SILENCE

Kashti us tak na aati kabhi,

Par door kinare jaati thi.

Todke uski pyar ki kasme,

Vaade naye nibhati thi.

Ek kinare ka dil toda,

Kashti ko kinare bahot milenge.

Par jisne usko hi sab mana,

Us bagh me na ab phool khilenge.

Auron ke sath me hans hans karo wo,

Uske dil ko jalati thi.

Bechain kinare ko karke,

Door khadi muskurati thi.

Uski bewafai ko dekhkar bhi,

Kinara bechara kya karta.

Us bin to jeena mushkil tha,

Marne se fir wo kya darta.

Bas ek umeed bachi thi dil me,

Ek baar wo use baat kare.

Bhool ke saare sikhwon ko kabhi,

Uski duniya abaad kare.

Apne dil me gam hote hue,

Uski khusiyon ki dua karta,

Yaad karta wo beete din,

Jab uska sath hua karta.

Fir rukh badla ek din kashti ne,

Dekh use fir muskai.

Nazron se ishare kiye magar,

Na boli kuch na paas aayi.

Dono jis raah pe sath chale the,

Fir usi raah pe jaati wo.

Mudke kinare ko dekhke wo,

Umeeden firse jaggati wo.

Dekh kinare ko kasthi,

Kuch doori pe aakar ruk jaati.

Usse dekhti wo kuch pal,

Fir uske nazren jhuk jaati.

Kinare ne kashti ko dekha,

To soyi mohabbat jaag uthi.

Jalkar bujhne ko thi dil me jo,

Wo chahat ki firse aag uthi.

Yaad aate usko wo pal,

Jab pehli baar wo boli thi.

Kashti ki surat dekhke lagta,

Bechari kinti bhooli thi.

Ab wo uske paas to aati,

Par bina kahe kuch jaati thi.

Hoton se kuch bhi na kehkar,

Bechaini aur badhati thi.

Kinare ne socha ab usko,

Apni galti ehsaaas hui.

Saare gam sikwe mit jaenge,

Ek baar jo firse wo paas hui.

Par kasthi to anjaaani si,

Sada door hi rehti thi.

Kinara to kuch bhi na samjha,

Uski nazren jo kehti thi.

Bahot dino se tadap raha tha,

Socha ab to kuch karna hoga,

Dono aise chup chaap rahe to,

Yun hi tadap tadap ke marna hoga.

Kasthi to kuch na bolegi,

Socha wo hi kuch baat kare,

Par ab wo bilkul anjaani thi,

Kaha se wo suruaat kare.

Apni us uljhan ko suljhane,

Usne ek sandesha bhej diya.

Kashti kuch pehle ghabrai,

Fir sunne se parhez kiya.

Kasthi ke aisa karne se,

Kinare ke mann me sawal hue.

Sawalon se pehle wo chali gyi,

Pehle se ab fir haal hue.

The wait had been quite a long one for me. I had to travel to Germany due to some official work and my travel date had been getting delayed for the past 2 months. Finally I was told that I had to travel after 7 days and I had to book tickets.

When I informed my friends that finally I would be travelling and it was like jane se pehle party dete jana(don’t leave without giving us a party) and along with that advices starting flowing from all directions.

Some of them told take some Indian spices, you will not get anything there, carry some utensils and especially pressure cooker (this I realized later was the most important thing), some told me to carry thermal and winter wears as it will be cold there while others told “chod sab you can buy everything there waise bhi euros me kamaega waha”.

Some told me to check the baggage allowance and then decide what to carry and what not, so I checked on websites the baggage allowance for direct flights to Frankfurt was less as compared to flight with layover so I booked a ticket for Etihad Airways which had a layover of one hour and twenty minutes in Abu Dhabi.

Next 5-6 days went in shopping and planning. Then finally the day arrived when I had to travel “Finally”

My flight was around 9:10 PM at night so I had to reach airport 2-3 hours before the departure. My cab arrived around 5 to take me to the airport. Airport was around 45 minutes distance from my apartment.

My friend bid good bye to me when I got into the cab. I reached airport around 5:45. There was still a lot of time and checkin counter was not yet open. So I sat down on a bench was starting looking around seeing all types of people Indians, foreigners and girls. I called my mom and sister and informed them that I had reached airport. Then called some friends as I was getting bored: P and they were like “waha jake bhool mat jana, ladka ab euros me kamaega”.

