It has been roughly six months since I have arrived in the United States of America, and I still remember vividly the day I left my native country, India. The day before my departure, my parents and I made the rounds of all my relatives houses. All of them were happy to see me and proud of me because I was leaving to the United States to finish my education. I was starting a new part of my life, embarking on a new journey. And they were a bit sad well, especially my maternal grandmother, whom I am very close to. She tried to smile at times and let me know how proud she was of me.
But deep down, I could sense that she was very sad. I remember telling her, Nana, dont be sad. It is only for three years till I complete my education, and I will be back every year. I will keep calling you, three years will go by in a jiffy. She could only smile and give me her blessings. I always miss her smile, and her hope, and her ability to cheer me up no matter what, and to give me courage.
That was my first trip to the United States of American the Land of Dreams, and of Freedom. A long plane trip of more than twenty hours lay ahead of me from my hometown, the city of Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh in the south of India to Mumbai, the heart of India and the largest metropolitan city in India. Then, another flight from Mumbai to Paris, and after a long layover of 3 hours, on to New York, and then finally to Philadelphia my destination. At the airport, my parents and pretty far-flung set of relatives came to see me off. Though the rainy season had not yet begun (it was mid-October), it was a pretty dark night, with heavy downpour and thunder striking the city. The weather seemed to reflect the state of our hearts that night.
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It gave me a feeling that something big is about to happen whether it was something good or something bad remained to be seen. My flight was early in the morning at around 1:00 A.M. and since international flights required passengers to check in before 4 hours at least, we were at the airport by 11 P.M. I had two suitcases which were packed to the absolute limit, and had quite a hard time trying to check in my luggage. The security guy took pity on me and helped me with them. Then, I went over and sat with my family will the last minute, trying to salvage whatever time I could. We all realized that it would be a year before I could go back to India to visit, and since I was born quite late in my parents life, I was the darling princess of the family, with everyone fulfilling to my every wish.
Consequently, I never had to do anything for myself. It would seem unbelievable, but I still dont know how to cook, and hate cleaning my room, or anything else for that matter. My mother was therefore worried about me and how I would live alone without her to manage everything for me. I guess leaving India made me learnt all this pretty quickly. After it was time and a call was made for the passengers of the flight to report for screening, I bade goodbye to my parents, and my mother wiping her tears told me Jaati hoon nahi kehte. Kehte hai jaakar aati hoon.
Translated, it means, You should never say goodbye, I am leaving, instead say I will come back soon. Anyone would have thought I was off to the border to join the army or something, instead of going to a relatively safe place to complete my studies. They stood there until I had taken that long walk down the corridor to the final gate, and must have stood there for quite some time, I believe. It is so hard for parents to let go of their child, but they need to appear brave so that the child does not break down. This is the case always from the first time a child goes to school, or outside with friends, or abroad for higher studies. There were no problems with the screening and we were awaiting the boarding call when an announcement was made that the flight was delayed by an hour due to some technical problems. This was a bit disturbing since I had to catch the connecting flight from Mumbai to NY, and any delay in this flight could lead to me missing the connecting flight.
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But thankfully, the delay was not too long, and I was not much late for the connecting flight. After we settled in for the 12+ hour long flight to New York via Paris, they showed us a short video about emergency procedures. It was a large plane holding more than 1000 passengers, but the seating in the economy section was a little cramped. An old couple, probably visiting their children, were seated next to me. It seemed like they were first timers too, they were a bit nervous. I was accustomed to flights since I have been traveling since I was a child.
Those were barely six hour trips to Saudi Arabia from India, and time seemed to pass quickly. But a flight from Mumbai to New York takes more than twelve hours, and seemed even longer. Some time after the flight took off, we were served a lovely breakfast of dosa (a South Indian dish made of rice flour), fresh fruit, yogurt and orange juice. They showed a couple of Indian soaps on the screen, and I fiddled with the radio for a while which was repetitive, of course, so I got tired of it soon. Since it was still early morning with the passengers not having gotten any sleep over the night, they switched off the lights after a while. I was not sleepy, and I started reading a John Grisham novel I had bought along with me.
After a couple of hours, they served us snacks and drinks. There was alcohol present too; it seemed a bit too much considering it was the middle of the day. Then, it was time for lunch and we had a choice of among three different kinds of meals. I have always loathed airline food, and Air India was no exception. The food seemed to taste like cardboard, I am used to spicier fare. Theres not much Air India offers in the way of entertainment.
There is a screen at the front, with no one except the people in the front seat getting any view. The radio has barely four channels with a run-time of about 40-60 minutes after which they keep repeating. It made the flight even more boring. Earlier, I had experience with Kuwait Airlines which was way better since they had a small television screen inset the seat ahead and you could choose to watch any of the dozen movies along with over 15 channels of music. Everyone was polite-from the air hostesses to the passengers. There was no disturbance, and no kids present in our cabin which spared us from bouts of temper from kids and impatience from parents. After several other snacks, we arrived at Paris. We had a three hour layover in Paris, France, to go to John K. Kennedy Airport, New York.
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I went through one more novel on this part of the journey, and finally we arrived in New York. The customs and luggage search at New York took more than an hour, and I was asked several questions about my reasons for entering the United States and so on. Finally, it was over. I had arrived with my luggage intact, exhausted, but safe and sound. My uncle was waiting for me at the arrival terminal. I was so happy to see him.
He had brought my cousins along too, and they seemed to have grown a lot since the last time I had seen them. We had a nice reunion at the airport, and then started on another two hour trip, this time in the car, from the airport to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. And thus ended my first trip to the United States of America..
