Journey to warwick

Finally the day has come..... It was a last minute rush and I really didn't had enough time to sqr of all matters bfore I leave... I've been waiting for my visa from past 1 month....and on the other hand the course will start will start nxt wk (No chance of changing my travel date)...Getting a UK student visa was a big nightmare (It will be a big episode and I think any director can make a movie out of it.... I ll write a separate blog on it)

Ok coming back to the journey,I came to know that my passport was stamped with UK visa on Sep 26th in the evening and we were supposed to leave on Sep 28th inorder to attend our orientation at the University of Warwick... I was at my native in Vizag and really had to shortclose my trip and had to return to bangalore.. I had to take a flight the nxt day at 1310 and by the time I reached to hosur it was 4pm.... I started immediately packing all stuff whats coming into my hand.. Fortunately Kamesh was there... He helped me in packing... I had to buy some food & cosmetic stuff ...Finally I stuffed and made 3 baggages ready including cabin one...

My flight was scheduled at 4am on 28th from Blore airport... The new Intl airport is almost 2 1/2 hrs from my place... Company cab came around 11pm... He had taken me in a different route which took close to 3 hrs but w/o any traffic hurdles....(Bangalore can also have another soberiquet - "Land of Traffic Jams")

During check-in the lady at counter objected on overweighed baggage (5kgs in excess)... I tried in negoitating with her but in vain.. I had to open and donate 4 kgs of food stuff to a porter... Finally could check in and had my immigration done...found the boarding gate no and sat at a lounge waiting to board... I just recollected the entire incidents happened in the past few days....It was like somebody fast forwarded and squeezed in from 10days to a day!!!

My flight EK 569 reached Dubai airport (whr I had transit) at 6am.. The nxt connecting flight to Birmingham was at 8 am....This was the first time for me at Dubai airport.. Airport was of international class but definetely not as much as the other airports I have seen... By the time I found gate for my next flight it was 7 am.. Fortunately it was in the same terminal...After security check I found a place to sit and started fiddling with my i-touch..... Kamal & Anantha came at 730 to the boarding gate.... We have boarded our flight EK 39 to Birmingham.... It was a long flight.. took bout 7 hrs to reach Birmingham.... Inflight food was not actually an AVML (Emirates calls it)...But managed (I was dog hungry!!!:-)).... Finally we reached BHX(Birmingham Intl airport) at 130 pm local time... I found a never ending que at the immigration check counter.... It took a very longtime... This is the time when a lot of PG populations flows into the country I guess.....The officer at Immigration counter interrogated (rather than checking the details) each guy about 15 min...(I saw same situation in India few years ago but now its definetely improved and process is much faster.) Aah finally my turn... (after 1 hr standing) Fortunately, she asked me only one question and stamped my passport....
I had a surprise at the luggage trolley area... We need to pay for using a trolley (First time I ever saw in my entire history of air travel)... I payed my first pound in UK to use this trolley...

Kudos!!! Finally we are in UK...Let's see how the nxt one yr will be

Master's cup Shanghai 08

Before i start this blog, I must say I am a big fan of Jim courier, Andrew Agassi, Roger fredrer...,

I started playing tennis at an age of 11 when Dr. Rajendranath, my coach influenced me to join tennis club... Although it was not a professional coaching, he put in lot of efforts to see atleast 2 or 3 from our club play in state level matches... n it happened too...

I could play in a disctrict tournament... that was my 1st & last tournament... went till semi's (got a walkover in quarter's).... I left playing tennis at 15.... and now I m 23 yrs old...

I used to dream to watch int'l games betn agassi , fredrer... Thanks to my company n my job....I had this opportunity of seeing Master's cup in shanghai (Oct 08)...


It was Mithun's effort, who pulled me to see this match again....

It was an amazing experience.... first time seeing an int'l match live!!! that too bet ^n Djokovic n del potro...

We (me & mithun) started in the morning at 10 am from my place. We had to go to a place called "Xian shxi lu" where this tournament 's happening. Bfore we took our places (5D & 5E), we did some shopping in the campus... I bought some T shirts for me , andy n cherry, a pullover & a cap for me...

It was the opening day of the tourney .... so stadium was near full...

The day's schedule had 4 matches.... 2 singles & 2 doubles

I was excited when the first match started betn Djokovic n del potro...