आपल्या आयुष्यात अनेक मार्गदर्शक/शिक्षक असतात। पण थोडेच जण असे काही भक्कम असतात की कितीही झाले तरी दीपस्तंभाप्रमाने सतत ध्येयाची/मार्गाची आठवण करून देतात. माझ्या आजपर्यंतच्या प्रवासातील एक महत्वाची व्यक्ती, ज्यामुळे माझ्या सरळ धोपट अभ्यासाला चांगला मार्ग मिळाला, ती व्यक्ती म्हणजे सोलापूरचे 'जाधव सर’.
माझ्या मोठ्या भावाची ७वी। या वयातल्या मुलांसाठी सर्वात मोठी परीक्षा म्हणजे ' ७वी स्कॉलरशिप'. पप्पांनी आधीच 'जाधव सरांची' भेट घेउन अमेयाचा प्रवेश पक्का केलेला. क्लासचा पहिला दिवस अणि अमेयाला सर खूप आवडून गेले. तो मधुर शांत स्वर, मुलांना त्यांच्या वयाप्रमाने मुद्दा सोदाहरण समजावून सांगणे, चांगली अभ्यासाची पद्धत लावणे, पाठांतर, स्मरणशक्ती जोपसणे, उत्तम वाचन लेखन, उत्तम लोकांचे विचार अशा एक काय अनेक गोष्टी सांगता येतील सरंबददल!
ज्यांना माहिती नसेल त्यांच्यासाठी या परिक्षेची सर्वसाधारण ओळख करून देतो। ही परीक्षा म्हणजे ७वीच्या मुलासाठी डोक्यावरून पाणी. यात फक्त ३ विषय: भाषा, गणित आणि बौद्धिक बुद्दिमत्ता चाचणी.
भाषा हा विषय मराठी,तिची सुंदरता अणि तिचे भाषा विशेष म्हणजेच वाक्यप्रचार, म्हणी आणि सामान-विरुद्ध अर्थ वगैरे वगैरे यांची परीक्षा। यात उत्तम गुण मिळवणारा मुलगा पुढे जाउन नाव काढणार यात वादच नाही! गणित ही फक्त 'ड गट' सोडवण्याची परीक्षा, ते पण फक्त १।२५ मिनिटात १ गणित! यात ला.सा.वि. म.सा.वि, काळ काम वेग, द्वैराशिके-त्रैराशिके, नफा-तोटा, गुण्णोत्तर, सरळव्याज-चक्रवाढव्याज, शेकडेवारी, वगैरे वगैरे सामिल होते. बौद्धिक बुद्दिमत्ता चाचणीमध्ये कूट प्रश्न, सांख्यिक चौकोन, आकृतीतील चौरस-आयतांची संख्या मोजणे, परस्पर संबन्ध शोधणे, पुढील क्रम शोधणे, विजोड संख्या/अक्षर शोधणे, संख्या/अक्षर मनोरा, वर-खाली क्रम ठरवणे आणि त्या आधारित प्रश्नांची उत्तरे देणे वगैरे वगैरे समाविष्ट होते.
जाधव सरांचा एक पेटंट ड्रेस कोड होता तो म्हणजे पांढरा स्वच्छ धुवून इस्त्री केलेला सदरा आणी विजार। त्या शर्टाच्या खिशाला एक चकचकीत निळं शाईचं पेन. त्या पेनाने सर फक्त सही किंवा शेरा लिहित. आकडेमोड किंवा उत्तर लिहायचे असल्यास सर समोरच्याचे पेन मागुन घेत. त्यामुळे सरांच्या पेनाची मोहोर उठवून घेण्यात मुलांची चढाओढ लागे. सरांच्या वर्गात एकच नियम होता तो म्हणजे काही येत नसेल, करायचे नसेल तर शांत बसणे. उगीच दंगा घालून बाकीच्यांचा वेळ वाया नाही घालावयाचा! अशी मुले सरांपासुन लांब अगदी शेवटच्या बाकावर बसत. मग सरांचे लक्ष तिकडे गेल्यावर काही तरी करण्याचा आव आणत. मग सर आम्हाला अवघड गणीत घालून त्यांचा समाचार घ्यायला जात. मधुनच धपाट्याचा आवाज आला की ओळखायचं चोराला शिक्षा झाली. सगळा वर्ग मग मागे वळून वळून बघायचा. पण सरांनी कधी खडू नाही मारले किंवा बाहेर नाही काढले. खूपच झाले तर ते 'चितळे मास्तरांसारखे' खांदे दाबायचे! पण हे सगळे नियम लागु व्हायचे ते फक्त मुलांना! सरांनी मुलींना शिक्षा केलेली मला तरी आठवत नाही. फार तर एकीची जागा बदलून मागच्या ओळीत दुसरीच्याजवळ बसवायचे!
मग काही वर्षानी मी, पप्पा आणि अमेय असे तिघे गेलो सरांकडे, माझा प्रवेश घ्यायला। मी तिथे भाषा शिकलो, गणित शिकलो, अनेक चाचणी परीक्षा दिल्या. शुद्ध मराठी म्हणजे अग्निरथ आवक-जावक नियामक ताम्र पत्रिका, ती कशाशी खातात ते कळले! खूप चांगले चांगले मित्र मिळवले। कूट प्रश्न, बौद्धिक कसरती, २ ते १९ पर्यंतच्या कसोट्या शिकलो! आजवर जे काही यश मिळवू शकलो आहे त्याच्या मुळाशी जाधव सरांनी घातलेला भक्कम पाया हेच कारण आहे.
