LUCK vs LOVE!!!!

I was looking at her as if I were mesmerized. Her dressing, way of talking, her smile, her confidence levels were more than impressive. It was then and there I decided that I wanted to be like her. I still remember her name. She was Richa Sharma, an HR from Genpact. She was talking to a large crowd of students in the college assembly hall about the interview process and the job profile. She was very fair, bubbly, had a really beautiful smile with dimples and she was wearing spectacles which added to her look. She was wearing a navy blue chudidhar. I hate navy blue color as I wore the same color uniform for almost 12years for school!!!! Moreover in our colony almost every kid went to the same school as I, so I used to see the navy blue color dress not only in school but also in the whole of our neighborhood.  So, I kind of got fed up with the color and every time I see someone wearing navy blue, I feel it’s a uniform!!! But today, I all of a sudden loved what she wore. The NAVY BLUE dress. Saru was taken aback when I said “She’s so pretty. Her dress looks good, isn’t it?” She simply said, “Since when have you started liking navy blue color and navy blue dresses?” I looked at her in surprise and thought, “GOD, she knows me sooooo well!!!” I never told her specifically that I disliked navy blue color or the reason why I disliked the color. But even then she knew me so very well. After my mom and sis, it was Saru who knew a lottttt about my likes and dislikes.  That might be because of our long company for years together. I just said, “Don’t know why but I like the color today”, saying this I again focused my attention to what the HR was talking about. Observing that I was looking at the HR with admiration, Saru said “Don’t tell me you are in love with the HR!!! Hahahaaa”. I said, “Not with the HR, but I love her job and the confidence with which she is carrying it.”  We were sitting in the last but one bench. I was sitting in between Swapna and Saru. Seeing I and Saru murmuring, Swapna pinched me and said, “We are sitting in the last bench and not able to hear the HR properly. On the top of that you both are murmuring!!!!” I looked at her and sighed. Both Saru and I diverted our attention to what the HR was talking about. She was almost done with the introduction of the company and opportunities for us in the company. She said before she goes ahead with the details about the interview process, she’ll take a break for 10mins, and students who were interested to attend the interview can stay back and the remaining people can leave. The HR had clearly mentioned that if the process required, we need to work in night shifts. Hearing this, most of the students were in a dilemma whether to attend the interview or not. For a moment even Saru and Swapna hesitated. When they asked me if I would attend the interview or leave, I told them that I'll attend the interview and if I get selected I won’t decline the offer just because I have to work in night shifts. I knew deep inside that for an early bird like me, night shifts could be the greatest challenge. But again I'm very determined and can adapt myself to changes that are hard but at the same time mandatory. So, I was firm that I’ll attend the interview. Swapna’s sister was already working with Genpact and I heard really good stuff from her about the company. I always look for challenges and different experiences. Night shifts offered me these two. Why then should I step back? I knew convincing my parents for this would be difficult but definitely not impossible.  Moreover the pay was alluring :P :P!!! I could see no reason to say NO. Swapna and Saru also decided to attend the interview. After 10 mins, the HR was back. The assembly hall was almost 50% empty as many students left. The HR addressed the remaining students and explained about the interview process. Oh my gosh!!! There was a JAM session first. Just A Minute. We had to speak on a topic given for at least a minute. Now there was a shiver sent through my back. I never had stage fear while I was in school. I used to say pledge, read thoughts, articles and news in the school prayer. But that was almost 5yrs back and the most important was, I knew almost everyone in school. Here in my graduation, I didn’t even know my classmates properly. In our class there were 6 girls and more than 40guys. I hardly knew 5-6 boys. That too hi and bye types. Ours was a girl gang and we never entertained any boys in our gang. But now, there were so many students from different streams and sections. There were only 8 girls in the whole room and remaining all boys. I was scared, only for a while though. It was not the time to think of all the guys in the room or to get tensed. Everyone was shifting to the back benches to avoid talking on the stage first. I don’t know, what prompted me, but I went and settled in the second bench from the last bench. Instead of being nervous all the while, I thought I would be relieved of the tension once I complete my turn of the JAM session. And I'm glad that I was right.   The HR gave us two topics, of which we had to choose one and talk about it for a minute. Both the topics were really very simple. The topics were: My role model and my best friend. The HR herself said the topics were easy to talk about and she was expecting only two things from the students. The accent and the confidence with which one spoke in public. The content or the quality of content was not important. She gave us two minutes of time to jot down points on a sheet of paper. After the three girls sitting in the first bench, it was my turn. All the three of them spoke about their best friends. My legs were shivering as I walked on to the dais, but once on stage and after introducing myself, I lost all my fear!!! I didn’t look at the sheet of paper which I took to have a look at if I didn’t remember any point. I spoke about my role model, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I received a prize from him when I was in my 6th standard and I adored him ever since. He is a down to earth person and very friendly with children. I spoke about how he made it up to the President of the country from being an ordinary newspaper boy. I explained his qualities which made me choose him as my role model. In fact, I talked about points which I didn’t have in the paper I was carrying. I didn’t realize how quickly the one minute passed; I was interrupted by a buzzer sound which indicated that my time was over. As I started getting down the dais, there was applause. I was the first student for whom the crowd clapped. It made me very happy and boosted my confidence. I came back and sat in my place. Saru said, “You did a great job. I'm sure you’ll clear this round.” Hmmmmmm. One by one all the students completed their turn. It reminded me of the elocution competitions in school. There were 57 students who attended the first round of the interview, many of which spoke really very well. The chances of I getting selected seemed to be the same as the chances of I not getting selected. I gave my best and decided to face the worst with a smile. I didn’t leave the interview unlike others who when heard of nightshifts, left the interview without even giving it a try. In that sense, I was already a winner. So, I decided not to take it to heart if I didn’t clear the round. The interview started at 11 in the morning, it was already 3 in the evening. The HR said after 20mins she’ll announce the results. All the three of us went to the tea stall which was exactly on the opposite road of our college. Saru and I ordered a cup of tea each. Swapna had this good habit of not drinking tea outside. Even Saru and I don’t prefer having tea outside but today we didn’t have an option. Moreover the tea stall was very tidy when compared to many other tea stalls. That’s mainly because; even our lecturers came here regularly for a cup of tea. So, the owner maintained it neatly. Saru finished her tea. Whatever it may be, I don’t drink my tea fast. I let it cool for a while, and then enjoy every sip. Ahhhhhh, how much I love tea. Even today though there were only 5mins left for the interview results to be out, I dint want to hurry. I was rather enjoying the tea. The stall owner used cardamom flavor and it was one of my favorite flavors of tea after ginger. I felt like drinking one more cup of tea, but the look in Swapna’s eyes scared me . We paid for our tea and left the stall. After I had tea, I felt refreshed. A thin air of confidence that I'll get through the interview surrounded me. The auditorium was in the 3rd floor; I ran over the stairs without even stopping at one step and reached the auditorium. The HR wasn’t back yet. I sat in the last bench. I closed my eyes and for one last time told myself, “Its ok even if I don’t get selected. After all I gave my best.” After 3-4 minutes Swapna and Saru came. (They were coolly walking up the stairs while I came running!!! :P). Seeing I close my eyes and hands folded, Swapna asked “hey dumbo, you alright?” I opened my eyes smiled at her and said, “I'm ok. Just anxious about the outcome.” She smiled and took my hands in hers and said “Don’t worry. You’ll get selected. Genpact will be losing a really good candidate if they don’t select you.” Haha. How sweet of her to say that? I just looked at her, blinked my eyes and said “Thanks sweetie.” Meanwhile the HR came. She looked as fresh as she was in the morning. Very graceful and ever smiling. She took the mike and just said one word, “Anxious?” everyone shouted “Yes!!!” She then said very diplomatically, “Every one of you has done really very well. How I wish I could take all of you for the job? But you know my limitations, right? So out of the 57 candidates, we selected 11. And they are……. She started announcing the names. When she announced the first 3 names, I was fixed that I didn’t make it as I was among the first to talk and my name wasn’t still announced. For a moment it hurt me like hell, then I told to myself “Its ok its ok its okkkkkkk!!!” But what do I hear all of a sudden? My name!!!!!! Swapna and Saru said “Hurray…Congrats baby”. GOD, I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t in her list till the last and so I lost the hopes. But gosh!!! I was so wrong. After announcing the names, she asked the 11 of us to get ready for the second round of the interview. It was the telephonic round to test our communication skills, listening ability and basic phone etiquette. It was almost 4:30 in the evening. Every one of us looked pale as we were there from morning. The HR told us that the telephonic interview would be for 20mins for each student. Two HR’s from Genpact office would take the interview from the office campus. Our college had provided two land line phones for the purpose of interview. At a time two students would be assessed from two different phones by two different HR’s. But the two HR’s who were supposed to interview us over phone were held up with work in their office and they would be back after an hour. I asked Saru and Swapna to leave as I saw no point in asking them to wait for me for next 3 hours. They said they’ll wait for next half an hour. I had least idea about what they’ll ask in the telephonic round. I didn’t want to think too much about it and get tensed. So, I started talking to Swapna and Saru about the usual girly and gossip stuff. After about 20 mins, Saru and Swapna decided to leave. I went with them till the bus stop and bid them bye. When I came back to the assembly hall, I saw that two guys were sitting in two corners of the hall and were talking in phone. I went to the adjacent room, the HR was there with remaining students. I asked her what was going on, she said the interview has begun already. Oops, so I was late. After a good 10mins the guys came back. The HR called next two students to go and attend the call. Time flew. The students who attended the second round of interview were made to sit in a separate row. The guys were sending the questions as messages in mobile that they were asked in the 2nd round to the girls who were sitting next to me waiting for the their turn of telephonic round. There were only 4 girls including me and remaining were boys. I knew none of them as I was from a different stream. All the 3 girls checked out the messages in their mobiles and started discussing the questions. They were whispering to each other so that I cannot hear what they were talking. Silly girls!!! They felt so insecure. I didn’t want to trouble them, so I shifted to other bench and sat alone. Suddenly I heard a hiss. I turned my head and saw that a guy was calling me. He didn’t know my name, so he was hissing in order to get my attention. When I asked him, “What?” He whispered “What’s your name?” I gave him a ferocious look and asked “Why?” he said “Simply. Give me your mobile number, I'll send you the questions.” Ahhhhh, that’s a cheap strategy. I said I dint want to know the questions. He