The BIAs of the world

11/06/2009, 8am local time

So I am at the Bengaluru International Airport (ironically also shortformed BIA) and it has just started sinking in that I am back home. And I won't be going back to Singapore for a very, very long time. I always do miss Singapore much more than I have ever missed India. I feel more at home in Singapaw maybe. Or maybe it is the place which I relate with growing up, independence, discovering who I am.

At least the transition from Singapore to India has not been a very drastic one so far by virtue of Bangalore being a relatively sane and modernised city. Not that Delhi doesn’t lay claims to being modern. But the Indian-ness of the place hits you like a blast of strong wind the moment you exit from the airport, with that huge group of people standing outside. I have never figured out whether they are actually there to receive someone or just standing there for no good reason, to add some spice to their mundane lives. Ok that was a bit mean.

Anyway, so I spent the night at CCD (which is Cafe Coffee Day for people who don't know), sleeping on the couch with one hand on the luggage, hoping no one would steal it. In the morning, I had upma, and the guy at the counter had a very amused smile on his face. I'm guessing because I slept in the place at night. In a very mischievous way he asked also “Had a good night’s rest?”

The flight yesterday was not so bad overall, despite being a sad Tiger airways plane, with a bawling (but very cute, with a fountain on her head) baby determined to show her full screaming prowess and a very irritating flying-virgin who kept troubling me all the way with jabs and pokes and stupid questions and also kept trying the poor air-hostesses’ patience. And then towards the end of the flight there was this long haired Caucasian dude who coughed for about 15 minutes as if he was puking-choking and scared the hell out of me because I think he was drunk when he got onto the plane and I was scared he had eaten some medicine or something and an incident similar to the one in PGP would repeat itself.

Kingfisher made me pay a ton of money for my excess baggage, plus they apparently have some fee for staying at the airport since apparently it is a private airport. Apparently. So almost all the Indian currency I had in my wallet is now gone. Sigh. And now what with not being able to find the India sim that sis gave me, and stupid Starhub not letting me activate roaming without having to drag a sponsor to their customer service centre, I have no internet. BIA has WiFi but you need to message them and then they gave you a password which you can use to log in for an hour. So sad.

I have also been trying to forget and forgive a few things. And am left wondering why mistakes aren’t as easy to forget as lecture notes. And realizing truly the merits of distance. A lot of distance. You think you know yourself, and then one day suddenly you do something so not you. It is unsettling. Makes you rethink your whole belief system.

Oh and I would also like to clarify that Taiwan is not a bad place. It was just my initial culture shock that made me totally anti-Cheena. But after the initial shock had worn off, it turned out to be quite a lot of fun! And the pineapple-tart-thingy was very nice! As was Muah Chee. I kinda regret not being a foodie sometimes and trying out random food stuff. Of course being vegetarian makes that a little hard. Not that I have ever regretted not being a carnivore. Food has relatively little importance in my life. It is more of a daily duty to me than a pleasure. So for the people out there who keep convincing me to try meat, well, too bad. You might as well save your breath :)

I have also realized in the past few days (ya I'm a little slow) that life is all about adjusting. Adjusting to new places, new people (and the way they speak), new cultures, and of course, to your own mistakes. And learning to live with what you do. Ok I think this sounds a bit freaky. Don't worry I didn't kill anyone :P
I still have an hour and a half before boarding starts. I want internet :(