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Spouse, Son & I Are Off To London Via Airindia Boeing 747

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Thyagarajan, Nov 17, 2017.

  1. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:SPOUSE, SON & I are OFF TO LONDON via AIRINDIA BOEING 747:hello:

    In 1983, a pink “X” marked telegram of junior BIL, delivered to me at my office. The message read “HI-DAD(.)BORN TODAY FIRST SEPTEMBER 5.10 AM(.)MOM & I ARE OK(.)LETTER FOLLOWS DAUGHTER”

    Bhadri once again was right.

    This set me to rewind domestic scenes of - few months old.
    **************.
    A fortnight before, Kapil Dev Cricket team made India proud at the Lords, England by winning the Prudential World Cup, at commencement of business hour, I was formally informed by local boss in his chamber that I should get prepared to leave for London on posting to UK office. Through the window-glass pane, I saw it was raining outside cats and dogs. I was sad and glad. Following this, I was on my toes in securing pass port, buying Air ticket, applying to RBI for permission for carrying foreign currency, getting visa, Thomas Cook office etc.

    I thought of my colleague & well-wisher Badri who had forecasted around that time, that I would get either foreign posting or would beget a daughter.

    For some queer reasons, though I knew there was a proposal to transfer me to London branch, yet I did not breathe about it to my spouse. Now tad worried, I repeated dialling my residence proved futile.

    Before I could reach home in the evening, another office colleague reached my home to congratulate me and disclosed the news of my foreign transfer to my spouse. When she expressed “it was a bolt from blue” he seemed to have reacted stating to her that this news at the proposal stage itself was known to me. Hence when I returned home from office, it was but natural for my spouse to greet me in a gruffly manner holding a puffy countenance and in her presence my friend was exclaiming how could I have had remained secret about this prospects of going with family to London.

    I was planning to surprise & delight her with this wonderful once-in-a-life-time news but to my dismay, my friend hijacked it in-toto.

    With brightened eyes, our Telugu speaking - Lukshamma - maid servant in glee parried my spouse with numerous questions and spouse was answering in mixed colloquial Hindi, Marathi and Tamil. Luckshamma attributed this ‘happening’ to birth star of my son and the baby in process– I mean in spouse’s womb!

    Despite heavy monsoon rains, an insertion by spouse “leaving India must sell today – household articles call ....” in free-classified Sunday city edition of Times of India had done the wonders. My spouse disposed of black & white TV, furniture, electrical gadgets, cooking appliances all in a jiffy and obtained TV after depositing the un-empty cylinder. Despite my telling her, that the posting may be just for a couple of years and we might need most of it when re-transferred to India, she dismissed it with a click of her tongue, retorting that at that stage with elevated status, we may need to have more sophisticated stuff!

    One small trunk was stuffed with precious valuables including a part of her jewels securely locked to be handed over to her parents for safe-keeping till we return to India. Items including my son’s tri-cycle which could not be converted to cash, she gave away to Luckshamma, who took it away with gratitude and moist-laden eyes and loaded them into her wheelbarrow.

    With exuberant spouse and hyper active kid-son, I made hurried/harried piligrimage by road, rail and bullock-cart to our village to invoke blessings of our tutelary deity including arranging tonsure offering of my son.

    Back to Bombay (now Mumbai), spouse keeping in view prevailing weather conditions in UK, shopped for suit/dress and her favourite MTR packets, pickles condiments, make-up items etc and laboured to stuff it neatly for n’th time in two light maroon suitcases of prescribed dimensions and weight. Glancing at me, she distributed our dresses among the boxes (hand baggage and check-in) stating that if one is lost in transit, the other would come handy.

    After arranging with office colleague for handing over official quarter, as guest of our Telugu speaking neighbour, we spent overnight and the following day with them enjoying their favourite food with desert Cadbury’s “Dollops”.

    My in-laws arrived in the evening from Madras (now Chennai) and accompanied us to the airport. When we all reached the lounge near reception, flight-schedule-departure board was already blinking indicating that check-in for our flight in progress.

    After bit huddle and hugging, tearfully my in-laws proceeded to overnight hotel-stay and then to leave for boarding train Dadar-Madras Express next afternoon.

    We entered the custom area. It was around 04:00hrs, when we sauntered in drizzle on wet tarmac and reached Boeing 747. We emplaned to be welcomed and greeted by palms-closed-angelic-lanky-ever-smiling-airhostess at the entrance to the half-empty cabin and then she swung the plug in door to a close. The other one guided us to our seat and helped stuffing hand baggage with ease into the overhead luggage bin.

    When we had just finished with fastening the seat belts and remain feverishly excited under the sharp cone of cold oxygen from air-nozzle above, my spouse in ‘aisle seat’ turned ecstatic, entwined her fingers with mine. Son was cupping his hand on the glass window and looking away from us.

    A moment later, I felt the cabin being depressurised and few seconds later, I saw lanky air hostess pulled the lever with ease and reopened the cabin door at the front-end and the other air hostess came hopping and in hush-hush tone, requested me for some confirmation. As I was attempting responding in a trailing voice, I saw a robust family with their chirpy daughter rushing into the cabin with their hand-baggage.

