20th April 2007

Well, I just thought of writing something today. Something. So, I thought why not just look back at the year that just went by. What was I doing 1 year back? I had hope. I still have hope. I was thinking of what strategy to apply to have a better life and I am still strategizing. I wanted to go for a vacation and I still do. So, what has changed? A lot. 365 days have passed. I have grown older, more mature, more patient and more fit to face the challenges of this world. Is it? Maybe...No, surely.
The last year has been a roller coaster ride. It was a year of self introspection. Not that I wanted to self introspect, but I had to. I was forced to so as to say :-) It was a year of travel, of seeing new places and making new connections. It was not a great year as far as my personal or professional accomplishments are concerned but then that's how it is. I had a few setbacks or in fact more than just a "few". I had many. But, I have learnt from them and I hope to have a better year ahead.

The City

New York. April 6 - April 10 2007. 4 days. 0 sight seeing. 1 bachelors party. 12 scotch. 3 Tequilas. Something else? I don't remember, I was drunk.

Well, what a visit. It was relaxed. Relaxed because I did not go to New York to see places. Been There Done That. I met with my cousin and it was awesome. Well, good Indian food for so many days, relaxed home environment (Thank god I was saved of the dingy New York motels) and lots of fun. It was simply awesome. It also happened to be my first bachelors party. Obviously, it was not mine but of one of my very close friends. We really rocked in the party. Never had so much fun with people I had just met that day. It was super! Want details of the party, put a comment with your mail id ;-) Rest censored.
I also got a chance to visit NYU Stern and I would say that the school was impressive. Although, I expected more out of the visit but then somehow it didn't work that well as I had expected it to be. But nonetheless no complaints. And yes, how can I forget the get together with my school buddys. Meeting them after 8 years. It was great to catch upon stuff. The good old school days.

All in all it was an awesome trip. emmotrable one. Oops I meant "Memorable" one :-)

Bad flying…

Whoa! I had a grilling time. It all started in Indianapolis when I (Don’t know why) assumed that I was flying Continental Airlines though actually it was United. Well, I stood in the line of Continental for 15 minutes and when I got to the ticketing counter it threw an error telling that I don’t have a reservation. (Thankfully it was a self check in counter and thus saved me from major embarrassment). I then scrambled through my documents inside my bag and checked. Man! It was United. WTF. I rushed to the united counter which was the farthest from where I was standing. I somehow managed to reach the counter with my heavy bags and there I saw a big line. The time was 6:05 PM and my flight departure time was 6:45PM. Luckily, the lady at the counter called that anyone for this flight should come forward immediately bypassing the line! Thank God I said. Got myself checked in, rushed through the security and finally when I arrived at the Gate the flight was late by 1 hr! Fcuk. I had a connection in Chicago and this meant that I would be in a very tight spot. I asked the lady at the counter whether I am safe and she said that I am OK and I would have to hurry a bit at Chicago running from Gate C22 to B19.

At that point of time I realized that I was hungry. Went to a To-go coffee shop and ordered a chicken sandwich. But as I was feeling very luck that day (pun intended) the chicken sandwich was over. The person in front of me took the last sandwich from the fridge. I was thanklessly refunded my money. I bought a small packet of chips and waited for my flight looking at the weatch every 5 mins. Finally, the fight came afte 1.5 hours (1 hour was the scheduled delay and around half hour was the unscheduled one). We boarded the plane but alas our luggage were still on the way. We waited on the tarmac for 20 more mins after boarding for the luggage to arrive. Well, at that point it was clear that I would miss my connecting flight from Chicago. I was already making plans of going to Chicago downtown during the night and catching with few of my friends. To be very frank, a part of my heart was saying “Wow! That’s a free Chicago vacation for a few hours”, but my other part and the body was saying “ Dude, you gotta reach home take some rest and get ready to shift your house the next day”.

But nothing could be done. I was sure to miss my connection so that was it. We reached Chicago at 8:25, came out of the plane by 8:35 and I headed straight to the monitors to check the status of my connecting flight. Whew! It was delayed as well. From 8:15 to 8:50. I checked my watch. 8:40. So that leaves me with less than 10 mins. I started running. It was long. Really long. I ran with my heavy hand luggage. It was the most tiresome run. Empty stomach, juggling between people, avoiding the airport trolleys. Shit! It was bad and I finally reached my gate a few mins to spare. Drank some water and finally boarded the plane. Kept my fingers crossed for the rest of my journey and thankfully it was pretty uneventful. Slept for sometime, saw a movie, ate pretzels, drank juice and reached Phoenix! Was driven back home by a friend and slept. Finally, I remembered the lines from this famous Floyd song –

“Home, Home again. I like to be here when I can...”