The journey to Toronto

Hello....
I am absolutely safe,sound,hale and hearty.... just missing you people...that's it...nothing much... :)
It is 4 pm here in Toronto and 2:30 am out there....You all must be sleeping..hence won't disturb you by missed calls...just read this mail whenever you get time... Lemme start from the very beginning... don't worry... I am not tired...absolutely fresh... you won't believe I slept so much in the flight that my co-passengers and stewards got worried that what's wrong with this girl :) I slept almost 12-13 hours in the 17 hours total journey..so the long 'safar' was not actually a 'suffer' as mentioned by my best buddy.... Lemme start now....

Mumbai: 22nd Jan 2011: 5:40 pm
I entered the Chhatrapati shivaji International Airport. The line for the boarding pass was as long as the one I had seen at shirdi....I thought why the hell are so many people travelling!!!! My turn to collect the boarding pass and checking in my luggage came at 7:25. There was some system error and hence my boarding pass from Delhi to Toronto could not be generated. Only Mumbai-Delhi was generated. i checked in my luggage.. a 20.2 kg suitcase and went to the immigration counter with my trolley,lappy bag and purse... The man there looked at my passport and asked.. "Is it your photo?" I said..."Yes...of course..." He looked weirdly at me and asked me why are you going to Canada..? Just then it was announced "Passengers for flight no. AI 101 please move to Gate No. 8"... I said in my heart..."faltu sawal mat pooch...stamp laga aur jaane de "... but I smiled and said..."It's for business discussions sir". From there I moved to the security check..Thank God there is a separate ladies line everywhere in India... I managed it quickly and walked through a long passage.. I thought that now I would be boarding a bus which would take me to the plane...but no!!!!! I now came to know that for International flights, you walk straight into the plane.. The plane was biiiiiiiiiiiig and nice... I got the very first row in the 3rd section of the plane... There was a TV screen for every seat..Next to me was a person working for syntel and going to Chicago. The flight took off 30 mins late.. They served a lavish dinner and after that I slept. I woke up when the plane was landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi.

Delhi:22nd Jan 2011 11:10 pm
A beautiful airport....There were luggage conveyor belts (which I had heard of in Dubai). I went to the boarding pass counter,quickly got my boarding pass,underwent the security check once again (again the advantage of ladies line) and went to gate no. 21 and waited for my flight. I charged my cell there,enjoyed the crackle..It was yummmmy...the plane was already late by 30 mins. We got into the plane. Again an Air India flight AI 187. This time I got a seat in the middle row and next to me was a very senior person from Tech Mahindra.. Mr. Hemal Shah.He was a good co-passenger. He taught me how to turn the flash of the digi camera off.. I am sorry ajju..you taught me,but I forgot!!! again they served dinner... I had not expected such a quick meal again so I had already slept. Mr. Shah wole me up when dinner was being served. I woke u half asleep, ate the veg biriyani, raita and gulab jamun and off to doze once again.. I slept and slept and slept... till next morning when it was 11 am IST by my watch. We were served breakfast.. Bread,butter,choco pie with strawberry cream, fruits (which contained 5 pieces of apple, 2 papaya, 2 pineapple and 1 cherry). I don't why there were so many apple pieces (did they know I hate apples!!!!!). What next... I slept again!!!!!!!!!!!! around 3 pm IST, they served lunch. I ate and slept again. Finally woke up at 4 pm IST,had 150 ml 7 up and moong daal wala dalmoth,watched lil bit of Mr. India and lil bit of Taarak Mehta ka ooltah chashma on my TV. The flight was late... At around 5:45 pm IST ( 7:15 am Canada) we were about to land... I could not believe that I had spent 15 and a half hours in plane without feeling bored or giddy or restless....

