As the Sun prepares to set at that distant place, where the sea meets the sky, the handsome dude stretches out his lazy muscular hands. He is on the beach, his legs stretched out towards the sea, as he looks relaxedly at his laptop. An angelic woman in a flimsy but colorful wrap around walks towards him, with an elegant glass in her hand, filled with a color fluid. She offers it to him, as he smiles at her. As she turns back, and moves, we see the exotic resort with palm trees, and swimming pools behind the man.
"24 hours Internet facility, to be in touch, all the time," echoes the voice for the TV commercial.
BEING IN TOUCH ALL THE TIME!!!
THAT IS REEL LIFE!!!
"Hello," croaked the rough voice of Shiva, who had just woken up.
"The code abended. You have missed a test case!!!" the shaky voice on the other end spoke hesitantly. A chill struck Shiva's spine, as he was jolted into the real world from the date with Aish, which he had been living the whole night.
With no laptop, or internet connection, Shiva dictated to his colleague hundreds of miles away, to browse through his test cases, carefully perusing the application, bit by bit, as he bathed, got into his beach gear, and finally drove us from Fort Lauderdale to Miami South Beach. BEING IN TOUCH ALL THE TIME???
THIS IS REAL LIFE!!!
As Shiva ended his very long long-distance call, we had reached the Miami. A futile search for the elusive 'Shiva Indian Restaurant' (pompously flashed on Google during our initial research) seemed to have disappeared overnight.
Alrightey. We will go to an Italian Restaurant, for lunch, we decided.
And that is when it all started.
On entering the Italian restaurant, a 'drop dead gorgeous' female, the chief waitress, approached us, asking if she could help us. I did not pay much interest to her, but noticed that she had worn a white top, black skirt, and black slippers. Well, I did not pay much interest to her, but, just noticed that she had pulled her hair back tightly, having tied it together, and a leaving it back to rest till her nape. Well, that's it!!! Just to add, she had a very clean complexion, and thin gold colored neckwear. Also, manicured nails with the polish of color.... oh! Crap!!!
Never paid much attention to her. ;-)
The hotel's architecture was quaint, with modern pieces of furniture of metals, and glass tables.
An Italian thin Pizza, which carried the word 'Special' amidst the words of its long name, tempted us to order for that. The woman 'to whom I did not pay much attention' had called out for another waitress attired in black, who was equally stunning. This lass, who could clear the Infy HR round without much of an effort, stood there, with a pen and a pad, taking out our orders for the Pizza with Mozarella cheese.
The pizza was horrifyingly different than the regular American Pizza, and had some weird toppings on a very thin crust, which appeared something like a desi 'papad'. This pizza was disappointing, and thank heavens, we were not made to eat these original pizzas at our Pizza Huts!!!
"Buddy, now don't look at her immediately, but whenever I look towards her, she is smiling at me," said Shiva while munching on that pathetic pizza. Ouch!!! I could feel the familiar feeling of jealously. I casually turned towards her, and she flashed that brilliant smile.
I smiled back. My soul will rest in peace!!!
Shiva gave me that 'Didn't I tell you not to look at her?' glare.
I gave him that 'I am stupid, as always' smile.
Meal finished, bill paid, and it was time to go out.
Shiva asked the waitress in black, some directions to go to the South Beach. The damsel leaned down towards him closely, and started out with the directions.
Shiva asked some very ignorant questions, which I am sure he would not remember now!!!
Then she began to give directions with her immaculately presented fingers, about the numerous turns to take. I mentally memorized the instructions, pretty much sure that her magnetic field would have erased out any data that Shiva's memory would be trying to load.
Then, it was time to say it!!! C'mon Shiva SAY IT!!! BLURT IT OUT!!! SCREAM IT OUT TO HER!!!
(No, it is not what you think........ we had already paid the bill ;-) )
He did not say. So, the onus was on me.
"You are very beautiful," I mentioned it as we were getting out. I hated to steal Shiva's limelight, but that is the least I could do, when we had not given her any TIP!!!
After we came out, "I had thought of saying that," Shiva said, also imagining me with hands and legs tied to two parallel poles, as he shot at me with an AK 47. Before his imaginations could get more creative, and grouse, "So, remember any of the instructions?" I asked.
"No," he smiled.
Miami beach.
Certainly, not as clean as those bewitching beaches of Goa, but the beach made up for it with a back drop of skyscrapers. It certainly had loads of men and women, with very, very less amount of clothing.
I thought of those ill paid export textile workers in India, who would be ruined if this trend continued. [Didn't think about them then, but am thinking about them now. Does it make a difference? ;-)]
No David Hasselhoff, or the lady Anderson. But, it certainly had some able bodied male Life Guards, but ....hey ladies!!! Don't start imagining things. Most of them had their shirts on.
The Sun was hot, and the beach goers were allowed to go only till a limited distance into the ocean, where there were floating markers for boundary. I appreciated the system after a glance.
Two great hours later, drenched in salty water, I took a shower at the beach. Soon it was time to battle out the rush hour traffic to Fort Lauderdale, toggling between helplessness and hope against reaching in time to catch our flight back to our homes.
