Wings and Whacks - Capital city

On Feb 9 , I set out to the U.S of A.

For the first time flyer I m , my itinerary was fun ...more so because I was not alone :-)

More places, to me ,meant more travel ...what I dint realise that there was a flip-side to it ...I ll save it for the dessert.

My itinerary : Madras-> Delhi-> Paris-> Atlanta-> Minneapolis.

The Indian Airways flight from MAA-DEL took off at around 6.30. The vessel was packed with weary frequent flyers ... I cud see it from their weary eyes and the haste with which they pulled their blinders on.The gentle-men on either side of me belonged to that genre.

The first ever time in my life I remained silent for a little over 2 hrs!!!Boy ...I simply cud nt continue ...I started rattling off ( much to the misery of Mr.Arindosh ... thatz what I heard his name as, who was devouring every business magazine as if his life depended on them..may be it did..I donno!!) .

He was the one who helped me put in and pull up my hand baggage from the storage compartment.I owe him a thank-you .

The 2.5 hr flight got extended by 45 minutes due to the heavy fog in Delhi.

After quite an arduous effort , we ( prasaaana ,dana and myself ) , along with baggages as big as us , headed to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. On our way I struck a conversation with the cab-guy and he understood the battered hindi I spoke ... I feel elated!!!

My flight to Paris , scheduled at 1 am took off at around 2.00 .We embarked the flight after the successful security check .Boy that was the longest ever queue I had fallen in!!!

Oh I shud tell about the NRI guy who stood just ahead of us in the queue.His rambling was so much that it put me to shame!!Well ...he knew sooo much...and he whined as much!!!

And here comes the dessert I saved ... more travel meant more security- checks!!!And every check simply puts a smile on my face ...which eventually breaks-out into a giggle.I knew I would be annoying them with my giggles ...but I cud not help...I felt tickled!!

I was riding on first-timer high and that helped me through the series of rip-offs we were put thru...they frisked everything ...jackets , shoes, cameras, passport -pouches.Another thing that I m really fond of are the trolleys...they remind me of the 'nadaivandi' ( a toddler's toy to teach walking).They cheered me up between the check-ins and check-outs.

A bird's view of the capital from night sky is what I would call ...simply awesome !!

Gayu , I can hear you say , "I told you so!!!!" :-)

What follows is my first French rendezvous ...

Stay tuned...