New Beginnings - London

He landed at Heathrow with a body ache, congestion and tiredness which was aggravated by the queue for the washrooms. There was no entertainment system working on-flight (which a beautiful Virgin Airline’s air hostess claimed was the 1^st time in 7 years) and completely non-interested and sleepy co-passengers. Not one of the best or rather it had been one of the worst flights till date!

The landing had been beautiful, the airport, the passages, the management, everything was so British. In Kirat Vaze sir’s words ‘Very Officer like’. This made him forget all the painful airline experience. The immigration with the British border agency went on smoothly.  Getting down at the luggage collection area he got a ticket for the Heathrow express to Paddington (tube, against all suggestions of taking a cab, as it was his 1^st time). He saw a vending machine for sim cards and got a Lycasim. It was all new and amazing (doing all of this himself!); of course he was old enough and should be doing it. Still for all his friends and family it was new, he was so far away for the 1^st time and did not have a good record of managing things on his own!

Reckless as he always was, he did not check the hostel check-in timings and neither the address. So she did it for him and realized that the check-in timing was after 2 p.m. It was just 8am...cheers right…!!! So he roamed around Heathrow as if he wanted to study the area so well so that he could draw a map from his memory later on. He then met and began talking to an old lady who wore a T-shirt saying, ‘Students, need any help? ’. Not that he needed help, but saw it as a good opportunity to talk to someone really British before he entered the capital. A mix of roaming around and talking and finally down to the Heathrow express terminal for Paddington! While moving around he realized how much pain it was to carry the bags around...58kgs in total.  He was so tired that he began visualizing all the things that he should not have brought with him, but it didn't matter now.  The 15 minute journey was in a way, very enlightening as he was seeing a new city for the 1^st time.  The real pain of carrying the bags began again when he alighted at Paddington station. He then hired a taxi and reached the hostel, “The Duke of York,” An impressive bar; where he waited with a coffee for around an hour trying to connect to the Wi-Fi and thinking of different things. Images and thoughts the new city evoked in his mind!

Taking the bags to the room on the 4^th floor was a feat in itself and then putting it in the 5X5 room with 6 bunk beds, 3 in pair, one above the other, was something really that had to be done with great precision. He changed his clothes, had a wash and went down to the bar. He did so in order to charge the phone basically and message a girl he had been in touch with via the flat search website. He asked her if they could meet and she was keen. They decided to meet around 6 in the evening. He left the hostel around 3 and began roaming around the area.  He walked and walked and called friends on Viber. He messaged her and she said that she was running late. He looked at the map and figured out where he needed to go and then realized that it was the dehydration because of which it was taking more time. Unfortunately, he wasn't felling it at all, but had been warned and reminded by a friend about this on the phone because of which he realized it.

He called up the girl after reaching the destination, and there she was with another friend, both cute in a different way. They were famished and said that they will go to an Indian restaurant. They were walking towards it, and he realized the amazing speed at which they were walking at. At first he thought it was the hunger, but realized that it was normal for them. 1^st thing learnt on the 1st night in #London. They had tasteless mutter paneer and mushroom masala, of course he couldn't eat much, that goes without saying. They were talking of continental food and all and how it’s so much this and that and the Turkish and all that with sooooooo many expressions. That’s another British thing, I guess. Sophistication and expressions! As it’s said it is so British when you say ‘Bullocks’ instead of ‘Balls’. Then they all went for a beer at a pub, well that’s another so British thing. Evenings spent at a bar or pub. So that’s what he did on his 1^st night. British evening drinks after an Indian dinner. They had good conversation, about current world affairs, about future career, travelling, doing things, working in different areas, for what and all. So for a first night in London it was great. One of the girls had traveled to Nepal, Tibet, South Korea and Japan and her experiences were amazing. He was just listening to their talks and noting their expressions also, as it was so new - so many expressions in one night!

They parted after a good time and promised to meet later. He returned to the tube station after checking and rechecking it the schedule. As he got out of the tube he had no problem reaching the hostel as he had walked the area for almost 3 hours.  He went to his room to find 4 girls there. Each of them gave a warm smile. He went into his bed and tried to sleep, his mind filled with aspirations and thankfully not fear. Yes, there was a bit of anxiety, curiosity and about how things will happen and how he will manage! Since he was tired he went off to sleep, not a very good one. But when had he had good sleep anyway!