My Trip to the US - 11

I had to grope around in the darkness before I found the light switch. It was turned down. I thought that was the "on" position like with the switches in India. It was hard to imagine any other possibility. I thought there must have been a switch outside the room which controlled the room's power supply. I went out and checked, but found no switch. I opened the door wide open, so that some light entered inside.

There was a clock in one corner that showed a glowing red "11:30". It was a digital alarm clock with an LCD that showed the time and it also had a radio. I recalled that in the 5-Star room in chennai where my brother had stayed, there was a clock-cum-gadget that had buttons to control everything in the room - lights, AC, etc etc. I considered the possibility, though my hotel didn't look anywhere close to even a 3-Star. But since it was Amrika, I was not sure of anything. I started looking at the clock. I pressed all its buttons. One of them started the radio. It played so loud, and in the darkness I couldn't think for a while. I messed it up by pressing all the buttons on it 3-4 times. The clock's radio changed bands, the time changed randomly, something rang the clock's alarm very loudly, and something finally turned it off. I kept the clock back at where I picked it from.

I could see a phone kept on a stool. I went and dialled "0" which, Aziz had told me, was the front-desk-number. I told him there was no power supply in the room. But he said in his broken English that there was a switch inside, just beside the door, that had to be turned on, etc etc. I was getting embarrassed inspite of trying hard not to. I told him I would figure it out and hung up.

I started to do some R&D now. As a trial and error, I moved up the switch, the one beside the door, and that lit one of the lamps. There was some light now and I could see 3 more lamps in the room - all turned off. I went to the first one, and tried to see how it could be switched on. I found that the power supply was through a wire which was direcly plugged into a socket and there were no switches. I pushed a pin that slid right below the bulb of the lamp, and the lamp started glowing. WoW!!! I went ahead and turned all the lamps on. The light delighted me.

Next I checked out the wash-basin. I turned the knob on top of the faucet - both clockwise and anti-clockwise. No water came out. I concluded that the room had no water supply. I tried harder as the last ditch effort, and the knob got pulled up a little as I moved it forcefully. And then, water started coming out. So, I came to know that the knob had to be pulled up to turn it on. Soon I also figured out that after pulling it up, if I turned the knob clockwise, I got cold water and if I turned it anti-clockwise, I got hot water.

At that time, there were 2 guys - Vinay and Sampath - from my company working in Cincinnati for the same Client for whom I came to work. They're still here. They are on long-term visits and have been staying in apartments close to my hotel.

As I was trying to figure things out, Vinay and Sampath came to meet me. I had been wondering about food, and was happy to see a box with them. Had the delicious home cooked South-Indian food after they left and then, it was time to get on to the internet.

I was going to use Wireless Internet for the first time in my life. I had tried at London and Chicago Airports, but could never get connected. I took out my laptop and was connected within moments. I also turned on the TV to check out whether the Amrikan TV Channels really showed porn at mid-night, as I had heard. It was past 12:00 AM. I ran through all the channels the TV offered. I found pretty clean stuff everywhere. That was disappointing. I missed Sun TV so much. I found Jeetu online on GTalk. I immediately started a voice chat with him. Someone had to hear my first observations, aankhon-dekha-haal - no non-veg on TV at mid-night, lots of hot girls at London Airport, saw a very sexy gal in a mini-skirt at Chicago Airport, no hot gals visible in the hotel...

I chatted for some time, then fell asleep.

5th May 2007 - the longest day of my life - 24 + 9:30 = 33:30 hours long...had come to an end!

To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 10

I was in The United States of America - the country which millons of people the world over feel fascinated about, the place which is considered the land of opportunities, the country whose opinion matters the most on any issue of International concern, the country which defines fashion, the country which gives respect and refuge to talent from all over the world, the country which I was going to discover and which had already started opening its pages to me - I was feeling great. Suddenly life seemed very happening. The change was wonderful. I discovered that I enjoyed walking into unknown worlds. I realized that the mystery that uncertainty held in itself gave me a lot of pleasure when it revealed itself to me. Life would be boring without the element of uncertainty in it.

It was cold outside the Airport. I went from the Airport to the Hotel in a cab driven by a Mauritanean. Mauritanea, I came to know, is a country in Africa. The driver was very friendly and helpful. I learnt from him how to use calling cards to make international calls. He even gifted one to me. It costed $3. He refused to take money for the calling card.

I reached my hotel in about 20 minutes. The hotel, where I am still staying, is called - Best Western.

The cab dropped me right outside the lobby. The Mauritanean enquired at the lobby to confirm that we came to the right place. He wished me a great stay in America, and left. As I went inside the lobby to confirm my booking, I came to know that there were 2 kinds of rooms in the hotel - from the smoking point of view - smoking and non-smoking. That was the first choice a lady who came to book a room was asked for. The office at the lobby had a "drive-thru" as well - wherein you can shout into the window that you need a room, then answer the questions asked, then give your credit/debit card, then collect the room keys and your card and get into your room directly from there. The booking for me had already been done by my company, and I had to just take the keys after getting my ICICI Travel-Card swiped and signing on a few forms. I came to know that mine was a non-smoking room with a king-sized bed. That felt awesome to think about.

