The Right Start

I’m back after a break of a fortnight totally rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Well if not the world atleast the harsh heat of Chennai. But then if you can take the heat of Chennai, then taking on the world is child's play. The holiday as I have mentioned in my Facebook was a dream. I have had the privilege of visiting a lot of places around the world and nowhere have I felt the way I did during this break. The reasons for that may be more than one and of that I would like to expand at a later time. Before my vacation, I had thought that I would write a travelogue and let my readers know of what I saw and did in China. Now on hindsight, I feel that may not be a good idea as it could turn out to be a drab and thus bore the reader. I do want to write about China as I have been awed by whatever met my eye. Now my worry is to think of interesting ways in which I can incorporate China into my blog.

There is a popular saying which goes thus “All is well that ends well”. I would like to change it a little and phrase it thus “All is well that starts well.” When the trip to China was in its nascent stages, we debated on which airline to choose as there were many choices from Chennai. Since most of the far eastern airlines fly to mainland China, we could have chosen any one of them. However due to connections, the choice was narrowed to two, one being Thai and the other Cathay Pacific. Now I have a special corner for Cathay as that was the carrier my husband worked for while in the Middle East and prior to that in India and thus was instrumental in me getting to see so many places all around the world. Also Cathay meant Hong Kong and I wanted to see the place. Now Hong Kong is not new to me as from the year 1980-1994 I have gone there almost every year and used to know the city very well. Once we were back in India, I had never dreamt that I would get to go there again. When this opportunity came by I did not want to let go of it. I was keen to know how much the place had changed after the take over in 1997 and also to see if I could find my way around. Luckily the friend who was traveling with us had not been to Hong Kong and so it was Cathay for sure. Once the trip was confirmed, Kumar being the man he is, made sure that the flights were booked well on time and even spoke to the local Cathay office and made sure that we got the best deals possible.

I don’t think I have ever mentioned about my neighbor Mr. D’Costa in any of my earlier articles, he lives just opposite my house and my father calls him his younger brother. His nick name is Bobby and to all of us he is Uncle Bobby. He is a fine gentleman so loving and caring, ready to face the world with an endearing smile. Uncle Bobby is blessed with three sons and a daughter. His daughter is married to one David Saunders a captain with Cathay Pacific. Dave is an Indophile first and a New Zealander who grew up in India by virtue of having missionary parents. He visits his in laws every few months and spends considerable time with us. In the 13 years since his marriage, he has become a good friend of ours. Thus when the tickets were purchased, I had hoped against hope that Dave would captain us. I had always felt it would be wonderful to travel in a plane when the Captain is known. On conveying our travel plans to Dave, he said it was very doubtful that he would be assigned the route on that particular day.

We were scheduled to travel on the 25th of April and on the 24th evening Kumar conveyed to me that Dave had been assigned to Captain our flight and that he would be reaching Chennai on the 25th morning. It seemed as if the person above had a role to play. It seemed as if it was ordained. So that morning Dave came across and shared his delight with us. He said that he was looking forward to having us on board. We had an easy check in at the airport and later the senior ground staff told us that by the Captain’s orders we were assigned to Business Class.

Once on board, Dave came around to see if we were comfortable and for the first time we got to go to the flight deck. I for one am not a great sleeper on board, but somehow on that flight, I felt that there was nothing to worry and slept like a hog. For the first time I wished that the flight was a longer one. We owe what we are to Cathay Pacific and the airline in turn made sure that they gave us the most regal welcome after a gap of 14 years. With such a great start, I knew that our holiday would turn out to be a dream and that is exactly what it was.