27th April

A new day. It’s a barmy 39 degrees with a slight wind. I had time to relax a bit and enjoy the Hotel gardens. Although my flight to Chandigarh was due to leave at 4.15 pm, I had been informed by Sue that the airport insists that you arrive for booking in 2 hours before the flight. So, I left the hotel in plenty of time. Just as well. After going through a check at the door, then waiting in line at the check in counter, I had about an hour left.

I can see now why this airport is so big. There are 63 gates just on the domestic side. During the day, a great many of them are busy. As with Singapore, my gate was way off in the distance. (I think someone wants me to get fit.) I kept checking very ten minutes or so to make sure the gate number hadn’t changed.

The flight was delayed, but not by much. We still got away by around 4.30 pm.

I thought, getting to my seat that it couldn’t possibly be three in a row. I was sitting next to the window by the exit door over the wing, with two spare seats next to me. But, no. One thing the Indians like to do is to move around the plane. Before we had left the ground, a young chap came over and asked if he could sit in my row. Then he invited his friend. For the next forty minutes, I had the first young man tell me all about this holy man who had just died and his spiritual beliefs whilst the other guy interpreted. It was kinda funny and cute. Funny because the chap was so happy. The interpreter told me his nickname was Laughing Singh.

We arrived at Chandigarh and landed at around 600 miles per hour. I think we were still doing around 40 when the pilot braked to park just outside the terminal. I get the feeling he was making up for lost time. Ashutosh had informed me that he was not well, so he arranged for some of his staff to pick me up. It was really nice to see some familiar faces again. They drove me to the hotel and made sure I was settled into my room. By this stage I was really tired and ready for bed. The room is nice. A large bed nice bathroom. The TV looked like it was on loan from Noah’s children. (Noah wouldn’t have had one. He already knew the forecast. Didn’t see the point really.) There’s a lot of noise in and around my room. Somewhere outside my door, there’s a Boeing 747 taking off. Outside my windows, the guards are directing traffic with their whistles. Inside my room the air conditioning unit is an A360 Airbus winding up for take off and the ceiling fan is just happy to flap.

I decided to watch the cricket to try to keep myself awake a bit longer. Can’t miss it. It’s on just about all the channels. I think I faded out just after somebody’s innings. No idea who.

I woke up somewhere in the small hours of the morning to the sound of silence. Quite weird. I think the guards had run out of whistle power, the AC was off and the fan was still flapping. (Didn’t stop me going back to sleep.)