From: Tina
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: Aasman se uttare khajuuur pe atke....
(Rough recollections of my trip back from US to India.... Njoiiii broken Hindi /English Combo and yes Read at Leisure ) Aasman se uttare khajuuur pe atke....
thats what sums up my return trip back to India....
It is not that all these experiences can be termed as adventures but yea it does bring out the adventurous streak in me :)
Well it did not start with my getting to knw I am going back.... Well that will make the story more long .....
Let me start with the part when I came to knw abt booking my tkts....
As you know the policies which at that time pretty much i did not know ....
I thought if you send one mail summing up all your details then i guessed pretty much you can get the tkts....
But that was not the case instead I got templates of a couple of more documents saying that please fill up these then you will get the tkts....
So after all woh sab toh process hiii hai
Filled up a pile of documentation and send some mails then fielded some mails ...And after an all round performance at the mailing front finally travel desk came close to giving tkts....
I had asked for tkts from Newark to Mumbai....Instead after a couple of mails came to know that traveldesk is booking tickets for Newark to Delhi.....
After really being on the mail trail for the whole of morning when finally they came up with this option , 'had no option but to laugh' .....And patiently garner enough will to write a mail back saying 'Bhaiyon mujhe tickets mumbai tak kii chahiye Delhi tak kii nahi '
Sure enuf they rectified the mistake and gave me tkts from
New York to London to Mumbai....for the day after tmrw morning
Fair enuf ...only problem is that in London just hav one hour to transfer from American Airline s to Jet Airlines.....
And in I will have to catch the flight from New york , JFK which is kinda around 1.15 hrs frm where i stay and to top it all the flight timing is early morning 8.30a.m.
So counting that three hours earlier i have to be in the airport to catch international flight
and the time to reach the airport i would have to leave by 4.15 a.m.
Wow and then there were not many other options so had to go with this....as fortunately there was a flight from Mumbai to Pune .....though in mumbai i would have to wait for 6 hours.....
So monday all i was doing was fielding certain other sets of official mails running to my room and dumping my clothes and books (kaafi saare ikata ho gayein theey)
After all this and a quick lunch where some of my collegues had come down for a quick bye bye ....
then began the process of getting my bags to weigh 50 pounds...kuuch bhi karo jitna bhi books nikalo phir bhi it is showing more weight....
kapde nikal diye aur bas essentail stuff rakha phior bhi itna heavy .....
chocolates bhi nahi liye iss baar phir bhi itna weight.....
phir realise hua mera bag ka weight hii around 10 pounds hai ....
no time to change the bag.... after trying entire evening socha forget it ....clothes will buy new in india baaki ka reheno do and if over weight will pay that ,much ...tired of utak patak.....
My roomie was wrking late that day and was at a far office ...Toh by the time she came and one of my other friends came down it was close to 8.30 p.m
Phir socha jaake dinner karenge last waala kahi bahar...last time sakes....
As my roomie had to get a rental car for the next day ...she had to go to the Other state for project work....We went to get rental car.. All the places rental car agency was closed toh isliye we went till the airport.....
After going to a couple of rentals we got one at the airport....
Wapas aate waqt got stuck in traffic and then finally jab restaurant tak pahuche tab tak it was 11 and closing time....
Phir socha kahi toh khayenge....as all of us were really behosh with hunger.....
Then suddenly it started raining ...sudden thundershower kii hii kamiii thee
Bhaag bhaag ke phir wohi pe TGI mein chalein gayein and fast fwd mein order kiya but by the time we finished it was close to 12....
Wapas ghar pahuche and by the time I was close to going to bed it was 12.30 a.m.
Still worried abt the overweight bag ..went off to try to sleep for 3 hours as had to get up by 3.30....Roomie also had to go early . Both of us were not at all sure whether we will get up...
As I was worried kii i will miss the flight mere ko need hii nahi aa rahee theee...
