Having to solve some paperwork issues and look up on bank accounts and other things that sound important, I had the pleasure to make a trip back to India a little before the Eid Holidays. Headed straight to Goa where Mom and Dad were waiting to take me around the beautiful state I call home.
I made what most would call a foolish move of not taking a cheaper flight directly to Mumbai from Dubai, but instead, flying to Muscat, changing flights there and then flying to Mumbai. All just for the sake of flying with Oman Air, and some free time at Muscat Airport, because I don't have to tell you how much I love all things Oman.
Landing in Mumbai was sheer fun. Always brings back memories, that very act of landing there. How I once ran home from the airport, kept my luggage, changed into rain wear and ran off to attend a 7:30 Sudhakar lecture. How I love the early morning taxi rides from the airport to town and how i once was crossing the sealink at the very time that the sun rose. Such memories don't dwindle soon,and i don't intend to let them do so. Any ways, this time, Mumbai was all about being a leg in my journey to Dubai, so I hopped on to the inter-terminal bus and now excited myself with the prospect of landing in another favorite place. Goa!
The Goa section of my trip was not quite eventful. It was dotted with the usual meetings with relatives and family friends, but like always, this time also had that one get together with folks I must not have met since a decade or so. A sweet aunt and uncle who we last met in Salalah being the case this time. The rest of the trip focused on two things I was visibly deprived of in Dubai. Mom's Food (Including heaped servings of rice, which I otherwise avoid thanks to a precise diet) and sleeping on a proper bed were two things that really needed my attention. I also tried out this place, which surprisingly was tried out by my folks. An amazing seafood place, pretty nondescript, called Fishland, near the Panjim Residency. Amazing how a Fish Thali for 60 rupees can bring so much satisfaction.
9 days flew by with a lot of ease and I then had to prepare myself for the odd one and a half day in Mumbai. Spending that minuscule a time frame in a place you previously spent 3 whole years certainly isn't easy, but I kept a tight schedule and had adequate time for everything. Right from getting a new pair of spectacles and shirts to meeting up with the gang which surprisingly happened without a photo being clicked. Is the BMM blood fading away or have we become grown-ups already? Thanks, to everyone who was able to turn up. Before I knew it, 36 hours were up and I was catching a few winks in a taxi headed to the airport. When I finally arrived in Dubai, I happened to be so exhausted with the goings-on in India and the Jet lag, that I cooled off with approximately 18 hours of dead sleep.
This trip didn't capitalize on everything I wanted but gave me all of the things I needed.
