The flight landed at Delhi 15 minutes late than its scheduled time of 9:00 am and yes I had touched Delhi, the capital of India. 31st Jan 2014 was supposed to be the D day of my life and I was looking forward to it.
A day back when I started on my voyage from Amsterdam I was surprised to hear an announcement in Hindi at the Schiphol airport. It is surprising to see the presence of so many Indians where ever you go. In fact, people recognize Bollywood and Indian stars everywhere. In Berlin, which I visited some time back, we had passersby dressed in some flashy costumes shouting Sharukh Amitabh and some old Bollywood movie names. In Amstelveen, which has been my abode for the past year, I saw a beautiful painting of Sharukh Khan. You can find Indians and the Indianess everywhere.
The Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is a hub for travelers flying to and fro the Netherlands. The Airport is pretty big and remains crowded most of the times. I pushed my stroller and looked for belt number 29. A lady greeted me with a smile and I handed over the online checkin slip to her.
I got my boarding pass and in fact there were 2 of them and a luggage slip. I looked carefully at the first boarding pass and then moved towards the directions mentioned on the way. "Emirates economy queue" the board read and there were hardly 4 people standing there as there were still 20 mins for the boarding to start.
The glass pane on the wall overlooked the huge Boeing 380 airbus standing there majestically. Me and some other people took some pictures of the big machine as we waited for the boarding to start.
Very soon the crew arrived. The splendid hostesses of the flight walked by the Business class entrance and were the first to be scanned through the machines which looked like MRI scanners. They had a rotating sliding doors and you had to stand with your arms in the air making a dance like pose as if you are saluting with both hands.
Keep wearing your watch, said the security personal when I took off my wallet, belt and moved towards the alien looking machine. I made the dance pose and the door slid once. I moved towards the doors where the crew was already seated and then started another wait, the wait to get on the Airbus 380.
Zone C passengers can now board the plane said the man at the gates and I hopped to the front. The plane was huge and had 2 aisles, I moved towards the one on the right. "May I help you" asked a pleasant voice. I non-nonchalantly showed her my ticket as I knew I could get to my seat. Please go ahead towards the last, said she again. Thank you, I said and moved on.
I had an aisle seat and another luxury that there was no passenger on the seat besides me. I could make full use of the hand rest bar on both sides and I thought to myself, "this is luxury indeed."
We have 19 people in the crew who speak in 16 languages, boasted the captain. It was surprising to see that the plane had an in air Wi-fi which could be used at a cost though. I switched off the wi-fi after an attempt when I saw that I had to shed some dollars for a chekin in air.
The Asian vegetarian meal seemed not so bad and I tasted some rice and some curry. "Can you please take this away", I asked the hostess who gave a stern look but took the tray away anyway. The standard meals arrived later and most of the others took their pick from lamb or chicken.
Meanwhile I focused on what was to come the next day. I was anxious but prepared mentally.
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