said, “Don’t worry. I'll erase your number as soon as I send the message.” I said firmly “I said I don’t need that. If you insist I'll have to tell HR about what’s going on in the class between you and the remaining girls.” The guy was stunned at my response. Then what? How could he even think I'll give him my number to know the questions which would for sure vary from candidate to candidate? Cheap jack!!! I heard him say to the guy beside him, “She seems to be a tough cookie. Very head strong attitude.” I felt like giving him the tightest slap ever!!! How dare he judge me? Idiotic fellow. I just ignored his words and diverted my attention to the HR who was busy sitting on a chair and doing some paper work. After some time, she asked me to go and attend the call. I went to the room where I was supposed to attend the 2nd round of interview. I lifted the phone, closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breathe. I then said, “Hello”. I heard the HR other side, “Hi Ramya.” Then after a brief introduction from me, she started asking questions like what do you know about Genpact? Why would you like to work with Genpact? What are your strengths and weaknesses? I answered everything perfectly. I talked casually yet confidently instead of getting tensed. After 10mins she said, “Here is the last and important part of interview. I'll give you a topic on which you have to talk for 7-8mins non-stop.” I said “Ok.” She took few seconds and then gave me the topic. I started talking about the topic. The topic what I heard was “LOVE”. I started instantaneously “Love is the purest form of emotion. Love is what drives the universe. It is a misunderstood concept these days. It is an essential ingredient of life, but not the only ingredient…..etc etc etc , I went on blah blah blah. The HR didn’t utter a single word all the while that I was speaking. I paused only once in between just to hear her reaction, she simply said, “Go ahead.” I continued with all that I could think of at that moment about love. After some time when I had no words, and when I felt I almost talked for 8-9 mins, I stopped talking. When I couldn’t hear the HR, I said “That’s it. I'm done.” After I spoke for a pretty good time and after hearing to me without interrupting me, I thought I had done a really good job. I was quite sure that I spoke very well without searching for words. I expected the HR to say, “That’s nice” or “That’s good” or something similar. But to my dismay all she said was, “Ramya, I asked you to talk about LUCK, not LOVE!!!!” Oops. Oh no!!!!! I was such a jackass!!!! I didn’t even confirm what topic she gave me before I started to talk. As soon as she gave the topic, I started to talk talk talk and only talk. The most ridiculous thing was all the while I was talking about the wrong topic and even the HR didn’t bother to correct me!!!!! I then asked her, “Do you want me to talk about the right topic now or do I leave?” She said, “If you can talk, that would be great. It’s your wish.” I wanted to leave no stone unturned to get selected in Genpact. I after few seconds started talking about “LUCK”. After 3-4 mins the HR interrupted me midway and said, “Thanks Ramya. You can give the call to next person.” That’s it. I felt sooooooooooo very bad for making a complete fool of myself!! I cursed myself for not confirming on the topic before I could speak. I came back to the room and asked the HR, when’ll the results be out for this round? She said “We’ll display them on your college notice board tomorrow morning.” I said “Thank you” and left the place. It was 7 in the evening and was already dark. I started walking towards the bus stop. I was literally crying. I took out my hand kerchief and wiped the tears rolling down my eyes. My first interview was a disaster and I was totally responsible for everything!!!! Fortunately I didn’t have to wait for much time, I got a direct bus to go home. I messaged Saru and Swapna to be at the bus stop. They both responded immediately and asked how the interview went. I said I'll tell them once I meet them at the stop. They said OK. I was just remembering how the whole thing went. It was funny but cost me lose a good offer. I consoled myself and started thinking of other BPO offers. I was damn sure I'll not get selected for Genpact. I was lost in thoughts when I reached my place by 8:10. Swapna and Saru were waiting for me in the stop. I got down the bus. Both of them looked into my face. It was expressionless!!!! Neither disturbed nor happy. They asked me what happened. Swapna brought a chips packet for me. We went to the park behind the bus stop and I, while munching on the chips told them about how “LUCK” and “LOVE” played with me!!! Both of them burst out laughing when they heard about my stupidity and they started putting all kind of expressions that I would have given when I faced the bouncer. Saru said, “I'm cent% sure you would have opened your mouth wide open when you learnt that you spoke on the wrong topic for 10mins that too with so much enthu!!!! GOD, it’s so funny”. Seeing them laugh at me, I also felt it was funny and not serious to be mood off. I went home happily, had my dinner. My dad asked me about the interview. I said I did OK, not that good. He said “That’s your first shot. Glad that you cleared 1st round. Let’s hope you’ll clear second round too.” I just smiled and said “Thanks dad. Let’s hope for the best.” I then slept.
I as usual woke up at 5:30 in the morning, taught tuitions from 6 to 7:30 and left to college at 8:15. After we got down the bus and started walking towards our college Swapna and Saru asked, “Shall we just check if you cleared the interview? We’ll go to the office room and check the notice board.” I said I wasn’t interested. So, all the three of us went to class room. After our first class, the lecturer left. The second period was a leisure one. All of a sudden one of the guys came into the class and came up to me. He said, “Congrats Ramya”. I didn’t even know if he was from our class or not, I asked him “For what?” he was surprised and said “Are you not aware that you cleared second round of yesterday’s interview with the highest score?” What??????????? I was totally unaware of it. Saru asked the guy, “Who told you?” He said “You girls are funny. Whole college knows about it. It’s displayed on college notice board.” The 3 of us ran to the office room and saw the notice board; I could see my name on the top of the list with a score of 8.5.” That really was the most pleasant and unexpected thing I least thought of!!!!!! It was one of the proudest moments in the whole of my graduation days

FACE THE WASH!!!!!!

“Please yaar, just half an hour more” Swapna was persuading me. I said “We have practiced and prepared enough Swapna, I’m getting headache. I feel like having a strong cup of tea. Let me go home”. She said, “Oh ok. Is it for tea? Wait for 5mins. I'll prepare tea for you”. Hmmm, at last!!! I was giving her all kind of hints like “It’s my tea time now”. “My mom would have prepared tea for me and must be waiting”. “If I don’t have tea at this time every day, I feel like my head is gonna kinda blast”. We were at Swapna’s house and sitting in her room. I didn’t want to go home. Even I wanted to stay and prepare. But I needed to have a cup of tea. Swapna was preparing seriously. She would definitely say “Not now, let us practice for one more hour” if I ask her to prepare tea. I had no other option than to blackmail her :P :P!! If I say I'll go home, then she would ask me to stay and ultimately prepare tea. She went to the kitchen. Saru looked at me and said, “You are impossible!!” I smiled and said, “You know my weakness, TEA”. She retorted, “It’s not weakness, it’s kind of addiction.” Again, the same thing. My mom, sister and Saru say I'm addicted to tea. But I was sure that I wasn’t addicted. I have it only once a day, at 4 in the evening. I drink a glass of milk every morning and before I go to sleep. I have tea only once, not many times a day. But if I don’t have it on time, it makes me very uncomfortable. No matter what or where I'll be at 4, I'll have tea at any cost. If in any case, I don’t have it at 4, then I come home prepare a large cup of tea how late it may be, drink it completely and skip dinner. I get a heavenly feeling when I have tea in one hand and a good novel in other hand. I feel like I need nothing more in this life than a cup of tea and a good book!!!! Today also I had to bother Swapna for my tea mania. She had no clue about I blackmailing her for tea. Saru knew me better. She gave me a stern look when I proposed the idea for tea. But I really can’t help it. I can’t concentrate properly on anything at 4 if I don’t take tea. Meanwhile, Swapna walked in with 3 cups of tea. I enjoyed every bit of it. After the tea session, again we started preparing. Our preparation was for interviews which were in next week. We were in our graduation final year and had campus selections and placements starting from next week. Since it was the first time that we are going to face interviews, we wanted to give it our best shot. Swapna prepared technical stuff, I took care of HR stuff and Saru was ready with company profile and details. I don’t know why I opted for computers in my graduation, but I seriously hate the subject. Almost all the combinations of subjects included computers, so I had to go with it. The lengthy programs, the instructions, computer languages etc etc were things I wasn’t interested in. It’s not that I'll not understand the concept if I try to, but the thing is I don’t want to. Everything related to computers sucks as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I like about computers is the Internet. As long as I get to use Orkut, Face book, Gmail and Google I don’t want to learn what is inside the computer and how it really works. The scope of I gaining knowledge about computer programming and functioning is beyond my reach. Something towards which I never worked or don’t wanted to!!! Even during the school days, I scored very well in all subjects and really bad in computers. I only used to learn the abbreviations like RAM, ROM, EPROM, VLSI etc etc. Even in 3years of graduation, neither have I listened to any computer class with concentration, nor have I at least tried to. I however, listened to English and Hindi classes with utmost attention. I was the favorite student of both the language teachers. In fact I even topped the whole college in both Hindi and English languages in my 1st and 2nd years of graduation. I have done quite a lot of reading on how to face interviews, how to answer tricky questions, how to mention our weaknesses with a positive touch and all sort of HR stuff in newspapers. In addition to that I'm very outgoing and had nothing like stage fear as I actively participated in every co-curricular activity in school.  So, I took the responsibility of handling HR interviews. I was hopeless when it was about technical stuff and I was not worried about it even for name sake. I made up mind to attend interviews for only leading BPO’s like Satyam’s Nipuna, Wipro, Genpact, Infosys, and HSBC etc so that there will be very less of technical stuff in BPO’s. So, I didn’t bother much about technical thing. I was helping Saru and Swapna with HR stuff. They were not worried about technical round of the interview, so they wanted to focus on the HR round. Both Swapna and Saru were way better than me when it came to computer terminology and programming. After a thorough preparation for HR interviews, Saru and Swapna started forcing me to go through at least the basics for technical round of the interviews. I, after much pressure from them said OK. And till date I remember what I learned. I learnt the definition of DATA and INFORMATION and the difference between them!!!!! The very basics of computer. Seeing that I wasn’t interested to learn even the basics, both my dear friends gave up!!! Thank GOD. Now after a serious session, all the three of us needed to refresh. We decided to go to our favorite place in the whole colony. The pani puri chat bhandaar. My dad is a central government employee and we used to stay in Defence Quarters, which is the most decent place I have ever seen. We had all the facilities here. Shopping complex, Library, Parks, Table tennis court, cricket grounds, schools, temple and what not!!!! I was born and brought up here. I love this place. Every evening I used to meet Saru and we always go for a long walk together. Swapna used to join us occasionally. We had lot of fun together. We stood by each other through thick and thin and we are very close to each other. Wherever we went, we had loads of fun. We gossiped, laughed, teased, and commented at everyone. Life in quarters was so lively and memorable. We studied in the same school from our LKG and now we are still the same best buddies even in our graduation. We grew up together. We knew and we understood each other perfectly.
Hmmm, back to present.
