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...
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...
No comments:
Post a Comment