मुळातच सर शिकवायचे खूप मनापासून। त्या शिकण्याच्या वयात अशी कोणी व्यक्ति आदर्श म्हणुन आसपास असणे हेच मोठे भाग्य! सर म्युन्सिपालटिच्या शाळेत शिक्षक आणि हेडमास्टर अशा दुहेरी जबाबदारया पार पाडत! सरांनी इतरांकडे कधीच दुर्लक्ष्य केल्याचे मला तरी आठवत नाही. ज्यावेळी सर निवडक हुशार मुलांना शाळेत आणि घरी बोलवून त्यांना विशेष प्रश्नपत्रिका सोडवायला लावत, जास्तीची तयारी म्हणुन (आजकाल यालाच स्पेशल कोचिंग क्लास असे गोंडस नाव मिळालय!); त्याचवेळी शाळेतून जी कोणी ७वीचि मुले असत त्यांना पण बोलवून आमच्या सोबत पेपर सोडवण्यास देत. कारण काय तर त्यांना पण अभ्यासाची गोडी लागावी. त्यात पण अनेक चांगली मुले होती ज्यांना परिस्थितिमुळे खुप शिकणे शक्य होणार नव्हते, सर त्यांना स्वतः मदत देत.
सरांना कोणताच विषय व्यर्ज नव्हता पण सरांचा आवडता विषय होता ’गणित’। वैदिक गणिताशी ओळख झाली ती सरांमुळेच! सर तोंडी आकडेमोड अशी काही करायचे की समोरच्याने तोंडात बोटे घातली पाहिजेत! तीन तीन चार चार आकडी गुणाकार, भागाकार सर तोंडी सांगायचे! संख्येच्या वर्गाची व घनाची सोपी पद्धत सरांमुळेच कळली! जेव्हा आम्ही सरांच्या शाळेत जात असू तेव्हा त्या जेमतेम चार-पाच खोल्यांच्या शाळेत इतर वर्ग पण चालू असायचे. मग ज्या वर्गात कमी गर्दी असेल तिथे आमचा अभ्यास चालायचा. काही वेळाने तास बदलला आणी शिक्षक येणार नसले तर सर तास घ्यायचे. त्यावेळी सर इतिहास आणि भूगोलाचे प्रश्न विचारायचे! खूप कमी वेळेला मी सरांना विज्ञान शिकवतांना पाहिलयं. काही वेळा आम्हाला पण त्या वर्गात सामील व्ह्यायची परवानगी मिळायची, मग काय! प्रत्येक प्रश्नाला हात वर! काही काही वेळा सर शुद्धलेखन घालत. मग गणिताच्या वहीत मराठीचा धडा आणि बुद्दिमत्तेच्या वहीत भारताचा नकाशा असे अनेक प्रकार घडत!थोड्या थोड्या वेळाने सर बाहेर चक्कर मारून यायचे. शाळेतून पळून जाणारी, बाहेर भटकणारी मुले आणि त्यांचे मित्र हे सरांचे मुख्य ’लक्ष्य’! अनेकदा शेजारच्या शाळेतील उनाड मुलांना सरांनी पकडून २ तास तरी वर्गात बसवलयं!
माझा भाऊ ७वीच्या स्कॉलरशिप मध्ये उत्तम गुणांनी चांगल्या ८व्या क्रमांकाने पास झाला. यथावकाशाने मी पण त्याच्या पावलावर पाउल ठेवून १०व्या नंबरात पास झालो. सरांना नमस्कार करायला गेल्यावर सर नेहमीप्रमाणे म्हणाले "यशस्वी भव:"
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Friday, May 9, 2008
A Journey to Unsung Land
First of all,
Thanks to Sasken to offer us the extra luggage allowance. Because of that only we managed to bring total 76Kgs with us else it would have been just 'ran-yudha' on the airport for what to take out and what to keep.
So Muchas Gracias Sasken! (Thank you very much sasken)
It was going to be a deciding day. Weather we finish on time or not... We did very fast bag shopping and came back to Company by evening and was in the office till night.
People were asking for party of moving out. Set Ameya to Thane travels and said bye bye to him. It was sad.When we decide to move together, something happens and the plan is ruined. This time it was my turn.
We had plans to move things hand-in-hand but the destiny had some other. Went to lunch with office buddies and got back to office later. By that time, it was critical time for travel to call each one and discuss the travel thing. Need to arrange the ForEx and traveler checks. Do the overseas insurance and many more. It was late in the night to finish the office stuff and it was 9pm; we had our things totally unpacked and had to get some sleep before we leave.
It took the half night to pack the stuff @ Rashmi's place only. Later (me) went (alone) to my place to pack my things.
When it was sun in the sky we woke up @ 6am, because cab was supposed to come by 9am. Finished remaining packing and went to have the last Indian bath @ my room. Then went to see the neighbor grand and came back in 30 minutes then went to bank for ForEx and TCs, finished those in 20 minutes...
Man, it was 10 am and cab was jammed in traffic somewhere.
Finally one Toyota Tavera (we needed big car to move such a huge luggage) came around 11am and loaded our all bags. Straight went to catch the highway and then to airport.
It was the speed of car and the ac in it, which forced me to close my eyes. It was near Lonavala and I went to dark sleep. I was awake by Panvel and it took only 1 and half hr to reach there. Man! Driver was very good and we reached Ameya's flat by 2pm. It was just 3 hrs before we take off. Time was running too fast and we have a lot to do.
Within 30 minutes, we did the transfer of final documents, baggage change and weight loading, pizza, rice(had to eat something before going) and yes Dahi-Sakhar!
We left it by 2:30pm and then headed for airport.
Meanwhile, neither the driver didn't know the roads well nor us(me). So we took a long turn and went to western express way passing Powai and later came to airport. It was just 1 and half hr left for the flight and the boarding was already started. Vilas kaka met us there and wished good luck. Felt very nice to see him there thru his busy schedule.
