Beauty and the Beast

For the past week I have been living at Mumbai Airport. In my spare time I am rushing for meetings across the length and breadth of India, drinking coffee to stay awake, rushing back to airports, visiting a place I used to call home for a quick shuteye and meeting the Nose of India.

If things described above aren’t bad enough to screw with your body clock there is nothing more jarring to the senses than a young bald man in a ghoulish wig. The man at security in front of me was puny, short, nondescript and was sulking. Maybe he’s not a morning person and thankfully there wasn’t a mike, cap or vest in sight.

As if to make up for the disturbing imagery earlier, God presented me a seat in the business section with a seat in the same row as Meow! Well I don’t know what you think of Jaane Tu … and frankly I thought the movie sucked. But this young damsel is attractive and I was just warming up to tell her that we shared something deep (We apparently share the same surname) and that such things are obviously indicative of long term synergies. Alas a matronly woman filled the empty seat that separated us – could have been Mommie, Chaperone or bodyguard – I don’t know.

Ms D’Souza, all of 21 years, curled up and slept well whilst I analyzed financial models … my head turning ever so often to check if a different kind of model a seat away would wake up and observe her surroundings with some interest. I toyed with the Handsome-Prince-with-a-kiss-that-brings-back-maidens-from-comatose-states fantasy a bit when the plane hit the tarmac. In minutes we were separated and I found myself at yet another airport.

Things in life balance out. High pitched nasal tones balance pretty upcoming actresses. The beast balances beauty. Maybe I should become a beast.