Time flies by...

Ahh...Its lovely to see the mercury rising in Belgium today.. I took a walk with the baby and went to the nearby park. As usual, I sat down and thought..thought...and thought about the month long vacation that flew by.

To be honest, this vacation to home in India was a chaotic mixture of good times and bad times. I felt so distant and disconnected from reality all throughtout. Strangely enough, I was so out of place in the country I called home.

People changed..places changed shape..new buildings and crowded streets were too much to bear with the humid atmosphere. Yet, it was comforting to meet family and friends and have the baby's baptism ceremony done.

We flew on Etihad airways (round trip) from Brussels to Cochin (Kerala, India) via Abudhabi. While the Brussels-Abudhabi flights were super comfortable and classy, I can't say the same about the Abudhabi-Cochin trips.

The aircraft was smaller and dingy for the Cochin flight. The waiting area of the Abudhabi airport for this flight was cramped and overflowing with people.

As for the food factor, I would say Etihad serves above average meals - menu card with three choices.

I can't forget the frenzied swine flu checking at Cochin International Airport. A hall full of people from the morning international flights were waiting to submit a declaration stating that they didn't have swine flu...

There were no temperature checks (not even manual) or body heat sensing cameras...just filling up the form and waiting (about 3 hours) in an endless line right out of long haul flights from around the world...beaurocracy at its best...

During the no swineflu declaration submission, I felt funny (as though anyone would willingly declare/diagnose that they have swineflu) and frustrated (imagine waiting with a baby battling the above 30 C temperatures for the first time in his life).

But I must give credit to the medical personnel at Abudhabi airport - they were using heat sensing cameras and screening all the passengers coming out of the flights...At least somebody knows what to do!!

Back to Pavilion: It's Vacation Time!!

We are gearing up for our long-awaited visit to India. Finally, we have our chance to be back home after a gap of two years. It's going to be a bit special this time around since I'm going back with a baby in tow.

Our family members are anxiously waiting to see the newest member. They have seen loads of pictures of the baby and they've seen him through the webcam. But nothing beats cuddling and playing with him in real-time.

It's monsoon season in our home state of Kerala now. We might just escape the high temperatures this time in favour of the rains.

Keralites call their state "God's Own Country" in celebration of its pristine beaches, backwaters, spices and cultural extravaganzas. Tourism is really big in Kerala and even National Geographic's Traveller magazine rated it as one among the 10 must see destinations in the world. That is pretty neat for a tiny strip of land with limited resources.

I am looking forward to having some authentic Kerala food liike the spicy, red Kottayam fish curry with Tapioca mash. Ohh..and I want other delicacies like Karimeen (Pearl Spot Fish) fry, appams (flat bread) and chicken stew.

The baptism ceremony of our baby is first on the agenda. I'm looking forward to seeing all our friends and family who will turn up for the event...

I still have the hard task of packing ahead of me. I have to remember to take our stuff especially the baby's items for our month long visit.

We are travelling with the baby for the first time. So, I have to make sure that all that is needed for the long flight is packed and reachable when required.

So, there is lots of planning, packing and thinking to do before we fly out of Belgium to "God's Own Country"...