram, a trifle after 5 and was at Kochi, after a comfortable drive, to be in time for work. A short break from the usual routine and time well spent!