Trip to wonderful smokys!!

It was a long weekend here in the US, technically only for people who are employed. The fall semester had just begun and after a long hiatus we were back to school again. Lectures, assignments, projects and other stuff kept piling upon and I really began to feel what a four month long break had done to me. I no longer felt like being a grad student again. I got funded for this semester, by sheer luck though, and thought would just have a little more freedom on the way I have been spending money. I have been more stingy for the past one year and you could only feel what every grad student goes through when you are one. We decided to make a trip to smoky mountains. It is on the border of Tennesse and North Carolina. I recently missed an opportunity to hit the road to smoky mountains with the people of Asha Gators, a group which has been running for a cause of charity and education of poor children back in India. I have heard good reviews about the smoky mountains and was really excited to feel myself being there.

Four people were on the trip. Two of them, Sriram and Bharani were my department folks and the fourth member Shiva was a friend of one of the folks. We had made plans to start on the sunday morning but given the distance we had to travel we advanced it by one night. We had a nice, decent car (I know I have never rode a car back in India and to say that Mitsubishi Galant is just a decent car is a bit unfair. But most people after coming to US do it!!!)  at our disposal for full four days and we hit the road exactly as planned at 10 o clock. We were travelling to the Ocoee river in Tennessee for rafting and it was around 450 miles from my place. I was driving during the night for the first time and it was fun. Two of us took turns to drive and at around 6 o clock in the morning we reached a place around our destination. Unfortunately, our GPS couldn’t figure out our destination and we spent around half-an-hour roaming around the same place without being able to locate the address. Sriram and myself felt like we desperately needed some sleep as our eyes started to burn. The place was at an altitude of around 5000 ft. above the sea level and we could definitely feel the difference in the climate. It was pleasant and cold and we had a very disturbed but short nap.

It was then the time for rafting. We were all geared up for the event as three of us had never been on a raft. We had an orientation for around half-an-hour mostly on how to ride on a raft and some safety tips. We couldn’t just wait to get to the raft. Apparently, the rafting and kayaking events for the 1996 Olympic games were conducted in the upstream of the Ocoee river. A person called Ashlee was assigned as a guide for the seven member team of our raft which included three americans. One of the americans, Cole, who apparently had a previous rafting experience fell off the raft during a delicate manoeuvre through one of the rapids. Some big rocks which were considered to be an obstacle for the raft were called the rapids as the raft moves rapidly around these rocks. It requires skill and judgement to move around these rapids and Ashlee was perfect at this. She has been doing rafting for around 4 years and she is an expert with kayaks too. All through the entire 5 mile ride, we never got struck around a rapid and we really enjoyed the awesome ride particularly a swirl towards the end of the ride. It was really a great first-time experience for amateurs like us and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Our camping grounds were in Gatlinburg, a 130 mile drive from the Ocoee river. Smokys is an absolutely amazing place almost completely surrounded by trees and mountains. The drive through the Smokys was absolutely an enthralling experience consisting of hair-pin bends, a “O” turn which almost will leave your head spinning and some absolutely stunning tunnels. To see the lush greenery around you getting out of a tunnel was simply breathtaking.

It was a 2 lane road on the way to Gatlinburg and we had to tail gate the cars moving ahead of us for almost 1 hour and we were delayed by a hour and a half. We had planned to trek the Ramsey Cascades near Mount Leconte in Gatlinburg. Again our GPS failed in the attempt to locate the Ramsey Cascades and we ended up wasting invaluable 30 minutes and it was already 5.30 in the evening when we reached Ramsey Cascades. Ramsey Cascades was in the downstream of a waterfalls and lot of people suggested us to trek up the hill. We were enthused about the trek ahead and moved ahead swiftly. The entire canopy of trees made the surroundings look more darker than it actually was. But it did not deter us in going ahead. We met a bunch of Americans on the way up and they cautioned us about spotting two small bears. It was getting more darker and we assumed that they were fooling us around. We continued our way up and met another American couple who also hinted at spotting two bears climbing up a tree. I was looking for such an adventurous experience until now but then we felt the chill in our spine. The entire trek was around 4 miles and by the time we got on top of the hill and got back, it would be completely dark. We tried to move ahead a little and heard some roars around the forest. It was almost 7 o clock in the evening and I doubt there would have been a bunch of people around by that time.  It wasn’t a fair idea to move ahead blindly given the fact that none of us had the power to overcome a beast however small it may be. We dropped the idea and started going back. We loved the canopy of the trees in the forest and we took a break to get into a small creek near by. It was really a stunning ambiance at that point of time during the dusk. But for the caution about the bears, we would definitely have trekked up to explore how the waterfalls would have been.

