These were the thoughts on 24th Dec, when I was to fly to Houston to be with G for 10 whole days. There were very few people in office as many had taken the whole week off. And the remaining of us were busy discussing what each of us would do for the holidays. After a short day at work, my friend offered me to drop me to the airport. Airport is just a 10 min drive from office. There was a long queue at the check in counter. I was completely excited so dint mind it. My turn came, I checked in my luggage and started moving, I realized the guy forgot to give my boarding pass. I went back and got it from him. We then moved towards the security check. We had to take out boots, belts, laptop out of the bag. I went through and it beeped. I was asked to take out my earring. Again.. I went through, it beeped. I realized it might be due to my chains. I told the security officer. He asked me if I could take it out. Without second thoughts I said, no. I dint want to take out my Thali (Mangal sutra). It would have seemed very filmy to me if I had seen somebody else do it, but I don’t know what me so adamant that I dint want it to be taken out. It was like a sense of pride. I am not the completely traditional type. I harldy wear bindis, I only do when I wear Indian outfits, I have my bangles safe at home. But this one thing has never been away from me. Anyway I had a through inspection and was left after they found I am not carrying any harmful things. As I went further, I just realized I lost my boarding pass to LA. I panicked a little, but got to know that they can reprint my boarding pass. All the while I was standing on the gate the plane was about to take off. Then I just overheard that the gate has changed. I just reached the correct gate of boarding, and collected my boarding pass, and off I went to sit on a window seat.
The flight was to take off at 4.10, but as luck would have it, it was postponed for a few minutes. Its my reputation in US, none of my flights take off on time. It was sunset time, by the time we were high and in mid air. I was reading a book and was completely engrossed. I just a looked out the window and saw such a beautiful sight. I see the clouds everytime we fly but this time it had the orange tinge.
I completely loved it. Took out my camera and captured a few moments. It made me feel so happy. After a while, when darkness engulfed the beauty, I just got back to my book. When the pilot announced that we would be landing, my eyes went back to the window again. The city of lights looked beautiful. It was such a beautiful sight. I wished my camera could take night pics as good as the day ones. Oh we it does, but then a lit bit shake and it becomes so difficult to understand what the pic is all about. Well, coming back to the sight, it was treat to my eyes.
We then had to wait for an hour or so at the next gate. I was again stuck to my book with a pack of fries and a vanilla milkshake. Randomly I would pick up my head to look around and then go back to my book. In this process I saw an Indian couple. They weren’t too old, but my guess is their son/daughter lived in US. At first I dint pay much attention (its like mini India out here). But all of a sudden my eyes caught a nostalgic sight. The lady had the Tulsi (holy Basil) plant next to her. I don’t know why, but there was a smile on my face looking at that. It reminded me on how we used tulsi at home, how mom packed it for me to take it to mysore. After those refreshing moments, I went back to my book. After a while I got bored of the place, so changed seats and was getting impatient, I just wanted to get on to the flight. Again the take off was a splendid view. I finished off my book in the flight and reached Houston in a couple of hours. I just had to wait few minutes for my baggage to come out. I rushed out as G had come to the airport to pick me up.
And finally when G pulled over the car and I sat next to him. It felt great
Tickets to Houston: $500+
Shopping for the trip: $100+
Expression on our faces when we met : Priceless
2 comments:
Enjoyed reading the blog....waiting for the next part
sure.. have to start on the rest of the trip :)
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