Well,
Time for some narration of the experiences of US travel so
far :-).
We
left for Mumbai on that day (i, aai, baba, pidya, hemya, amey, patil,
sandeep and the driver :P) and reached the airport well in advance.
We were wondering when i should be getting in, just when
announcement for the travellers was made.
I
went in and my baggage was checked with those machines, from there i
went to a counter for Singapore Airlines, the lady there was a helpful
one she did the desired stuff. Here i gave my big bag, to her. (Ppl say
that tatya carries a heavier bag when he goes to Amravati, than this
one :D ). Then i entered the customs department, where there were a lot
of policemen, checking ppl, there pockets, cabin luggage and all of
it... I passed through that as well and went and sat inside, watching
"Shahenshah" which was running on the TV. Then the crew for our plane
entered moved along and passed through the door behind us, hinting that
it was just time for us to move on.
The announcement was made
and i started moving, with all the rest of the ppl, to the plane. My
thinking here was that, i would go to the typical stairs that take you
into the airplane, but i was wrong in there, there was a passage from
the building, which directly led me into the airplane. Great, mala
ashcharyach watla ki how could they align the plane so perfectly to
the passage built in the bldg :-)
The seat
was a comfortable one, and there was a Singapori
ajoba besides me. The central seat between us was empty. Now i started
exploring the seat, yeah it was worth exploring. There was a small LCD
screen at the backside of the seat in from of me. There was a handset
kind of thing in the left arm of the seat, with which i could navigate
through the channels running on the screen. The channels were supposed
to be closed untill the plane takes off. Some larger screens at the
front of the plane (aplya video couch buses madhyye astaat na tase),
were showing the maps, our current location, time to be taken and other
information about hte flight. Actually there was a dedicated channel
for this, which used to continually display the map with the current
location, speed, height, distance ...etc.
As we
were being seated the airhostess all of which were
singaporian started giving everyone white towels. I took one, it was
soaked in hot and scented water, i wondered what i was supposed to do
with it. Aju bajula baghitlya var lakshaat aale, ki that was to wipe
your hands and face and feel fresh (raatri 12:30 la fresh !!! )
And then
the announcement was made for the departure of the
plane ... The plane slowly started moving towards the uddan patti... mi
devache naaav ghetle... It rolled for some time, ani nantar zoooOOOM,
itka weg ala ki baghta baghta aamhi akaashaat hoto ani khali raatrichya
andharaaat Mumbai shahar zakaaas disat hote. Mala sodaylaa alelya
lokancha vichar manaat ala, ani mi manatlya manaat tyanna "bye" mhanun
ghetle :-) Ani pravaaas suru zala. Thodyaach welaat wine ani Orange
juice gheun ek airhostess ali, arthatach, mi Orange juice ghetla
:-). Ata vimana baaher andhaar disat hota. Thodyaach welaat
jevan
aaale, (Indian Veg) Thoda zopaycha prayatna kelaa, thodya welaat uthun
baghto tar kaay,Singapore aale hote. 5 taasacha pravaas zala. tithe
vimaan change kele. ani mag pudhcha pravaas.
Parat 5 tasanni Seoul aale. Hya thikani viman utaratana faar
jabri watte, sagle Islands aahet na, tyamule, khaali yetana watte,
kitti Chhote gaav aaahe mhanun... Parat ya 5 tasaa madhye ek Jevan
yeoon gele. ani ek naashta :-)
Seoul madhye ek taas
thamblyavar, Viman punha ravana San Francisco la. Mazya samorchya
channels pramane aamhi 900 to 1000 km/hr ya speed be 11000 Meter itkya
unchivarudat hoto :-) WoW
Hya pravasaat parat ek Jevan. Aaai
ga, zopaylach det navhate he loka, uth suth jevan jevan, ani te pan
agdi hopeless, Poli ani Bread hya donhi chya madhle kaahitari asayche
dar welela :-) Ata ha pravaas 10 tasach aslyamule mi thik thaak zoplo,
atleast 6 taas tari zop zaali asel overall, ani "Deewangee" picture pan
Baghitla, ani madhye thode thode "Apoorvai" che vachan, ase karta
karta, San Francisco aale suddha.
Ithe
utarlyavar chinta watat hoti, ki Immigration waale traas
denaar ka, customs waale vagaire vagaire pan tase kaahi zale naahi.
Utarlya var akhilesh la phone kelaa, to mhanala mala ghyayla Gurbir
yetach asel ... Gurbir aalaa va tya barobar mi Milpitas la pochlo.
Ani ithe
alyavar, he Americans kiti ulte palte prakaar
kartaat, he baghayla milale. Tya baddalche mail nantar pathaven :-)
SAddhya,
company madhye baslo aahe, changli company aahe, mala
pan palya saarkhe motthe cubicle aahe :-D saddhya shikane suru aahe,
kamabaddalche...
Copyright 2003, 2004 by Kedar Sovani