The Begin of a Journey
I remember when elder brother left for US in the Fall of 2000 for his MS, he used to send long emails. He described his brief airport stay at Amsterdam, the very beautiful blue sky and the green pastures. I also remember how my father used to receive the print of these mails from University office.It was all so exciting.
But when I sat down today, I pondered, hasn't time changed? Because it is much easier to talk on phone and share experiences! As I was questioning the thought of writing a long descriptive mail, another thought crossed. How could I deprive them all, the charm and delight of a good reading.
My journey started at around 2:00 in the afternoon. It was bright and sunny. I had to wait for an hour at Chandigarh Airport. The airport seems to be a bad joke. The security is superficial. Abysmal. Anyhow, t he great Air-India plane took off at around 3:10 AM and in less that 45 minutes, I reached Delhi. However, it takes time to actually “reach” Delhi as it took another 30 minutes for the plane to “settle-down”. A friend called me at Delhi Airport. I asked if we could meet for sometime ( I had ALL the world's time, my flight was 9 hours later). I took the Airport Service Bus to reach the IGI Terminal.
I met my friend at the airport for couple of hours, and later proceeded towards Asiana Airlines (Korean) check-in counter. It was around 8:00 PM. The counter manager told that Asiana check-in shall start at 9:00 PM. All the Asiana check-in people (all Indians) were already seated.
I still had one hour to kill, so I wandered around. Finished off the paranthas that I had got along. The paranthas had gone cold, but its so fun to eat them specially when one is hungry. I took them in great hurry with real big bites, ended up with a choke.
After all my fooding, I called up Rahul (other GSP scholar from India). He told that he had reached the airport. (He was with his elder married sister and brother-in-law.) He told me that he will join me soon. I went up the check-in queue (I was second person after a korean couple).
A very humble Korean Asiana-Airlines official, who was in his 40s, came to the counter. All the staff members got off their seats and started wishing all the Asiana passengers “An-yeon-hasiyo” (Hello in Korean). They bowed.
It was amusing to see them do this. A sweet Korean Tradition by Indian members.
This all made me sure about one thing that if the check-in officials now convey me that my baggages weigh more than the allowed load, I knew whom I need to speak to.
On top of that, I had a Seoul National University brand and a Samsung Electronics brand out-flowing and pouring out of “my bag”. They admire Seoul National University and respect Samsung Electronics. But nothing happened. (I had 29 Kilogram EXTRA in form of hand baggage!).It was an easy check-in.
The immigration check also went smooth (may be the two earlier South Korean visa stampings did not call for any questioning). Rahul took couple of minutes (his first international trip) at immigration check as the official started asking him about his native, engineering school, why South Korea and similar routine questions. After he was done and we had the security check, we reached the departure area and waited for few hours before we could sit and fly to Seoul.
Soon the airlines opened up the departure counter and we both stepped in. As we got in the airplane, it was freezing cold. I looked out for my seat. It was the aisle one from the mid-seaters. The seat next to me was vacant may be for me to I spread myself. Treat yourself.
It was comfortable. Made few calls. Everything was set to go.
During the whole flight, I tried to sleep which I did with not 100% success. I knew it would be extremely tiring once we reach Seoul.
Surprisingly the 7 hours flight got over real soon and the next thing I recall is that we were looking out for the Airport Exit door. (By the way, Incheon Airport (Seoul) is the world’s second best airport.) As we exited, a fair, short hair, tall Russian ( GSP from 2008 ) was waiting for us at the exit with our names in capital letters on a white A4 sheet. I greeted him, so did he.
Samsung had provided a chauffeur driven mini-van to pick us up. We got our stuff in the van and headed to the university. The University looked amazing. It was plush green, hilly and architecturally rich. We reached our studio apartment and kept our baggies in the room. I took Room 209. Its a japanese kind-of small room with wooden-sheeted floor (not wooden actually) with an attached bathroom. It had a study table with glass top, a lamp, a cupboard, a fire-extinguisher, a torch, a clothes wall-hanger but no bed. A new bed was on its way to our room.
So as we straightened-out, I thought we might be asked to take some rest (like I was during my last business visits), but the former GSP students (2nd Year MS) wanted to show us ALL the very first day. Samsung GSP-2009 included 3 Russians (Nikolay, Nikita (He is guy), and Alexei), 1 Chinese (Lui Gin, a girl) and 2 Indians (including me).They took us for lunch and then started to show us the area around, the subway station, the bus number, the various routes for Seoul National University Main Gate, the food places, the sub-way entry gates and much more. It was like a crash course.
By evening we had met almost all former GSPs. Couple of russian mates were curious to know about my “real" country as I did not look or speak like an “Indian” to them! But I clarified.
We visited school the next day, and then the immigration office to get our Alien Registration Card. They took our passpost and gave us receipt for the same. Most of the things here like purchasing a cellphone(with connection), opening a bank account and likewise depend on it.
So far things have been going smooth. I have taken up my courses and chosen my lab. I will keep you updated on my daily routine and other things.
One another amusing thing: I was traveling by subway yesterday and I had this korean chap sitting next to me watching a video on his phone. The background music in that koran comic video was Daler Mehendi’s “Tunak Tunak Tuank tu da da da” song !! Globalisation.
