After the fight with the friend, the only good thing about that day was that I was to meet Golu. I was to fly to Delhi in the evening and was looking forward to it. But when Murphy decides that it is a bad day then it will remain a bad one!

Flight delayed by enough to ensure that I reached Delhi after 12 and make it a new day :). And btw, I have never heard of any other reason for the flight delays.. "due to the late arrival of incoming aircraft..". Crap.

And I sit in the airport for 2 hours waiting for the boarding announcement as I watch the mad crowd and the madder airport staff grappling with strange problems.

Atlast I boarded. And was welcomed by a couple of disgruntled uncles and an aunty. Indian Airlines...

I looked at my ticket and realized my seat no. was 15B, the middle seat. I didnt mind that. Probability of having an inspiring company beside me doubled!

As I walked towards 15B, I noticed probability was halved immediately. A duffer was already seated in 15A. Quite a clown he was. Wierdly funky t-shirt, big spectacles with magnifying glass, protruding teeth and a smile that could kill. Literally.

But I smiled. I realized that I have atleast another 50% of chance... poor chap must have given up all hopes looking at me ;). I wish I could get to see his blog :).

Anyways, I got into my seat and waited for some miracle to happen. Miracle, coz it had never happened before. In any form of journey... bus, train, flight.. never.

And then this beautiful girl got into the plane. She looked like Bipasha from a distance. I waited, hoping against hope.. She walks past 10, 11, 12.. comes upto my seat and asks me.. "Excuse me, is this 15?". I beamed at her and said, "One five fifteen.. yes".

"Oh good.. 16, 17, 18.. aah thats my seat. Thanks!". And she walked past.

I couldn't stop smiling. At myself. And the day.

It was not over.. I realized.. when this dark, fat, ugly old man came and somehow wriggled into the seat beside me. He was too big for the seat. He should have been charged atleast 1.5 times the others. And I dont know if it was the horn effect, but I thought he stinked too. With that stink, those huge, perenially flaring nostrils, and the big face.. I decided to call him the hippo.

Sandwiched between a clown and a hippo. I resigned to my fate.

The plane took more than half an hour to take off. Waiting for the runway to get cleared. Gosh.

A li'l while after take-off I noticed that this hippo uncle was carrying loads of brochures. Of a lot of NGOs, most of them orphanages. I wouldnt have bothered asking, but he was actually carrying atleast a hundred of them! So, my general curiosity overpowered my hatred for that hippo. And I asked him.. "How come you have so many of those?".

"I work for them"

"All of them?".

He smiled. "Yes. Actually I am a freelancing NGO consultant. I somehow find out about any NGO anywhere in the country in any kind of need and I go there and work for them. Helping them generate funds. And there are so many such organizations needing help. From the mountains in the north-east to the jungles of south.. everywhere. There are so many people doing so much good work in the country. I go upto them and try helping them..".

Suddenly his voice was sounding great. And I asked, "NGO consultancy sounds like interesting work!".

"Well, its hard and dirty work. But the passion keeps me going".

"But so many brochures?".

"I work for atleast 30-40 NGOs at a time".

"Wow.. that is great. And you charge a percent out of the funds generated. That sounds like a good philanthropic business idea!".

"Not really. i dont charge anything".

"Then how do you manage your expenses?".

"I work for 2 years. Thankfully I have a lot of my friends from my IIT and Carnegie days who get me some kind of job for these 2 years. And then spend the money I saved in these 2 years on this work. As soon as I am broke, I go back to work."

I was speechless. Suddenly the dark, fat, ugly old man looked different.

"So what do you do?" he asked me.

After quite a while, "Nothing, really", was all that I could manage.

And after we landed in Delhi, the day just got summed up wonderfully. That clown was received by an absolutely gorgeous female at the airport.. Apparently his fiancee.

And again, I couldn't stop smiling. At myself. And the day.