A Trip... An adventure..... A Lesson

They say life is a journey and if you don’t travel and see places then you have read only one page of your life, every journey is a new adventure and this trip from Ho chi minh city to Mumbai was full of adventure, excitement, emotions, action…. Gosh some bollywood writer could make a nice movie of this trip.
I know I am quite late to write about this trip to India, however I still want to write something so that I can comeback to this diary and relive my visit, visiting India is always so refreshing and exciting. Even though I have lived 90% of my life in Mumbai, every time I visit this sleepless city there is something new about it, something that attracts everyone…. I have lived in many places, but there is nothing that compares to Mumbai, there is something strangely attractive about this city.
Coming back to my trip, I dint have much time to do the flight bookings and also most of the flights to India were quite full as Diwali festival season was fast approaching. I checked various options available and best was tiger airways, don’t drop your jaw at the name of this airlines, it’s a budget airlines and sister concern of Singapore airlines, I booked a ticket for 17Oct at 1300hrs, it was a crazy plan, Ho chi minh – Singapore – Chennai – Mumbai. Total journey of about 11 hrs.
My office is close to the airport and hence in the morning at 730 am I came to office with my entire luggage, worked till about noon said goodbyes and headed for the airport. At the checking counter of Tiger airways the guy at the check in desk looked at me in a funny way and said that he cant check me in as I dint have a visa for Singapore, at first I thought that he was joking and dint take him seriously, but when he called the person after me to checkin I realized that he wasn’t joking, I couldn’t believe what he had said. I explained to him that I was flying on tiger from HCMC to Singapore and also from Singapore to Chennai, and hence I don’t need a visa I won’t be going out of the airport and it was a short transit. But he wouldn’t listen to anything and he insisted that I need a visa before I checkin. I told him that I need to talk with duty manager, but that dint help either, coz she understood very little English and kept saying the same thing. I told her that if at all visa is COMPULSORY, then as per Singapore laws if an Indian passport holder has a valid US visa then he can get 96hrs Visa upon arrival, but she would not listen to this either… It was getting too frustrating as she wasn’t ready to listen and kept on saying that Tiger airways passengers needs visa in Singapore and they don’t care about the Singapore immigration laws. I was dumb struck; I knew I had to act quickly. I reached at the booking counter and enquired for other flights for Singapore. It wasn’t sheer coincidence, it was divine blessing, there was a Garuda airline flight scheduled to take off in next 5 mins, I purchased a fresh ticket for Singapore and rushed towards the immigrations, luckily I entered the plane just 20 sec’s before its scheduled take off. Throughout the flight I was thinking of the things that I will do during my stay in Mumbai, the hotels where I want to eat, the friends which I want to meet, so many things to do in such less time…. 
Before I knew it, I was at Singapore airport, the flight landed in terminal 2 and I had to go to budget terminal for my next flight (tiger airways Singapore – Chennai), the budget terminal is like a different airport, its quite far from the main airport and one needs to go out of the main terminal and then take a bus or cab to the budget terminal. I went to the immigration office for visa, he checked my passport and tickets and happily stamped a visa that was valid for 96hrs, for a second I wanted to take the next flight to HCMC and show the duty manager that its so easy to get a visa and they shouldn’t have forced me to buy another ticket. If I had the time I would have done it, but I had other important things to do, the next leg of my trip, Singapore – Chennai. It was so nice to be surrounded by so many desi’s at the same time; the last I got this kind of feeling was when I attended last year’s flag hosting ceremony at the Indian embassy in Manila.
We reached Chennai (yes I was finally in my own country INDIA)at 2300hrs and we were greeted by warm, pleasant breeze. There was this magic in the air, if I try and express this feeling in words, I won’t do justice to it, hence won’t even attempt it. My next flight for Mumbai was at 0020, when I was booking and planning my trip I thought that it will be easy to catch this flight as I had good 1hour 20 minutes between flights, however things dint turn as planned (this thing happens with me most of the time, things don’t happen as per plan, however whatever happens is mostly better than planned). I waited at the luggage conveyer belt for what seemed like eternity, all the while I kept cursing myself for being over confident and foolish. Finally at around 0005 I got my luggage, gosh I was fully messed up, all I did was run the fastest I could along with the trolley. I reached the checkin counter at international Chennai airport at 0012hrs, I met with the air port manager and explained him my situation, all he did was walk away from me. He was least interested in listening to me, and told me that the counter closes 60 minutes before departure time, and there was no way I could be on the flight. In the next 3 mins or so I tried all the tricks in my books (trust me they always work) I flattered him, respected his authority, shouted at him, pleaded, got angry, also managed to produce a tear in both my eyes, …. Did everything I could, but this guy wouldn’t bulge, he dint care what I was doing. Finally at 0018hrs I lost all hope and prayed to krsna in desperation, I told Krsna, “is this they way you welcome me in your country?, I am returning home after 1 year and this is what you do to me….. how mean you can be…” all I could do or think now was to pray and hope a miracle happens ….. and it did, don’t know what happened, the duty manager came towards me, looked at me in the eye and said, never ever do this again. For a minute or two I thought that I was dreaming with open eyes, a chill ran down my spine. I jumped with my bags, and one of the security guard assisted me towards check in and immigration. Guard was with me till the plane, I was being treated like a VIP, I dint stand in any queue or wasn’t checked at any point. It was a nice feeling. When I was seated, I couldn’t thank Krsna and my starts enough. When I reached Mumbai I was embraced by the early morning misty air, the warmth and love that I feel in the air here is nowhere to be found. Mummy, Mansi, Jayesh, Priya, Sakshi, Gopi and Madan had come at the air port, I dint have words, I was emotionally high, happy and satisfied to be in company of my family and friends : ) I will always cherish this trip for its adventures and the lessons it taught me……