Toronto:23rd Jan 2011: 7:21 am Canadian Timings:
Landed safely...snow and snow everywhere...on the runway,on the trees...everywhere... I instantly fell in love with the place and wished in my heart "Kaash Satyajit sends me again to Toronto...20 days are too less for this beautiful place.." By now we were a group of 5 Myself, Chakravarti (from my bank), Harshali from bank Of America and Suraj with his wife and baby also from our bank(Chennai). They all had become good friends while I was sleeping. They seemed so tired and I was so fresh and chirpy. Everyone was literally amazed at my capacity of sleeping... hehhehhe... dosto se kuch to seekha...sona hi sahi ;)
We proceeded for the Immigration. Have you seen Mr. India? Usme jo wo character hai naa for whom sridevi had danced "hawa hawai"... ek ganja aadmi with blue eyes...exactly same was the looks of the Immigration Officer... I was literally feeling afraid of him. He trapped me...He said "Mam when your company is Consultancy services, how can you say you are here for business discussion and not for consulting..? Are you sure you are not here for consulting... We won't allow you in otherwise...." Band baji meri to.... I showed him my Invitation letter and deputation letter and then he stamped my passport and i gave a sigh of relax... Again the customs people asked the same ghisa pita question..what are you here for... again the same answer..."business discussion"... and the lady there said...baby are you old enough for business... and I replied with pride.."excuse me... I am 27"

Toronto:23rd Jan 2011: 9:00 am Canadian Timings
Done with all foramlities... yahan pe luggage trolley lene ke liye bhi CAD$ 3 (3 canadian dollars) lagte hain.. Nothing is free here, stop cribbing dear Indians,apne yahan bahut kuch muft mein milta hai hence hum uski qadr nahi karte... Well, I easily dragged my luggage out....Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The outside temperature was -18 degree celsius. To feel how I felt, just put your face inside the freezer of your refrigerator for 1 minute.. Kehte hain na "biting winds".. yes the winds were actually biting... I had worn my leather jacket. Cap,mufler and gloves were still inside the suitcase!!! Sorry everyone.. I know aap log ye sun k gussa karoge...so very very sorry...but humko zukaam nahi laga...so its fine naaa... my jeans was wet by now...even my acket was almost wet. I had been out just for 3-4 minutes, then i quickly boarded a cab for downtown, 736 Bay street...I said all that so confidently as if I know the place since ages... the taxi wala was a sardar uncle...68 years of age.. Harmilap Singh.. i made friends with him. He did not take tip from me.He dropped me to my destinantion,showed me all important places on way.. CN Towers, Union station a stadium...etc and gave me his card and said that he will be there if I call him up 1 day prior tomy return journey. He would drop me to the airport...I called up Jayati Di (the lady with whom i am supposed to stay). she is a pleasant lady. She took me inside the condominium (kuch nahi...simple flat hain,bas hi-fundoo naam hai condominium). Its a nice 1 BHK clean and beautiful lil flat. By now I had given missed calls to all whom I was supposed to...which indicate my safety.... Had a nice chat with Jayati Di... she explained me all the rules and regualtions...then I took bath,got fresh and at around 2:00 pm we went out... she showed me the College Subway from where I will take a train from tomorrow to office... The stations are College,Dundas,Queens Street,Kings Street,Union Stn... If it was summers, I could have walked to office. We walked around the entire downtown,saw the Eaton Square (which is quite like the Picadilly Square of London), the most famous square here, we had thai food for lunch ($6.14)... All snow and snow around me... I was wearing thermocot, a kurti,a sweater, an overcoat, jacket,socks, cap and gloves....aur abhi ghar k andar just the thermocot and the kurta... The buses,taxis, trains,markets,homes,offices, everything is centrally heated.. I just need to take care till i walk from home to College subway and then from Union subway to office... I need to take care at the snowy edges... gire to seedhe haddi tootegi.. Jayati Di is a doctor and she says that these days there are maximum fracture cases.....
So, finally I am in Toronto, roamed around more than half downtown,seen enough of snow, had lunch, had coffee,had bath, fresh enough, wrote this entire big mail.. Its 5 pm here now.... Its already dark.. Di says, here people have dinner at 5-6 pm....