The Longest Day of my Life - Part I

August 22, 2009
12:00 am
I was doing random things at home. Going online, filling a slam book, checking the baggage, updating my status in online communities, speaking over phone. I was about to travel to US to pursue my higher studies in George Mason University. Relatives had come to my house to send me off in airport. Some relatives were taking a nap while some were busy chatting. Mom and dad were busy with the preparation. My sister and my cousins had prepared a precious farewell gift for me, a gift of memories put together and specially signed.

My friends Inchara, Nithya and Hari had already left for the airport to send me off. It was kind of them to come as I had told that it is unsafe to do that even if you are sending off your best friend. I was receiving constant messages from them about when I would start. I replied to those messages constantly about the time I would be coming.

3:00 am

We started from house. The flight was supposed to start at 5:25 am. We reached the airport at 3:15, met all my friends there and to my pleasant surprise, Arun had also come to send me off. He told that he would not make it. I read that mail just before I started. They presented me with wonderful gifts.

We entered the airport and I was taken to the luggage check-in. I was told that there is delay in the flight. After the check-in was done, I decided to spend my time with family and friends. Dad had got a box of sweets to distribute to everyone and I took some precious photos with them.

I tried my best to speak with everyone in the family and circle. I knew that I wouldn’t be meeting them for a very long time. I would badly miss them.

4:45 am

It was time for me to leave to flight. I bid goodbye to almost all my family members and friends. My dad, my mom and my sister were allowed to accompany me till the security check-in. I stayed with them till 5:30, bid goodbye to them and left for the security check-in. It was time for me to enter the flight.

I entered the flight and was asked by the air hostess to go to my right. I spotted my seat and sat there. I scanned my place. I was seated in a well cushioned semi-sleeper chair with plenty of legspace, a remote, a pillow, a blanket and a screen in front for entertainment. I received calls and messages from my friends and parents that they are still at the place where they can watch my flight take off. It was 6:30 when my flight took off and as it happened, I looked at the building where they might be standing. I could not see where they were, but I assumed it to be the place where I bid farewell to my cousin when he left. Bye bye Chennai!

6:45 am

A lady who was probably in her 50s was sitting beside me. She introduced herself by asking me where I am going to. I was going to Washington and she was going to Seattle. Her son is working in US for 15 years and she lives her split life in both Chennai and Seattle. She explained about how the changeover is done in London and how it is confusing.

They gave the morning breakfast even before I could decide on the entertainment channel that I wanted to see. All the movies were in halfway and I decided to skip them all after watching few scenes. I had requested for a lacto-vegetarian diet which means it should be full of milk products. I got a cream roll, bun with butter, chappathi with panneer, two cutlets and orange juice. The food tasted pretty good and orange juice was awesome.

I slept as soon as they switched off the lights in the plane to get the passengers to sleep. I woke up again at 11:30 am in my watch. I didn’t know in which country the flight was flying over. I had the box of biscuits they had given me and I took every chance to ask for orange juice when the air hostess came. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I decided to open the gift that my friends gave me. It was a book filled with memories and it is the most precious gift given by TAGS gang. I read it for almost one and half hour and time fled by. Then I decided to scan the channels and saw a scene from the X-men: Wolverine which happened to be the climax. I decided to skip to the other channel where my favorite series “Friends” was running.

After watching the episode, the lunch came at 1 pm. It was too early to eat lunch for me. I gently refused the lacto-vegetarian diet that was offered to me by the air-hostess. Then the air steward came carrying the dishes for the people who had not requested for a special diet. As he saw that my table was empty, he asked me, “Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian sir?”

“I am not hungry at the moment”

He mentioned something which I could not make out what he said.

I said, “I don’t get you” and the lady came to my aid.

He had asked me when I wish to have it.

I replied “May I have it sometime later?”

Now it was his turn, “I don’t get you”

The lady came to the aid again and after I repeated the question, he said, “Sorry sir. Now or never!”

“Ok Vegetarian please”

He repeated the word “Vegetarian” with a smile and I think I missed out when he had mentioned “Non”.

I opened a cover and I found rice with dal and CHICKEN! As I was not hungry, I didn’t bother to change it. I just had part of the rice and the dessert which they gave and again orange juice. I checked the map in the screen and we were nearing London

12:15 pm (British Time)
The flight landed in London Heathrow airport. The airport was really big. The first thing that welcomed me when I came out of the plane was a really cool and gentle breeze. I joined the other passengers into the bus which took me to the terminal. The ride was like as if I was riding in an empty road which consisted of lanes and subways.

There was a halt in the middle of the travel due to a parked towing vehicle and some of the Indian co-passengers were like, “Oh my God! I got to catch a flight to Houston in an hour. Why is this halt?” After five minutes, we started moving again and we reached the terminal.

There was a lady in the terminal waiting with the board “Houston” probably to pick up the passengers as it was getting too late. At 1 pm (British Time), I joined the other passengers up the escalator to the Flight Changeover.

Change

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

- Mahatma Gandhi

Change comes in everyone’s life. You wouldn’t know when it comes. Some people feel the change. Some people don’t. Some expect. Some do not. Some predict. Some do not.

There are certain things in the world that will change. Sometimes you may want the change and sometimes you may not want the change. Change is neither good nor bad. When you got to gain something, you got to lose something.

There are certain things in life which can never be understood; something that you would have never known, something you may not know forever.

There are certain things in life that you can never get them back. They can be relished only through memories. Keep your memories safe.

I expected it, I predicted it, now I see it.

Btw this is my first blog post in US. Welcome!!!

Boom boom Aadi : Tricksters

The aadi season has almost ended and one could see the massive crowd in T.Nagar. It was really massive that there could be even 5000 people in a textile showroom. I guess people would save up all their cash to buy dresses and jewellery and other goods only during the Aadi season but are they really saving money or is it only their mind that gets tricked in to believing that they are saving money?

I would like to tell an incident which I heard from a relative. There were two dresses, both are exactly alike except for the color. Let us assume the first one is yellow in colour. It was bought for Rs.100 before the aadi season. The other color, which is green, was sold at Rs.225 and reduced to Rs.150 in the name of discount. This was done by the same shop which sold the previous yellow dress. If you think this is a joke, it is not. It is a true incident. This is what they call as aadi season. Shops actually sell their goods at profit and people get fooled into believing that they are actually saving their money during the aadi season.

I have been to shops during the aadi season. One of the famous shops, also famous for giving big discounts, is also one of those shops. The reason that made me believe it was a new prize tag that was attached to every dress. Why should they attach a new prize tag to every dress? Why not use the existing tag and just put a board saying 10% discount or 15% discount? The new prize tag has the 'claimed' original prize of the dress which is striked out and below is the new discount prize. If this is a marketing strategy, they can't stoop more.

I am not blaming all the shops but only a few. I have seen shops where they retain their original prize tag and have a banner or board saying the discount rate. Discount should be made only during the billing and not before it. I hope people do realize it and put an end it to the bogus discount sale.