The flight was around 80-90% full. This definitely had to be one of the best economy class travels that I had ever done. The flight cruised at an altitude of 38,000 feet and people were done with their dinners. A sumptuous meal, accompanied by some nice music, was a perfect dinner on a travel. It was meant to be a way to fill the stomach so that the passengers could have a sound sleep in the 15 hour long flight.
Netra lay in her seat. She was at quite a distance from me. Her cabin looked to be warmer than mine. In the josh of going to India, I had put my jacket in the suitcase. The temperature in the flight was optimum but I was still feeling cold. Being from the Midwest, it was highly unlikely of me to do so. The immediate seat beside me was unoccupied, so I had the good fortune of taking the blanket allocated for that passenger. I worried if Netra felt the same. She was wrapped around in well-padded jacket, which I had bought for her just the week ago. Netra’s warmth combined with that of the jacket’s must have been good.
It must have been the distance between us. Yes I am sure it was. Her not being close enough to me was sufficient to give sleepless nights. I guess that is the way with all people in love with someone. The very fact that someone you love so fondly is sitting or staying or gone far from you sends shivers down the spine. It is perhaps the most when you know that you can see her, but you cannot be with her. You can talk with your eyes, but not with words. The separation results in a cold situation. It often leads to a depressive thought. But this was not going to be the case. I was going to India. The depression could come no where near. So there was this paradoxical situation that I was going through. On one end you have the joy of going to place you love, and on the other end your loved one is not close to you to share the joy. Do you get selfish, and still enjoy the joy? Or do you get melancholy in her absence and not enjoy the moment.
The light on the end of the left wing of the wing, shone like the Venus. For an instance I did think of it as the guiding star and what not, but slowly the thoughts kept coming back to Netra.
Was she thinking of me too? Was she equally excited to be going to India, just like me? Was she going to make a fuss of the surroundings? The dust, the heat, the crowded trains, the smell of the markets that struck you so hard that it lingered in your senses even after you have left it. The immense faith the people have in their gods.
Only time was to tell.
It had been just a couple of hours since take off.
To be continued.
23 February, 2009
21 February, 2009
To Trichy... Part 1.
I love adventurous travels. But when its of this order I do panic. After all I am human too!
I was recently invited to the National Institute of Technology in Trichy to conduct a photography workshop. The trip to India was to be a short one. Bare 5 days in India. So going home was out of the question.
I left the US to India on this short trip with a blog entry on the other blog, and the title was “Where travel is an adventure”, and it’s funny how these small-small things that you say actually comes true! You just sit and are amused at the thought that was passing through your head when you had written that in the first place. What was surprising here was that uncle God decided to give me the dose of adventure right from the time I stepped out of the home here in the US.
The flight from Indianapolis to Newark had been delayed. This way the one-hour stopover time in Newark was too short a time to let me board my other flight from the other terminal. And as a result of this I panicked. I started making all plans about what to do, where to do, whom to talk to etc if I did not reach in time. And then suddenly I realized, that the tension was doing no good. So I just let it go and decided to take things as they came along.
In-spite of the delay we actually touched down in Newark a few minutes before schedule time. It amazed me. How the pilot did it, or was it deliberate on the part of the airlines company was not clear, and neither did I worry now. I was just glad that we had made it in time. But wait… it was not over yet.
The gate at which my flight was to taxi was blocked by another flight. As a result of which we ended up waiting on the runway, inside the flight, for around forty minutes. And as it is with any normal person, tension and fear started to creep in again. I pressed the attendant call button. I was hoping that I could somehow ask her if the connecting flight was delayed, or if she or someone could actually get the flight delayed. What was I thinking? Was I a president or something? She picked up the announcing phone and said she could not come, as the rules did not allow people to move around in such a situation. And then I felt around 100 eyes staring at me. I wondered if I had done something that was a crime or too daunting.
So here again, I just thought to let it go, and will think what to do once I was off this plane.
The flight checked in to some other gate and I ran to the other terminal. Thank god, the flight to India that I was to board was a few minutes late. I was all smiling-smiling when I boarded the flight. After all I was going to India. A place that holds a place that no other place will be able to do so.
The worrying and the running around had made me hungry. So now I thought I could just grab the meal that would allow to sleep and have some peace. Someone had mentioned that the food in Continental was good.
I was lost in my thoughts on the food and the things I will do when I land in India, when an announcement decided to spoil the party. The captain was announcing a hard drive failure! Hello... this is America.. the most advanced country on the planet... these things are unheard of here! Did I hear it correctly? Unfortunately yes.
But wait .. there was more! Every hard drive is accompanied with one black box and if either one stops working, both have to be replaced.
The captain said that the engineers were repairing it. I wondered if it was a tech geek from India who was doing it, but then I understand that in these times of recession I should not even think about such things!
Then came the other dreaded announcement. The hard disk has been replaced, and the black box too. They were supposed to check it, and that testing process would take another 40 long minutes.
The law professor beside me, in the flight was getting equally frustrated. It was his first time going to India, and my tip to him. Please don't compare the two places and you will enjoy the place. Enjoy the hospitality. :)
I drifted off to sleep and was woken up after a while. I thought wow that 15 hours passed quickly! Unfortunately not. It was the waitress serving meals.
Netra was sleeping away from me in the flight, and I hope she was getting some good rest. I knew she was going to have a hectic schedule in India too. Little did we both know that there was something else in store for us... when we touched down there.
