Six Feet Under
A humble request to all of you. Watch the following movies.
Most of the time, I am inclined to being Anti-Bollywood for the crap( read KJ-SRK ) they keep spewing at us . If these kind of movies start defining what is Bollywood, then I am willing to change my stance. Excellent.
Priorities
I work as an Office Assistant ( Yes. OA ) in the Cardiac Surgery Dept. at URMC. My job involves minimal amount of filing of patient charts. Since it is the first time for me, being in an office environment and experiencing active exposure to a new culture, it has been really amazing to witness the kind of banter that goes on. Took me quite sometime in realizing which of it are for fun and which are insults. Though the setup is not quite Scrubs/Grey’s Anatomy/-esque, still one gets to witness all that drama.
Since we deal with a whole lot of patients, we do get some really cranky ones. Here are two such instances.
Case 1 :
About a month ago, there was this call. It was a female, speaking with a heavy Italian accent. She was rambling in a manner none of us could really understand what she intended to say. She was speaking for a male patient, who had previously consulted the surgeon based on his cardiologist’s advice. She spoke for close to half an hour. At the fag end of the conversation, all that we understood, is that she was not his wife, but they were living together for the past 2 months. He was too proud to take help from his brothers and hence is staying alone. Thats it. Half an hour. That is all the information we got from her. Not because of the accent, because we had someone who undid the accent part. And then finally came the real reason. That male, had had a stroke then and she was calling for help and this was after 30 minutes of family non sense. I thought everyone knew about 911. What became of the case later on, I do not know, but at that moment I was appalled at the sheer stupidity of that female. A life is at stake and this is what you do?
Case 2 :
For the past week or so , most of the department were conversing about an in-patient who was being referred to as The Crazy Guy. I did not know why and I felt that they were being insensitive in calling him that. Today, coming to know of the entire story, I feel they are totally justified in doing so. Here was a guy, with blown up arteries & dilated valves, who was consistently refusing surgery. After finally agreeing to the same, he was put on schedule for surgery today. But in the wee hours, he threw a fit again, made the surgeon come down to the hospital and got the surgery canceled. 3 hours past his schedule surgery time, he had a stroke.
His reason for getting the surgery canceled : I like to go to the beach a lot. If I get this surgery done, then I don’t think girls would find me attractive with the scar on me.
Some specimens these are.
Moral of Another Story
I woke up early today. Took a long, refreshing bath. Shaved. Ironed my formals. Polished my shoes. Edited my resume. Suited up ( ;) ). Put on K’s long coat. Looked at self in the mirror and said to self " Looking Good". Went to the lab. Took prints of the resume ( I have never ever been able to open this lab by myself and take prints by myself. Not once. Until today ). Went to the Job Fair. May Room was empty. Today’s date is not 20th Feb 2008.
Moral of Another Story : Look At Calendar Daily.
Perspective
Sports. Relationships. Material Pleasures.
All these and many more, take a back seat, when it is a matter of life or in some matters, death.
Perspective.
The Terror Of The Red Scooty
I believe that all of us have superstitious beliefs, some religious, but most , due to instinct and repetition. Say for an examination, we would like to maintain some kind of routine. I for one, when at Hyd on an exam day, used to go to the terrace and have a look around. The most common superstition, in my opinion , is the black cat crossing your way. I have no idea about the origins of that, but there was something similar to that, which had a significant impact on my schoolmates lives.
Right across Adarsh Apartments, lived a Red TVS Scooty. I am not able to exactly recollect the name of the owner of that vehicle, but was referred to as Moin Khan and had a sibling who was called ( by us ) Polar Bear. Polar Bear looked like Polar Bear and Moin Khan acted like Moin Khan. Polar Bear looked like Polar Bear because Polar Bear probably ate Moin Khan’s share of food as well , or so we thought.
Coming back to the Red Scooty. It was always referred to as The Red Scooty. Never as Scooty nor as Moin Khan’s Scooty. Always The Red Scooty. It was very rarely sighted probably once in 4-5 months. The irregularity can be attributed to the different paths taken by The Red Scooty and us. But whenever it was sighted, we shuddered. That was because we had reason enough to believe that whenever we saw it , something bad was in store. The following three chronologically placed events, are a few of the many instances which substantiated our belief.
Circa 2000 - Victim1
Victim1 was on his way to(from???) his tuition on his cycle with his younger brother. He got hit by a scooter coming from the opposite direction ( ??? ) , while riding on the left most part (presumably the safest ) of the road. One hand fractured. The brother escaped with relatively minor injuries.