There was a TV at the lobby. It was playing the movie - Gladiator - on the channel called - tbs. I looked at the screen and smiled, and said Gladiator loudly. I think I did that coz unconsciously I wanted the white guy at the lobby to know that I had a high level of awareness, that I knew the good movies of Hollywood and also that I had good tastes in movies. The guy turned out to be an Usbeki. His name was Aziz. I felt ashamed for a while. I didn't have to do that. Even if he was an American. Made a mental note, an entry in Lessons-Learnt, took my keys and came out of the lobby to head for my room.

Though Aziz had given me directions for my room, I didn't quite understand him. My attention was somewhere else. And he spoke bad english. And also I was confident that I could figure it out.

There were 2 buildings facing each other. My room had to be in one of them. The room-number was - 232B. I went towards the nearer of the 2 buildings. I figured that I had to climb the stairs. There was a guy standing near the stairs with a bottle of bear in his hand. He looked as scary as any other drunken person. I told him my room-number and asked him where it was. He said I had to go up the stairs. Then suddenly he jumped to grab my bag and insisted to carry it for me. It wasn't easy to get rid of him. I told him 3-4 times that it was ok, and I would carry the bags myself. Finally he stepped back, smiled and said "Positive". I guess he meant that he was ok with what I said. He let me go. I found that my room was not in that building but was in the other building.

I reached my room after some searching around. I stood outside the door with the card-key in my hand. I had seen this kind of keys, and I had also seen my brother use one when he stayed in a 5-Star hotel in chennai. But I never take interest in How-Things-Work unless I get into situations when I have to understand them to go ahead. So here I was, trying to open my door. I figured that I had to swipe my card through a slot on the door. I inserted the card in all possible ways. One of them worked! I made a mental note of exactly how I inserted the card, and then pushed the door open...

To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 9

The American Airlines flight was much different from the Jet Airways flight. It was full of foreigners (rather I was the only foreigner). This was the first time I was among so many firangs. It was surely none of my comfort zones. There were a few Indians too, inside the plane, but they were very stangely indifferent. They were all trying to make friends with the Americans.

My seat was right in the middle of the Economy Class this time. I realized that I was more comfortable in Jet's corner seat than AA's middle seat. The Plane, the Seats and the Airhostesses were much better in the Jet Airways flight. The American Airhostesses seemed pretty arrogant, and much less caring. The service was definitely much better in Jet Airways.

I also realized that inspite of asking myself many times not to, I constantly compared whatever I saw, to how their Indian counterparts were. I have been doing that ever since I entered the American Airlines plane to this day. May be it's natural for any foreigner. Although, I cannot comment on non-Indian foreigners in America coz I haven't spoken to any, I don't think they are any different.

I wasn't lucky enough even on this occasion. No hot gal by my side. Mine was a window seat this time. And, believe it or now, I had company, though only for some time - a lady whose name was Nancy Hahn. She was a very nice lady. She worked in Misys Healthcare - a Client company for an Indian company.

She was coming from Bangalore, India. So the obvious topic on which to start a conversation with her was the Weather in India. Being an American, she must have had a really tough time enduring the Indian summers. I brought it up after our greetings to each other, and as expected, she had a lot to say about the heat. That made me feel that Americans are talkative. Or was it just that she was a woman? Could be the latter.

After talking for about 10 minutes, Nancy moved to one of the empty middle seats so that each one of us could sit comfortably. I was again left alone. Though Nancy was there whenever I needed help with figuring out things. Like I didn't have an ear phone and seeing the confused look on my face, she got one for me from the Airhostess. And on many occasions, she was there to guide me with the things the Airhostess carried...in her trolley.

I felt very tired. Took some apple juice. The LCD here didn't have much to check out. It was smaller than the one in Jet Airways. I still put on the headphones and played something coz I figured that if I had the phones on, I didn't get that stuffy sensation in the ears which I usually did in the domestic Indian flights. I was quite comfortable though I sat for hours without changing positions for long in each of the flights.

The American Airlines Plane flew much higher than the Jet Airways Plane. Most of this flight was over water. And we were above clouds for the major part of it. It being my second International flight, most of the excitement that was there before and during the first one waned away. Things got less and less special for me. The Airhostesses and their trolleys seemed like a routine affair. For lunch, there was a special order for me. My company had asked for a vegetarian meal for me. I felt so Indian for the first time. The food was good. My optimism about American Veg food grew stronger.

I got reprimanded once by the Airhostess for ordering before she came to me. She was serving the guy behind me and I was next in line. I told myself - those Indian gals in Jet Airways wouldn't have been so rude :-(.

Things started getting uneventful. I was tired. I slept a lot. When I got up, we were 45 minutes from Chicago O'Hare. The Aircraft was shaking due to turbulence. It descended after a lot of circling around the Airport. Lot of traffic at the airport, I guess. I walked out of the Aircraft. Nancy and I were walking side by side until we came out.

