Songs From The Wood

The new year found us in an old continent, in the land of our birth, India.

The Emirates Experience

Maya and I boarded an Emirates Airlines flight on the afternoon of December 25th headed for Bangalore (or Bengaluru as it is officially called now) via Dubai. Emirates had been praised a lot as a classy airline, head and shoulders above its competitors, on par with Cathay and Singapore, with even better food.

Maya is too big now to journey on our laps and so we purchased a ticket for her. We chose the final rows of the craft where the 3-4-3 seating switches to a 2-4-2 format. With just two seats between us, we thought that we’d have more flexibility and no immediate neighbor to worry about. Furthermore, with just two seats at the ends, there was marginally additional room on the window side to keep Maya’s things. This had served us well last year when Maya had made her first trip to India. The final advantage of the two seater would be that Maya could stretch out when asleep.

The first thing that struck me when I boarded the craft, a 737-300, was the rather comfortable leg room, much more than Cathay or Singapore. But unlike Cathay, the additional side room we had planned on, didn’t exist; the additional room was on the aisle seat and not on the window seat. What was worse, the armrest on the first row of the 2-4-2 seating couldn’t be raised, providing an inflexible two seater. Neither one of us could stretch when we slept.

There was a single guy in the 2 seater row behind us and I didn’t think he’d be willing to move to a row where he couldn’t take advantage of stretching out. A few minutes later, a couple arrived to occupy the single remaining seat in that row. They had an aisle seat behind us and a window seat in the two seater row on the other side of the aircraft. The woman sweet talked the single guy to changing seats with her husband. Ah-ha! I thought. Having exchanged seats, they cannot deny us our exchange. Knowing guys to be less flexible, I turned to the woman and explaining my predicament, asked her if we could exchange seats. Sure, she said and stood up. I could see the reluctance in the guy’s eyes, but the die had been cast.

Each seat had an individual TV monitor with touch screen controls in addition to the traditional remote control. Each seat also had power sockets for laptops and a USB port. A memory stick with pictures e plugged into the USB port would automatically trigger a slide show of the pictures on the TV monitor.

Some folks told me that the air hostesses on Emirates Airlines were rather brusque and not kid friendly. I was delighted to find that they were wrong. They understood that everyone is happier if the parents are allowed some leeway in managing the kids rather than playing by the book. The staff were friendly to Maya, didn’t insist on her being strapped as soon as we started taxiing, and once during a turbulent stretch, when I was standing in a corner calming a frustrated Maya, told me to be careful but didn’t demand that I return to my seat.

The food that had been raved about wasn’t anything to rave about, being on the same class or a little below that of Cathay or Singapore. The croissant served for breakfast was positively appalling. The snacks between meals however were both healthier and tastier.

The connection at Dubai was a little painful as the security lines were extremely long, and this was flying to India. I dread the lines when we’re returning, especially in light of the increased security after the Christmas near mishap.

Single Parent Traveller

My workplace was closed from Christmas to New Year and I thought that the grandparents might enjoy an extra week with Maya. Maya has no issues being alone with me and I felt confident that I could look after her by myself. But, many friends and family members, including Shanthala, were a little apprehensive about my traveling alone with Maya. The duration, the cramped quarters and the logistics of flying solo with her might prove to be too much for me (and her), was their fear. While I was less apprehensive than them, I worried a little about logistics. I worried about using the loo when she was awake, when she was asleep. How do I manage the hand baggage and her with only a single pair of hands ? Do I take the stroller or do I not ?

I have found the stroller to be unhelpful with Maya. She prefers to push the stroller than be pushed. With the stroller, I’d have two pieces of baggage to push. If she refused to sit in the stroller, I could strap the hand baggage in the stroller, but it’d not be a picnic. So I eschewed the stroller, despite warnings from friends and Shanthala. We sometimes carry Maya in a body sling that I’ve found her to be far more cooperative in. So, I carried the sling hoping to use it only as a final option.

Shanthala smartly insisted that I take a small enough backpack so that I’d have only 2 pieces of hand baggage, a Pullman and a bag with Maya’s food, diapers and such. The backpack with the laptop had to fit in the Pullman.

The first hurdle I faced was how do I carry four pieces of checkin baggage and Maya. Most luggage carts can hold only 2 pieces of luggage. Maya’s nanny had thoughtfully suggested that she drop us to the airport since most taxis don’t carry a toddler car seat. I considered having her watch Maya as I loaded one luggage cart, rushed it to the checkin counter and returned quickly to the curbside to pick Maya up and push the second cart. Luckily for me, a man with a large luggage cart was waiting at the curbside when we arrived. He was a trifle more expensive than two separate luggage carts, but far more convenient. I didn’t bat an eyelid in using his service. I felt pleased that the first hurdle had been crossed so easily.

The next hurdle was navigating past the security checkpoint. Removing my shoes, removing her shoes, separating the laptop from the rest of the cabin baggage, removing my jacket, removing hers, holding our tickets and passports, and pushing six items through the scanner might be tricky. As I stepped past the metal detector column, without a beep, I felt that the second hurdle had been crossed rather easily too. Thats when the TSA chap asked me if I had pushed all my stuff through the scanner. Yes, I said, and looked back at the conveyor belt to see that one piece was stranded. I reached across the barrier and pushed the piece onto the belt.

