Interstates | Exits and Onion Pakodda's - Part 1

Catchy title isn't it? ... Yes it was intentional !!!

Well this blog is all about the damn tiring yet mentally refreshing trip I had over this weekend.
It is supposed to be the travel memoir for this long and unforgettable trip.

Sitting in Peterpan on the way back to Boston eating Onion Pakkoda's brought all the way from India.... I felt this experience is worth recording. It all started with a very usual call made back home to India wherein I got the good news from mom that my mama might be coming over to Hartford. Boy, I was so glad that at last i would get to meet someone from my dear family long before i go back to India in Jan for a vacation. After too many plan changes at last he was on the way to meet me [sorry for his business trip :-)]. Having lived in Boston for over 5 months, it is sad to realize that I haven visited any place outside the city yet. So here was the best chance to visit to NY (the over hyped city)... which i decided i will not miss.

Preparing for NY

So the illusive  Friday had come giving way to the long awaited Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to travel all the way to NY >> receive mams at JFK >> accompany him to Manchester and get back to Boston on Sunday.

After some planning, i booked the tickets to NY and determined the different legs of my long journey [Over 700 Kilometers round trip]. Just as i was abt to print the tickets the fire alarm in the office went off !!!! We were forced to run towards the emergency exit. I thought it was fire drill but was not sure. So I just dumped my laptop inside the bag even without shutting it down and dashed towards the staircase. It was then i realized that i was on the 20th floor !! It was very painful.... my legs ache when i think of it even now. It turned out to be a minor incident and the Fire engines went back silently :-). The next day i woke up at 4 am in the morning on Saturday [had not done this in the last 4 years :-)] to get the Peterpan at 6.30 AM from Atlantic avenue near South station in the heart of Boston. You may relate this bus terminus to our very own CMBT in Chennai. I had to walk all the way to Quincy center station [the station in my locality] in the early morning darkness. It was probably the 3rd or 4th time i sensed sweat trickling down my forehead in the last 5 months.

The building in the picture is my office.

The beginning

I was lucky... I reached bang on time at Quincy Center and hopped onto the RedLine. Was before time at South station (Atlantic avenue) were i had to get the bus to NY. I found the place effortlessly... I still wonder how??? Possibly my intuitive power was at its peak. I was kind of walking in the right direction continuously as if i knew the place by heart though i had never been to that part of Boston.

The bus ride took over 4.5 hours. The expressways were awe inspiring... i repeatedly kept wondering why India doesn't have any of these and how long will it take to get these there? I still wonder if it would happen at least in my generation! On the way we had quick stops in Farmingham and somewhere near New Haven. Had yummy french fries and a large coke in breakfast [american style!]. Dozed  after that until the lady sitting behind me woke me up with her loud laughter. Throughout the ride she was non-stop. I am sorry to say, but i almost heard everything she said... right from her interest in Social studies, her crush for Johnny Depp, her ex-boy friends minor accident in Iowa, her new curtains and other crappy blah blah... I used to think that only Indian women were good at talking :-) There is a joke on women on this.. here it goes :-

A tour guide was explaining to the tourists that the roar of Niagara falls was loud enough to eclipse the sound produced by five F-22 fighter planes flying together. He then said - "Ok ladies! If you could stop talking we would like to listen the roar of Niagara"


Welcome to New York city

Nothing much to write here... i was not at all impressed by the very sight of the city. It was crowded and very dirty. Boston is heaven compared to it !!! I am just keeing my hope alive saying that I have probably not seen the best part of NY yet. I guess NY looks good only in pictures !

One of the most difficult part of the trip was the one from Port Authority bus terminus were i got down from the bus in NY. On the subway which i took to JFK, a few French guys became dependent on me ! They were not good at English and were new like me to NY. So now i also had the burden to guide them all the way to the airport. My bad luck.. the subway was supposed to take me to Stuphin Blvd were i had planned to take the air train that would directly take me to the terminal. But due to some maintenance i ended up getting down at Kew Garden station and had to take a shuttle to Stuphin Blvd. Thanks to the map the MTA help desk lady gave, tracing the route became a lot easier.