It was time for camping and we drove to the camping grounds. Believe me or not, I haven’t driven in such a dark place in my life before and the camping grounds must have really been amidst the forests. We located our camping spot and started gearing up with our work. Two of us set up the tent and the remaining two started lighting up the bonfire. Boye, I could really see the flash of the entire camping scene in my mind even now. It was just the perfect place to be during the night. It started raining about an hour from then and the overhead of our tent was netted and did not have a cover. So we ended up sleeping in the car and were disappointed to miss a sleep under the tent.

Early in the morning, we started driving to Nantahala gorge and the drive was as usual nothing less than being spectacular. Early in the July, a new adventure called the canopy tour was started and we were excited to know that we were about to zip through the forests. We had heavy gadgets attached to our body and with helmets on our heads, it looked like we were crazy people. A quick 20 minute orientation ensued and we were geared up to take it on. The canopy tour essentially consisted of zip lines made up of ropes about 60 ft above the ground and connected between trees. It was amazing to know that the entire zip line tour was constructed without any machinery to avoid disturbing the surrounding ecology. There were about 12 zip lines in the entire tour. We stood at about 60 ft above ground and we were safely fastened to the ropes. A gentle push made us travel through the trees to the other side and looking down from there made us feel the ride. It was an absolutely stunning experience and any one going to the Smokys should try it out. We finished the entire 12 zip lines and we were completely exhausted.

On the way back, we stopped by Clingman’s Dome, the tallest point in Smokys. It was about a mile’s trek to the top from the parking space and when we reached the top we could see all but mist around us. Could there be anything better than this? Apparently, the top of the tower in the Clingman’s Dome offers a panoramic view of the mountains in each direction. The Clingman’s Dome is surrounded by a forest filled with Spruce-fir trees and the forest is endangered due to violent activity of a species of African insects.

It was a trully amazing experience to be in the Great Smoky mountains and inspite of the tiring journey back and forth for about 1200 miles in 2 days, it is definitely worth a place visiting. We felt as if being close to nature for a while and 2 days of time was definitely not enough to explore this place. Unfortunately, 2 days was all we had. I am really interested to see how this place would be during the spring covered in a canopy of snow. Guys, if you have got a good gang and enough time, just head out to the Smokys and have a gasp of the enthralling experience. Cheers!!!

Roger Fed conquers Roland Garros

Pete Sampras, one of the eternal greats of tennis chased his dreams of conquering Roland Garros through his entire career which spanned 15 years. So did Roger Federer until he conquered on 7th June 2009. Roger Federer is considered to be one of the all-time legends to have played tennis. But one victory always eluded him. Playing in Roland Garros requires an unique skill. The ball comes on slow to the raquet and the bounce is generally more than the usual bounce on a lawn court.

French open 2009 was fascinating in the sense that it threw the tournament wide open with Rafael Nadal’s, the defending world champion, shocking early exit in the 4th round against Robin Soderling, a 23rd seed. It was widely expected that it would be a yet another contest between Roger Federer, whose game has been on a decline, more on the psychological side and Rafael Nadal who took the world no. 1 spot after Federer’s reign for a record consecutive 237 weeks.

It is widely speculated that Federer wouldn’t have been able to win the title in 2009 had not Nadal crashed out early. I do with all honesty agree that Federer might have lost in the final if it had been against Nadal. But we do have to give the living legend a probability that he might have won as well. A man who has reached a record 19 grand slam finals and has won 14 of them deserves much more respect than what he is bestowed with. Nadal and Federer differ vastly on their styles of play. Nadal is a work-horse and has a never-give-up attitude. He has enormous physical strength and can play a long game of tennis without much fuss. He gives his opponents a run for their money everytime and anytime. Federer on the other hand is a rythm player. He likes to dominate right from early in the match and when his rythm is upset he falters more often than not. Though he has staged a lot of come backs after being 2 sets down, it is mainly due to the fact that he has the knack of capitalising on the errors made by the opponent than raising his game above the bar.

