I asked Santosh, my school buddy who is in Mumbai, to come to airport so that I can spend the 3 hrs of transit chatting with him. But the airport folks told that I’d not be allowed to go out. I sat there, all alone, gazing at the darkness outside. My thoughts were lingering around the girl, my missed opportunity to meet Santosh etc.
Slowly, the darkness was thrown away, and so were my blank thoughts and petty disappointments, with rays of the glorious sun in front of my eyes and some excitement in my mind…
And soon I heard the final call for my flight… I ran briskly towards the gate uttering in myself, “Huh..final call in your first flight...When am I going to get rid of this last minute catch ups??” I had been just sitting in the waiting hall doing nothing and was still late in boarding the flight!! I was also quick to remind myself, “Okay, what happened now?? After all, you are a proud product of REC Warangal… not all your fault, old habits die hard”.
As I entered the flight, I was soon searching for beautiful gals in the flight, very sure that my seat would be next to one of them. The air hostess showed my seat. Alas… beside an old couple, in their eighties, with a suspicious look at me as if I came there to disturb their privacy!! With the balloon of my dreams busted, I took a deep sigh and laughed at myself wryly. As I settled in my seat with a broken heart, I remembered that I didn't have something that I am so good at… sleep!! I was soon into deep sleep. May be, in a way, I must be actually happy… had I been sitting beside a pretty woman I would have had to postpone my sleep by another 9 hrs!
I must mention about the take off at the Mumbai airport. It’s an awesome sight and experience, at least for the first time flier… As you fly into the skies, you’d soon be over the Arabian sea within a few minutes.
There I was, stepping my foot on the foreign land for the first time… welcomed by a cool breeze at 10 Deg.C at 1.30 p.m local time. Exchanged my travelers’ cheques, took a phone card and went to a booth to call parents. But as I lifted the phone, everything was displayed and read in French. I went to the next booth to try my luck if it would be in English. But I came back like a ball hit to a wall… a young couple were deeply engaged in a lip-lock. Cough.. cough… so there I was, not taking too long to get the feel of “the most romantic city on the planet”. I quit my idea of calling home then and proceeded to the taxi stand.
“Residency Grand Arche”, I said. The taxi driver nodded in agreement, so sure he was that he didn't want to see the route map to my hotel that I brought. And my eyes stuck to the window again for around an hour, until the driver stopped and signaled that we reached the destination. I was wondering how that place could be a hotel! But I thought that fellow might have dropped me at the parking lot of the hotel. Paid him and as I asked for bill, he gave me a strange look meaning, “From which planet are you bloke??”. And zzzooooom.. he left. I stood there for a few minutes looking for my onsite colleagues. After a few more minutes I started searching for human beings!! Nowhere could I find anyone at least to ask where I was, nor could I find any phone booth. I understood that I was lost… ha.. can anything get better?? Yes indeed… only in movies did I see it raining at the moments of truth!! And there I was, lost in alien land and standing in rain…
I saw some people walking on an over bridge, but I could not find how to reach there. I decided I should make a move and with all my baggage I crossed the speedway, jumped over the divider and climbed up the bridge. (Huh… that was an arduous task with all my luggage!!). All this while, the vehicle riders and the over-bridge pedestrians were staring at me strangely and I didn't understand why then. After a 15 mins walk, I felt I reached a place where I can give a clue about where I was to my mates. And after 30 mins of waiting, there came Srinivas and Mayank. I could see the twinkling of their teeth from far across… and as they reached me, they were ROFLing!
