My flight to India left early morning at around 7.00am. I went with my mum and dad in the car to London Heathrow. We arrived to Heathrow quite quickly becase the amount of traffic was low. I dragged my two bags to the scales that were provided at Heathrow and it weighed upto 36kg which was a relief because the limit given by Air India was 46kg.
I dragged my two bags and headed to wait in-line at the Air India post. I waited for five minutes when an attendee asked if there was anyone who was travelling alone. I raised my hand, and they allowed me to fast-track through the executive line! I smiled as I lifted both bags onto the belt. She asked me the usual questions about whether I packed my own bags etc, and I gave her my passport. I asked her how she was and she said she was fine; people don't usually talk to the people at the airports so I thought I would say hello at least. When my bags went through, I walked over to my parents and in the Indian tradition seeked their blessings before going through immigration.
I stood in-line through immigration and went through the board. I went through the security scanner and went through to duty-free. Mum told me to buy her make-up powder thing from MAC. It cost £16! What a rip-off for something that is the size of my HTC Desire HD. I bought it and walked round and round until I made my way to board. I did go to one of the fancy shops where a cap was over £15! I was never going to pay over £15 for a cap. haha. So I made my way to board and boarded on this Air India flight. For some reason, my seat was right at the back. It felt quite weird to be standing on an airoplane on my own without my parents. I sat next to two Indian guys who had come to the UK to study as students - and they were going back! I know, I couldn't believe it either! But they were really great. One guy was just going to Mumbai, he was Punjabi, but the other guy was going to Ahmedabad, so that meant I had a companian on my travels.
So, the plane left London Heathrow for the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. When we arrived and passed through all the security checks with the passenger on the plane, we went to KFC because he was hungry. He was a stocky guy, so he ordered a Vegi Burger. On arriving in Mumbai it felt weird that KFC's were available in India. A country that is renouwned for its worship of vegetarianism and religious scriptures, has come to such a time where companies like KFC are able to run. Wow... I'm from the UK and I think that is weird! haha
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| Electronic interface on Air India Plane |
We waited at the airport in Mumbai for over two hours. We were then shuttled in a little coach like mini bus to the plane for Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The plane was long and thin. It wasn't as high tech' as the plane that brought us from the UK. The electronic interface that we used on the plane before was just a television with nothing but Indian programmes on. As we lifted off, it started to pour with rain. The pilot began to say that we are going through turbulence, please remain calm... CALM... CALM? How can we stay calm when the whole aeroplane is rocking from side to side due to wind and rain? But we did land, eventually. When I showed my passport to the passport person, he advised me to get an OCI visa. I then waited over half an hour for my bags to come round. I then grabbed my bags and put them on the belt for them to be checked. It was clear, grabbed my bags and an officer said give me the slip. I didn't have one. He demanded I paid him, but I was able to talk my way out of it and moved on. The alley way through the Ahmedabad airport was quite long, but very bright. As I walked outside, a man stood in front of me. He smiled, his teeth a bit crooked. One tooth to his right elongated from the top to the bottom of his teeth. He wore a cream shirt with grey trousers, with a pen in the front pocket. I'm describing him to be more smart than he actually was because remember, I had arrived in India and everyone in India looks slightly unprofessional because of the massess of dirt and dust that envelopes their land. He asked me my name and I agreed. It was K uncle. (K uncle is my dad's friend from India when he attended Swadhye - Hindu religious group).
I had a huge smile on my face. I shook his hand, and we walked to the rickshaw that was parked a few minutes away from the airport. The rickshaw driver lives below his flat, so he asked a favour. Oh, by the way it was passed 3 at night! So, it was quite dark. We pushed my bags in the rickshaw, and we forced ourselves in. (Did you know it cost 60INR to park at the airport. That is like under a pound to park your car... couldn't believe it) Then the rickshaw driver hit the accelerator and we sped off. It was quite a drive to Krishnanagar. When we reached, K uncle explained that the electrics had gone because of the rain. The rain had become so bad that it had leaked into the electric pipe, and the pipe sparked and the whole block's electrics had gone. We arrived, and his flat was on the first floor. So, in pitch black we dragged my bags up the stairs and walked to the end of the corridor on the left. He opened two locks on his door and we walked in. I was quite surprised. It was so clean, and spotless! As we entered, he rushed to light candles so that we could see where we were going. I sat down in the living room, and I fell asleep, and he went in his room to sleep.
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