Rashmi's uncle was there as well. He is the assistant secretary of 'Ministry of Civil Aviation' so the delay might be tolerated, I thought.
Then it was the most crucial element of travel. It was the check in and luggage weighing...All the people we met were very co-operative and finished our checks in 30 minutes. We requested for window seat and got one.
The senior officer from the extra luggage made our luggage thru checked in up to Monterrey. It was very nice of him. Just managed to fill the immigration check form somehow and we rushed to bus as last boarding passenger on the plane. It was a half km running on the airport with 10Kg on the back. Man, we ran a lot and got inside the bus which took us to the plane. It was just old Air-India 747 plane with 3+4+3 sitting with 4 jet engines. That's good.
It was very pleasant to watch outside on the runway and to the Mumbai. It felt very amazing. Might be the adrenal in the blood as first time travelers...
We took off by 6pm and it was 1000 ft above the Arabic sea. It was marvelous to see the land of Buddha, Gandhi and Ram to whom we pay our fealty everyday unknowingly. I felt sudden connection between the people and emotions in my mind; it was the highest pride that I felt for my country. It was giving me hope, to seek the foreign land with the tools that she empowered, the traditions which will remind me everyday until the return.
The scenery was sketched perfectly. The Sun was setting its own art in the sky; so was the blue water below creating second sun. The land with green patches and clouds with sliver cover over them were reflecting sun light. It was holy blessings I felt in mind as we climbed higher and higher until it was just water below us.
It was 9pm and we were looking down the window with Delhi emerging on the horizon. In the meantime, we changed our clothes and put on the night-wear pajama and T shirt. It was a wonderful picture down the window. All street lights and buildings, parks and roads were just shining like pearls in a black ocean. It was very touchy to see Delhi before leaving India, paying our last salutes to all freedom fighters and the last impression of India in our eyes.
It took almost 1 and half hr to get the plane ready for next take off and see the stars in the night. The experience of landing and take off creates such a pleasant feeling in your heart and stomach that we want to cry out loud "Ahaa"...
Well it was not boring journey for us. The flight was extremely light and we both got the entire 3 seat empty after Delhi. So we just went 'Indian eshtyle' on the plane. Did a nice dinner of Rice with Palak Paneer and corn. It was extremely good to have Indian dinner after we forced ourselves 'now we are outside India'.
That night we had a good sleep in plane and we woke up by 8 am to see bits and pieces of land under us. We managed to reach Tokio (Tokyo for us) on time. Good air India. It is named as Narita airport.
It was just we stepped on the Japanese floor, we found message board for Rashmi saying 'Mr. Dandekar/R. I just missed by heart beat. What have befallen on us? Is it for us or not? It took a long 30 minutes to search and find one air-hostess near our route who was at the entrance before. We told her our findings and said our name is familiar to what is written on the massage board. It took her a little while to understand the British English and her bulb(i don’t know what Japs use for lights!) glowed...
She asked us if we have any connecting flights and baggage going with us...
Then she took us to the centre of terminal 1 where we landed and did some FAQ thing with us. Later she asked the boarding passes we had and the extra luggage receipts we had. She checked in the system and told us it will be loaded in our next plane and it is up to Monterrey and not Mexico city. Good boy! What a state of art system they have... She not only guided us but also told us where to report for our next flight.
We had our next flight from terminal 2 instead terminal 1.We went to rest rooms; had our teeth brushed, did the morning stuff... So we were ready to go for terminal 2 in internal transport.
The driver was wearing entire 3 piece suit and bus was quite decent. He routed us thru almost half of the airport as we crossed two terminals and finally arrived at terminal 2 building. It was 8 am in the local clock and we had all 5 hrs to crush before we report to Aeromexico for next flight. We did the find the 'may I help you?' and it was very helpful.
Now we were hungry and there was no tea-coffee center nearby. We just wondered thru the airport and found one shop where we can buy water and some sandwiches. The security officer @ terminal 1 took out our water bottle that we had from Air-India.
We had to exchange few dollars for Yen. We saw the bank terminal nearby and went there. The rate was going $1 = 102.xx yens. We converted 10 dollars first. Later we required to covert $20 for our meal in the noon.
We bought 1 liter water bottle and nothing. Rashmi had 'chivada' from Sola and We had few 'Chakali as chakana' given to us last night on the plane. We were left with nearly 700 yen after the bottle. We sat there and did the primary break-fast. We started to roam on airport later and found Narita was a really amazing location to be. It was hosting one big presentation of Japanese arts and one international relaxing zone.
Narita has a large 'Origami' art collection for selling. It was amazing to see that. How much man can make out of a sq paper! We were feeling a little tired so I took a nice tablet. It was a nice experience to be @ such a high class international airport.
We then moved to the 'pet-pooja' thing. We saw McD there and decided to have a vegetarian option. We were not sure what we will get as vegetarian but gave it a try. This time we needed some more Yens because of high prices. We saw one open pre-paid net cafe and went to check mails as well. It was charging 200 yens for 10 minutes. We just logged in, sent a mail to company guys, family and friends to let know we are safe.
We had one vegetarian looking burger combo to get at least the 'veg' fries and coke. The burger we got was not of amazing quality and had some kind of meat in it. I could eat only half of eat being afraid what response my stomach will give.
We did little ride of duty free shops there and found few items to be highly priced. I saw one wonderful offer on Sony cyber shot camera But just tried it as not sure of real price in USD. It was a amazing camera with 20x optical zoom and gr8 quality. But had only 34 MB internal memory and had Sony stick port up to 2 GB support. But no card was free with it. So can’t decide !.. Really looking forward for US visa to happen so that I will buy all these things...
