I have always been taught, if you are getting a good bargain, be cautious. There is nothing like free lunches. An advertisement by a leading telecom operator goes like, “It feels good when you get something extra”. I couldn’t agree more. But it is this good feeling that shrouds our judgment and tricks us.
More often than not you will find the devil disguised as an angel to lure you. If something seems too good, take extra precautions. There is a good chance that it will bite you.
This weekend I was in Kolkata for some urgent matter. I was to take an early morning flight back. As it happened, I twisted my ankle and was in no shape to reach the airport without help. A friend of mine, who was leaving the night before, dropped me at the airport in night itself. So I was there at airport at 12 am for a 6 am flight.
Slowly the exhaustion started to get better of me and I felt like lying down. There are no recliners like T3 at Kolkata airport, just a stack of chairs with separating handles. There is no way you can combine chairs to make a bed (have been my habit since college days, whenever I worked late in lab/office).
Something magical happened next or so I thought! Even with my twisted ankle and drowsy mind, I was able to notice an abnormality amidst one stack of chairs. One of the separating handle was not there. It combined two chairs. I galloped over there and was thrilled. I lied down. Peace. I remember before falling asleep, few people coming over to figure out how I managed to lie down and also remember their begrudged faces when they realized it’s by sheer luck. And so I slept.
Sleep I tell you is the sweetest thing, at the same time it can be the damnest. I slept and slept and slept. By some quirk of fate, I woke up and checked the time. Was it 5:35 already? Or was it a dream? No it was real. I was about to miss my flight. With my broken leg, I ran to collect my boarding pass. I was the last one. They took pity on me coz of my leg. I breezed through the security check and ran towards the boarding gate. Last and final call was going on for last 10 mins. Excited, I failed to locate the boarding gate. Trouble! I was on the wrong floor. I took the escalator down and skidded to the gate. It seemed so far away! Someone from the airlines staff realized my sorry state and came over to assist me. I was the last one to board.
Had it been 15-20 mins more of sleep, I would have missed my flight. Given my budget constraints of late, it wouldn’t have been a good thing.
Anyways the devil disguised as the lone missing handle lured me in and had almost had me. Next time when you feel special, beware! Someone might just have dialed 666.
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