Well even after writing one blog I have tonnes of time left to spend at the airport. So time to write another one. 2:43 pm it is and I have my flight at 7:50 pm. Yawn.
Well I will take this opportunity to put in words my last day at Austin.

Wake up at 8 am. By now I have mastered the art of getting ready, cooking food and eating it all in a measly 20 minutes. But it does require some serious multi tasking, an art that I mastered during my MBA :D We reach office 10 minutes late for the morning meeting. The reason behind the delay is another long story that we can leave for some other time. It is surely going to be a hectic day. Tie up the loose ends and present all my work to the client during a hour long meeting starting at 4 pm. As is the case with any IT projects, the client gives many suggestion which they suddenly managed to remember on the very last day. I make the changes and I am done by 6:30 pm. And this brings my current assignment to an end. A very interesting assignment it has been and one that has taught me a whole lot of things. As I head back to my hotel one final time in our Nissan Centra I really cant make out if I am happy going back to India. Till one day back I desperately wanted to go back to India and now I wish this could continue for a few more days. I reach my hotel and Prabhakar tells me that it will be dinner at his place. Now it would be grave injustice to his abilities if I didnt take atleast couple of lines letting you people know what a great cook he is. And his “Aloo Kurma” is really out of the world. He promised to make me Aloo Kurma. We went to our respective rooms and decided to meet by 9 pm for the final supper :D

At around 8:40 I got a call from Kannan (my manager for the assignment). He was in my hotel with his family and waiting for me in Prabhakar's room. As I reached Prabakar's room, I found all my friends had gathered in Prabahkar's room to give me a final see off. And they also had a really unexpected set of gifts for me. A Texas Longhorn jacket, a Longhorn cap, a big box of chocolates and a greeting card. It was a really touching gestur. There was Kavyaa(Kannan's three year old daughter) waiting to bid adeau to me and for one final time tell me the stories about Elomo, pink hair bands, hair clips, among many other things that we used to talk so much about. Must say she has to be the cutest kid I have even come across. We get talking once again and time flies. As a parting memory I get a pic clicked with her – Lucky PP sharing spotlight with a true superstar. And by now its late in the night and time for all to depart. How I wish they could stay back for that bit longer. As Kavyaa goes back to her house with her parents she keeps on waving her hand to her PP uncle and soon Kannan's car disappears. Me and Prabhakar head back to Prabhakar's room where we have our dinner. And probably for one last time I get to have Aloo Kurma made by Prabahkar. I come back to my room and go off to sleep – A sleep that brings to an end a truely remarkable day :) I am done with my 2nd blog of the day and its still 3:10 pm. A much larger Yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Gone in 60 seconds

Its a very warm hello to all the enthusiastic and non enthusiastic readers of my blog. I am pretty sure that it will be difficult to find people belonging to the former category though :)

Now the first question to be answered is what brings me back to the world of blogs after such a long lay off. The answer to this is a saying that I use very often “Sitting idle can be a great facilitator”. Stranded in Newark airport and a waiting time of 9 hours- and what do I do? Promptly pull out my laptop and start typing. And thus this blog :D

Well I will start with the morning travel that almost never was. I had a flight to catch from Austin airport at 6:30 am. I book a cab for 5 am and it turns up 20 minutes late. And still the cab driver asks for gratuity!! Funny place Austin is I must say. Reach airport at 5:50 by my watch only to find a mile long line for check-in. I check in only to find that I have not given my boarding pass inside the envelope given to me by the person in the check in counter. I get back he gives me two boarding passes and both for the connecting flight from Newark!! Finally with my third trip to the check in counter I am given all the boarding passes. Bad day I tell to myself. By now the time is 6:05 and then there is another huge line for security check. Will I make it in time for the 6:30 flight? Suspense suspense suspense.Huff puff and PP reaches the security check counter by 6:20.

Nothing else can go wrong now I tell myself. Suddenly I find the guy at security check taking a very keen interest in my passport. Lifts his face up and non nonchalantly tells me that I have been handed the wrong boarding pass! The name mentioned in the Boarding pass belongs to some Thai lady!! WTF I tell myself – 6:23am. Security guy is nice enough to tell me that I can give the long line a miss and can come from the side path when I get my right boarding pass. Run run run and I get to the check in counter. The guy there, by now completely tired of seeing my face time and again tells me to go to the First class counter and get the new boarding pass – 6:27 am. Luckily the guy at the first class counter gets me the correct boarding pass in a flash and I head to the security counter once again. Surprise surprise! The guy who told me that I could take the side path is not to be found and there is some lady in his place. Pointing her finger at me and speaking with the mannerisms of a school teacher she lets me know that I have to come through the long line once again!! - 6:29 am. Now I cant catch the flight for sure. Suddenly the original security guy turns up and calls me and lets me in!! 6:32 already and my cabin baggage is going through the scanner. Quick quick please I plead to God. “This bag has a laptop” the guy scanning the bags lets out. So? Am I not allowed to take my laptop. “No sir. You need to remove your laptop and it needs to be checked!” And what follows is a 2 minute “long” exercise during which the guy cleans my laptop and gives it to me!! Nice gesture I must say but certainly at the wrong time! F**k 6:37 already. I am dead. I run for the boarding gate – bag on my shoulder, laptop in one hand and my shoes in the other! 6:39 and the door is about to close. I rush in. Certainly the last person to enter the flight and how!! The pretty flight attendant grins on seeing my set up. I reply with a freakish smile, put on my shoes and take my seat. As I take my seat, I thank God for making it in time. Last night I had increased the minute needle by 10 minutes so that I could wake up early. It didn't help me wake up early but surely played its part in me making it to the flight!