Heading Home -2

I land in Bangalore after a butt-aching 4 and a half hours of flying.
The MP3 Player is playing some sweet homecoming stuff which is kinda
emotional, I think its from Westlife (WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF UR FACE!!! I
DONT LIKE EM, but the song has a nice lyrics about going home to the place you love.)

So the song plays in my ears as I walk towards the aircraft exit. My eyes fall on the business class airhostess, and she looks like she’s younger than the rest (probably 45 years old I guess)
The pilot walks out and I can almost imagine him re-fixing his dentures (okay so I am making a mountain out of a molehill. But it’s the oldest crew and plane I’ve EVER been in a long time. The plane didn’t even have an inflight entertainment facility. NO TV !!!!)

The ol’ pilot parked the plane in some in-accessible corner of the airport, so we had to get a bus to the airport from the plane. I stepped out of the plane to a familiar smell of the Bangalore night… Ahhh, Home Sweet Home!! Its indescribable really, but even if you had blindfolded me, and put me on the runway at night, I’d have no trouble differentiating the greenery induced fragrance of Bangalore to the dusky sandy fragrance of Doha. I got into the transport bus, and unlike other airports, this bus driver waited until the bus was filled with enough people so that each one’s arm was jammed under another’s armpit… Ahhh, Home Sweet Home!!
Immigration check and collection of baggage was too slow, funny how Einstein’s relativity works isn’t it? And then I literally ran out of the airport and saw the taxi rental stand. Since no soul in India except a certain fruiter was aware of my arrival, I had to take the taxi. I smiled at the suited-up man in the booth and told him “R.T. Nagar Please !!”
And he goes, “Certainly sir.” And picks up a laminated sheet of paper to look up the rates. “That would cost you 800 Rupees Sir”, he says with a smile. And I feel a punch land in my stomach, (just so you know, a taxi from the old airport to my home costed 400 Rupees, and this one was supposed to be CLOSER !!!) Clearly, this guy was ripping me off with his BRANDED SERVICE. At 11:45 in the night, it didn’t look as if I had much choice, I reached for my wallet, Ahhh, Home Sweeeeet Home!!

This was my first landing at the new Bangalore airport. Not bad, the old fogies had managed to make a decent place. I walked towards the taxi stand and was welcomed by a dog snoozing on the road.. Ahh..Now I am TRULY HOME !!! The red eyed taxi driver started up and drove me home, along the way, there was this HUGE grin plastered over my face. The White street lights like 2 strings of pearls lined the road, I passed by signboards showing familiar Indian Celebs selling everything from a toothpaste to a Blue Whale, I passed by a road lined with red mud which smells all to familiar to me, instantly bringing a host of memories, the cool wind through the open windows beat every Air conditioning system I’ve ever enjoyed, how it caressed my hair like a loving mother, and how it threw a hundred kisses all over my face. And then, I passed by a small bridge, over an open sewer, for some strange reason, the smell of it, just made my smile a little more wider….I was Home….