"Tower - Ghost Rider requesting a fly by!"

Maverick and Iceman eat your hearts out!

Well maybe not!
The Bangalore Airshow is in town and yes, I am a Top Gun fan!
India is very proud, and rightly so, of this huge event where planes from over 30 countries strut their stuff - loops, spins, tailslides, dives, wingovers and hammerheads to name but a few, in solo or formation, leaving their signatures in the sky. The main business, behind the scenes, is trying to win the billions of crore the Indian Govt will spend on air defense in the next decade.
However getting tickets for this event proved a little tricky. The newspapers and internet detailed shopping Malls and banks where the tickets could be bought provided one had the correct ID. So, last weekend, we went to Garuda Mall. There was a table set out with some beautiful billboards showing photos of the wonders we would see on the day........but no-one selling tickets. Following day (Sunday - so no driver), Adam and I took a rick, a dusty bumpy bounce, to another Mall and guess what - same story!!
We left it a couple of days and then Karthik and I tried again. We went back to the first Mall to said table, where there were some people standing in line but there was a huge clue, the posters had gone. So Karthik walked the couple of feet to security and was told that now the airshow is open they are no-longer selling tickets. I ask Karthik, "Uhhh,  why don't the security guys tell the people in line?". Karthik looks at me in all seriousness, "Ma'am, they need to ask if they want to know." I couldn't think where to go next with this conversation!
We then tried a bank, which had moved location, but we eventually tracked down and got the same story.
We tried online but luckily gave that up as a bad job, uploading jpeg pics was only the start, it got more complicated.

We could have quit, but decided to go Indian and just turn up on the day, take it calmly and if we get in great, if not, no worries. However, also in true indian style, it's who you know..., we came by (thanks Shubha) some free passes. On arriving at the entrance, the line for cash payers was non-existant but the line for the poor organized souls who had waded through all the online questions etc, was 1/2 mile long as they had to clarify the information they had provided was indeed correct. And the moral of the story is.........

There was only one thing left to do this evening....watch Top Gun for the nth time!
"I feel the need"........."the need for speed"