Appooppanthaadi -53

He boarded the plane only to drink Vodka. That was what I felt. He got the middle seat to sit. As I was about to make way for him to occuppy the middle seat, he had already made the way by himself. I was a little irritated by that action, but  now I know how to take the irritants in my stride. Anger and emotions need to be controlled to see a better and smiling world. I am learning it and trying to put this into practice. I desparately want to gift a peaceful world to my child to live

The plane took off and as the pilot switched off the seat belt sign, the crew swung into action. The first thing was to serve refreshments. He asked for Vodka. The host poured half level in the galsss and offered it to him. He was not happy. He demanded more and the host obliged. The glass was offered with full vodka, ice cubes and a can of fizzy soft drink. Within no time, the glass was empty.

After the refreshments, they brought the dinner. He demended another round of Vodka then. Knowing his needs, they offered it as he pleased. He sipped the drink along with the dinner that included mutton. I had a vegetarian Indian dinner along with a tin of Pepsi. After the food is served, the hosts reappeared to offer tea/coffee. He again demanded Vodka. The host tried to find an excuse. The agitated guest started protesting. He could speak Arabic. He persisited with demanding another bout of Vodka in Arabic. He even threated to complain to the higher officials of the carrier. Finally the cabin crew had to serve another cupful of the drink. Incidetally, I should say he was a Malayali. He boarded the plane from Chennai and was on his way to Muskat.

For a change, Oman Airways had men as cabin crew. It was however a welcome change. It was a departure from the devil -may- care style of the girls of Jet Airways and the rude behaviour of girls of Qatar Airways. True, the hostesses of many carriers have forgotten to even smile at the guests. The men on board were so pleasing. When the passengers wanted to tell something to these guys, they even squatted on the floor to listen to them. They were willing to listen with a smiling face. Those men on board the Cathe Pacific  flights between Chennai and Hong Kong also were so heartening. I wish, more and more men are found on board in future. Girls, please learn to smile, lest you may loose your jobs.

 

 There were a number of Arab nationals in the plane . Old men, women to children in small and big groups were seen waiting for flights to various Gulf destinations at Chennai airport. Most of these people are reaching Chennai and other cities in India to have specialised treatments. Chennai is one of the most favourite destinations as it can boast of some world class hospitals. One of the passengers on board was a small Arab boy with a broken leg. His left leg was fully bandaged and he could not fold his leg. An affectionate father was struggling hard to keep him in position on board. His love and care for the boy was so absorbing. For around four hours, I was in a class room, learning a lesson or two on how to become a caring father!

The Muskat bound aircraft landed one hour late and it was a 4 hours wait for me to catch the next flight.As I have been cooling my heels at the Muskat Airport launge, I was watching so many men and a few women shopping in the duty free shops there. I was simply awed to see how the people were just picking packets after packets of chocolates and other items and paying at the  cash counter with no emotions in their faces. All these people looked very ordinary and most of them were bound for various destinations in India. A few of them were packing up big liquor bottles too.

 

At 0030 hours my plane took off and in another 90 minutes, it landed at Abu Dhabi. I headed to the exit gate. Before the exit, I collected the visa, underwent the eye scanning,  then had emigration stamping on the passport and collected baggages. Within 30 minutes, I was at the exit gate. UAE issues visa to Indian nationals for a limited period. They send a copy of the visa to our mail id and the original needs to be collected at the airport. This visa is valid only for a few days. Those who need to stay for employment or business need to go through a number of formalities to get the visa stamped on their passports.

Like that I reached once again in the desert. Right now, I have been put up in a hotel and am waiting for the formalities to complete. As long as I am sitting in the comfort of the luxury hotel in the middle of the city, I will never feel that I am living in a desert. Airconditioned room, car, office and restaurants make everything cool. This is a place where petrol is cheaper than water.

Every second person I come across on the road was an Indian. The first person was a Philippino!  Looks may betray their nationalities however. Population of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalis is nontheless less than Idians. Malayalees were the pioneers, but they are now outnumbered by the people from different parts of the world.

Onslaught of Philippinos gives every Indian aspirant a run for their money. Every shop is 'manned' by Philippino girls. We can hardly see Indian girls in shops even though most of the shops are run by Malayalees. For that matter, all walks of life is increasingly being occuppied by Philippinos. The Life Line Hospital has a number of Malayalee employees, but the presence of Philippino nurses and other staff members was a pointer towards the forays they made in Gulf.

Contrary to the general perception that Gulf is totally occuppied by Malayalees, I could see more people from other states of India here. Malayalam is not enough to survive in Gulf now, rather, Hindi will be more conveniet as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis too speak Hindi. While the El Dorado Cinemas screens two Malayalam movies, the nearby National Theatres screen three Hindi movies.

I reached Abu Dhabi to open another chapter in my life. This chapter looks to have some turbulant happenings in waiting. It is definitely not going to be a walk in the park like I used to do during my early assignments abroad, while working with my previous employer. That is what the Sea survival training I took the other day suggests....