Swapna was the sponsor for the day. Every time we went to eat chat, one of us would sponsor turn by turn. She asked as usual, “Chat and pani puri, rite? I think 30Rs will do”. I and Saru said instantly, “What about softy ice cream?” Swapna gave a sigh, looked at me and said, “If this girl eats chat, pani puri and ice cream, she’ll surely skip dinner and aunty (my mom) would scold you and me for that.” Saru was thinking about what Swapna had said and was about to say NO to ice cream, when I interrupted and said “Arey Swapna, I'll not skip my dinner. PROMISE”. Saru murmured slowly, “I'm hearing these fake promises ever since I was a child”. I almost shouted at her, “What?? You said something. Can you please be louder?” She smiled and said, “I was asking Swapna to get ready so that we can go and have pani puri.” Hmmm. I knew she was lying. I gave her a sheepish smile and asked Swapna to get ready. She went to the bed room, came up with a 50 rupee note and asked me to keep the money in my purse. Then, we arranged her room which was full of computer text books and class notes. We were talking about what dresses we should wear for the interviews. I suggested that wearing cotton chudidhars with collared necks would be fine. (I had so many cotton chudidhars with collared necks!!!). Swapna suggested that trousers with formal shirts would be great. (She had so many trousers and formal shirts). Saru knew why we suggested what we suggested. She just looked at both of us and said, “You selfish brats. Wear what you want to wear. But first let’s go out and eat. I'm hungry.” As a part of our practice for interviews, we made it a point to speak in English. We carried it very well. None of us were speaking any other language than English. Swapna stood up from the chair to get ready and said, “I'll be back in 2 minutes. I'll face my wash”. Saru and I asked, “WHAT????” Swapna again repeated what she said, “I'll face my wash yaar”. We were unable to control our laugh, but to make the situation funnier; we again asked Swapna “WHAT? Where are you going?” She said with an irritating tone, “How many times should I tell? I'm going to face my wash”. That was it. AGAIN. I and Saru were in splits and laughing like crazy!!!! Swapna had no clue about why we were laughing. She stared at us and left the room. Both, Saru and I were in Swapna’s room still and going on laughing. After some time Swapna returned and said “I'm ready. Let’s go.” Seeing us still laughing, Swapna lost her temper and shouted, “What’s with you idiots? Coming or not?” We left the room as Swapna was looking angry. Swapna’s mom was in garden. Seeing us leave, she said “Hey gals. How did you practice? Come home tomorrow, I'll prepare some sweets for you”. Saru and I looked at aunty, then looked at each other and again started laughing really loud. Aunty was puzzled and looked at us in surprise. Swapna dragged both of us by hand and told her mom, “I'll be back in an hour mom. I'll have light dinner”. We were walking on the road and still laughing. Every passerby was staring at us. Swapna was feeling really uncomfortable to walk with us. Both, Saru and I were on the verge of rolling on the floor and laugh. Swapna was murmuring, “Shameless gals. Everyone is staring at us. What will they think of you?” We were in no mood to listen. We were looking at Swapna and still laughing. Laughing we reached the bhandaar. Swapna ordered for 3 plates of samosa chat. We had it really fast as it was our favorite item. After we finished our chat, we started gorging on the pani puri’s. Saru and I kept our laughter aside and were one by one enjoying the pani puri’s. We were in the middle of our 5th pani puri when all of a sudden Swapna exclaimed, “Oh I got it. It’s wash my face and I said face my wash!!!!!!” That’s it. Again we started laughing loudly.
This time not 2 but the 3 of us!!!!!

My 1st & Worst Flight Journey Ever!!- From Hyd 2 Losangeles PART 2

After the immigration process, I proceeded towards the lounge. I checked for my gate number and settled in a seat. I was still crying and my view was almost blur. When I looked around, I saw so many people around me. An elderly lady who was sitting exactly opposite to me was staring at me. I felt awkward. I wiped my tears and glanced around. I saw so many shops . Hmmm, I love all sort of shops. Especially when they are colorful with soft toys, books, key chains, chocolates etc etc.  It was around 1:10am. I'm an early bird. I always sleep early and wake up early. Even during the peak time of exams, I sleep at 10 or max 11. After 11 no matter what, I can’t help but feel damn sleepy. Unless and until it was really necessary, I will never be awake after 11. But today though the time was quarter past 1, I was not feeling sleepy. I was eagerly waiting to fly high!!!! Still one hour to go. I took iPod from my hand bag and started listening to songs. The lady sitting opposite to me was still watching me. I looked at her and gave a friendly smile. I felt that if I didn’t smile, she wouldn’t stop staring at me. She smiled back. Cool. There were frequent announcements about the flight and passengers. In order not to miss any announcement I reduced the volume of iPod. After some time, there was an announcement hearing which every one’s face went pale. The flight was delayed for 2hrs and would start at 4:20am. OMG, what will I do for next two hours? I was already feeling bored sitting all alone. It then occurred to me that my sis-in-law has activated international roaming on my mobile and I had it in my hand bag. I thought of calling my dad to inform him about the delay. But I then realized that everyone at home would be asleep. I didn’t want to wake them up. I forgot to carry a novel with me. All I had with me to kill time was the iPod. After some time, I went to the rest room. I was washing my face when I again heard an announcement. I quickly rushed out. The announcement was repeated. It drove me nuts. The flight was further delayed for 3hrs. That means, the flight which was supposed to start at 2:20 would start at 7:20. For a moment I felt like going back home. I love surrounding myself with people. One thing doing which I never felt tired was talking talking and talking. But now, though there were hell lots of people around me, I knew no one. I was already feeling homesick. I wasn’t worried about sitting 16hrs in the flight, I knew I would slip in to sleep easily. But spending 3 more hrs in the lounge was bothering me. I had no clue about what to do. It was then that I noticed a book shop. Good. I went to the shop. I'm an avid reader. I read everything from newspaper, magazines, novels, comics, text books, pamphlets and what not!!! I looked at almost all the novels,what caught my attention was Sidney Sheldon’s “Nothing Lasts Forever”. I read the novel two years back. I borrowed it from a friend. I completed reading it in one day, but returned the novel after a week. I read the novel as many times as I could in that week. Right from page 1 to the last page, everything was so interesting that once I started to read, I closed the novel only after I finished it. I loved the novel. Since I read it two years back, all I could remember was the storyline and the main plot. I sort of forgot the narration. Without slightest hesitation, I bought the novel along with two other Telugu novels. I came back to my seat and started reading the novel. I loved every bit of it. The characters, the narration, the concept, plot etc. I spent the next one hour reading the novel and completed almost half of it. Though I was reading with utmost interest, I couldn’t help but keep checking my watch and tell myself “Just 1hr to go, 40mins to go”. An announcement began again. I thought it was about the flight getting started. But I was sooooo wrong!!!! I felt so irritated. The flight was again delayed for third time and this time for 4 sucking hours. All the passengers were very furious hearing the recent delay. Some of the passengers started arguing with the flight executives in the lounge. The executives simply said they felt sorry for all the passengers, however they were helpless as there was some technical problem with the flight. I looked at the watch. It was 6:50. People slowly got up from their seats and went to have breakfast. Hmm, I could hardly resist the aroma of idli sambar from a café in the lounge. Idli is my all-time favorite breakfast. I was hungry and wanted to gorge on the idlis. But I didn’t brush my teeth and I didn’t have my tooth brush or paste in the hand bag. They were in the main luggage. The thought of having breakfast without brushing teeth was yackkkkk!!!! . I went to the restroom to wash my mouth. There was a lady in the rest room brushing her teeth. I cursed myself for not carrying my brush and paste. I then went to have my breakfast. I ordered for a plate of idli. I was served after 10mins. I was really surprised to see two very very small idlis (Perhaps half the size of what my mom prepares at home!!!). I munched on the idlis. Since it was already half past 7, I decided to call my dad and tell him about the delay. Before I could call him, I sensed that I was getting a call. The mobile was vibrating in my bag. It was my husband. When I answered the call, he was surprised. No hello, nothing. The first thing he said was, “Ramya, is that you?? Is everything alright?” I told him about the delay and that I was still in Hyderabad airport. He was very upset. I told that I was fine and there was nothing to be worried. We talked for next two hours. I told him that the battery in my mobile was dying and I didn’t even carry the charger. He asked me to check for charging points in the lounge. There were three charging points, but sadly none of them had chargers that supported my mobile. Bouncers all the way. Nothing was going good. Delay delay delay and now low battery and no charger too. I cursed my ill fate. After talking to my husband, I called my dad. Even he was shocked to see my name in his display. He thought I reached Dubai and was calling from there. When he learnt about the situation I was in, he asked me if I wanted him to come over to airport. Both of us knew that there was no point of him coming all the way to airport from our house. Even if he comes, he’ll not have access to come to lounge, nor do I have an option to leave the lounge. So, I asked him not to worry and assured him that I was perfectly alright. Telling him about the low battery, I ended the call. I was engrossed in reading again. After about an hour I completed the novel. I was in no mood to start reading another novel. My eyes were burning due to sleepless hours, and on the top of that reading the novel created burning sensation in my eyes. I closed the novel and kept it in the bag. I closed my eyes for a moment. I wanted to have a strong cup of coffee. I went to the same café where I had my breakfast and ordered for a coffee. If it was in my college canteen, I would have told specifically that I needed a strong coffee. But here I didn’t. I found a corner seat and settled with my cup of coffee. I was in no hurry today. No college. No exam. And so, no tension. I had all the time in the world. I enjoyed my coffee sip after sip. Mathematics is my favorite subject and I loved calculations. To kill time, I started counting the number of customers in the café. There were 19 of them. Tea was the cheapest item on the menu. It was 15bucks. So, even if each one of them orders at least a single tea, the café would earn 15*19=285Rs. Good. If the café makes at least 250Rs per an hour, that would mean 6000Rs (250*24) in a day and ultimately 1,80,000 (6000*30) a month. Not bad, assuming that 6000 is the minimum earning each day. I finished my coffee and went back to my seat. My eyes were still burning and I badly needed to sleep. But with so many people around me, I felt uncomfortable to doze off. Also I would miss announcements. I can’t risk closing my eyes for a moment also because I know I'll easily slip in to sleep if I do so. I went to the rest room again, washed my face and got freshened up. Ah, I was feeling lot better. If the flight was on time, I would have already reached Dubai and would be waiting for the flight to Losangeles. It was since last 7hrs that I was sitting in the lounge and I had to do so for next two hours. Most of the people were in pairs and they were all chit chatting. I had no one to talk to. At one stage, I thought I'll go back home. Then I thought I'll explore the lounge from starting point till the end. But I was not supposed to leave my luggage and had to carry it wherever I moved in the lounge. So, I just dropped the idea. Instead I started observing everyone, thinking which of them would be travelling to Losangeles. After some 10mins, I took out the Telugu novel. I started reading it. I don’t know if it’s only me who liked novels like crazy. I liked all kinds of novels. Fiction and non-fiction. Well known writer or a less popular one. Hindi, Telugu or English. I liked all kinds of novels. The one I was reading now was Yandamuri Virendhranath’s stuff, a very famous Telugu novelist. His works have been translated in to Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi and even English. I started reading his novels right from my ninth class. I read only 3 to 4 of his works, but became his diehard fan. Apart from regular novel stuff, he also includes a bit of general knowledge. I was in my 49th page when the executives finally announced that………………..
