The new born flight

If you have studied Risk Management, you would be aware of the fact that you can't predict all risks. As much of an effort you put into it, there will be some risks that will remain uncovered. So always expect shockers in your life and just be prepared to handle them.

No I am not planning to start a lecture on Risk Management (though I do suggest you go for one, just to get that special feeling when you tell others that I went for "Risk Management" class and they would look at you with awe)

So let me pull you into the very famous flashback sequence. It is the 14th of Jan 2009. I am in the office with my colleague Rajiv and my team leader Pieter making a very important decision. Where do we have lunch from? In an industrial area where we were based in during those days, it was an important decision.

My mobile rings and it was my mother-in-law on the other side. Not unusual as Manju, my wife, was very close to her delivery date and my mother-in-law was certainly making sure her daughter was at peace while preparing for the arrival of our first born.
So I pick up the mobile and from a smile, the expressions on my face turn to concern. Rajiv,who was until now arguing over the restaurant we should choose, realised that not everything was alright. "Any problem?"he asked me as I hung up the phone. "Yeah, Manju has to go through the cesarean operation as her pressure levels seem to be abnormal. And it has to be tomorrow", I responded.

Time was 11am. In exactly 22 hrs, that is at 9am the next day, the C-section was planned. I had to cover a distance of almost 3000kms across the sea to be sure I was at her bedside before she goes through the procedure. (No I didnt have to swim, daily flights were available.) I thanked Oliver & Wilbur Wright for their invention called the plane and started my hectic project management.
Destination Cochin.
I used to work in Abu Dhabi, Lived in Sharjah and had to travel to Cochin tonight. For those who do not know the geographical importance of these places, Don't bother. But what you really need to know is the logistical challenge from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah to Cochin. (I could reach Sharjah to Cochin faster in comparison to Abu Dhabi to Sharjah...let us leave it at that)
In the next 15 mins I booked my tickets from Sharjah to Cochin International airport. I decided to choose Air India Express as that was the cheapest air ticket available. (Yes I am a pretty famous shameless cheapo) In the next 30 mins we were at a small restaurant for quick bite from where I would leave to Sharjah and prepare for my short  holidays. I had done an absolute zero in shopping as I wasn't expecting this to happen in a hurry.
I informed my friend and his wife, in Sharjah, to be ready for some quick baby shopping an drop me off at the airport by 7.
The plan was perfect. I leave Abu Dhabi by around 1:30pm, Reach Sharjah by 4pm. Pack my bags (1 jeans and 3 T-Shirts is all I need). Go for some shopping and get dropped at the airport by 7pm to hop on to the Air Indian Express that leaves at 9pm. The arrival time in Cochin was 2:30 am. I had to take a taxi to the hospital that was roughly 1 and half hours. So if I get out of the airport by 3:30am, I should be at the hospital at 5am. The planned time of operation was anytime before 11am (Yes we always make sure to do things at the "right & auspicious" time, so that we don't screw things up)
See that is called Project management. It gave me a clean 4 hours to be at the bedside of my wife and to even push the stretcher into the operation theater.
Everything went as per plan until my packing of my bags.
As my friend Ibrahim and his wife picked me up for the shopping, I got my first shocker, Shocker number 1. My wallet was missing. A Man's wallet is precious, even though it doesn't carry as many things that a women's handbag carries. (Let me reserve the "ladies' handbag" for a different blog...if you don't mind)
So I realise that my wallet is missing, which means I stand to lose my debit card, credit cards my license my employment card...... Money is never an issue as i rarely carry money in the wallet except for some change.
Where could I have lost it? I sat down in the passenger seat and started making frantic calls to my colleagues in the office. I made sure that every bot of the office was searched. Rajiv looked around every where in the office. I made sure Pieter, my team leader, checked his car as we had taken that to the restaurant. No it wasnt there too.
The restaurant. That is where it could be. I called them up and asked them to search on the table and surroundings. NO was the answer. As I reached the Baby Shop, I had lost all my options.
The restaurant or the office was the only place I could lose it.
While Bushra, Ibrahim's wife, did some quick shopping of towels and baby clothing I connected with a friend of mine who stays close to the restaurant. He said he will visit the place in person but only by around 7pm.
