From Bangalore to an Italian Holiday

Two hours after Santa Claus was safely back at the North Pole and last the string of firecrackers had exploded outside our apartment, we boarded a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. We had a ten hour flight to Frankfurt, a four hour layover and a 50 minute hop before we would be in Milan, Italia. We looked forward to our two week vacation. Milano to Venezia (Venice)… Venezia to Roma…. Roma to Florence, then back to Milano. A true Roman holiday awaited us.

The holiday, however, unexpectedly veered to concern and worry 20 minutes after our take off. Jay, who had been battling a case of “Delhi belly” (diarrhea) for a few days, broke into a cold clammy sweat and feared he would soon lose consciousness. He tried to maneuver his body to lower his head, but our cramped economy seats would not yield any space for such a position. Fortunately, Helen’s call to the flight attendant was quickly answered. Jay’s sallow color gave our flight attendant an equal sense of urgency and with the assistance of Gerhardt, the flight purser, Jay was slowly navigated up to the nearly empty business class section. Gerhardt sat Jay down in a more spacious seat where he was eventually able to position himself to ward off his impending loss of awareness. Cold water and plenty of genuine concern were provided by the flight staff. Helen was ushered forward as well to care for Jay.

The crisis lasted for only 10 minutes, but it was a harrowing 10 minutes. Jay soon stretched out on the extended business class seat and slept for more than eight hours. Rested and mostly recovered from his ills, we resumed our Roman Holiday…. from the business class section of plane. Life has its ups and downs.

We landed in Milan around 2:00 PM. Skies were overcast. The temperature was 4 degree Celsius (don’t know the conversion…it was cold). We had equipped ourselves with sweaters, and a hooded Old Navy pullover Jay purchased for 110 rupees ($2.25) provided more warmth, as did the knit hats and leather gloves also purchased in Bangalore. Finally, our yellow wind breaker rain jackets gave us a protective layer from the first onslaught of the chilly weather. We were warm among the very stylishly dressed Milanese. We looked, however, like we had just flown in from India.

The bus ride to the central bus/train station in Milan was surprisingly uneventful. No road trip in Bangalore is without its adventure. Not once did the bus driver swerve into on-coming traffic to overtake a lumbering lorry. Drivers showed “lane discipline.” Blinkers were actually used when changing lanes. What’s that all about? We were sure the absence of loose cattle and goats on the highway was a fluke. These crafty Italians have got to keep their cattle and cattle poop somewhere.