First Brush...

So finally we were off to the ‘phoren land’…shayad onsite ka sapna jo har ek software engineer dekhta hai….vo kuch is tarah pura ho raha tha. Finally the PG thing was being realized. I was joining SPJCM, Dubai – Singapore for one year MBA program.
Sitting in the Oman Air flight WY836, departed on 6.30 am, 8th June 2006 from Hyderabad, India, these were the thoughts crossing my mind.

Landed in Muscat’s Seeb International Airport was the first brush with the phoren air. The flight was pretty cool and as we approached the land my excitement was increasing. Geography was pretty strange with only sea to my right and only brown barren mountains to my left. Not a soul in sight. Finally I saw a couple of white tents on land, a lone merchant ship on the sea and then the airstrip ahead. Getting out of the flight, I felt the hot burnt desert air brushing against my face and it was just 10.30 am, local time!

We moved to the airport lobby where we got the boarding passes for the next flight to Dubai, Oman Air flight WY685, scheduled after 2 hours. Approaching the waiting area, I see the first ‘duty free shop’!!! Alas, finally the duty free shops!! The famous duty free shops!! But despite the duty free, the costs were still sky rocketing…Just outside the shop was a white Lexus GS300 luxury car, an absolute eye candy and next to it was a black Yamaha quad bike!! ‘That’s some treat now!’, I said to myself.

After a long wait, finally we boarded our flight and flew towards our final destination >> DXB !!