O'Hare is a big big airport. That's what I heard from many. Even the LCD showed a big big map with lots of gates. While I was there, I couldn't get much idea of its size coz I was led out of the plane into corridors and passages and then to a big hall where I had to do Immigration Check and stuff. Nancy showed me that I had to stand in the queues for Immigrants was she was going to a queue for US Residents. Since we were parting, I felt that we might never meet again. It was good to have the contacts of someone who'd helped you so much. So I asked Nancy whether I cud have her card. She didn't have one to give me right away. Then I asked her for her email Id and she gave it to me on a piece of paper. I was elated. We said byes and then we joined our respective queues. When my turn came, I was asked "Why are you here" at the counter. I blurted out the answer I had prepared during my VISA interview - For technical discussions with our clients and customers. I was also going to add - Preliminary design and analysis - to it, but then I felt it wasn't required. My passport was stapled with a piece of one of those forms I had filled with a stamp of Aug 04 2007 thumped on it. I later came to know that the form is called I-94 and the stamp indicates the maximum time I am allowed to stay in the US.

I collected my luggage (called baggage in air-travel terminology). I was convinced that Chicago was where I had to collect my baggage from. My next worry was about how to check it into my next flight to Cincinnati. I had been thinking about these for days. I enquired and came to know that I had to go to another gate to catch the domestic flight to Cincinnati and to go to that gate, I had to catch a train. There was an escalator to take me up to the train stations. Sindhu had told me about those escalators and the fact that you should not keep much luggage if alone coz you need to leave the trolleys and lift all the luggage yourself from here. I didn't have much to carry though, and my suitcase had wheels too. So I could easily walk with my baggage and reached the station in no time. The train came very soon. I got into it. I noticed that everyone else was so much taller than me. In India I am of an average height. There were 2 cops standing right in front of me. I told them the gate I had to go to and asked them where I had to get down. They said it was the very next stop and they were getting down as well, so I could follow them. I did that.I got down at the next station. I saw Nancy there. Said a Hi to her. She came along. She helped me checkin my baggage for the next flight to Cincinnati and also guided through the security check and then to the right gate for my next flight. It was so kind of her to help me, though I had never asked for it. I guess somehow she realized that I was new and needed help and was also a good boy.

The Security check was interesting. I got to see the domestic air-travellers in the US. It was like a casual thing for them. In India, air-travel is a big deal, even by Air Deccan. The security check was pretty strict. Everybody had to take out shoes, watches, everything metal. I wonder how women manage with rings at all kinds of places. Rings in ears may be allowed coz they can be seen. What about the rings elsewhere? Anyone knows? Don't the metal detectors shout when such rings pass through with any woman?

I again felt proud at my decision of taking off my socks. After the security, I enetered the huge domestic terminal of Chicago along with Nancy. There were hundreds of gates from which hundreds of flights were departing every minute. Wonder how they manage such traffic.

Our next flights were from different gates. So it was time for another Good Bye to Nancy and this time it was indeed the last one. I wondered whether we could sit and talk for some more time, coz there was still 1.5 hour time for my flight and 1 hour for Nancy's. But Nancy didn't seem interested. So I let her go, and looked for my own Gate. It was not far from Nancy's. I could see her.

There were many seats in front of each gate. I could not sit for long. My legs were aching. I started romaing around. The bag with the laptop in it was heavy. I still walked. There were stores all over - McDonalds etc. I didn't eat anything. Just kept walking. Saw a public coin phone at one place. I didn't have coins. There was an option to swipe a card and call. I swiped but it didn't work. I gave up. First encounter with these coin/card automated things in the US! I came back to my gate, sat on one of the seats and checked if my laptop worked with any of the available wireless networks. It didn't.

I looked around. First time in my life, I saw a real girl in a real mini-skirt. Of course I did see in movies, but never in real life. I was in Mumbai for 4 years, but never saw one. And here at the airport I saw one girl with a perfect figure and in a mini-skirt. She was an Ui-Ma kind of girl. It was treat to watch her running, pulling along her bag with wheels.

Then there was a couple with a chhmaaaaaaall kid pulling all their luggage as they were walking. That was very cute. I should have taken a pic. It didn't occur to me at that time. I went and complimented the parents that their kid was very cute.

I kept waiting for my flight's boarding anouncement at the gate till the last 15 minutes remained. Looked around, even Nancy had gone. Just then, it was announced that my flight would depart from another gate that was pretty far away. Less than 15 minutes remained for the departure. Now that worried me. I ran. It took a long time to reach that gate, and when I did, a lady there said she had closed the boarding for the flight. I wonder how all other passengers had come to know of the gate change. The LCDs all over the airport were still showing the earlier gate number for that flight. Anywayz, the lady opened it again for me, and I went inside and boarded the flight. I was the last one to get it.

This plane - American Eagle - was a pathetic Aircraft. It was like a long pipe with 3 lines of seats. There were no Airhostesses - just one steward, who was effeminate and seemed gay and was acting smart. It seemed there was no AC also. The plane was very old and ill-maintained. Overall it was a bad flight. I slept through most of the 1 hour I was in it.

Cincinnati Airport is much smaller than the other ones I had seen during the day. I collected all my baggage. Thankfully, nothing was lost. I had heard tales of people finding their bags missing when they reach US. I was relieved to find everything right there.

I had to call a cab. I was wondering how to. I asked a cop. He told me that I had to call from the phone at a corner he pointed to. I went there. A Chinese looking gal was on the phone asking for a cab. She spoke with an American Accent. She asked me if I needed a cab too. I said yes. She called one for me too. She told me the cab number, which I did not understand. I asked her again, she told me again. Again, I didn't understand. She was too arrogant. Didn't respond a bit to my smiles. She went away. I decided I was going to call the cab myself. I didn't know what number to dial. I looked around, there was a register with many numbers. I was having a tough time. I picked up the receiver, it connected me directly to the cab-service guy. I asked him for a cab and he told me the cab number. So I was relieved that I too had a number now.

