After I got accepted into the university of Florida for their masters program there was this long wait until august 6 which was the day I was scheduled to fly out. In the time between my visa interview at Chennai and the 6th, I did all those things which my mom considered necessary when travelling abroad. Getting a hair-cut, buying new clothes (mostly formal), taking spare passport sized photos, Getting a hair-cut (I'd managed to avoid the first time she attempted this), and on and on. Bit by bit, the time I had remaining in Cochin was chipped away at until one day the 5th of August had managed to successfully creep up on me.
Suddenly I was not ready to go, there were so many things left to do. I kind of felt like Frodo when he was leaving the Shire, and my friends also mocked me just like Merry and Pippin did later when they told him about how moody and depressing he had been, making remarks such as "oh, I wonder if I shall ever see that brook again". For the record Trippy ( which is what I call Tripunithura ) has no Brooks, we have backwaters, canals, and drainage systems which are all suffering from identity crises stuck between being stagnant pools of water or newly created, accidental canals.
Funny side note: When I was in school (Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Eroor, Trippy) we had this one peon person who used to run around doing all the menial tasks (I sound snobbish). On some days he would turn up with his arm in a sling and the story that went around was always that he had gotten drunk and fallen into one of the above mentioned accidental canals/stagnant pools. It was and still is quite funny ( assuming that one ignores the sanitary implications of spending the night in one of the aforementioned water bodies ).
Back to the main story. So, August 5th was here and I did not want to go. On that day however time decided to really speed up and before I knew it evening had fallen. My mom, dad, brother and myself were on our way to Ernakulam to pick up a last set of clothes the tailor had failed to previously finish. Once there we were told that there was a further delay and finally we got the clothes much later. After much confusion, running around, yelling, and running around whilst yelling we reached back home and the packing began. When I say packing began please do not bring into your minds pictures such as the dutiful son packing his valise while the family looks on with barely concealed tears and anguish. What happened was more along the lines of me talking with my brother or wasting time some other way while my mom packing my bags for me.
The night drew on and on, got drunk and tripped over its own feet at midnight, tumbling and falling down on its bottom bringing in the 6th of August, my day of departure.
I had never been more sorrowful in my life.
Throughout school and college, I had always maintained that I could hardly wait to go to the US and get away from Cochin and India as a whole (my views are drastically different now, but that is not what this post is about) but never did I expect to feel such sorrow at having to leave all the familiar things behind.
As we drove to the airport, my brother was too sleepy to really talk, my mom and dad were talking giving me advice on how to conduct myself in a world which I had only heard of, but one which they had experienced in person. The airport loomed in the distance and suddenly everything was happening way too fast.
Car stops- Trolley - Hugs - Passport to guard - Inside the airport with my dad at my side and my mom (crying :) ) and my lil brother (possibly asleep on his feet) standing outside though in my brother's case the verb "to lean" might be more effectively employed than "to stand". My dad turns to me, says "Nikhil, allright then, call us from New Jersey, all the best, ok kutta?" (For those who don't know what kutta means, its similar to the word "boy" or "son" mostly used by extremely close relatives when talking to the person in question. For those among you who are north indians and think that it means "dog" well...if the context in which i write this did not help you decode that it does not in fact mean canine, I have no more time to spare on you. I will leave you with this advice, find a cave, crawl into it and never come out)
My dad shook my hand the only concession he made to admitting that I was finally grown up (yeah right, both of us knew better than that). He then went outside to wait with my mom and brother (still leaning, mind you).
I got done with the check in procedures, and after waving to my family walked into the immigration section.
I had promised them that I would call them as soon as I got into the lounge and as luck would have it, my phone's sim card died on me. I had to call them from a payphone and then sit in that rotting lounge for 2.5 hours, unable to call my friends, or anyone at all. Just sitting there.
My flight to delhi arrived and departed soon with me on it. At delhi I had a few adventures but those shall occupy the contents of another post perhaps. I eventually got to Gainesville and was staying the night with some of the Indian guys here.
So we had to go for dinner at the house of a friend, someone that knew someone that knew someone that I was traveling and eventually going to room with. So while there, after a 20+ hour journey, tired and missing home like crazy and obviously suffering from critical jet lag the conversation moved to the university of florida and its faculty and so on.
This is how the conversation went
* - Names changed since I can't remember the actual ones :D
Random people: So Rahul*, you have work experience?
Rahul*: Yes, I worked with blahblahblah inc for 5 years.
Random people: And your major is in the same area?
Rahul: Haha, obviously.
Random people: So Nikhil, what about you?
Me: What about me?
RP: Do you have work experience?
Me: nope. Fresh outta college.
RP: (Shakes collective heads like I just announced I was off to do battle with a kraken)
Me: What?
RP: What is your major?
Me: Computer Engineering.
RP: (more head shaking, including a few heroes who felt like they had to outdo everyone else so they sighed as well)
Me: Seriously what? (I might have phrased this differently, more along the lines of "What the f**k is your problem?".....no I didnt, but looking back, I would've liked to)
RP: The professors are ruthless, the grading system is screwed, job opportunities are few if any, cost of living here is high, no chance of getting a part time job, bad weather, global warming, hole in ozone layer, whale hunting...
Me: Gulp..!
RP: But dont worry you will be fine
Me: how?
RP: yes, yes, just fine
Me: How will I be fine?
RP: just fine
Me: Sigh...! Can I call back home?
RP: Sure
at which point they set me up with one of their laptops so that i could call back to my parents.
I was confused, frightened and surrounded by strangers. None of my experiences in 22 years of living had prepared me for this and so I nearly wept when I told my parents about how horrible everything was. I told them that I wanted to come home and that I could not do this. At that point going back home seemed like a very real option since i had not yet declined to join the two jobs I had been offered coming outta college. Among the gazillion other things I owe to my parents, another was added, when they told me to try it for about 15 days or so, and then if I could not do it, then to return.
I stayed.
So which part of that was supposed to be funny? I don't know..for me, at least in hindsight, the whole thing is something I can laugh at.
Putting up a post after quite some time, hoping to write more frequently after this.
Magus.
