Monday, February 24, 2014
February 11, 2014 - 5:40 pm
On the day of travel…..to
MOHANOOOOOR
The day began very early around 5:45 am (very early since
the climate hardly allows anyone to get up early these days). Switched on the
heater to get ready to the office. Finished the routine in less than 40 minutes
after pressing the clothes and got out to the office to clock 8 hours @ 6:40
am.
Just before getting out to the office, ensured that the
luggage are packed and travel documents like passport/tickets, all sorts of
chargers, etc are packed as well. Once the mind said, nothing more to pick up, left
to office. Then to save time in the afternoon and avoid mad rush, loaded the
luggage in the car boot. (I should say I managed to find a space for the
luggage).
Felt hungry as soon entering the office. May be due to the
aroma around the lobby, courtesy to Tim Hartons. Picked a medium hot French
vanilla and a zatar croissant.
Heard a noise from the pantry when landed my 12th
floor. Peeped to learn that Mohideen (our floor office assistant but company
calls them office boy irrespective of their age!) has already arrived. He said
his bus drops him near our company @ 5:45am and he gets allowed inside the
building to work @ 6am. I was telling myself that I would have saved 20 dirhams
had I knew Mohideen would have been there at this time.
Soon after starting the laptop enjoyed the hot French
vanilla and croissant together. Interestingly for the first time had a
croissant which was so fresh and tasty (Tim Hartons sales lady said “fresh from
the oven sir” in typical Pilipino accent). It was really true.
Unlike most of the days, hardly found time to read the
online newspapers. Still managed to browse couple of pages to see any major
news of my interest. Found nothing much of my interest other than Kiwi’s Jessy
Ryder’s probable drop for the second test against India and the ensuing T20
world cup.
As usual busy with many calls chasing me for approval endorsements
and typical work related enquiries. Got rid of most of my routines around 11am
and hurried to play “pool” with Pakistan’s Umar. It was my day on the table
where I was having only black to pocket where Umar was having another 5 solids
before the black. I was happy to win before proceeding for a short leave. Mohammed joined us and played against both
(Umar & myself). Not sure whether this is allowed as per the rules. But who
bothers. It was totally looking like Mohammed’s day when he took the first
table and in the next game we revenged him at the last minute. All three of us
enjoyed and greeted each other before passing what went wrong on the table for
Mohammed. Mohammed attributed his screw-up courtesy to the tall Rakan. It was a
good break for some twenty odd minutes.
Started again with the final things to do and wound up the
day with after ensuring nothing more to do for the day and left hurriedly
without informing anyone. Did not manage to clock 8 hours @ work. Picked the
car and called the better half with the little one to come down from 7th
floor to board the car. We eventually started after fifteen to twenty minutes
after leaving office. It was sharp 13:30 in the car when all the doors were
locked and I started to Dubai (from Abu Dhabi) to pick up the flight. Reached
Dubai around 15:20 and in between got couple of calls to answer (of course both
personal and official).
Sukanya and Kamakshi were handed over to Kavitha
Ramakrishnan and Navanith respectively. I said bye to all of them and left Ramakrishnan’s
home. All day supermarket came handy to pick up some last minutes requests.
This time the last minute request was to get some playing cards. Happily picked
up three made in USA playing cards and a lock to ensure safety to my check-in baggage.
Arrived Interiors building where my brother lives and parked
the car happily and was waiting for Ramakrishnan to drop me off to Teriminal 2.
Had a quick chat with him upon his arrival on luggage weight. Interestingly the
ticket said 20+7kgs were allowed but he confused me that it got recently
changed to 30kgs due to recent uproar by all passengers that this is too less
and it is against IATA rules. So we googled Air India Express call center
number in Dubai to check how much I can carry. We found a number which is
someone’s home landline number. We had some fun calling the same number couple
of times. Need to write to Air India Express head office in India on this
apathy.
I was dropped in Terminal 2 and thanks to CV Ramakrishnan. Managed
to reach the place avoiding all the traffic woes.
Picked the trolley to load all the luggage and entered the
check in counter straight after getting into the airport. May be in 20 minutes
or less completed the check in and the immigration clearance. As usual forgot
to ask the airport staff who gives boarding pass to tell him that I want a
window seat. Fortunately he gave a window seat even without asking the same.
However it was row 20.
