Going back home.

The journey from Holland back to India started on 28th February early morning 3:30 AM. I and came to Rotterdam Central Station. It was cold and I had to catch the train to Schipol. After a failed attempt to buy tickets from the vending machine, I dragged myself and my luggage to the ticket counter and bought the tickets; the train was on-time and reached the Airport on-time too. After reaching the airport without any delay I checked and got rid of the luggage. I had a tough time convincing Dutch government that I had to stay in Netherlands but that was a failure and hence the previous night all I was thinking of was the Passport control. Next was that, and the nightmare came true. The passport control officer said "I am sorry sir, but it looks like you have overstayed" and asked me to go to another officer, where my stay in Netherlands would be verified. I submitted all my documents to the officer and was waiting anxiously as what he would say. He made a few phone calls and finally looked at me and said you may go. It was a relief and my throat was dry thinking of the worst case and I asked for a glass of water and the response was most surprising, "Do you think this is some kind of restaurant?" I was shocked, then he smiled and told me that he was joking and asked his colleague to help me. After this drama, I bought some gifts and was at the gate. Then it struck me that I was leaving Holland. I started back tracking my stay, right from the last day at office to the day I had landed in Rotterdam. Oh!! what a stay it has been. My best stay abroad. A beautiful country and, lovely people. As all good things have to come to an end, this one too had ended. The best part was it happened. As I was lost in these thoughts, I heard someone say "thithey phaktha card chaaltey" (Marathi) which means, "just card works there". It was an old couple from Maharashtra trying to phone someone in India using a telephone booth. I offered my phone to them after they finished they asked me if another friend of their can use too, I said yes. While all this was happening an American lady said to me that my phone was a "star". I said, "Anyway the balance in that phone is of no use for me so they could use it". She smiled and asked me if I was going to Mumbai? I said yes and she started a conversation, which I think was good for me considering I was already missing Holland. We spoke about my stay in Netherlands and how long I was there etc. and then she started with her experience in India. Apparently she was an American married to a Canadian settled in Texas who runs a BPO in India, and hence she frequently visited India. She had even attended quite a few Indian wedding and was all excited talking about it by then boarding started and she left saying a good-bye.
After I got into the plane, there was a lady next to my seat and she had filled the overhead cabinet with her stuff, so she asked me to keep it somewhere else and even helped finding some space. We were all settled and then she started, I hate flights. She had come from east coast of Canada and had already travelled for about 9 hrs. We spoke for about half an hour about air travel experiences and then she said "You know what's funny, we have been talking for half an hour and we don't know each other's name" We both laughed and introduced each other. She was Rukshar a Parsi from Mumbai settled in Canada. She was going to Mumbai on a vacation. She told me about various things, starting from settling abroad to bringing children up outside India, current state of India, the problems she faced when she left India etc. She advised me about what to look for if I had to settle in any foreign country and which country should I go for, and which not to. I told her that I had no plans of settling outside India. She was a good company. When we were nearing Mumbai she gave me her contact number and asked me to get in touch with her if I ever was in Canada. After we entered Mumbai, the flight did not get clearance for landing for about an hour so that delayed everything for me. I had to catch a flight to Bangalore and before that had to clear the customs at Mumbai. As soon as the flight landed Rukshar got my luggage for me and asked me to hurry. Luckily I finished the immigration pretty soon. The time gained in immigration was obviously to be lost somewhere and it was while waiting for the luggage at the belt. I was waiting for about 30 minutes or so it seemed and, had almost lost hopes of getting my luggage and there it came. About these waits at the belt, I have these strange thoughts. I haven’t travelled much but I always get this feeling that the ones at the belt are of those people who are in least hurry. I would have seen the same set of bags go around at least thrice and no one would have picked them, OR perhaps I am impatient. I am sure many would agree with the later explanationJ. Anyway I got my luggage and started towards the domestic airport, since I bought some gift at Schipol, I had to stuff that into the check luggage otherwise I was a threat to the people going to Bangalore:). So I did that and was waiting in a queue to get my luggage “security checked”.

I went to the airline counter to drop my check luggage and the lady at the counter told me that she will have to leave my luggage in Mumbai and send it in the next flight and the reason was that I checked in too late. For a moment I had agreed only to realize that I had checked in Amsterdam and I said “I had checked in Amsterdam and might also be the first person to check on that flight. I am sorry but you cannot leave my luggage behind”. She checked her system and agreed with me and told she will try to put my luggage into this flight. After a bit of wait at the domestic terminal we were taken to the flight. The flight reached Bangalore on-time and then I was back at the luggage belt waiting for my luggage. Almost everybody had got their luggage and the only thing I was thinking about was the words of the person at the check-in counter. Luckily they hadn’t skipped my luggage and I took them and was out of the airport. Finally I was back home..