With almost 24 hours of journey ahead of me, I was wrapping up all my last minute to do list before I head to India. Out of office mailer - Check, flight and train ticket - Check, Passport - Check, Cash - Check, ...
Waiting comfortably in Providence station for Amtrak train to leave for New York, where I had a flight to India in Etihad Airways, it struck me that I had forgotten to have lunch and was feeling hungry. Quickly I picked up some food and had cold sandwich. It felt horrible specially when you know 24 hours from now I am going to be treated with delicious home cooked food with all the spices and masalas. Boy! Was I excited - Pani Puri, churmuri(Mysore special), cheese burst pizza, all the chaat items, Dosa, Puliogre, Thate Idly and the list goes on ... By the time I went through my list of must haves in India my stomach had already began digesting the cold sub.
As I reached New York, I was thinking, this might well be my last day in US being single, well I like to stress on the word Might! Yes, I was poised to meet a girl and may be if I do like someone and she liked me, I might consider getting into a relationship! But some where in my mind I said to myself - Do I really wanna lose all my freedom? Do I really need a Life partner at this point? Hell No! I have been running away from all this to enjoy the solitude, the joy of not reporting anything to anyone, the freedom of not being responsible.. So I consoled myself - I go meet someone and say no. Game Over! I don't want to get married now! Abu Dhabi was the place I next landed after I boarded the flight in US. And boy was it magnificient. Truly a nice airport to walk around and explore. Free internet, touch screen kiosks, nice interesting decorations and fancy items that catch your eye. I could not but resist taking a picture of this camel!
The fragrance of Mother India brought a big smile and a sense of belonging, as I stepped out of the flight in Chennai, realizing that this is the first time I am returning to an International Airport in India (Ok may be 3rd time but I was too young first time and second time was a leisure trip to Nepal which I still can't digest that it is international)
I was searching for Akka and found her after a while, what a feeling it was to see Akka and hug her after nearly 1.5 years. I couldn't wait to go to her house where Amma n Appa would be waiting. All the honking, traffic, noise were all making a perfect symphony and I just loved it. Seriously! Life is so happening here. You feel alive. On reaching home I was so happy to see my parents and hug them, boy! was I missing them so much. Abhay and Maaya, grown up a little, had just woke up and their hug was warm. it was Friday and kids had called off their school in lieu of their mama coming from US! How nice. Well actually Maaya had just recovered from Viral fever and Abhay was just getting it. Now it sound better, not for someone who has just come from US. But who cares - Love rulez.
I asked Mom - What's the plan ma? (of course that was intended for asking whom all am I going to meet?) Just a couple of weeks before I left for India the plan was to meet someone in Mumbai, the very weekend I arrive. Our families liked each other and we kind of started talking over the phone and things seemed to go pretty smooth. Parents were happy and it all seemed right just when there was a tussle and we decided to go against it. It's like when you feel something is wrong it can never go right even when it is all correct. So this last minute shock left my mom open up other possible alliances. She started telling her plan to visit Mysore on Monday and then return to Trichy(where parents lived now) for Kannada new year - Ugadi. In Mysore she had planned to invite a couple of families on the first day and then two other the following days, if we can make it. I started asking them whom she had invited on Monday and she make me recollect one Girls picture and then said the other I had not even. Mom said she had come to our house warming ceremony and she was sure I would like her. Now what can I say when I have not even seen her, spoken to her, understood her ideas.. So I simply nodded my head thinking I am not going to get engaged. I told her if I don't like anyone there is no hurry, we can try when I come back after 6 months.
Little did I know that my favorite association for Mysore with Churmuri is going to change forever!
Mom started tell me that Dad is not coming with us as he had to report to work and to give us company Vasudha aunt(whom we lovingly call Mummy ;) ) would come with us instead. I was little shocked but said to myself that it's going to be a no show trip so it's ok for Dad to not come! I was tired, so I just couldn't control my sleep .. By the time I took a nap and got up it was evening time. Time flies in India at an amazing speed! The curiosity to see the one girl who hadn't sent her pictures was more - so I took to the power of Internet, turned to facebook and google. I just couldn't find her. All I knew was her name, place where she lives, her father's and mother's name - quite a lot of information to hunt someone down online I thought. It can't be possible that someone in the 21th century is not using Facebook! May be she has set her account that way so it doesn't reflect in our searches. Alas, I had to give up, din't want to make myself feel desperate. The interest grew when mom describe about her and how she had visited Parent's house in mysore for their house warming. Mom pledged I would like her for sure. Well all that for not finding her in the internet, no luck and I had to wait to see her.
