From “Road trip to Florida” to “An evacuation flight to India” …
A narration of events that may interest people trying to travel to India during these times…
Prelude (If you know me and have been talking to me regularly, you can skip to journey …)
I was in the US on a business visa … my startup VAANGO was selected by an accelerator in Hartford, CT and I was a part of this program setting up operations in the US and scaling business for VAANGO.
As our program was coming towards an end, like all accelerators we had a grand demo day scheduled in April, and like all demo-days these days … from being a grand in-person event it became a virtual demo day as the wave of Corona was casting it’s dark shadow.
One of the key things about being a startup entrepreneur is to have the ability to take good calculated risks. While all the other startups in and around my cohorts left on time, my dear friend from Aura-Air Aviad and me decided we would do the demo day from our office in Hartford and continue our efforts to expand business as we saw several opportunities!
My plan was to bring my family over at the end of the program and we had planned a road trip to Florida from New York … everything was planned, thanks to my amazing family and friends I had picked up the skill of driving on the wrong side of the road very well and everything was set … My wife and kids had their tickets booked! Some even said that Florida would be empty and this would be the best time to do Disney land…
Everything was happening until COVID hit the fan and flights were cancelled and one thing lead to another and my family had to cancel their trip, with this done, the road trip plans went to the dumpster and I was scheduled to return as planned on the 3rd of May … Emirates cancelled their flights and India shut its gates to its citizens and I was like…
From there started my endeavor to come back to India … my stay was coming close to it’s expiration and my accommodation contract ended and I had no flights to go back home.
BUT…Thankfully I had Family (My amazing Sister, Brother-in-law, Nephew and their dog) and Friends (Specifically in Manchester, CT) … with these guys around, I never felt as bad as I probably should have. They made me feel so much at home that I was pampered and not only was I able to focus on vaango.co (as our Facial Recognition products become even more relevant) but I was having a great time being around them … and I missed the worst part of summer in India too.
I knew this was not permanent and I had to get back at some point, I was constantly in touch with the Embassy of India or so I thought, in reality I was probably talking to their AI Bot that was trained to generate empathetic emails … I eventually got hold of Air India senior officials through my friend who were much more helpful and guided me to getting a ticket back home through their online portal … the day was marked to get the ticket, the opening was said to be 10.30 am …. I had 3 devices with me and sat down to book my tickets!
At 10,30 am …bamm … I start pounding the Air India site and app and no response, tickets are unavailable! I was frustrated, but did not give up … finally at around 11.30 they opened up and I got a ticket to Chennai via Delhi on AI 102 which was the last flight on Phase 2 as a part of the #VandeBharat Mission … my tickets were booked and bags packed… I even managed to get a classmate of mine from my undergraduate days on the same flight so we had company …
The Journey
New York was super foggy that morning. We were one of the first 50 to reach the airport, as the check-ins started people started to come … young working couples were dropping off their stranded parents, students were thrilled to be leaving home, stranded business visitors were excited to be going back home … there was no social distancing imposed on the queues in the US, people were allowed to stand as they pleased.
After checking in we went to our gate and after a brief wait we were given our protective gear … masks and shields … it felt like we were getting ready for a battle. People sitting in middle rows were given hazmat suits! We wore our robes and were ready to board the flight …
On entering the flight we saw the crew was completely covered in hazmat suits that were designed for the 30’s (Or FTV)… flowing Marie Curie Dress style suits … the designer deserves an award!
The flight was packed. Social Distancing my foot! … every seat had a big plastic bag filled with food and several bottles of water were kept on each seat. Croissants with cheese, sandwiches, cheese, fruits, yogurt, cakes, muffins and what not … throughout the journey we were to wear our masks and our protective shields which was the most difficult part …
No entertainment systems or service in flight. No interaction with flight crew was allowed. Crew were not even allowed to close the overhead bins. Some of the crew were quiet rude to passengers (Typical with Indian passengers and Air India if you know what I mean, we kind of deserve each other) … after all the tiredness I crashed and slept like a log on my seat for several hours, then ate some great home cooked food from my Super sis! Slept more … watched my iPad for a bit and had some conversations with my co-passenger and whiled time away till we got to Delhi …
Back to India
The staff at Delhi airport were extremely professional by enforcing social distancing in queues and security was excellently handled and we went off to the connecting flight for Chennai. We returned to the same aircraft that was cleaned and hence the same seating applied. We knew that we had to do institutional quarantine in Chennai for 7 days but there were lots of rumors which turned out to be false. As we landed we were swiftly de-planed and as we got a quick temperature check which was done on everyone. On completing this we went to immigration where we were cleared. As we went down to the baggage hall, we were told to fill 2 additional forms for COVID testing and quarantine.
Everything was super organized as we were moved from one counter to another. We were made to take tests (The sample collectors were a bit rash in shoving the swab down your throat and nose, so be prepared to feel invaded). On completing this we were each given a mini meals from Saravana Bhavan (Courtesy TN Gov … thank you nice to see our tax money working) and then guided to our busses for our quarantine centers.
With Quarantine there are just 2 options, Free or Paid … Free would mean you go to a hostel of a college that was contracted by the government. Paid would be any hotel currently associated (we got Feathers Hotel in Manapakkam, a very well renowned and nice hotel).
The rooms are provided at a cost of Rs 2500 ($35) a night including 3 meals! Internet is charged extra for around Rs1,000/device/week. So far the hotel staff have been splendid providing exceptional service.
Overall I am really impressed with the way TN Govt has handled the people. They have organized things extremely well in coordination with the hotels and police and airport authorities. Everyone is so polite and professional (with the exception of some passengers who acted really rude). I understand that there would be another COVID test sometime in the next two days and if negative we would be sent for home quarantine.
I can’t wait to go meet my family when we are done with this. But I thought I would take some time to pen this crazy journey down for others to understand what I experienced during this journey. Happy to answer any questions you may have … will try and update this post after through the next few days.
PS: The rules and processes are evolving on a daily basis so what holds good today may not tomorrow.
Update: 22nd June 2020
All the passengers who came by Flight AI 102 were thankfully tested negative for COVID. Each of us had to undergo 2 tests over a span of 1 week and on clearing the tests at the end of 7 days of Institutional quarantine. We were allowed to go to our respective homes for another 7 days of home quarantine.
For people living in Chennai an invoice for the 7 days expenses was handed by the hotel. No additional documentation was provided. For those traveling out of station some additional documents were provided by the hotel so that intercity travel could be possible. People also applied for E Passes on the respective state websites prior to travel.
Towards the end of this week, I will have completed my home quarantine.