THE FLIGHT GOT CANCELLED!!!!!!!!!!
For a moment I was speechless. I didn’t know how to react. Everyone went and started fighting with the flight executives. The lounge which was very calm from past 7hrs was now filled with noise. All the passengers were fed up with the delay, but what upset everyone was 7hrs of waiting and finally cancellation. It was ridiculous. I really had no idea about what cancellation meant. Do I go home and come again? Or will they provide other airlines? Within a second, I was getting all sort of weird thoughts. What if the flight was at night? How can I spend so much time here? Will they allow visitors at least now? I went to one of the executives and asked her. All the other passengers were fighting and shouting at her. But though I was irritated with the cancellation, I spoke to her softly and enquired about what is that I had to do now. She said they were putting up all the passengers in a hotel in the airport, after which they will let us know as to what we had to do. I got the piece of information for which everyone was fighting and shouting. I calmly came back to my seat and started watching the nuisance. I really pitied the flight executives. They were being questioned and people were shouting at them. But they were so patient and answering everyone with a forced smile. How difficult would their job be? One of the ladies was abusing a flight executive and the executive was almost in tears. The other executives called higher authorities for assistance as they were unable to handle the hyper passengers. After about half an hour, the higher officials came. They explained that the flight had a serious technical problem and had to be cancelled. They also told that it was completely their responsibility from the Hyderabad airport till we reach our destinations. After much arguments and discussions, everyone came to a common understanding. All the passengers agreed to what the officials said. Slowly everyone was led to the carousel. We had to go down to collect our luggage. Oh my GOD, I had to take an ESCALATOR!!!! Nothing scares me as much as an escalator. All of my friends used to think of me as a bold and daring gal until they found out my escalator phobia. Escalators scare me to death!!!! Once, in order not to get on to the escalator, I climbed almost 200 steps at Imax. I was with my school friends. We were meeting after a really long time. We kept moving from floor to floor in Imax. Every time we had to go up or come down, everyone used the escalator. But I was the odd man out. I used the stairs. Today also when I saw the escalator, I was scared. But watching the steps beside the escalator relieved me. The airport authorities closed the entrance to steps and only very elderly people were being allowed to use steps. I looked at my cabin luggage and the escalator. I was worried. But I felt so ashamed when I saw kids and old people using the escalator. But this wasn’t the time to experiment. So, I asked the executives to open the entrance of stairs for me. She stared at me and asked if I had any health issues. Without a second thought I said yes, not knowing what would I tell her if she asked me what issue I had. But, luckily she didn’t ask me. She just opened the entrance. I gave a really biggggggg smile to her. I felt like doing a “Saashtanga namaskaaram” to her. Silly me!! I walked almost 30-40steps with the luggage. I was the only one of my age group taking the steps. Everyone else was too old. I felt weird. But no choice. After I got down the steps, I noticed that something more challenging was waiting for me. Everyone was collecting their luggage from the baggage claim carousel. OMG, how do I lift such heavy bags that too when the luggage was moving around on the belt? I looked around. Everyone was busy collecting their luggage. I, for the first time felt too bad about having to travel all alone. I wished my husband was there in such situation. My bags were moving in front of my eyes, but I didn’t dare to pick them up and make a fool of myself. I knew I cannot lift them all by myself. I really needed someone to help me out. Everyone else picked their bags and left. I was standing there all alone watching my bags rotate on the belt. There was not even a single porter. Where have all the porters gone? I was almost in tears when a man came to me and said “Madam”. I looked at him with a question mark face. He asked me if I needed any help. Without uttering a single word, I showed him the bags. He smiled and lifted the bags and helped me to put them on to the cart. Second Savior of the day. I felt so relaxed. I thanked him profusely. We were led out of the airport. The authorities arranged shuttles from the airport to the hotel. The hotel was in airport premises. I felt relaxed. But after two trips to the hotel, we were informed that the hotel was completely filled and couldn’t accommodate more passengers. All of us were standing outside the airport in the hot sun with carts. I was feeling giddy. It was almost 12 in the noon and I still didn’t brush my teeth. I was telling myself, the first thing I'll do when I reach the hotel is brush my teeth and take bath. I can starve but I can’t compromise on basic things like brushing and bathing. I talked to few people and wanted to check if anyone was heading to the same destination as I. Sadly for me, none of them was going to Losangeles. People, whose destinations were the same, formed a group. I was standing all alone. I kept consoling myself saying “This shall pass too”. After a good 45minutes we were given accommodation in Westin hotel at hi-tech city. That means again nearly one hour journey from airport to the hotel. Meanwhile my dad called and when I told him that I was going to the Westin hotel, he said he’ll meet me at the hotel. I didn’t want to strain him. It would take easily 2-3hrs for him to travel from my house to hi-tech city. But he was worried and wanted to see me. I asked him to get me the mobile charger so that I can charge my mobile at the hotel. The shuttle started at around 1 in the noon. So, I had been in airport for almost 12hrs!!! Too bad. The porters helped us with the luggage. I just closed my eyes and slept in the shuttle. I was disturbed by all sort of noises. I woke up and saw that we reached the hotel. I never heard of Westin hotel. When we were told that we were being accommodated in Westin, I thought it might be a small hotel. But I was soooooo wrong!!!! The hotel had 20+ floors and it was mind blowing. I was in no mood to enjoy the beauty and look of the hotel. I badly needed to take bath. I pushed myself ahead, went to the reception and asked what my room number was. She asked my name, took my passport and allotted me a room in 18th floor. She then told me that I'll be given my passport when I leave. I asked her if I can get someone to help me with the luggage. She asked me to leave the luggage in the lawn and the helper would get it to my room. COOL. While in the elevator I was thinking, when will these guys get my luggage? I can take bath only when they get my luggage as all my clothes were in the main luggage. To my surprise, as I went to the room and was opening the lock, there came a helper with all my luggage. Too good. He helped me to carry the luggage inside and left. I immediately opened the main luggage, took out my brush and brushed my teeth. Ah, it felt so good. I felt as if I brushed my teeth after ages!!! I then took bath, had some sweets that were packed by my mom in-law. As I was about to sleep, the telephone in my room started ringing. It was the receptionist other side. She told me that I had a visitor. Wowww, it was my dad. I immediately went down. My dad was sitting in the lawn and reading a magazine. I was soooo happy to see him. I wondered if I felt so relieved just because I missed him for 14-15hrs, how will I feel if I'll not be able to see him at least for a year? My GOD. The thought itself was so scary. I didn’t want to think of it as it will make my situation even worse and I'll get emotionally depressed. I went and hugged my dad tightly. I was almost in tears, so was my dad. I, for the first time in my life felt bad that I was a daughter. If I was a son to my dad, I would never have to leave my parents and go somewhere far. Later, I took my dad to the room. I charged my mobile. I was telling him all that happened after I entered the lounge. I had no one to talk and now all of a sudden someone close to talk to. I was talking continuously. My dad asked me to sleep for some time. But I didn’t. I was worried deeply that I would not get to see him in the near future if he left now. So, I kept my sleep aside and talked to my dad heart fully. I then ate some fruits and chips that my dad bought for me. After sometime when I was unable to control my sleep, I told my dad that I wanted to sleep. After I slept, my dad went out, and talked to few people who were also supposed to fly with me and were accommodated in the same hotel. Some of them informed my dad that they got call from British airways about their journey. British airways has booked tickets for all the passengers in various other airlines. Some of them left the hotel as their flight was in the evening. Most of the passengers got call from the British airways about their flight details. I was the one who didn’t get a call. My dad immediately came to my room and woke me up. He asked me if I got any call from the British airways. I said I didn’t. He immediately called the receptionist and asked her if they got any call for me at reception from the British airways. She said they didn’t. When we gathered more information from other passengers, we found that many of them didn’t get call too. Thank GOD, I had some company. It was already 5 in the evening. I asked my dad to leave. He was reluctant to leave and said would leave only after everything was finalized. But he had to travel a really long distance to go back home. The hotel was in one end of the city and our home at the other end. After I forced him to leave, he left the hotel telling me to call him in case of emergency. I went to the ground floor to bid my dad good bye. He wished me a happy journey. While going back to my room, I once again enquired at the reception if I got any call to my room. They said NO. I was so sure that if my journey was confirmed with other airlines, I would get a call from the British airways. I went back to the room and was cross checking all my documents. I heard a knock on the door at approximately 6:20 in the evening. It was an elderly man who was also staying in the same floor as I. My dad had asked him to inform me about any kind of recent updates from the airways. My dad never makes his absence felt by doing such things. This uncle has brought with him a website and few helpline numbers on a piece of paper and asked me to call the helpline. I tried calling the helpline. But there was no response. Meanwhile my husband called me. I gave him the website as I didn’t have access to internet in my room. When he logged in to the website and checked my flight details he was shocked and so was i!!!! I was still in hotel which was a minimum of 45minutes drive from airport and my flight was in 30mins. I was totally unaware of my confirmation about the flight. I didn’t waste a single second. I called the reception and asked for a helper to carry my luggage and told the receptionist to arrange for a cab to airport. She said the cab was already waiting for me. I was so furious. How can a cab wait for me without I being informed? This was ridiculous. But I didn’t want to argue. I quickly came down and collected my passport at the reception. I then adjusted my luggage in the cab and left the hotel. As I was leaving the hotel, the receptionist told me not to pay to the cab driver as the airways will take care of it. Hmmm, these people had at least this basic sense. I called my dad and told him that my journey from Hyd-Dubai and Dubai-Losangeles by British Airways has changed to Hyd-Delhi, Delhi-Frankfurt and Frankfurt –Losangeles through Jet Airways till Delhi and by Lufthansa from Delhi. Telling him that I’ll call him as soon as i reach airport, i ended the call. What if my dad hasn’t asked that uncle to intimate me? Who would have helped me with the website and helpline numbers? What if I missed this flight? I barely had 20mins to reach the airport. I asked the driver to drive fast. I told him that I had to be in airport in at least 15mins. The guy understood my situation and he knew I was tensed. He was driving really fast. He took the outer ring road route which was relatively free from traffic compared to the regular route. Thanks to the outer ring road. If I had to take the regular and old route, no doubt I would have reached the airport after a minimum of 2hrs. My flight to Delhi was at 7:20 and I'm still on my way to airport and it was already 7:07!!! What the heck? I don’t know what would happen if I miss this flight, will I be able to talk to airways and take another flight? My husband asked me to call the helpline and tell them about my status. I was too tensed and worried. I gave him the number and he talked to the British Airways executives, told them about my situation. The executives assured him that they’ll take care of me as soon as I reach the airport. But none of them turned out when I reached the airport. Crappy people. So careless. The cab driver helped me to put the luggage on the cart. I took out a hundred rupee note and gave it to the driver. He was hesitant, but when I forced him, he took the money. I never spend a single rupee until and unless I feel it’s really necessary. But today without any second thought I gave him the money. He totally deserved it.  