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A Sojourn that could last a life time



To recall a busy month that hardly left room for clear thinking so the actions that followed could be condoned and they fitted well fortunately. How does one rate a trip abroad, if it fell on your lap just like a ‘ladoo’? Well eat it and savour it..My sojourn can be termed as a fluke amidst muddled thoughts. Why muddled? When the family splits for convenience the abrasions take time to heal or rather smoothen. No arguments or ill feelings. All said and done we decided to visit that country that everyone longs to visit.Amrika.The U.S.A.

 We means, my better half and I. We were to fly to Raleigh via New York.The flying hours had a tiring effect on our nerves. It is not exactly pleasant when your companion is physically challenged. For the world’s sake one has to look and feel pleasant though one is constantly haunted by the thought whether one’s companion is comfortable enough. The thought itself can adversely affect your appearance-how? Don’t ask you have to experience it. Many a time I kept wondering why I did not visit a salon before leaving on this long journey. At least that would have made me look less haggard. Blame it on my ill-positioned stars. Even trimming nails had to be done at the dead of night, Thank God I was not forced to chew them.

The packing is always distantly placed in the schedule, which means it should be done approximately an hour and a half before locking the door. Thankfully I did not have a trousseau to pack. The gifts to be taken were chosen to be priority and quite haphazardly arranged so as not to deviate the customs officials. Oh, how politically correct can Indians be? The topmost worry was to hide some $$$ at unattractive places. Like? Forget it. Certainly, my connections are remote to celebrities, so my big handbag that outsized my chest had to bear the brunt. In case the $$$ were discovered I was ready to fling the bag on their faces without the passport and visas of course.

For the umpteenth time, my face contorted to a pleasant smile with the outsized bag slipping towards my knee on the right and my left reflexes kept twisting and turning towards the wheel-chair that chaired my husband. He looked so pleasant as if he had just consumed a strawberry milk-shake. The worst fear ensnares you when you are told that you will occupy the middle and aisle seat that too in the middle row when your co-passengers strut about  left and right as if Air India is owned by them.

The excitement builds up when you are about to touch JFK airport and before your feet  touch the American soil, the wheels of the aircraft will do so. Then comes yet another whirl of Immigration formalities. Questions are few, but slipping through passages as if some well-wishers are waiting to receive you. Sometimes it is better to be left alone till you are mechanically put on another flight to Raleigh. A new aircraft, a different crew, cookies and coke to fill your already stuffed belly.  There before you blink, you are in Durham.   

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