Finally decided to write about our UK experience and I have changed my blog name too...”Diligence” fitted me few years back. Now I feel I am no more a hard worker...I have turned out to be a lazy goose so why create a false impression to the external world? That’s y….I have decided to write the UK experience in parts as I want to give a separate space for my feelings and thoughts that persisted before we left India and during the flight journey. This post is about the same.
Our UK trip was not a much planned one. Selva is very possessive about athai and mama so he had been postponing his onsite opportunity for long time. Somehow he decided to accept for one year UK onsite opportunity. I first decided to quit my PhD, coz I was not sure if I can take a break and I was so scared even to inform my PhD guide Prof Dr.Ranjani Parthasarathi.Atlast on the day when i got relieved from my JRF duties at Anna University, Mam was kind enough to accept for a break...That was a real happy shock for me as I din expect it all…I was very worried to quit my studies to which I had spent more than a year by attending classes, writing exams ,balancing work, struggling to get parents’ permission to marry Selva,etc. But on the other side, already Selva lost many good opportunities he got in B lore as I was studying in Chennai and onsite opportunity is very important to his career.So made up my mind to quit PhD and thought may be after returning back to India I can do PhD in VIT, Vellore.But I know nothing can be a substitute for a PhD in Anna Univ that too under the guidance of Ranjani Mam and I am not a brilliant student to get into IITs for my PhD. Thanks to Mam.
I resigned my job some four days before we left to UK.Selva and myself were so busy .Too much of shopping, shifting house, visiting relatives. We felt so exhaustive. We bought web cameras for our parents and told them about Skype so that we can meet online on skype after we leave to UK. Visa delays made things worse. The ticket booking agency was almost booking and cancelling tickets for us daily. But things started getting ok soon. Our journey got confirmed on Aug ,21,2009. My parents and athai stayed with us at our Adayar Rent home on 20th night. Athai brought us Selva’s favorite kolukaatai and vangi bath. Mama was bit busy with his work so he could not make it. Till 20th Night 9 PM we visited relatives. We had to call/text our friends and relatives. The messy part was till 10 PM we had so much to do with packing, cleaning the house and surrender the same... Me and Selva got things done at around 12 PM.We got up at around 4 AM and got into the cab by 5 AM and reached the airport by 5.30 AM.
I felt my heart getting so heavier. I don’t flinch it so easily and I was struggling so hard in the efforts of not bursting out with tears. I was not even able to respond properly to mama and chitapa who called me on phone when we were in the Airport.Mom bought us sweets and savories form the krishna sweets at the AirPort. Even until we finished our check in I was so composed .But I failed when my mom was in tears. I cried so badly when we had to leave them .I din stop crying till we reached the lobby area. The lady who checked our passport threw a strange look on me seeing me with tears. After Selva requested me and said,”en maanatha thayavu seithu vaangatha “ I tried stopping my tears. Selva who cried a week back when he left his Vellore home was totally cool on the day of flight. In the lobby area, I was quiet ok and I spoke with my BE friends Srivi,vidya subbu who are in B lore and pavai who is in Chennai.Mariamaal and bala mithra too called me on that day.
Sometime later we queued up to enter the flight. That moment was really inquisitive about how a flight would be. That was my first flight journey and for Selva too. When I was working in Anna University me, Raji, balaji, senthil and bharath use to go home together chit chatting, joking and pulling each others legs. When an aero plane happens to fly over our head that time me and raji use to discuss if we will travel by flight in our life. When I was waiting for the flight, I was thinking about the same discussion. Sometimes things we never expect happens so easily and so early too.. I was literally jumping in the queue. Selva was telling about the inconvenience of economy class on which we had to go. When we entered the flight, I saw the business class first. Thinking that it was the economy class, I scolded Selva (of course without his knowledge!) for having created false opinions. Later I came to know the truth. It was Fly Emirates and the reception by the Air hostess was good. But Selva was quiet disappointed with them. He had high expectations to see some colorful good looking smarties.According to me, they were not that bad. Selva always has different opinions. It was a three seater.A French girl was sitting next to me. We had a small conversation. From that I came to know that she is a school student studying in an International School, Chennai and going home for a holiday. I felt so proud of Chennai’s Educational facilities. Actually the flight’s destination is Dubai. From there, we had to catch the connecting flight to London. It’s a good and comfortable three hours journey. We were given dosa, sandwiches, fruit yogurt and juice for our break fast.
When we reached Dubai, I was totally amazed by the majestic appearance of Dubai AirPort. Then after refreshments we waited in lobby for our next flight. We had to travel seven long hours to reach London. A Japanese Girl was next to me and she seemed so tired and busy sleeping throughout .As it was my first flight I din wanna sleep. I wanted to observe things around me. Selva watched some English movie. I had only two options.Dasaavathaaram and Saroja.I opted saroja as I like comedy movies. I felt so uncomfortable to keep my legs in a fixed position. I have travelled by Bus and Train for long hours. Our native place, a small village called Keezhavayali, near Sankaran Koil Town, Tirunelveli District takes fourteen hours from Chennai by bus .I have travelled for about twenty seven hours in train, when I use to visit places in North India regarding my JRF job in Anna University. I have not felt so inconvenient when I traveled by bus or train as I did in flight. Bus will have a kind of semi sleeper facility and train needless to say. But flight was terrible. Selva was after all right about the economy class.
Here I got to talk about the food.We had opted for vegetarian food but as there were some confusion with that, we had to choose Non-Veg. I was given the option of Chicken and fish for the main course. I chose fish.OMG they gave real fish which din have any masala coating on it. It is not their mistake. I was totally new to it. When we use to eat out in restaurants at Chennai, I don’t even try something different; not even North Indian foods. I stick to Dosa always. If you punish me by forcing to eat dosa for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, I will not consider it as a punishment, I will take it as an action of love instead. For that kind of a person, when a plain boiled fish with some half cooked rice was given, it was like a hell. Thank god they provided some puddings and sandwiches. We started by early morning but the sun remained shining till we reached London.For the first time i felt the rotation of our planet earth.
Atlast we reached London. London Airport looked so old and I feel Chennai airport is far better than London airport. After few formalities, we collected our luggages and walked to the entrance, where a cab was arranged for us. Our actual destination is Milton Keynes, a city which takes one hour to reach from London. I was so eager to see London from car but I was so drained and decided to recharge myself by having a nice sleep. It was 10 PM when we reached Milton Keynes. We were waiting for Selva’s friends to help us reach our apartment .Amidst that waiting time which was less than two mins, I was almost shivering. It was Autumn when we reached UK.But it was worse than the winter in India..We entered our apartment which was so new and stylish..The brand new experience we had in UK from the very next day will continue in the next post.
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