Last week of Jan 2003 - Victim2
Victim2 was on his way to a friends place to play the latest version of FIFA, which the other had just downloaded. He was riding a 2 day old Honda Activa, which got instantly destroyed in the multiple vehicle accident that followed. Victim2 had minor injuries. Vehicle and Victim2’s road confidence were irreparably damaged. Vehicle was finally restored at humongous costs. Victim2 still has visions of falling off of a vehicle and has them only while driving.
Circa 2004 - Victim3
Victim3 was walking along the beautiful paths of Osmania University after class to reach his bus-stop. A motor-bike rider , trying to show off some stunts, missed a trick and hit Victim3. The bike-rider got seriously injured , but Victim3 was fighting for his life with almost a severed head, for quite some time at NIMS. After multiple rehabilitation programs, Victim3 has now regained mobility, with limited movement of the head.
All these vehicular accidents and many more accidents involving my schoolmates, must have had their own reasons to happen, the way they happened. But they all had a common denominator. The Red Scooty. Victim1 saw it just before his accident. Victim2 saw it while coming out of his house. Victim3 met Moin Khan and The Red Scooty, moments before having that life-threatening experience.
And that was the basis for our fear of The Red Scooty.
Time passed on. We continued to avoid The Red Scooty, were successful in our endeavours and avoided further accidents. And then as they say,the old gave way to the new. The engineers at TVS came up with a new vehicle model, which their marketing personnel decided to call , Scooty Pep. So out went our nemesis and in came a blue Scooty Pep. Its arrival ended our run of misfortune. You saw it , you shuddered and yet nothing happened. Everything was at peace. This change of fortune, further strengthened our belief, that it was not Moin Khan’s presence to be blamed , but it was the Eye of The Red Scooty that haunted us.
P.S.: I got reminded of this phenomenon following Bail’s testimonial on Orkut where he refers to the other reason of coming to my home. Their interest was with someone in Adarsh Apartments, but I got reminded of the above mentioned saga.
Happy Birthday Thalimpu Reddy
This blogs intends to wish Thalimpu Reddy, a Very Happy Birthday.
He underwent this and later he gifted himself one of the most costliest gifts, an ISD call so that ALL ( pun intended, he wanted only one, we all know that don’t we :P ) our friends could wish him.
I know it has been a tough time for him, missing someone so much over the last 2-3 days, due to the momentous occasions that COULD have BEEn, but don’t worry ra, all will BEE well in the end.
Pandaga Sesko :)
Vacation - NYC & Central Florida
Had lots to write, wrote it even, but removed the post. Why? Those are memories better articulated through pictures than words.
NYC - Was a real vacation. Totally cut off from the rest of the world and was with, effectively a stranger. I hope people get to experience such a vacation pretty often.
Florida - Haphazard Planning + Even worse execution + Best pals around = Greatest time of your life with life threatening consequences.
Gym Bhai Gym Bhai
Fatass and Pandu went to Muscle Power Gym. They went there to watch ITV and I believe went to sit on the cycle. Long time ago. I never joined them. Why, I do not know.
I joined the URMC gym yesterday and bought appropriate shoes for the same. Today, after screwing up earlier in the day, I decided to continue to stick to THE SCHEDULE. I went there, a little skeptic, a little bashful, but went there all the same. I had not undergone the customary orientation due to some clash in schedule. To use any equipment, one had to sign up. I put in my name for the cycle ( I had to follow my seniors on this. Plus, it was beside the TV so that made the decision for me ). Since I had some time, I entered the squash court. My prior experience of squash has been of me trying it and then switching to Racquetball. I went in, alone, into the court with the necessities. Hit the ball once or twice and then it happened. I twisted my ankle and fell. And there ended my Gym story. I am hardly able to walk.
Moral of Another Story : Go to gym and then do gymming. Don’t do overaction.
Album Review : Penn Masala - Pehchaan
( The lyrics for Main Tanha and Pehchaan can be found here. )
I did the unthinkable last week. I bought an album. Yes. I spent money to buy music. The only other time I remember being involved in the process of buying music was when a 4 year old cribbed for Apoorva Sahodarargal cassette for Pudhu Maappillaikku song. I have heard Penn Masala before, even performed two of their songs ( No Injuries To Anyone ). But totally forgot about them over the past year or so. But then pointless browsing at times leads you to something good and once such recent expedition has led to this. For those who have not heard about them, they are an a capella group based in University of Pennsylvania, who specialize in fusion mixes of Eastern Melody and Western Pop. Here is my chaar aana on their album, Pehchaan.
Another one for the vocalists. The I Am Alone and Main Tanha lines are the best. After listening to it a lot of times, I could see influences from Lukka Chuppi in the interludes, but that was in the BG part.
