In the clouds, to the Land of Dreams

In the night of 30th August 2004, I left for the United States of America to pursue my Masters in Information Technology. It was a day of hustle-bustle, with last minute purchases and phone calls wishing bon voyage. It was 8:30 when I left for the airport to catch the 11:45 Singapore Airlines flight to San Francisco. There was moderate excitement at being at the threshold of a new innings in my life, but not much fear since I was travelling together with a lot of friends. And who is not going to the US for higher studies these days?

To Singapore

There was a hour long wait at the boarding terminal after an uneventful customs and immigration check. I carried no book with me to read (as I normally do during long journeys) aware that a first-time flying experience should be quite thrilling. In addition, seeing an "A" in my seat number I had a feeling it might be a window seat. It was. But there was a lady with a fractured left arm who wanted to use it. Anyway, it was by the wing of the plane and it was dark outside (obviously, twelve in the night) and so, I couldn't have seen much...

With boarding pass in had, I placed my first step into an airplane, to be greeted by an airhostess who directed me to my seat.

Now, I do not wish to bore you with details -- the small pillow and blanket everyone was given, the tiny TV to watch movies, the orange juice and good vegetarian food. There was Troy running on one of the channels, but somehow could not enjoy it in the small screen. I was tired, but still could not sleep much. When I woke up, we were landing at the Changi airport around 6:30 in the morning, local time.

At the City of the Lion

The connecting flight to San Francisco was scheduled at 5 in the evening. In the meantime, we had to

Wait for friends coming from Delhi and Hyderabad, with whom we would go together from the next leg onwards
Register for the free 2-hour Singapore tour
Have breakfast at Kaveri restaurant at the airport (we had free coupons)

We learnt that the tour would commence only at 1 pm. To while away the time, we went around the airport and, at 11:30, had lunch. The Kaveri (Indian) restaurant was manned by Chinese people, who were very attentive. And the food served was excellent.

The Singapore Tour

As we settled down in the tourism bus, we were greeted by a live commentary from a guide in meticulous English diction that would put P. Chidambaram to shame. (We later learnt, not surprisingly, that he was of Indian origin.) In felicitous expressions, the guide enabled us discover Singapore – the smallness of the country's size; how through long term planning, this problem was surmounted (multi-storeyed buildings, land reclamation) giving enough space for greenery; how its strategic geographic position was exploited by the early British governors; how the resource-less country set up industries to become one of the richest in the world.

The absolutely clean road we travelled on had sky scrapers on one side, and trees and gardens on the other -- one exhibiting the grandeur of engineering and the other the beauty of nature.

Architecture

The colonial architecture of Singapore seemed to be a blending of the Western style (with Corinthian columns and Victorian domes) and that typical of equatorial regions of high rainfall, with the sloping tiled roofs (as can be seen in Kerala). These are well-preserved and have been converted either into hotels or conference halls.

The modern buildings, though made of same concrete and aluminium glazed windows as some eyesores in our land, have been beautifully architected as well, as the pictures show you.

All this shows that Singapore is in good hands.

Boat Ride

We went on a boat ride on the Singapore river which gave us a glimpse of all the bridges and buildings and a view of the famous merlion that stands guard to the island. We were guided by a taped well-written commentary that is synchronised to perfection to the speed of the boat.

At this juncture I must mention that I was slightly concerned about the timing of the trip. You see that we had to report at the boarding terminal by 4 maximum and the tour was scheduled from 1 to 3. Now suppose we start late. Or there is a traffic jam... My fears were part allayed when we started just 2 minutes past 1 pm, the delay because of waiting for a passenger. And the time we returned was 2:40 pm -- enough buffer was there for any traffic congestion, etc.

Along the longitude

The plane travelled verically on the map (on the same time-zone, phew!) towards Hong Kong for a brief stop. Meanwhile, we kept getting food and juice at regular intervals. I timed my sleep to co-incide with the San Francisco night time, to minimise jet-lag. With my ears plugged and eyes covered with a mask, I was blissfully drowned in the "honey-heavy dew of slumber" (Shakespeare)...

After more than 20 hours of journey, at 7:15 pm local time, the air-plane landed at San Francisco.

The US of A, here I come!