Wow! I was going to India after 10 months of staying in the country which ruled by dadaji and unke dadaji for 200 years. And why was I going back, definitely it was least well planned. Was told by my manager in Barclays account which I was to join after 1 month that I might not have any work for next month so why not go for a leave the next month, so that is what I did. I booked my return ticket for next week itself, cost a few hundreds pounds more, but who cared when u were going back to India for returning back to UK, now that was important factor which motivated me in buying a couple hundred pounds on gifts, a couple hundred on tickets from Southhall travel and couple more on a HP laptop. Well the last one on pick list for shopping, but who cares when you are coming back.
Train to Manchester Airport
The flight was from Manchester at 9 in the morning, and to go to Manchester Airport I have booked a National Railways for 3 in the morning. I, actually We, reached at the Leeds Train station on time but the train was cancelled, they have booked Train buses for us, they are actually buses only to ferry the people when the train cancels, and it seems to me that it is quite regular here, because they have a bus-stand decided to the travellers who have booked the train tickets but are ferried to Manchester by bus, because they don't ply these trains at night or so it seems to me. And agin proved by the point that after I was ferried by the Train Buses or as they are called and by the time I returned back to UK, I heard that everyone who had to go to Machester by night on train had to be take these buses instead.
The Train Bus
So I was ready to board the bus, the Train Bus, and the first one came within minutes, and I was the last one not to board it. I also did not insisted to let me in that bus, because I wanted to travel cosily in the second bus, where I would be the first passanger to board it. So I waited for the second bus to come and waited and waited and waited. And there was no bus in sight, it was an hour of wait in that cold night that I started cursing my decision to miss that last bus and the passengers started cursing the rail people and the rail people were probably cursing the bus guys and bus guys I donno whom. It wasn't that I was going to lose any flight or so, infact once I reached the Manchester airport I had to wait for another two hours before I boarded my flight. I had ample time that even if I started walking I could have caught the flight with hours to spare. But, to our good luck and before the Yorkshire mob lost their complete patience, the bus came and gone was all the cameraderie and entiquette I have kind of started associating and swearing for the Leeds junta, and I would have been the last again not to enter this bus as well, had I not regained my Indianess and pushed my way to enter the gate, and if I would not have handed over my baggage to my friends who came to see me off in this chilling weather. The English might be actually amaged to see 10 people come to see off a single guy, but then we keep the spirit and tradition of India alive in hearts always.
Inside The Bus
The bus driver, an afro-anglican was reluctant to take me to Manchester Airport because I was the only passanger after Manchester Picadilly, and the airport was an hour drive from there. When we reached Manchester it was 5 in the morning and there was no taxi in sight, and I would have been completely busted had he not actually taken me to the airport. But he did.
But that was the gentler part of the story. The more funny was inside the bus on our way to Manchester, because I was sitting with a drunkard. Actually, quite a number of seats were empty and lots of pretty people around, but when your have been so lucky the entire night you cannot blame anyone else for it. So after half and hour or so the entire bus was almost empty at Huddersfield. The only surviving passanger were me and my mate. Few girls at the back, a guy in the seat opposite the aisle and a couple in the front.
So after testing my patience for full 10 mins, I completly gave up, jumped on my seat, pulled down my hand baggage from under the leg rest and put it in the seat in fornt of me. Till that time the drunkard was half in aisle and half on the seat, the guy in the next seat opposite the aisle helped me pull down the drukard and I was safely excorted out into my new seat. By the end of journey though, the drunkard was sleeping in the aisle itself.
Manchester Airport
There were not much stories except that I travelled all the way to the other side of the visitor lounge to try out the disabled toilet, when I could have just looked around in the first place and could have easily and comfortably located what I was looking for. And the fact that since my cell phone had stopped working the previous night only, with this peculiar problem that I was not able to hear people who called me but my voices never reached them, so I had to sms my family in India so eager and waiting. I bought a sandwich and munched it till the last breadcrumb's last bite. Browsed around the duty free, tried a few pefumes, read the titles of a few books. And finally waited at the Qatar Airways Line to be excorted in.
Inside the Qatar And at Doha
The Qatar Airways experience was good, the entire ambience was maroon that's their official color. I got my non-vegetarian food which was delicious, and that was the last time I got non-vegetarian food on Qatar Airways, because in some fit of anguish I have asked my travel agent in London who booked my return flight to serve me indian veg diet. So I was given special care by the Qatar airhostesses who were ready with my vege food before anyone was served in the entire airplane. Wow great service, but not for me. And I finally landed in the desert capital Doha. That was where I for the first time used my laptop on a Airport hotspot, cool!!!
Then there was this Diwali celebrations in Delhi with my family which I enjoyed, and the great thinking and revelations about where I should be heading. But then things started to work for me. And I was back in Leeds again. In India, I did enjoy my visit to Jaipur, Pushkar and Ajmer.The world is revealed for me now. There are few things that still elude me, and i will try my level best to get it, not because of anything but only because it will make me happy. And that is why I am here for. The first thing I need to understand is that every things which you like and want is achivable. And to remember it and next not to forget that you will have to work to achieve want you want. So get it, because you deserve it!!
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