Lyrics Disclaimer
1) Lyrics are for educational purposes and all the related shit to avoid copyright infringement hold good. 2) This is my interpretation of what I heard. Though I am not guaranteeing accuracy, suggestions ( corrections ) are welcome.
Lyrics - Penn Masala - Pehchaan & Main Tanha
After seeing a lot of searches for these songs’ lyrics landing up unsuccessfully at my review of Pehchaan, I wrote these down.
Disclaimer:
- Lyrics are for educational purposes and all the related shit to avoid copyright infringement hold good.
- This is my interpretation of what I heard. I am not guaranteeing accuracy. Also, there is no blue print for you to compare it with. Suggestions ( corrections ) are welcome.
I am assuming Penn Masala decided upon using crazy accents/encryption for the english words so that lyrics are not deciphered. Too possessive about their work aa?
Pehchaan
Movies Review : Happy Days vs Kalloori
With the dawn of the new year fast approaching, I now sit down to compare two movies of 2007 dealing with the theme of college life, Happy Days in Telugu and Kalloori in Tamizh.
Happy Days is another Shekhar Kammula movie that has struck the right chords in the Telugu cine-goer’s heart. The fact that the average Telugu movie buff is an engineering college student has hugely biased that opinion. There have been infinitely many movies based on college life, but this one shall be remembered for a long time because of the story. I now feel, more than the story, it is the choice of the manner in which the story was told that mattered more. The songs were excellent and “Happy Days” and " Oh My Friend " will replace " Mustafa" at college farewells for sure. I feel this movie is more for the parents of students than students themselves because they get to see more of their kids’ lives than they usually would get to. The comedy was in most parts provided by Rajesh’s character. ( I had more comedy to deal with due to the comments of a college gang on the camrip ).
Now for the bashing. Apart from a single instance of Friendship-Showing ( Tyson - Shankar ), the rest was unbearable. All the friends just HAD to be paired up right!!!? This is where the movie pissed me off the most because the message that is given here is that all college gangs are pairs or trying to be. Yes, the LOVE angle is bound to be there - I do not disagree with that, but when you are trying to brand your movie to be a family movie, trying to tell the parents, a fair share of what they should know, then why not be totally correct too. If not for the supposed branding, I wouldn’t have had this itch to criticize this movie. There are many who remain very good friends and not go by the KKHH-SRK definition of Love. Please. Let us move on from all that. Though set in an engineering college backdrop, the movie attempted to summarize college life in general. But this movie got caught up with the love-interests of the leading characters and forgot about the guy from the village. With a do-takey ka dialogue, his story is finished off. The friendship being portrayed too felt a bit artificial at sometimes. I will remember this movie more for the songs than anything else.
Now coming to Kalloori. I saw this movie only because techsatish was showing it. I had no idea about it. Was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the leading ladies in both the films to be common. The bus-scene start was a nice one. Instead of ragging being the crux, its a song by the seniors explaining ways to screw up their education culminating in a request to avoid those ways and study well. I was taken aback by this novel beginning and mind you the song was not the preachy kinds - I felt it was pretty funny. It was set in a village/town backdrop, wherein a group of village-friends are joined by a city-girl in their BA-History class. Each one with different problems in their family life, socio-economic or otherwise, but when together tend to forget about all that and help each other out in their own very way. One of the girls is portrayed to be staunchly against the concept of Love and expects everyone to be friends forever and nothing more. But when two of them are attracted to each other, I thought, another movie going down the drain. And that is where I went wrong. The uneasiness amongst the two, to stand up to their friends’ ideals and control themselves was nicely shown. Two scenes I liked the most were the one where the girl makes him realize the cost of his education and the one where she confesses her love towards him, to the other girl and the subsequent explanation by that girl towards the need for her idealistic views. The happy ending wasn’t to be with a Dharmapuri incident-like climax, which I kind of expected with the movie coming from the same team as Kadhal did. The songs weren’t as catchy as Happy Days but nevertheless very melodious and thoughtful. But it is in the lyrics department that it outdid the former. Also, there weren’t any song-dance sequences; songs took the story ahead, and that is something I expect to see in every movie ( Spoof Dances like Dhoom Tha Na in Om Shanti Om are also expected). I hear that the climax was changed to what I ended up watching, after post-release criticism on logical irregularities. I wish to see that as a positive step on the part of the Director, willing to correct mistakes in the finished product. There was nothing spectacular about the movie. Just the fact that almost everything was as close to reality as it can get. I pity the Telugu town/village student community who could not relate to themselves in Happy Days. I hope Shankar dubs Kalloori into Telugu and at least gives them a chance at that.
One thing that was common to both the movies was the actors. Almost all were rank newcomers, and all portrayed their respective characters very well. Most notable was the role of Ramesh in Kalloori - he was the most versatile actor amongst the lot.