To be continued...
I was recently invited to the National Institute of Technology in Trichy to conduct a photography workshop. The trip to India was to be a short one. Bare 5 days in India. So going home was out of the question.
I left the US to India on this short trip with a blog entry on the other blog, and the title was “Where travel is an adventure”, and it’s funny how these small-small things that you say actually comes true! You just sit and are amused at the thought that was passing through your head when you had written that in the first place. What was surprising here was that uncle God decided to give me the dose of adventure right from the time I stepped out of the home here in the US.
The flight from Indianapolis to Newark had been delayed. This way the one-hour stopover time in Newark was too short a time to let me board my other flight from the other terminal. And as a result of this I panicked. I started making all plans about what to do, where to do, whom to talk to etc if I did not reach in time. And then suddenly I realized, that the tension was doing no good. So I just let it go and decided to take things as they came along.
In-spite of the delay we actually touched down in Newark a few minutes before schedule time. It amazed me. How the pilot did it, or was it deliberate on the part of the airlines company was not clear, and neither did I worry now. I was just glad that we had made it in time. But wait… it was not over yet.
The gate at which my flight was to taxi was blocked by another flight. As a result of which we ended up waiting on the runway, inside the flight, for around forty minutes. And as it is with any normal person, tension and fear started to creep in again. I pressed the attendant call button. I was hoping that I could somehow ask her if the connecting flight was delayed, or if she or someone could actually get the flight delayed. What was I thinking? Was I a president or something? She picked up the announcing phone and said she could not come, as the rules did not allow people to move around in such a situation. And then I felt around 100 eyes staring at me. I wondered if I had done something that was a crime or too daunting.
So here again, I just thought to let it go, and will think what to do once I was off this plane.
The flight checked in to some other gate and I ran to the other terminal. Thank god, the flight to India that I was to board was a few minutes late. I was all smiling-smiling when I boarded the flight. After all I was going to India. A place that holds a place that no other place will be able to do so.
The worrying and the running around had made me hungry. So now I thought I could just grab the meal that would allow to sleep and have some peace. Someone had mentioned that the food in Continental was good.
I was lost in my thoughts on the food and the things I will do when I land in India, when an announcement decided to spoil the party. The captain was announcing a hard drive failure! Hello... this is America.. the most advanced country on the planet... these things are unheard of here! Did I hear it correctly? Unfortunately yes.
But wait .. there was more! Every hard drive is accompanied with one black box and if either one stops working, both have to be replaced.
The captain said that the engineers were repairing it. I wondered if it was a tech geek from India who was doing it, but then I understand that in these times of recession I should not even think about such things!
Then came the other dreaded announcement. The hard disk has been replaced, and the black box too. They were supposed to check it, and that testing process would take another 40 long minutes.
The law professor beside me, in the flight was getting equally frustrated. It was his first time going to India, and my tip to him. Please don't compare the two places and you will enjoy the place. Enjoy the hospitality. :)
I drifted off to sleep and was woken up after a while. I thought wow that 15 hours passed quickly! Unfortunately not. It was the waitress serving meals.
Netra was sleeping away from me in the flight, and I hope she was getting some good rest. I knew she was going to have a hectic schedule in India too. Little did we both know that there was something else in store for us... when we touched down there.
To be continued...
04 February, 2009
Trackless Wanderings
Why does the mind wander along tracks that lead to a confusion?
Why can't it just stick onto one path and concentrate fully on that?
Gosh ... I sometimes wish I did not try to stand out of the rat race and do everything that everyone else does. But then that's very unlike me and even though writing it is easy, I know myself that I will not do it.
I will still think about weird things...and try out these random probabilities that suddenly all the stars will align themselves together in exactly the way that I have envisioned.
I will still dream of the impossible... that someday there will be this big break ... and things will fall in place.. I will hence always end up in this situation where my anxiety level is high... and I will end up not doing anything, as my thoughts will be playing kabaddi and moving from one court to the other ... running after one thought or the other..
The thoughts lead to ideas.. ideas look for commitments for a fulfillment and a planning to execute. I don't know if it is right or wrong, but the moment I think about any idea, I think that it will succeed and bring in a revolution.
Maybe that is being optimistically foolish... but then hey.. atleast I think !
I try to console myself by saying that there is nothing wrong in thinking.... I just hope that there is a way to put those thoughts into actions.
Why am I like this?
I guess I am just weird!
Why can't it just stick onto one path and concentrate fully on that?
Gosh ... I sometimes wish I did not try to stand out of the rat race and do everything that everyone else does. But then that's very unlike me and even though writing it is easy, I know myself that I will not do it.
I will still think about weird things...and try out these random probabilities that suddenly all the stars will align themselves together in exactly the way that I have envisioned.
I will still dream of the impossible... that someday there will be this big break ... and things will fall in place.. I will hence always end up in this situation where my anxiety level is high... and I will end up not doing anything, as my thoughts will be playing kabaddi and moving from one court to the other ... running after one thought or the other..
The thoughts lead to ideas.. ideas look for commitments for a fulfillment and a planning to execute. I don't know if it is right or wrong, but the moment I think about any idea, I think that it will succeed and bring in a revolution.
Maybe that is being optimistically foolish... but then hey.. atleast I think !
I try to console myself by saying that there is nothing wrong in thinking.... I just hope that there is a way to put those thoughts into actions.
Why am I like this?
I guess I am just weird!
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