I was already 7:12. Only 8mins and my flight would be gone!!!! Never in my life was I soooo nervous. I was pushing my cart and moving fast. I cleared the security check and went directly to the British Airways counter. They asked me if I was Ramya Joshi. Hmmm, I told YES it’s me. They checked in my luggage and directed me towards Jet Airways. When I reached the counter, I showed the executive my boarding pass and he said, “Mam, you are so late”. I for the first time raised my voice, got irritated and shouted, “Excuse, I was informed at 6:30 that my flight was at 7:20 and I had come all the way from hi tech city. What else can you expect from me?”  The guy asked me to calm down. He immediately asked the attendants to stamp on my boarding pass (I didn’t have to wait in the queue for stamping). I was given two other boarding passes from Delhi-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Losangeles. I put the passes in my handbag without even checking them and hurried to the gate. It was already 7:35, I was 15mins late and I was not sure if I'll be able to make it to the flight. And when I reached the gate, I found no one!!!! For a moment my heart sank. It felt as if the whole world has come to an end. I was so sure that I missed the flight!!! The thought of which made me shiver. I hurriedly went to the executive over the counter, and asked him if the flight has left. He asked me if I was Ramya Joshi. I almost screamed a YES. He said the flight was waiting for me and would leave in 5mins. I was sooooo very happy. Flights would only wait for VIP’s. But, British Airways officers asked the Jet Airways to delay the flight for 20mins for me as it was the fault of British airways. Thank GOD!!!!A shuttle was waiting for me at the gate. I got in to it. I was the only passenger in the whole shuttle. The credit for I not missing the flight goes to my dad and the uncle in the hotel undoubtedly. What if my dad hasn’t asked him to inform me? What if the uncle didn’t give me helpline numbers and the web address? I could have screwed up my entire trip. When I finally got in to the flight, I felt as if I conquered the whole world. I put my luggage in the cabinet and settled down in my seat. Finally, I emerged victorious!! This experience was enough for me to make the rest of the journey confidently. Everyone in the flight was staring at me as I was the last one to turn up. I observed them only after I put my luggage and settled down. I gave a sigh of relief and there was a smile on my face. I then looked around. Everyone was staring at me. They were observing me keenly. Seeing I sigh and smile to myself, they could have thought I was mad!!! The flight started in 5mins. I'll reach Delhi in another 2hrs max, i.e. at 9:45pm. My flight from Delhi to Frankfurt was at 3am. Hmm, I had 5hrs at Delhi airport. I, after all the circus, realized that I was starving for a really long time. I ate some chips and fruits in the noon and didn’t have anything after that. I quickly planned my schedule at airport. I'll collect my baggage from carousel, after which I'll have dinner and then go to the lounge. The plan seemed simple and executable. I closed my eyes and was recollecting all that happened with me. I had a hearty laugh. Though I didn’t have proper sleep for almost 20hrs, I was neither feeling sleepy nor tired. I was just excited about my journey. I forgot all my novels in the main luggage. Oops, how will I pass rest of the time? Hyd-Delhi should not be a problem. It was just 2hrs journey. But rest of the journey 18hrs in flight and 8hrs in lounge seemed to be eternal. Ok, I quickly took a decision. I'll listen to songs in iPod in the lounge and in flight I'll sleep. That was the best way to pass time. Now my mind was at peace. I simply started enjoying the rest of the journey by observing flight attendants, co passengers. It was announced that the flight will be landing in next half an hour. Be cool and confident, no matter what. That was my mantra right now. But fate had something totally different in store for me!!!!! Just before the landing, I got the shock of my life. My name was being announced in the announcement. I listened to the announcement with much attention now. Oh, no. It was my name that they were announcing. I was required to meet a flight executive as soon as I landed in Delhi. His name was Shiv Dingra.
What went wrong now????
Everyone in the flight started looking at each other as to who Ramya Joshi was, whose name was being announced repeatedly. Again, there were so many questions in my mind. Did I board the wrong flight? Why didn’t they tell me when I got in to the flight? Was there something wrong with my passport? Or was it an emergency? Did something happen to someone in my family and did they ask executives to inform me? My GOD, I was so lost in thoughts that I didn’t even realize that the flight has landed and everyone was moving. The lady beside me shook me. I said sorry and got up to give her way to move. I was the last one to leave the flight. As soon as I got out, I went to the shuttle and reached the domestic terminal. I have to collect my luggage from baggage claim and then take another shuttle to International terminal. In the process, I should also have my dinner as it was already 9:30. I went to the carousel, didn’t have time to check if a porter was available as I had to meet the executives too. I wanted to give it a try. I wanted to collect and lift my luggage myself. I can’t do it with so many people around me. I was hesitant. But then thought, I know no one and no one knows me too. There was no point in feeling hesitant to lift my luggage. I went forward and stood in front of the carousel. All the bags were moving on the belt one by one. My dad has attested a printout with my name and destination on my bags so that I could easily identify them. There I could see two heavy bags, a green and a red one with my name on them. When they were moving in front of me I wanted to lift them, but something inside me stopped me from doing so. Again I was looking for a porter who was not to be seen in the nearest distance. I finally gave up and asked a guy beside me to help me with my bags. He said yes and thus I managed to collect my luggage and then proceeded towards the Jet airways executive to meet Shiv Dingra. I reached the counter and asked for Shiv Dingra. I was shown a guy standing far away. I pushed my cart and went to him. The cart was so heavy and on the top of that, I was feeling sleepy and hungry too. I felt as if I'll faint and fall down. I knew I had to be cool and strong. I decided to temporarily forget about food and sleep. When I reached the guy and asked him as to why I was asked to meet him, he took me to the counter. He said that there was some problem with my boarding pass. He said he’ll call and verify with Hyderabad airport authorities. He was calling someone in Hyderabad airport. Meanwhile I took out my boarding pass and guess what????? I was given 3 passes. One from Hyd to Delhi, second one from Frankfurt to Losangeles and the third should be from Delhi to Frankfurt. But the idiotic person in the Hyderabad airport counter gave me a carbon copy of Hyd to Delhi pass instead of Delhi to Frankfurt. He didn’t give me the pass from Delhi-Frankfurt!!!! That means, I cannot board the flight now. After finishing his call, Shiv Dingra asked for the carbon copy of the pass and then asked me to talk with British airways executives. I went to the British airways counter which was really far from Jet airways and totally at the other end of the airport. I reached the counter and explained my situation. Good GOD, the executive was informed about my situation beforehand. She took me to the Lufthansa airlines counter, which was again in another end of the airport. She assured me not to worry as it wasn’t my fault that I was given the wrong boarding pass. I thought everything was going to be fine. But when I reached the Lufthansa counter along with the British airways executive, I was asked to give the carbon copy of the pass which I gave it to Shiv Dingra of Jet airways. I told them the same. I didn’t have the copy. But they told me on my face that I cannot travel until and unless I show them the carbon copy. It was 11:40 pm. I spent almost 2hrs pushing the cart and moving in the airport from counter to counter. I didn’t know what to do now. I was clear that I have the copy, may not be with me. I told that I'll go and get it from Shiv Dingra. The British Airways executive looked at me and said, “You look very tired. I'll ask someone to get the copy for you”. She then called someone and told them to get the copy of pass from Shiv Dingra of Jet airways. I asked her to excuse me for a while and went to buy some drinking water. I completed half the bottle in one gulp. I was about to order for a veg sandwich when the British airways executive waved her hand and asked me to come fast. I hurriedly went to her; there was another executive with her. When I asked what happened, the executive said that Shiv Dingra has denied I giving him the copy!!!! I was so furious and all could say was I'll go and talk to him. I went all the way to the Jet airways counter and asked for Shiv Dingra again. They said he was somewhere in the airport on duty. I asked them to call him on his mobile. They told me that he left his mobile with them. I didn’t know what to do. It was already 12:20. I gave them my mobile number and asked them to tell Shiv Dingra to call me as soon as he comes. I left the place. Only 2 ½ hrs left for check in and I was still in Domestic terminal. I had to go to International terminal. I didn’t know where to search for him. I was simply moving in the airport hoping to find him. I almost looked for him for the next one hour. As I had to check in, but had no boarding pass, I didn’t know what to do. I finally went to the British airways and asked them if they can help me or I'll simply return to Hyderabad. They said they were waiting for an officer to handle my situation and who’ll help me out. The officer arrived in 5mins. He asked me if I gave the carbon copy to the guy or if I didn’t. Come on. Why would I have to lie? I said firmly that I have given the copy to Shiv Dingra. He then asked me to follow him. We went to the Lufthansa counter. The officer told them about all that happened. The Lufthansa executives called their officer and both of them had talked and discussed for about half an hour. At last I was allowed to travel in the flight. They came to a common understanding. I was given a new boarding pass from Delhi-Frankfurt. I cross checked my boarding pass and passport.The officer asked me to leave for the International terminal as it was already time for check in and I was running out of time. I rushed to the gate to take a shuttle to International terminal. I thought both domestic and international terminals are part of the airport, so it would take less than 5mins to reach the International terminal. But NO. It took a good 15mins!!!!!! When I reached the international terminal, I directly headed to the Lufthansa counter. I checked in my luggage, I didn’t have time to eat. I was supposed to undergo immigration process again. Oh, no. I stood in the line. After 5mins I approached the immigration officer. He looked very strict and serious. He asked my name, husband’s name and profession. I gave him the details along with supporting documents. Before stamping on my passport, he asked me what my qualification was. I said that I completed my MBA. He then asked, “In?” Without even thinking for a second I said, “CBIT”. He stared at me. I said I was sorry and gave a smile and said, “Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology” (That’s my college’s name). He just looked at me as if I were a dumb ass and asked “What fields?” Oh, so he meant what specializations in MBA? I said “Human Resources and Marketing”. It was so funny. I was a complete fool. I was unable to control my laughter. But since the officer was checking my documents seriously, I tried to control my laugh. But as soon as he stamped on my passport, I burst out laughing loudly. He and everyone else were staring at me.
