As I mentioned in my earlier post, this blog post is about the most coincidental coincidence of all coincidences I have ever come across. And for all of it to take place in the same journey really blew my mind.
So, after meeting up with my blog friend Suzz at DLF Promenade, I went back, packed, and left for the airport with my good friend and fellow Co-Founder of FITH Media - Sumeet.
Coincidence #1.
We reached the airport quite early. Now I have come across a few Mizos now and then serving as a flight attendant or even a pilot. After all, more and more Mizos are now working across various sectors outside Mizoram. But I have never met a Mizo working in the front desk of an airport (other than at Mizoram airport of course, duh).
So as Sumeet and I handed our tickets and IDs to the cute Indian Airlines employee at Delhi’s T3 terminal, she looked at my ticket and sweetly asked, “Mumbai lamah maw in kal dawn?” (You guys are heading to Mumbai?). Yeah I was shocked for a moment, but then, I’m a man of composure, right? So I calmly replied, “Aw Mumbai ah. In buai em tunlai hi?” (Yes Mumbai. Is your work hectic these days?). And of course now it was Sumeet’s turn to be shocked, and we both laughed and continued speaking in Mizo while translating it in English to him. It felt great actually as this was something I’ve never done before. “Flight an delay lovang tiraw?” (The flights are not delayed right?), “Mumbai a i rawn zin chuan mi rawn phone la?” (I really like the service Indian Airlines offers) :P
And then we said our “Mangtha’s” and headed for the Security Check-in. Of all the different Airlines we could have flown that day and all the IA counters at T3 terminal, what were the chances of me walking to probably the only front desk manned by a Mizo? Fascinating. Damn I really should have taken a picture of her (that is, if she didn’t mind of course).
Coincidence #2.
So since we had a lot of time in our hands, Sumeet and I headed straight for the bar :D But not to repeat the mistake we made when we flew from Mumbai to Delhi, where we sat at Kingfisher’s “Good Times Bar” inside the airport and Sumeet had a large JD and I had a large Old Monk and the bill came up to Rs. 2200 and Rs. 800 respectively! Man, that really burnt a hole in our wallets.
And so we found this really awesome place called the “Grid Bar” on the first floor, where alcohol was not only cheaper but they had a 1+1 offer too! Yeah screw you Kingfisher :P Plus it had a really nice ambience too.
By the time we boarded, Sumeet and I were both quite tipsy :) And I guess the worst thing about flying under the influence is when we have to go to the loo.
And so the moment the seat-belt sign was switched off after taking off, I dashed to the loo immediately. They were all occupied by the time I got there, so I waited.
Suddenly the flight attendant called out from behind, “Excuse me?”
Thinking I was blocking the food tray, I immediately stuck myself flat to the wall of the loo.
Again she called out, “Excuse me?”
And so I turned around. The flight attendant asked me, “Are you Kima?”
I was like…. huh? I couldn’t speak for a fraction of a second and I just nodded my head.
She smiled and said, “Hi I’m Emanuelle…”
Immediately my neurons and deuterons activated and accelerated wildly inside my brain racking ever nerve cells with electrifying power trying to recollect who she was -> Emmanuelle, yes that name sounds familiar. Is it somebody I know personally? Cross-referring that name with all the people I personally know. Cross-referring. Cross-referring. Cross-referring. Nopes, definitely not somebody I know personally. Wait a minute, her face is familiar too. Where have I seen her before. Oh YES, Facebook. So she is my Facebook friend. Now I remember her friend request notification, I think it was around March. Yes March, that was when I wrote that article about the Mumbai Police tea incident. So she is a Mumbaikar. Yes, definitely a Mumbaikar, now I remember seeing her in faded blue jeans and white top once, and a few other pics at various locations in Mumbai. She likes to post photo of food too… Songate. Yes that is it, Songate. Her name is Emanuelle Songate!
All those activities took place in my head in a matter of micro seconds and I replied immediately, “Ahhhh… Emanuelle Songate right?” :D :P
She grinned and shook my hand, “Wow really glad you know who I am. I love that article of yours about the Mumbai Police.”
“Thank you thank you “, I said with a blush, “And it’s really good to finally meet you in person.”
And so for the rest of the flight, we sat in the empty seats in the last row and we had a really really good conversation, talking about Mizo welfare, Hmar welfare, Mizoram, food, parties etc etc. We took a couple of pics too before I went back to my seat just before we landed.
Sumeet told me that was the longest dump anybody ever took inside a plane, lolz. See, what’s the probability of me meeting a Facebook friend in the same flight? Almost zero right? Really glad I made a new friend (though technically we were already “Facebook friends”). Good flight indeed.
Now you wait for the final coincidence. It’s freaky actually!
Coincidence #3.
So Sumeet and I made our way into the plane. We had two adjacent seats, he got the window seat and I got the middle seat. Guess who was assigned the aisle seat in our row?
Geetansh Bamania!
He’s a very good friend of ours, he works for this company called “Hope Monkey”. Their office and our office are in the same building, on the same floor. So we used to meet regularly on our cigarettes break and even partied together many times. He had even slept over at our apartment a couple of times when he was too drunk to go home.
Dayyyyymmmmm what were the chances of that ever happening!!!!???? The moment we all saw each other, we were all like “What the F*ckkkkk???? You’re sitting here???” loudly, forgetting about etiquette and decency for a brief moment.
Man, that was really crazy. We had no idea he was in Delhi, neither did he. We booked our tickets separately, and our seats were allocated by different people. And to end up in the same freaking row, was something really unbelievable. I mean, yeah, we could have ended up in the same flight which was a huge coincidence enough, but the same freaking row? Mannnn, that was too much.
So we landed in Mumbai around 11 PM, and we all made our separate ways from the airport. That was the most coincidental flight I have ever taken in my life.
I reached home around 11:30 PM, and something even crazier took place there. Watch my next upcoming blog post for that :) Until then, cheers y’all.
