Hum Chale Umreeka!!

This past month has been a flurry of activities for me. As much as I have been free ever since the Boards, I think, this month has made up for it. Finally, the time did come for me to pack my bags and make the final journey (at least for this year) across my driveway, onto the road and into the Taxi. The packing in itself was a Herculean task in itself. The bags were overweight and there was still stuff to go in. Dad and I were totally in a fix as to how we will be able to manage stuffing everything inside the suitcases. After a serious round of packing, weighing, unpacking, rescheduling and re-packing, we were able to finally make the hit; but not before my back took a serious hit. It's still aching!! Well, the taxi was great, and all the bags were put into the boot. We made it to Delhi in time, after we were 2 hours behind schedule. My apologies to my mates for not being able to meet y'all... Well, once we reached Delhi at around 1pm, the round of 'family meetings' began in full earnest. Seriously, I think the God of Eating made these family reunions in a fit of madness. I am sure He must be sitting in the Heavens and enjoying us poor lowlings being stuffed to death by our aunts with the proverbial, "Beta, bas thoda sa aur." and, "Abhi khaya hi kya hai? Aap to kuch le hi nahi rahe..." I am not joking when I say that I was bursting to the seams by the time I entered the airport at 9.30pm. I make no shame in accepting the fact that I had to make an emergency trip to use the services of the Indira Gandhi International Airport - leaving a nice (albeit nasty) token as a farewell gift for my motherland... :P The pre-boarding procedures, I must say, were surprisingly smooth. In no time, we were sitting inside the aircraft. My first glimpse of the Boeing 777 from the inside, and I was awestruck. The seats were heaven and I was on cloud nine......until I was ushered to the back of the plane, that is. It took me no less than half a second to hit back to reality. The seats we were guided to were not only cramped, they were hunched and also non-reclining. Imagine, I spent the next 15.5 hours in those conditions. Again, I think the God of Food played a nasty joke with us in the plane as well. At 1.30 am, we were offered BREAKFAST!! And in those 15.5 hours, we were fed three times!! Ugh! The best thing about the ride was the view from the windows. If I could put it into one word, it would be 'breathtaking'. At cruising altitude, we were above the cloud cover. When I looked outside, it was as if there was a carpet of clouds - so thick that you could actually walk on it. And it was beautiful. We touched down at JFK at 6 am local time......talk about disorientation. Let me tell you, the view of NYC from above doesn't do justice at all. I mean, I thought I would be able to see the Liberty, the highrises and alla that, but I got nothing....nada...zilch! Grrrr.... Well, it is the second day running now, I am in US. It feels great, but I am already missing India....the food, the ambiance, the mad driving - everything! That's all for now Ciao Bikram