I saw on auto-massage chair in one corner. It was good 10 minutes of full body massage on back and legs. Did some more time pass on airport looking at various people and gals. Man! they are beautiful... I don’t know what it is but their hairstyle and looks are just pretty. Even Rashmi enjoyed it...
Now it was 1pm in the clock and we went to Aeromexico counter to get the boarding tickets. The officer pointed to longest line on the airport and said “it is for Monterrey. Go and stand in that line...” We were afraid of the cabin luggage and extra luggage limits. We asked him if this cabin bag is OK or not? He just pointed to a box come holder in the corner and said to put our bags in that to check. The box was just little smaller for our bags to fit in it... We were really afraid. Started to think if we have to change the clothes again or what? Luckily, we went to the line, got up to the counter very fast(just in 30 minutes, when there were more than 40 people before us). Had to check in for two consecutive flights : Tokyo- Mexico city and Mexico city to Monterrey.
The boy (yes, he looked just as 20-21 year old) gave us tickets after long 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, he printed 3-4 copies of different tickets tore them in front of us, attached our extra luggage coupons(he called them that) to the printouts with different permutation-combinations, then gave up and asked his senior to help him and finally gave us two boarding passes each up to Monterrey. We asked him twice about check-in luggage is up to Monterrey or not!
We just went back to the officer to check cabin luggage and one new guy was with him and they both just let us in. We were surprised to see that. We thought he might make us throw two or three things from our bags. He just let us in... Good! We were given the tickets in middle row. It was a 777 plane. It has configuration as 3+3+3. Has two jet engines and runs very smooth. It had very comfort seats which helped us to stay in that plane for 15 hrs.
There were lots of Japs on the plane. I don’t know what all they do in Mexico city cause almost none continued on the Monterrey plane. The take off was little faster than before, It took just few minutes to climb highest peak in air. The AV system was not ready before and the LCD TVs were showing map, altitude, speed and outside temp one by one. It was very cozy inside the plane. Initially one Jap was seating besides us later he took off. So only we two were on the three seats. We were luck only.
Now the AV service was ON and we could see many movies, TV shows and few games, map and flight data. The movies were having options of American Gangster, National treasure 2, Golden compass, Juno, P.S. I love you, Enchanted, The Great Debaters. The TV shows had some common shows in the list like: Simpsons, Two and half men, Everyone loves Reynolds etc. We enjoyed almost all of them. We had to request air-hostess to give the headphones and she was saying in few minutes later... Finally she gave them to us and we were doing the enjoy-madi...
The drinks were served and we had apple juice, orange juice, diet coke, fanta etc. The departure time of the flight was 2 pm and the arrival time in Mexico city was said to be 4pm. I thought we will be traveling thru all day zone only so chose the non window seats, and when we were flying 30000 ft above the sea level of pacific ocean, I realized we are flying in jet plane, and we crossed day line, day time zone on earth and were in the dark night sky where nothing can be seen outside. Good to choose middle seats. At least we were able to sleep. The one who had window were almost freezing because of the cold coming thru window.
Just after we reached 30000-35000 ft height the system was showing the temp outside was -55C, soon it went to -70C. I was frozen to seats watching movies, shows and our plane was flying over the great Pacific Ocean for 15 hrs. It was very cold outside as well as inside. We made full use of the shawls given.
In the morning when it was little brighter outside, I went to look down and suddenly realized frozen ice on both layers of window. It was very thrilling to see those frozen ice crystals... Some nice pics for the camera... Wonderful...
They served very limited break fast on the plane and I had to take the pic of that. First Mexican food in front of us and it had some pork. I eat it unknowingly. In approx 3-4 hrs we landed on Tijuana airport which is the extreme north point of Mexico sharing US borders. We had to go to the immigration office and report ourselves as Indians in Mexico. We were last in the line and it took 30 minutes to get to the officer. He just asked us few FAQ and let us pass thru the system. Again their was a confusion of the visa. We both had the business visa stamps on our passport but they gave tourist visa to
Rashmi and business to me. Strange system!. We had to apply for the work visa on that basis later..
We boarded on the plane in 40 minutes and ready to fly. Again few more rounds of drinks and Chakana.happened After 1 and half hrs we were in Mexico city which almost looks same as Bombay from airport. Slum area jus t next to the airport and a little dirtiness in the surroundings...
There was no board here and we had to go to officer to ask about the next flight and he said it will be somewhere in M area. We passed the custom check of the cabin luggage and had to carry that on our back only. It was very huge airport and we had a little trouble to find area M. Before that, we stepped out of airport to take a look around, had to go the toilet. It was very nice to be in warm air just outside airport and I saw one 'Santro Taxi'. Only difference was, it was left hand driven and not right hand. I couldn't believe my eyes for few seconds, it was Hyundai Santro outside India. and it was taxi here... There were cars just like US and very nice roads....
We went back to Area M, checked in and went to the coffee shop to buy some. It was of 6 Peso and we converted our $20 there. It was good and we were really tired of sitting and been awake too long. We asked 'May I help U? gal' for next flight and she told it is delayed by half hr because of bad weather. We were really sleeping on the airport. It had plenty of places to sleep and many people like us were waiting for the plane.
Finally at 7pm the boarding started and we got on the plane. The weather was really bad in between. It was a 737-200 plane with 2 jet engines. The plane was like a small cylinder only. We again got non window seats which was good compared to the weather outside. The journey was 1 and half hr long and almost half of the time we were wearing seatbelts. Finally it got over.
The view outside was really good. The city lights very looking all orange and very ordered one. Like our MIDC area. There were sectors and it was just a huge orange square mattress on the ground.