Nadal is fascinating for the fact that he changed the tennis world upside down with his antics. There was a time when Roger Federer would just be an unanimous choice for a spot in the final in a grand slam event and the remaining people would compete for a spot in the final and the runner up’s spot. Federer was hardly tested for a long period of time and tennis became a sport no longer worth of being followed. Federer dominated so much that he won everything and anything. Five consecutive wimbledon championships from 2003-2007, five consecutive US open championships from 2004-2008 and three australian open championships. It would top the head lines if Federer had lost a set against his opponent. Such were his hey days. Tennis was becoming dull day-by-day. In came Nadal who constantly challenged Federer on various different surfaces. His career started on a high when he defeated Federer in 2005 semi-finals in Roland Garros. From then on, Federer has been given a competitive fight and French open has always been elusive for him.

It would have been really fascinating to see Federer win against Nadal in 2009. Though Federer was shaky all through the tournament with the struggle against Tommy Haas and J Del Porto clearly evident, I believe he has the talent to win against Nadal on a clay surface though Nadal’s supporters believe otherwise. Nadal and Federer are true sportsmen who have a fierce rivalry on court and share an admirable cameraderie off the court. Nadal would definitely have given a run for Federer had he made the finals but then I would definitely give the probability of winning against the odds to Federer because he is a true legend. Federer finally joins, after a long wait, an elite club of Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Andre Agassi to win all the four grand slams and befittingly presented with the French open trophy by Andre Agassi, who was the last man to achieve the feat. Surpassing Federer’s records will take another era and people should accept the fact that there will be a decline in anyone’s game with age. He should be given credit to what he has achieved and not for what his current form is.

what life taught me and what it hasn’t

It sounds as strange a topic as it could be but most of us have been through it and give it a thought on a day-to-day basis. What do we want out of our lives? What have we learnt from the past which we could possibly apply when we encounter a similar one in the future? How steep has our learning curve been? Have we been true to ourselves most of the times and how devious have our minds played and yet we pretend to be the best of the souls on earth?

Life has taught me tremendous amount of stuff which I would definitely have found on most of the personality development books. I myself have tried to skim through a lot of personality development books just to pretend to others that I am growing. Was I or wasn’t I doesn’t matter for others but it did for me. Being a very poor reader myself, I found the books a lot strangely inconvenient to put into practice. I have wondered more than a couple of times as to how exactly do I actually put them to practice. But life has everything in store for you and you get it at the right time.

Finally, I gradually started growing. I have been five foot five inches tall right from my 10th grade. But you know what I mean and I have been able to feel the difference for myself. It didn’t happen overnight and obviously there should have been atleast more than a 100 heads nodding to this fact when you glance through this page. It is the intangible by-product of a mixture of harsh realities, funny moments, strange luck, unbelievable failures, aimless rummage into fields which never pertained to you and so on and so forth. It has been a strange week for me as I have been delving on what life has taught me and what it hasn’t.

I have been a staunch believer of the fact that education does enlighten even the most ignorant of the minds and proves you time and again that parochial thoughts always ends you up in utter shambles. Most important of the things I learnt is that of being humble. As Steve Jobs rightly put, “Staying hungry and staying foolish” definitely works your way. But what I have not learnt is how to be humble? Isn’t there a thin line between staying humble and being confident enough to know that you can do it? I have been through similar situations wherein I would always convince myself to the extent that I am incapable of doing it myself only to find that it only would have taken that one extra step which I mistook for being humble and hence squandering lots of opportunities life bestowed on me to learn.

Communication plays a pivotal part in how you conduct yourselves amongst your peers. It might be conveying an idea camouflaged within trivial ones or being sarcastic or getting down to the level of your possible audience. What life hasn’t taught me as to how crucial is your listening capabilities help in growing your stature. How often have we felt ideas dangling through our minds impatient enough to pop out through our mouths just to earn that one second of recognition in a crowd? We feel an immensely satisfied pleasure in doing so or atleast I feel so. But what I seriously loose is enormous enough to show up time and again in my life. I am a very poor listener and I am sure there are people who want to say “Me too”  and I want to be as blatant of this fact as it can be. It takes immense courage to actively listen and accept facts from others and yet have a own niche for yourself. I would want to take the first step in accepting the fact that I dont have the courage.

