Observations at the immigration queue !!

When you reach immigration counter after 10 hrs of journey, you want to finish that final hurdle fast and get to your destination.
Now when I reached Heathrow, I saw two different counters
1. British and EU passports and
2. All other passports.

Of course,we lesser mortals ( all other passports ) reluctantly dragged our bodies and luggage towards a serpentine queue . I was just wondering why I was at the end of the queue , then I remembered the time I spent at the washroom searching for my hair brush and then restoring my makeup ..Some people have better sense to use washrooms after the immigration checks..a pointer for next time .

I had some 300 people ahead of me and a nerd of a guy behind me ,he was the only person after me ..and this fella was cursing all the while , sometimes his luggage , sometimes his phone , sometimes the immigrations , sometimes I couldn’t make out whom. And then I started observing people to pass the time, he wasn’t much of a company unless I wanted a lesson on cuss words.

The first person I see when I join this queue every time am there, is a Punjabi lady...This time again she was speaking to anther Punjabi brit and this is the conversation I overheard

Lady1 : Are u in tomorrow ?
Lady2 :Yeaaaaa
Lady1 : cheti ayi fer ( come on time )
Lady2 ..haan haan ..I know

Lady2 comes to lady 1 . Appreciates her thick gold bangles
Lady2: They are niceeee
Lady1 : haan I got them done last time I was in India …Hune gayi si 2 mahine pehle ..

Etc etc ….part Punjabi and part English conversation continued …and then I had to move forward missing their conversation ….. I absolutely love how they switch from perfect Brit accent to perfect Punjabi accent in the same sentence ..:)

Second set of people who attracted my attention were three ladies , In almost identical track suits.From my reliable fashion blog site, I know that it’s a designer one !! So, we have three good looking ladies in pink , blue and red tracks ..Same brand same style, and wearing goggs ( yea inside the airport ) with YSL tribute totes ( similar ones all three of them ) …I don’t know if they do bulk shopping or they like to look like a band whenever travelling , or someone sponsored their trip .

Next I saw a newly wed couple. Gal must be travelling for the first time. she was all excited and the sparkle in her eyes told it all , guy was being a proud guide , feeding her stories in bits and pieces. I smiled at them, they smiled back.

Then there was this cute kid, I had met him in the flight , whenever I ask him anything , he will sing like an opera singer .He must be 3 yrs old or so. He was placed almost parallel to me in the queue so I could bug him as we keep on walking.

Then I saw a Gucci mama, beautiful overcoat, nice pearls, a big rock, and an elegant grey flower clip on her hair .she was elegance and style personified. What a lovely sight!!…at immigration queue ??Never mind the place , she was awesome !

I saw someone wearing a big skirt,I looked up slowly, it wasn’t a girl , he was almost 7 feet tall and this huge guy was wearing a dress and coat ..from a distance it looked like skirt and a blazer …I was staring and so were others. Probably they don’t make pants of that size,or it was more comfortable .Was it ethnic wear or a style statement .I was too tempted to ask ..but then he didn’t have a friendly face ..

As we keep on moving at the surprisingly slow pace , I noticed that out of 22+ counters , we had immigration officers at only 6 0r 7 of them …cant they have more people there to speed up the process ??

There were many Indian students who have been held at immigrations, and were told to wait. I could sense the panic in their faces .what if they had t go back home? How different their state of mind had been when they boarded the plane few hours ago? how things change so fast.

And there were people from various countries , Indians , pakistanis , Chinese , Japanese , Iranians etc etc …It was a good mix of people , that kept me amused for whole 1 hour. Damn u Mr. Murphy !!!

p.s .I am at Uk for 2 weeks and enjoying it so far :)

One Kid in the family ???