I came out of the airport to where the gal was standing and waiting for her cab. There was one bus picking up passengers on the other side of the road. I wondered where that went. Since my company was paying the cab charges, I decided not to worry about the cost of going by a cab. The gal sat in a cab that was not of the number assigned to her. Actually the cab guy came looking for someone who had already left. So she sat in it. Later when her cab came, I sat in that. Wonder who sat in my cab!

Well, as all this was happening, I kept saying to myself - Man! You reached your destination! Here you are at Cincinnati - Ohio - USA. Palmistry is bogus!

To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 8

My company had booked the flight tickets with the 7 hour gap in London. I didn't crib and was actually happy about this. I was hoping to experience London in these 7 hours.

The waiting area was big and confusing. There were hundreds, in fact thousands of peope waiting. There were many sexy ladies all over the place. It looked like heaven for a while - a long one. I could see shops all over. 'Duty-Free shops' most of them. But the very first thing that attracted my attention was the British accent. My ears were wide open trying to listen to whatever of that I could hear. I like observing the way people speak and I somehow give a lot of attention to accents.

I wanted to speak to some Britishers in the Airport. I had a subconscious mission planned to work on during this entire trip - to make new friends and understand as many new things - whatever they may be - as I possibly could. Making friends takes time and happens at its own sweet pace. The mission made me a little hasty to get to this task at the first opportunity. Slowly I have realized, with a strong self-affirmation, that relationships take time to grow. Love/Friendships at First Sight cannot happen to me.

I find the British accent particularly interesting. That's because, it is from the Britishers that we have derived our versions of English. It is really interesting how when people proficient in a particular language learn a different language, they make common errors and develop the same accent without even realizing it. Like all Madrasis have a similar Hindi accent.

As far as English goes, I like the British accent. More than the American or the Australian one. Coz it's closer to our own accent and we can easily master it. Unlike the American accent, which many Indians make a mess of, and end up speaking in weird, funny and unintelligible ways here in America, British accent can be picked up pretty easily by Indians - of course only if the other departments of their English are sound enough. During the many hours of waiting, I got to hear a lot of it. It was fun.

I exchanged some Dollars for Pounds so as to make phone calls to India from the public coin-phones over there. I came to know that one hundredth of a Pound is called a Pence. I exchanged 15 Dollars and got 5 Pounds and 47 pence. I spent 4 Pounds in calls. Also spent 1 Pound and 30 Pence to buy a big cup of coffee. Nothing else, coz things seemed pretty costly inspite of being Duty-Free. I am sure duty is just a small part of the price. Waiving it doesn't help so much, especially for Indians who've come out for the first time and are still thinking in terms of the Rupee. For example, 1.30 Pounds is more than 100 Rupees. My costliest coffee ever. But that was the cheapest thing I could find in the coffee shop. I didn't want to spend any more money in eating, though I was terribly hungry, coz the next flight would serve food anyway. Why waste money, viz. Rupees.

I couldn't see "Drinking Water" written anywhere in the waiting area. There were small Mineral Water bottles everywhere at Bombay Airport. To be picked up by anyone who needed. For free. But at the London Airport, there were none. You have to buy water over there. Sometimes it feels like drinking water is out of fashion in these western countries. Of course, I shouldn't generalize to this extent since I have seen only a few places. Perhaps some of the readers can comment on this.

But after spending 5.30 Pounds on calls and coffee, I was left with 17 Pence. I could see some water-bottles in a fridge at the coffee shop. I enquired the price of a bottle. It was more than a Pound and I didn't want to exchange more money. So coffee was all I had during the 7 hours at London, and it was a really bad coffee. Later as I roamed in the Airport, I found that there were things to eat that were cheaper than a Pound. I regretted having spent 1.30 Pounds on a disgusting coffee. And also felt sad about 1 Pound that got wasted in a call that I couldn't make. The coin went inside the box and stayed there but I saw no balance time for me to talk.

Those coin boxes were pretty good, otherwise. You insert coins and they give you some talk-time. You can make as many calls as you like to exhaust that talk-time. With every call, there is some flat amount that will be deducted besides the charges for the duration of the call.

There were Indians everywhere. Most shops were being run by Indians. One shop was playing Himesh Reshamiya's songs loudly. One Indian guy explained to me how to use the coin-phone. And after I was done with my calls, I explained how to use it to another Indian guy. All in Hindi. I also explained a Canadian lady how she could exchange her Canadian Dollars for some Pounds and use them to make calls through the coin-phone. I guess this was the first time during the trip that I spoke to any 'real' foreigner.

There was a car on display - a nice red one - right at the centre of the waiting Area. I am not a fan of cars, nor do I know much about them. But here's the pic for you. Feel free to stare at it if cars turn you on.





There were lots of chairs to sit on. I wanted to talk to someone...Make friends...Talk about London. But I am a jerk when it comes to starting conversations with strangers. I was trying to not be myself for a few hours and reach out to some people. I went and sat beside an old British woman. I didn't know what to talk. I asked her the time. I adjusted my watch and told her how important it is to set your watch to local time so that you don't miss the next flight. She didn't say anything except the time, smiled and was lost in her own thoughts. I took out my laptop just to look busy. Tried to look for wireless networks available. I tried a few, but all of them asked me to pay so as to use them. I gave up. I got up saying bye to the woman.