The Air train

Waiting at the station for the next air train, I checked the time - It was already 12.45 PM and mams plane would have landed half an hour ago !! Dis-appointment sank in.... all the effort put in since Friday had gone waste. Well, i tried my best. Let me describe the air train a bit... its a light rail system which connects NY city to the JFK International airport. It starts at Stuphin blvd and takes you to all 8 terminals of the airport. A word of caution - dont miss your terminal. Else you will end up coming back to Stuphin's. The whole route is circular and you can get a bit dizzy trying to understand the circular route.

For us (Indian's) Jet Airways is on terminal 8 the last one !  :(

Don't plan to walk from one terminal to the other - u will get run over by the speeding cars. I dint even see any side walk there. So even if you miss your terminal, its better to stay on the air train. Its better late than never.

Every terminal is connected to the air train, you just have to walk a bit. (2 mins)


Re-union


I was again lucky. The plane had landed on time, but the customs and Port of entry formalities took a while. So all i had to do was patiently wait for mams. Within 10-15 mins he came out.... it was one of the happiest moments in the last 5 months i had experienced.

I thought i wud hug him... but he handed me his bag before that :)

To be continued.....

The most exciting journey of my life.. Part 2

After escaping the almost certain 1st international embarrassment, i decided to have a simpleton's journey. So i went back to the the terminal and found a comfortable seat which gave a very good view of the runway. The sun rise was so beautiful, and the orange-ish glitter from the snow added more beauty. I had just witnessed the 1st sunrise outside India. [:)]

ABCD

As expected the terminal was very crowded, and did not give me a feeling that i was not in India anymore. The whole area was filled with our own desi people and a few European's / American's. But there were a few things which caught my eye [:)]

1. A middle aged Gujju couple
2. A teenager, who was obviously an Indian [looked like a mallu to me]
3. A young couple with a toddler

Our Gujju uncle and aunty had put up a stern face for no reason. They were possibly worried about something and were frantically digging in their hand baggage for a long time. But throughout this time, they were continuously flaunting their American passports. I really wonder why? They could hv kept the passports safely into their pocket / into their bags. It would hv given them an extra hand and helped them in digging their bags. Their search ended.. but the passports never went in. The funniest part - the Eagle on their passport was always facing up, i guess it was to ensure that anyone who is looking could notice that they were AMERICAN [:)]. Btw, the colour of the passport is the same dark navy blue that we have in India. So may be they were trying to ensure that people dont assume them to be Indians [:)]

This obviously looking mallu guy with his parents was wearing a typical American teen attire nd was putting up this horrible american accent. He was so bad at it, that i felt like telling him that - "Boss i think anyone apart from u wud be better at this accent. Pls dont try it!!! Its not working out." But neither did i say this, nor did he stop his horrible chatter during the transit.

I dont know wat to call the below incident - Hypocrisy / Respect for parents

I remember seeing this young couple boarding the plane with a toddler. They both seemed to be very simple and there was nothing un-usual about them until we reached Brussels. But may be i was wrong.... This young mom had changed into a Jean and a t-shirt [:)] from her salwar kamiz... i dont think there is a law / rule to dress up like the people in the country you are.

I still wonder why do people have to change when they leave their country. I realized i was getting closer to my country mentally now.... though i was moving away from it physically.

I decided that i wud return a year later as the same Varun my people knew me all these years. I also promised myself that I will not end up behaving like an ABCD - [American Born Confused Desi]

The last lap

The rest of the journey was not very eventful except for the blizzard which hit the east coast of America on the day i landed. Great welcome i thought!!! The port of entry was cool... people back home had given so many stories that i was very apprehensive about the immigration. Had a 6 hour transit in New York before i could get the next flight to Boston. The flight got delayed by an hour due to the blizzard which was worsening by the minute. Had a quick nap on this cute and small 40 seater aircraft which took me to Logan Intn'l Airport in Boston.

