Finally, the moment to bid adieu to the cosy room in the apartment that had been his abode for time immemorial arrived, and he did so with a heavy heart... tugging his bags outside into the boot of the cab. Seated in the front of the cab were the lad and his bum chums K and P, with the lad's parents and aunt seated behind. An eerie of pronounced silence filled most part of the journey to the airport, with a minestrone of emotions ruling the minds of the lad and his parents. The lad enthusiastically looking forward to the experience that awaited him in Glasgow, for he had managed to eke out a scholarship to pursue a Master's in Electrical engg. at Glasgow... and his parents of course filled with their fair share of concerns of how the lad would sustain himself in an alien environment, devoid of motherly affection and fatherly attention. The lad tried his best to enliven the rather drab atmosphere by cracking a few jokes here and there, with Radio city's RJ Chaitanya trying his best to entertain people about to pull their hair out due to the choc-a-bloc traffic.
The cab pulled into the parking lot, and the bags were offloaded into trolleys. The group was now joined by a few more relatives and well-wishers, all wishing the lad and cheering up his mother in particular who was visibly moved at the thought of seven seas separating her from her only child, with his father being his ever cheerful self, giving the lad invaluable last minute pointers about anything and everything, something that was a treasured aspect of the lad's life. The bags were checked in, and with time coming to a standstill at the sight of leaving behind all these people who so fondly doted on the lad, he desperately wished if only each and everyone in the group could also accompany him to his destination. The speakers were blaring out the 'dreaded' boarding call, and the moment to part ways had finally arrived, the lad hugged his parents, whispering a word of solace to his mother, who was by now full of tears... his father patted him on the back and wished him the best of luck. Holding back tears in his own eyes, the lad trudged ahead to finish awaiting formalities... with one last look behind, he could see the smiling face of his parents and friends, which filled him with renewed vigour to take all new experiences in his stride.
Glancing at his boarding pass, the now excited lad started pondering about his maiden flight across the Arabian sea, above the Persian Gulf, over Iran and Turkey, hovering above the Caucasian mountains, entering Europe over Bulgaria, continuing over Central Europe, before touching down at Heathrow. He turned on his walkman, listening to soothing tunes of Hariharan from a latest flick... when suddenly he noticed someone come and sit beside him. The guy was tall and lanky, with dark glasses, and was sipping some water, and reading a newspaper... indeed the lad was all excited to see the cricketeer Venkatesh Prasad sitting beside... trying to start a conversation, shyly and sheepishly, then a cricket afficionado, the lad of course asked him for an autograph, to which the cricketeer readily obliged. He enquired the lad as to where he was bound, and wished him luck.
The view from the window seat on the Sahara airlines flight was enjoyable, and so was the food, and the sight of svelte flight attendants to behold, with a graceful 'Sahara Pranam'. Landing in Bombay, the lad struggled with his bags, and finally managed to check them in at the British airways counter... but there was a hitch, his bags were over the limit, and he was either asked to offload some baggage, or cough up a fee for excess baggage, the attendants were out of earshot to his pleas that some concession be made to a first time student flyer. Now, he was in a quandary... offloading anything out of his bags was out of question, for it contained all the essentials for his initial sustenance, which included an ambrosial selection chosen and painstakingly prepared by his mother. After some haggling, some concession was made and the airline was content with an amount paid for excess baggage. With all the hullaballoo done with, the lad called his anxious parents back in Bangalore to inform them of his almost uneventful journey, and assured them that he would call back once at Heathrow.
The British airways flight was crowded with sleepy people, and bawling babies, and the lad managed to locate his aisle seat, and was just twiddling his thumbs and looking around. With echoing sounds of 'fasten your seat belts please', the aircraft finally soared high into the skies, bound for Heathrow. An emotional hotch potch was brewing in the lad's mind, the excitement and apprehension of what lay ahead in store in a foreign country with the agony of having left behind his trusted people and places... the rest of the flight was filled with reverie, marked by intermittent attempts at trying to catch a few winks... Heathrow was just a touch down away!
... I somehow ended up listening to the song 'Oh Hansini' from a yester year flick Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, last evening, which triggered an avalanche of memories of when I left India for Scotland almost five years ago... I thus thought of writing down what exactly I experienced in my initial days in a foreign land as a multi part series... more to come :-)
