travelogue

So my journey, as people would have it begins at the damned airport...there’s this amazingly long line to get baggages screened...around 33 people in front of me...so i kill almost an hour in that darned line, thinking that i could have just left my bags there and spent more time with my folks and friends...but unfortunately life’s never bloody fair!

So then i finally get the baggage screening done only to realise that i have to wait in yet another queue to do my check-in. Good thing was that the line moved fast. So i approach the counter and give the lady my passport and ticket and tell her that i have 2 bags to be checked in. I put the heavier suitcase on the weighing scale first and she tells me that i cannot take the bag coz UK labour states that bags over 32 kilos aren’t allowed on board. Therefore i have one of 2 options; one being i miss my flight and take another one...(this, - the stupid dimwit, knowing that i’m a student and i can’t afford another ticket) and the other being that i get someone to reach the bags to me.

It’s now 12:05 am and the check-in counter shuts by 12:45...so i rush with all my stupid bags on the trolley which refuses to move in spurts, manage to find the nearest payphone...call home and ask them to rush with an empty bag, so that i can distribute the weight of the bag.

Rush back to the Jet counter and ask one of the attendants to give me an extra 5 minutes to redistribute my stuff...and the pompous bum tells me, that’s only IF they reach and shows me his watch which reads 12:20...and tells me that i need to take the matter up with the superviser

Superviser tells me that i dont need those extra bags (which finally arrive, thanks to Smita, Nitin and Ameya), that she would pass my bags through...and so the good part of being held up with the bags and all that, apart from me at the edge, but seeming to be the epitomy of calm, i got to do an express immigration!! And was ‘escorted’ to the aircraft

Sat next to 2 gujjus from london...mommy gujju was worried about me travelling alone for the first time to england, so invited me home for dhokla ne thepla (no jokes), while baby gujju (in her eccent) tells me how life is ‘osum’ in England

So far so good, caught 2 movies on the flight, one glass of wine, 5 hours of sleep and a crick in the neck...apart from that flight was swell...6:45 in the morning London time, captain announces that we are about to land and i still see the clouds...so i figure that we still have about 20 minutes to land and i tell baby gujju to wake me up in 15 minutes...so she dutifully does that...and we still are in the clouds and suddnely i feel a thud and a glimpse of a building...and realise that its ‘bloody fawggy’

Get to terminal 3 and go to immigration...didnt have a problem, got it done in 15 mins and headed towards baggage claim, where lots of Indian students helping fellow Indian students with bags and all that...and ironically i find someone who’s as light as me, if not lighter to help me and vice-versa for her J

So there i’m headed with around 50 kilos in all towards the bus station(had no problem finding that, coz there were university reps stationed all over the airport) So here’s this gargantuan of a man, who looks mightily annoyed and unfortunately for him, he goes to load my suitcase first(remember the one that weighs 40kilos!) and screams ‘blimey what have u got inis?’; gives me the dirtiest of looks, ‘charge ye 2 pouns ikstraa fo tha’. Well so while the rest shell out 18GBP, i’m ready with my 20 pound note and the sweetie that he was, gave me 2 back and says that he forgives me and welcomes me to England

So then the journey to Oxford begins...initally nothing out of the ordinary...didnt understand why people fuss about England and all that...the drive was very reminescent of the Bombay-Pune expressway, right down to the phool,jhaad and paudas...they all look the bloody same...or so you would think...just as you exit Heathrow and move closer to the countryside, you initially see the occasional cottage or two with bircks and tiled roofs and a couple of chimneys sticking out

Then you see the meadows and little hillocks a la Pride and Prejudice and lo! There are the fat (maybe juicy for all ye non-veggies) sheep grazing with the hounds watching over them (God knows from what...unless the hounds are trained to chase away Volvo buses from those priceless sheeps!)

So basically Oxford is filled with the cottages i described earlier, looks very Victorian...the playhouses, and the old University buildings...architects’ field day here! People here are very friendly , helpful and everyone smiles at each other, there’s always a hello, thank you, welcomes, sorry etc etc etc...they’re just amazingly polite...i feel at home here (now, that is after spending 3 days and things seeming more familiar day after day)J

But truly this place is truly a global village...there are people from every corner of the world...scholarly, wise , eager to learn and meet other people...(maybe not the undergrads, they’re just drunk all the time)

I’ve made friends with people of so many nationalities that i never thought i’d meet...Kenya, Germany, a few English, Danish, Chinese, so for now, things are good.

So for now, i’m making the most of the calm before the storm...more later people!

Cheers!