Two movies with seemingly same basis, but turned out to show two entirely different viewpoints. Regarding viewer appeal, Happy Days wins hands down, but in terms of telling what was really intended to be said, Kalloori succeeded.
If you haven’t watched any of the two and now intend to do so, sorry for spoiling the fun.
A Little Escapade - 1 - Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Last week I became a member of The Little Theater. It screens only independent and foreign films. It has 5 screens( I saw 5 ) each one characteristically , little. No legroom at all. But the decor of each screen was remarkable( though Spot Cafe is another league altogether). Each of the walls had these vintage posters, with archaic font-types, which I felt was very amusing( Don’t ask how. Not all visual pleasures are traceable down to logic ). I look forward to watching many more movies at this theater as, part of the deal with the membership being able to watch a dozen movies for free. Effectively I shall be watching those movies for a highly subsidized rate.
Now to the movie. Plot - Domino Effect. One detail goes wrong in a plan that is not well thought out and the rest of the movie depicts how that affects a family. One scene I liked in particular was the father - son talk after the mother’s death. The elder son feels that he had always gotten to see the rough side of things and that his father always favored his brother. The father feels that he should have been more considerate to his son. The dialogue that follows and the slap that ends it, that for me was the defining moment of the film. Much of the movie shows the emotional support systems of the two brothers , which also fall apart eventually. There aren’t any comic scenes in this heavy drama bar one, wherein the wife/girl friend decides to leave him , but has to ask him money to go to her mothers. Excessive use of firearms ( I am not comparing with action flicks ) was one thing that was hard to digest, but the ending I felt was appropriate. The father has his revenge, after his final words to his son.
It was made out to look like a very dark film with the plot and the intentions of every character involved, but I felt that it was coldly natural of everyone involved to have behaved the way they did. The best part of the film was the camera work, where in zooms were extremely slow and letting the scene run into silence for excruciatingly long periods which kind of lets you soak in the drama.
I keep getting this from people - " That movie made me think a lot". The same was happening with me once I came out of Little. About what, I do not know even now. May be I was brooding over the following lines.
“May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for you’re head;
May you be 40 years in heaven, before the devil knows you’re dead."
First Birthday in America
( This post is being scripted on my ( 3 * owner + 1* driver)/4’s demand. Anyone else reading it, would be doing it at their own risk. No complaints entertained. )
Every new year ( since I can remember of ), the first thing I would check is the list of holidays on the calendar to see if Deepavali would be on the same day as my birthday( I am allowed a few eccentricities ). And it so happened that, that coincidence did occur this year. But as things had panned out , I knew I wouldn’t get to be at home on the day, which meant missing out on so many amma-made specialties, top of the charts being the Lehyam. Normally, my birthday always comes right in the middle of exam season, so there wasn’t ever any great fascination with it, after of course the days of cake cutting. In the recent past, it was another reason for our inter gang + yavvan to eat out ( and probably save on the bill with means best known to us ) and for me to give my engg classmates a slip as far as the treat goes ( most of the times , it wasn’t my fault; they just weren’t persistent enough ).
I was feeling pretty down, what with the lack of people around here at about that time. I was at work that day ( Nov 8 ). My employer, ( sometimes I feel she is part of the neo-nazi ideology and since then have stopped working for her ) , had assigned me work in some basement-storeroom like dumping stuff off to create space. And I had gone there, in formal attire due to a seminar before that. The full-time staff working in the basement had protective clothing all over them and here I was getting my kapde all dirty. Then came Enemy’s call. She wished me first. Both of us were at work and cursing our employers. This was followed by Ruchita’s call. I felt nice about getting these calls, time turning 12 IST. Talked with her bro, cheenu as well. Came back home to find some mail for me. My enemy had sent me two cards. A greeting card and an Aeropostale gift card. Thanks re sammy ;) .
Conference was called and entire UD3 and classmates were all on phone. I was in my room all along, everyone wishing me on phone. And then at 12, gharwaale knocked at my door, brought me down and there were atleast15-20 log. Full party level atmosphere create kare so thaa, festoons included. And there, there was. A big bad four layered chocolate cake. Most people I knew were present. Mansi and Aymen had taken great pains to get it all done. A very big thank you to them :-) and to all who made it to kick the life out of my butt. I was told later by Mansi & Aymen that it was Samatha’s idea. Thanks to her as well. Rest of the night was spent on the phone.
