The Russian Trip - Journey Begins

The Russian trip was a whirlwind which went past leaving me recoiling from the impact. The expectation from the meeting was to connect with other PwC Firms and get to understand them better, as also to contribute to the annual Mine* review. The expectation was met and I am happy for the same.

The journey began with much fanfare, with my wife and family and friends seeing me off in Hyderabad. I reached Delhi on time and went to the guest house to catch some sleep as the Delhi Moscow flight was early in the morning. An hour past midnight, I woke up and started off for the international airport. The airport was as chaotic as any of the Indian airports are expected to be. It was tough to find the check in counter of Aeroflot. The thin attendance at the Russian airline counters did indicate everything wasn’t alright. Soon I was packed off to the Ashok Hotel as the flight was cancelled due to technical snag. So, the journey began with a false start.

In the hotel, since single rooms were not available, I was put with a complete stranger. I wouldn’t mind sharing room with Russian babes, which were aplenty on the cancelled flight. But no luck here, I was with a Pune based professional who ran his own accountancy firm there. Poor fellow boasted a few things about his accountancy business before awed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The awe became deeper when he hit upon my brief appearance on CNBC. I must admit that I didn’t tell him that was my first and only appearance on television. Rest of his time was spent talking about food and health, to which I didn’t have much to add. I had amusement before we headed to airport the next day.

Not surprisingly, there was a mad crowd at the check in counters as not many believed that the two-day accumulated stock could be loaded on one flight. I sighed of relief when I got the boarding pass after a long wait. The under-construction airport is a nightmare with conflicting directions and poor facilities. I made my way to the nearest available seat through labyrinthine customs and securities check and then dropped half asleep soon enough.

The flight was delayed by an hour and a half, which meant that the whole night was spent at the airport. I wondered if there could be an easier and more comfortable way to check in and board, something similar to just-in-time. It was a wishful thinking, almost certainly, going by the way we Indian exist.

I went into hibernation in the aircraft, which was not one of the Airbus or Boeing which I board more often. It was a Russian indigenously developed aircraft, which looked like a military carrier transformed for civil aviation. The wings were slanting and dropped at the edges and seemed quite keen to kiss the ground. I had trust in the Russian technology since I had studied a lot of Russian books during my engineering. So I had a peaceful sleep and woke up only when the passengers clapped on landing in Moscow airport.