a fathers reaction

"
Your unassuming fairy like smile used to wake me up every morning from my deepest sleep.

The energy that your bright and shining eyes projected gave my heart a reason to beat.

The numbness and dullness of the day disappeared when my ear drums used to resonate with your cheerful voice.

And the hope of seeing you with the sun setting in the background gave me a purpose to live out the harsh day.

You kept me alive all these years and now its time for you to rest in peace and i hope your thoughts will help me survive the remaining dark days of my life.

-your loving father
"
These words were engraved on an ornate granite slab placed over a small childs' cementer.

/*
this purely fictional snippet has characters who not related to anyone living or dead:)
*/

reeboooo !!

/*
all the characters and incidents are not assured to be not real. Resemblance to any person or event, living or non living is considered the misfortune of the society :P
For any legal issues contact my in laws :P
*/

From the shores of the Peaceful Sea a crew set forth to explore its chances to make mullah in the land of Reeboo. An old legend that lingers says that Reeboo was discovered 10 years ago and its citizens are primitive and are yet to learn, which among shining glass crystals and dull uncut diamonds is valuable. On this epic journey the crew from Payrow discovered the truth behind the myth.

It all started a few days back when lady from the north, Reamah, who has a pretty hairstyle, took the counsel of the saint from Sabarimalay and the legendry warrior Yasee on how to market Payrow culture in Reeboo. After a long discussion they came up with a list of crew members that consisted distinguished members from the province of Weighfield in the state of Payrow.

The crew consisted of veterans like Sooneel, BajaGovinda, Soondar(a devotee of kalee). A troupe of actors, singers and dancers were also included in the crew to add an entertainment angle to the story. The presence of some children in the crew caused unexpected controversies, which was later ironed out. Finally, with a promising crew, that can demonstrate the strength of Payrow at the disposal of the lady, an itinerary was set forth for the upcoming journey.

The journey was scheduled to start early in the morning even before the sun could outshine the moon. The crew was ill prepared for situation in Reeboo because they seldom knew about the draught in the Reeboo, which caused inflation to sky rocket in this island.

Some veterans and experts who can read the thoughts of the person by looking at the actions were the first to demonstrate the talent to the discerning crowd. But it looks like their lucky star was smoked out by the menacing clouds over the Reeboo. The same can be told about the dancers and the actors. Only difference is that there were dark clouds in between the eye and brain of the judges. Not sure who conjured this spell on them; probably the Eye in front of the gate had some influence.

But the crew did not loose spirit and they found more at Inchara. And they were happy that they didn’t have to sell away their precious uncut diamonds for some cheap glass mementos.

A friend of Alice in wonderland - part 1

At 30.000 feet above the ground, I was trying to get a good day’s sleep. But circumstance sandwiched me between two huge people in the plane. However, the experience was worth remembering nonetheless. It was on a month long journey to a place far, far away from home. A place that is considered as the bull’s eye of Europe, it is Prague.

All the preparations were done on the day before the d-day. Thanks to Lata auntie and mom, because they saw to that I don’t have to go through any rigors of purchasing and packing. They saw to that neither bad weather nor availability of food could bother me in any way. However sometimes it’s risky to allow ladies to take the lead in shopping. The magnitude of risk was known only after I got the credit card bill. In one day i owed Rs.25000 to HDFC and SBI.

Though we can prepare for any unforeseen events there is one hard moment that is hard to handle, that is parting with the loved ones. Mom, bro and cousin sister had come over to see me fly off (bro came to see me buzz off :) ). It was hard to see moms face and even harder to get some words out my mouth. So I just gave her a warm hug and she gave me a kiss that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Through out the day I felt like a hero in a movie played at 2x speed. I came to senses only when the uncomfortable Lufthansa economy class seat and the two guys compelled me to cave in from all four sides. However, my mind never registered the signals from the strained muscles. It kept reassuring me that I am not in Alice’s wonderland.

