Around the world in 100 hours

I had to prepare for the trip to US again on 26 December 2010. The Christmas was a hurried one, and I was getting prepared to catch the flight on the early hours of the Boxing day of 2010. Alwin dropped me off in the airport. With stolen tears,I bid farewell to the dear. Hoping the period of separation would be just for a month, I headed towards the immigration

 Boarding the British Airways with the i-pod glued to my ears, searched for my seat, made myself comfortable and braced for the huge travel for around 18 hours. Turning around, I saw an American smiling at me. Jim did not sound like the Americans in the movies, He was so different, just like the Indian grandfathers filled with lots of love and family values. The conversation between me and Jim probably sped up the travel. London, Heathrow airport was approaching, and we said our good byes and good lucks. Little did we know that we would be seeing so much of each other in the next few days.

 The flight landed in London's Heathrow airport at 9.45 am. Well braced for a six long hours of wait at the transit, I moved on towards the lounge to get myself on the Internet highway back to the arms of my husband. He was waiting for me there. "Your flight is canceled due to the snow storms in the east coast of North America" said a lady in the original British airways uniform. I looked at her with a mixture of disbelief, panic, and confusion.

After a lot of running around, between the BA officers I got myself a hotel voucher for the stay overnight and 24 hour transit visa into London. Hoping  I would be bound towards  US by the next day, I hobbled out of the airport cold, tired and hungry at 5.30 pm, clutching the baggages which the airlines returned back to us as they did not have place to stack them up. It was a typical Chennai travel in the bus bound towards the Holiday Inn in Sipson Way, London. "Things were supposed to be different here" said a little voice inside my head. 

26 Dec 2010

London Streets in the cold weather

Communicating to the near and dear was our major concern. We were completely not prepared for London and we did not have means of informing people back home that we were safe - almost. Things were pretty expensive in London. Somehow squeezed a call home and asked them to call back. My folks were relieved. and also they checked out the flight status and said something that I never wanted to hear. "Tomorrow's flight too is canceled" 
Though no means of communication, It was the best English dinner and breakfast I ever had. It was a royal  and a welcome one after skipping lunch.

27 Dec 2010

My stranded friends

The next day 7.30am , we stood at the bus stop for the bus. That's where I met him. Our angel in the darkness. Uncle Thavamani. A small group joined together to fight our way towards the destination - "The USA". Unknown people started helping one another as a family. We stood in quite a long and a slow moving queue and successfully got a standby  ticket to Washington DC. We had to report to the counter by 2 .00 pm for  flight taking off at 2.50 pm to get our boarding pass. Keeping our fingers crossed that we would get the ticket, we ran back to the counter at the exact time just to return back disappointed. Having learned our lesson on standby tickets, a tired and a hungry group (we) stumbled back into the crowded bus in Chennai ... Opps Sorry!!!,I meant  London . "Everything is premier but the price" was the tag against Premier Inn, the worst hotel in all of London.  Food was horrible and none was worth of even tasting. That ended the next day.We tucked ourselves into bed tired and hungry with no lunch and no dinner.

28 Dec 2010

Will add caption later

London was misty and foggy and showers of rain  poured in. We were at the bus stop at 7.30. Buses were once in half hour and this time we intervened into a  group. The girl wore a heavy make up and her boyfriend, a flowing haired not so appealing fellow was constantly kissing her while waiting in the bus stop. Oh! Would they ever stop!!! The lady and the gentleman in the group were a bit older and seemed to be the well bred types from the classics. They scowled at us and swore on Indians when my inner voice screamed "Meri Bharath Mahan!!!" 
I did not realize that It was too cold and rain was pouring down,  as we were standing there in the bus stop hoping that we would get into the next bus which never happened. We had to go one by one as they did not allow many baggages in the bus. Each in our group had two or more.   I watched sadly as the bus moved when Uncle Thavamani  stood at the bus stop  waiting for the next bus after making me board the bus with my luggages. We regrouped at the airport, got the hotel vouchers for the night at Hotel Renaissance. 

The Hall Way in Hotel Renaissance

 Hotel Renaissance - The place where we breathed relief.

