Enter USA

A 40k worth bus ride!!!! Well thats what it felt like - the trip from Bhubaneswar to Atlanta.....a freakin' bus ride - a really long and frusth one too.....
All started at Bhubs when my flight was delayed by an hour and a half because of bad weather. And the 40 minutes' flight to Cal jarred my bones as badly as a bus ride on a semi-decent road. Then came the 8 hours' stay at Cal which wasn't that bad since I met up with my friend Sid and we had some fun.
Reaching Cal airport, you could see it as crowded as Howrah railway station; and damn the long luggage check in lines. But truly speakin I shouldn't complain because I didn't have to stand in any of the lines....I had a person with me who took to the front of every line...a kind of back door entry you might say.....and I thank that person from the bottom of my heart...or else my complaining would have been much worse.
Now came the wait for the boarding of the flight, and unfortunately my guardian angel couldn't do anything about it. Then after boarding the flight, I realised it was no better spaced than the Janshatabdi general compartments.
Now one thing I forgot to mention was that I don't like take offs or landings. Felt really bad while taking off and landing on my flight from Bhubs to Cal, but luckily I didn't hurl :D.....And same happened during my take off at Cal. I felt all queasy and all. And to add to that, the guy sitting next was giving me some funa on how people are going into the IT line for more money.....damn that was awful. But later on the guy tells me that he just started that discussion to distract me from the take off and make me feel better. I thank that guy for his effort to help me - his intentions were noble....but unfortunately he just made things worse [:(]....
Now cramped up that bad, I couldn't sleep....and not having the aisle seat, I couldn't get out of my seat regularly and go for a stretch...nor could I go regularly to relieve my poor bladder ;) (poor because I was drinking a lot of water to help me cope with the oncoming jetlag). Had some alcohol to drink so as to get some sleep, but that didn't work either :(....so much alcohol and still no high....and they say that alcohol kicks harder at higher altitudes....
And all throughout this while, the plane was bumping around....pilot's voice ringing out at regular intervals warning about turbulent weather. Eventually I slept, but just for around 3 hours, on a flight of 9.30 hrs.
Eventually the flight reached Frankfurt, and even though there was so much turbulent weather, we reached there 30 minutes before time. At Frankfurt, I found an acquantaince from Kharagpur who was on the same flight as me but his connecting flight was different. We roamed around the frankfurt airport a bit...supposedly the largest airport in the world....but unfortunately, I could not get my eyes on any hot babe :(. Now my friend was hungry because he missed the breakfast in the plane....poor guy had a $5 worth of a single slice of apple pie. I know that for americans this is no big deal, but me being a new Indian to this foriegn land, still haven't gotten rid of my conversion mentality.
Then after seeing him off at his gate, I proceeded to my gate. Unfortunately, I was through check ins very easily and was all set to go an hour and a half before the flight. So there was another long wait.
On eventually boarding the flight, I found myself amidst 5 - 6 americans who were coming back from a euro-trip of a month. The guy sitting next to me called himself Chris. Then after lunch, I busied myself watching 2 movies - Shrek the third....which I had seen earlier but still enjoyed because I believe these kind of movies can be watched over and over again. What was not so good about that movie was that I missed the person with whom I had seen the movie the first time. It reminded me a lot of that person. After that I watched a movie called "Blades of Glory". It was complete bull crap comedy movie about the first male male pair in couples' figure skating. But it was a decent time pass nonetheless.
Even after these movies, I had around 4 - 5 hours to kill on tht flight. And then I started feeling weird in my stomach. I guess the food I had for lunch didn't quite go well with my digestive system and I felt really bad....but maybe it was not the food but the jetlag and the altitude. Trying to get rid of this uneasiness, I tried very hard to sleep. I eventually got in an hour's sleep and felt a bit better.
After that nothing happened up until the landing. While landing, my plane had a bounce, and it felt seriously awesome, but I guess it is a common thing. One thing I forgot to mention was that on this flight I had no feeling of queasiness during takeoff or landing :)
Then came the rushing to the Immigration and Customs counter. There were a lot of people, but I was lucky to beat the crowd and got my clearance work done pretty quickly. The immigration officer was pretty nice to me and wished me good luck....but I guess this general courtesy is the norm here, unlike India. But I had heard of stories of people getting harrassed a lot at the immigrations counter, so I think I was abit lucky here. Then went on the get my baggage. Here too I had heard stories o people losing and getting damaged baggage and all that. I guess I was lucky, because I got my baggage very easily.
Then I gave up my luggage again and moved on to hand baggage checking. That too went by very simply and I happily went out to get my baggage again. After gettng my baggage again , another wait started, this time for the good samaritan who was going to pick me up from the airport. Waiting at the airport, I met up with other grad students who were from India.
Now when my friend came by and picked me up, I said good bye to the Hartsfield Jackson Airport and at my friend's place since then.

Last day of the first of my life

48 more hours, then I would be leaving on a jet plane. Leaving for a place where my life is going to change forever and never going be the same...ever again. But inside of me, I am not at all feeling any different. For me it seems to be just another place where I am going like so many times before and I will start afresh. Life won't be any different.
But experienced others are telling me it is going to change. I can feel their emotions. I can feel my mother's palpable concern for me and also her grief. I wish there was something I could do something about it, but this is a decision I made - there will be casualties in the way, but I hope I make it worth those sacrifices people are making for me.
On this last day, I sit here writing my blog for the last time in my home country for a long time to come, and I wonder. I wonder how things used to be, how life has never been complicated for me ever. I wonder how life might be in the future, my expectations, my dreams, my aspirations, my fears - so many versions of the future playing in my mind. It is funny....I think about how I had pictured my future in the past and how things actually worked out.
On this last day, I still am wondering how am I to say my goodbyes. It is not like I am going away forever and won't be seeing them ever again. But something inside me tells me to say proper goodbyes. I have always been good at goodbyes. Lets hope I succeed this time too. Said so many goodbyes during the last few days in Kharagpur that it doesn't feel like a big deal anymore...not with the advancement in communication systems nowadays. It doesnt feel like making a big difference if we are a state apart or a continent apart. But ask any sane person and he/she would say that distance matters a lot.
On this last day, I pray for a future closer to my aspirations, I pray for happiness, and I pray life doesn't change very much and I can still be the kid I always have :)
Or is this last day I am a kid? Is this childhood's end? Is it time to grow up?