Noisy crowd scurrying off in all directions brought the scenes of “The Terminal” into my mind. Just like Hanks made friends with Zeta Jones, I made friends with Lucie (she is a citizen of Prague settled is US). We met up near the gate that leads us to the plane to Prague. I have to mention her skill in inferring characteristics of people she meets. She found that I was vegetarian from the list of miscellaneous translations that I asked her to review. She was a Sherlock hidden behind a beautiful face. We spent the remaining time talking about our schooling, interests, work and so on. In the mean tine Hours looked like minutes and minutes looked like seconds. Probably this is what they call flirting.

Now was time to bid farewell to Lucie. I am not sure if we will ever meet again during our life times but one thing that will never be forgotten is the list that said her that I am a vegetarian.

to be continued ...

the best song ever

yaar yaar sivam? nee naan sivam
vaazhvae thavam anbae sivam

aaththigam paesum adiyaarkeLLaam sivamae anbaagum
aaththigam vaesum naLLavarukkoe anbae sivamaagum

anbae sivam anbae sivam yendrum
anbae sivam anbae sivam yengum
anbae sivam anbae sivam yendrum
anbae sivam anbae sivam yengum

idhayam yenbadhu sadhaidhaan yendraaL yerithaLal thindruvidum
anbin karuvi idhayam yendraaL saavai vendruvidum

yaar yaar sivam? nee naan sivam
anbin paathai saerndhavanukku mudivae iLLaiyadaa
manadhin neeLam yedhuvoe adhuvae vaazhvin neeLamada

stuck and busy @ work !!

If there is no response from my gtalk avatar 10 seconds after u pinged, then it means that some one else is using my PC. But, if there is no response after 5 minutes then it means i am taking a break. And even after waiting for 10 minutes you don't get a response then it means that the my PC is misbehaving. And if you still don't get response after hours of waiting then it means that i have left my avatar up and running @ office while i am @ home. But under no scenario it mean that i am stuck and busy at work:D

Terrific Traffic !!!

A pinch of salt and a hint of citric acid might preserve the jam for long humid months to come. On the contrary I sincerely wish for an ingredient that purges the JAM and vaporizes it as fast as it builds up. I will surely make such a wish this New Year.

Pushing aside whims and fantasies let us sprinkle some facts. The roads continue to get overloaded as the clock strikes 9; the traffic comes to stand still when the rain water competes with mortals for space. And it is chocked when some maniac bumps into the bumper of a Mercedes. Well the list of scenarios can be easily built by a school kids who patiently waits on his dads bike and prays for the traffic to pile up so that he can miss school. Who knows, if the child’s innocent prayers were actually answered.

One question stands apart and that is "Is there a solution?" I don’t want to reach the destination with dust smeared on face, neatly pressed clothes soiled and with fuel and patience running out. Well one scientist tried to answer the question; he predicted some years ago that, in years to come ic engines will be seen only in museums. Unfortunately like an astrologer’s predictions. We still see lots ic engines in show rooms.

Well, we can't blame the scientist alone. He ran out of time to create a machine that can shove the oil guzzling engines into the dark. But he has not given up and when he comes out with his brain child a revolution will be waiting to happen.

Oh boy I cannot wait for that to happen. I desperately want to see roads covered by beautiful flowers and plants that grow out of black tar and would also like to see vehicles rusting their remaining days out.

Well that may take some decades and when it finally happens my son, whom I might drop to school, will surely curse the creator of the magic machine that takes people from one place to another just by a press of a button.

Can we actually smoke them out ??

Here comes the new landmark in the history of Indian Politics. The official ban on smoking cigarettes in public areas has finally come to life. Some have welcomed it with arms wide open while some have rebuked it by showing a finger on their palm. Whatever it is, it looks like a positive step has been taken and we will have to wait for time to give its verdict on the same.

One cannot deny that this rule was brought to life with good intentions in mind. However, what it actually has done is push the smoke deep underground and the people who are supposed to hand out the "slips" will start filling his pocket. These seemingly negative impact of the rule are overrun by the positive effects of the aftermath.

But there is one question that can a ban on smoking actually bring a change in the health of those who voluntarily and involuntarily take in the burnt tobacco fumes? Well that is one question that can be affirmatively answered. Those who are addicted to smoking will continue to smoke in the so called "smokable public areas". This legal opportunity to smoke is a single point through which the smoke will continue to pour out.

