The "Motherland"

After 5 months of delay after delay, i finally took the TGV to Paris last week and applied for my Visa to the UK. The company payed (for everything, since it was a business trip), and what more, i got the visa on friday 25th and flew to Leeds on sunday 27th. 3-day stay, to return on wednesday 30th to Grenoble.

So away i went again, flying from Lyon to Amsterdam (i've lost count, honestly !) and then Amsterdam to Leeds. Both tiny aircraft. The first one as small as the Milan-Lyon flight i took on the way back from Greece, where one could feel every small air pocket and the descent felt like the pilot was dive bombing the airport. The second one was small too, called "KLM cityHopper"... So you can imagine !

Bumpy landing at Leeds !!!
The pilot warned us that there was a heavy wind blowing across the airstrip, and did we feel it ! It was the roughest landing i have ever experienced, the one where you really have your heart in your mouth and when it's over you realise your jaw is locked. The pilot promptly put us down with a thud, and then missed the runway exit to the terminal ! He braked hard, and when he started drifting to the right, i had a bad bad bad feeling. Thats when i realised he was actually making a U-turn on the runway, cuz he had missed the exit ! Either way, hats off to him for even landing that plane, i'm sure it wasn't easy !

Passed through immigration, where i got my first whiff of the "English".
"How long would you be staying Mr.Srinath?" with a thick accent ! I wanted to point and laugh, but i had to control myself...

Anyway, exchanged some Euros to Pounds (and noticed that there are probably 10 different varieties of 20-pound notes !!) and booked a taxi to the hotel. And even as i was doing that, there was a big commotion in the airport. Out of nowhere, a man of south-asian decent (read : indian/pakistani) was screaming "ooh maa, ooh maa" (yes, in hindi), and the cops were all over him. The general public obviously was convinced that he would blow up anytime, and were all shell-shocked !
Welcome to the "Motherland" (ref: Russell Peters)

My taxi driver greeted me with a "Are you alright?". For a moment i thought he meant did anyone get hurt with the fiasco in there... (more about this later !)
He turned to be very very talkative (in a nice way). In the 15 mins ride to the hotel, we discussed the following:
1) Where did i fly in from? What do i do in France?
2) Leeds Airport is on top of a hill, thats why the wind !
3) Indian Independance and Partition (touching upon Bangladesh too)
4) The floods in Leeds 2 weeks back
5) Kashmir
6) Why he didnt become a pilot
7) Curry and where you can find the best on in Leeds (place called Akbar's apparently)
8) How i should call his taxi company for the ride back, since all the others are "stealing".

The next 2 days was mainly work, sorry i cant speak much about that. Although i must highlight a couple of things about the general environment in the UK.

Everyone wears a tie at the Schneider plant in Leeds !!
Everday !!

The English always greet you with "Are you alright?". The first time someone asked me that, i wondered what was wrong. You know, I hadn't been hit by a truck !!! And then everyone was asking me that, and i figured that is just the way they greet each other !!!

The funniest instance was when the guy who was organising my visit actually said to me "You speak good English, where did you learn it?". I really wanted to laugh, but i did tell him that it was thanks to 400 years of his ancestors' presence in India.

I think the Security check at Leeds Airport needs a separate blog entry... more about that later !