Sunday, 21 January 2018

TIME MACHINE AND A SAFE HOME - NEW ZEALAND JOURNEY

BLOG POST 5


We were going to travel by Silk Airlines from Rajiv Gandhi international airport to Singapore on Nov 20th 2017, the flight would start at 23.05 and reach Singapore by 6.15 and from there at 8.55, Air New Zealand would take us to Auckland ,we would be reaching at 23.45, so basically it would take us nearly 24 hours to reach Auckland from Hyderabad but thanks to the different time zones the equation was different.
Time gap between India and Singapore is such that we are behind Singapore by 2.30 hrs so when we reach Singapore it would be 3.45 I.S.T and New Zealand is faster than India by 7.30 hours and so though we will be reaching in Auckland at 23.45 it would be still 4.15 pm in India, mind boggling isn’t it ? By travelling to countries which are ahead of us in time we lose time and vice versa. Because of this time difference, we get jet lag , a condition caused by travelling across different time zones. This leads to disruption of our circadian rhythm, internal body clock that regulates sleep and waking. Jet lag symptoms include fatigue, sleepiness, digestive upsets, impaired judgement and irritability. Moreover, it is more severe when travelling in an easterly direction like how we were going to travel now as our day is shortened , our body takes more time to adjust, leading to severe jet lag 

The term "jet lag" is used because before the arrival of passenger jet aircraft ,it was uncommon to travel far and fast enough to cause jet lag . Previous travel by propeller-driven aircraft, by ship or by train was slower and of more limited distance than jet flights, and thus did not contribute widely to the problem
‘So we were definitely going to have jet lag after reaching Auckland but we shall face it when it comes’ I thought. Though some friends advised us to take some medication for jet lag we decided to combat it naturally. Whenever we travel abroad, as we both are old fashioned enough to still wear wrist watches,I merrily alter my time according to the local time, whereas my husband loyally sticks to Indian time ,I also notice a funny feeling of  loss and increased awareness of our country whenever I travel out of India  as if my absence is being missed by my mother country
As I was busy going around packing, my husband who had finished packing his smaller suitcase much ahead of me was going about with a troubled expression on his face, I said ‘what is the matter ?’ He was upset because we had to close our flat for nearly 20 days with both our birds (sons) out of our nest one in Delhi and the other in US
I assured him as it was not possible to coax any relative to stay in the house for so many days, I have thought of few safety measures ,I luckily have a very friendly neighbour who assured me she would keep an eye on our flat ,We would be closing all the doors and windows  
Other measures to be taken would be to install timers on electronics to create noise and flickering lights, if  cars are kept  in air ports better switch off the GPS or they would lead the burglars directly home, also very essential to stash any valuables in lockers
Beware of social media and not happily post holidays snaps of entire family on vacation and have burglars holidaying at home, better wait to come back to post those snaps
 I have also seen some of friends jovially removing  their house keys from under foot mats or flower pots, I am sure the thieves know of all these common areas where the house and almirah keys are kept  better as they are professionally trained at robbery and we are not !

Better lock garage doors ,as we didn’t have a garage ,staying in a flat complex ,we instructed our watchman to get our car cleaned daily which I am sure he did -once in a week ,keeping the wind wipers erect as an evidence of his cleaning LOL,
Main step was to inform the paper wallah and milk wallah to stop news papers and milk, other wise they will be happily piling up in front of the door step
All the electronics were plugged off and the fridge emptied and switched off and the cylinder knob closed after my final cup of  hot chai ,water taps closed after the maid finished cleaning the vessels, (invariably this turns out to be a regular night mare for me  , regularly after leaving the house for work a good 1 or 2 hours later I start worrying whether I closed the taps ,switched off the hot  water geyser and worst of it all the deadly pressure cooker) ,final instructions were to my maid to fondly water my potted plants kept in our front verandah and balcony
We weighed the suitcases and hand luggage ,the weight was well below the limit and  we were all set to go  to air port 3 hours before the flight time ,New Zealand here we come !

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