Well Ibrahim pulled out some money for my journey. Luckily the bank cards for India were still with me, so I didn't really have to worry about money once I reach India. So after some quick shopping of towels and baby clothes (all of them in white shade as we didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl) and packing them into an empty bag i carried, I went to the airport.
Even though we did not know whether it was a boy or girl, we had come to an agreement about the names already. If it was a boy, he would be called Adidev and if it was a girl she would be called Nandana.
There I had my shocker number 2. I needed to present the credit card I used to book the tickets. This rule was applicable only for Indian flights. (I should have chosen the Air Arabia instead) I tried to explain it to the agent but she was not ready for any kind of melt down. I was sent to the manager. He was a lot more practical and calmer than the agent at the desk. I explained my situation to him. He somehow matched my passport with the name on the credit card. Luckily I had a photograph of my credit card which finally made him pick up that heavy pen and sign off my entry to the airport.
So from a 7pm entry to the airport, it was already 7:45. I rushed through the immigration and scanning to reach the gate to find a display board showing Jaipur instead of Cochin.
Shocker number 3. The flight is delayed by 90mins, so now the flight that had to take off at 9, will only take off at 10:30pm. (I wished again I had booked Air Arabia instead). Couldn't do anything about it. The Project manager in me who had 4hrs of buffer time (or slack in PM language) was still alright as the buffer time had been reduced but not completely eaten up.
Meanwhile my friend was desperately trying to reach me as I was rushing through the immigration.
I called him back. What a relief. He found my wallet stuck in a tight spot. He literally sat on the same chair I had told him I was and he looked at all the options and realized that it was lying in a dark spot between the chair (actually a small sofa) and the wall. Since the spot was dark and my wallet was black, no one spotted it. I thanked him and God. Whew!!! that was a relief between all the chaos I was into.
Shocker number 4: The flight will only take off at 11:20. OK, Now the PM was getting restless. Because they have not only eaten up into another hour of my buffer, the arrival time is getting pushed to a time when I might hit traffic on the busy Cochin roads that could add on to the travel time. Whenever I get tensed, I eat. So since arriving at the airport I had already done a Masala Dosa and vada pav. Hearing this I went for one more. Finally the flight took off only by 2 30am. Air India Express lost one cheapo customer on that day. I have never ever ventured on the flight again. I prefer swimming the Arabian sea than take that flight.
There was an assigned taxi driver who was supposed to pick me up at the airport. I informed him about the delay. He seemed to be more tensed as I told him he needed to make sure I reach there before 9am.
From then on every min seemed like an hour. The flight landed at Cochin airport at 6 45am, I got out of the immigration hassles and took my passenger seat in a different car in a different country by 7:35. His task was to make sure I would reach the hospital by 9am. (So I gave him the same task with lesser resources in terms of time. Sounds so real life like)
Manju would call me every 15 mins to check where I had reached. I knew it was annoying our driver a bit, but he was a lot more level headed to handle it. The drive was amazing because he was turning out to be that unexpected resource who could cut down on the anticipated time. You know that is an unbelievable resource in a project that could cross the line into a time delay. The last 15 mins of the drive was through hectic roads that had school buses all over the place. He made sure I reached the hospital 9am. He said, you can race ahead, I will bring your luggage and get paid later. See even a stronger resource who had a rare trait called Empathy in him.
I rushed into the hospital as Manju was being pushed into the operation theatre. Inspite of all the shockers I managed to be there with her for the last 45 secs of her journey into the operation theatre. It was not just a casual journey from her room to the operation theater, it was the last 45 secs journey of a couple into parenthood.
At 11:05 ....... Shocker No 5....No, there weren't any more of that.
At 11:05........The head nurse came out and announced the arrival of a baby boy.

In 2009, there was no whatsapp, so I had to depend on an almost defunct technology called SMS.
I sent out 100s of messages letting my friends and family know about the new addition.
The message read "Adidev has arrived 😊".

PS: Even though sending international SMS was very expensive, I sent it out to my friends in Dubai. Yes, I am still a shameless cheapo....so I still remember that I had to do it😜.