The early morning flight from New Delhi to Athens , Greece via Istanbul , Turkey, coupled with the palpable excitement of upcoming vacation made sure that I don’t get to sleep properly the night before .My love for Hollywood movies, made sure that I don’t get to sleep on the flight too , thanks to flight entertainment.
This time , I was heading to the Greek capital , Athens ,for a vacation ,a much awaited one , with my dear son , Nihal. He, against my liking ,is growing up very fast . It had been more than a year and a half, since Dec15, that I had seen him last in flesh and bones. Time behaves incoherently , in space time construct , sometimes it flies very fast and some times in the same time space it crawls .
The excitement of meeting Rocky, Nihal’s nickname, the anxiety of seeing a new place and how the vacation will roll out had kept me awake most part of the night .
In flight I had a young IIT, IIM guy for company. IIT(Indian Institute of Technology ) and IIM(Indian institute of Management) is a rare ,but most sought after, breed of young professionals in India . Both are very prestigious colleges in India, now also well known and recognized outside India .Entering them requires years of hard work besides high level of intelligence. Graduating from both is considered a sure shot confirmed ticket to high life but the Contrarian me sees this too differently. I feel that they spend the best years of their life, twenties and thirties,pursuing academia and later career. When forties hit them with mid life crisis you find them looking smug in pubs clutching a beer mug, posting their pics with Harleys on social media trying to live what they have left behind, something that we all try one way or other but no one succeeds.
We chatted for some time and I could not help but share the change in times or our country’s economy that in our youth a vacation meant going to our hometown only, in almost all cases. Even the thought of visiting a different city in your own state would not cross our minds and now its not uncommon for young people to travel abroad for vacations .
Flight had a halt at Istanbul, where I was amazed by the size of the Airport and the kind of traffic it was handling. The gate numbers were running to seven hundred and beyond. Among all the international airport that I had seen, this one was the biggest of them all and later I learnt that its so because of Turkey being the “Gateway of Europe “.
I landed in Athens in the afternoon, groggy from lack of sleep. My first impression was that it was a relatively smaller airport. As it is, its rare to come across international airports as big as in India and then the size of our own country dawns on you .A bright and sunny day awaited me and I had a Deja Vu, it was almost same when we had landed in San Francisco airport for a month long vacation in US .
Like a seasoned traveller, I straightway headed for metro counter and bought a return ticket on airport metro, as I was to return next day to receive Nihal. Reading and preparing for vacations, specially reading about public transport, really comes in handy .
Athens airport, like most of the airports is at quite a distance from the city , around 45 minute ride in Metro. While waiting for the Metro an Asian looking guy smiled at me. I smiled back, though skeptical,
as I had read about pickpockets on Airport line. My skepticism vanished as soon as I boarded the train when I saw the occupancy inside . They should come and see Delhi metro , packed like coops, in peak hours . I bet they will die of suffocation.
The Asian guy sat opposite and I started the conversation in Hindi, so that it clears in one go about his ethnicity. “Kaya se Ho “(where are you from) ?. “Gujarat” he replied, pleased to talk to fellow countryman. .He was young and soft spoken but not fitting the profile of any typical Gujrati. Anyhow we chatted for some time and I came to know that he had come to see off his Uncle .I also noted that his accent was quite different .After chatting for some time I asked him which part of Gujarat is he from? He looked at me with bewilderment, but I guess he understood my confusion and hence cleared it by saying “Gujarat in Pakistan”.
It was then I realised that there is town called Gujarat in Pakistan for some time while I thought of him as an Indian he apparently thought of me as a Paki.
As we left the Airport I also noted that there was lot of graffiti on the Metro walls.Later I would see grafitti all over Athens.
I changed station at Monastiraki Square of Airport Metro to go till Omonia Square.The escalators of the Metro station were quite big , big enough to give me, someone who is scared of heights, a scare.The moment I came out of Metro, at Omonia Square, the hustle of Athens hit me with the sweet smell of European Tobacco, Smokers would agree that the smell of tobacco in Western World or even in South East Asia is quite different from ours, its definitely more alluring. This must be due to lighter cigarettes, whereas ours are hard hitting and not sweet smelling at all. Omonia was a really a big square. I took out my phone with preload-ed map of the place and started walking towards the Hotel, while taking in the beauty of yet another new place. I came across two cops, who signalled to me move away, arresting an South Asian man. As I moved ahead, I came across a huge picture of praying Hands, something like mural of Mahatma Gandhi on Delhi Police headquarters, painted on side of a big building, now made popular by movie ‘Beckett’ on Netflix.