Life is full of surprises and you can almost always “expect the unexpected” things to happen to you. I am sure many of us have come across situations portrayed by Murphy’s laws and they are true. Heard of the law “95 % of the beautiful girls do not always belong to your college” ? Jokes apart, Life is filled with success and failures, may be not on an equal weightage but sure as you look back would definitely agree. What I haven’t learnt as yet is how to treat them equally. There have been moments when I would be absolutely arrogant to flaunt my success (definitely not to be derogatory of other’s abilities) and be dejected even to know that I have failed in and out in some of the tasks accomplished either due to sheer lack of effort or lack of ability or both. It takes a really open mind to see through the failures as to where we have gone wrong and see through the success as just the first step in a long journey of finding out what we were actually looking for. No longer are the failures affecting me as I have accepted the fact that you can’t realize success unless you know what a failure means.

Finally comes the most important part which has eluded me until now. The art of saying “NO” when you really want to say no. I am a very emotional person and some how have not been artful enough to learn the trick. I can neither say “no” in a better way nor accept a “no”. It makes me curious to know how dependable I am on others. Either be talented enough to squeeze out a “yes” or make up your mind to accept a “no”. It might not be as simple as it looks. But just let me know a solution if you people have similar notions in your mind. I would be glad to get a different perspective from my audience and it only shows that I am strolling along the path of being a good listener or am I flaunting away my success? It is pretty hard for myself to judge!!!!

Heights of violence

I was shell shocked to see such an incident even if I was only viewing it on internet. Such a ghastly incident had been let go without even any efforts or intent to save the victims. A clash between students of law college and how much more fitting can it be.

A friend of mine passed on this link on youtube which is there for you to view on web and it was nothing but horrifying to see people get beaten up by armed men, possibly having political nexus. I seriously doubt if they were students of law college even if students from Tamil Nadu are capable of performing such ghastly tasks.

Posts from news websites say that a caste row between students had triggered this incident and to such monumental heights. We have around 20 policemen, equipped with state of the art technology at present times and still are being such dumb watchers of the incident. Serious questions are being raised as to how students are armed inside a college campus.

How on earth can people beat some one up with iron rods when the victim is almost unconscious? An assitant commissioner and an inspector have been suspended and four sub-inspectors have been transferred. It is ironical that policemen who have been responsible for taking no action on such an incident have been transferred when the affected students are on death bed. Can’t the government be more logical? Why are they always stereotyped when it comes to punishing such irresponsible police men? A serious punishment to these off-hand officials might instill some fear in the remaining lax, irresponsible and hypocritical officials in the government.

Politicians who take advantage of men who cave in for money and their useless ideals are always waiting for an opportunity to flip-flop the blame on the opposition parties or vice-versa. Do we see any chances of our people becoming more mature and try to contribute in some way or the other to the community rather than die killing each other for some one else’s benefit? An imminent act of traversing back to the barbarian times is pretty evident from the recent incidents back in India. Bomb blasts, communal riots, politicians carrying out scathing verbal attacks on each other…I wonder if we are civilized enough to be called human beings..!!

Every bloody thing in India has a political mileage. Even if people are ready to contribute to the society they are being looked down upon or being mocked at by the useless bunch of politicians. A much under played incident somewhere else would have been treated with so much hype that the governor would have given shooting order to control the situation. The singur incident regarding the Tata car plant is one such example. Why are the Indian police so puppet-like when they have to be more responsible?

There will be an exodus soon from India to other countries if such incidents keep happening. People have lost faith in the government and their tyrannical activities. Common man wants to live peacefully and it so happens that even common man has to resort to violence to defend himself when people who are law makers fail to deliver their duties. It is a sad day in India and I only wish that India becomes civilized. I wish….!!!

What kind of personality I am?

What it takes to be independent? It is completely weird though it might seem to be as simple as it is. Everyone is independent of any other thing in this world. Yet more often than not we are being hindered in pursuing what we actually want. Though quite a lot of people are oblivious to what they want to do with their lives, we need to accept the fact that we face hurdles as we move along in our day to day life.

People forcing their thoughts on you is by far the worst hurdle I have ever faced in my life. Hitherto, I have been so confused as to what is good to me and what is not. I am a kind of person who tries to weigh the options given by people around me and then come up with a decision. I might not be one of those people who show eagerness in accepting others’ suggestions right from the word go. But then I do give due thought to the options and come up with a decision. It so happened this little character in me played a pivotal role in portraying what kind of personality I am.

