When Travel plans go Awry

A Small Piece of Advice Before a Long Journey

Most journeys don’t announce themselves as life lessons in advance. They look ordinary at the start - bags packed, airport ahead, a clear idea of when you’ll arrive.

Before leaving India after my wedding way back in 1996, my dearest uncle, Akhilesh Mama ji, offered me one small piece of advice as I packed: always keep a fresh set of clothes in your carry-on. Nothing dramatic. No warning bells. Just something learned from experience. I didn’t argue. I didn’t fully believe it either. But I followed it. That advice ended up mattering far more than I could have imagined.

When I eventually wrote the short story "The Never-Ending Flight" in 2006, that moment stayed with me, not because it was remarkable at the time, but because of how profoundly useful it became once the journey unraveled. It reminded me how often survival in uncertain moments comes down to the smallest, quietest forms of preparation.

Below is a brief excerpt from the novella published on amazon in 2025 after my kids insisted that I should share the story - The Never-Ending Flight

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On an afternoon, during a lunch visit to one of my dearest uncles in Faridabad - a man who had always been there for our extended family in every moment of need - he leaned in with the kind of earnest concern only an elder can have.

“Always carry a fresh pair of clothes in your hand luggage,” he said. “You never know.”

I grinned, half-amused, until he began telling me the story behind his advice - the time he was stranded in a foreign country with nothing but the clothes on his back. His luggage had gone missing for days, and he spent half the trip borrowing toiletries from strangers and washing the same shirt in hotel sinks.

“Trust me,” he added, shaking his head at the memory, “you don’t want to learn that lesson the hard way.”

I nodded politely, not realizing how prophetic his words would soon become. So, when it came time to pack my bags, I tossed an extra shirt and trousers into my carry-on anyway.

I had no idea that single act would later save me from utter misery.

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Sometimes the journeys teach us patience. Sometimes they teach us humility. And sometimes, they teach us to listen when someone quietly says - "Trust me".

The full story is available here:

→ The Never-Ending Flight [https://a.co/d/7GQcVJw]