PLAB - V !!

The  D day was set and we were ready to board the Tamil Nadu express from the Madras Central Railway station.  The trip to Delhi would be over two nights and we would be reaching New Delhi on the third day morning.  It was March and needless to say that it was getting hotter around in Chennai.  Families with relatives had arrived earlier that day at our erstwhile house at Mannadi, Coral Merchant Street.  I was blessed by countless of them who I thought were very proud of something I was going to do, which none in our family circle never dared to do.

Appa’s friends also were thronging with garlands making a beeline at our home to wish me and bid me farewell.  It was getting too much for me and the eventual time arrived, when I started from our ancestral house to the Central railway station, in a big van accompanied by my relatives.  It was very overwhelming and I have to admit that most of day is still very blurred with frosty visions.

We arrived at the platform and the train was ready to take us to a new world erstwhile unknown to us.  Lots of relatives, Anna’s friends, Appa’s friends, Hari’s family, Ganesh’s family, and our Stanlean friends were there to see us off.  I was trying to control my emotions and possibly was partly successful.  However I could see that my sister, Sister in law, and mother were really stretched by this time.  Sibi my nephew and Imai my niece, who were three years old then were clinging on to me.  Appa who was busy chatting with his friends, with the tong of bell and the movement of the train, started breaking and was literally out of bounds with tears.Little did I realise that , that moment was going to be the last time, I was going to see my dearest Appa alive and  kicking.  My eyes were moist and blurred and the train slowly meandered off the platform for a long journey towards New Delhi and later London.

I sat on my seat in the non ac coupe we had booked for the journey whilst reflecting on the past 6 months.  It was very dizzy and blurred. I was frightened.  I was already home sick and was already missing my Amma.  The past 6 months had gone on a frightening roller coaster speed with no time to reflect on destiny and our initiation for PLAB.  None of us three,had realised about the big challenges that were going to be thrown on our path, blocking our already a tunnel vision of a sight!

The train now had picked up the momentum and now was speeding up towards Arakkonam Junction; Ganesh had picked up his cigarettes and was puffing them away quite feverishly.  We were nervous, albeit did not want to expose ourselves to ourselves.

The non ac coupe became a big burden during the next 36 hours of journey to Delhi; with the hot weather literally begining to scorch us.  Perhaps we should have booked the Ac second or third class berths rather than the Non ac first class coupe.  Well after an arduous journey we arrived in New Delhi, 36 hours later, much to our delight.  We took a Taxi to the MP’s quarters near the Indian Parliament, where Hari had booked a room through his Bhava, (Sister’s Husband), and his friend, who was an MP from Mysore.

We refreshed ourselves and later picked up the courage to venture out a bit, walking about in New Delhi.  Meanwhile, we also managed to have crew hair cut for ourselves at the local saloon for five rupees and walked around, as our flight was not until late that night.  I also managed to send my future wife a telegram, wishing her well in her exams.  Neither had I come to know about the ripple my telegram created, nor was informed of the consequences during that time, which itself is another blog. It may have created few ripples in Priya’s heart, who was going to be my wife three years later, albeit was not intended.

The flight was not until 5 in the morning the next day; however we were at the airport at 12 midnight itself.  Traditional phone calls to families were made rationally during this time with trunk calls!!  We were going to fly for the first time in air and were very eager too.  None of us knew what we had to do at immigration and other areas at the airport, but were however looking smart with our purpose bought leather jackets, new cheap crew cut and shaved faces.

It was few years after Rajiv Gandhi assasination and little did we realise the hostile response we were going to get as a Madarasy from the staffs and immigration authorities in New Delhi.  Ganesh’s was nabbed and ushered off to the corner by the authorities.  None of us spoke any words in Hindi and that added to the chaos.  Ganesh’s passport was thought to be a fake and hence the doldrums.  It took us nearly an hour before we got through the system, after much of persuasion, after producing our degrees, hall tickets and letters from the GMC and what not!  

So we boarded the flight to Moscow from Delhi after a bit of struggle and with lots of excitement.  To our surprise the economy class looked like a mix of cattle market and T Nagar Ranganathan Street.  Well, the flight was full of Muscovites, possibly farmers from Russia, who were smoking cigars and had already, were settling neat with their Vodkas.  It was getting a bit blurry too with cigar smoke emanating from every nook and comer of the flight and reminded me slowly of the Basin Bridge with its huge billowing chimney in our part of North Madras.  Slowly we began floating on air and after few many hours landed at a bigger Moscow Airport where we spotted big blocks of snow, covering most of the airport and its runways. 

To our surprise and relief the Moscow to London flight was a brand new Boeing endowed with everything expected on an International flight and sooner or later ,we were feeling very comfortable, relaxed and hence began our  fairy trip of day dreaming!!!