Trepidation began creeping into my thoughts as to whether I am on the right track. It doesn’t matter if I like my decision or not, but it so happened I began traversing on a path where I would be safe. Though people might argue that everyone prefers to be on a safe path, I am not really sure if they have similar ideas about whatever they had to pursue. Fear creeping in, I began caving in to people’s ideas. I was the most easiest of the people to get convinced. I had no opinions on my own or even if I had did not want to disclose for that matter.

I became a very bad listener in the process and thoughts played on my mind as to how well should I respond to the stimulus around me. Every move of mine was watched and most of them criticized. Though, I had to take them to be constructive, I always wished I should have been good at my own decisions. Every other option enticed me and I used to try every one of them for a little while before giving up. I never knew and never know what my interests are. It is easy to say that I take things as they come by but the truth is that I take them because I do not know what my destiny is.

Having gone through all these and having experienced quite a few in the last two to three years, I began introspecting what is happening with me. I happened to notice pretty evident patterns which I never noticed before. Here I list them as it comes to my mind:

1. I was very bad at prioritizing things and more often than not missed the most important one. This stems from the fact that I was easily lured into a lot of things. My opinion of not saying “NO” to people also supplemented to my bad prioritization.

2. I did not accept the fact that I cannot be the best in everything I experimented with. One criticism and I am finished. I was mentally not focused most of the time and was devious from what I wanted to achieve.

3. I paid a heavy price in trying to please everyone and anyone and in the process never had an identity for myself. I lacked leadership skills and I was at ease in accepting others ideas and implementing them rather than convincing them about mine. Consequently, I developed a personality where in I would not disclose what my ideas were and mostly operated in stealth.

4. I had created a considerable amount of self-doubt and this resulted in me being laconic and introverted. I am very bad at developing conversations with people. I am sometimes bad mouthed and people have been critical to me as I had little room to digress from my normal callous behavior.

These simple things made me ponder my thoughts on what personality I have developed in the last 25 years. I have made up my mind and reassured myself that I would from here on make my own choices and would take responsibility of the results I derive from them.

It is slowly descending on me that I do not want to be forceful on others and would want to develop immunity to what others think of me. Last but not least, I want to be ruthless and arrogant to others as others have perceived about me and be persevering.

True representative of Peace – Ms. Sarah Palin

The pervasiveness of terrorism across the globe is quite a worrying thing. Strikes and counter-strikes have become so common that every other day we see people dying across countries. Terrorism on the names of religion, power, patriotism and much more. Countries have become so insecure that pre-emptive strikes are planned so that they prevent terrorist attacks. America sets a bad stead in bringing terrorism under control. It assumes the name of the super power and passes the band wagon to other countries passively.

It was surprising to see an interview of Ms. Sarah Palin, a possible candidate for vice-president in the republican party that America will make a pre-emptive strike on any other country with Islamic terrorist groups who strive to bring down America. Excerpts of the interview is here.

Now, I cannot be pretty sure about how far you can trust America’s intelligence goofs. Right from the WTC attacks in september 2001, America has been on a striking spree on Iraq and Afghan. They threated Iraq and Israel as well. How is this counter strike going to pay off any dividends? For a country like America which is so unsafe in the nights due to the frequent mugging of people by one of their communities, why should they be interested in controlling terrorism outside their territory? If so be the case, then India should be attacking every other country on a day-to-day basis as India has been prone to terrorist attacks almost everyday. Pakistan is itself prone to terrorism. So are Israel and Palestine.

In the process of trying to get an upper hand in every other issue of another country, America is slowly losing its credibility in the world arena. Their troops have killed more people than those who died in the WTC crash. When people around the world are yearning for peace, this game of terrorism and counter-terrorism is making this globe the most unsafe place to live in. It is ironical why scientists are eager to know if life is possible in MARS!!

Journey to Florida

Time was getting on and the time finally arrived. “I was about to travel to US”. I have been hilarious of the fact that I would be going to Uzhavar Sandhai (A local lingua for vegetable market back home) some day and it really arrived. There was no air of excitement about me traveling to the US. Traveling abroad has become commonplace and it is ironic that people shuttle between different countries and India than doing so within India. Also, my travel to the US was not something which happened overnight. It took almost a full 2 years for me to realize this journey and when it arrived I was more aware of how my trip was going to be. The sense of excitement was not really there. However, as one of my cousins rightly put across it was the conscious mind constantly trying to convince the unconscious mind that the sense of excitement was missing. Probably, it was there!!!

