St.
Louis Despatch No 1.
( 09 February 2014)
Preamble-
This blog (& others to follow… ) is dedicated to the handful of
well-wishers, friends & critics, who actually read my previous efforts
& whose suggestions I dared to trash…& continued to write on!!
Westward
Ho!
And so it was time to pack ones bags & head in
the general direction of America, but quite the opposite in terms of the
directions, vis-à-vis Chris Columbus & his ilk. To begin with, don’t get
talked/read into believing the changes that have been made to Mumbai Airport,
or CSIA as it is now called. If the exterior
of the terminal resembles a waiting room
at a railway/bus station, the immigration is worse! Sheer
tenacity of mind matched with a
will to get out, come what may, gives the multitude there, the patience to bear it all.
The Carrier in question lived up to my expectations,
as fuelled by the better half’s report,(who has been there 2 months now!) on cleanliness, food (quality & frequency)
& of course the ‘hoors’ .
That mystique that has been associated
with the (face behind the)veil since the time of Sindbad, continues to date
& before the dream is shattered, you have arrived in the land of oil & money ( earlier milk & honey!)
Of course, surprises never cease & for a moment
I thought that we had turned back & landed at Mum…CSIA. Barring an odd
local face, most of the staff there were from good ole India! What a relief to
be met by Sudhakaran ! I was also
convinced, as I had been in the past,
that human effort/actions can never, never be replaced by all the gizmos you
can come up with. Here was this guy, holding up a paper with Chicago &
Washington written on it, and hollering away to herd us into one corner! O God,
this is a modern day slave market thought I, & images of Emirs/Sheikhs
looking over the well fed types &
putting up a finger (or more, in token of the price of the slave!!),
flashed before my eyes.
This was a new thing introduced, that all hopefuls
flying to the land of opportunities, would be put through a screening procedure
not once, but twice, (so as to deter them from taking the trip again…or so I
thought). The US Govt has now started
the process of customs, immigration etc. at selected transit airports.
I also got an
insight into a possible reason why guys from this area are so good at long
distance running. Because once we were
assembled, our ‘shepherd’ took us at
breakneck speed, on unending laps of the terminal, through overhead and
underground passages, on modern day ‘flying carpets’ ( some people call them
walkways), to the final destination, a few Kms away. After the 1st security check , we went through another maze,
made ‘mazier’ (is there any such word?) by the Duty Free displays till we came
to another enclosure, more checks, screening & on to the Imm counter.
Having answered all the questions of Why? Where? & How long? correctly, I was officially
allowed to enter US space, & told to
move on to wait at the boarding gate. We were literally ‘gated’
because this level being bereft of coffee/snack counters, Rest Rooms, one had to
descend to the lower level, (where these
facilities were) which meant depositing
the boarding pass, frisking, getting back the pass, more frisking!!
If this part of the narrative seems a bit exhaustive
(in terms of description, not the physical condition!!), it’s sole purpose is
to acquaint the ignorant with what lies
in store (Que Sera Sera!)
The new system of Imm etc. has it’s own pitfalls. And since pitfalls are
something you fall into because you haven’t seen them, we too didn’t know what
happened, but there was a delay of over an hour & a half, before we really
took off. Of course, there’s always a
humorous side to such situations & so a wise guy (smart aleck) made a
sweeping remark that the “the ‘plane
will make up “ the lost time!! (which even trains have given up!)
Time to rewind .‘flash-back’. Remember my Niagara
blog (circa ’11) & the ‘aunty’ from Valsad
trying to slowly (read ‘slyly’) maneuver her granddaughter into the vantage point, I had seized, on the
‘Maid of the Mist”!! Well, here, to my
surprise, I found that my seat had been usurped (in the best of India’s historical tradition,
which continues today) by a kid, whose
father, born just a few years after me,
gave me that look (oh, my family has got separated!!) & requested
“uncleji” to adjust please. My 2
preconditions were either an aisle or a
window seat, or nothing! (At least I
tried the tough Joe act!)
The flight was very good, smooth, just a little turbulence over the Dead Sea , good food, the
works. There was one thing though, that
was puzzling. The aircraft took a flight
path that went across from Abu Dhabi, over the Gulf, most of SW Europe, Great Britain & then over
southern Greenland & then onto
Canada, US (Chicago), rather than a more direct path across the Atlantic.
Stealth & surprise!! Anyway, all other comforts (&
diversions apart), 15 hours of air
travel is not really my cup of tea! There’s one thing I noticed though; just
when you were recovering from a bout of sleep/deep slumber/stupor, the angels
galvanized into action & came up with some heavenly treats! Tremendous timing.
Finally, some parts the land of opportunities, (although
shrouded in snow) came into view, and I was engulfed in a feeling of
nostalgia. However, while getting off, I couldn’t help but notice that the effects of the turbulence I mentioned
earlier, was evident, considering the
blankets, earphones, glasses etc. were strewn all over the ‘craft! When, O when will we learn!?!
It was as
though I was here not too long back & soon found myself at the baggage claim area. The flip side of an
early or an e check-in shows itself at this point, where your baggage is the
last one to arrive! So either way, there
is a long wait. Take your pick.
Almost an hour to receive the baggage, but
fortunately, all Imm formalities having been done earlier, the
exit was faster, aided by the family (Wife , daughter, SIL). The warmth of
being received was inversely proportional to the cold weather & chilly
winds! I was home!!
Till then, TC you all…
Ashok
P.S.
In deference to the warning of No photos at the airport, this piece cannot be
made more colourful.
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