Rashed's View

The first leg of the flight was not bad – I slept a little, read a little and watched two movies. A couple of hours stop over at Heathrow to browse the stores – I bought a Delhi tourist book – all the Delhi places to check out. The second leg of the flight was not as smooth. There was a cranky 5 year old behind my kicking my seat all the way – I couldn’t sleep too much. There was a very old Sikh lady sleeping in the next seat, and her elbow was on the armrest where the controls for my TV were. I couldn’t watch any of the movies completely; she kept switching channels and turning the volume up and down with her elbow in her sleep. Two minutes of Hitch, one minute of Ray, another 3 minutes of The 13th Precinct, etc. I tried to read but the light switch was right next to the channel switch. On. Off. On. Off. I would read a few paragraphs and wait for a few minutes in darkness. I tried telling her, but we couldn’t find any common language. And she couldn’t stay awake a lot on such a long flight.

Immigration, luggage, customs, and ride to corporate apartments went without a hitch. I was hungry, but the kitchen was closed – it was past midnight. Mohan, the caretaker boy here, made me an omelet and chai. I also found Srimant and his family staying in the apt next door to me, and Ashu on the ground floor.

My cell phone seems to work from both London and New Delhi.