During my stay in Belgium, I used to go along with my friend Xavier for shopping. He prefers large shopping malls like ‘Cora’ instead of smaller ones like ‘Coluryt’ (I don’t know if the spelling is correct; I’m typing this on a mobile). His reasoning is that shops like Cora is a one-stop shops thus saving him both time and gas bills. Moreover there will always be some discount sale going on, thus overall he gains.

But he felt that whatever he thus saved meticulously was lost by some stupid mistake he later committed.

So our discussions would go as, is there truly any benefit of being frugal?

Such discussions long forgotten, come back to active memory triggered by similar incidents.

I planned to visit Piyo & Rani in Bangalore this weekend. Normally I would take a Kingfisher flight, primarily because I’ve a Kingfisher club membership and I’m satisfied with their services so far. But this time I wanted to be frugal. So I compared prices of other flights and booked an Indigo flight since the price difference was about Rs. 5000 for a round trip. It was too much of a temptation to let it go. I thought, I’ll give it a try this time.

The booking was easy – as expected it was online & I had my tickets within few minutes. No big deal; its no different from Kingfisher. But I was proud of saving Rs. 5000. I’ve saved one month worth of expenses. Isn’t it financially prudent?

My flight was scheduled at 20h30. At about 14h30, I get an sms that flight is rescheduled to 22h30. Hmm…first sign of trouble. Nay, it could happen to any airlines; atleast they informed it much earlier. I appreciated their usage of technology. I arrived at the airport at 20h00 and the front desk agent conveyed that the flight is scheduled to 23h00. I came well prepared; I had brought a good book to read. I checked in, sat in a coffee shop, ordered a muffin & a capacino and started reading the book. I finshed a chapter and another and yet another, but still the long waited announcement of flight departure. In fact even the last flight of the day has left but still no sign of our dear Indigo flight.

If I wouldn’t have been so financially prudent I would be either at home with my son & wife or resting in a lounge after good snacks. I wouldn’t have been typing this in a mobile.