 

My English Lunch

It was here we had our first lunch in London. Lunch was  a welcome break after frustration from  three days of long queues.

The English Pub

We went out for a stroll, visted "The Three Magpies", the english pub (of course from outside and resolved that I would come there some day with Alwin), saw Patni, had the devilish desire to give my resume there, but restrained, and set back to the hotel to have dinner. With the twilight nearing, I fell into a shivering fit, I realised I was down with fever.

29 Dec 2010

Getting into the bus at last

All exited that we were flying out of London that day and  my head spinning with the drowsiness that paracetamol had caused (I had taken some to ease my fever) , I got ready for the travel to the US of America. We boarded the bus in the early hours of Dec 29 2010 and went into the Heathrow airport with all hopes that we were leaving London. With the longest wait of my life for 7 hours,  without lunch or water, we heaved a sigh of relief when we boarded the plane towards Washington DC. Uncle Thavamani was waiting there to pick us up as he had already gone on a earlier flight. A to be wed couple was sitting behind us, they had thier share of fun during the flight. Too drowsy to mind any of that, I fell into a deep sleep. 

Waking up,I cast my first sight on the US of A  as the BA Boeing was hovering above Portland. Wondering what memories would US give me to take home. I was happy that we just had to land.

Friends from Trinidad and Tobago

Looking back, I'm glad I had these days in my miles, as it thought me two important things:

"Panic or hastiness costs. Keep your  cool in all situations - This helps to think".

and the most of all "Lend a helping hand it helps you inturn".

View from my room in USA

With happiness, that I  made friends for life and knowing the strength and courage  that was built inside of me in three days of December 2010, I smiled inward when I knocked on 216, Hampshire Drive, Plainsboro.

The Flight not taken

A million butterflies fluttering in my stomach woke me up on 18 Dec 2010  My flight to the U.S was scheduled at 4.00 AM on 19th and I was a first timer. There were so many things to be done, a huge shopping list, Packing, Prearrangements, Advices to be given, Advices to be taken. Omphh..... This was pressure.

Dheera too was travelling to Ooty for her Christmas holidays and the same huge list ( infact bigger than mine ) had to done for her.

All people were shuffling here and there busy doing nothing as  the list was so huge that nobody had any idea on how to priorotize.

Some how Dheera's stuff was done. and we hurried to the station to catch the train.. We had said our byes and Happy Christmases,  and Dheera was all set to enjoy her Christmas at Ooty.

I had to come back and pack up everything and hurry back to the airport to catch my flight. On the way back, I realised that I was bushed and just wanted a beauty sleep. Imagining myself  with my head tucked inside my pillow on MY bed and dearly hoping the flight or the trip would get cancelled in a quite corner of my heart, Alwin and myself  bound towards home.

Exchanging romantic "How do I live without You" on the trip back from the station in the car (Although God knows what Alwin was thinking deep down....). and the loving glances, we reached home a tired and hungry pair.

Offering to make nice dosas for the dear hubby, as I would not be making dinner for him for quite a while. And in turn, he offering to wait so that we could have dinner together for the 'last time' (in the next month), we setttled to have a quite dinner when the phone rang. The voice on the other end said "This is Gertrude from BA, Your flight is cancelled..."

Alwin looked up with a mixture of feelings: Shock, disbelief, relief,  were a few.He had planned a party with the Big Boys the next day.

The Girls must be Crazy

Pizzas and Desserts.

Almost released from the project that I was working in, there was nothing much to do in the office front, Anusha and myself, got into a food fit; such a craze that we wanted to eat all junk stuff. With a wish list of mouth watering desserts and pizzas, we went to pizza hut during the lunch hour.

Normally one small pizza is enough to fill up our hunger. We finished our pizza and went about hunting for a dessert. Googled on a pastry joint not so near by we set out to find it. It was a long travel by two share autos . Finally found the place. Out stomachs were so full that we were really tired enough to walk back. The return was by an auto and then by bus.