    My supreme New Delhi boss was leading them to my row of seats and as I stood up, he proffered an open ‘memorandum’ signed by the Secretary, stating my transfer stands annulled and in my place Mr Xyz would be going to London. With hand baggage and heavy heart, my spouse, kid son and I turned into flightless birds, descended out of cabin, through heavy drizzle that was twinkling from rays of distant tower lights.

    Image of my smiling bosom friend Bhadri came into minds-eye.
     
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  2. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Shri Thyagarajan,
    Quite interesting! Such last minute changes have happened to me also on many occasions.At least in this instance it is disappointment only.In some cases when the marriage is cancelled at the eleventh hour due to some unforeseen events, it is not only financial loss, but a shock .Sometimes change would be a blessing in disguise.
    My sister's marriage was fixed on a Sunday in 1951.It had already been decided to give Rs1001/- as vara dakshinai.The previous day the groom's father asked for Rs2001/-The bride groom also joined with his father in arguments.My father didn't agree.The groom and the relatives left the house with bag and baggage.

    My mother said that my father should not stop the wedding for a mere Rs1000/-and the financial losses on account of cancellation at the last minute may work out to more than Rs1000 and result in greater damage in other aspects.But in 1950/-the amt was a big one.My father was very firm and felt that there was something wrong with the boy and they may ill treat the girl for ever.He said he was prepared to bear the cancellation charges rather than the permanent problems awaiting in the family.

    After a month or so we heard that the boy was dismissed from his service for some fraud.My mother felt it was a blessing in disguise.After 6 months the wedding took place and the boy was a Govt employee
    Jayasala42
     
  3. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Whatttt???!!! Have never heard of transfer orders being changed like this, especially transfers abroad. And then with all your things being sold ..... it is so unfair.
     
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  4. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Thanks. It was for a couple of months before our family converged to normalacy. It was akin to a phoneix raising from ashes. There was a news item in TOI about causing inconvenience to passengers by delaying the flight for considerable time real reason camouflaged. Regards. God Bless Us All.
     
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  5. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Your are absolutely right. Disappointment and dismay though one has to maintain aplomb. After all human life is always entails ups and downs.
    2. In spite of repeated anonymous letters alleged to have been written by a well wisher claimng to be a close relative of proposed bank employed boy in 1973-74, parents of the bride went ahead as wedding arrangements in advanced stage. The bride and her parents withstood the abuse that began a couple of minutes after the boy tied the nuptial knot(s). The boy and his entourage with the married girl left the hall without eating lunch and without completing other formalities. The Government employed just married girl shocked to find mother in law on the last working day at her office demanding her salary! After that when the legal waiting period was over, the bold girl got ex-partie divorce and re-married in registrar's office to a office colleague. Her son now is a nephrologist, running a very popular hospital in Trichy, India and her daughter senior programme executive in e - bay , Cupertino.
    Regards. God Bless us All.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:@periamma @Anu14 @sindmani @bchopra Thanks for clicking the like button. Hope you could tolerate the length of this post.
     
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  7. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:@Lavanyachennai Thank You for clicking the like button. Shall appreciate your considered views. Regards God Bless Us All.
     
  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sri Thyagarajan:

    It must be pretty disappointing to the entire family for being pulled out of a plane in the last minute. When I worked for a premier R & D organization in 1988-1992, I used to watch everyone of my colleagues who are much younger to me going overseas and telling their overseas travel experiences. I used to long for an opportunity to go abroad. I always had an ambition to educate my son overseas from his childhood but never had an intention to settle overseas.

    I joined a software company in 1992 and build several offshore operations for them until 1995. When all of the assignments were over after a successful career, I thought I was going to move on to another job. My wife suggested that I should talk to my American boss to find out whether he would agree for me moving to the US to work for the parent company. I was arguing with her, why would anyone have a Chartered Accountant working in the US. But reluctantly I discussed it with him during his visit to India. He asked me to bring my family for a dinner and announced that he was agreeable to transfer us to the US after our L1A (Multi-national executive visa) is processed.

    We stayed for nearly six months after everything was ready. He kept telling me that I need to recruit a CEO to replace me, move the operations to Bangalore and train the new management team, etc. I thought we were never going to move out of India. My wife and I decided to buy a house in Bangalore and gave down payment of Rs. 50,000. The next day, we received a call from my boss that I should move to the US within 4 days. We hurriedly moved our things to our flat in Chennai, lost the down payment for the new house in Bangalore and got on a plane to go to the US on Deepavali day. That was our maiden trip overseas. My son was 7 years old. We came to the US and started living in the US from the next day. We are here now for the past 22 years.

    As part of my work, I traveled to many countries from here and every time I travel on the plane, I used to think about the days I was looking for an opportunity to travel overseas.

    Viswa
     
  9. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Thanks for sharing your exp. I am more glad that you could spend time to post your exp in this thread.
     
  10. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:@meepre @Sunburst Thanks for clicking the Like Button.
    shall be grateful for your considered views. Regards. God Bless Us all.
     

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