I remember the last time I returned from onsite three years back I had to wait for three years to go anywhere onsite again. This time it was not to be that long and the wait was a little over 3 months after which I was back in the flight to Moscow and thus getting the opportunity to add to my previous five Uralsib Diaries. Three months might be a very short time but a lot has changed in that period, the most significant being that I am now permanently based in Pune or rather I should say that I am back to Pune. This meant boarding the flight from Mumbai which would mean a drive through the expressway en route to Sahaar (now known as CSM International airport) International Airport. To add more variety I decided to go via Vienna by Austrian instead of the customary Emirates flight via Dubai.
Parents were here so we had a great drive through the expressway in the rain in a Ford Ikon provided by the company. The flight was at 100 hours but we had to keep plenty of time as buffer since there was the Ganesh Chathurthi immersion the same day. The buffer was not required and we reached well in advance and had little option other than taking refuge in one of the large no. of five-star hotels in that area. We chose Marriot and even grabbed a beer along with some onion pakodas. Asmi and I took some time off to go to the neighboring five-star hotel restaurant to meet friend Bonny (Anasua) who was leaving for London the same night.
Boarded the Austrian Airlines Boeing 767 at 100 hours. One of the main reasons for me not taking the Emirates flight was to have a long-haul 8-hr flight at night to get some sleep which would not be possible on a 2.5 hour 4 AM flight. The decision didn’t quite pay off as 767 is a smaller aircraft than a 777 and hence the leg space was minimal so having a comfortable sleep would always be tough.
However the in-flight service was totally customized or I should say Indian-ized. The menu had a page in hindi and the movie Jannat was playing. Like I did last time around, I did not use the head-phones and managed it through sub-titles (who will want to hear Emraan Hashmi anyways? That too at 2 AM in the morning). Arrived at Vienna airport in the wee hours of the morning after catching some sleep (and a beer) on the flight. The airport wore a deserted look and so there was nothing much to do other than just sit back and relax in the lounge. This was never going to be Dubai or Singapore anyways. The crowd started pouring in from 7 AM onwards and soon they opened the gates for the flight to Moscow. It was an A-319 and gave the feeling of a typical domestic flight back home. The crowd had the corporate look and most of the men were suited and looked as if they would head straight to work as soon as they arrive in Moscow.
This being my second visit meant that immigration was smooth and as expected the car was there for my pick-up with the Infy-Uralsib placard to take me to Tsaritsino hotel. Back in familiar territory, all the variety was over now and it was just back to the same life as it was when I left 3 months.
I am put up in one of those 3 BHKs with Jacuzzi and Sauna (same as the room which we turned into a club the last time around) along with Vishwa and Poorna, so I thought that weight control will always be a problem with these ace chefs around to take care of the kitchen. Alan and Sujith are in Ufa this time so two prominent members of the earlier team would be missed. The temperature was 7 degrees so while it was pleasant and did not require multiple layers of woolens it was definitely lower than I anticipated. (Since then it has not gone lower and had gone up to a max of 15). The autumn has set in and the fall has started. The green that I had left in May has now given way to yellow, which will all soon turn to white in a month or so.