Keeping population in view and the time and effort it requires to raise a kid , most of the people are going for one kid per family nowadays .Even my brother and bhabhi are happy raising my 3 year old nephew .It’s been 3 wonderful but hectic years in my family . Everytime I call home , something or the other is going with Tanuj( my darling nephew). Many important decisions in family are based on him , from family outings to bhabhi’s college to choice of sofa covers( light colours are out till he grows up) to bringing home some furniture or artefacts (they shouldn’t have edges)to the kind of food is being cooked and list is endless .

He is given all attention and time , there is no hush hush to his questions. Everyone takes pain and effort to explain him simple things in life .It took him a day to understand that his Grand father is my father and his father my brother,when I appeared out of nowhere after a year, but nobody lost patience . As it’s not safe nowadays to send your kids to the neighbours to play , everyone take turns to keep him entertained. I was startled when mummy once said that he has an imaginary friend ‘Panuj’, with whom he plays and talks. Is he craving for his own age company, a friend a sibling??? May be ..

Things would change when he will be in school, he will find friends there , but what if he will long for a sister or a brother when he will see other friends talking about their brothers and sisters. My family is quite sure they don’t want another kid , and I respect that .I totally go crazy handling him for 1 hour. But, when I remember my childhood, it’s so beautiful because of the relation I had with my brother. We grew up like best friends, we still are .He is just 1 and half year younger to me , so we played and fought together ,shared secrets and sometimes even friends. The only pic I took while leaving home is a pic of me holding him in my lap when I was 3 year old and he of 1 and half.

At the same time , my mom was a home maker and bhabhi is still studying and intent to work from next year, and my mom is done with her share of raising children . I strongly believe grand-parents are there to lend a helping hand and not doing half of parenting .A child is sole responsibility of his/ her parent’s .So the decision should also be theirs. I cannot see myself raising two kids ( I am not even talking of giving birth here ), so I can understand what’s in bhabhi’s mind. Yet, something about single kid in a family bothers me.

Happy New Year 2010

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2010…May this year your wish lists get tick marks and all the worries and problems of 2009 stay there and never make it to 2010.

As another year comes to an end and a New year promising Joy and happiness beckons , it’s time for me to sit back and count my blessings , make a note of things I could have done /handled better , thank God and family for being there , and to pray and plan for this year.

2009 was an year of missed opportunities and uncertainties .Things looked promising at one point and overnight I had a totally different scenario .This was particularly true at job front, but even my personal life was not far from it. But in the end I thank God for no major shocks and pray that this year at least few of the “tentative” things materialize.

I had a bad year as far as health is concerned. I felt sick almost every week, as a result my immune system got totally battered. I took a break from work and am spending one month with my family to regain health and thank God, I feel better and look better. The magic of mom never fails to work.

2009 was an year when I finally learnt to handle relationships better, be it with friends, guys, family and relatives, I learnt to be firm without being rude, when to argue and when to hold on, whom to avoid and whom to indulge with .No more of old emotional me for this year as well, as I am determined to keep negative people and thoughts at bay.

I had this yearning all through last year to pray more and to be with God more often in my own little way; unfortunately I could not do that. Though in Last couple of weeks I managed to pray often and more .This is one thing I am determined to keep doing in the coming years. I feel lost without Him.

I had messed up financial stats till last year, I got everything back to track….I‘ll call it an achievement.

For many months my mind was in strange state of “inactivity” , I just relaxed and did nothing , and one fine day I feel like writing again , I feel best when I can take out my pen and paper and write till me fingers ache.

I did lots of shopping, partied and met lots of people. And I can see parties and people in 2010 too… do I need more excuses to shop.

I spend lot of quality time with my family after 6 years, and also met some old friends, got in touch with old buddies through FB/orkut . Some relations defy time and distance .thank God for these wonderful people in my life.

I shifted house and first time in my life spend more time choosing curtains and bed sheets than my cloths, I never knew I love decorating home. I recently got cushions with silk embroidery and some artifacts, my New Year gift to my home. I wish to change my house again this year, and this time I’d rather shift to my own house instead of rented one.

In 2010, I wish to travel, get better job, and get some romance back in my life and to have good health so that I can enjoy them.