The government should have actually strangled that point. But can the government afford to strangle it? No way, no way, the business walas will pounce on the babus and devour them into atoms. And then the new batch of babus will come table a new law that will wash away the efforts put forward by the old ones.

However, sometimes i wonder if the fumes from the autos that use adulterated fuel and the black smoke from the vehicles that imbue the precious natural resources are less harmful than smoke from the humble cigarette. Well smoke is smoke irrespective of whether it contains nicotine or lead. Whatever it is, the only thing that we can hope is that more positive steps are taken towards creating a pollution free environment. Because it is everyones right to breathe fresh clean air. And thanks to the Health ministers maverick nature that we have taken a step towards that dream.

Tandoori Corner

'Tandoori Corner' is the last movie that was partly enacted in the last 8 o'clock cab. Just as the movie was partly enacted the cab dumb charades team was partly present. The stalwart Aparna, the Hero and the owner of debLogic were missing. Leaving Pappu, who can not dance , the rash Rashmie, the Hary Puttar, VB and Boovi to interpret each others action.

And with that the age of the dumbs came to an abrupt end.

9-6

And so, the era of 9-6 begins. Well people like Langdon might have interpreted 9-6 in a different way. But in my view its a era wgere people like me have been waiting for. Its an era where cost cutting methods compel people to strictly work between 9 and 6.

Prior to this the spokes of my life cycle were "wake up", "rush to office", "come home late", "sleep". But now things are going to change. The wheel will get stronger as more spoke will be accommodated.

Cheers, may this era last long :D

How was the interest fueled ?

How was the interest towards art fueled? He has no answer for that. He vaguely remembers drawing imaginary objects on notebooks in 2nd or 3rd standard. He used make some caricatures and cartoons on the class-work books. He says its hard to recall what he drew but the fact that he used to draw on the class work books cannot be refuted. That’s because he was once punished in bringing these undefined foreign objects into the book. There is no reason for him to regret for what had happened and there is one reason for him to cherish that moment. And that is even after he was weaned of that habit the trend continued in the class. Some of my classmates picked up the baton that he had dropped and carried it for him.

There is one anecdote that he says comes to his mind. It was when he was in 4th std and was trying to depict war between LTTE and some country. Then one of his childhood friends Appu, who is senior to him by 2 years, came over to his place and told that it is "LTTE" and not "LTT". And he feels that many such anecdotes is lost as the mortal body is engulfed by the worries of today and un-predictability of the future.

The Art classes that were held in school are the only formal training he could ever get and afford. And those are the classes that he cherishes most. The classes were conducted by the great artist Mrs.Geetha. She was like a goddess to him. Once she held his palm in hers and should him how to render palms for the immortal men on the canvas. He was mesmerized by her skills and yearned for the classes to be eternal. Her calm face, slender palm and bright eyes were clearly seen in her works.

He also claims that he created a masterpiece while still in school. And it is the portrait of JC Bose. He had to make a portrait of this inquisitive scientist for the JC BOSE house book. He was astonished and asked himself if he is the one who created that sketch. This incident made him believe that drawing is more than a hobby, it was a skill.

The remaining part of his life is marked by sporadic incidents of demonstrating these skills. It college, instead of taking notes he used to draw some gizmos and automobiles. But never could he recreate the magic of JC Bose.

He continues to hone his skill to this day. He is thankful that he met up with some great artists. Each of them had different styles but like him had suppressed those skills to earn the daily bread. Among the artists he met were Darshan aka darCwader, Sridhar Bakkawad, Dilip Maddala, Priya Parathasarathy. And he says "If at all I become an Artist some day then it will be a tribute to Mrs Geetha for the pain she took to impart her knowledge to us".

The Sumo Wrestler : The Genesis

He was so small that he could be stuffed in a 15 by 15cm box. And he was so light that a 5 year old kid can use him as a dumb bell. Well "he" is the Sumo Wrestler and figuratively speaking he had four parents and a god father. The parents were Vishnu, Vinay, Vijay and Prashanth while Prof XYZ the god father. He might be small and he might be light, but he can be ferocious and can intimidate anyone who enters his arena.

