An eventful Birthday

My 56th birthday turned out to be quite eventful.

Firstly, the birthday coincided with Mahashivratri. Next, my date of travel to Jeddah for a visit to one of our company’s sites got postponed several times & coincidentally got fixed on my birthday. I managed to remain vegetarian despite the travel & disruptions.

On the day of travel there were no signs of snow in Milan. It was in fact a bit sunny when we (I & a colleague from office) went to the airport. At the airport, to our surprise, we were told that the flight (Milan-Frankfurt-Jeddah) is late by 20 mins. – the reason being heavy snow at Frankfurt. After considerable consultations amongst us, including calling our company’s travel office, we decided to go to Frankfurt hoping that the Jeddah flight also would be delayed. On reaching Frankfurt, the Jeddah flight had departed & there wasn’t any other flight on that day. Having managed to book the flight for next day, we decided to have lunch at a restaurant at the airport. When we were half way through, police came in the restaurant and told us to vacate the place due to bomb scare. Fortunately, I could carry my stuff and found place outside the restaurant to somehow finish lunch.

Next day, in the flight, a beautiful young girl (maybe 30 years old) happened to be my co passenger. When the flight landed, all the crew members came to her and asked her for an autograph! They all had brought with them her postcard size photo for the same. It was then that we came to know that she was an anchor of a popular German TV program!

There were still events to follow. We started our journey from the Jeddah airport to the site after having a sandwich. After 15 minutes of our journey, we were caught in a sand storm. Having stayed in the Middle East for so many years, I have not seen anything like this. The visibility was about a meter only. Actually, it is a highway where cars run @ 150 + kms per hour speed. We were forced to almost stop. Though the traffic clogged up, we could barely see the car ahead & its hazard lights. This went on for 30 minutes & after that it was all clear as if nothing had happened. The driver told us that this is a regular phenomenon.

Earlier, in Milan itself, I had mentioned to my colleague that the weather forecast was showing heavy rain, which he never believed. He said that he has travelled to Saudi 25 times and never was there a drop of rain. After we reached the site and were about to go to sleep, it started pouring. Almost for 3 hours, till morning, it rained!!

At the site, our accommodation was arranged in a small colony of cottages. Next day morning I went for breakfast to the canteen in the cottage nearby, getting fully ready to immediately proceed for work. While having breakfast, I realized that I had not properly worn the socks in one of my feet as I was getting a feeling of lump. After finishing breakfast, I went to my cottage, removed my shoe & found a big insect of around 3 cms with a long moustache half dead!

The return journey from Jeddah was absolutely fine.

Now I know why they wish ‘MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY’ for birthdays!