For the first time in my whole life, I burst out laughing so loudly, that too in front of complete strangers.
After few seconds, I collected my passports and documents and proceeded further. I observed a smile on the officer’s face while he was handing over my passport. Good. He too knew that it was funny. I then left to the lounge. I was already late. All the passengers were moving into the flight. I directly went and stood in the queue. After 5mins, I was in the flight. I looked for my seat number. Out of the three seats, mine was the middle one and there were guys on either side. I settled down. It was very uncomfortable for me to sit between these two guys. They were friends. Both of them was talking from either side. I could see nowhere but the front. How can they book tickets with one seat left between them? It was foolish. Before the flight could take off, one of the guy asked me if I can seat in another seat which was vacant. It was in the next row. There was a lady sitting beside that seat. I said I will move, and left my seat. My new seat was much better. A lady one side and an empty seat the other side. The lady was also from hyd. I was so relieved to hear that. I asked which state/city she was going to from Frankfurt. She said Toronto. Hmm ok. I badly needed to sleep. I closed my eyes. The flight took off. I slept straight for 4hrs!!!! After I woke up, I adjusted my hair and dress. I wanted to use the rest room. But, I was feeling awkward and uneasy as I was not accustomed to the rest rooms in flight. Since I slept for 4 straight hours, I wanted to wash my face and mouth. I got out of my seat and asked one of the attendants where the rest rooms were. She showed me the way. It was common for both ladies and gents. I didn’t mind. All I knew was if I keep hesitating for each and every small thing, I would make my journey even more miserable. There were two men waiting outside the rest room. As soon as a lady came out of the rest room, I thought one of the guy would go in. But they asked me if I wanted to use rest room first. I said yes and went inside. I washed my face. I kept on wetting my eyes. It was such a relief.  As I was walking back to my seat, I saw that the attendants were getting snacks for everyone. I was so hungry. I felt like grabbing the food and eat!! I realized how much I troubled my mom when she asked me to eat.  She literally used to beg me to eat!! Now when she wasn’t around, I missed her terribly. I came to my seat and was waiting for the snacks. And finally, here they arrive!! The flight attendant placed the snacks in front of me. I was very eager to eat. But my hunger died as soon as I saw the snacks. I couldn’t even make out what stuff it was!! I didn’t even know if it was veg or non-veg . Having food in front of you and you being damn hungry but unable to eat the food was terrible. I simply put the snacks aside. I closed my eyes. From the beginning till now, my journey was pathetic. GOD knows what will happen to me in Frankfurt. If it was Delhi or Mumbai or Chennai, I would manage or in worst cases fly back to Hyderabad. But now I had no such choice. I was still lost in all sorts of thoughts when I heard an announcement. I was surprised. The flight will be landing in next 45mins. Good. I didn’t want to spare even the 45mins of landing time. I again slept and woke up just 10mins before landing. The local time at Frankfurt was 7:30am. After the landing, I bid good bye to the lady sitting next to me and wished her happy journey. She too wished me the same. Hmm, I thought how nice it would have been if she was coming to Losangeles too. I would have got some company. There were helpers everywhere in the Frankfurt. They were guiding all the passengers. I showed them my boarding pass and asked them which way to go to reach the gate. He showed me the directions. I followed his directions and also the instructions on the boards which were placed all along the airport. My gate was B 52, I was at B 18. I started walking towards B 52.When I reached B 26; I found a board indicating a rightward and downward direction for gates B 27 to B 52. I took a right and then found that I had to take an escalator!!!! Oh shucks!!  I can’t. I looked around, there were no stairs. Just two escalators. One for going down and other for coming up. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I had no choice. I saw everyone passing me and going. I had 5 good hours for flight. No hurry. I went and sat on a bench. I found a helper nearby and asked him if there were stairs to reach gate number B 52. He didn’t understand what I asked. I showed him my boarding pass. He was speaking German. I didn’t understand even a single word. I was asking in English and he was answering in German. He saw my boarding pass and showed me the escalator. He was trying to tell me that I have to go down the escalator to reach my gate. I said OK, thanks and pretended as if I was going to the escalator. He smiled and left. When I reached the escalator, I turned back and looked around. There was no sight of the guy. I again came back and sat on the bench. I was seeing all the people come up and go down the escalator. It was no such deal for them. But for me, escalators and elevators are a big no no. I use elevators only when I really don’t have an option. I still remember an incident. I went to Mumbai to visit my sister, they stayed in 8th floor. One day I went for a walk all alone. I walked down the 8 floors, just to avoid the elevator. When my sister found about what I did, she scolded me and every day she used to take me in the elevators, so that I get used to it and I don’t fear it anymore. Because of her, I got used to elevators little bit. I don’t know why, but I'm damn scared to use escalator or elevator. Today also I was in same situation. I had no other go!!! I was sweating completely. After ten minutes, I realized that if I simply sit like this, there’s a chance that I would be again late for the flight. I closed my eyes and prayed to GOD. I took my hand bag and the cabin bag. I started walking towards the escalator. My legs were shivering. I stood there for a moment, observed the escalator. I took a step ahead, placed my foot on the escalator and immediately dragged the cabin bag in my hand on to the escalator. Hurray!!!! I was walking down the escalator. Another proud moment in the journey  I was actually enjoying it!!!! There was an airport train that takes us to the gate B 52. I got in to the train. When it stopped, I got out of it and looked for directions to head towards B 52. Again rightward and downward directions. I was 50% excited and 50% nervous. However I didn’t have much time to sit, get ready and take the escalator. I simply walked towards the escalator and carefully put my foot and zoooooop !!I reached down within no time. I was very happy. I walked to my gate and settled down. I was so hungry. I wanted to have some Indian food like rice with ghee and pickle. There was no Indian food stall anywhere in the airport. Why will there be an Indian food stall anyway in German airport? I simply sat in the same place for next 3hrs after which it was announced that the passengers are requested to get in to the flight. There was one more hour and it was just a regular announcement. I went to the rest room and got freshened up. After that, I went ahead, showed my boarding pass and got in to the flight. There were very few passengers. Some were already sleeping. I found my seat and arranged my luggage in to the cabin and settled down. I sat in the corner seat and there were all ladies in my row. None of them Indian though. I then remembered that I switched off my mobile when I was in Delhi and never switched it on again. My dad, uncle, brother, sister, husband and brother in law were calling me one after other to check if I was alright. I got fed up with their calls and switched off my mobile. I totally forgot to switch it on. I bit my tongue for not intimating them . I switched on the mobile sent a message to everyone.
I’M FINE. IN A FLIGHT TO LOSANGELES.WILL REACH LOSANGELES IN 12HRS.SHALL CALL YOU AS SOON AS I REACH. SWITCHING OFF MY MOBILE RIGHT NOW.
Before switching off the mobile, I waited to check if any of them would reply. Surprisingly I got responses instantly. My uncle was the first one to reply. Then my husband, dad, bro in-law and brother replied. I felt both happy and sad. Happy that they cared so much for me and sad because I was going far away from them!!! I read all their replies again and kissed my mobile. The lady next to me observed this. I looked at her. She smiled, I gave a smile too. She asked me if I was travelling all alone. I said I was. She asked me not to worry. I thanked her and then switched off my mobile. After 25mins the flight took off. I was so relaxed that I'll be reaching LA finally. I was eager to see and talk to my husband and tell him all about the circus. I saw the map display in the flight. It showed 12more hours to reach the destination, i.e. LA. I didn’t eat anything for almost one whole day!!! I didn’t care much now. I will be landing in LA within no time and my husband would be there to receive me. I, to kill time was picturing how our meeting will be at the airport. Will he be as excited as I was? Will I be able to control my emotions or will I break down in to tears as soon as I see him? Thinking about all such stuff, I fell asleep. Deep sleep. I slept for 2hrs. But I felt as if I had a really long sleep and thought now the map will show less than 6hrs to reach destination. Hoping this, I looked at the map. Still 10 ½  hrs. Ah, now that I had sound sleep, I cannot sleep again. How do I pass next 10hrs? I took out a pamphlet from the pouch in front of my seat and started reading it. After sometime the attendants came with snacks. Again the same stuff. But this time they had few pieces of mango fruit and a bun in addition to the routine stuff. Keeping all other items as it is, I ate the fruit and the bun. Haa, they were really tasty more so because I was extremely hungry. There was no other item on the plate which I could eat. I then asked the attendant for water. She got me juice and water. I finished them. I returned the leftovers as it is. The lady beside me has finished all the items on the plate except for mango. After the attendant left, the lady asked me why I didn’t eat anything. I told her that I was not OK with what they served. She smiled and said, this is what you’ll find all across US. You should get habituated. I smiled and said I'll slowly start trying out such items. I took out my iPod and started listening to songs again as it was the only way to fight time. I didn’t realize but I fell asleep again. This time for 4hrs!! My ear phones fell out from my ears and one could hear the songs in my iPod. I quickly looked around. Everyone was busy. Some were sleeping, others reading and some others listening to songs. The lady next to me was also in deep sleep. She was snoring loudly. I was sitting in the same place for almost 6hrs. My legs were aching badly. I got up and made a quick walk in the flight. I stood near the entrance where the flight attendants were there. I was looking out of the window. After 10mins, a flight attendant asked me to move back to my place as they were serving snacks. Ah, I thought, who’ll be interested in your snacks? Not me at least. I came back to my seat. This time the snacks were much more horrible. They served chicken with some vegetables. I would have ate the cabbage and tomatoes but they were in the same box as the chicken, I didn’t even feel like looking at them. GOD knows how people eat such stuff. I was hungry but didn’t have anything to eat. So, I didn’t even touch my plate and closed my eyes, trying to catch sleep again. I woke up after 3hrs when the lady beside me was shaking my hands wildly. I rubbed my eyes, adjusted my hair and asked her as to why she woke me up. She asked, “Are you alright? You didn’t eat anything and going on sleeping. Do you want to take some medicine?” It was really so sweet of her. I said I was perfectly alright and I slept only because I had no other thing to do. She then asked me to eat. I told her that I'm a vegetarian and I don’t eat chicken. She was surprised and asked if all Indians were vegetarian. I said some of them do eat non veg. I looked at the route map. Only 1 ½hr more and I'll be landing in LA!!!! I was extremely excited. The flight attendants now came with chocolates. I took a chocolate from the tray. The lady beside me took two and gave one chocolate to me. I refused, but she insisted that I eat the chocolate as I didn’t eat for a long time. Wow, she was so concerned. I thanked her and ate both the chocolates. I for one last time went to the restroom. I was going to meet my husband in next 45mins and the idea itself was so joyous!! The rest of the time I counted every second in 45minutes. I kept looking at the map and as each minute passed, I felt as if the eternity was coming to an end. Finally I'll be with someone I love after spending almost two days with all strangers around and no one to talk to. The lady sitting next reduced my feeling of loneliness by showing genuine concern. That was the best part of the entire journey. I felt very thankful to her. The flight was about to land in 10mins. I was on cloud nine. After a really hectic feat, I finally reached my destination!!!!! The flight landed and this time I was the first one to get up, take out my luggage and proceeded towards the exit. I was all smiles !!!! I went to the baggage claim section. This part of the journey really sucks. But now, since it was last time to face, I happily went to the carousel belt. I asked one of the porters to help me with the luggage. I got my green bag. But ten minutes passed and I was unable to see my red bag. Everyone else collecting their luggage and leaving. There were hundreds of bags rotating in front of me but there was no clue about my red bag . I had all my gold ornaments, puja items (Idols of GOD’s, vermilion, scented sticks etc etc), all my dresses in that bag. I couldn’t even digest the thought of losing the bag. I kept staring at all the rotating bags. Half an hour passed, still I couldn’t trace my bag. The crowd was slowly moving away. I was observing a red bag which kept on moving and no one claimed it. For a moment, I thought it could be my bag. But my bag had my name on it. So, I didn’t pick up the bag. After almost an hour when everyone left the carousel, the red bag was still moving. I thought of taking it and check if it was mine. I was waiting for the bag to come in front of me so that I can get it down and check it. But 5minutes passed and there was no bag on the belt!!!!! I was tensed. I left the rest of the luggage as it is and went to the other side of the belt. One of the porters was carrying away the bag. I just shouted, “Excuse me, that’s my bag!!” He said he was taking it to the officers as no one claimed it. He left it with me without even asking me to check if it was mine. I closed my eyes, prayed GOD and opened the bag. I felt so happy seeing all my stuff inside. It was mine!!!!! The paper with my name on it got tore. I happily closed the bag and then remembered all of a sudden that I left rest of the luggage in the middle of the way. I quickly went to check if the luggage was safe. It was there where I left. I again came back, took the red bag and went to the place where I left rest of the luggage. I adjusted the entire luggage on to a cart and eagerly proceeded towards the immigration counter. The officer asked me to show few documents and asked about my husband’s job and location details. He asked me if I was carrying any plant, chemical or drugs with me. I thought, do I look like that? But I knew it was a formality and they have to ask such questions. I said I wasn’t. He checked my documents and stamped on my passport. I thanked him and proceeded towards the exit. As I was pushing my cart and reached the exit, I saw my husband. He came running to me and hugged me. I was so relieved. Now, he was all smiles and so was I!!!!!!