Well this mysterious Sumo is a bot that was solely designed and developed to wrestle with people of his race. The little Sumo grew up to submit to his creators wishes and allowed them to control his impulses. The bot was brain washed and hard wired to move anywhere on the XY plane. Well don't blame the creators for brainwashing the Sumo. For the rule book of IIT Madras dictated the constraints to be pressed on Sumo.

It all started in the summer of April 2005 when Vishnu and Vijay decided to participate in an Inter college technical fest conducted by IIT Madras. Some times, it so happens that when like minded people board a ship it might wobble so to counter balance the ship Vinay and Prashanth boarded to represent the other side of the coin.

Among all the challenges presented in Shaastras' web page, they felt Sumo wrestler can be quickly prototyped and put to immediate use. However, seldom did they realize the complexity of the missive conveyed by the constraints list.

The first task that lay ahead was to figure out the mechanism to make the bot move freely around the arena and then how to implement the mechanism. And so the ship left the safe waters of the port. They started of by hacking commercial toys available in the market to study their design. Many designs and contraptions were put on paper. They even consulted the mechanical department to verify the mechanical perspective of the bot :P. Finally after a spending lots of valuable time discussing the pros and cons of various designs, the team zeroed in on a "two wheel" design.

This design was unique in many ways. Apart from having a very low center of gravity, its two wheels effectively imparted 2 degrees of freedom. And hence their first road block was overcome. And overcome it was with a cost. Which later decided the prospects of the team in the competition.

Will be continued ...

She sells sea shells on the sea shore !!!

How long does an inscription on a sea shore last? Well she who sells sea shells on the sea shore can easily guess.
However, there is lots of difference between straining ones eye looking for customers under the hot sun and straining the eyes to look at the shells under a microscope in a air cooled lab. Well this is what she can't guess.

Who is responsible for this? Her ignorance, nay. Her parents, nay. Or may be it is her poverty stricken life. Or it may even be Gods "plan". But actually, its the absence of a lens that put forth the magnified world in front of her vitamin A deficient eyes.

Well there are many more like her. Children who can differentiate right from left but not from Right and Wrong. Children who can't see the difference between starter, main course and a dessert. Children who are not aware how lemon ice tea and cappuccino tastes. Now who can help them? Its those who know and aware of the differences.

One can say "What difference can I make, I just know how lemon ice tea tastes and can't say whats right and whats wrong". Neither of us know that, anyways. But helping her realize the taste of good food can ignite the desire in them to work for it. And it is to these hungry souls to whom we show the Right way to earn that dish.

We have to take an initiative which leaves an indelible mark in the lives. So the onus is on us to brainstorm and think of ideas and initiatives that can be practically implemented and can compensate the time lost by those who cant say what the time is now.

Lets teach them the right recipe... come lets Teach India !!

Letter to a lost friend

Hey Dude,

I always believed that tears drip out of my eyes only when some dust or speck land into it but after reading this i am once again made to believe the actual reason why my eyes go wet. And the fact that you wont be reachable on +91 98864 00501 anymore make the eyes more damp.

I have been gifted with a emotionless, stern face and a thick tongue because of which i most of times fail to convey my feelings. And due to this the feeling stay in the heart and that's where they die. However, my only faithful mode of communication has been through writing. And here is what i feel about you and our best friends.

My life has always been directionless and i let the wind decide what i have to be and where if go, like in Forrest Gump. And the wind by chance dropped me in the lush green lawns of Perot just to help meet some of the most inspirational people in my life who are Vishnu, You, Divya and Tejas and some of the greatest friends in my life who are Puneeth, Sagar, Husna, Ambika, Vinay, Sridhar, Atif, Aparna and Kaushik.

With out you folks i would not have survived in Perot. My life in Perot has gone through all the seasons possible. Pleasant Spring was when i met you people :D . And raining it was during training. It was a warm summer when we used to hang out and talk useless talks during lunch ;). And Autumn was when most of you left Perot :(.

