Redemption of Desire

I now know the face of joy.

Returning to our hotel after a morning in the historic areas of Fort Kochi and Matencherry, there was no joy. My beloved Deuter pack was still in the ether of British Airways.

With the help of our patient host, I finally reached BA. Yes, my bag was on its way to Cochin Airport. No, it would not be delivered to the hotel. Two hours round trip by taxi Ah, but resolution was at hand.

As arranged, our taxi was out front and the games began. Defying all laws of common sense and some of physics, we arrived at the airport. There, we met another victim of BA. BA doesn't fly to Cochin. Jet Airways does. They had the other folks bag. They did not have mine.

No joy.

Phone calls, waiting, no, there was no bag. And no joy. Waiting, the plane Is empty. No other bags.

And then, unbidden, joy appeared in the hands of a young Indian baggage handler. He had remembered it coming in on an earlier flight.

And now the Jet Airways folks remember the foreigner crazed with joy and not the specter of the foreigner of despair.

I surely did enjoy that first cigar fished from my precious pack. Desire, fulfillment, whatever.