small wonders

The gurgle of a crystal-clear brook...the aroma of earth moistened by the first rains...finding a restaurant at 4am when you're ravenous followed by the sizzle of your favourite steak (well-done of course) as its being brought to your table...finding a car pulling out of the best parking spot just as you arrive...waking up to your alarm to realise that its your day off...sniffing gasoline..errr...

Before the reader (the 3/4 that frequent this page) gets the impression that this is one of those ridiculous "things i would give my l'il toe for" memes..lemme make clear its only about self-discovery..no..not the kind where you 'discover' your fly's open before everyone else does...but about the l'il pleasures of life. Considering most of the ones above exist mainly in fantasy, one has to find alternatives...those that aren't as reluctant to make themselves available.

Like maybe catching a glimpse of tarmac on a blore road (am sure its possible in a curfew situation...i think)...being asked to rush to board the flight at check-in (ok, so you maybe end up in the flight scheduled for the day before that's been delayed so what?)...hearing the captain announce that "we'll be landing 20 mins ahead of schedule" (even if it probably means "we lost an engine and are going kerplunk! in the arabian")...

The more perceptive of readers might've noticed two things: the preponderance of air-travel in the above list and that the ones listed in para #3 are less likely than in #1. But having spent an average of 6 hours in transit every friday for the last 3 weeks on what's listed as a 1 hour 20 min gig, hearing the captain announce that we had been asked to "slow down (yes, in mid-air) by ATC on account of traffic at the airport" and that we were "7th in the queue to land", its only natural. Personally I'd use the PA system on-board for more fun announcements like "Would any passenger who might've dowloaded the pdf manual for an Airbus A320 contact the steward?" or "We're losing cabin-pressure...no reason to panic...but i would advise all passengers to expend excess gas to restore the same"

For now, I think i'll find a way to derive pleasure out of counting the rubber slats on the conveyor belt as it snakes its way past...