Among all the seasons Autumn was the hardest time ever :(. It was like a flower losing its petals. The petals that broke free were Vishnu, Divya, Tejas and you.

Vishnu has been my mentor, who keeps giving feedback that helped me introspect my thoughts and think out of the box. And when he left the feedback line was cut.

Next in line was divya. I got to know her through you and her sheer energy which overflowed affected me and strengthened me. Though we have not spoken more than 10 to 15 sentences face to face and 3 to 4 sentences over phone, her mere presence filled the space with some unknown force that i fully utilized. And when she left i was thrown away into vaccum.

The petal that i lost next is tejas, who was my other source of energy. Tejas's attitude and unique approach to life turned me into a new person whom i myself didn't recognize. He indirectly built, what people call, self confidence in me. Which is now depreciating in me.

And now it you, you were like my eyes and ears. And without you i am blind and deaf adding to the already existing property in me called dumbness. What more can i say now :(

Though the petals are lost, the plant has bared a fruit which i will cherish during my life time. And the only wish that i have is that the leafs and root in the plant remain intact and the tears and petals that were shed during the autumn help the plant grow and go through another new cycle.

With Tears in eyes,

VB

An Itinerary to Mumbai - Part 3

by chance or by choice

Tired of walking and waiting, i came to the Consulate just to face two seemingly rude folks, one a CR guy and the other an Indian Lady. We had a very short and formal talk which involved questions ranging from the purpose of visit to weather i am married and nothing in between. A gist of the questions that were asked are as follows.

Me: Hi, myy ....
They: Whats your name?
Me: VijayaBhaskar sir.
They: Okay Mr.Vijay. Whats the purpose of your visit?
Me: We in perot handle some of the applications of our client DHL who is in Prague. There are new requirements coming up and this needs us to collect ant understand their requirements. So to attend seminars i have to go to Prague for 2 to 3 weeks. (bull**** :P)
They: You need 2 weeks for this is it? (i guess he didn't believe me)
Me: Yes sir. We are starting from scratch and have to understand the business logic. This requires more than 2 weeks actually.(bull**** again)
They:OK. Tell me exactly how long do you want to stay three?
Me: 2 to 3 weeks,Sir.
They:Is it 2 or 3 weeks?
Me: Okay.. i will require 3 weeks.
They: Okay. Are u married?
Me: No, Not yet. (i still don't know why he asked it :D)
They: When are you planning to fly?
Me: 5th of this month,sir.
They:Okay you can go now and we will stamp it tomorrow.
Me: Thank you and have a good day ( well i didn't mean it)

And finally the important part of the travel was over. Just for a 5 minute interview, I had to spend a whole day and the company had to spend lots of money. I still didn't understand the logic behind the interview. He asked useless questions and i gave useless answers. Sometimes I keep asking myself if i am really going to Prague. And one of these days i will ask this question to my pm and i hope he does not give me useless answer :P

With lots of doubts in my mind, i came out the building and walked towards HaziAli shrine. The strong wind shoved the doubts from my mind and as i walked towards the shrine some kind of fresh blood started flowing in me. Apart from human visitors there were some other living organisms that were attracted to this place, they are our good old crows. And immediately i could see a resemblance between myself and the crow.

Physically the crow and myself were different of course. The resemblance i am talking about is the way we lead the life. The crows there kept attempting to fly against the wind to only find themselves in the place they started and so was I. What they actually were doing was use the force in the wind to take them in different directions without putting any effort, so for that they had to first position themselves in the right direction, that is against the wind. Hence they could go places by choice and not by chance. And had control over what was happening. And this were i could see the resemblance fading. Such thoughts keep flowing in my mind and I unconsciously went into deep sleep in the shrine.

The breeze and noise of people around broke my sleep and the time when i woke up was around 4:30, time for me to say good bye to the shrine and proceed towards the airport. I had a tough time searching for a cab that can drop me at the airport and give a bill. On reaching the airport had my favorite snack, the Bingo mad angles, and patiently waited for flight. And the big old Airbus A320 brought me back to good old Bangalore. And so came my short junket to Mumbai to an end.

