I, having done my undergrad in India looked forward to come here (in the 1st place for being in a foreign country, enjoy life as much as possible & finally study) with a lot of expectations. I had had worst of the days, to begin with the journey from India to US itself. Damn, I got really vexed as my flight got delayed in Paris for 4 hrs. Because of which, I missed the subsequent flight that I was supposed to take from Atlanta (to Tempe). Already my flying with idle time was 30 hrs, now I feared it might even cross 2 days… My god it was one such day when India loses the finals in cricket (unlike India it is unusual for me to have such bad experience).. Since I missed the last flight from Atlanta, I had to stay there in a (funky cheap) hotel (like how Ricky Martin sings).. I slept a fearful 4 hrs, expecting cops or thieves (even cops who are thieves & thieves who cover up like cops or WATEVER paranoia I had) who might break in the room & extort my possessions, anytime.
Then the next few hrs was THE most exciting time, anyone wud’ve experienced(note: I said anyone would’ve experienced, not no one wud’ve). I missed the shuttle(bus) when it was 45 mins before my flight’s take off time & was standing helpless at the gate of the hotel (as I checked out just then, I can’t go back in). It was as though the end of a good career due to shadowing bad luck. I was like “OH MY GOD, what the hell is happening here…” & then as though god was really there & hearing me; a co-pilot, who’d stayed in the same hotel, offered a ride in the cab he took, to the Airport. Nowwwwwwwwww, I was like- god you are great [for those who were skeptical about god’s existence on seeing Dasavathaaram (you would have also started believing that god exists in such a situation)]. Oh god, that was really awesome. Then I reached the airport when it was 30 mins to my flight’s take off, it was really exciting like the novels I have read so far (even thought I would write one if I make it to my place). The last minute happenings, small things that owe to a new set of events, everything was just like how it is in story books & how it happens in movies. I was running through a big stretch of the Airport to catch a shuttle (now its train not a bus, I also don’t know why only these people use the same word for everything, perhaps tomorrow they might start calling a cow & hen with the same name - dog). There is another important thing; Airports in US are really big, unlike those in India (especially not as small as the Chennai Airport). I mean really big, so they have shuttle services to take people to their terminal (so it’s that big, when u gotta travel from 1 terminal to the other in train). And they call each terminal or station as a concourse in the order A-B-C-D-E-T-M (please don’t bother to find out if it means anything). M is the open terminal, meaning, that is through which u can go out to the city or get into the airport from the city (if it’s still confusing, please leave it, just keep in mind that I had hell a lot of distance to cover to get to the boarding terminal). From M concourse, after security check (which was again uselessly torturous for students like us & that too when in such a situation), I had to go to concourse B cos my terminal was B-24. After so much running, with baggage in hand (awkwardly not catching up with my pace), I reached the terminal with just 20 mins to the take off. I had to curse myself cos in this tight situation I did not see the changed terminal (as it says in the ticket that terminal is subject to change) & a chwwwweet lady in that gate not only told about the terminal change but also gave us lots of support that we would surely miss the flight (to hell with her). So now everything got screwed and to drill me even more the terminal was E-33 which was 2 terminals away & I had no other way other than to wait for a train, go to that terminal, find it & board; and it’s really difficult to do that as boarding closes 10 mins before takeoff. Damn everything in this world, I was not bothered about my studies, my freak-outs in US, my career, my bank loan, my parents money, my pain in application process, joy in admits, nothin.. I was like what the hell, I wanna reach Arizona as soon as poss & get my bags in a safe place which we had taken for rent. I even thought at one point of time that I shall take the next flight to India & go rest in my house (MY HOUSE, my DEN and home sweet home), lol… I had just 12 bloody mins before the flight’s scheduled take-off and I had no hope at all. All I was doing was praying so that I somehow get into the flight while they keep the boarding for me & my friend (a poor janthu who had put up with me in such a situation); & a mom & child (who had also missed the same flight we were supposed to be on). We were the four people on the go & it was as though “gone in 660 seconds”. Finally when we reached the terminal after so much of climbing the escalator (we walked to save time, I dunno for what) & running to the terminal, there was a pile-up near our terminal (nothin to worry, not some MP’s or MLA’s send off or some traffic jam or some unwanted incident). We enquired the boarding and learnt that the flight got delayed to another half hour, thank goodness, I’ve started believing in god yaar.. He really heard me. It was like “Murali almighty”. Just kidding, don’t think I’ve become a believer of god; I’m one if I was already & not if I wasn’t earlier. Cutting this crap out, I would finally like to thank the rude service of the officials of my flight, thanks to god (if there is one), thanks to flight delay, thanks to yuck-tasting food that they gave on-board thanks to (hmmm… thinking) everybody who were directly & indirectly involved in the chain of events that I half described, thanks to the hospitable flight service for being able to provide us only non-vegetarian food during the flight delay in Paris (I’m a pure vegetarian, damn it! So dint eat it.. Moreover they were really generous to give us such a bulls hit lodging & a bloo dy $7 food coupon with which all I could pay for was the tax & the tip) and honest thanks to the Indian guy whom I met in a food-mart near that crap hotel in Atlanta who gave us his mobile to call my home (& a free water bottle also, man its $1.25 holys hit). Finally hey people, this is not something like Chetan Baghat’s “Five Point Someone”, which at the end he finishes with too much imagination & dismisses the story as a fiction (might be his life story, lol), nor is an epilogue or a part of Sydney Sheldon’s novels; it’s my real life incident. To those who know me, ignore this info; to those who dunno, I’m from Chennai; now in ASU, Tempe. I’m doing my master’s in Industrial engg. Hope everything goes well in the future for me & to u people as well. All of us should be really determined to face anything in this world, don’t lose hope at any point of time in life. when I was in this terrifying situation, I was just thinking; how well our parents have taken care of us, if only they were there with me then, it wud’ve been even more easier… hmmm… okay, tats it… stop the music… tata.. See u in my next blog, no no u see my next blog about a different topic…
