Go further, to get closer

I don’t usually indulge in blogging competitions and especially the sponsored sorts. 

But this one is different. A combination of two passions – one a brand I loved, having worked with them in the past, and the other being the obvious – travel. 

To understand BA’s new India campaign, you’ll have to watch this advert first:

I had read somewhere that you never know a person until you travel with them. Or watch them use a computer/device with slow Internet. And I believe both these statements to be true.

In the everyday rut that that life becomes, nothing is more important than breaking away once in a while. While I know several married friends who do this, they confess that it would be nicer if it happened more often.

Getting on a plane and going to a new place – somewhere that no one knows you, where your map is the only friend you have, you discover new routes to get to your destination every day, find that perfect little food joint where even foreign ingredients agree with your palette, sit on that special bench in the park where leaves on the trees are turning auburn, walk the streets and avenues with thousands of people around you from all over the world, and yet feel like you fit in. We could all do with more of that…

Coming back to how far I would go to get closer to someone I love, it’s an interesting thought.

In the past I’ve sufficiently proven  my lunacy by several acts of spur-of-the-moment decisions to get closer to people I love/loved. Getting on a shared cab with seven other men from Pune to Mumbai in the dead of the night, choosing an airline with an 11-hour stopover when a direct flight was available, going all the way to New York City to speak my heart out. Wasn’t thinking through most of these impulsive actions – and that’s what made them more beautiful.

But what I am yet to do is to, and this tagline from British Airways has just nudged me into thinking is – to turn up on someone’s doorstep without prior notice. Plan a surprise attack on a friend or a family member who is in the ‘important list’ (more on that later) and just land up. Imagine the shock on their faces when the doorbell rings and they open it to find me! While what follows is highly debatable, the whole idea of going the distance to get closer to someone important lights up my eyes.

I love that someone at British Airways has thought of slightly silly, emotional people as a part of their target audience and I urge anyone reading this to watch Sumit and Chetna’s story and take a closer look at what the airline has in store, here. And if it moves you into feeling like participating in the IndiBlogger contest, all you have to do is – write your heart out and then click here.

PS: I’ve had the privilege of flying British Airways twice, and it was one of the best travel and airplane culinary experiences. Look and drool.