Ghar pe bhi bolke rakha kii please mujhe utta dena aur mobile ko loud mei set karke sone kii koshish kii ....1.30 neend hhiiiii nahi aa rahee ...arrey yaaar ab toh so jao otherwise how will you catch flight.....
phir bhi no use....then finally around 2.15 aankh just lag rahee theee....tab ghar se call aaya at 2.30 uttane ke liye ....
arrey yaar 3.30 ko uttana tha ......
somehow i sent a msg and tried to get some of the remaining sleep.....
hazy hazy sleep mein finally 3.30 ko alarm ring hua....
neend kii toh watt lagee thee ...Got up ...woke my rommie ......checked for etkt....and finally took a couple of printouts and got ready.....
Final mein bhi weight check kiya toh overweight....
Fit of irritation mein khola ...jo samne dikha nikal diya and closed the bag....
Reached Airport....checkin kii toh bhayanak line chal rahee theee as they were giving first priority to a flight which was going in an hr....
after almost dozing dozing in the line finally checked in the luggage....hurrah overweight utna nahi tha....cool
somehow finished the security check inspite of the bag reached the final stage by 7.00 a.m.
Then begins the long wait for catching the flight....ek coffeee piii rahee huun uske baad doosre and almost trying not to fall asleep....uss beech mein jitne bhi log jagein theey sab ko call maara to say final good bye.....final US good bye :)
Finally got into the flight and got the middle seat with hatte katte ppl next to me all sleeping .....
and me for some reason no sleep at all.....
Took of and don't remember seeing final stages of US.....Just remember waiting for some one to get something to eat is as I was dying of hunger.....
Finally khane peene ke baad squeezed to sleep toh need hii nahi aa rahee hai
It was a 6 hours flight and managed to get an hr worth of broken sleep...
There was an American lady beside me and she was also on her way to Scotland....
We were discussing abt the next stage of our trip ..She abt her missing the flight and re-booking ,hence she would have to stay at the airport till next morning ...Me telling her I have a flight in an hour after we land in London .......she was like Pray that you get the flight....
Thats when it sank in kii agar flight nahi mila toh ....
We landed at Heathrow 20 mins late at 8.50 p.m local time and my flight was at 9.30....p.m.
Finally just ran out of the flight when everyone started disembarking .....
Actually had planned to explore Heathrow before going on to catch the flight.....
I barely saw Heathrow....Just ran with my backpack on me ....
International connections dikh gaya .....i was like wow this will be quick....
Door se Jet ke bhi flight nazar aa rahee thee.......Ran with the backpack....which of course seemed to weigh like a ton....
It was close to 9.00 p.m.....Ran around a flight of stairs ...managed to keep up in the line ....
Ran Ran par rasta khatam hii nahi ho raha hai ....
Reached ground floor and then again ascended up the flight of steps...
All I can see is International connections....Finally from far of I saw Air India..Jet Airways and Some more....
Cool ab toh pahuch jaayega....
Finally cleared the security check ....Door se hiii ready ok ....relay race kiii tarah bhaag rahee thee....Removed shoes dumped belt..removed cell phone and put the bag aside....
Poora check ke baad ....bhagtein bhagtein dumped all the cell phone , belt into the bag and just squeezed into the shoe and ran towards the Jet counter...
I guess there was a Indian /Paki lady there ... I asked her...'Please can you tell me the boarding gate for Jet flight to Mumbai."
Then she replied in the amazing Brit accent.... " Can I see ur boarding pass"
Showed it to her and then she was like ..."I think it is too late for Checkin"...
I was like ...."Checkin...who asked for checkin....It is through checked in "
Still she was saying the same thing ..."It is too late for checkin ..."
Me : " I have to catch a connecting flight after this ...If I miss this then wht"
She : Checking with someone on walkie talkie who was not responding to her at all "Ground _ to Flight Boarding "
No response...
Me:" I have to catch this flight and I am not responsible for My American Airlines flight being late..."
She : "Ground _ to Flight Boarding ".
Still no response ...after wasting 3-4 crucial minutes...finally someone replied.....
She : " I have got a passenger who is trying to checkin for the flight..her Name is _"
From there : "She is through checked in..She can come directly"
She :" Ok thanks" and to me " You can go ahead"
Me : " Same question I am asking which gate number ?"
She : "Ohh Gate number is 42..But you gotta hurry.....it is just 15 mins for the flight to take off.."