I walked for hours around the place checking out all kinds of shops except for the Lingerie stores. I am not so good at this, I mean at roaming around in markets and checking out things. I saw the prices of a few products just so that I get some idea. But I could hardly form any opinion. I don't even remember the prices now. The best was the Liqour section. I saw Smirnoff Vodka, Romanov Vodka and Antiquity Whisky...felt homely :D

I went inside a book-store. I was curious to know how many books by Indian authors these British stores kept. What I found was disheartening. Only one - Salman Rushdie. I was expecting more. Perhaps I missed a few. But surely not many.

At one corner there was a sign-board that read "Multi-Faith Prayer Room". Though I am not a religious person, I felt like checking it out. It is always nice to see people of all religions praying together in peace. Anyone who has ever visited Pir Haaji Ali's Mosque in Mumbai would know that it is possible. Religion and God begin to acquire new meanings in such places. Perhaps their original meanings.

I was sad to see that the door of the room to which the signboard pointed was closed. I went and sat in front of a TV hanging from the top. Two chairs to my right was a sexy gal sitting and reading a book. And to my left, there was a fat British guy. He also was watching TV. I tried again to start a conversation. Couldn't think of any topics. Continued to watch TV and figured that news channels in UK (and now I know that in US too) show more crap than the Indian ones do. I decided to chat on this topic with the guy sitting next to me. I asked him whether that was the kind of news that the channels there normally showed. He smiled and said yes. I told him that in India, we had similar news channels that showed crap, and we thought that things are better in the west. He didn't give any expression - surprised or happy or curious or offended - and continued to watch TV. That ended the conversation. He went away after a few minutes and a few more minutes thereafter, a couple came and sat next to me. I felt like Forrest Gump.

('comment' in the terminology of computer progamming is a block of code that is ignored by the compiler and is not to be executed and is enclosed between /* and */)

/********* JAVA COMMENT STARTS *********

The material enclosed in the comments might be objectionable to some people and so, must be read with caution. Ignore it if you want to and if you can...

I got up and took another round of the Airport. I have been trying for long not to mention anything about the toilets at London Airport. But I guess I have to, otherwise I'd feel like I skipped an important observation. I went there twice for susu and combing hair. The susu basins, or whatever they are called, were so low - almost near the knees - that anyone could see anyone else's Jhonson (that's what it is called in America. It has many other names too). I somehow did it. I don't know if this is the way things are all over the UK or if the Airport ones are just an exception. I have many friends who find it difficult to pee even if someone is peeing right next to them.

I am sorry these toilet-topics keep coming up. I have come to know that they offend some of my readers, who might discontinue to be my readers due to this. But I cannot intentionally deny the Right-To-Information of others. So kindly bear, or wear and tear - your clothes or whatever.

********* JAVA COMMENT ENDS *********/

I was confused whether I had to checkin again or the boarding pass given in India - one for each flight - would do. I was told, though, by the girl at the Mumbai Airport that those were all Dummy boarding passes, except for the one for the Mumbai-London flight. I was not sure what she meant. I went straight to the American Airlines counter at the London Airport and asked the girl there if I needed to do something before boarding my flight. She said I had to checkin again and gave me a new Boaring pass. Also she gave me a form - Custom's form or whatever - that I had to fill and submit at Chicago - the Port of Entry into the US!

2 hours before the departure time of my next flight, I marked in my mind the gate through which I had to enter for my flight - American Airlines Flight No: AA 047 to Chicago - O'Hare International Airport! And 1 hour before the departure time, I entered the corridor that led to the gates. It was a very long corridor. A Long Long one, with many moving floors in between. My legs were aching, so I used all of them. Actually walked on them so that I reached faster.

Finally I reached my gate - gate No. 18 - if I remember correctly. I went inside. My passport was checked and I was let into a hall with a lot seats. I sat on one of them and waited. The Airline staff was all American and the Airport staff was all British. I was enchanted to hear the conversations between the Americans and the Britishers. A treat to hear both of the best accents of English - each melodiously following the other - more so when the 2 people talking are females.

A few minutes later, it was announced that we could board the flight. I went along with all others and was inside the plane within 5 minutes. And from there started the American world for me.

To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 7

I believe that happiness is a choice. Like with any other big choice in life, choosing to be happy is very difficult. Not many are conscious enough to be able to make a conscious choice of happiness. I sometimes wonder what is the process of choosing to be happy. Is it like shaking oneself out of an illusion of spontaneity to a deliberate 'happy' approach while choosing one's reactions to various situations. Or is there something like truly spontaneous which gives the maximum happiness? Or is spontaneity an illusion? Can one be spontaneously happy? Is happiness a feeling one derives out of behaving in the most instinctively spontaneous manner? Can one consciously choose to follow one's instincts, while making a choice is itself the opposite of letting the instincts govern?

I now remember the name of the nice and senti English movie I watched during the Mumbai-London flight. It is 'The Pursuit of Happiness'.

