Down the memory lane...

As I see the snow fall from my window and everything outside covered under a blanket of snow, I realize time has passed and I will be going home soon for the holidays. Its been 3 months now that I am here, but it feels just like I came yesterday. Time really flies...lets rewind a bit and let me tell you about the day I came here....

KLM Cityhopper at Amsterdam

September 10, 2010: It was my dad's birthday, my bags were all packed and I was going away for a year! I had never stayed away from home for more than 10 days and now I was leaving for a year or maybe more! I was all excited but I was leaving the place I have called 'home' for the last 18 years and everyone I loved to go very far far away to pursue my dreams (sort of!! ok I know I am being too filmy ;)). 

After dinner we went to the airport and as I went in alone, I saw my parents smiling, seeing me off happy and proud, but under that smile I saw them already grieving my absence for the next year. I met Purvasha inside, whom I had met at the pre-departure briefing and we planned to travel together. As the aircraft took off, Mumbai, the city where I had lived all my life already seemed distant. During the next 9 hours I: read, ate, tried to sleep, stared at the map on my screen watching the flight move but mostly thought: about everything, remembering the past, the time spent with loved ones and the near future.

Birds eye view: Leeds

 As dawn broke and the sun peeped out of the gray sky, it was time to land at Amsterdam. Looking at the motorways, Imran Khan's amplifier started playing in my head (It was shot in Amsterdam and I had over-listened to it the night before and it was sort of stuck in my head! filmy again!!) We had almost 3 hours to kill and the outside was lovely but I had no other option other than admiring it from where I was, so I indulged in some retail therapy :P. And soon after some hi-tech security check it was time for my next flight. As we were airbourne again, literally floating through the clouds above the clear blue sea. After an hour we were in Leeds and it looked really beautiful from above.

Arriving in Leeds

After the immigration check, we were welcomed by the University of Leeds meet and greet service at the Leeds-Bradford International airport and after filling some forms and basic briefing were shown to a cab. As we entered the city after passing through some countryside, I could not stop admiring the lovely red-brick independent houses. The cab dropped us off  outside my new 'home' for the year  (which is not an independent red-brick house unfortunately, but I love it anyways :)) and that was the beginning of another story which I will write about some other day...