Bharat Visit

I am back to India! ...I am planning to pen down my experiences during this one month long vacation. So...here we go...

Left Grenoble on the 4th of August. Generally the buses to the airport run every half an hour,  except at 14:30, and could just manage to reach the bus station when the 2 O clock bus left the gare routiere!!Ah Merde!! That meant wasting about an hour, people watching, fiddling with my luggage, sipping some water, a little purturbed as I guessed it would be a little tight situation if the airport is too crowded. Reached the Lyon aeroport at about 16:10...Hurriedly got the boarding passes printed and the baggages weighed...18.4(limit was 20) and 4.7 Kgs. Didn't have much to carry! Had a cheese sandwich on the flight which didn't taste good at the beginning but felt ok a couple of bites later...It was a bright, sunny, quite hot day...It always feels good to be above the clouds. Had a  two hour long gap at the Munich airport before the forward flight to Delhi. Most of the people boarding the flight were Indians, as expected.

   

A French couple requested me to exchange my seat as they wanted to sit together. They were a little surprised, or acted so when I agreed readily...perhaps felt that I don't understand English and had said yes without understanding what they asked for! (I can write with more satire, but let me spare them for now!) Anyway , the flight took off. My co passenger was a Polish woman, who could speak decent English, and so we could talk. Last one year in Grenoble has been kind of filled with too much of silences simply because the it's close to impossible to strike off a conversation with the French without speaking French...Leaving out a handful of exceptions(my lab-mates, advisors) and other non-French folks...She was quite friendly and we talked about a lot of stuff...Like most people landing at Delhi, her itinerary included Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Varanasi...I tried to watch Kung Fu Panda-2, and with a few breaks for food (Indian vegetarian; was good) and talks, did finish it...I had seen the first part a few weeks before in an attempt to explore animated movies; of which I wasn't a big fan earlier!

Then mid way during the flight we were handed out India-entry forms asking for details like passport no., flight no, puspose of visit etc, too many fields to irritate anybody and confusing for first timers. I could see the French lady across the even took out a dictionary!! One point made me a bit uncomfortable and made me think: NRI, Am I an NRI ?  I have been in France only for 1 year, and will be there for 2 more years, does that make me a "Non Resident" Indian? I ticked yes, and moved on....had to help my new friend with some of the weird terminologies and do a cursory check of her form.. We exchanged contacts and she invited me to her home if someday I happen to pass by Auschwitz, or may be the conference in Krakow!

I tried to get some sleep, but could only manage to close my eyes and rest for a couple of hours. I hate it when the plane started to descend because of the the pressure on the ears.And to add to that there was a wailing emotionally deranged woman quarreling with her family members a few rows away. Anyway the flight landed in time. Hired a taxi from the pre paid booth, and there I was: back to where I belong, India i.e. Bharat! More writing  will follow >>