Though London was for transit, I had a good 7 hours before my next flight. Though I couldn't go out of the Airport, I decided to use this time in the best way possible to get a feel of London. I had heard a lot about London - it's a beautiful city, Shakespere used to live here, so did Katrina Kaif, BBC comes from here, GMT, Bukingham Palace...

From what I saw of London from the air before landing, I felt that london was quite a well planned city. The roads were nicely laid out and the buildings were quite distant from each other. It looked quite empty actually, though I now know better how empty most foreign lands seem to us Indians when we compare them to cities in India. The flight landed after it gave me a few minutes for seeing London from above. It was cold out side. The temperature was 9 Degrees Centigrade. One interesting fact is that it gets colder as the aeroplane rises higher as shown by the LCD. Confirmed what I had studied years back in school.

The Airport is called the London Heathrow Airport. I was a carrying a bag with my laptop in it. I hung it on my shoulders and walked out of the plane saying "Thanks" to the Air Hostess before she did. Since Jet Airways is Indian, most of those who were in my flight were Indian. But even outside, I saw Indians everywhere. The uniform-wala guys and many people working at the Airport looked Indian.

Though I saw everyone walking in one particular direction, I wasn't sure what people who were there for transit had to do, since obviously for most of the people, London was the final International destination. I went to a uniform-wala standing at a corner, told him I was going to America by an American Airlines flight, and asked him where I needed to go. He asked me to follow the directions shown the boards with "Flight Connections" written over them. Later I found that even in the US, they use the same term - "Flight Connections". It must be a standard term used all over the world in Airports.

I had to walk a long distance. And for those who had difficulty walking or for those who were too lazy to walk, there were long stretches in between where one had to just stand and the floor moved - like a long tread mill. It was good, I tried it a few times. You walk on it, you move even faster.

I reached the dead end where "Flight Connections" people made a long queue that turned around a corner to somewhere that I could not see at that time. As the line moved ahead I came to know that I was going to undego another security check. Ahead of me, I saw people removing their shoes. I felt a sudden fit of happiness that very moment. The reason - something made me take off my torn & stinky socks before I got off the place and wear the shoes directly. I did keep the socks in my pocket coz I felt it was not appropriate to leave such socks in the Aeroplane. And now, I could take off my shoes without getting embarrassed. And I also felt that my brand new Woodland Shoes on bare feet would in fact look cool as my feet would get undressed and redressed before and after the security check - of course if someone bothered to look at them.

There was one old lady in the queue who was going to Canada and had come from India. She was literally in tears coz her next flight did not allow 2 bags to be taken inside as hand-baggage. She had 2 because her previous flight from India had allowed. Different Airports have different rules. She was told by a uniform-wala while she was in the queue that she could not take along 2 bags and had to do something about it. She started screaming at him - why was she not told about this in India, why she always preferred some other Airline, why she took her laptop with her in one of the bags, why she could have avoided that if she hadn't listened to her kids, etc etc. The uniformwala was an Indian guy with a nice beard. He didn't belong to any of the Airlines. He spoke in a British accent and tried to calm the woman by giving her various options like contacting the Airline Staff and asking them to do something about the extra bag, tying the 2 bags together somehow to make them look like one etc etc. He ended every sentence with "Darling". Reminded me of "Mona Darling".

Don't know how the woman's 2-bags problem was resolved, coz she stayed back continuing to argue and the queue moved ahead. I finished my security check - laptops have to be taken out of the bag and placed for scanning - I went ahead to find a huge waiting area - a big shopping mall really - with hundreds of people all over - waiting - and I became one of them - for the next 6 hours.

To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 6

I started from India at mid-night. It wasn't dark for long outside the Aeroplane window. And once it got sunny outside, it stayed like that all throughout my journey till Chicago. Somebody can try to explain how clocks and planes moved to create that effect.

The shutters were always kept closed so that it stayed dark inside the plane. I often used to raise it a little to get a glimpse of the clouds outside. Sadly nobody else seemed so curious. The LCD had a lot of channels. One of them constantly showed the plane's position on the world map. I felt elated to see my plane flying above so many countries. I was particularly thrilled when we were flying over Afghanistan and Iraq. I tried to see down through the window hoping to get a view of the barren lands and the remains of buildings destroyed during wars that are often shown on TV. But I could hardly see anything from that height. There were clouds below the plane that blocked all view. Wonder how the pilot sees the path in these murky skies.

The last line was a joke. I didn't want to put :P or :D or :) or :)) after it. Sometimes I hate using these. Perhaps it is the weakness of our writing skills that we need smileys to express emotions and fail to produce the desired effect without those.

The LCD was fully loaded with movies. I watched some good scenes of Phir Hera Pheri, and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna by fast-forwarding, watched the 2nd half of Bhagam-Bhaag for commedy, then an episode of Friends. Drinks were served, and I had 2 Vodkas. Then I watched a very nice and senti English movie. I cannot recall its name or what it was about. All I remember is that it was very nice and senti. I also slept a little.

The flight was quite comfortable. I never felt even slight pain though I sat in the same position for so many hours. I also figured that if you put on ear-phones and continuously play some music etc., you don't get that uncomfortable feeling in the ears during the flight.

Early in the morning, the scene in the Plane was not very different from that in a Railway Train in India. People were brushing their teeth, there were queues to use the toilet, women doing make-up, kids shouting...