I reached the hotel in 7-8 minutes of walk and from Airport to Hotel I did not feel the need to take any direction from anyone, power of technology. After settling in the hotel I decided to go at for a walk and explore the Omonia Square, which seemed to be an South Asian dominated primarily. I walked for sometime ,aimlessly, around the square and later bought a case of Beer from a local store. It was late in the evening and the Sun was still up,” I am long away from home”, I thought and decided to spend time with self and Beer.
Day One
Next day, Nihal was to arrive late in the Afternoon so I decided to walk till Acropolis and when I reached the square at the base of Acropolis, walking through lanes dominated by South Asians, I could not resist the temptation of not visiting it, knowing fully well that I will be visiting it done again with Nihal shortly. The walk from where my hotel was to Acropolis was mesmerizing. Acropolis defines Athens just like the way the Golden Fort of Jaisalmar defines the magical city of Rajasthan in India.
Since I had all the time in the world and it was a beautiful sunny day, I took a leisurely walk inside the majestic Acropolis, with commentary from Steve’s App on my phone,which gives you a guided tour of about all historical monuments in Europe.
After satiating my traveler's thirst,a bit, I walked back to the Hotel. During the walk back all of a sudden my phone died and I panicked as I had to pick up Nihal in afternoon with my phone being the only connection between us.
Luckily I knew of some Jugaad, a colloquial Indian word for a non conventional fix or hack, by doing the same CPR which I had done numerous times on my I Pad .Luckily it worked on my phone too and I let out a sigh of relief.
After about 10 years of with IOS I have now shifted to Android and I have lived happily
ever after.
In the evening, when I waited outside the airport to receive Nihal, who was fifteen years and two months then,I could feel my pulse racing. After some time, which felt like hours, I saw a lanky, awkwardly tall teenager with glasses and a big boil on his nose, making him more awkward. It took me a split second to recognize my cute son Rocku, who had turned into an awkward teenager wearing a hoodie .The moment he came out and I shouted and waved. We hugged, with tears betraying me, once again,trying to match the rhythm of our heartbeats. We always meet like long lost friends and within 2-3 minutes we are always back to talking, hugging, patting each other and one cannot make out that this father son due is meeting after a long time.
Back at the hotel we had our ritualistic push-ups competition, he insisted that I go first,he always does. I managed 40 and when his turn came he had to stop at 30 with a loud and disappointing ‘damm’. We had this mutually agreed pact that I could treat him like a kid, till I can do more push-ups than him. I was entitled to treat this 16 year old European teenager like a kid for some more timThe rest of the evening was spent in chitchatting and trying to catch up on lost time, which I guess
one can never do .For the first time he shared a Beer with me and we had dinner at a nearby place
Day Two
Next day , 29 July 17 ,after a relaxed breakfast we went for a ‘Hop on Hop off’ tour, something which is very convenient in Europe or Western world but is not an ideal choice in Indian cities due to heat, pollution, dust and traffic. We first took a tour of city to have a feel of Athens and in the second round we stopped at Acropolis .We came across two black guys trying us to sell us souvenirs but Nihal knowing his dad to be seasoned, smiled and moved ahead.
He was very excited when he reached Acropolis and clicked a lot of pictures. He reminded me of a four and a half year old Nihal running for swing to swing in Malsi Deer Park, ow a Zoo, in Dehradun where I had taken him in Dec 2006.
It was a funny scene with Rocky not able to make up his mind about which swing to go first and kept running from one to another.
After Acropolis we saw the National Archaeological Museum, where I got Nihal a discount as a European student, without him having a ID card. This time and almost every time that we are together I keep giving him life lessons for example equation with money which I consider to be quite important. This of course seems like a futile attempt at making up for the lost time.
We roamed around the various stops of ‘Hop on – Hop off’ like the famous Flea market,had Beef Burger for lunch and saw the unique guard changing drill at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the bottom of the Parliament House .The soldiers involved in the drill wear leggings,skirt , pompoms on long pointed shoes and resemble characters form Tintin Comics doing ballet.It’s a treat to watch them live .
Nihal also mentioned during our tour that the Olympic Stadium at Athens, reminded him of Jaisalmer. I could not understand why but he does get flashes of old times like his Dad does. We had a long day and in the evening we decided to have dinner at Hotel itself.
Day Three
Next day we had a visit to Delphi in an organized tour. Delphi from Athens is around 3 hour bus journey and almost everyone in the comfortable bus was sleeping,with the sweet sound of our guide telling us history of the places en route, like the villageof Hercules. We learned through the guide that around thirty-five percent of country's population lives in Athens. At a pit stop we had a Frappe, a local and very popular coffee drink in Greece.
