Monday, November 21, 2005

Some things during a flight journey

My first ever trip in a non-Indian carrier was amazing. I came to Chennai this time through Colombo, in Sri Lankan airlines. Some nice things I can’t help forgetting:

The ‘ayubuvan’: Sinhalese greeting. Every air host greeted all of us this way.
Excellent service: I was really pleased by all the attention they gave us; we felt pampered.
The TV screen (or whatever it’s called) in front of every seat: Watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the second time, but this time with a very special difference: 40, 000 feet above land. It was amazing to see Johnny Depp and his weird ways at that heigh (yeah, don’t say as though it makes a difference, it did!).
The cameras on the flight: one at the bottom of the aircraft and another at front. If anything got boring, it was spell binding to sit and watch the clouds above or through which we were flying.
The regular maps that came on the TVs telling us how far from Colombo we were, and at what altitude and speed we were flying at.
The beautiful beaches of Colombo that we could see from the aircraft: they were really heavenly.

Once at Colombo, everything looked beautiful to me: the pleasant and always smiling airport officials (especially the men ;)) and the rhythmic Sri Lankan Tamil. The airport officials (men again!) were very cutely asking the passengers who had just landed from Singapore whether they were going to Bangalore, Mumbai or Karachi, as these flights were leaving very soon. And every time one approached me, I would smile a “No, Chennai” (trying hard not to grin, and controlling hard the flirt inside me), only to get back another cute smile from the authorities (ayyo, romba vazhiyareno, ok, I’ll stop!
:D ).

The Colombo-Chennai flight wasn’t all that eventful, except for a cute little boy in the opposite side of the aisle who started crying as the flight started to land as his ears were getting blocked due to the changes in pressure.
Things started picking up again as I craned my neck and peeped over the startled guy sitting in the window seat to see dear ol’ Chennai slowly looming into view.

I had to fight very hard to check the wide grin spreading on my face as the flight landed with a thud and went rushing forward, and finally came to a halt near the “Theeainaipu Nilayam” in the Anna international airport.
Immigration stuff surprisingly got over really quickly and I was soon waiting outside the airport for someone to come and pick me up. My flight supposed to land at 7 50 had somehow arrived at 7 30!!!!
The feeling of coming home was complete as I heard Ajay blabber away in Radio Mirchi. Hoping to have an amazing time here.

31 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:11 PM

    me so jealous of you...your in Madras...wow.. have a great time and enjoy every bit of it on my behalf too :-)I hated it 7yrs ago and now it's home...i love everything about it.

    Cheers :-)

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  2. Wow
    Seems u brought some more rain to chennai madam !!!

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  3. "ayyo, romba vazhiyareno, ok, I’ll stop!:D", purinjaa seri :)

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  4. Return Of The Chennai Gal :)

    Will you come for the blogger's meet this Sunday at Amethyst?

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  5. vidya,
    oh, come on...who can hate this lovely city for long? :)

    harish,
    :D yay!!!

    harish again,
    :( didn't intend to! but it's getting fine, see?

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  6. vijay ramamurthi,
    ;)
    good i checked myself!

    nirenjan,
    chennai gal is busy gal ;) just kidding, dunno if i can make it though! shall try to come...

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  7. Anonymous8:51 PM

    Lucky you, got around seeing "Chocolate Factory". (Twice at that)

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  8. Anonymous7:31 AM

    The first time I took the plane was Indian Airlines like 12years back... sheesh, that was the last time too. Hoping to visit india again someday. I'll keep hoping...

    Hope you have fun.

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  9. hmmm..sri lankan airlines...nice....and i really should get round to see that movie..nice blog, btw...

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  10. Vani,

    Chennai is happenin, I guess with you around! After reading this post I am only too sad that Im not able to come back home for the winters.

    About that flirting.. :d I also try hard not to with the Austian and the Russian airhosts.. :D :D

    hey have a great time!

    cheers,
    Nanyaar?

    P.S: And for once is this really happening??

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  11. Anonymous8:49 PM

    Hi Vani,
    The way u write things is inspiring. Nice Keep it up!

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  12. Hi Vani,
    Me - an amateur to blogging. I admire the way u write (esp.with keen attention on minute details)..You're fabulous at writing!
    Really it made engrossed till the end.

    Kasi

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  13. You just can't describe what you feel just as you land back at home, can you? ;)

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  14. yenna back to chennai and mommyz cooking-a ! enjoyee.... !!

    enjoyin the rain ?!

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  15. krithika,
    haha...lucky for getting to watch a movie twice?? it has released in india anyways, hasn't it?

    ramya,
    :)
    ciao soon!

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  16. the woman,
    hmm...indian airlines was your first and last flight? uh oh, there are many nice things 'on air' that you might have missed out!

    the monk,
    thanks! :) and welcome!

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  17. nanyaar,
    >>and for once, is this really happening?
    lol, of course! (because it does not have the p.s. in the end ;) )
    and russian and austrian hosts? hmm...i had to be content with sri lankan guys!!

    anon,
    inspiring? boy, thanks! this is the first time anyone has told me my writing is inspiring! thanks again! :)

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  18. kasi,
    thank you, i'm really flattered!! :)

    deepak,
    am i sensing something sarcastic in your comment? ;)

    phobiac,
    yayyy..enjoying i am!
    rains....ughhh...they've finally decided to stop, i guess....not much rain in the past 2 days!

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  19. Srilankan Airline's service would be too good, though I have often felt that Bandaranaike Airport is too small. I have travelled in Srilankan number of times to vouch that carrier again & again.

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  20. Have fun @ chennai kiddo!

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  21. Hi Vani...
    Came here from Kaps' Blog...Nice blog... keep writing :)

    Me a hardcore Rahmaniac too... check out my blog!

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  22. chakra,
    yes, the srilankan airport does look small...they still have the buses to take us to the aircraft!

    sriram,
    sure i am! :)

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  23. aravind,
    your blog had a link to a page which showed which director has lifted music from which song...very interesting read!
    haha..you sure are a rahmaniac!! :)

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  24. nee vantha neram,chembarambakkam lake and redhills lake-a open panni vittuttaanga.matha districts elathulayum floods.varuna bhagwan messenger-a nee?

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  25. Inimae Sri Lankan airlines dhaana? :D ... indha vaatti namma agreement padi Toblerone vaangi vandhiya? :D

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  26. SHEKS,
    naa vandha neram nalla neram-nu sollu!

    prav,
    ipdi oru agreement pottadha enakku nyabagamey illaye?! adhuvum toblerone ka?

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  27. chennai gal back in chennai va? cool.. have fun.. know wht next fri i am flying to India too .. to Hyd.. after 3 long yrs.. am thrilled as hell.. 20 hrs+ thgh . .but cant wait.. have a nice time vani

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  28. vivhyd,
    it's time to return home!!! :) have an awesome stay here, how long is it?

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  29. saw this just now.. starting today actually until Jan1.. cant wait.. have a 22 hr journey.. :)

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