We touched down and we were all crushed with the jet lag and we were yet to get our baggage. There was no coordinator nearby us and it was 9pm in the dark night ina strange city. We just passed thru some corridors and we were facing a marker. It was dead end and has two ways to out. One saying: international baggage claim and other saying domestic baggage claim. We were so tired we thought which is closer we will go that way. But both were the long corridors only and there was none to ask for help. We just wondered in both direction but couldn't find any help. We were not sure which way to take as we entered Monterrey with domestic flight.
After 10 minutes there were two young flight officers coming with their baggage, might be pilots of our plane. We asked them where our luggage might come as we were in domestic flight and our luggage was in international travel. They just said go to international baggage claim and wait. The plane is just unloading.
We went to baggage claim and our bags were not there. It was a very hard moment. We were having difficulty keeping our eyes open and the baggage was not with us. We waited another 15-20 minutes to see if someone can help us but none could. All people were speaking only Spanish. Then suddenly they started to put more bags on the belts and we watched eagerly for our bags. The next moment we saw our bags coming. They were in discrete order but we got all of them in 10 minutes.
Now came the big task of passing custom line. I just forgot the combination of my bag. I know it is 321 but the bag has its own moods, it wont open on the right code.
The officer asked to open one bag each and pushed things here and there. Within 5 minutes we were out of custom inside free Mexico border of Mexico. The moment was over and we were all safe and in one piece in Monterrey.
As expected, none was waiting for us on airport. We have came whole 2 hrs late than the schedule. We tried to call Cynthia but I was not able to connect to her mobile. Some Spanish massage kept coming. I asked guard on the airport to assist me in dialing the line and he gave me 044 prefixed number. I tried it and had no luck. Asked one more better looking guy hoping he might know English, but it was in vein and he gave the number as 045 prefixed. Now I was in total confusion. I tried it and failure was with me. In the meantime, the officer offered us trolley and a man to pull that. I was thinking if that man takes any charges or what. So far we had few hundred peso in our pockets and wasn't sure what he might ask for.
So far the good thing was the call was not getting connected and the pesos used to credit in the phone were coming back sincerely (not like Indian coin boxes). I gave up the try and was on quest to get the guard and announce if someone has been there for Sasken.
Suddenly, one soft voice rang behind me and it was a pretty gal in the green dress asking the guard if she has heard Sasken. I was not sure what will follow soon, But was much relieved after knowing she was Cynthia and she came to see us cause the pick up wasn't coming.
Thus the journey ended in a happy scene with we landing safely, finding Cynthia at about 10pm in a strange place and going to a nice hotel by 10:30pm, changing our clothes and putting our bodies on the cold soft bed wishing what more could we be wanting now...
Thanks to Sasken to offer us the extra luggage allowance. Because of that only we managed to bring total 76Kgs with us else it would have been just 'ran-yudha' on the airport for what to take out and what to keep.
So Muchas Gracias Sasken! (Thank you very much sasken)
It was going to be a deciding day. Weather we finish on time or not... We did very fast bag shopping and came back to Company by evening and was in the office till night.
People were asking for party of moving out. Set Ameya to Thane travels and said bye bye to him. It was sad.When we decide to move together, something happens and the plan is ruined. This time it was my turn.
We had plans to move things hand-in-hand but the destiny had some other. Went to lunch with office buddies and got back to office later. By that time, it was critical time for travel to call each one and discuss the travel thing. Need to arrange the ForEx and traveler checks. Do the overseas insurance and many more. It was late in the night to finish the office stuff and it was 9pm; we had our things totally unpacked and had to get some sleep before we leave.
It took the half night to pack the stuff @ Rashmi's place only. Later (me) went (alone) to my place to pack my things.
When it was sun in the sky we woke up @ 6am, because cab was supposed to come by 9am. Finished remaining packing and went to have the last Indian bath @ my room. Then went to see the neighbor grand and came back in 30 minutes then went to bank for ForEx and TCs, finished those in 20 minutes...
Man, it was 10 am and cab was jammed in traffic somewhere.
Finally one Toyota Tavera (we needed big car to move such a huge luggage) came around 11am and loaded our all bags. Straight went to catch the highway and then to airport.
It was the speed of car and the ac in it, which forced me to close my eyes. It was near Lonavala and I went to dark sleep. I was awake by Panvel and it took only 1 and half hr to reach there. Man! Driver was very good and we reached Ameya's flat by 2pm. It was just 3 hrs before we take off. Time was running too fast and we have a lot to do.
Within 30 minutes, we did the transfer of final documents, baggage change and weight loading, pizza, rice(had to eat something before going) and yes Dahi-Sakhar!
We left it by 2:30pm and then headed for airport.
Meanwhile, neither the driver didn't know the roads well nor us(me). So we took a long turn and went to western express way passing Powai and later came to airport. It was just 1 and half hr left for the flight and the boarding was already started. Vilas kaka met us there and wished good luck. Felt very nice to see him there thru his busy schedule.
Rashmi's uncle was there as well. He is the assistant secretary of 'Ministry of Civil Aviation' so the delay might be tolerated, I thought.
Then it was the most crucial element of travel. It was the check in and luggage weighing...All the people we met were very co-operative and finished our checks in 30 minutes. We requested for window seat and got one.
The senior officer from the extra luggage made our luggage thru checked in up to Monterrey. It was very nice of him. Just managed to fill the immigration check form somehow and we rushed to bus as last boarding passenger on the plane. It was a half km running on the airport with 10Kg on the back. Man, we ran a lot and got inside the bus which took us to the plane. It was just old Air-India 747 plane with 3+4+3 sitting with 4 jet engines. That's good.