Later I learnt that the place where the driver dropped me is the basement of The Grand Arche, a monumental structure in Paris, while my hotel was also named after it (Like in Hyderabad we have Golconda fort and Hotel Golconda..). And that we should say “ticket” instead of “bill” to the taxi driver(I lost 50 euros for not knowing this because my company strangely assumes you have your own car in Paris to drive you to the hotel) and that we have to cross the roads only on zebra crossings (such a rule exists in India too, but who cares about that??), and that too, only when there is green light for pedestrians! All these realizations evoke laughter whenever I think about that…
What is so special, after all, going abroad without experiences like this?? :-)
I wonder about one thing though... While I was thinking all the while about what to do next, why did I not get frightened for having been lost in an alien land? Hmm... another result of being a product of REC?! :))
Slowly, the darkness was thrown away, and so were my blank thoughts and petty disappointments, with rays of the glorious sun in front of my eyes and some excitement in my mind…
And soon I heard the final call for my flight… I ran briskly towards the gate uttering in myself, “Huh..final call in your first flight...When am I going to get rid of this last minute catch ups??” I had been just sitting in the waiting hall doing nothing and was still late in boarding the flight!! I was also quick to remind myself, “Okay, what happened now?? After all, you are a proud product of REC Warangal… not all your fault, old habits die hard”.
As I entered the flight, I was soon searching for beautiful gals in the flight, very sure that my seat would be next to one of them. The air hostess showed my seat. Alas… beside an old couple, in their eighties, with a suspicious look at me as if I came there to disturb their privacy!! With the balloon of my dreams busted, I took a deep sigh and laughed at myself wryly. As I settled in my seat with a broken heart, I remembered that I didn't have something that I am so good at… sleep!! I was soon into deep sleep. May be, in a way, I must be actually happy… had I been sitting beside a pretty woman I would have had to postpone my sleep by another 9 hrs!
I must mention about the take off at the Mumbai airport. It’s an awesome sight and experience, at least for the first time flier… As you fly into the skies, you’d soon be over the Arabian sea within a few minutes.
There I was, stepping my foot on the foreign land for the first time… welcomed by a cool breeze at 10 Deg.C at 1.30 p.m local time. Exchanged my travelers’ cheques, took a phone card and went to a booth to call parents. But as I lifted the phone, everything was displayed and read in French. I went to the next booth to try my luck if it would be in English. But I came back like a ball hit to a wall… a young couple were deeply engaged in a lip-lock. Cough.. cough… so there I was, not taking too long to get the feel of “the most romantic city on the planet”. I quit my idea of calling home then and proceeded to the taxi stand.
“Residency Grand Arche”, I said. The taxi driver nodded in agreement, so sure he was that he didn't want to see the route map to my hotel that I brought. And my eyes stuck to the window again for around an hour, until the driver stopped and signaled that we reached the destination. I was wondering how that place could be a hotel! But I thought that fellow might have dropped me at the parking lot of the hotel. Paid him and as I asked for bill, he gave me a strange look meaning, “From which planet are you bloke??”. And zzzooooom.. he left. I stood there for a few minutes looking for my onsite colleagues. After a few more minutes I started searching for human beings!! Nowhere could I find anyone at least to ask where I was, nor could I find any phone booth. I understood that I was lost… ha.. can anything get better?? Yes indeed… only in movies did I see it raining at the moments of truth!! And there I was, lost in alien land and standing in rain…
I saw some people walking on an over bridge, but I could not find how to reach there. I decided I should make a move and with all my baggage I crossed the speedway, jumped over the divider and climbed up the bridge. (Huh… that was an arduous task with all my luggage!!). All this while, the vehicle riders and the over-bridge pedestrians were staring at me strangely and I didn't understand why then. After a 15 mins walk, I felt I reached a place where I can give a clue about where I was to my mates. And after 30 mins of waiting, there came Srinivas and Mayank. I could see the twinkling of their teeth from far across… and as they reached me, they were ROFLing!
Later I learnt that the place where the driver dropped me is the basement of The Grand Arche, a monumental structure in Paris, while my hotel was also named after it (Like in Hyderabad we have Golconda fort and Hotel Golconda..). And that we should say “ticket” instead of “bill” to the taxi driver(I lost 50 euros for not knowing this because my company strangely assumes you have your own car in Paris to drive you to the hotel) and that we have to cross the roads only on zebra crossings (such a rule exists in India too, but who cares about that??), and that too, only when there is green light for pedestrians! All these realizations evoke laughter whenever I think about that…
What is so special, after all, going abroad without experiences like this?? :-)
I wonder about one thing though... While I was thinking all the while about what to do next, why did I not get frightened for having been lost in an alien land? Hmm... another result of being a product of REC?! :))