Somehow I managed to spend my time. It was now 8 and check-in counters had not yet been opened. There were many people waiting in queue for checking in but there was no one at the counters. Then people started asking why the check-in was getting delayed. After some arguments and hue and cry, finally the check-in started at Air India counter for Etihad Airways. I was a bit worried while checking in about my baggage. I was afraid it might exceed the limit of 30kgs free baggage allowed. Because of that I did not pack any of the utensils even pressure cooker. I thought I will buy them there itself. But when I put my baggage on belt it was 29 kgs and I was happy that I managed to pack all my stuff in 29 kgs only. After checking in I filled immigration form and then was again in queue for immigration check. After again waiting for some 30 minutes I managed to pass through immigration check and it was already 8:45PM but boarding has not yet started. Again people had started panicking and started asking the persons at Gate. This continued for another 20-25 minutes and then finally the boarding started around 9:15PM.. The departure time was around 9:10PM. After boarding the plane I again called my home and talked to my sister. I was pretty excited as it was my first international trip. I don’t know for what purpose the flight was delayed but it started around 10PM. A delay of around 50 minutes. In the beginning I was excited but then I stated worrying. What if the flight arrives late in Abu Dhabi and I miss my connecting flight. I was supposed to meet one of my colleagues in Adu Dhabi. We were to board the same connecting flight from there. I was worried so could not get sleep in flight so I started concentrating on food. It was around four hours journey to Abu Dhabi. The flight arrived about forty minutes late in Abu Dhabi. I got down from plane in a hurry and boarded the bus. I was happy that now its not too late but then I came to realize that my happiness was short lived as the bus itself took 10 minutes to reach from plane to airport. I was cursing Abu Dhabi for having such a big airport. Once I got down from plane I started running to find my may to the flight leaving for Frankfurt. I didn’t wait to look for my colleague as I knew that she might have not waited for this long. Finally I arrived at the security check after getting lost on my way to finding the gate for boarding my connecting flight and to my surprise there was a very long queue for security check and that too only one queue. People were shouting that they are getting late for the flight but the guys at the security check didn’t bother to respond. The only reply was they won’t go leaving you here. They asked everyone to take of shoes belt and all the other things except clothes and put them in bag. It took around 20 minutes for me to pass through the security check. Again I started running and reached the immigration check. The guy at immigration had a look at my passport and visa stamp and asked few questions in Hindi. I answered them and then he smiled and told me to run as I was getting late. I again started running and reached the gate for boarding the bus. I handed over my boarding pass to the lady standing there with a big smile she verified and then I boarded the bus. It was already two and departure time of my flight was 2:05 PM. I got into the flight and I was all sweating. I saw my colleague sitting on one the seats. She was telling me something from her place. With her expression I could make out that she was telling me to look behind. I didn’t understand what was she telling me to see but then I looked back and my Delivery Manager was sitting there on one of the seats. He said Hi to him and he smiled back and said finally you managed to board the flight I thought you will not make it.

After smiles and talks I sat down on my seat and took a deep breath and felt happy that I managed to make it. The seats next to me were vacant. I asked my colleague to take that seat. She came and sat next to me. Then I started telling her about my adventure and she was laughing. She told that she was waiting for me at the airport and then from nowhere she saw the manager there. He was also going to Mannheim for our project. After some chit chat I again started concentrating on food and then after that saw a movie and then slept. After some hours of sleep I woke up in the morning, freshened up and got ready for breakfast. We were about to reach Frankfurt.

After some time our flight landed at Frankfurt International Airport. I got down from the flight and then we had to go through immigration check. The officer at the immigration check asked some questions and then put a stamp on my passport and felt relieved that finally I could enter Germany. Then me, my colleague and Manager were waiting for collecting our baggage. My colleague told that she will get a trolley to carry her luggage. I saw her going and coming back empty handed. She told trolleys are chargeable here and she didn’t have any change. None of us had change we had only 50 euro notes that were given to us by the Forex department in our company. Somehow we managed to drag our baggage out of the airport.

My colleague’s husband was coming to airport to receive her. He was waiting outside the arrival area. She introduced us to her husband and then left, then it was only me and my manager. My manager had to make some calls so he bought a sim card at the airport and made some urgent calls. He checked with one of the shopkeepers where to get the trains to Mannheim. The shopkeeper told us to catch the tram and go to Terminal 1. The DB Bahn(Train station) in Frankfurt is near Terminal 1 So we boarded the tram that took us to the Terminal 1. There also we had to drag our baggage through many escalators and somehow managed to reach the DB Bahn.

I noticed the people there were so organized. In Indian you will find a mob at ticket counters here people were calm and standing and waiting for their turn in a single queue while there were multiple counters. In Indian you will find one counter and multiple queues.

We took a ticket to Mannheim for ICE train (ICE are Intercity Express trains that have stops only in Major cities and travel fast). It cost us 25 EUROS. We boarded the train and I thought in my mind so this is how it feels inside a train in foreign country which I had seen only in movies. I took a window seat and started looking outside. I could not see anything except greenery all around. No tall buildings as I thought before coming to this place. I took us around thirty minutes to reach our station. We got down at Mannheim station. It was a bright sunny morning. I came out of the station and found a cab station just next to station. I was surprised to see even the cabs here were all Mercedes (that’s what we call German style). My manager took a cab and left for his hotel. Then I also took a cab and gave driver the address of my hotel. It took around fifteen minutes to reach my hotel. When I reached my hotel I saw many buildings with the same name as my hotel “Am Exerzierplatz” and the place was all deserted. I could not see even a single person anywhere, only buildings and cars parked (this I realized later that everything is closed here on Sundays.). I was confused weather I had reached the wrong place. I was standing outside the building that looked similar to the one that I saw on hotel’s website. I was looking for an entrance to that building but all the doors were closed. Then a nice looking girl came outside and asked if I needed some help.

I told her that I had booked a room at Am Exerziaplatz but I was not able to find the hotel and if she can help me with the directions to that hotel. She gave a smile and said you are at the right place. Then after completing with the check-in formalities she showed me my room. I was feeling relaxed now that finally I managed to reach my destination. I was lying on my bed and then smiling and thinking “Log bhaagke train ya bus pakadte hain maine aaj flight pakdi.”