Early bird catches the worm!! Certainly not….

My travails started a couple of months ago when I booked my flight ticket from Mumbai to Delhi for Diwali. I marvelled at my foresight of getting them at the cheapest rates by virtue of having booked them 90 days in advance. As people began realizing that Diwali would be a good time to visit family, the interest in the flights started escalating and so did the prices. I was immensely happy when people started howling in obvious displeasure when they came across the ticket prices and bagan cribbing about the unaffordability of air-travel. But then, as has been a case numerous times in my life, lightning struck. Airlines slashed rates dramatically as the oil prices subsided to more reasonable levels. My foresighted-ness had turned into a curse. I realized that my ticket was 50% more expensive than the fares on offer as per the new rates. It was now my turn to howl and crib. And worse, I couldn’t do so as people would easily recall my sly smiles and artificial efforts at pacification when they were agonizing over the ticket prices. I could become the object of their sly smiles and placation efforts now. So, I had no choice but to cringe, seeth and crib all internally and accept my fate. Cancellation penalties were huge so I had no option left. The old adage that early bird catches the worm certainly had lost its relevance for me….