I had promised my other employers that I would get Chakkara Pongal for them. So was woken up by my parents, with their wishes and instructions for the preparation. Atthai#1 also called( She makes it a point that she is the first to call on everyones birthday :-) ) . Made Chakkarapongal all alone. I realized that my mom makes me do 95% of the work anyways while she makes it :P. By my own strict standards , I would rate it 8.5 /10 ( oru levella yosicchu paatha adi pidicchaa maadiri enakku taste vandhudhu ( censored for obvious reasons :D ) ) but given my first time escapade, I would rate it 15/1o. I called the cardiac surgery dept. and told them I would be a bit late. When I went there, my supervisor was missing, which was pretty strange.
At lunch time she arrived and these people had arranged a nice lunch treat for my birthday. She was late because she had gone to an Indian Restaurant and got food. They had taken the doctors’ help in deciding the menu.It was the first time with Indian food for all of them except one, but they seemed to have enjoyed it. So much effort for a newbie, whom they did not even know. A very nice gesture on their part, which I shall always be grateful for. They even added in hours for which I was late in making the chakkarapongal.
Returned home with the left-over stuff ( there was lot of it ). Divya and Mansi were at home. Divya gifted me lots of Hersheys ( the previous night I received a whole load of rochers and lindt truffles ). We decided to go to Abbotts for ice-cream and just when we were going out , a very big parcel arrived. It was from Sirisha and in it were 4 pints of ice cream. Timing bolthe iskoich.
Then had a very nice sleep for about 4 hours. Anthony and Mridula came and were served the best cuisine available in our refrigerator. It was Deepavali so all of us made our way to The Hindu Temple Of Rochester ( as it is called ). From there we all( 10 of us. mind you , I was meeting many of them for the very first time :P) went to an Italian restaurant, Bazil’s. On these guys request , the restaurant waale, brought an ice-cream with a sparkler in it as a very exciting substitute for candle. Happy Birthday Gaaye :)). It was so very :)) but so very nice of them because after all Na Jaan na Pehchaan…. DDT pursued and returned home for a well needed sleep over the weekend.
It would have been great if I could have been with my parents and old friends but then again , it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. That one eventful day, in a way, made me do away with the homesickness. And ever since , all those parties involved in making me feel good about myself in Rochester , are suffering.
And I know , You Know Why.
Adios
(PS : Ash sent 11 Ryan Giggs Manchester Utd 07-08 Season ka jersey :D. Thank You Very Much :d Chelskis Suck :D )
Away From Home - 100 days - Review
More than 3 months have gone by since the last ( first ) post. I am a bit free right now , this being the Thanks-giving weekend and so I finally sit down to end the procrastination on this front.
If I say that not a lot has happened over that period then I would be lying and if I say I have gone through a great deal , even then I would be lying. I intend to include all that I can remember over the past 100 days.
Starting with the house and house-mates, after a lot of chopping and changing we finally are 5 of us who are to spend time together at 51 Crittenden till next August. Kamesh & Aymen - MBA candidates, Mansi - classmate of mine and Trina - PhD Geophysics are the ones bearing me at home. I would love to dwell upon the idiosyncrasies that I have observed but then lets leave it at that for another day. There is also Karan, done with his Phd- English Literature , who will be leaving in about 10 days or so. He has taken me around a few places as well as introduced me to a new people.
I did do some funding search, but found out to be a futile exercise. Took up jobs in the Strong Hospital, one at Cardiac surgery another at Psychiatry , both office assistant jobs involving some kind of accounting / peon type work. I prefer going to the cardiac surgery one because of the people I work under. All very motherly ( grandmotherly as well ) and make sure I have something to eat or the other whenever I go there.
Coming to coursework, I took up Digital Signal Processing, Introduction to Random Processes and Image Processing. Have been doing pretty well in DSP , ok in IP and ok-ok in RP. I will be working under the DSP prof., in the next semester for credits( not sure yet, have a meeting with her on Monday )
Food. I am missing every chaat-bandi , irani cafe, tiffin centre, kwality-icecream bandi, anusha’s and the related and mum, dad & aunts’ made food and anusha’s mum made curd-rice. Why? I can in no way be even compared to being a half decent cook as 1/10th of any of those above mentioned. Tried eating omlette but after a few days left that as well. Eating better these days due to Mansi’s cooking ( she is planning to shift away to UTD , bad news for me ) and my escapades to restaurants in and around here( not lost that habit ) . Juice intake has significantly increased. As such , I am not that bad a cook ( local relativity has a lot to do with that statement ), but it is the lethargy to cook that is the reason for me not eating well. That is changing in the recent past for the better and hopefully I eat well. By the way, tyre size has increased( for others, baby is growing ) but I have lost 8 kilos after coming here. This can either be attributed to my not eating well in the last 3 months , or to the fact that I have cut down to my original size after the bloating that ensued for the 4 months prior to this.