We realised we were crazy enough to have eaten so much and crazier the pain taken to  travel to the dessert joint

Tea with Balaji

Tea shops in India , prominently on the roadside is the most polluted with cigarette smoke, Fifty percent of the men population can be seen there as they relax with a smoke outside the tea shop. Definitely not a place for conservative girls like me.

Balaji invited us for tea, again, with not much work on hand, we agreed and the whole set of girls were  beside him exited but cribbing that he was taking us to a normal tea shop and not a nice, grand exotic one.

Anyways, for the first time in life I tasted the hot piping tea in a small paper cup with some cookies in a local tea shop.

Lunch in a mess

Alwin bragging on how he used to have lunch in Andra mess always indulged me to crave for the lunch there. Andra mess is basically a food joint, not exactly a very nice place for girls as it is always crowded with boys. Teaming up with Anush, I was indulging in one of the spicy lunches I ever had.

The Second Chance.

Nov  29 2010

It was a wonderful Christmas program in church, and I was returning along with my grandmother. Dheera my daughter out of exhaustion had already slept. The auto guy had stopped a bit further away and I had to just walk down ten steps to reach my home. With a whole lot of overconfidence, I took Dheera in my hands and started walking down towards my home. And there it happened my worst nightmare. I tripped over a stone and fell. Dheera sleeping on my shoulders, with a wasted attempt of trying to stop my fall, I landed on my knees Dheera was also going down to hit her head. And then I heard it. Her SCREAM.

I came home to examine the hurt, I thanked GOD from the bottom of my heart for the hurt was small.

God was gracious enough to give me a second chance in life.

Happiness

This post is one of the serious types so much unlike my previous ones. The 8.5 miles of travel up and down from office everyday probably had brought me to have such a philosopical thinking.

Oh!! but its all right once a while.

Mornings in the local train is always a exhaustive experience. crowded trains, impatient and rude people, and trains always running late. I sit in my usual corner with the I Pod stuck to my ears,  looking around observing the crowd in the train. There she was the young mother carrying a 12 year old kid.I seem to bump into them almost everyday. She was a soft pretty young lady exhibiting the utmost patience. I looked up to see the kid's face. She was one of those mentally challenged kid. The mother was struggling to carry her as well as maintain her balance with the hustling and pushing of the people around her. There it struck me, "Im Blessed".

Evenings it is a different scene. A tired looking mother should be in her late forties, relaxing on her novel is a very usual sight in the chennai trains heading towards Tambaram ( The place where I stay). Her eyes seemed to be tired and exhausted, skin seemed so lifeless, lips always curled to a frown. She too was my co-traveller almost everyday. Something about her interested me - Her Son.

A little boy around six or seven years, full of life doing his homework in the train beside her, with sharp little eyes, which take in everything it sees and figiting over his mom's mobile phone, is again a usual sight. The mother pulled the mobile from his hand and with elaborate gestures she asked him to stop figiting with it. It was then I realised ,the boy was both deaf and dumb. There ended my vanity of wondering on the deep frown and frustration across the lady's face.

I also see people who inspite of having almost every comfort of  life complain about how very unfortunate or pathetic thier life is.

I would not have written this post, but wanted to for one ardent reader of mine- ME, lest I forget the art of feeling grateful and join the group of pathetic people who imagine they have a pathetic life.



The Classic 500

Alwin is and will be in the process of buying a Royal Enfield bullet for a long time. In one of the process of hunting for a good bike, we managed to find ourselves in the Royal Enfield Showroom, The Royal Enfield Classic 500 was my love at first sight, just one draw back, It was a single seater. I said " This looks real good and masculine but it has just a single seater so NOT ALLOWED.

The person assisting us said, that the single seater was just for the showroom piece, and the pillion seat can be attached or detached if necessary. I liked the idea and said Mmmmmmm OK. then it is a good one. I confirmed on getting the MACHINE (Classic 500).

Alwin looked up at me and asked " You would remove the pillion seat when I go to office right"? I looked up and smiled a "YES". 

The Night Watchman and the Silver Beach

Maybe I was born with a phobia towards indoors. I get pretty agitated if I stay at home for more than 12 hours in a row. With a fit of a similar phobiac feeling, I started blackmailing Alwin ( my darling hubby) that he needed to plan for a long trip indeed for the next weekend as it was a long one. How I did the blackmailing, please dont ask. Pssssst. Its a Trade secret.