Even though the trip is over, some thoughts keep lingering in my mind. The beautiful stars of the sky :P . The unknown force in shrine, The struggling black birds , The concept of chance and choice. Some of these cannot be understood and some need not be. Well isn't that life, where one will not know how things unfold and why they get unfolded in that fashion.

______ The Short End Of a Short Trip ______

An Itinerary to Mumbai - Part !!

Stepping into a new world!!!

Everyone has expectations and so did I. I imagined that Mumbai will be a haven for the homeless and so it was. However, it turned to be more than what I imagined. It’s a place where the rich and poor coexist in one place, where the good and bad coexist in the same place. It’s really hard to figure out how this is possible but that’s our lifes where we won’t be able to figure out half the things.

Well I reached Mumbai at 10:00 am and checked out of the airport, which is under renovation, with a wish that Mumbai should be father away from the Bangalore. We covered the distance in a just one hour and 15 minutes. Once in the airport apart from making calls to eagerly waiting mom back home had to answer other urgent calls :P. But there was lots of traffic and the booths were crowded so had to wait for my turn :P.

As soon as I stepped out the airport some kind of transformation was felt. It was like being plunged into an unknown new world, where an unknown language is spoken, and where there are more strangers than friends. With that feeling in the back of the mind I proceeded to search for taxis that can take me to the HajiAli area (which is well known for the Haji Ali shrine). The search was completed with the discovery of the so called Cool Cabs. These Cool Cab guys are a bunch of folks who paint their own car Blue and deploy themselves into the cab service. Some of them can be trusted and some cannot. And I found one who cannot be trusted and ended up paying a heavy prize for it.

Though I was taxed heavily by the cab driver, the ride turned out to be pretty interesting. I made some interesting observations that has I would like to share, some of them as are follows. The roads on the route he followed were pretty wide and most of the road was built using concrete. In some places they used to tile the road with tiles that used to tile the footpath, he said that was being done to prevent any damage to road by rains. I came across of the rivers which are actually not present officially on the maps of Mumbai. They were actually overflowing drains like the Domlur drain. I am still wondering why the Ambani brothers didn’t start a Boat ferrying service after looking at the drain.

The taxi ride ended up with a meter reading of Rs.600. Shocked at the reading and with an intention of not starting a fight I just paid the money and took the bill. With another cut in the pocket I started out to look for the Czech Republic consulate.

They say that the CzechRepublic, CR is a small country and so was the board that declared the location of the Consulate. I would like to inform that the consulate is closely guarded by a watchman and a cop. They instantly caught me when I entered their premises by jumping over a fence. I cannot be put to blame as the guard of the neighboring building told me that it was the only way to enter. If at all that guy comes to me asking for directions I will, for sure, direct him to the ladies toilet. After saying sorry to the CR cop, I said that I work for Perot and have and interview at 3 in the afternoon. He probably realized that I was saying the truth and asked me to come after 2:30. Now who will get angry at a good guy like me :P. The time at which this happened is 11:30 and I had a big chunk of time to explore the city.

The exploration started when I entered the Heera Panna shopping complex. Found lots of smuggled watches phones and fancy apparels there. It was pretty boring while window shopping so I shifted my gaze and started admiring the beauty of fair ladies who spoke some unknown language. They filled the space like the stars in the sky. You can only admire their beauty but cannot make an attempt to get close to them :P. The star gazing continued and so was my search for Vada Pav. The shops I found either had vada or either Pav. Finally I came across a shop that was selling them both, but that was a road side shop and didn’t want take any risk. My next stop was the Mahalakshmi temple, which is a famous land mark around this area, there only thing I liked here was the legions of Pigeons that swarmed the temple.

Continuous walking and gazing me made tired and I planned to have some refreshments and found a vegetarian hotel whose name starts with a K. Non vegetarians can go to a hotel, which is beside the one I went to, whose name starts with N. The hotels menu boasted of a variety of cuisines and so was their range of prizes. I quenched my hunger by just having a veg-sandwich and a glass of watermelon juice and he charged me 76 bucks.