Called the family to inform that all is well and have 2
hours of idle time before getting into the flight. Roamed around the T2 and the
only interesting shopping place was… of course Dubai Duty Free. It was
glittering as usual and more people around the area of liquor shopping zone than
all other places. I turned to the electronics section to check some good offers
and found nothing interesting. Moved further to watches area where found a
beautiful Tag huer with a shining blue dial. Wow it was really amazing and very
heavy to even carry leave alone wearing it. Price was 14k dirham. Too big for a
watch at this time when the exchange rates are really favorable to NRIs.
Got bored after 30 minutes of roaming the duty free zones before
finding an empty seat near Gate 3. Opened the Blackberry and started to respond
to nine of the emails to which my response is critical. Finished all of them
and looked around to see what is happening. In between the a guy next to me was
asked a question “machi washroom engada?” (meaning “where is the washroom”) and
he got the reply “theriyalada” (I don’t know!!). To the guy in need I directed
the route. Expected a small thanks but unfortunately did not get that. Thought
of teaching to be courteous and be thankful to people who helped. But left him
as such who was in natures hurry. Small things like being thankful are not
taught at work place by colleagues or friends or well-wishers. Unfortunately
this really disturbs the image of the country we are representing particularly
with people from West. Family should teach values to kids when they are young
is the moral behind this cry.
By now there was a seat empty next to me until Senthilnathan
decided to fill it up and give a company
to me. He by profession an ECE engineer (2011 Annamalai varsity BE grad),
started narrating many things without even asking for the details. Just showed
him that I am listening to him seriously and that’s it. He started to pour things and in less
than fifteen minutes I came to know enough I should know about this guy who is
quite enthusiastic in learning about the interesting technologies present in
his field. I left him when he got a call after giving him a strawberry drink.
He happily acknowledged thanks sir. He never returned till the end of journey
even after finishing his call.
After spending a long time in the waiting area, finally
boarded a bus which dropped me next to the small air craft. It was Air India’s
Boeing 737-800. While getting into the plane, the airhostess stopped us getting
into and made some final arrangements. It was extremely windy outside and too
cold for a person with a T-shirt. Peeped into the aircraft cockpit and to my
surprise a good gesture from one of the pilots saluting me in right hand after
sipping his tea. I was able to clearly see both the pilots sipping a drink from
the paper cup and the dash board full of lights and different meters
calculating whatever I do not know on mother earth.
Asked the airhostess “is this the flight going to Trichy?”
and she said irritatingly “obviously yes”. A typical national carrier response.
I was puzzled due to the fact in all my previous travels, one guy checks the
boarding pass at the doorsteps before boarding the flight. Anyways left her and
moved ahead to find my window seat and finally sat in row 20 which was hardly
comfortable to anyone. No cushion at all. The seats were red in color and I
believe it is was previously leased by Kingfisher. I was not worried seriously
with reference to the comfort, as the travel is scheduled for less than four
hours. Heard and saw the safety announcement video in Hindi and soon after
English started fell asleep.
Woken up suddenly when evening snack was served. That’s it. A
vegie guy like me can hardly think of having anything which was offered. Did
not have most of the items given and returned everything except a cup meant for
coffee. Alas latter I checked with a airhostess whether they would provide any
dinner and the reply was a big NO. Started to sketch my plans for food soon
after getting out of airport in Trichy.
Everything in the window seat is awesome except when you
drink more water. Disturbed the sleep of my fellow passenger to my left who was
snoring at full vigor which was audible more than the wind blowing sound coming
from the outside.
Awful turbulence while travel not letting me type this and
hearing an announcement from the airhostess “please wear the seat belts and be
seated since we are running across a bad weather”. Looked like the weather was
really awful because this announcement came up every twenty minutes. As and
when the seat belt sign were off, I was able to see a long queue to the
washroom.
Kept on looking at the newly bought Swatch watch and
adjusted the timing to IST. For some reasons I was eagerly waiting just to get
out of the plane to feel natural and comfortable. By now I am really hungry.
Thirty more minutes to land and another 30 minutes to clear the luggage. OMG!!!
Heard from the playing kids behind my seat that we are going to land soon and
one of them started to show some landmarks of Trichy to the other.
Welcome INDIA.
See you soon!!!
CA. Kumar Sitaraman
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