My journey was long. Very long on the debut. A full 36 hours!!! The circuitous route encompassing Mumbai, Newyork, Atlanta was deliberately chosen because of the dearth of financial resources. Due to the lack of analysis on the various possible routes, I just realized that there were much more cheaper deals as well. You know guys, it is a waste of time to keep thinking on and waiting for an opportunity to get cheaper things. You always ought to be getting something “MORE” cheaper always. As long as you have time and patience, it works.I had been on air more than a couple of times and hence wasn’t excited about my travel as well. I was well ahead of my time in the airport at Chennai. Lot of people had come to see me off. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, my athai (aunt), my cousin. Lot more people would have come had I started sometime late in the evening. Time was moving on.

I had decided not to get emotional as it might stay back in the minds of those loving people who had come to see me off. It is amazing to know that there are so many people who adore you and yet you don’t realize it when you are close to them. Your parents, sister and BIL, brothers, Mama and maami, chithis, chithapas, perimas, periyapas, athais, athimbers, cousins and many more close relatives and friends. It was them who were actually more enthused in me going for my higher studies and suddenly I was carrying their high hopes on my shoulders. It was almost 5 in the evening and I had to pass through the security check. One last time I had a view of my city and my people. I had to leave and I didn’t want to see the tears on my mom’s and dad’s face. My sister was asusual cool and so were my brother-in-law and my cousin. I bade farewell to them and went past their sight. Suddenly I realized that it is going to be a long trip. Not because that I need to travel for 36 hours but because that I am going to be away from all these people for atleast a year.

I sat there alone inside the cabin. It was a three seater on either side of the aisle and I was accompanied by a srilankan girl on my side. I had a very short conversation with her and I was surprised too that I had a conversation with a stranger. Yes, I have become laconic these days and it is becoming detrimental to me. I speak so less and to the point that I am unable to develop conversations with people who are not on my frequency. I had been thinking that I am a good listener only to know that I wasn’t. I disembarked from the plane and got into a bus which was waiting to transport people from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. It took me about 20 minutes to reach there and the moment I got down from the bus I was surprised to see one of my family friends awaiting my arrival. He was late into his shift and yet helped me to get my imigration check and other formalities done. We had to bypass the long queue to get the immigration check completed and I was left with a full 2 hours to spend in the airport. I felt solitary in the airport amidst the thronging crowd. I was a little restless and tried to keep my cool. I should have planned well that I had some one flying to my university accompany me. But it was too late to even think about that. I poured my mind into reading a book and as usual was very bad in trying to do something which doesn’t come naturally to me.

Finally, it was 1 o clock in the night and I was to embark into my first journey outside the country. Wow how lovely it sounds. But actually I was just wondering what the hell I was doing. I got a aisle seat near a couple in the airplane and I did not have an opportunity to even speak with them. Imagine a full 16 hour journey just watching a small TV in front of you. But I chuckled within myself. I had a reason to boast of for not engaging in a conversation!!! It is really ironical to have a companion like a TV which obeys to your orders and can handle it anyway you want. I was served food at regular intervals and I watched four full movies during the flight. I was also given with a pair of ear plugs which I mistook for chocolates in the dark. In indian flights, you are generally given some sweets and I was totally wrong to map it to the ear plugs. You know, some times we look awfully foolish and yet we try to hide it from people around to make them oblivious to our ignorance. I took some short naps to keep me awake through the journey. It was wonderful to see the time go back as you travel from east to west. Some kind of a time machine!! I really loved it but it was only ephemeral as I was just going some hours of my life back. Nostalgia set in.

I finally arrived at the Newyork John F. Kennedy airport. Boye, it was too big an airport that we could have used half the space of Chennai to build it. It was 7 o clock local time in the morning. I had to unload my luggages and pass the customs check and then check them again. The US customs authorities were so lax as against what I had imagined. They hardly checked people’s luggages. It might have to do with the large crowd of people at that point of time of the day. They were mostly students and to my surprise many of them were flying to my university. Now that’s for coincidence. I was asked to go to gate number 29 of the same terminal. I walked through some distance. Then walked further and further and it took me nearly 25 minutes to reach my gate. A population of more than a billion back in India doesn’t have as big a airport as this one. I wasn’t able to justify this even to my wildest of the imagination.

