'To shorten a journey, one must take the first step'

Enid Blyton.

My name is Imran, I was born and bred in England. My parentland is India. I've never travelled out of England. Until 2003 that is.

My life was going through a tragic phase during that time. My 13 month relationship with my fiancee had just ended and I felt I was travelling down the bannister of life with the splinters facing upwards. I tried to find solace in various activities but all to no avail. I felt wounded and as many relationships do, this one also ended nasty, I felt nothing but regret; whether it was for falling in love or ending it.

As time went by, the wounds were beginning to heal, however there was still a glimpse of sadness now and then. One fine evening I decided to aid a friend of mine (Saf) in wallpapering and decorating his home, now Saf's been to India on three different occassions and with great fascination he was giving me an insight to the country which holds just less than 1/6th of the world population.

Somehow I was intrigued. I wanted to discover India. The thought played in the back of my head like a broken record player; I felt like India was calling me. After giving the matter due consideration and checking my bank balance,I made up my mind. It is time I sat on a plane, It is time I travelled out of England, It is time I explored my culture and experienced some adventure, It is time I met my elderly relatives who were waiting for me with eager anticipation 25 years on, It is time to visit my motherland, It is time to go to India.

I wish to share this journey with my H2G2 community as this was one of the greatest adventures, together with the greatest chapter I would ever read in my life. I wish to provide you with an insight of my experiences,adventures and romance. Am hoping you will view this journey from my perspective, a young man out to experience culture and adventure. This is no romantic novel, this happened and is part of my life.

I had everything prepared, I booked my ticket, and made the necessary travel arrangements. My only reservation was I've never travelled by plane before, ironically I recall watching the old version of the 'FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX'. I decided to let my haste to adventure get the better of my fears so on 2/2/03, I travelled to Heathrow airport.

I was nervous at first as I never had the slightest clue on checking in, I felt like a fool when the nice lady at the security desk confiscated my entire razor blade collection, which I unknowing packed in my hand luggage.

The time is about 8.30pm I've been following people, asking directions, ringing my family to see I've followed the right procedures, till I finally arrived at the boarding gate. And now boarding time.

So I entered the plane for the first time in my life, the sweet scent of the air freshner striking me at first. It felt like an SAS mission to find my seat, literally jumping over kids, dodging luggage left on the floor, squeezing myself past people conversing on the aisle and finally,I found my seat.

A short while later, a pleasant looking gentleman sat besides me on the seat adjacent, he greeted me with a smile and I acknowledged him with a nod. Now the moment of fear, I recall thinking the breakup with my girlfriend was bad, this is worse, (THE PLANE WAS TAKING OFF),a loud ear popping moment and 10 minutes later, we were flying, now I was excited.

Bored, I sparked up a conversation with the man next to me I explained this was my first time on a plane, he assured me everything would be fine and reminded me to keep my seatbelt fastened in the event of a turbulence. The noble gentleman went a step ahead and explained the reason for this, he said 'In the event of a plane crash, the bodies can be identified'. Thankyou, how reassuring. I thought.

It was now late night and most people were fast asleep or watching the big movie screen ahead, I was getting bored now, the pin drop silence was interrupted by the roar like snore of the man next to me, of course it's worth mentioning his jaw was wide open allowing him to drool, not a pleasant site to my left, then I thought why not look to the right; the window. To my surprise and astonishment I can recall viewing one of the most amazing sights. We were experiencing turbulence, and the clouds gathered, suddenly there was lightning and thunder, I saw from the window a flash of lightning strike a cloud, It seemed I was only 50 metres away and as we were above the clouds, I saw the clouds flashing in a sequence, it looked like a disco floor. It was Celestial.

I managed to grab some sleep for a few hours till the announcement was made for breakfast.A little while later the stewardess arrived with the trolley and to my surprise I saw there were a variety of items to choose from; croissants,tea, scones with butter, pancakes with maple or chocolate syrup and cereal. I ate breakfast like a king that day.

Almost an hour later we were preparing to land, my seatbelt is fastened and a huge bump later it's ground zero. I disembarked from the plane to my stopover Muscat. The Muscat airport is comparitively a very tiny airport, where everything is easy to find and surprisingly operates on a smoke anywhere policy. To pass some time, I went browsing in the small duty free shop and bought a pack of cigars together with enough cigarettes to supply me for 3 weeks. I had to wait 3 hours before my plane to Mumbai. I looked at the huge digital clock ahead and time was ticking. By tommorow I will be in my motherland.

In part 2 I will describe India my motherland, how I found my life partner, the emotions, the culture and the adventures, and a lesson I never forgot. till then SALAAMS 2 U.

I.L

Salaams2u

27.10.05 Front Page

Back Issue Page