Frantically, I rushed from one escalator, to another, shuffling in between different floors of the airport of Fort Lauderdale, finally pulling my carryon luggage bag to the check in counter. Ten minutes to the departure.
"No sir, you cannot board now," said the dark lady behind the desk. "You have to be here atleast fifteen minutes before departure," she added.
I missed that knowledge.
I stood there shocked. Stranded at a great distance from my comfort zone, with a wasted air ticket, I cursed myself for not having turned up earlier. 'Why does it always happen to me?' this is one question that I did not ask, because I knew beforehand about why it happened to me. I had missed the flight in Bangalore, and I had once again missed the flight now. The message was clear. I HAD SCREWED UP!!!
No excuses. I felt I deserved this, atleast to wake me up from the complacency, and jolt me into planning things better. Is this a reflection of the things that have been going on in my life? Always realize the facts late, to realize that I have missed the bus. And this time, it was the plane.
It was hightime that I took charge of my life, and decide its course, else, would have to be satisfied with the course that the life decides for me. Something that I had known for a while, but had been postponing to think about. Life has its way of teaching us of its nature, I realized. IN TIME!!! I breathed a sigh of relief that it had been a small price to pay for this rude awakening. I was definitely thankful to the almighty for this.
"But, the plane would not have left yet. Can't you make this one exception this time? I did not know the rules," I said.
The huge woman was in no mood to be chivalrous and listen to my 'damsel in distress' story. She said I could go ahead, and call the airline helpline.
The airline helpline was not much of a help, but gave me a choice to select between a set of planes starting at 9 in the same night (presently it was almost 6pm), or another one starting at 7 in the next morn. The one starting at 9pm, would cost me 273$ more, but the one starting next day morn would cost me only 50$ more.
Any guesses of my choice????
But, I would have to land up at Minneapolis at 12 noon, on a weekday!!!
Well, I COULD STAY IN FLORIDA FOR A DAY MORE!!! ( positive thinking.... ;-) )
Sandy was a great help in contacting the different hotels, with a combination of 'airport pickup' and the price for a night. As I bade him farewell, I had myself booked in Comfort Inn, a twenty minutes drive from the airport, with the 'airport pickup' facility. For 63$ a night, it was a steal!!!
The movie on TNT was interesting, but could not help my hunger. The cozy room of the artful hotel had me channel surfing for a while. Then, I pulled myself out to grab a grub in some nearby super store (as most of the eatouts here either have junk food, or non-vegetarian). On enquiry, I was directed over a nearby bridge, on the other side of which I would be able to find some stores. As I ventured out into the night, on the wide road, showered with orange light from sodium vapor lamp, I was unnerved by the desertedness of the place. There was not a single human anywhere in sight, but occasionally a huge car or a truck, zooming along the road at uncomfortable speeds.
Nowhere before in India, I have had this fear of being mugged, because I always had my huge structure for comfort. But in here, where I am one among the millions to have a height more than 6 ft, that could not be quoted as an advantage. Also, I remembered the headlines being flashed all over the US when I had just come. It was a school shootout by an adolescent, in Minnesota state. Guns were not very extra ordinary here. This had added to the generic fear.
But, then, it was thrilling too.
Just when I was on the bridge, I turned to look down below. Freeways, and state highways merging, and forking out, all drenched in orange streetlights looked awesome. Temptation to take a picture resulted in an interesting photograph.
A few more minutes of walk down the bridge, I came across a superstore, where I grabbed a quart (1 Litre approx) of milk, along with some buns, and came out. While going back, I was walking behind two guys, an obese white, and a tall, muscular black, talking loudly as they walked. Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks, and looked at me.
"You go ahead," said the black.
Carefully, I trudged ahead, and as they started walking behind me, I could hear the black speak out, "I don't like a tall man tailing me. It gives me the nerves. He has broad shoulders......." he said to his friend, and shouted out, "Ma'an, YOU WORK OUT, DON'T YOU???"
CONGRATULATIONS, MR THEJAS!!! YOU HAVE DONE A HAT TRICK OF BEING CHECKED OUT BY MEN!!!
First it was that fellow Indian, who had identified me by my pants, in the workplace cafeteria. Then, it was the long bearded man in the Minneapolis Skyway, who had mentioned 'You have nice eyes', to my embarrassment when with my colleagues. Now, the ill luck had followed me all the way to Florida!!! :-))))
Anyway, I turned back with a smile, and joined them in their idle talk on my walk back to the hotel.
Early in the morning, the hotel’s escort dropped me at the airport. A flight to Cincinnati, and another flight to Minneapolis, left me staring at the Minneapolis Downtown from air, with a deep breath of relief.
The most exciting trip and finally come to an end. And what an end it was!!!
Thank you for accompanying us on this adventurous and tumultuous journey to the most sought after vacation of the US.
Hoping to see you all sometime soon, someplace soon, somehow.
Thanks,
Have a great week ahead.
with warm regards,
Teju
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