Ripples on the brain

…I think was my first ever flight in an aeroplane and first ever travel outside India. It was on Nov 2nd / 3rd 2002 that the flight happened.

Preparation
The run up to that journey was very exciting for me and my family. As it always happens, the date of travel got confirmed only a couple of days before the actual travel. Since my work didn’t free me up for travel-related activities, my mom and sister did all the shopping for me. There was a torrential downpour on Nov 1st and again in the morning of Nov 2nd - that kind of rain was rarely witnessed in Chennai. On Nov 1st, we heard stories of cars taking 4 hours to cover the stretch between Guindy and airport. In fact many Maruti 800’s ran out of petrol in the traffic jam and had to be abandoned on the roads and that added to the chaos.

I had to collect my forex and tickets from my office on Nov 2nd. Against my parents’ advice, I rode my motor bike in the rain. The water-logged roads were too much for my faithful Hero Honda Splendor to handle; it broke down in Adyar. I left it at a friend’s place and paid an inflated fare to a lucky autowala to reach office. As I was dripping wet when I entered office, I tried using the hand dryer to dry my dress a little.

Airport
The better news on the whole day was that the rain relented towards the evening and Chennai traffic eased a bit. I was more nervous than happy with my trip. It was late evening when the cab dropped us at the airport. I hadn’t yet got used to the “cabin baggage, check-in luggage” terminology yet . My only solace was that there was a colleague who was going to accompany me.

The only earlier experience I had had with the Chennai airport (and that was the domestic terminal) was when my grand father and I received our uncle who came down from Bombay. I recall we paid Rs. 10 for entering the airport and a coffee at Rs. 5 in the arrival lounge seemed to be ridiculously expensive to me.

All those scanning luggages, collecting boarding pass etc. was absolutely new to me and I just kept following the crowd at each step. After emigration and security, we waited, for what appeared to be eternity, to board the aircraft.