Oh what a time it was! Surreal, beautiful in every way. I had been preparing for it the whole year...my journey to India..

And finally, on December 9th, 2006, it happened. I boarded the British Airways flight to London after having a quick and sentimental pizza dinner at an airport resturant with my dad. Dad wasn't travelling with us, it was just going to be me and mom. The flight was delayed in its takeoff by two hours, due to the plane's delay in arrival. I'll come back to that later...it's significant.

As the plane took off, I saw my Toronto..my beautiful, unexplored city and its lights..and I waved a silent goodbye. I was excited...and yet, it felt like a dream. I hadn't been back to India in 6 years. Infact, the last I had seen India and my hometown Delhi, was the time I had left it. And I had left with bittersweet memories of a last dance class with a teacher who had genuine faith in me. I was 16 back then. I was returning for a three-week visit at 23. I was a student, and had worked the whole summer to pay for my ticket.

I was returning for a myriad of reasons perhaps, all of which were jumbled in my head...

I spent my time onboard the plane to London in trancelike state, enchanted by the newness and the utter absurdity and the beauty of the experience...i alternately watched "Pirates of the Carribean 2" on the miniscreen and switched to the classic rock radio station. They played two albums on it..The Doors "Strange Days", and Cream's "Fresh Cream". .it was haunting..Jim Morrison's voice crooning "You're Lost Little Girl"..I felt tiny inside a big plane flying through a vast sky. .and it was floaty...dreamlike..that's the word that keeps coming into my mind for my existence at that moment.

..To be continued...