On our journey to Mumbai international airport we found out that my and one of my colleague who initially missed our van had a ticket of same airline but the guy who boarded the van at the end was having a ticket of different airline. He became nervous as he was going to travel entire journey from Mumbai to Tokyo all alone and for the first time.
We reached Mumbai international airport six in the evening. After getting inside we immediately checked in our luggage to avoid extra burden. I sat on a bench, thinking of how to spend time. I wondered, for a last whole week, I was in need of some spare time for relaxation and I could not afford it but now I was having a plenty of time to spend and I was getting bored I was not feeling like to take a rest.
Three of us were wearing suit, neck tie, in a perfect formal attire, I was feeling like we are part of some high profile delegation and are visiting Japan to attend some important conference. After couple hours we decided to head for a security check and parted for our respective airlines. Two of us handed over our security bags into the scanner, completed our security check and proceeded further for our designated gate. We were going to fly by Malaysian airline and our next halt was at Kuala Lumpur. We took off from Mumbai in the midnight, its almost after eight years I was leaving my country. I was tired so after few minutes I was in deep sleep and only got up after it was announced by flight attendant that we are about to land Kuala Lumpur international airport in few minutes. It was 7:00 in the morning at Kuala Lumpur.
The airport was attractive, clean and competitive in every sense to the great airports of west. After relaxing for a while, I went to the wash room, it was crowded due to morning time. I stood in a long queue, the queue was colorful, people from various ethnicity were standing there, I was standing in a international queue in washroom. After refreshing, I started wandering on the airport. People were heading for their gates to catch connecting flights, some were relaxing or passing time like me waiting to open their gates. There were the people enjoying in their groups, occasionally arguing to each other on variety of topics. There were the people working on their laptops using the free internet service provided by the airport. The international airports are like miniature world, you can find people from diverse backgrounds, you can observe them, their customs, you get an opportunity to communicate with them, it is just a small, charming and active world.
I was watching the status of our flight to Tokyo, it was showing to move ahead for a security check. We started for our designated gate number. After going through security check, suddenly one of the security person approached me and started asking few questions like where are from? why are going to Japan? who is accompanying with you? I was confused at first but answered all the questions, he checked my passport again and then smiled and said 'its a routine check nothing else'.
I heard an announcement stating that our flight to Tokyo is one and half an hour late, I was hungry and felt that it would have been better if I would have exchanged some of my Japanese Yens with Malaysian Ringgit. Now there was no other alternative than just to wait. There was middle aged Japanese couple sitting besides us. I was thinking to start practicing speaking in Japanese, I smiled and greeted them in Japanese, both of them smiled and greeted me in Hindi, saying 'Namaste'. I was surprised and asked them how they know this word. Then the man answered me in laughing, 'we have just arrived from your country, from city of Chennai'. Then I came to know that the couple can speak English fluently, so I was talking in Japanese with them and they were responding in English. At last the final announcement instructed us to board the flight, in sigh of relief we got up and headed towards the flight.
(in continuation)
We reached Mumbai international airport six in the evening. After getting inside we immediately checked in our luggage to avoid extra burden. I sat on a bench, thinking of how to spend time. I wondered, for a last whole week, I was in need of some spare time for relaxation and I could not afford it but now I was having a plenty of time to spend and I was getting bored I was not feeling like to take a rest.
Three of us were wearing suit, neck tie, in a perfect formal attire, I was feeling like we are part of some high profile delegation and are visiting Japan to attend some important conference. After couple hours we decided to head for a security check and parted for our respective airlines. Two of us handed over our security bags into the scanner, completed our security check and proceeded further for our designated gate. We were going to fly by Malaysian airline and our next halt was at Kuala Lumpur. We took off from Mumbai in the midnight, its almost after eight years I was leaving my country. I was tired so after few minutes I was in deep sleep and only got up after it was announced by flight attendant that we are about to land Kuala Lumpur international airport in few minutes. It was 7:00 in the morning at Kuala Lumpur.
The airport was attractive, clean and competitive in every sense to the great airports of west. After relaxing for a while, I went to the wash room, it was crowded due to morning time. I stood in a long queue, the queue was colorful, people from various ethnicity were standing there, I was standing in a international queue in washroom. After refreshing, I started wandering on the airport. People were heading for their gates to catch connecting flights, some were relaxing or passing time like me waiting to open their gates. There were the people enjoying in their groups, occasionally arguing to each other on variety of topics. There were the people working on their laptops using the free internet service provided by the airport. The international airports are like miniature world, you can find people from diverse backgrounds, you can observe them, their customs, you get an opportunity to communicate with them, it is just a small, charming and active world.
I was watching the status of our flight to Tokyo, it was showing to move ahead for a security check. We started for our designated gate number. After going through security check, suddenly one of the security person approached me and started asking few questions like where are from? why are going to Japan? who is accompanying with you? I was confused at first but answered all the questions, he checked my passport again and then smiled and said 'its a routine check nothing else'.
I heard an announcement stating that our flight to Tokyo is one and half an hour late, I was hungry and felt that it would have been better if I would have exchanged some of my Japanese Yens with Malaysian Ringgit. Now there was no other alternative than just to wait. There was middle aged Japanese couple sitting besides us. I was thinking to start practicing speaking in Japanese, I smiled and greeted them in Japanese, both of them smiled and greeted me in Hindi, saying 'Namaste'. I was surprised and asked them how they know this word. Then the man answered me in laughing, 'we have just arrived from your country, from city of Chennai'. Then I came to know that the couple can speak English fluently, so I was talking in Japanese with them and they were responding in English. At last the final announcement instructed us to board the flight, in sigh of relief we got up and headed towards the flight.
(in continuation)
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