Home again, home again
Just returned from India and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be at home… PLUS, it is a FOUR DAY holiday weekend in Hong Kong for Easter… wooohooo… I LOVE EASTER and not just for spiritual reasons.
The flight home was naturally brutal… just before leaving the office we were supposed to have an All Employee meeting (300+) where I would give the team an update on the company and we’d launch a new HR initiative. Suddenly India media announced the passing of Raj Kumar, famous Bollywood actor. Senior managers went into frenzy, telling me that Mr. Kumar’s passing could result in rioting on the streets as Indian citizens mourned for a much loved Bollywood icon. They immediately devised a plan to release employees early from work and sent me off to the airport very early. Of course my flight was late so I had a long wait. I arrived in Mumbai from Bangalore to be greeted by a huge traffic jam. Talked on a global conference call in the back of the hotel car with cars and taxis beeping in the background. Had another call once arriving in the hotel with my awesome new boss. (He is great and will be very good for my company. Plus he uses sailing analogies when describing business situations and actions so really; he’s made to measure for me!)
Here’s the bad part. By that point it was 11:30 PM and I had to leave the hotel at 2:30 AM to catch my flight to Hong Kong. I had enough work to do that I had to weigh whether or not to sleep for a few hours or work right through. I chose the latter and by 1:30 AM was choking. I set my alarm for a one-hour nap. Halfway through that nap I woke-up suddenly, completely and totally disoriented, knowing I was supposed to be somewhere but not remembering any of the details. I’ve been living in a paradigm where this whole India trip needs to end with me arriving in Hong Kong by Thursday night to be with the family for the whole weekend. I didn’t know the details but I was certain I just overslept and messed something up.
SMACK! My rational side gave me a good one across the face. I squinted at my watch and realised I had another 30 minutes to nap. Whooosh. I was about to reach for my Blackberry to check for details when once again my rational side said, “STOP THAT!” Instead I slept for another 30 minutes.
The flight left Mumbai early morning, one hour and fifteen minutes late. That was very, very painful. In the upright position my seat really bothered my back, which has yet to heal 100%. Normally I am one of those rational people who understand there is a reason for a flight being late, and that I am unlikely to change the situation. But by this point I was in so much pain I was ready to say to one of the flight attendants, “LOOK! You have GOT TO get this plane off the ground. My back is killing me!” Finally we left and I slept all the way to Bangkok where we had a one-hour layover – passengers like myself going on to HK stay on the plane. Finally we arrived in HK.
Sebastian and De met me at the Airport Express. We went to the chiropractor, who fixed my back from the messy travel and then came home. (Ah yes, outside the drs office we found a street stall selling cool Spiderman windbreakers dirt-cheap. Had to buy a few of those.)
Upon arriving home three little critters flung themselves at me in the dearest way. Kids had dinner. Afterwards I presented the kids with treats from India… a gorgeous little red car for Jasper, little purses for Sela & Carys, and a red plane for Sebastian.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to be home and that it is the weekend. Four days with Tess and the kids! And, almost better, my work To Do list is only twelve pages long, so I won’t even be swamped with things to do on Tuesday. God be praised!
Attached are two pics I’ve been meaning to post. One of the kids riding on the trike on Bowen Road (with Sebastian and Jasper sporting their Kennedy Space Centre flight suits) and the other of our new Renault that we got about six months ago. I blogged about it at the time but never posted a pic. Happy Easter everyone!