The lunch gave me fresh energy to continue the expedition. The time was still 1:30 so I had to find ways to spend the remaining one hour. So I walked down the Camballa road and entered some shops pretending to buys something. One such shop was the snacks shop. The owner had so many items stocked that I felt like buying everything. Because of budget constraints I just restrained myself to buys some sweet and salty snacks.

After spending that one long hour I showed my face to the CR watch man, but this time entered the building from the right direction :D . He asked me to leave my bag and phone with him and took my sign on a register. Then went to the first floor of the building to meet two seemingly rude people out of which one was an Indian lady and the other was CR guy. Even before I could introduce my self they started firing questions at me. And for a few minutes I was in a battle ground where only one side is fighting and the other side is just watching :D

To be continued …

An Itinerary to Mumbai - Part 1

/* Flash back: The day before the visit I got the to and fro tickets to Bombay and got the Travel guys to book a cab for early morning pickup and late night drop. I was pretty much lucky yesterday as the flights were right on time and the skies were clear in Bombay.*/

The excitement was high and it didn’t permit me to have sleep. I woke up thrice even before the alarm that was set at 4:30 am went off (this happens every time when I am about to do something new or explore new frontiers). Had a quick bath and answered all calls :P and got ready by 5 am. Had a suku caapi, which translates to ginger tea and it’s used to wade of sleep, and started browsing to get some details on Czech and used google maps to look at the landmarks surrounding the Consulate in Bombay. I left home at exactly 6 in the morning and reached BIAL at 6:45. Once inside the airport there was a formal security check, during which the cops were checking for hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction :P. Luckily for me I was travelling light, I just carried a file and a wallet in my bag. The cops declared that I was clean and can board the flight.

The flight was at 8:30 and it was not yet 7:00, so I broke fast in the airport and had a plate of Upma and lassi to fill my stomach, but bill tore through my pocket. The breakfast turned out to cost 150 bucks. Now I just had to wait for the Gate 11 to open as that was the gate that leads to the Indian Airline Airbus 320 - IC106 plane. In the meantime I enjoyed the WIFI connectivity over there and checked how various websites are rendered on my cell. I Downloaded opera browser and checked out GMAIL, Facebook, Orkut and XM application :D.

Later the clocked ticked at 8:30 and the gate was thrown open for us. And I sadly turned off wifi and happily moved towards the gate where a grand Volvo was waiting to ferry us till the plane. In the plane there were lots of aunties wearing traditional saree in the plane posing a beautiful smile and welcoming us. My seat number was 12f and was next to a window from where I got a beautiful view of the Silver lined clouds and tiny little cities from my seat during the flight.

This being my first flight, I was initially weary about how the plane actually manages to make so many sorties without a hitch. However overcame the negative thoughts and enjoyed every minute in the flight thoroughly. The plane as such was empty probably because the Kingfisher pulled many customers towards there side ;). During the flight they demonstrated how to use the seat belts and air masks and safety jacket. Probably I was the only guy who was paying attention to them while others were busy reading newspaper that had the news that Bombay is flooded on the home page. Later at 9 they gave us breakfast, I was anyways hungry so I grabbed my plate eagerly. However, it only had regular idly and stuff so just returned it laterL. As we were proceeding toward Mumbai the pilot announced that the weather in Mumbai is better and the temperature was 29 degree celcius. The brought a smile on my face as I had forgotten to take my Umbrella and RainCoat. He also spoke about turbulence that the plane may come across and that made me wonder what turbulence can do to such a big plane. And Just as that thought crossed my mind the plane started vibrating violently, so I silently said sorry to the turbulence outside for underestimating its power.

Now was the time when the last leg of a successful flight comes into picture. I got a Birdseye view of the good old financial capital of India Mumbai the city of underworld Bhaees and beautiful Marathi speaking Bais. The city as such didn’t look beautiful from the sky. I Could easily figure out the famous slums which were covered by blue covers to preven rain water from entering the already damp house. So we had a touchdown which was rough according to me. However the touchdown as well declared smooth by the pilot, but I am still wondering how can a plane that comes to a halt vibrating like bullock cart be called a smooth landing. Anyways if the pilot says so I am ready to buy his statement.

To be continued later ….