Trudge towards the other part of the world ends

"A divine mix of 'Jerry McGuire' and 'Sex and the City'. That's 'Jake
in Progress' for you," announced the smooth male voice on 'ABC' last
Sunday. Though that's comparing General Musharaff's smile to
Aiswarya's ( dunno why she keeps popping up time and again. MAYBE
BECAUSE SHE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN I HAVE EVER SEEN,………..ok…ok………
who is from India, ……..and a movie star……and……… a South Indian… er… by
origin…. and….YES!!! A BUNT!!! ….whew ). Have been watching since
this week. Slick one. May be splashed on the Zee English screens
soon.

Meanwhile, in air, on Lufthansa, 0030 hours, 6 March, IST

That would be 1pm Chicago time.
Four hours before the scheduled landing, the I 94 forms were being
distributed, and the instructions about filling them were being beamed
in different languages on the TV. Dare a scratch on the form, YOU
WILL PICK UP ONE MORE AND FILL UP THE WHOLE THING AGAIN.(I did not
mention 'HAVE TO', because nobody knows) Never have seen such
dedication among denizens of all age groups, carefully penning each
letter, with more than just second thoughts before making the pen's
contact on that paper.
Sculptors of the Taj would have been laid off, if Shahajahan was in this plane.
Just then, two Indians were heard to be speaking about the 'Forum' in
Bangalore being better than many malls in the US.
SHIT!!! A slight distraction, and there was a slight error. I will
have to pick up another form now.
Slowly, got up. "Are you going to get the I 94 form?" the lady beside me asked.
Oh! She is awake!!! I had thought that she had been blacked out by my
body odour all the while.
"Yes, would you want one?" I asked.
She nodded in positive.
That was my third form that I got from the air hostess. Shahajahan
would never hire me!!!
As I handed over a form to her, I mentioned "I just ruined two forms,"
and a light chortle.
"Oh! This is my fourth form," she laughed.
And suddenly there was a great commotion, as the plane tilted upside
down, the clouds far below the plane melted, and started raining, with
large arcs of lightning flashing all over……. Atleast that is what I
felt.
It was four hours since we had been speaking, and this was the first
time there was a smile.
Was she so much worried that Romania was a poor country???

"Oh! Is it your first time to the US?" I asked her.
"Yes, and you?"
YOU, WITH A LAPTOP ARE VISITING FOR THE FIRST TIME. I DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT!!!
"First time," I said.
"Are you going to the US for good?" she asked.
"Yes, I am going to the US for good," I said, "And I will be going
back to India in a while, for good."
She laughed. No plane tilting this time.

The huge city of Chicago was spread out, with the Merican cars
scurrying over the wide roads, and everything covered in white snow.
The airplane was flying very low, making it very clear that the plane
would be landing in a few seconds.
And it did, with a small thud. And screeched to a slower pace.
It taxied to the O Hare airport, and came to a halt. Few minutes
later, way out through the digital corridors again.
This was America.
This was the land of opportunities.

And the land which did not lose an opportunity to make others hate it.

The numerous escalators and wide halls with lustrous floors, check of
the passport by the bored policeman, finger printing, luggage claims
etc, led to a skyway to take us from the International airport to the
domestic airport. The biting cold reassured again, that my investment
in the Eastern Stores stuff would be utilised efficiently in the near
future.

The skyway, an elevated rail transit system which moves around
smartly, quickly, does not have a driver. This was something that was
impressive, to begin with.

The domestic airliner flew me over from Chicago to Minneapolis in
almost an hour. At the baggage claim of the Minneapolis airport, I
was met with the warm smile of my colleague, Kavitha, to reassure me
that I was in safe hands.
A short drive, and I was deposited at my hotel, to make myself worthy of humans.

Ah! Well, it has been almost two weeks now, since I had started out on
that horrendous journey to the Bangalore airport (believe me, that was
the toughest part). The trudge 'from' the other part of the world was
worth its every moment.
Somethings that I found overwhelming, somethings that I found weird,
and somethings that I found interesting, well, would form a part of
some other literature. I will definitely keep you updated, because
you people are the part of my life who keep me looking out for the
tomorrow.

Push in a comment, a lil one, just to say ' hey, how you doin? ' and
the oceans between us will be bridged.

Thank you for the consideration.

With warm regards,
Teju

(ps: Oops, I just forgot to mention about that killer dame. The
mother of an eight year old kid, she was the manager of sales for her
company, and was here to attend a conference in Las Vegas. I thought
that this part would not be very much interesting. What do you
think?)