Me : "Thanks" ...(Of course no thanks for wasting my 10 mins)
Ran from there towards gate 42....
Just glanced through a bustling HEathrow with lots of restaurants and shops...And me could not explore a single one :(
In airports just like our Central escalators there are horizontal escalators....
Just so that it enables you to cover more ground in the airport....
Unfortunately for me those things were also not working ....
Wishing that I had the backpack with wheels ...Ran....
1-10 here... 10-20 there...
But no sign of 42.....
All the escalators were not working .....
In US there were a new type of shoes for kids which was intorduced I guess last year ..
It was a high point of all the kids dream...
Sport shoes with one wheel at the end....in such a way that you can walk normally and if you tilt you leg at the heal then you can slide too.....
So in a way you can skate away :)
Wish I had a shoe like that :D
Finally after running and dragging my backpack along with me ....i reached the other end of the airport ..
ab toh 42 dikha .....par woh board hii tha....couple of flights climbed karke finally saw 42 and saw that I had 4-5 mins to spare....
Finally saw the flight and I was ready to drop...
Met a couple of flight karamchari who fast fast mein ushered me to the flight....
Just found my seat and dropped into it with my backpack....
And was in a situation kii mujhe paani do....
Got water and adjusted to sitting on my seat ...Finally was getting my equilibrium back .....
But the flight left after good 15-20 mins later .......
That was a close call......
Itna adrenaline pumping ho gaya kii neend toh sab bhaag gayee...
Finally after take off ....
Saw back to back couple of movies and also one of my fav serials re run...thinking kii ab india jaake yeh dekhne ko nahi milega..... :P
Barely made up with another hour and a half of sleep in between the movies food and announcements....
Finally landed in Mumbai....after the landing immigration went to claim the baggage ....
After waiting for almost hf an hour and searching all the bags which were coming ....finally a lot of the JET folks came to knw that our baggage had not arrived with us....
The whole multitude who caught this flight as a connection with British and Lufthansa and of course me with American did not have their luggage....
Finally after standing in a long line with other passengers got a form filled it with the description of what all could be there in the bag.
After another half an hour came close to submitting the form .....
I was worried that I would not be making the Pune connection waala flight....
as it was close to 14.45...
Some how submitted the form and finished security check and got out to go to the domestic terminal.. By then the mumbai heat was catching up....Finally after standing in an amazing big line to go to domestic terminal, got a seat in the airport bus to go to domestic terminal with the lady issuing a new boarding pass for me...
Reached the Domestic terminal with an hour to go to 16.30
In that hour met up with a UK groom going to Bangalore whose entire wedding trousseau was in the missing baggage
It is when your waiting or getting bored that you do feel amazingly sleepy....
That was what was happening to me too....
After having a extraordinarily priced coffee, finally it became 16.30 and still no boarding call....
Ohh did I doze off during the boarding call .....
Went and checked with the Flight attendent and she was like the call will be made for the flight at 16.30... I showed her my watch and said it is 16.30 p.m.
She is like no ma'm it is 14:00 .... It took me a while to click that still my watch was at the US time zone....
Feeling really sheepish , thanked her and was wondering how to complete the next 2 and 1/2 hrs without sleeping .....
Another amazingly pricey coffee and after that another amazing pricey sandwich and walking around the domestic waiting area and reading a couple of news papers somehow provided relief...
Offcourse a couple of times did almost doze off... but the scare of missing the flight woke me up....
Finally mushkil se woh 2 and 1/2hrs katein and there was a boarding call for Pune flight....
Somehow got my window seat in a practically empty flight....
Started dozing almost immediately....
Remember seeing cloud laden mumbai from up above and then remember getting up at Pune .....
Somehow in the hazy recollection got out of Pune airport ....Thanks to no luggage did not have to wait in the line .....Met my family ...Nice to get rid of the backpack....
Albeit they were more worried abt my luggage than me.....
As long as woh backpack nikal gaya I was no more worried....
Remember seeing the last of Pune Airport and slight showers in Pune welcoming me i guess....and then I dozed off till home.......zzzzzzzzzzzzz........
P.S : Got my luggage...Not that much of Jet Lag bas climate change ke wajah se Viral Fever ho gaya ...
