There are some days that pass without much consequence, but still end up being spent well…
It started with us receiving the news that a guest who was to fly in, was unable to make it since the PCR test was not taken in the stipulated window. A few hours difference in the test results, and unable to board.
Seems surreal this new normal of flying – taking multiple PCR tests, going to the airport six hours in advance…I mean I am one of those people who always reaches three hours in advance, even for a domestic flight, and even I find six hours unbearable.
Nevertheless, travel is going to be a pain for a while, but at least it has started. It’s almost like experiencing the first drops of rain after a prolonged drought season.
Speaking of rain, we came pretty close, or so I thought. There was an intense sandstorm in Dubai, and the sky nearly turned black, with ferocious winds threatening to overturn the pots we had just installed on our balcony. The pots were saved, but there was no rain. We haven’t seen any rain since COVID hit, and the wait continues…
And so the day was spent mostly lazily, listening to songs from the 90s (Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Anuradha Paudwal), and bringing back memories of trips to the neighboring cassette shop, song list in hand, and selecting the “super treble” cassettes on which the vendor happily recorded the songs of our choice.
At a fee of course, and piracy notwithstanding, there was a certain eagerness and anticipation before we received our holy grail, something that is missing in the days of Spotify and Apple Music when everything is available at a click.
Anyways, days were spent listening to these songs on loop, staring aimlessly into the horizon, reminiscing on lost love and friendship, or newly-found love and friendship…nowadays the ears hear but do not listen, since we are busy scrolling instagram as the songs play on…
Which brings me to quizzes. As I watched KBC today, I thought of the days when quiz shows ruled the roost, with quizzes being played between teams from different schools, and us watching and guessing answers as a family – keeping score, winning and losing…
I don’t see many of them around today. I guess Google took the fun out of it – why think when you can Google! Maybe I am not tuned into the right channels, or maybe there is a genuine glut in the number of quiz shows. The one that remains has also started to steer towards the sob-sob stories of the other reality shows.
Yeah I get it that you had a hard life, but life is hard. Everyone goes through struggles. The ones who don’t, and are happy and wealthy and satisfied, don’t try to appear for quiz shows in the first place!
And so a lot of today was spent in experiencing the days gone by. Not necessarily in a bad way though. It’s good to revisit the calmer days of yore, when it was easier to feel happy with the smallest of things. Today, we have a lot of comfort, but ironically, people keep searching for the days that were…I guess that sums up human nature!
See you tomorrow…