it was my first time in rajasthan. the december of 2008. we were going to spend christmas and new years in this glorious desert state of india. i was excited.

and a little cold when i landed in jaipur, a little delayed on my flight and drowsy from my long night at work – trying to wrap up everything before i escaped away for 10 days. i must mention that it was a arbit bunch of people. from different cities in india. coming in on different flights. friends of friends types. so i knew one person only. also, we had no plans. just to reach jaipur and then figure it out! first time i was doing something like this, with nothing under control. hmmm…

so, back to the story… i landed. delayed. we had a train to catch. two guys were joining us in jodhpur. the 4 women were touching base in jaipur. and we had to get to the station. i was late. i was rushing. jumped into a taxi / auto and rushed to the jaipur station. even though it is a small city, it’s a nerve biting trek from the airport to the station… so, fingers crossed i reached there… in time…

in all this rush and panic of that morning, i caught sight of an icici bank atm! and i signed in relief. yes, it sounds weird but in those days atms were not prevalent across india, possibly only in the big cities! and i banked with icici bank. on seeing this large red signboard, i felt oddly comforted. it was familiar. in all that unfamiliar surrounding me, it was a sign of home. of bombay, where there were atms all over!

but one person was late. so we missed our train.

i ran back inside, stood in the queue, reached the ticket counter to haggle… for a refund, for some other ticket… then rushed back out to tell that to my ‘new’ friends… only to realise i had left my wallet somewhere, on the counter. by the time i went back, it was gone…

i couldn’t use that or any other ‘comforting’ icici bank atm for my entire trip!