My first love : Laptop - Dell Vostro 1400. My second love : Phone - Nokia 6126. Both compete very well for my attention and I see to it that I keep both of them very happy. Who am I kidding; I would die without either one. They are the only lifelines I have, to be connected with the people I have known for the best part of my life. The lack of these two for the initial month made me realize a few things about myself, but one in specific is I NEED LOTS OF PEOPLE TO BE AROUND , ALL THE TIME. I have finally found a few , similar to me, in the past two weeks so lets see how things go on from here.
I do spend a significant amount of time on weekends on the phone, mostly UD3 mates having a roundup of the week, pouring in their troubles, laughing at each other, discussing deals for unnecessary electronic gadgetry and the alike. I suppose at some level, each one of us needs that crap talk to just be normal, i.e., the normal of the past because after all, we are all missing our family a lot. Quoting Mr. Thalimpu Reddy - " I have never seen myself so senti but here it goes. I am missing a lot of people all the time".
Onset of winter has finally begun with the Thanksgiving weekend. Since this is the first time I am experiencing snow without my mum being around to scold me for making snowballs and hitting people, I did all that. Experienced the sale-crazy american public. I could so clearly see Corporate America ( for that matter, add China as well ) laughing their pants off , all with the lines of miles outside stores in the chilly snowy conditions. We went to one such line just for the heck of it. 5 of us, standing in the line for about 2 hours , inside Walmart( they were the only ones who had made arrangements for people to make the line inside the store ) and just bought one microwave oven which one of us had to buy anyway. We were being looked down upon with contempt. Is this all you have to buy on a Thanksgiving sale kind of look. Then started the snowball wars. Double teaming. Double crossing. All that and much more. Luckily I was one of the three who had thought of getting gloves along, so that put me at an advantage. Had another round of it at BestBuy( Should have gone here , lots of gizmos on sale ) . Just couldn’t stop stuffing snow into others’ jackets. To hell with all those who say snow is depressing. Definitely not as far as first day first show results go. Snow is fun. End of story.
That is how as it stands with semester end fast approaching. Hopefully the general pace of things catches up with my pace :P :-).
The Big Bad Journey
Welcome to another blog of mine. I couldn’t get to log in to my old one so starting afresh again.Starting afresh with my life as well. This first post is the description how I made it to Rochester.
The send-off at the Hyderabad terminal was an emotional experience and I was overwhelmed by the sheer presence of all those who are really close to me. I thank everyone who made it out to wish me well. I was to travel with Santosh, a friend’s cousin who is also a neighbour and our mums travel together to office. Nice chap. He is to join at RIT. Once we entered the terminal, we got all our luggage wrapped in some plastic.
Checking in was a tedious process. So many people traveling with so much luggage. Finally, after an hour or so, we got to check in our luggage till Newark, went ahead to the immigration where strangely asked if I had insurance. Strangely, because it wasn’t something I expected that I would be asked for in India. When I did show the papers, he was puzzled to see that it was ICICI. Why was he puzzled, I have no idea. Then went ahead into the lobby to get seated as we still had a lot of time for the scheduled departure. The flight was rescheduled to 3.40am from 3.00am so the waiting continued.
We were bugged by two American Indian kids, with their nonstop chatter about homework and school. With all the extended last-minute roaming over the last 2 days, both of us were physically stressed out and wanted to doze off for a few minutes but couldn’t because of that noise. The flight was finally announced and we did make it out fine in the flight which means, we slept. The seats were all cramped up. But for a flight of a short duration, most people wouldn’t complain.
The terminal at Mumbai was awesome. I had seen the Delhi one during renovation about a year ago and felt it would be a fine terminal and here I got to see the end result of a similar renovation. Made a call to my parents just to inform them that everything was fine up until then. Made a visit to the loo as well. Bought some dollars with the Indian currency that I was left with. There was some problem at the immigration counter; the scanner wouldn’t accept my passport. Must have had something to do with my photo [:P]. Things got sorted out and we got onto AI 191. I was seated beside a Gujju female who was going to NY. I liked her company in the sense that she never disturbed me all through the flight. I just wanted to sleep, sleep and sleep and then sleep more. And I suppose she wanted to do the same so no troubles on that front.
We had a stopover in Paris. Charles De Gaulle Airport seemed to have a never-ending runway. After an hour, we started off to Newark again. Watched Cheeni Kum, Teesri Kasam and Shrek 3 when I wasn’t sleeping. I was a bit apprehensive about Air India mostly because of what I heard from others. Now that I have done it, I say…Fly Air India without having any reservations( the ticketing kind u need, the apprehensive kinds u needn’t ). The food was great. I had 6 meals and each one was very very nice. The seats were comfortable enough for such a long flight.
