1:30 pm
I walked along the very long terminal to enter the emigration check. A young lady greeted me at the counter. After checking my passport and my ticket, she gave me back the passport and before I bid goodbye, I asked her where I could make an international phone call. “You can find a booth in the terminal upstairs” I thanked her and headed for the escalator.
Once I reached above, I was asked to go for the security check in any of the counters. I had to stand in any of the queue that all does the same job – security check. As I was standing in the queue, a young girl from behind asked me if I am going to Fairfax. Astounded at her guess, I replied yes. She added that she is heading to Hyderabad. I was still confused at her guess (only later I realized that the destination address was shown flashing in my luggage).
After the security check was done, I looked at the terminal which didn’t look like one. It was a busy pathway. A car was on display. A video game console was on display and was being tested by young people. I took out my phone to check if there is any chance of catching a network. I switched it on and to my surprise, a network showed in the display. I dialed to my parents line. It didn’t work. So I thought I could send a message but for testing, I sent it to myself. Rs.25 gone!
I went to a money exchange counter and asked a young British lady at the counter about where I could make an international phone call. She pointed to a phone beside the escalator to the gates.
” Do I need England currency for that?”, I asked
” Yeah”
” How much would I need if I need to make a phone call to India for… a minute or two?”
”Probably a pound”, she said with an uncertainty.
" Alright. I will have the same”. I took out a ten dollar bill and gave her. She gave back the appropriate dollar change and also the pounds in coins.
I went to the phone booth and tried making a phone call. It didn’t work. I was trying different combinations of ISD code and phone number but it wouldn’t work. An Indian girl just left the adjacent phone booth.
”Hi, how do I make a phone call to India?”
” It is not working for me”
" Me too!”
We both tried again, then asked a shop for the help desk which happened to be one floor below. We both headed down. This girl, from Andhra, had already completed her Masters and has come for Ph.D in the University of Massachusetts. As we reached the lower level, to the left was the glass wall showing a full view of the runway and the planes. To the right was what looked like spencer plaza. The helpdesk wasn’t much helpful and I went to trying out different combinations of phone numbers in a similar telephone again. I put an extra zero to the front of the number and I got connected. I informed that I reached London and the pound didn’t let me speak for more than a minute. I said the same procedure to the girl, bid bye to her and went to the lounge and sat there for the gate to be announced.
I met a tamil guy there who was going to SUNY. We went around the airport for two minutes when I noted that the gate for my flight has been announced. I left to the terminal gate and waited for the omni bus. We were taken to the flight and I took my window seat. A young American guy sat beside me. He helped me find the entertainment screen which was below the seat. I opened the movie guide and I was glad that this flight entertainment is going to be superb, It contained the list of my favorite movies and series. I was waiting for the party.
3:30 pm (British Time)
The flight started and very sooner, the food was brought. “Lunch again?”, I thought. This is probably the first flight for many passengers so the lunch was provided. I just accepted it. I opened the first box, found it to be a pasta based with TOMATO. I opened another box which had chocolate mousse cake. It was based on mandarin sauce, which I have only heard of. But certainly, my instincts said that the combo would not be good. Moreover, the travel was not getting into me and I was getting sick. So I just stirred the pasta eating a piece every two minutes. The guy sitting next to me would have probably thought that I didn’t like the food. But there were several more reasons to it.
I had only coffee and slept for most of the flight journey. I saw one Friends series and little of hindi Ghajini when the flight landed in Washington airport.
7:20 pm (EST)
We exited the flight into the terminal into a room which had two exit doors. Some people got into the exit and closed the door. I wondered what was really happening behind the door when the opposite room started moving. Only then I realized that the exit door was connected to a bus which had extendable doors. One more bus came after ten minutes and we all boarded the bus. The bus had two paths that had seats on either sides to accommodate many people. The bus moved along a big ground to reach the other side of the ground which was the other side of the terminal.
I finished the formalities, took my luggage which had already been sorted and put in one place and placed them in my trolley. I took them out and came to the arrivals gate. The place was crowded with people waiting for the arrivals or eating in the restaurants there.
8:10 pm (EST)
I tried to make a call to the Indian student association as I was asked to do so. Now I didn’t have any coins. I missed a money exchange counter on the way and I can’t go back. There was a vending machine through which I could get a calling card. I could use $10, $20 and $50 bills. I tried $10 and $20 bill but it didn’t work. Another Indian guy came and tried his $10 bill and it worked. After sometime, I lost hope in trying and asked the guy for exchanging $10 but he didn’t have $10 but only $20. I finally got my calling card and I made the first phone call using that to my parents and then to the association.
”Hi. This is Kavin. I have arrived in US. Where can I find you?”
”Hi. Sorry, we were unable to come today because of the rain and I didn’t get any car. You can catch any shuttle directly to this place”
”Ok. That is no problem”
”Or you can wait for a guy named Jagadeesh. He is also coming tonight. You can probably wait for him and come along with him in the shuttle”
”Jagadeesh!” (I couldn’t help but thinking about ‘Billa’ Jagadeesh. lolz)
”He will probably be there in sometime. Must be blue shirt. Just look out for him. Don’t panic. Am sorry again”
”Ya. I am ok. Nothing to panic. No problem”
I hung up the call and saw the time. Still more than 20 minutes to wait and I waited for any sign of Jagadeesh. I thought the guy who exchanged the money would be that guy but he was not when I confirmed with him. At 8:55, another guy was enquiring the ‘money’ guy about something and I didn’t bother to ask. I had a doubt that he would be Jagadeesh. The ‘money’ guy’s relative came and picked him up. Then the other guy came to me and introduced himself as Satish and that he is looking for a guy named Jagadeesh.
”Hi. Even I am waiting for Jagadeesh. Waiting for him to go together to the place”
”I actually came to pick him up”
In not more than two minutes, he said “There he is!” and ran away. Before I could catch hold of him, I missed him. I had to go for the last resort but this guy came back again.
"That is not him. I can wait for him for 5 minutes. Else I can pick you up if you don’t mind”
”No problem. We can wait”
We waited for five minutes. There was no sign of Jagadeesh and so we left to the gate. Satish called someone and sooner, a car came. We kept the luggage in the car and Satish said that he would like to look for Jagadeesh again. We parked the car in one corner and the guy who was driving the car introduced himself as Augustine. He was working there after studying in IIT Madras and we spoke a lot.
After sometime, Satish joined back and we both travelled the path to my place. They were talking something and meanwhile talking about the awful climate and journey and also told me that it would take time to settle in. The highway in which we were travelling was superb and it was dark except for the street lights.
We reached the apartment in 30 minutes where I bid goodbye to the two and bid hello to four Student Association mates who helped me in carrying the luggage along the garage to an inner door. Before we opened the door, someone opened the door and out came Karthick.
We both took the elevator to the 12th floor and reached the apartment. I placed the luggages, introduced myself to my roommates, logged online, updated my status. It was 11:30 pm. I still had half an hour for my longest day so far to end.