To my surprise, my flight to Atlanta, Georgia was delayed by 3 hours. Now I realized that US is just another country. To prove my point, most of the Delta flights (A major operator in the US) was over booked. Memories about Air Deccan flashed into my mind and it was even worse here. The only consolation was that the passengers were given a free meal and a confirmed ticket for the next possible flight to their destination. A bait offered to satisfy the customers. At around 11:45, I boarded my flight to Atlanta. It was a small passenger plane with two seats on either side of the aisle. Come on man, Air Deccan flies better planes in India than these. Possibly a turbo prop powered planes and cramped leg space only added fuel to the fire. The flight take off was further delayed to the fact that the airport in Atlanta was running full with no room to take up another flight for landing. It was analogous to our bus terminals back home. Plzzz, don’t be kidding!!! Where the heck are you people flying?? Finally, the plane took-off. We were served with soda ( A jargon used for soft drinks like coke and sprite) and the journey spanned some 1 hour and 30 mins. We landed at Atlanta and I had to just collect my cabin baggage as my cargo baggage was automatically checked in till my last destination.

Atlanta is one of the largest airports in the US and it was so huge that it is imperative not to get lost. I inquired about where my boarding gate was. I was informed that I need to catch a train to go to the next terminal and the 50 th gate in that terminal was where I need to go. Now I went mad. A train inside an airport?? 50 th gate. Are you nuts?? After I reached my terminal, I happened to know that there were terminals commencing from alphabet A to T and each alphabet had some 60-70 gates. Now I was dumbstuck. I was no more going to be amused by the vastness of the airport. Fittingly, Atlanta handled the highest air traffic per day till date possibly in the entire universe. Again, my flight to the final destination was delayed. But, the weather saved the US’ reputation this time. I boarded my flight at around 8 PM local time and we were halted in the runway behind some two planes which were ready to take off besides watching planes on either side of yours taking off or landing. That was the amount of air traffic it handled.

The plane then finally took off and the journey was about 45 minutes to a place called Gainesville in Florida which was my final destination. To compliment the hugeness of the Atlanta airport, this airport was as small as anyone could ever have imagined and only served some 6-7 planes a day. The airport was deserted evident from the amount of air traffic it handled. We were not able to contact the people from the Indian Association who were about to receive us regarding the delay in our itenarary. But it seemed to be a usual stuff and people from the association arrived some 10-15 minutes after our arrival. Gainesville is a small town and we got into the car of our seniors along with the luggage. We drove around 30 minutes to reach our apartments and were given a temporary accomodation for 3-4 days. People were so generous to provide us with food and other amenities until we found a permanent accomodation. My journey to Florida thus came to an end and I was finally in the US!!!

Sachin, the work horse..

I have lost sizeable interest in following cricket of late inspite of being a fanatic follower of cricket for many years. Possibly, Sachin’s performance in Adelaide Oval persuaded me to pen this blog. Aussies play cricket the hard way and the standards they set, match after match is admirable, if not enviable. Having said that, India has been the only team which is closest to upsetting the string of victories Aussies have enjoyed for the past decade. India had come back strongly after the sydney fiasco only to overwhelm the complacent Aussies in WACA. Being a strong critic of Sachin myself, I am in a quandary as to whether I should change my stance after his consistent and prolific performances in the recent past.

 He is a legend beyond doubt, having scored close to 13,000 runs at an average of 56 which could have only been surpassed by the legendary Bradman himself. Yet his apetite for proving himself time and again has never abated. People in India are fanatic about cricket. A score of 20 from Sachin following a stupendous century is considered a failure beyond doubt. It sounds crazy to me as Sachin is just as normal a human being as everyone is and can be prone to failures at times. How does Sachin handle this kind of frenzied cricket following community? He would have by now become immune to the varied controversies and criticisms that have hitherto deluged him. In an illustrious career as his, I cannot find one blemish committed which might possibly have tarnished his image. How does he stay composed all the time? It is pretty much evident for everyone as to how difficult it is to perform under pressure and carrying the hopes of a whole nation. This raises the big question as to whether he is really a mortal.

 There ain’t any big record which Sachin has to break and prove his mettle. He keeps superseding his own records time and again. He is a perfect ambassador for any sport played with true spirit. Yet, the biggest irony is that Sachin ’s performances are always debatable and unfulfilling to this land of cricket. Here is a legend whose retirement is imminent and speculated by crores of people who is fighting hard to silence his critics one last time before he is accepted as a true disciple of this wonderful sport. Sachin do has a lot to offer to cricket even if his minor ailments doesn’t allow him to proceed further.