And then came Newark Liberty International Airport. Anthony James stamped me in at the Immigration counter without asking anything. We took the $3 trolleys and waited for like half an hour to claim the baggage. Next up was the biggest hurdle; the Customs and Agricultural check. The lady asked me if I had any food item to which I replied in the positive saying that I had some traditional Indian soup powders. She didn’t understand anything and asked again" Do you have chicken or meat in your baggage? “. I firmly said “No” . My baggage was then screened and wasn’t even opened. The hyped-up saga was finished with in no more than 2 minutes. That was the end of that. All the meticulously prepared and packed foodstuffs would finally get to see their way through into a kitchen and not the end of trash.
Since I had taken the extra baggage I had to pay $80 as charges to Continental Airlines flight from Newark to Rochester during check in. But thats not a fact. I should have had to paid that amount, but they did not charge me on the basis that it was a connecting flight, which in fact it wasn’t - it was a separate booking so got lucky on that one. Santosh didn’t prepare to pay for that. Airlines in the US allow up to 18kgs plus a personal item as cabin baggage so he had prepared his extra baggage to meet those size and weight specifications. He was in visible discomfort because of the flight ; some neck problem and all. He had to carry on with the pain and his overweight cabin baggage all along. We got to our terminal on an air-train.
We checked in at around 630pm and the flight to Rochester was scheduled to leave at 9pm. And then it happened. A quick shower took center stage of the busy NY scene for about half an hour and disturbed the entire flight schedule at the airport. Continental had its separate terminal busy and bustling with cancellation activity. Rescheduling was the norm and cancellations were no surprise. At around 730pm ours was rescheduled to 1030pm and the flights before that to Rochester, i.e., the ones at 430pm and 530pm were canceled within a few minutes of that. We decided to inform those supposed to pick us up, about the delay. And now the adventure began.
Both of us had not brought coin change though we had $1 notes ( bills supposedly ). I asked many people passing by- passengers, airport staff, stores. None of them were willing to part with change either because they hadn’t any with them or just trying to enforce their free will. I went to a foreign exchange store and she was trying to sell me a calling card of $10 ( minimum ) instead of giving me change for a $1 in quarters. She finally gave me the change for $2 in quarters after a little persuasion mixed with desperation.
I went to the pay-phone and tried to call Alex, a guy who had been staying at the place of my accommodation. I dialed the number and was asked to enter $1 for a 5minute call. After I did that, it said that I had dialed wrong and that I had to try again. I did it again and the same result. All the change was gone and the intimation wasn’t done yet. Santosh went to the restroom and found a Tamilian who was more than willing to let him call his pickup guy. But as luck would have it, the guy at the other end was not lifting the call. It was 9pm - we had not had any food in a long time and were pretty tired as well, at this time. We then got some more change and this time decided to ask someone for help - enough with the experiments. We approached an African-American Airport staff for help and he let us call from his phone. I informed Alex about the delay and asked him to inform Kamesh, my roommate about the delay as he would come to pick me up at the airport with someone. He said that he would do the same. Santosh called from the pay-phone ( previously I had not pressed 1 before dialing the local number, the same staff guy helped us out with this call too ) and informed his friend as well. Santosh had an extra hand baggage, which I adjusted into my back-pack after putting my stuff in his bag.
All this time we were away from the gate at which our boarding would be. Walked a long way to get to our place. There we found quite some rush at the gate as those who had gotten their flights canceled were waiting for either getting accommodated in a later flight or taking another route. Many of them were simply canceling and going away. We found an Indian girl who seemed to be in the same crowd who after noticing us, approached us to ask if even we had gotten our flight canceled. She seemed pretty furious about the situation and was waiting for some kind of confirmation from the airline authority. She went away to the customer service center and both of us settled there in the lobby near the boarding gate.
The flight was rescheduled to 1130pm and then to 12am so we decided to have some food or the other. We had to walk a long way with our baggage for around 3km to get to a food court that was open since the rest of the stores had closed by 9pm. The walking was kind of reduced with the presence of conveyor belts, read horizontal escalators. After a lot of searching, we finally got there. Light at the end of the tunnel was McDonald’s. There were many other stores but we weren’t willing to pay so much too. I decided on a large strawberry shake and Santosh went in for some French fries and a shake. First meal in the US - A milkshake for $3. Halfway through the shake, we decided to walk to our gate only to find that our flight was removed from the Departures listing. Things running in my mind at that time :
- has the flight left before schedule without us?
- I don't think so because they had been making announcements, informing passengers who had not boarded and that they would do so for us as well
- They made the announcement and since we were in a very busy food court, we never heard the announcement
- They never announced it on this side of the terminal cause our gate wasn't anywhere near the section of the terminal we were in
- The flight was canceled.
