I saw Swades last December. It was a touching movie and it did kindle passion in me for my country, My motherland, My Home...yes Mera Bharat Mahan! A year passed by before I got a chance to visit India. Each day seemed to drag by. Not one day passed without remembering good old India. Each passing day made it harder to control my emotions. Each month seemed like a year. I was dying to get back to Mumbai. Torn between my duties and the love for my country I carried on. Then on December 10th 2005, exactly one year after I saw Swades, I was on the threshold of embarking upon my maiden voyage to India. I felt exactly the same as the character in Swades felt. Its an emotion which cannot be described, it can only be felt. Its overwhelming and makes you feel euphoric. Finally after sixteen months away from home, I would meet my parents, my friends, my relatives and see my Mumbai.
The moment I stepped on the British Airways flight to Mumbai from Philadelphia, my entire 21 years of life in Mumbai flashed by. It was an emotion I had never felt before. I was feeling on seventh heaven. An interesting thing was I was bridging the distance between two countries USA and India, once ruled by the country of the serving airline, the UK. Trivial you might say; but nevertheless very interesting.
The flight passed by in a blur. Eighteen long hours whizzed by. I felt only one thing throughout the entire flight duration, yes, I was bored. But the moment the airhostess announced that we were half an hour away from landing at Mumbai's International airport, all the boredom vanished, all the tiredness disappeared, all I felt was an overwhelming sense of pride. I felt so wonderful, as if life had come a full circle. I felt like shouting on top of my voice, "India, here I come!" The last half an hour felt like an entire lifetime. I was dying to hear the airhostess announce, "Ladies and gentlemen, please tie your seat belts, we'll be shortly landing at Mumbai's Chatrapati International Airport, on behalf of the captain and the entire british airlines crew, we thank you for flying with us and hope you had a wonderful flight" and she did.
I was dying to get out of the plane and step onto my home soil. The first breath I took after getting out of the plane left me breathless (not because of the pollution!) It felt exhilarating. I was jubilant and the moment I stepped out of the airport I spotted my family waiting for me, dying to meet me and see me. Though I'll have many more trips to Mumbai, this first experience I wont forget ever.
The stay in mumbai got over no sooner than it began. There I was standing at the same spot as I landed over a month ago, but it seemed to me that the trip had just begun. I will come back again!
|