I was kind of surprised to see that the airport was literally empty!!! But then i realized that it was because of the blizzard which was to hit the New England states in the next 2 hours. I quickly got a taxi with the help of a very polite and nice cop. Reached my hotel and just dived into the bed. I was so damn tired because of this really long journey. I donno wat happened after that.

Next day when i woke up and separated the screens on the window, i was greeted by a pile up of 2 feet snow which fell overnight.

I welcomed myself to the "New White World".[:)]

The most exciting journey of my life.. Part 1

• What is your educational qualification?
• What is the nature of your job?
• What wud be your pay scale?

and other blah blah....

These are the few questions which created a turning point in my life. You might have guessed it by this time.. these are the standard visa interview questions asked. I guess it was my day.... the moment i heard the "Thank you" on the speakers and passport was thrown into the not so full basket for stamping, i realized that my New Year 2010 will not be in chennai :)

So after lots of apprehension and 3 anxious days i got my passport with the elusive visa. Within the next few days i was to travel to a land where any normal IT guy aspires to go. So many things happened at lightning fast pace, that i almost get dizzy when i think of them...

This included the tiring shopping and checklist days... i was frantically creating lists of items that i needed and TO DO before i left Chennai. I came up with such an exhaustive list that i was proud of myself.... only till i realized after reaching Boston that i had forgotten the toothpaste!!!! Felt like kicking my self !!!!

And take off

I had always fantasized international travel and foreign lands right from my childhood... it was a kind of dream come true. After over an hour long wait, the time to leave Chennai had come. Found my seat without any trouble with the help of Maria :) the hostess on my aisle. All hopes were shattered when an aunty (not so great!!) came and sat at the aisle on the opposite side. I consoled myself :( and checked my watch, there were 20 mins for take off. Prayed to god to make my travel little interesting :) .... but i guess even God was deep asleep at 1:30 AM. The plane took off.... it was just me and the aunty sitting at the aisle and 2 empty seats between us. She was so anxious.... i was wondering wat could be the reason !!!! Then after a few moments drinks were served.. i took a very refreshing lemonade..... but almost choked myself to death when I saw aunty gulping a glass of beer within seconds.... she slept till we reached Brussels. I went about exploring the in flight entertainment kit and saw the movie Dasvidaniya.

My first sticker shock

Well so far so good... reached Brussels early morning. Saw abundant snow for the 1st time in life. It was awe inspiring.. felt like running out of the terminal onto the runway and grab some snow in hand... but couldn't. The transit was close to 3-4 hours... as usual i got bored easily within the first few minutes of the transit. Fine i reset my watch to local time.. checked it for the nth time and re-checked the the flight timing for the zillionth time and decided to go for a stroll within the airport. It was really beautiful.. and very clean needless to say.

On this interesting stroll, i came across a chocolate shop. There wudnt be any person on this earth who wudnt like chocolates (if he is normal). I decided to jump in and buy some... so this cute little lady greeted me and showed me a few of her shops specialties. The packing and colors were brilliant and very tempting. Then i saw this white patch, on which was written Euro 10.99 only. Fish!!! This small box hardly contained 4-6 globules of delicious fruit and nut covered in rich dark chocolate and was worth over 600 indian rupees. This pretty lady noticed the excitement fading on my face... it was embarassing.... at that moment i cud only think of H.G.Wells Invisible Man. How i wished i could disappear at that very moment. But life is not easy always.

Had no other option... so i decided, let it be a lesson. And pulled out the $100 note i had in cash and handed over to her. Immediately i heard her saying only Euro accepted sir! Wow, how glad i was... now i took over :) i requested as if i really wanted to buy :).. but she wudnt accept... btw who wanted her to accept ??? ;) I then quickly moved out of this place and decided not to hv any more embarrassing adventures at least until i reach the US.

To be continued...