04/25 -- 5 am IST


Emirates turned out to be better than I had anticipated... Rather amazing... It was a full flight, like I mentioned before, almost 95% Indians... One thing abt us Indians is that for us, flights are supposed to include food, drinks, in-flight entertainment and lastly, the actual travel, in the order mentioned... We are very demanding on those aspects... But the Emirates crew handled everything pretty well... 


This time I did not have a window or a aisle seat, but luckily, the next seat was empty... So I was really comfy... The inflight entertainment system (called ICE btw) is superb... It does not wait for the flight to take off to be enabled... The moment you take your seat, you can start your mini-TV... There is a power outlet for every seat and even an USB drive (though I do not know what it can be used for)... The menu on the ICE is so vast and varied that the programs will suffice for the entire duration from Mumbai to RDU, ... There were good movies, games, TV serials, podcasts, radio and the variety under each option was really good... Hats off... The seats were not too close to each other and there was ample leg room -- there was no 5 inch leg room sale... There were a few other cool features from the flight -- there are a bunch of cameras attached to the plane and one gets to see the real time view of the city when the flight is about the land... Its pretty cool actually when you see it for the first time... 


I managed to watch the movie "Couples Retreat" starring Vince Vaughn and Kristin Davis, amongst others... Okay movie, not funny like the other frat pack movies... Then caught up on a Friends episode, one Ashes 1981 test match highlights and eventually some good scenes from Munnabhai MBBS... 


Flight landed on time... Got my luggage without much hassle... Customs and Immigration was cool, because I had nothing to hide this time... As soon as I came out, I met mom and dad... The entire stress of the last 22 hours was worth it in that one moment... They came all the way to the airport at 4 am in the morning, just to receive me... Mom looks really old for someone who is 60... Dad is holding up pretty well for someone who will touch 66 in a couple of months... Sis woke up at 4 am for the first time in 7 years and spoke to me for 3 minutes before she went back to sleep for another 7 hours... 


As soon as I got out of the airport gate, I could feel the Mumbai heat and humidity... I was sweating in less than 30 seconds, at 4 am in the morning... Supposedly the coldest time of the day... Cant wait to see hot hot it is going to be when its 4 pm... Dad told me on the way that its a hot and humid 36 in Mumbai and superhot 40 in Pune... A prepaid cab ride and home at 4.30... A bottle of cold water, a glass of fresh mango juice and a cool water wash later, I am feeling at home... I wanted to drink tea but looking at the condition of my mom and dad, I just decided to wait for another couple of hours when the maid comes in... 


Switched on the TV... Dad got a 42" LCD fixed sometime last year... Its cool... The picture quality is really awesome and I do not miss my 46" TV from home at all... The programs suck though... Sachin's 37th birthday is being celebrated like Mahatma Gandhi's 100th birthday or India's 100th independence day... Every single channel is dedicated its lineup to wish him for the big day... The next big thing is IPL and its scandal... Rest of the channels have pledged up to some cheap hindi songs, movies or reality shows.... India's biggest dancing star is having her day of glory to be thrown into oblivion tomorrow... 


Within 10 minutes, the TV was off, the laptop was up and me blogging on my first 2 hours in Mumbai... Now crashing, just so that I avoid any jetlag and am fresh enough to get my work done for Mumbai...