The journey from the H-26, Shriram Sadhan to 46, Forli Place

Boom began the morn of the second of October just as unexpectedly as the month of September. Is it only me or is time really flying at escape velocity? I should definitely check with the saner group! Jokes apart, time is not waiting for itself, leave alone for the tide. The impending wedding which now is a memory of the past, the intended departure of Adarsh which is also a thing of the past now and my expected travel; all of these events have just zoomed by. And lo behold, I am on the flight typing this travelogue.

The penultimate day of my travel was very busy with visit to Grandparent’s place, getting my luggage weighed and bidding quasi farewells to all kinds of people. The cherry on top of the cake was of course the tasty gobi Manchuria by Ash, Dahi vada by Amma and the Dutch Truffle cake from Aparna and Rajesh. Imagine celebrating and chatting till 11 in the night just before the day of flight – this is my kind of preferred life!

In a wink of the eye, dawned the morning of Saturday. After the unusual hassle free ritual of the four of us getting ready, we were all set to travel to the airport. After a short travel of thirty odd minutes which was mostly used up by me to put my shoes on (ha ha, believe me, it’s not easy to fasten your shoe lace in a cramped rear seat of a Qualis), we were at the airport. Things seemed to be passing by very quickly indeed. The bags were weighed and a few last minute adjustments were made. My in-laws joined us in a few minutes.

After a bizarre but pleasurable process of checking in my baggage, I was our again in the lobby talking to my people nineteen to a dozen until half past five. The check in was smooth with only the BA authorities asking me to produce my marriage certificate. It was a pleasant experience to be travelling by business class. The breakfast, lunch and the snack were really good and tasty. Overall the flight was uneventful with me playing on my laptop for a long time flanked by two very sleepy ladies. Finally the lady on my left woke up and struck a jolly conversation with me.

The ten hours just flew by and there I was on the British soil. Heathrow did not seem to be as huge and crowded as people had claimed. The immigration line was pretty long but things moved on pretty quickly. I had no hitches expect for my lung X-ray. Supposedly every Indian is expected to produce one if you are on a long stay. So, people henceforth if you know anybody travelling to the UK, ask them to carry one.

After the immigration procedure, which took about 40 minutes, I finally came out with my luggage to be greeted by the ever smiling and ever warm hubby. Poor chap, he had been waiting for over an hour. We then had a jolly ride on the tube for about an hour and reached King’s Cross. There we switched over to the other train that would take us to Peterborough. The ride was very pleasant with endless sights of greenery. I even spotted a buck on the marshes. It turns out that the local railway line passes just behind our area and so we could spot our apartment from the train. By the way, Dodappa (Prashanth’s dad) can have a whale of a time here by watching trains go by every half an hour from our sitting room. It makes no noise but is fun to watch. The taxis here are so funny and look ancient (only look but they are really in good condition). The model is so logical since the rear seat has so much space that we could fit all the 3 pieces of my jumbo luggage. By taxi, it takes about 7 minutes to reach our apartment.

With great difficulty Adarsh had tried to clean up his bachelor’s pad. The house is lovely with broom cupboard as soon as you enter. It also has a heater and a store room right in the beginning. Then it has a master bedroom with lots of cupboards. Then comes the guest room which is now serving the purpose of holding all our monstrous suitcases. Then comes the sitting room with the dining space which has a dining table. The sitting room has a lovely sight out of the window which I have already alluded to. There is also the biggest attraction in the form of a 40 inch LCD television. Then there is my area – the kitchen which is ‘L’ shaped. It has the hob, the chimney, the oven, the microwave oven, the fridge and the freezer, 2 sinks and a washing machine. So this is a very brief summary of the floor plan of our cozy nest.

The weather is still pleasant but is very chilly. One cannot go out without the jacket or the coat. Adarsh and I do a lot of walking since both of us enjoy flexing our leg muscles. Also, the environment is so clean and the pavements are so broad, that walking is a pleasure. There are signals for pedestrians also and we have to enable them when we want to cross the roads. Pedestrians are always given the first priority.

The trip to a place called Cambridge was wonderful. We went there by train to watch Rajnikanth’s new movie – ‘Endhiran’. It was funny to be sitting in a half filled theatre of a Rajnikanth movie when it had released just the previous day. It would have been impossible to lay our hands on the tickets back in India!!! I had the loveliest of the Pizzas and Garlic bread in Pizza hut. They were so light, crisp and tasty and I had never tasted any like them before.

I am getting used to the life here very quickly. It is fun to shop in the super market which is called ‘ASDA’ here. I am enjoying chocolates, chocolate cakes and chocolate ice creams almost every day. We even had a Pizza night one day since it was boring to cook. Just chuck the frozen Pizza in the oven and lo behold, it is ready to eat. Of course, I am also walking with a hope of not piling on any pounds!!! J

Adarsh likes have some chat pata, tasty and filling snack with a cup of hot tea when he comes home. Till date I have served him poori with baby corn n peas masala, aloo mutter, chole, gobi channa; dose with potato curry, pani poori, sev batata puri, uddina vade with chutney, batani akki rotti, rice kheer etc etc etc. We have dinner by 10 in the night. I even tried Aloo batani columbu on day. It was very tasty. Breakfast is generally sandwiches or crumpets with coffee since he has to leave for office at 7.15 am.