A trip down the memory lane....

It happened in a jiffy. I vacillated in indecision of whether to go right now or not for some time but then I always follow this mantra given to me by dad - 'Never vacillate in indecision..make a decision and then deal with it.' Then, circumstances were such that it was not at all wise to delay the homecoming or rather I should say home going. So, there I started planning the trip. First Step was of course get the leave sanctioned from the client. This was not a hard task since the time I was going was a slack period and client would have happily given me the leave and so he did.

Next came the tickets, shopping, requests for bringing in stuff, phone calls and mails to friends in India to make plans....to cut things short I would fast forward these details. So, the D Day finally arrived - Oct 27. Boarded the flight to Chicago which was late by 3 hours. Luckily I had enough buffer with me for my international Air India flight. But still I did not took any chances and seeded up everything from my side at the O'Hare Airport, Chicago. Finally, I boarded the flight that would take me to home....after 2 years! I sat with mixed feelings in the plane..guilt of not visiting home for so long, happiness that finally I would meet my friends and family, anticipation (of a break and vacation) and tension of the road ahead. The flight was via London and the US-UK connection was fairly good with lesser people on board. So, there was enough room to stretch your legs and I would say that the journey was comfortable. In UK, I was surprised when we were asked to move out of the plane since I thought it to be a technical stop. But, then I thought that I would get a chance to see the Heathrow Airport, London. I had heard a lot about it...Finally we again boarded the plane which was packed from UK to India. I reached India 1 hour late which was amazing considering the standards of Air India.

After immigrations and customs I came out of the airport and I could see my parents waiting. Man! What a feeling that was. I still remember the gleaming faces of my parents. How can I forget that? It was 2 AM at night and they were there to pick me up. We reached home and were awake till 5 AM. Chatting, gossipping and it was just amazing to be back. Finally, I slept that day to wake up pretty soon and then the usual phone calls, meeting relatives, eating home food..it was a paradise.

Well, time just flew by. I met Virinchi, a couple of times (or rather more than that :-) and also met Manish. Couldn't forget that night as well. When we just roamed on Delhi streets like never before. I think it needs another post. So I will talk about it in the next post. There were get togethers with relatives and I gave them a party at Chor Bizzare. Another remarkable feature about this trip was the good news that started to pour in while I was in Noida. This was the news of the interviews. In fact I submitted my CMU application from home and within hours I got the interview request!

Noida has changed, so has Delhi and so has India. I could see many flyovers in Delhi. New Malls and some of them impressive! Traffic condition has grown from bad to worse and I did not got behind the wheels during my stay. Although I did drive the two wheeler around. The crowd this time was I would say disappointing or is it that my standards have changed? I don't know the answer.

Well, there are so many things to talk about..my Ahmadabad trip for example. I think I can not capture my India sojourn in a single post. So I would try to include many more posts on this just to make sure I do justice to every little thing that gave me happiness during the time I was at home...