It was very pleasant to watch outside on the runway and to the Mumbai. It felt very amazing. Might be the adrenal in the blood as first time travelers...
We took off by 6pm and it was 1000 ft above the Arabic sea. It was marvelous to see the land of Buddha, Gandhi and Ram to whom we pay our fealty everyday unknowingly. I felt sudden connection between the people and emotions in my mind; it was the highest pride that I felt for my country. It was giving me hope, to seek the foreign land with the tools that she empowered, the traditions which will remind me everyday until the return.
The scenery was sketched perfectly. The Sun was setting its own art in the sky; so was the blue water below creating second sun. The land with green patches and clouds with sliver cover over them were reflecting sun light. It was holy blessings I felt in mind as we climbed higher and higher until it was just water below us.
It was 9pm and we were looking down the window with Delhi emerging on the horizon. In the meantime, we changed our clothes and put on the night-wear pajama and T shirt. It was a wonderful picture down the window. All street lights and buildings, parks and roads were just shining like pearls in a black ocean. It was very touchy to see Delhi before leaving India, paying our last salutes to all freedom fighters and the last impression of India in our eyes.
It took almost 1 and half hr to get the plane ready for next take off and see the stars in the night. The experience of landing and take off creates such a pleasant feeling in your heart and stomach that we want to cry out loud "Ahaa"...
Well it was not boring journey for us. The flight was extremely light and we both got the entire 3 seat empty after Delhi. So we just went 'Indian eshtyle' on the plane. Did a nice dinner of Rice with Palak Paneer and corn. It was extremely good to have Indian dinner after we forced ourselves 'now we are outside India'.
That night we had a good sleep in plane and we woke up by 8 am to see bits and pieces of land under us. We managed to reach Tokio (Tokyo for us) on time. Good air India. It is named as Narita airport.
It was just we stepped on the Japanese floor, we found message board for Rashmi saying 'Mr. Dandekar/R. I just missed by heart beat. What have befallen on us? Is it for us or not? It took a long 30 minutes to search and find one air-hostess near our route who was at the entrance before. We told her our findings and said our name is familiar to what is written on the massage board. It took her a little while to understand the British English and her bulb(i don’t know what Japs use for lights!) glowed...
She asked us if we have any connecting flights and baggage going with us...
Then she took us to the centre of terminal 1 where we landed and did some FAQ thing with us. Later she asked the boarding passes we had and the extra luggage receipts we had. She checked in the system and told us it will be loaded in our next plane and it is up to Monterrey and not Mexico city. Good boy! What a state of art system they have... She not only guided us but also told us where to report for our next flight.
We had our next flight from terminal 2 instead terminal 1.We went to rest rooms; had our teeth brushed, did the morning stuff... So we were ready to go for terminal 2 in internal transport.
The driver was wearing entire 3 piece suit and bus was quite decent. He routed us thru almost half of the airport as we crossed two terminals and finally arrived at terminal 2 building. It was 8 am in the local clock and we had all 5 hrs to crush before we report to Aeromexico for next flight. We did the find the 'may I help you?' and it was very helpful.
Now we were hungry and there was no tea-coffee center nearby. We just wondered thru the airport and found one shop where we can buy water and some sandwiches. The security officer @ terminal 1 took out our water bottle that we had from Air-India.
We had to exchange few dollars for Yen. We saw the bank terminal nearby and went there. The rate was going $1 = 102.xx yens. We converted 10 dollars first. Later we required to covert $20 for our meal in the noon.
We bought 1 liter water bottle and nothing. Rashmi had 'chivada' from Sola and We had few 'Chakali as chakana' given to us last night on the plane. We were left with nearly 700 yen after the bottle. We sat there and did the primary break-fast. We started to roam on airport later and found Narita was a really amazing location to be. It was hosting one big presentation of Japanese arts and one international relaxing zone.
Narita has a large 'Origami' art collection for selling. It was amazing to see that. How much man can make out of a sq paper! We were feeling a little tired so I took a nice tablet. It was a nice experience to be @ such a high class international airport.
We then moved to the 'pet-pooja' thing. We saw McD there and decided to have a vegetarian option. We were not sure what we will get as vegetarian but gave it a try. This time we needed some more Yens because of high prices. We saw one open pre-paid net cafe and went to check mails as well. It was charging 200 yens for 10 minutes. We just logged in, sent a mail to company guys, family and friends to let know we are safe.
We had one vegetarian looking burger combo to get at least the 'veg' fries and coke. The burger we got was not of amazing quality and had some kind of meat in it. I could eat only half of eat being afraid what response my stomach will give.
We did little ride of duty free shops there and found few items to be highly priced. I saw one wonderful offer on Sony cyber shot camera But just tried it as not sure of real price in USD. It was a amazing camera with 20x optical zoom and gr8 quality. But had only 34 MB internal memory and had Sony stick port up to 2 GB support. But no card was free with it. So can’t decide !.. Really looking forward for US visa to happen so that I will buy all these things...
I saw on auto-massage chair in one corner. It was good 10 minutes of full body massage on back and legs. Did some more time pass on airport looking at various people and gals. Man! they are beautiful... I don’t know what it is but their hairstyle and looks are just pretty. Even Rashmi enjoyed it...
Now it was 1pm in the clock and we went to Aeromexico counter to get the boarding tickets. The officer pointed to longest line on the airport and said “it is for Monterrey. Go and stand in that line...” We were afraid of the cabin luggage and extra luggage limits. We asked him if this cabin bag is OK or not? He just pointed to a box come holder in the corner and said to put our bags in that to check. The box was just little smaller for our bags to fit in it... We were really afraid. Started to think if we have to change the clothes again or what? Luckily, we went to the line, got up to the counter very fast(just in 30 minutes, when there were more than 40 people before us). Had to check in for two consecutive flights : Tokyo- Mexico city and Mexico city to Monterrey.
