India Rising

When the flight took off from Dubai, the palm Jumerirah was visible in all its glory, and what a sight to behold. A man made island, like a palm tree, bathed in all the light. Dubai had given a lot of such moments, artificial islands, world’s tallest towers, a ski slope in a desert. Now we are going to go to Ottawa, a place that has most of the above mentioned either naturally or due to its position of being in a first world country.

As Dubai became a tiny speck below us, I wanted to remember all those magic moments, I spent in Dubai, but soon exhaustion took over, and all I could do was sleep. The long journey intimidated me and it was the first time I was taking such a long journey, spanning across multiple timezones and hopping 2 continents, and the vast Atlantic sea. The long day ensured that I slept peacefully rather than reminiscing about Dubai.

When I woke up, Jinu was very excited. She was sitting in the window seat, and I could see her excitement in her beautiful eyes. They were dancing for sure. When I looked below, I saw the reason. It was Zurich. Oh my god, the greenery was awesome, and spell binding. Swathes of green, intercepted by homes and roads. It sure looked like something that we want to call heaven. I used to wonder why do the swiss have a lot of farmers and diary owners. Now I know. From 10000 feet above, all I could think of doing in Zurich was to be part of that nature. No computers, no technology. Just green and serene surroundings, with clean and damp air. Mmmmmm… Life would be great there.

In Zurich, the stop over was not very long, just about an hour or so, but got delayed due to the arrival of our connecting flight. The airport was scenic as expected, and we could see the snow capped mountains in the distance. The long distance calls to India were very expensive. All I could talk for $10 was 2 mins. I also came to know that one of my favorite perfumes, Swiss Army, is not produced in the Swiss. In fact, no one knows about it there. I also got my first culture shock. No water in the toilets. I leave it to the reader’s imagination as to what I did.

Next stop toronto. Man, the flight just took ages and ages to reach, and to cap it, there was no personal entertainment systems. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Nope, I could not. No amount of exhaustion would make me sleep. I should say that it was the worst flights I ever took. Little did I know that worse was coming at the Toronto airport.

The Pearson airport is huge. Hundred odd terminals. Phew… One of the baggages was lost, and by the time, we filed a report, the connecting flight to Ottawa had left. We reached Ottawa, 2 hours later, and unsurprisingly the guy who was supposed to pick us up had left. My phone was dead, and I couldn’t get the local contact number. So there we were – In a new country, not knowing what to do. Where to go? Who to call…

Welcome to Ottawa!!!