The staff at the gate said that they had no information on the flight getting canceled. She said the crew was ready to fly but for the captain, who was to arrive from another place, and had not done so yet due to the delays and rescheduling and that they were waiting on a confirmation of the fact that if he would arrive at all. The flight crew members were checking with the airlines and said to us that if they were let off from duty then that would mean the flight would canceled. At this point of time we met that girl again. It seems she had been waiting at the airport since noon and still she had no signs if at all she would reach Rochester on that day. She was asked to wait till our flight was boarded by passengers and if there were any vacancies then she would be accommodated, else she would be given accommodation in a hotel till the next day’s flight at 4pm. This was the case with about 100 other passengers waiting in line near Continental’s Customer Service Desk. The staff there, made their exit in a few minutes saying their shift is done, that the airline cannot provide any more accommodation to affected passengers as all their partner hotels were full, and handed out some pillows n sheets to them to lie down there at the terminal till the next shift started at 330am. There was a courtesy phone at the desk using which I called up Alex and asked him to inform Kamesh to effectively ” take light " and that in all probability ours would be canceled too and that I would make my own way out to home if at all the situation arisen.
Our captain was yet to arrive and so we just stayed there.The passengers were getting itchy, clearly venting out their frustration, but in a very controlled manner. ( Pressure cooker with valve types ) . There were these two Caucasians, one of whom was drunk who started making small talk with us. After some time the drunk guy got out of control and we moved away. His friend and later he too apologized to us, but after some more nonsense from him, he was reported to the airport security personnel by the airline staff at the gate for a warning.
The captain finally arrived at around 115 am and the flight was scheduled to leave at 130am. Boarding eventually commenced at 2am after some more confusion as regards to the working hour schedule of a crew member who did not want to work after his previous flight as he was supposed to go home after the same. Manjari , who was to join RIT got a seat as well and flight took off for Rochester at around 215am.
From my minimalistic flight experience I have decided on a thing. I will try to fly only at nights. Its so scenic , watching a city filled with lights all over it from the top. It got pretty chilly in the flight, more than what it was ever before, even colder than when we were at heights of 38000feet, but may be that was because of the superior air conditioning of the Boeing-777 at those heights which made me feel so. Landing was a breeze and in a breeze. It was quite windy at the airport which made us shiver.
We three had decided that since it was pretty late , we would wait at the airport till dawn and then take cabs to our places. Santosh and Manjari had to go to the same place, me another. We moved to get to claim our baggage and while we were waiting Kamesh came along with Ankit, a Delhiite. It was heartening to see those guys at that time of the hour, but as I later learned it was due to a combination of their will to pick me up and misinformation/lack of communication on Alex’s part who had just informed them that I had called and not that I had asked them to take light. Whatever the reason I would go home soon I thought. Much of the baggage never made its way to Rochester as the ones checked in well before the departure of our flight were scheduled to fly in the earlier flights which were eventually canceled. One bag of mine and all of Manjari’s baggage didn’t arrive. We had to file a claim and were informed that the baggage would arrive to the address filled out once it arrived at Rochester. Santosh and Manjari were to make their own way to Rustic Village and I joined these guys and Kuldeep, who had the patience to stay up so late with his Accent, waiting outside to pick me up.
We drove home and then Kuldeep left. Ankit was staying here at 51 Crittenden Rochester( my address ) , also called India House on a temporary basis. Its called so, supposedly, because of the fact that any new student at UR coming from India first checks in at 51 Crittenden. The place was a mess( still is , but a lot of work was done about it yesterday ) and these guys said that it was a lot worse when they turned up, with no space to place your foot leave alone luggage.I was informed that the other roommate staying is a Malaysian Chinese American named Fook. Kamesh had prepared a bedding for me to crash into, in his room and thats exactly what I did before being told that there was a lunch party that we were to host later in the day and we were cooking for about 10 people.
So that was the end of a very small beginning to a significant portion of my life. A lot more happened later in the day involving food and cleaning and roaming and getting to meet a lot of people. But thats a tale left to be told another day.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
the heat is really getting to me.
not the summer heat…the exam heat…i am dozing off at the very sight of a textbook.
mefa is gonna be on 10th and 11th am off 2 chennai. granpas been unwell for quite some time. me and sis goin dere to visit. i’d be back here on 15th.gotta do some HOMEWORK.
and yeah first 3 xams went pretty well.( very uncharacteristically).4th one screwed it up big time ( law of averages caught up with me ). 5th one MEFA will be screwed :D guarantee. i hate it from the bottom of my stomach.
tk ..
till den …astha la pista la badam