“Step back, sir”, yelled the TSA guy. “You violated security protocols. Please pass through the detector again”.

I stepped back out and back in again.

“Request thorough check”, he yelled and asked me to go into an enclosed space. Maya who had been unhappy waiting in line and having her stuff taken away, now began wailing. Her nap time had passed and she was a little cranky. I talked to her soothingly, fuming inside at this seemingly ridiculous behavior from the security. She soon calmed down and we waited for a more thorough pat down. Then, a TSA guard called out “Whose baggage is this ?”. I looked to see her gesturing at my Pullman. “Mine”, I said. “I need to open it for a more thorough inspection”, she said.

Maya’s medicines had triggered the thorough inspection of the cabin baggage. After two more runs through the scanner and wipes for explosives, the Pullman was delivered, its contents a disorganized mess. After recovering from that, we had a mostly incident free journey to the gate. We boarded the plane a half hour later. Once on board the plane, Maya decided to take her nap and slept for about a hour or so. She woke up right as they started serving the food.

Mealtime posed another logistical problem. The room was small enough that if Maya got cranky, she could kick the food and make a real mess of our seats and our dress. I had packed spare clothes for her, but I had no extra pants. When we were settling into our seats after boarding, a gentleman across the aisle from us saw that I was traveling alone with Maya. Reaching over, he volunteered to help in any way I could use his help. I took his help in removing the plates immediately after our meal instead of waiting for the cabin crew to clear them. Just knowing that he was there was support enough.

Maya wolfed down quite a bit of the food. She spotted a covered chocolate bar amongst the meal and asked me to unwrap it. She had never tasted chocolate before. She took a small, wary bite and her eyes lit up. “Wow”, she said and proceeded to wolf down both our chocolates. Rested and full, she was ready for some action.

A few days before we left for India, the three of us were finishing some last minute India shopping at a local electronics store when Maya spotted a giant screen TV. She demanded to be taken to it. “Madagascar” was playing and she watched, her eyes never leaving the screen. “There”, Shanthala said, “your airplane journey will go smoothly now. Just turn on whatever cartoon or wildlife movie is playing on her screen and she’ll be a great traveler”.

Alas! On the plane, the small screen didn’t attract her at all. There were no wildlife screenings and so I tried various cartoons including Cars and Finding Nemo. After a minute or so, Maya lost interest in the proceedings. A part of me was relieved that she didn’t care to watch TV. I powered on my laptop and she was happy watching the pictures of our life and a couple of video clips that I had downloaded.

An hour or so had gone by and now she was a little restless. I walked her back and forth along the length of the aircraft. I tried reading her some books. Another hour crept by. Maya became even more restless and demanded to be taken to the front of the aircraft. She seemed to want to know why she couldn’t deplane right away. When I walked upto the first class cabin and told her I had to turn back, she started wailing. She stopped a minute or so later, after I found something to distract her. She tried playing lion with the passengers behind us, but tired quickly.

She fell into a deep sleep another half hour later and proceeded to sleep for the next seven or so hours. After she awoke, a repeat of the proceedings before she went to sleep followed. By then, we arrived in Dubai.

The only moment of terror happened in Dubai airport. Maya loved getting on and off the escalators. A few tries was all it took for her to learn to balance as she got on and off the flat escalators. The departure gate at Dubai however was a steep descent with the escalator only going down. Climbing up meant about 40 or so steps. Maya wanted to descend the escalator, climb back up, come down the escalator again and repeat this ad inifitum. Lugging the cabin baggage up the stairs and balancing them as I got on the escalator with her proved to be a challenge. The third time around, as I got on the escalator ahead of her so that I could break her fall should she lose her balance, Maya got on the escalator and then feeling uncertain, stepped back. Now I was descending the escalator alone leaving her at the top. I scrambled back up the escalator and somehow managed to get her back on. That was the end of that game. Maya let the world know how unhappy she was with this unceremonious end. It was the only time in her life that I felt I could’ve spanked her. I was tired and scared. But I managed to not lose control.

Maya slept the entire duration from Dubai to Bangalore, waking only a few minutes before we landed. The new Bangalore International Airport is a vast improvement over its predecessor. Like we had experienced the last time, getting past immigration, customs and collecting our bags took all of some fifteen minutes. Maya’s grandparents, my parents, were waiting for her, unbounded delight in their eyes, despite the late hour (we landed at 2:45 am).

Maya uses the diaper only at night now. Or when we travel. Maya told me about wanting to pee when we were on the plane. Unwilling to pull out her toilet seat from the cabin baggage, I took her to the toilet and attempted to use the toilet without her seat. She was OK with that, but didn’t care at all for the circus that followed in trying to put the diaper back on in that cramped space. After the first couple of times, she conveniently used the diaper. She held on to her poop through the journey, pooping in the toilet only after we got home.

Maya and I had survived the 16 hour flight from SFO to Dubai, the two and a half hour transit in Dubai and the three hour journey from Dubai to Bangalore. Survived ? I felt that I could repeat this experiment without too much trepidation. Most of the kudos go to Maya for being such an easy child. Luck was also on our side. Had the Nigerian attempted to blow up the plane just a day earlier, our trip might have been less easy, given the ridiculous, draconian measures that were passed in the immediate aftermath of that incident.

Shanthala joined the party a week later.

Powered by ScribeFire.