I once went to Chennai in a 2nd Class Railway compartment. The train was reaching Chennai early in the morning. In my comparment, most of the people even took bath in the toilets, came back in towels, did puja and then got dressed. Nowhere else does it get so crazy as it does in and around Chennai, even outside the trains.

Coming back to my Air Plane... I also freshened up early in the morning. Breakfast was served after that. The Air Hostess gave me something which looked like a Patties. I asked her what that was. She said some name. I had never heard it, nor did I understand it properly. She told me 2-3 times when I kept asking what what what. I gave up on the name and asked whether it was vegetarian. She couldn't stop herself from laughing, put the thing in my hand and went away. The thing was actually bread. It looked so weird. It had an external cover resembling that of our Cream-Roll that we get on our Railway Platforms. Can someone tell me the name of this kind of bread which, it seems, most angrej people have for breakfast?

It is tough to talk to very beautiful gals. You can avoid most of the times, but not always. Like you cannot avoid talking to an Air Hostess in an Aeroplane. She will come again and again, smile at you and ask you stuff you won't understand a word of. You will ask her to repeat. She will repeat. But that won't help a bit. You will ask again. Finally you will say a "Yes" or "No", she will do what she likes and that will settle the matter. Unless you are a gal. Gals settle matters differently.

And sometimes it gets very hard to ignore the Air Hostesses. Like whenever I am in a plane and an Air Hostess is around my seat, serving a passenger one row in front or behind and I am the next to be served, I start turning to look at her again and again just to check if she is done and is coming to me. Also to observe what others are asking for so that I have some idea of what normal people eat and drink and what things are available with the Airhostess in the first place. Sometimes, like in Air Deccan, where you have to pay if you want to have anything, I turn again and again in just preparing to say "No I don't want anything" in the right way. But my turning again and again increases her bhaav. So nowadays, I start looking out of the window or at the LCD as soon as I see an Air Hostess around and turn to her only when she calls me. But I feel guilty - she might be thinking I am eating bhaav :-(

The plane reached the London Airport at exactly 7.00 AM London-Time. I came to know that the standard time in the UK is ahead of GMT by an hour. Found just now from www.greenwichmeantime.com that British Time is 1 hour ahead of GMT during summer (March-October) and is the same as GMT during the rest of the year.


To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 5

Immediately after I sat in the plane, I called my Parents to tell them that I was inside the aircraft. I also called my Brother to give him a confirmation that his fundas made sense and he was right about the whole damn procedure. Also spoke to my sweet Sister to tell her that I was safely in and would eat well during the flight. And also spoke to my Jeeju to confirm to him that the whole thing was non-sense and stupid for anyone from the IITian community. (My Jeeju is also an IITian. Nothing gives more pleasure to IITians than proving to themselves that everyone else is an idiot and everything is non-sense.) Thought of calling a few girls too, but dropped the idea. I had called a couple of them while I was standing in the line for checkin. Good Friends of mine, all of them.

I am sure these Airlines allot seats such that people are not made to sit with strangers. I would want to believe that. Otherwise why would they always keep me alone at one of the corner seats? (There are 2 of them) They don't check thobdas before assigning seat numbers...do they? It might be possible...perhaps that's the reason why those hot gals at the checkin counters say hi to me with a smile and bye without any and then possibly ensure that there is no hot gal around my seat while giving me a seat number. The first 15-20 minutes after entering the plane are always spent in aticipation that some young hot gal would come and sit by my side. But another side of me, and the one which dominates my thinking more, doesn't want anyone around, coz I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting beside a hot gal anyway. And of course, I don't want a guy's company.

I have one usool. Either stay alone or with a gal. It's about room-mates. Another theory of mine says that it is very difficult to stay with a gal. So I stay alone :D Same applies to even humsafars during safars.

After I settled down a little bit, I couldn't stop wondering about where the toilet was located. i.e., Loo (- for people who don't understand or stopped understanding toilet)...Jet Airways have beautiful Air-Hostesses. They are cute, polite, sensitive, understanding, caring, emotional... uff... sorry, I got carried away in thoughts...gals!!!...what was I saying?

Haan, toilet. These Airhostesses divide the Aircraft among themselves into blocks and concentrate on their own blocks. My block had a guy too - Airhost? What do you call them otherwise? Reminds me of the movie Meet the Parents. What do u call a guy-nurse? I mean nurse sounds feminine. Airhostess is even gramatically feminine.

Sorry I get digress too much...now back again to toilet...I asked the Airhostess who serving in my side of the aircraft where the toilet was. I was surprized to find it right behind me coz as I metioned earlier, mine was the last-row-corner-seat. I felt like an abandoned passenger :-(. I examined the toilet door. It looked weird. I wondered how to open it. I pushed it. It bent at the middle and I saw where I could go inside from. Trying to postpone for future, the thought of how I would come out of the toilet, I went inside, examined the door again and found a way to latch it.