The boy (yes, he looked just as 20-21 year old) gave us tickets after long 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, he printed 3-4 copies of different tickets tore them in front of us, attached our extra luggage coupons(he called them that) to the printouts with different permutation-combinations, then gave up and asked his senior to help him and finally gave us two boarding passes each up to Monterrey. We asked him twice about check-in luggage is up to Monterrey or not!
We just went back to the officer to check cabin luggage and one new guy was with him and they both just let us in. We were surprised to see that. We thought he might make us throw two or three things from our bags. He just let us in... Good! We were given the tickets in middle row. It was a 777 plane. It has configuration as 3+3+3. Has two jet engines and runs very smooth. It had very comfort seats which helped us to stay in that plane for 15 hrs.
There were lots of Japs on the plane. I don’t know what all they do in Mexico city cause almost none continued on the Monterrey plane. The take off was little faster than before, It took just few minutes to climb highest peak in air. The AV system was not ready before and the LCD TVs were showing map, altitude, speed and outside temp one by one. It was very cozy inside the plane. Initially one Jap was seating besides us later he took off. So only we two were on the three seats. We were luck only.
Now the AV service was ON and we could see many movies, TV shows and few games, map and flight data. The movies were having options of American Gangster, National treasure 2, Golden compass, Juno, P.S. I love you, Enchanted, The Great Debaters. The TV shows had some common shows in the list like: Simpsons, Two and half men, Everyone loves Reynolds etc. We enjoyed almost all of them. We had to request air-hostess to give the headphones and she was saying in few minutes later... Finally she gave them to us and we were doing the enjoy-madi...
The drinks were served and we had apple juice, orange juice, diet coke, fanta etc. The departure time of the flight was 2 pm and the arrival time in Mexico city was said to be 4pm. I thought we will be traveling thru all day zone only so chose the non window seats, and when we were flying 30000 ft above the sea level of pacific ocean, I realized we are flying in jet plane, and we crossed day line, day time zone on earth and were in the dark night sky where nothing can be seen outside. Good to choose middle seats. At least we were able to sleep. The one who had window were almost freezing because of the cold coming thru window.
Just after we reached 30000-35000 ft height the system was showing the temp outside was -55C, soon it went to -70C. I was frozen to seats watching movies, shows and our plane was flying over the great Pacific Ocean for 15 hrs. It was very cold outside as well as inside. We made full use of the shawls given.
In the morning when it was little brighter outside, I went to look down and suddenly realized frozen ice on both layers of window. It was very thrilling to see those frozen ice crystals... Some nice pics for the camera... Wonderful...
They served very limited break fast on the plane and I had to take the pic of that. First Mexican food in front of us and it had some pork. I eat it unknowingly. In approx 3-4 hrs we landed on Tijuana airport which is the extreme north point of Mexico sharing US borders. We had to go to the immigration office and report ourselves as Indians in Mexico. We were last in the line and it took 30 minutes to get to the officer. He just asked us few FAQ and let us pass thru the system. Again their was a confusion of the visa. We both had the business visa stamps on our passport but they gave tourist visa to
Rashmi and business to me. Strange system!. We had to apply for the work visa on that basis later..
We boarded on the plane in 40 minutes and ready to fly. Again few more rounds of drinks and Chakana.happened After 1 and half hrs we were in Mexico city which almost looks same as Bombay from airport. Slum area jus t next to the airport and a little dirtiness in the surroundings...
There was no board here and we had to go to officer to ask about the next flight and he said it will be somewhere in M area. We passed the custom check of the cabin luggage and had to carry that on our back only. It was very huge airport and we had a little trouble to find area M. Before that, we stepped out of airport to take a look around, had to go the toilet. It was very nice to be in warm air just outside airport and I saw one 'Santro Taxi'. Only difference was, it was left hand driven and not right hand. I couldn't believe my eyes for few seconds, it was Hyundai Santro outside India. and it was taxi here... There were cars just like US and very nice roads....
We went back to Area M, checked in and went to the coffee shop to buy some. It was of 6 Peso and we converted our $20 there. It was good and we were really tired of sitting and been awake too long. We asked 'May I help U? gal' for next flight and she told it is delayed by half hr because of bad weather. We were really sleeping on the airport. It had plenty of places to sleep and many people like us were waiting for the plane.
Finally at 7pm the boarding started and we got on the plane. The weather was really bad in between. It was a 737-200 plane with 2 jet engines. The plane was like a small cylinder only. We again got non window seats which was good compared to the weather outside. The journey was 1 and half hr long and almost half of the time we were wearing seatbelts. Finally it got over.
The view outside was really good. The city lights very looking all orange and very ordered one. Like our MIDC area. There were sectors and it was just a huge orange square mattress on the ground.
We touched down and we were all crushed with the jet lag and we were yet to get our baggage. There was no coordinator nearby us and it was 9pm in the dark night ina strange city. We just passed thru some corridors and we were facing a marker. It was dead end and has two ways to out. One saying: international baggage claim and other saying domestic baggage claim. We were so tired we thought which is closer we will go that way. But both were the long corridors only and there was none to ask for help. We just wondered in both direction but couldn't find any help. We were not sure which way to take as we entered Monterrey with domestic flight.
After 10 minutes there were two young flight officers coming with their baggage, might be pilots of our plane. We asked them where our luggage might come as we were in domestic flight and our luggage was in international travel. They just said go to international baggage claim and wait. The plane is just unloading.