My 1st & Worst Flight Journey Ever!!- From Hyd 2 Losangeles!!!

PART- 1

I was married for just less than a month when my husband had to leave to US. He has taken 20 days of leave and it was time for him to get back to work. I was giving my MBA final semester exams and so, I could not go along with him. Due
to the Telangana agitation, my exams were postponed thrice. The exams which were due in March had to be conducted in May. My wedding was on May 26^th and the exams were commencing from May 29^th. But again they got postponed to 3^rd of June.  I was not bothered about the papers, I was certain that I'll get through all the papers, though I didn’t pin any hopes for a good percentage. I gave least importance to academic percentage. I showed interest in all other management events and had fun. Getting a job wasn’t a big deal for me. I had adequate communication skills, and I never feared an interview. I got through almost every interview that I attended in my graduation final year and this gave me confidence. After my graduation I worked with Genpact for almost a year, after which I resigned my job, appeared for ICET, got a really good rank and I chose to do my MBA in one of the top colleges.  I loved every bit of being a management student (except for Accounting subjects, I was allergic to the subject, to be frank till date I don’t know what exactly do credit and debit mean!!!). First 3 semesters just passed by. Now, we were in final semester. Everyone was busy with their projects, interviews, campus selections etc etc etc. Since I was already engaged and was getting married, all issues like placements, what next things didn’t bother me much.

Finally, the much awaited final semester exams commenced. I was married for just a week. I hardly got time to study. Exam would start at 10, I would start from home to the examination center at 7, reach the center by 9, and believe it or not, I would find a corner in the center, sit alone for an hour, study the whole semester’s syllabus in that one hour. I would run through all my notes, text books, and guides and at sharp 10 I would enter the exam hall. Luckily for me there was no single paper which left me doubts about flunking in the exam. I was damn sure I'll clear all papers. On the last of exam I was very happy that finally the semester and so did my MBA conclude. But I then remembered that we still had our project viva-voce to attend. Ah. Some of my classmates told that viva-voce would be next week, some after 15 days and some even went to the extent of saying that we won’t have viva for this batch because the exams were conducted lately and it was time for new admissions to start, so the university cancelled viva for this batch. I was confused, do I ask my husband to confirm
my flight ticket immediately or wait for viva? Will there be or will there won’t be viva this year? If I left to US without attending the viva-voce, all my efforts(Though I didn’t put much :P) would go waste and the two years of MBA course would be meaningless if I get a fail remark on my memo.  Hmmm, these confusions didn’t last long as one fine day, we got to hear that viva was being conducted next week in the college premises. Thank GOD, finally its all clear. My husband confirmed my tickets through British Airways on the night I had my viva. Oops, I had a very little time for packing and shopping. Since viva didn’t need much time to concentrate on, I went on a shopping spree with my elder sis- in law. We didn’t spare a single shop. Dilsukhnagar. Koti. Abids. Secunderabad. We used to shop whole day and reach home for dinner; plan for next day’s shopping. “Shop till you drop”,was what described us best. Thanks to my sis in-law for helping me out with shopping, because I can’t expect my mom to come with me for shopping every day,my sister stays in Bangalore and left a week after my marriage. So there was no one to help me out with shopping. It was then that my sis-in law came in to picture and came to my rescue. She was very similar to me, when it came to shopping. We both had lots and lots of patience. I look at almost each and every thing before finalizing a single thing. I wasn’t tired of trying out fits
in trial rooms, I loved it and my sis in-law showed patience to give me feedback on every single thing that I tried. We continued shopping for next 5days. On the last day of our shopping, my sis-in law went to her place and Iwent to my parent’s place as I had my project report there. I had my viva at 10 in the morning. I was half way to the college when I realized that I forgot my hall ticket at my in law’s place. Oops. It was already 8:50; I can’t go back and come back in an hour. I called my friends and asked them if we need to carry our hall tickets for viva. Everyone had different versions. Some said it was must. Others said it was not compulsion. I made up my mind. I'll tell the externals that I forgot my hall ticket. If they understand and take my viva,well and good. Or if they insist on hall ticket, I'll simply return home without making any fuss. I am very stubborn and firm in some matters. I never feel tensed or nervous whatever the situation may be. Being a huge fan of ChetanBhagath, I believe in his words “Don’t be serious about life, be sincere”.
I always give my 100% and leave the rest to fate. I gave not 100 but 1000% to the project, well prepared for the viva, but gosh, forgot my hall ticket. Be cool Rams(that’s what my friends call me). I told myself. I closed my eyes. I started listening songs in i-pod. I always listen to my favorite numbers when I’m down and miraculously music would heal my pain. Hmmm, finally I reached college. My flight was at 2 am in the morning. I wanted to complete my viva and wanted to reach home as early as possible. I still had so many things to pack.Every minute I was remembering that I forgot something or the other to be packed.I made a list of things to be packed on a piece of paper in the class room when everyone was reading and preparing for viva. I wasn’t among those people who read till the last minute of the exam and make exams sound like a bigggggg deal. I was waiting for my roll number to be called. My number was 3, so I thought I'll be done with viva early. But, no. Cheap politics. Students were called based on their requests or recommendations. I went to the person who was handling all this, told him about my situation and asked him to see to it that my number was called next. He said there were other students who made same request prior to me and after them I'll be called. Usually I don’t argue with anyone. But today was different; I had to reach home early. I said I'll talk to the head of the department about this; he seemed to be shocked by the way I was losing temper, which was very unusual and rare. He said he’ll call me in next
10minutes. I smiled and left. For one last time, I turned pages of my project report and started looking for answers to all questions that might be asked. I was done in 6-7 minutes after which I closed my project report and started observing students who came from the external examiners room after their viva.Some were glad, others looked dull. Meanwhile my number was called. I took a deep breath and left the class. There were three examiners. All of them were men.I gave a smile and greeted them. One of the examiners took my project and exclaimed “You did a freelance project in HR? Are you aware that HR freelance projects are not valid in the Osmania University? Didn’t your project guide tell you about this?” The very first word that I could utter was “F**K OFF”!!!!Slowly  though. Then, I managed to give a fake smile and said, “I wasn’t told about this by my project guide. In fact,many of the seniors have done a freelance project in HR. I referred their projects from college library.”  He just stared at me. May be he was thinking I was rude or over frank. What I learnt from my project doesn’t include only HR stuff, but I learnt an important thing.Never to be too obedient because professors show their authority on these students who they think are weak enough to argue with them. Being good wasn’t always good, especially to people who don’t deserve that and take advantage of your obedience. That was the reason why I gave a straight but honest answer. The examiners then started asking me questions related to my project. I answered all the questions. But deep within heart I felt they would have thought of me as a girl who was rude and had an attitude problem. When I was done with my viva, I just prayed GOD, make the examiners pass me in viva even if they don’t give an outright excellence grade. Then as soon as I went to
classroom, everyone surrounded and asked me soooooo many questions. What
questions did the examiners pose, how were they? Friendly or strict? I just said
the examiners were neither friendly nor strict. I didn’t tell them what
questions they had asked me because everyone had a project on different topic,
and so, there would be no common questions. I then bid good bye to all my
friends and other classmates. I wished everyone best of luck and they wished me
a happy journey. That was the last day in the college which was my home for
almost two years. I for one last time went and looked at the canteen. It felt
awkward that I will no more be coming to this place and I'll be missing all my
best buddies. Suppu asked me if I can wait as she’ll finish her viva and come
with me. I said I can’t. She understood my hurry. That was the best part with
all the people in my gang. Highly matured and very understanding. I left the
college and was waiting for an auto or bus in the bus stop which was exactly
opposite to the college entrance. Since it was half a day, college buses wouldn’t
start now. I looked at the college and I made a promise to myself. The funniest
promise till date. I'll join my kids in this college for their engineering no
matter where they studied till intermediate. Even if I was in US when kids
grow, I'll come down to Hyderabad and settle here and join my kids in this
college. Very funny. Now whenever I think of it, I feel I acted like a fool.
That was my love for the college and its beautiful premises, nice canteen, a
large library, English club, basketball court, open auditorium. Oh, the list is
really endless.

