This is a continuation of First Flight. Please start from First Flight I.
I do not know whether it is morning or midday or evening. I have seen the young sun on the sky some time back so its not morning. But I am tired as hell! I normally do not sleep in travel and that has been a bit taxing. But "freshen up, its a new flight and it could be interesting" (?!? - its my random thought). I was the penultimate passenger to board the flight (remember I jumped the queue to beat the last guy). The flight was loaded and there were a lot of foreigners (?!?) in the flight.
"OOh!! good looking girls, very few kids, so should be a fun flight" until...
I asked for an aisle seat but I got a middle seat. It was a 3+3+3 seating and I got the 5th seat. I was in the middle of the row. And to my luck, I had a guy looking like old Gerard Butler (300 hero) on my left and an ABCD like Jimi Mistry (the Guru hero) on my right.
"What should I do now? Ok! Movie time!!"
And the only movie that was good to watch was "No Country for Old men". With very low stereo output, it was very hard to hear the movie. The movie was slow which compounded the problem of hearing. I fell asleep. But I did not miss my lunch :). As I was travelling from east to west, it was midday for a long time. I was awaken by a sharp ear pain. Mr Gerard Butler was mumbling something in Dutch and the Guru was having red wine. I did not booze coz if I throw up, people should not say that I puked because of the booze :).
The flight altitude was altering very quickly. The captain announced that we would hit a turbulence sometime soon and boy did the flight not shake like some MGM ride for a minute. Nothing serious but I lost my sleep. Since the plane was leaping and jumping, the pain continued. Thankfully, I had some chewing gum in my bag which came to my rescue. But still my ear was paining like hell. Then came the moment of my life. The announcement from the captain said that there was near whiteouts in Detroit the previous day and when I looked through the window, the city was in Black and white. Black roads and everything else was white. "What the hell??" Just a few hours back, I saw the greens and the colors of nature and now I am seeing how cruel it can turn.
The flight hit the ground and I had some sense of happiness as if I have reached home after an expedition. And awaits my next hurdle... the next immigration interview.
This is a continuation of First Flight. Start with First Flight I.
It was a quite early morning. The sun is just out. I was asked to close my window blind earlier by my neighbor. I still do not understand why people want darkness if they are going to close their eyes. But I obliged. The captain's wake up call to all passengers was prompt. I now opened my window.
Wow!! what a sunrise! How green! How beautiful! A stream or a canal of water, a clean road, not so tall buildings, lush greens - pristine beauty of nature. Amsterdam at its very best. The touch down was a success. This was my first touch down. But no nerves this time.
My itenerary was clear. And the captain announced the connecting flights and gates. I also had a copy of the airport map. So I knew where I was going.
The airport was very big. Especially when compared to Chennai or Hyderabad (or Madurai!?!). But there were sign boards all around. So no problem until....
I stumbled across a display of a Renault F1 car. I was staring at for atleast 5 minutes. And there was a photographer near it. I was not sure whether to ask this guy as he was speaking only in Greek or Latin or some Nerdy language. But I summoned myself up and asked him the details for a photo. He said 10 bucks. This is when my currency convertor program booted to life. But whats the formula?? 50 or 70? It was fifty. Remember I had dollars as a lot of twenties. But the mind saw that as 500 rupees. Darn!! Too much for a photo.. Ten photos and I could buy a camera! But my heart said 'Please' but my mind said 'Hell No'.
Then the question of my life confronted me. The immigration interview is a notorious one. Its heart-breaking to fail an interview in a change over and go back home. "Why am I praying God now? I dunno! May be I am afraid... Darn! Lets face it!" First of all, I jumped the queue and guess what I did not understand what I did was almost criminal. In front of people with glaring eyes, I took the questions in a cool way and it was a template QA session until...
The immigration officer asked me for the address and I answered. "I am going to live in my friends' and its in Middleton".
"Okay, if you are going to live in Middleton, why have you booked your ticket to Madison?"
What the hell???
"May be there is no airport in Middleton"
"Oh! Makes sense!"
What the hell?? Was that a serious question? God save me and take me to my seat!
I was all excited to see new people aboard (in fact I was looking for some hot girls) until...
The other night I was hearing John Denver's Leaving on Jet Plane*, I was wondering how beautiful the lyrics were depicting how dearly the hero loved his lady, how uncertain he was about coming back and how cruel have the surroundings became. This was when I started wondering how it would be if he were ever to fly on a plane.
It did take long for my dream to come true, two reasons - first, I heard the song when I first saw the movie in 1998. I wasn't even in my tenth grade then. Second, I was lazy enough to submit the Paperwork required for VISA processing only after initial escalations of delay from his HR.
Coming back to the main theme, when I got this opportunity, I could not believe his ears and I din't even ask how long the tenure is, what will be the role, etc. With excitement all around, I simply called my mom and dad and they had the oxymoronic feeling with the joy and sadness of their son leaving. But in this pragmatic world, sentiments will be hidden inside(not, in fact, never, discarded).
Its been 18 years since I travelled in an aeroplane (I had no idea that I was in an aeroplane from Chennai to Madurai in 1987) and I was almost shivering in the airport. I was not nervous but I could not bear the cold. The normal Chennai temperature seemed to have come down drastically. Also, I made sure my belly button is not exposed by wearing a conventional leather belt, a belt fastener that come with his new back pack and most importanly by wearing a T-shirt that does not have a belly button. (pardon me for my mokkai)
I bid farewell to my mom and dad and I was expecting at least one of them to shed a tear. Nope that didn't happen. Strike one.
There was no escalator, no jumbo jet, nothing when I saw the flight. It was a mini flight for domestic travel. Even to get to my home's door, there are five steps. Two steps and in you are. There were only 40 seats. My God, even SETC buses have more seats. Strike two.
In the flight, they gave me a welcome drink, something like a mango frooty. This time I was nervous. For me this is the first flight. It was kinda cool (pretty cool inside). I drank in one quick suck. Then I called the attendant and asked her where to dispense (???) it. She gave a puzzled look and took the paper cup away. Then I realized.. Shit... I asked her to dispense instead of dispose. When you are nervous, shut up!! Strike three.
Then after the first take-off, I was happy and relaxed. Then came the dinner time. There was Aloo tikka and some rice. But I saw a kid on the diagonal having roti. "Why did I not get it? Should I ask?" I was very hesitant. This time I made sure I just keep mum and eat what was there. I finished the rice and almost completed the Aloo tikka when the guy near opened a sachet under the dinner box cover. Bingo! Roti! Two of them!! I also uncovered my rotis just that this time the tikka was not sufficient. Just eat!! Strike four.
I was bad at small talks. I started a casual dialogue with my neighbour. He was also cool. I suddenly asked his package. He told a number that I was to get in US. Why is this day like this?? Strike five.
I reached Hyderabad and took my flight to Amsterdam.
To be continued...
*(For those who do not follow English music in the R&B times, John Denver is one of the sweetest singers, with his guitar sweeter than his tone! country music at its best! And if you have seen the movie Armageddon, the scene when the hero leaves to fight for the planet, there will be a small song sung by Ben Affleck and his flying mates. Don't miss to hear it!!)