I quickly took out my comb from my pocket and ran it through my hair for 2 minutes. It was great relief. I felt better now. Decided to pee. Did it. But then, couldn't find the flush. It was a strange toilet. Everywhere, there were just symbols. I couldn't understand any of them. There was nothing written anywhere. I tried pushing whatever button-like things I could find hoping that something would burst the flush. I also started thinking what I would do if I did not find the right button. I could come out, but what if one of the Airhostesses saw me while coming out and came to know that I didn't flush the toilet. It would be embarrassing. So I kept trying. After numerous hits and trials, I got the right button. It was a wonderful flush. Unlike the western toilets everywhere in India, this one had a way of sucking the water and everything in. At that time I thought, that may be, only aeroplanes have such flushes. But later I found that that's the way flushes work everywhere in America.

I came out and sat on my seat. Mine was not the window seat, but was the one beside it. I stopped expecting someone to turn up to sit at the window. I started to check out the LCD screen at the back of the seat in front of me. I found that there was no head-phone at my seat but there was one at the window-seat. I quietly took that head-phone. Let the window-seat guy/gal get his/her own headphone from the airhostess, if at all he/she comes - I thought.

Very soon I figured out how to play the video. As I was browsing to check what all programs were available, there was an anouncement and the video changed on its own. Unlike in domestic flights, the Safety Instructions were not performed by an airhostess. Instead, a video was played on all the LCD screens. I was disappointed. I wanted to turn it off. But I couldn't. The switches and buttons don't work when something important is played for all the passengers or even when there is an announcement.

Soon, the Aeroplane took off! I did vakra tunda maha kaya, gajaanana padmaarkam and yaakundendu tushaarahaara dhawala...childhood habit :D Bye Bye India!


To Be Continued...

My Trip to the US - 4

I had read in "The Inscrutable Americans" that american shitteries(i coined this word!) don't have latches on their doors and can be opened by anyone even if someone is inside, and also that they don't have taps or any such source of water for someone to wash after shitting. Though it hasn't exactly turned out like that, I will talk about my shitting experiences later in detail...(Aren't you curious :P)... As I started from India, I wasn't sure how I was going to manage that sort of shitteries. So I emptied myself well at home before starting so as to avoid it for as long as possible. Also since the journey was long - 30 hours, it was good to take that precaution coz who knew how things were going to be on the way?

So as I stood in the line soon after I entered the Airport, many questions loomed in my mind. During the drive from Pune to Mumbai, Sylvia had mentioned that these days passengers are asked to take off their shoes during the security check. And I was wearing torn socks, that stinked as well. Actually I had washed and got ready 3 good pairs of socks for my trip. I was going to wear one of them during the travel and put the remaining 2 in the bag. But by mistake I had put all 3 in the bag while packing. And so when I was wearing my shoes just before starting for Mumbai, I realized I didn't have any good pair of socks to wear and so I wore the one I had been wearing for office for a few weeks. They were torn at the thumb (pair ka angootha) and stank, but I thought - kya farq padta hai, who'd smell my socks...

But now it seemed I would run into problems. I didn't want to open the suitcase and take out a pair and change my socks at the airport. I had placed the socks below everything else. So I didn't want to make a mess of it at the airport. I had mentioned to my Sister and Jiju and they'd suggested that I take off the socks and wear the shoes directly. Not a bad idea, but I didn't want to do that unless that was inevitable, coz even those torn socks seemed good enough to wear a lot of times for office etc. I mean unless u go to a place where you have to take off your shoes, how does it matter what kind of socks you are wearing. They are hardly visible. Of course, you do need to keep washing them before they smell a lot.

The line moved ahead. I dumped my luggage for scanning when my turn came. I collected the bags, put them back on the trolley and started looking for the guy who was in front of me in the line. I found him. He was standing in another line. So I went and joined him in the same line. This time there was an old lady standing in front with a fat kid. I tried to apply common sense, looked around and found written somewhere that it was the line for checkin for the Jet Airways flight 9W 0120 to London. During Checkin, the luggage is weighed and sent inside - taken away from you. If you exceed the weight limit, you may be asked to pay for the extra baggage. And in the end you are given a boarding pass.

I tried talking to the old lady standing in front of me in the line. I said - "It's such a long line. HaHa" She replied in a pakka British accent. I don't remember what she said. Then I also gave her some fundas that it always happens that whenever you reluctantly stand in a line that is very long, you find that nobody comes behind you for a long time. Don't know whether she could make any sense out of what I said. She smiled and started looking somewhere else.

My turn for checkin came. A beautiful girl sitting at the counter smiled at me, checked my passport and tickets and gave me my boarding pass after verifying that my luggage was within the weight limit. I asked her where I had to check out my luggage - London, Chicago or Cincinnati. This question had been haunting me for the past many days. She told me that I had to check it out at Chicago - the port of entry for me into the US and then check it back into the flight for Cincinnati and then check it out again at Cincinnati.

I smiled back at her, collected the boarding pass and asked her where I needed to go next. She pointed in one direction and asked me to turn right from there. I did that. There were a few counters where my visa was checked and my boarding pass was stamped.

That was it. I was ready to board the flight. I couldn't believe that it was just 3 simple steps. I went in the direction the guy at the counter pointed to and reached the gate where I had to wait for boarding the flight. There was a security check at the gate where I underwent some talaashi and my hand-baggage was scanned. I feared that I might be asked to take off my shoes here, but that didn't happen.

I didn't have to wait for boarding the flight, coz the boarding had already started. I directly went stood in the line of the passengers boarding the flight and within seconds, I was inside the plane - last row corner seat!


To Be Continued...