So began 10 September 2010 with great hopes and a devilish  disbelief creeping up that the "darling hubby "would default on the trip just as usual.
Opposite poles attract dont they? FYI. My Hubby is very much a housie cat which likes to sleep on a cosy little chimney.
With prayers rising upwards that Dheeera should not start any of her famous tantrums and "allergies" should not start its attack on Alwin ( Which are the major trip spoilers in the familiy) I started packing up the bags for the trip.
 Lucky that my prayers were answered, we were heading out on the famous ECR without any major problems and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Dizee world

While on the speeding ECR, Dheera's eye got rivetted to Dizee World which was alright (any place with Alwin and Dheera outside home was alright by me). This was Dheera's first trip to a theme park. And as a mom, I was beside her reassuring that nothing would befall her when I was by her side. I knew Alwin was not gonna get on any of the rides. ( Actually he likes rides that go straight without any curves ... so planning to suggest to some theme park to set up a ride like that    )  

The Phone Adventure

As Alwin was taking the family on a trip for the first time and has no experience on booking a resort he had to take help from Mani basically from Pondicherry to help us out in finding a place to put up for the night. We watched in horror we were left with the last point of charge in Alwin's Nokia. (He just had forgotten to charge his cell the previous night. And so did I, which he realised a little later... much later.) Alwin was reassured that I had carried my HTC along. He asked me to check out with mine and what was worse, just one point or none. Mine was comlpetely out of charge so was switched off. I could not switch it back again. It could take more than three hours to reach Pondicerry and we were almost out of communication. It was race against the life of our Nokia phone with its last ebbing point  we reached Pondicherry safely.

The Night Watchman
The place that we had put up for the night was quite cosy and good. We had all retired to the soft plush bed after the fun at Dizze and the long exhausting drive. This was actually the first time we were in a hotel as a family. With a filling late dinner we hit the sack on touching the pillow. Or did We? I opened up an eye groggily to see what sounds were coming in the middle of the night. There was Alwin all awake. ( Which he is incapable of doing at home) I asked him "What are you doing? Why dont you go to sleep?. After all you drove the whole way". He replied. "Im keeping watch, lest anything bad befall my family when we are put up in a hotel". I was too tired to laugh. Without much ado, I switched off the lights and the TV and said "JUST SLEEP".

Breakfast in a Mansion

Thats Mani, Our grand host of the Day. Software Engineer by profession,But guess what,?? the lucky fellow has another job in hand as an Interior designer. The guy had designed his house perfectly with a huge water tank to adorn the Hall, winding staircases to the other rooms and the elegant balcony, backgrounded by the decorative walls, elaborate doors and windows... woooooooo it must have been quite a work and quite a fortune.But the brave man is still planning on furnishing his house further. 

That morning when we were starting to Mani's place, Dheera started one of her famous tantrums that she wanted to go to the beach right away. Kids!!!! I came to the rescue saying "Mani would give you 'choppu'. " Actually I meant 'kollukattai' A dish made with rice and stuffings, popularly done on Vinayaka Chadurthi, a festival in India. We reached Mani's home quite late. His mother had made an elaborate breakfast for us, fluffy idlis, puris and vada. Just that Dheera's 'choppu' was missing. Kolloukattais are done only during the pooja and served afterwards. The family had planned for the pooja in the afternoon. And Dheera was asking for 'choppu' Thank God Mani did not know the meaning for 'choppu' and I was saved of embarrasment.

The Silver Beach

The Silver Beach  is a beach on the southeast coast of India. It is located 2 km from downtown Cuddalore. This was the beach Alwin had promised to take me before our wedding 6 years before. He fulfilled his  vow on 11 September 2010 ( What a day). He actually took me to Silver beach and played in the clean beautiful tide. Unfortunately the time had come when we had to drive back to Chennai  Exhausted and wet, we returned back a rejuvenated  family with the ultimate enlightenment that " Its office on Monday"