Unloading my think tank...

It was so huge!

PS: No time to label them. Move mouse over/click to see what the pic is about.

PPS: If time permits, I'll label n explain them myself.

PPPS: But can't say when.

These are consolidated. Bear with me...

Chennai mein it doesn't snow :P it doesn't even have a winter season! So we were quite excited when we saw frost outside the house one day!








On Jan 3rd, we went to meet Teji. Saw Big Ben, London Eye - all those touristy places. Was -3 deg C cold!






Then one day we went to Greenwich Meridian. It shows the imaginary line diving the world into east and west. It also has a time museum and has displays of ancient clock, first quartz clocks, stories abt how the scientists read the time by observing the moon and stars etc. I found out that earlier they had 20-hour clocks (as opposed to 24 hour clock system now)... so the dial had only 1 to 10, not 1 to 12. Quite fascinating.

















We also went to Museum of Natural History; pics coming up in next post.

I landed here on Dec 26th 2008 and fell in love with the place! Heathrow airport was so clean and so few people!

When we met Jeejaji outside, I was surprised to see such few people even on the roads. Lane discipline, smooth roads bowled me over. And, no one was honking! :D

To cut a long story short, I am having a lovely time with family here, and I want to start work soon :) Wish me luck!

Most weekends I go out with hubby, and I have lots of pics coming up, in the next post.

We'd booked our tickets 2 months in advance. When the ticket rates were slashed, they didn't even offer refund. Cheapos.

When we checked in our luggage, we paid extra. The flight was almost empty! They could've waived that charge. Cheapos.

Inside the flight, as we took our seats, I didn't have a complete kit - some items like toothpaste and brush, socks and headphones were missing. Uh oh, someone in my seat in the earlier flight took it with him/her. So the crew hadn't even cleaned up properly. Cheapos.

As soon as the flight took off, they served parathas and yummy aloo sabzi. At 5 AM!??!?! Who would eat it?! Actually, we did. We were famished. But they had no choice! Only 1 thing for veggies, and 1 for non-veggies. I had the veg dish, and hubby ate chicken. But on the website, when we were checking in, they listed a variety of dishes, including special gluten-free food for vegans, and many cuisines. Ah cheapos.

Poeple started grabbing the 3-seaters to stretch and sleep, the flight was that empty! And later on, in the 10-hr flight, we had to ask for, like actually, ask for, food to eat. Buggers man! And what did we get? A bun, with some cheese on it and orange juice or tea. Cheapos.

And when I went to freshen up, I saw the crew eating apple pie and strawberry dessert, and they happily waved at me :I Oh, the hubby asks to add that they didn't serve liqour either. Cheapos, he adds.

But wait, not everything on the flight was bad. They had an awesome in-flight entertainment system! Movies, TV sitcoms, music! And they had so much variety in each. Like for movies, they had recent movies, classics (Gone with the Wind, Agatha Christie mysteries), hits, award winning (Forrest Gump etc), action movies, animation movies for kids (WALL-E, Ice Age, Madagascar, Harry Potter series), and so much else! In TV sitcoms, they had Family Guy, Friends, Will and Grace and so on. Music they had soul, country, rock, pop, ballads, opera, classics and even Hindi music! Oh so much! I had a ball with the entertainment thing.

Oh I saved the best for last. They had this cool map thing, which you can use to see where you are currently. I mean, which country/sea are you flying over. We were flying at 45000 feet high, and the temp outside was -30 deg C! Not that we felt it, of course; the captain told us. Anyway, I saw that we flew over New Delhi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, France, Denmark, Holland, Germany and so many more countries! I'd made a mental note of all the places, but now I don't remember them all. It was so much fun!

Moral - Please ditch BA flights unless its the only option. Hubby adds, "Be smart and choose Emirates."

WB has so many nice memories that it brings along with it. My in-laws are there; and they are like my 2nd set of parents. Love them. And being married to a Sikh household, it gives me immense pleasure to - EAT! Eat eat and eat is their motto. Err no, its eat, dance, work hard and enjoy. So before we reached my mil promised makki di roti (pancakes made of corn flour) and sarson da saag (green leaves of mustard in thick gravy), with adrak da achaar (ginger pickle). Oh balle balle mazaa aa gaya. So I learnt how to make them as well (posts coming up on my now-defunct cookery blog). I visited so many relatives; and had makki di roti etc at their houses as well :D

Hubby got the computer fixed, the speakers fixed, and bought a new mic and webcam. Created an account on Skype, under my mil's name. She's so Internet-savvy! We chatted with massiji in Amritsar and with the sis here in London. Such fun!

And also, also also also, I had pani puris! Loads of them! I think I had 3 plates, super-spicy ones :D Mmmmm... then I also ate dahi pani puri, ragda and bhel - ALL from the streetside guy! And they were so cheap; just 5 rs for 10 pani puris! It was 45 in Chennai for 5 badly-made pani puris :(

Anyway, I also bought some more essential stuff (which I'm not using here :I )

And the excitement was so palpable, I was looking forward to my first inernational flight! When we went to Calcutta, we checked into a hotel. Slept a while, ate some cakes, had tea. And then we got ready to leave. At the airport, we went in and got our baggage weighed. Paid bloody extra for it. The Immigration Officer asked for our marriage certificate. You see, I haven't changed my name or surname after wedding, and neither have I got my address in the passport changed to reflect hubby's. The Officer probably thought we are not married. Another reason could be that since I look so young *ahem* and hubby *ahem*doesn't*ahem*++ , he wanted to take a look. Since the luggage was already checked in, hubby went with some luggage guy and brought the certificate. Phew, the Officer smiles.

Then, we went back to where parents were waiting. Since it was already 2 AM, hubby asked them to go back to the hotel and rest before the journey back to sleepy calm town. As we were saying byes, and promises to call as soon as we reached, promised to be good kids etc etc., it hit me hard that for the first time, I'm leaving my mom and going so far. So far that I can't just book a ticket n go visit her... I started crying :( So did my mom, and my fil. Saying bye is really a heartburn. Hubby coerced them to leave for the hotel, and when we turned back to go to the airport lounge, I couldn't stop crying. I wish they all stay forever forever happy and healthy.

Waiting time in the lounge was killing me. So guess what did I do. Watched SATC movie! For the umpteeth time :D I hated the series, but somehow loved the movie. But Big is irritating as ever. My fav, Samantha, is as smashing and diva-like as ever!


++ - He is err... not old, is what I can say ;)

I'm 28 and in London :D

More to come...

Happy new year to you! xoxo