We went to baggage claim and our bags were not there. It was a very hard moment. We were having difficulty keeping our eyes open and the baggage was not with us. We waited another 15-20 minutes to see if someone can help us but none could. All people were speaking only Spanish. Then suddenly they started to put more bags on the belts and we watched eagerly for our bags. The next moment we saw our bags coming. They were in discrete order but we got all of them in 10 minutes.
Now came the big task of passing custom line. I just forgot the combination of my bag. I know it is 321 but the bag has its own moods, it wont open on the right code.
The officer asked to open one bag each and pushed things here and there. Within 5 minutes we were out of custom inside free Mexico border of Mexico. The moment was over and we were all safe and in one piece in Monterrey.
As expected, none was waiting for us on airport. We have came whole 2 hrs late than the schedule. We tried to call Cynthia but I was not able to connect to her mobile. Some Spanish massage kept coming. I asked guard on the airport to assist me in dialing the line and he gave me 044 prefixed number. I tried it and had no luck. Asked one more better looking guy hoping he might know English, but it was in vein and he gave the number as 045 prefixed. Now I was in total confusion. I tried it and failure was with me. In the meantime, the officer offered us trolley and a man to pull that. I was thinking if that man takes any charges or what. So far we had few hundred peso in our pockets and wasn't sure what he might ask for.
So far the good thing was the call was not getting connected and the pesos used to credit in the phone were coming back sincerely (not like Indian coin boxes). I gave up the try and was on quest to get the guard and announce if someone has been there for Sasken.
Suddenly, one soft voice rang behind me and it was a pretty gal in the green dress asking the guard if she has heard Sasken. I was not sure what will follow soon, But was much relieved after knowing she was Cynthia and she came to see us cause the pick up wasn't coming.
Thus the journey ended in a happy scene with we landing safely, finding Cynthia at about 10pm in a strange place and going to a nice hotel by 10:30pm, changing our clothes and putting our bodies on the cold soft bed wishing what more could we be wanting now...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Our New House
Today we shifted to our new house. We left hotel. The calls to India bill was $1620 for both of us. Only 4 calls were there.
The house is just opposite to Sasken office building. House has all the amenities including gas, hot/cold water, washing machine, fans, ac, fridge, microwave, basic utensils and kitchen ware. It is a fully furnished house. We will get the Wi-Fi and phone in few weeks. The layout is something like this.
There is a small colony of houses called Santa Fe. We live in house no. 111 on Clavo (nail) road. Other people are well spread across the area. Company hired nearly 6-7 houses so far for us. Everyone is same but the furniture differs.All bungalows are twin bungalows with two separate houses. There is small lawn in front of the house and behind the house. It is very common grass which is not so dense. There are small trees outside and one central park for kids having see-saw and slides swings. We saw red ants in the house today and are little bigger size than ours.
Our house is facing south-west and door opens fully inside the house up to 180 degrees. Only ground floor has the fans. Rest bedrooms have AC only. Nothing for bathroom. Here, I find it very typical to save the light as well as space. They have fans to which the lights are attached. It’s like fancy fans we see in India. They have the chain to control the speed and the light ON-OFF. So two chains on fan and one ON-OFF button on wall. That’s it. No more buttons or anything. I think it might be saving the wiring a lot. Don’t know the real reason. It power spec is typically US style. 110V, 60Hz, 6Amp.
Ground floor: after coming in, there is hall which is almost 10 by 12. It has TV and sofa set for 5 people. Just right to the entrance there is dining room which is nearly 12 by 15. It has only dining table and 4 chairs. It also has 2 overhead fans with lights.
When you are standing at table you see fully furnished kitchen. It is of size 12x12. They share one common wall to pass on the things. All things are brand new. I think the owner renovated the house recently. It has GE fridge and microwave. It has 6 gas burners. It has a special lighter button for all burners. It sparks when we push it. There is gas oven as well. We haven't tried it but it is very big as we see in most American movies. At the head level, it has all the cabinets and microwave. The fridge is beside the microwave. It is a double door fridge. The back entrance is thru kitchen only. It opens in the backyard which has the geyser and the washing machine.
Upon entrance only u will find the stairs going upward and below the stairs it has a half(!) water closet. It has only commode and wash basin.
First floor: There is our room at the right hand side. It is of size 14x16. It has attached bathroom and commode with wash basin. It is of good size and in good condition. We don't have any water taps in the house except the wash basin. I don't know why do they have such thing? We will store water from shower I guess. We just purchased one 10L size bucket and one big tub for washing clothes.
On the left hand there are two rooms which are of almost same size as ours. But they share a common water closet outside the room. It is the remaining part of the first floor. Two boys will be staying there with us. I haven't taken a look on the terrace but will find the way and tell. Many companies have offices here. I saw Pepsi, Emerson, hp, whirlpool, some cement and many more. There is one industrial area and one business area in the outskirts of city. Our office is in business area.
Our office is just a small one from outside. It is only single floor over 3000-4000 sq ft. both side parking is there with so many cars. They have trucks same as in US and cars as well. They just copy good stuff from US. Most popular brands in cars are Chevy, ford, some American. There is Hyundai here as well and they have Santro model; but it is used as taxi sometimes. Most of the cars are pretty big and has only 1 man. The diesel and petrol rates are very low as to India. They are $7 and $11-12 resp. (here $ means peso. they use the same symbol as USD.)
The weather is good so far. Yesterday it was very hot and temp was up to 40C. It changes day by day. It might rain in few days and later it will be hot summer.
The outside people don't know much English and company has arranged free Spanish classes only for Indians in the company. We are almost 15 people from all over the India. More are going to join us in few months.
Warm Regards,
Yatin.
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