Experiences of Germany – Part 1:
On 5th of October 2008, at round about 10:00 I was there at the Hyderabad international airport with my luggage of a big suitcase and a hand baggage. The very first look at the international departure gave me the memories of my college days where in I was dreaming of flying out of INDIA one day. This was the day I thought and I had a small discussion with my brother and his friends who had come to see me off. Then in another 15 mins I left them, said BYE-BYE to them and entered into the gate. What a sight. How big is the international departures place.
As soon as I entered the gate, I have no idea of what had to be done and then came a guy with a Walkie-Talkie in his hand and asks … “Which flight sir?”. I said “Lufthansa”.
He said this way and took me to the check-in counter of Lufthansa. I checked in my luggage took the boarding-pass and continued into the immigration check. Now what on earth is immigration check? What should I do? Where should I go? All kind of questions that flashed seems like I was about to shout in my mind. Then suddenly saw a board saying – “Immigration / International Departures”. I went there and saw people filling up a form for the immigration. There was a very well dressed old man there filling up the form. I went up to him and asked - “Excuse me Sir, I am new to this procedure, could you please help me out with this?” The gentleman was kind enough to stay there till I fill out my details in the form and guided me to the rest of the immigration and security check. I thanked the man and went on my way. He was travelling to DUBAI.
By the way, I did not tell you where in Germany I was going and what the status is. Let me first take a look at the airport and find myself a comfortable seat and sit down. The time was already 10:45 pm and my flight was at 12:00. I still had and hour and 15 minutes to have a good look at the airport. Now that I had find myself a good seat with good view at the runway with a hot coffee in my hand and the book of R.K Narayan – Malgudi Days in another hand, let me tell you where in germany I am going actually.
The place is called Halle. It is in the north eastern part of Germany near to Berlin, the capital of Germany. Well Germany is known as the automobile giant of the world. All the major car manufacturing companies are from Germany. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say GERMANY? Well, I do not know how to read your mind but in my mind the very first thing that came to my mind after I heard GERMANY is SECOND WORLD WAR and HITLER. Guys its history itself where I will be landing in another 12 hours. What a feeling?
Halle, Germany is one of the biggest cities in the countries and a good place to live. That’s what I heard when I was in India, but was waiting for it to be true. Time passed away just like that looking at the crowd. Then the announcement came for boarding the flight to Frankfurt. Well I will have to get down at Frankfurt and take another flight to Leipzig. From Leipzig to Halle I will have to take Taxi and go to hotel. Well till Leipzig my transport was arranged. From Leipzig to Halle I will have to take a Taxi and go on my own. Well this is a big test for me. I landed in Frankfurt airport after 9 hours of continuous journey. What a big airport was it? I had to go to gate number A29 to take my flight to Leipzig. Well I was in the arrival terminal and had to go to the departures terminal.
Well I started my journey from one terminal to another. First is the Immigration Check and security check at Frankfurt airport. They scanned me, my luggage. Once I came out of the scanner I was asked to come to a room. Now this scared the hell out of me. I was asked to take out my laptop and my laptop was scanned thoroughly and after the scan was asked to go. What the hell was that? No idea. Then I started the search operation for the gate A29. I was walking and walking but could not find the gate. I had only 30 mins left for the flight. Now the tension creeps. I tried to ask some one but no one to answer me as no one knew English all were germans. Then for my luck I saw an Indian couple. BINGO, got the way to the gate.
Soon I was at the A29 gate to take my flight to LEIPZIG. I checked in and was waiting for my flight. Then I saw another INDIAN checked in the same flight. I immediately went to him and could not stop myself from asking him “Are you from INDIA?” Then we both started conversation and knowing each other did not take much time. The guy was a student who came to do his MS in BIO TECH in the Leipzig university. He was from TamilNadu, INDIA. We both talked a lot and continued the same within the flight also.
To be Continued …
