The journey Home.............is never too long. (Episode I)
December 18th
Excuse me while I...ah...borrow the title from a not-so-famous song, but I have waited two months for this day to arrive. I booked my flight tickets on October 21st. 6 million lies, a couple of pinkies* from people and a JFK-BOM-JFK ticket have facilitated this trip. Vinay thinks I'm on my way to New Jersey. Mom thinks I'm on my way to meet Nee in Boston. Nee has given up on trying to figure out what I'm trying to do. Actually, I am on my way to NJ. So that I can spend a couple of days with Leena + Ravi and then fly with them to desh. Another one week and I'll be waking my parents from their sleep at 5am to yell "surprise!" at them with a camera in one hand to capture the moment, or rather the looks.
Events of day:
I left the lab to go to office, picked up some stuff and left at 6.40 am hoping the catch the shuttle home.
No shuttle.
No bus.
Great! Just the day I'm carrying the heaviest backpack, the heaviest bag of clothes (why I had clothes in office will be the subject of discussion for an entirely seperate post in the future) and the heaviest book of all time. <frust> Couldn't be yesterday, could it?. Anyways, walking home was inevitable. <brrr> Reached home at 7.10. The time-table I'd chalked out mentally allowed me 15 minutes of sleep, before I had to do two loads of laundry, then pack, get my travel papers in order and leave home at 11.
Mind you, this was the time-table I chalked out.
Woke up at 8. Cursed. Fell asleep again. Woke up again at 8.15. Cursed some more. Dragged two loads of laundry from the third floor to the basement. A task in itself. Swore to myself that I will never wait 3 weeks before doing laundry ever again, which, for the record, I've done five times already. Dumped the clothes in and came back upstairs to organise my travel documents. Fell asleep again (damn!). Gagan woke me up at 9. I vaguely remember saying "Whaa.....yeah.... 5 more minutes".
Mansi woke me up at 9.45 next. Five minutes my foot. Ran down to switch clothes from the washer to the dryer. The laundry card needed recharging. Eeek. Ran over to the realtor's office to recharge the card. Made the fastest switch from washer to dryer. 9.55 and I was eyes-popping-out-of-head awake. Rushed upstairs. Realised that I couldn't remember where I had kept my I-20 last.
Frantically searched for it. Found I-20.
/* geek, that I am */
repeat (above 2 sentences)
{
/* document to be checked on entry into India */
document = some_immigration_document;
}
Went for a shower at 10.45, realising that I was still in good time. I could just call for a cab and go <smile>. Out at 11.10. Went down to the dryers to get the clothes.
Dryer 1: Happily transfer clothes to the laundry bag.
Dryer 2: WHAT!!!! THE CLOTHES ARE STILL FUCKING WET!!!! <world come crashing down, heart-rate escalate, entire life flash before eyes and what not>
11.12: Curse. Swear. Curse. Swear
11.13: Make a quick decision to transfer clothes to the "working" dryer. Can still make it to the station in time. Not to worry. <pray>
Went upstairs back to the apartment. Packed bag with whatever I required from Dryer 1. Then went to Swaroop's place. Called Mom and lied some more and gave her Nee's "fake" number (thanks nee, love you). Went back and stopped dryer with 10 min still remaining. Packed bag some more with clothes from second lot.
12.30 - called cab.
12.35 - sat in cab.
12.50 - was at station.
01.00 - boarded the train.
01.20 - train left station.
<peace of mind>
* For the LS people, if you don't know what pinky is, don't bother. Just remind yourself to step out from under the rock once in a while.
Errata : Due to the author's ignorance of the time of arrival of her flight, she thought she would be waking people at 5 am. 8 am would be more like it.
Excuse me while I...ah...borrow the title from a not-so-famous song, but I have waited two months for this day to arrive. I booked my flight tickets on October 21st. 6 million lies, a couple of pinkies* from people and a JFK-BOM-JFK ticket have facilitated this trip. Vinay thinks I'm on my way to New Jersey. Mom thinks I'm on my way to meet Nee in Boston. Nee has given up on trying to figure out what I'm trying to do. Actually, I am on my way to NJ. So that I can spend a couple of days with Leena + Ravi and then fly with them to desh. Another one week and I'll be waking my parents from their sleep at 5am to yell "surprise!" at them with a camera in one hand to capture the moment, or rather the looks.
Events of day:
I left the lab to go to office, picked up some stuff and left at 6.40 am hoping the catch the shuttle home.
No shuttle.
No bus.
Great! Just the day I'm carrying the heaviest backpack, the heaviest bag of clothes (why I had clothes in office will be the subject of discussion for an entirely seperate post in the future) and the heaviest book of all time. <frust> Couldn't be yesterday, could it?. Anyways, walking home was inevitable. <brrr> Reached home at 7.10. The time-table I'd chalked out mentally allowed me 15 minutes of sleep, before I had to do two loads of laundry, then pack, get my travel papers in order and leave home at 11.
Mind you, this was the time-table I chalked out.
Woke up at 8. Cursed. Fell asleep again. Woke up again at 8.15. Cursed some more. Dragged two loads of laundry from the third floor to the basement. A task in itself. Swore to myself that I will never wait 3 weeks before doing laundry ever again, which, for the record, I've done five times already. Dumped the clothes in and came back upstairs to organise my travel documents. Fell asleep again (damn!). Gagan woke me up at 9. I vaguely remember saying "Whaa.....yeah.... 5 more minutes".
Mansi woke me up at 9.45 next. Five minutes my foot. Ran down to switch clothes from the washer to the dryer. The laundry card needed recharging. Eeek. Ran over to the realtor's office to recharge the card. Made the fastest switch from washer to dryer. 9.55 and I was eyes-popping-out-of-head awake. Rushed upstairs. Realised that I couldn't remember where I had kept my I-20 last.
Frantically searched for it. Found I-20.
/* geek, that I am */
repeat (above 2 sentences)
{
/* document to be checked on entry into India */
document = some_immigration_document;
}
Went for a shower at 10.45, realising that I was still in good time. I could just call for a cab and go <smile>. Out at 11.10. Went down to the dryers to get the clothes.
Dryer 1: Happily transfer clothes to the laundry bag.
Dryer 2: WHAT!!!! THE CLOTHES ARE STILL FUCKING WET!!!! <world come crashing down, heart-rate escalate, entire life flash before eyes and what not>
11.12: Curse. Swear. Curse. Swear
11.13: Make a quick decision to transfer clothes to the "working" dryer. Can still make it to the station in time. Not to worry. <pray>
Went upstairs back to the apartment. Packed bag with whatever I required from Dryer 1. Then went to Swaroop's place. Called Mom and lied some more and gave her Nee's "fake" number (thanks nee, love you). Went back and stopped dryer with 10 min still remaining. Packed bag some more with clothes from second lot.
12.30 - called cab.
12.35 - sat in cab.
12.50 - was at station.
01.00 - boarded the train.
01.20 - train left station.
<peace of mind>
* For the LS people, if you don't know what pinky is, don't bother. Just remind yourself to step out from under the rock once in a while.
Errata : Due to the author's ignorance of the time of arrival of her flight, she thought she would be waking people at 5 am. 8 am would be more like it.
posted by sanjana at 3:48 PM
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