It’s like a frothy cold coffee. We had a Bengali co passenger, his Bangla on the phone was a giveaway and when he heard me talking a bit in Hindi with Rocku he could not help but ask us whether we are from India.On affirmation he confessed that he took us to be Sri Lankans, since as per him we were quite fit, we just smiled at each other on the hidden compliment . Visiting Delphi , seeing all the historical places there, including the stadium where
Olympics had originated and so called Navel of the earth , which looks like a Shiv Linga too was sheer joy.The best part was that we were together. The opening scene of movie ‘Beckett’ is shot at Delphi.
On the way back we had a pit stop at Arachova , a small hill town where Nihal and I chose to just walk through
the beautiful town with the largest olive plantation in the backdrop . When back at Athens we decided to explore the area around Omonia square and rest back in the hotel
Day Four
Next day I had planned a surprise for Nihal. When I told him about the surprise of Scuba Diving,he was so thrilled that the hugged me tightly. DNA extension in adventure sports too.
I had made necessary arrangements beforehand we took the metro to Holargos, where we met Theoplilis, our guide for the day. There were only four of us, divers, a couple from Belgium besides us. Theophilis, a stocky well built guy who smoked a lot, after necessary preparation, took us to the jetty in his rickety car through the so called posh area of Athens. His car played ‘Despacito’ Nihal’s favorite at that time. After changing at Jetty and few pictures later we got on to his boat. He took us to very picturesque spot, first, and Rocky got to drive his boat, again excited as hell.Later he took us to a small island, where there was no one but for five of us and exposed us to initial acclimatization and drills of scuba diving Nihal is really good in water, he has always been since his childhood. We played with each other in water with him trying to drown me. The dive, though not very deep was assisted at first but to my surprise, a large part of dive, later was unassisted. I am sure it was something illegal her as we were four novices, diving unassisted with only one Guide.Notwithstanding that, Theophilis, inspite of his age, managed it all very well and it was lot
of fun, even for me who had done a much better version in Andaman and Nicobar Island in India. I was doubly joyous that Nihal thoroughly enjoyed it.Back to Holargos, Theophilis treated us with a nice late lunch from a local restaurant and it was really awesome.
We reached our hotel in the evening and he decided to have another leisurely evening
chit chatting, as both of us were quite tired.
Day Five
Since we had a two day Hop on Hop off ticket we decided to go to the beach in Piraeus , on theother side of town. When we reached there, to my surprise I saw a lots of Maruti Swift, anIndian made car, and pointed it out to Nihal.
Whole afternoon we enjoyed ourselves having Frappes, as we both had started liking it, and playing in the water.We had lots of father son chats and also friendly banter. We also agreed that its time I buy a pair of beach shorts instead of swimming trunks for Beach vacations .
In the evening back at the Hotel I decided to give him a lavish dinner treat. I asked himto pick up the place of his choice , sorted that he is he picked up a place which had high reviews reasonably priced and at walking distance.
On the way to the restaurant I spotted a lot of druggies. I was quick to see them from far and I realized that we were not in safe neighborhood and I told Nihal not to look that side and walk normally to avoid attracting attention .
We had an awesome dinner, Nihal ordered , and headed back to Hotel by a main and safer street.
Day Six
We had a lazy morning we had decided to stay in that day as Nihal was to leave that day in the afternoon . We had not planned to go anywhere but later thought of walking till Acropolis, and have lunch at the market at the base of Acropolis .We both had Souvlaki and Gyro wraps , something which we had been having for all the meals time .We both just loved it . The seeing off in the evening was really heart wrenching, it always is.I always try to make it quick to avoid both of us getting overtly emotional and I like to believe that Nihal gets it now . I was a wreck by the time I
reached back at the hotel.
I waited for him to reach UK back , after he confirmed his safe arrival I decided to be with myself and leftover Beers .
My flight back next day was in afternoon at 1535hr and for some reason Iread it as 5:34 pm. I realized it quite late, considering that for international flights you have to reach airport three hours in advance. I had to run to Hotel , as I was walking outside when I realized this, packed bags checked out, ran again till Metro and barely managed
to reach the airport just in time to catch the flight, leaving all the graffiti behind but some stayed etched
in my heart, forever, and hopefully in Nihal’s mind to come back as flashes.
Written :Apr 23 , about my vacation in Greece with Nihal . It was long pending in my mind, "Do I look happy to you ?"
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