More than 15minutes passed and there was not even a single auto or bus. I was
restless. I didn’t have neither breakfast nor lunch, but I was not hungry. I
was just waiting for a way to get back home. Ten more minutes passed and there
was no sign of any bus or an auto. It was then that I spotted Raaj coming out
of college. He was done with his viva and was on his way to hostel which was on
the way to the center of the city. I asked him if he could drop me till the
city center. He readily agreed. He was the savior of the day. He dropped me in
the stop. I thanked him saying that I owe him, he said that’s perfectly fine
and wished me a happy journey and left. I didn’t have the time to wait for bus
and change 3 buses. So, I thought I'll go in an auto. I never go alone in an
auto. I go with my friends and everyone will share the fare. Today, I was all
alone. I stopped an auto and asked him if he would come till my place. He said
he’ll charge 120Rs, I was shocked. It’ll be at max 70Rs. So, I asked him to
move on. He then said 110Rs, I said 80. He looked at me from top to bottom, and
left. It’s not that I didn’t have money. With the amount of money that I had in
purse, I could make at least 15 trips in an auto from home till college. But
these autowalas are too greedy. Why would I pay 50Rs extra? 10 or 20 was
reasonable. Hmm. I stopped another auto, he said 100, I said 80,  he said 90. Ok, 90 should be fine ,considering
my situation. I got in to the auto. I called my mom to tell her that I was on
my way back home, after just saying hello and hearing I say hello, my mom
started firing questions “Did you have lunch? Did they scold you for forgetting
hall ticket? How was your viva? Where are you now? Do you have enough money?
Come in an auto, don’t wait for the bus.” OMG. Mom. I got irritated at her nonstop
questions and hung up on her. After a couple of minutes I scolded myself for
hanging up on my mother. It was obvious that she was concerned and it was her
endless love for me that resulted in so many questions. I called her back. It
was my dad who answered the call now, he said “Hey Ram, wassup?” hmm, that’s
the way my dad talks. I simply adore him. I said “Appa, I'm at Khairathabad,
will reach home in 45minutes or an hour. Where do I go? To my in-law’s place or
 to our house?” My mom took the phone and
asked “did you just hung up on me?” Ah, mom. I said “give it to dad”. She
simply said “Come to your in-law’s place as all your luggage is there. We’ll
reach there in 15-20 minutes.” Before I could say OK, she hung up on me.
Revenge. My mom was childish at times and we argue a lot. Sometimes, I feel
funny, sometimes irritated. But the best part, I always love my mom and she’ll
be my best friend ever, despite of our arguments and fights. Since it was noon,
the traffic was less and I reached my in-laws place (I know I should say, my
place now!!!, but old habits die hard.) .Wowww, what do I find there? Ofcourse
my parents. But I also found that my younger sis in-law has very neatly packed
all my clothes and put them in the bag. I felt so happy. In our Indian families,
sis in-laws are considered to be trouble makers and nuisance creators. But,
lucky me. my both sis in laws were trouble breakers. Right from day one that I was
married and went to my in law’s place, they were very sweet to me. They saw to
it that I was comfortable. They frequently asked me if I needed anything. They
both were of my age group, so we always had fun. After my husband left to US, I
stayed at my in law’s place for some days. During night, my mom in-law used to
sleep in hall and I along with my sis in-laws used to sleep in bedroom. We used
to talk talk and talk till one fine day when my mom in-law said “Girls, sleep
now. It’s already late. You are disturbing me.” That was how I shared a
wonderful relationship with my sis in-laws. We even share all our stuff, like
dresses, bangles, hand bags etc. But today I was really touched. I hurried home
thinking that I have to pack all my dresses only to find that my sweet sis
in-law has already folded and packed my dresses. I was so relieved. My mom
in-law has prepared sweets for me to carry. I was not feeling hungry though I skipped
my breakfast and lunch. I told my mom and mom in-law that I had lunch in
college canteen (White lie!!!). My mom in-law cooked upma for me saying that
college lunch would not be enough for you, they serve very little in canteen. That
was my mom in-law, very concerned and motherly. I had upma and slept for half an
hour. My mom woke me up saying, “Your sis in-laws are packing your luggage, it
doesn’t look good, go  help them. You can
sleep in flight.” Hmm. I woke up only to find that my sis in-laws were really
working hard. My younger sis in-law was collecting all my stuff, arranging them
in my bags. My elder sis in-law was checking all the documents that I needed to
carry. My dad left to get a weighing machine to weigh the luggage I was
carrying. My mom and mom in-law were busy packing pickles, sweets etc. I told
my elder sis in-law that I wanted to have a haircut before I left, she stared
at me. I said, I needed a haircut badly, and moreover in US maintaining long
hair might be difficult (I didn’t really have long hair and my sis in-law knew
that!!!). She said OK to my proposal. But neither of us had guts to ask my mom
or mom in-law, because I had to wake up at 12 mid night, for that I was
supposed to eat and sleep early. Haircut will easily take one hour.

They’ll
surely say NO. Then suddenly we had a plan, we were supposed to get photocopies
of all important documents. We were waiting for my dad to return so that he’ll
get them. We told that we can’t wait for my dad as he may be late, so we’ll go
and get the copies. My mom in-law asked my sis in-law to go alone and asked me
to stay home. I said I'll go with her as the shop was really close by. She said
ok. We left the house at 4 in the evening. She went to get the photocopies;
meanwhile I went to the parlor. Thanks to my stars, the parlor had very few
customers and I was immediately attended to. My sis in-law got the photocopies
in 15minutes and came to parlor and sat in the waiting room for a good
45minutes. After an hour, I was done with my haircut. We went back at around
5:40. Neither my mom nor mom in-law could find out that I had my haircut. Good.
We then started cross checking if everything was packed. My mom in-law started
preparing dinner. We were almost done with packing. Two bags of 23Kgs each and
10Kgs of cabin baggage. When I saw everything packed, I was sort of scared.
There was no way I could carry those bags, even on cart. From that moment there
were all kind of thoughts that occupied my mind. What if I drop my luggage from
the cart? What if I'm not able to push the heavy luggage on the cart? What if
the luggage gets misplaced or lost? OMG. These thoughts made me even more
tensed. My dad never made us lift at least a kg of vegetables. He always used
to carry all the luggage however heavy it was. He used to shift luggage in
installments but never made us carry them. So, I was not used to this thing. I
couldn’t not leave anything behind. Everything that we packed was important and
useful. Hmm. My mom was as tensed as I was, may be more than that. Never in my
life had I been out of station without my parents or family. Only once I travelled
all alone. My dad dropped me till bus station, made me sit in the bus and I went
to Gulbarga to visit my sister. As soon as I got down the bus, my sister and
bro in-law were waiting for me in the stop. That was my proud moment, I
travelled all alone. But today, I had to go in flight, not out of station but
out of country, that too with so many luggage’s. It was not a direct flight
too. I had to change my flight at Dubai. Again doubts. What if I board the
wrong flight? What if I miss the flight? I was in a horrible situation. Highly
tensed and nervous about each and everything. My opinion that I'm a strong girl
and had the ability to face anything in life started fading away. Meanwhile
dinner was ready. Vegetable biryani and gulab jamun. My favorite dishes. But I was
not able to enjoy them as I was nervous to the core. I ate very little. The cab
was supposed to come at 12. At 8:30, we all went to sleep. But I wasn’t able to
sleep. My mom and mom in-law slept in hall and the three of us slept in bed
room. My dad went to my uncle’s place who stays nearby. After 10minutes, I went
to hall, slept beside my mom and hugged her tightly. OMG, I'll miss her like
hell. I didn’t want to go now. I kissed my mom and her cheeks were wet. She was
crying. I felt like crying too, but if I do so my mom will for sure burst out
and cannot control her emotions. I needed to console her and thus didn’t cry
and started joking. I said she’ll now have no one to trouble or irritate her.
She’ll have no one to fight with. She then said I had to sleep as the cab would
arrive anytime. I slowly slipped into sleep. I was woken by my mom at around
11:30, I took bath and was ready. So was everyone. The cab arrived on time. We
all went to the cab. As a ritual my dad broke a coconut in front of the cab and
we all started to the airport. My sister who has come all the way from
Karnataka to give me a sendoff joined us on the way. There were 10 of us. My
parents, sister, nephew, grandmother, uncle, mom in-law and sis in-laws. We
reached the airport in half an hour as there was no traffic at that time, or
else it would have taken a minimum of 1 and half hour. My uncle works in Chief Minister’s
office and had good influence on airport authorities. All the 10 of us got
passes to get inside. After 10minutes I headed to the check-in counter, my dad
and uncle were carrying luggage. The security stopped me at the entrance of the
counter and asked me to carry the luggage myself. My dad looked at me with a
dull expression, I didn’t want to create an impression and make him tense. So, I
just gave him a smile indicating that I was perfectly fine and said, “That’s fine
appa, don’t worry. I can manage”. I don’t know what gave me courage, I just
pushed my cart and started walking towards the counter with confidence. After
reaching the counter I turned back to wave at my dad. He gave me a thumbs up. I
was elated. That boosted my spirit. After an hour, I was required to go for
immigration and from there directly to the gates. That means, I'll not be able
to see everyone once I cleared immigration process. My mom and rest of them
were standing far as that was the last place after which they were not allowed
inside. But since my uncle had influence, my dad, elder sis in-law, my nephew
and uncle accompanied me till the immigration counter. Realizing that I'll not
be able to see them after this point, made me cry. Tears rolled down my eyes.
For the first time in my life, I cried like hell. My mom and sister were also
sad, but didn’t cry as it was considered a bad sign if one cries at a sendoff.
It would result in negative effects. So, they asked me to stop crying. I hugged
my nephew who was just 4 years old and was crying too and saying, “Let me go
with Ramya mausi!!” Then I saw my dad. He was also in tears and so was my
uncle. I have never seen my dad in tears, not even in toughest part of his life
when we faced a severe financial crisis. Seeing my dad in tears, I hugged him
and was screaming “I will not go, I don’t want to leave you”. Though I was
crying nonstop, I couldn’t help but notice my mom asking my dad to stop crying
from a distance. She didn’t utter a word. It was her looks and angry
expressions which sent him the message to stop crying. My dad took out his
handkerchief and wiped his tears. I was in tears when I went to the immigration
counter and was done with the process in less than a minute. I for one last
time looked back at everyone. Everyone was waving their hands and my nephew was
still crying and shouting, “Ramya mausi don’t go..Who’ll get me chocolates?
Come, tell me a story!!” I was asked to move forward and I left the counter and
I was no longer able to see them.

The
real story began after this!!!!!!...I can never forget this life time
experience which I'll share in PART 2…

To
Be Continued….