Waiting comfortably in Providence station for Amtrak train to leave for New York, where I had a flight to India in Etihad Airways, it struck me that I had forgotten to have lunch and was feeling hungry. Quickly I picked up some food and had cold sandwich. It felt horrible specially when you know 24 hours from now I am going to be treated with delicious home cooked food with all the spices and masalas. Boy! Was I excited - Pani Puri, churmuri(Mysore special), cheese burst pizza, all the chaat items, Dosa, Puliogre, Thate Idly and the list goes on ... By the time I went through my list of must haves in India my stomach had already began digesting the cold sub.
As I reached New York, I was thinking, this might well be my last day in US being single, well I like to stress on the word Might! Yes, I was poised to meet a girl and may be if I do like someone and she liked me, I might consider getting into a relationship! But some where in my mind I said to myself - Do I really wanna lose all my freedom? Do I really need a Life partner at this point? Hell No! I have been running away from all this to enjoy the solitude, the joy of not reporting anything to anyone, the freedom of not being responsible.. So I consoled myself - I go meet someone and say no. Game Over! I don't want to get married now! Abu Dhabi was the place I next landed after I boarded the flight in US. And boy was it magnificient. Truly a nice airport to walk around and explore. Free internet, touch screen kiosks, nice interesting decorations and fancy items that catch your eye. I could not but resist taking a picture of this camel!The fragrance of Mother India brought a big smile and a sense of belonging, as I stepped out of the flight in Chennai, realizing that this is the first time I am returning to an International Airport in India (Ok may be 3rd time but I was too young first time and second time was a leisure trip to Nepal which I still can't digest that it is international)
I was searching for Akka and found her after a while, what a feeling it was to see Akka and hug her after nearly 1.5 years. I couldn't wait to go to her house where Amma n Appa would be waiting. All the honking, traffic, noise were all making a perfect symphony and I just loved it. Seriously! Life is so happening here. You feel alive. On reaching home I was so happy to see my parents and hug them, boy! was I missing them so much. Abhay and Maaya, grown up a little, had just woke up and their hug was warm. it was Friday and kids had called off their school in lieu of their mama coming from US! How nice. Well actually Maaya had just recovered from Viral fever and Abhay was just getting it. Now it sound better, not for someone who has just come from US. But who cares - Love rulez.
I asked Mom - What's the plan ma? (of course that was intended for asking whom all am I going to meet?) Just a couple of weeks before I left for India the plan was to meet someone in Mumbai, the very weekend I arrive. Our families liked each other and we kind of started talking over the phone and things seemed to go pretty smooth. Parents were happy and it all seemed right just when there was a tussle and we decided to go against it. It's like when you feel something is wrong it can never go right even when it is all correct. So this last minute shock left my mom open up other possible alliances. She started telling her plan to visit Mysore on Monday and then return to Trichy(where parents lived now) for Kannada new year - Ugadi. In Mysore she had planned to invite a couple of families on the first day and then two other the following days, if we can make it. I started asking them whom she had invited on Monday and she make me recollect one Girls picture and then said the other I had not even. Mom said she had come to our house warming ceremony and she was sure I would like her. Now what can I say when I have not even seen her, spoken to her, understood her ideas.. So I simply nodded my head thinking I am not going to get engaged. I told her if I don't like anyone there is no hurry, we can try when I come back after 6 months.
Little did I know that my favorite association for Mysore with Churmuri is going to change forever!
Mom started tell me that Dad is not coming with us as he had to report to work and to give us company Vasudha aunt(whom we lovingly call Mummy ;) ) would come with us instead. I was little shocked but said to myself that it's going to be a no show trip so it's ok for Dad to not come! I was tired, so I just couldn't control my sleep .. By the time I took a nap and got up it was evening time. Time flies in India at an amazing speed! The curiosity to see the one girl who hadn't sent her pictures was more - so I took to the power of Internet, turned to facebook and google. I just couldn't find her. All I knew was her name, place where she lives, her father's and mother's name - quite a lot of information to hunt someone down online I thought. It can't be possible that someone in the 21th century is not using Facebook! May be she has set her account that way so it doesn't reflect in our searches. Alas, I had to give up, din't want to make myself feel desperate. The interest grew when mom describe about her and how she had visited Parent's house in mysore for their house warming. Mom pledged I would like her for sure. Well all that for not finding her in the internet, no luck and I had to wait to see her.
