The Journey Begins!!
25th December 2007.
Aha, a good day to land up in a foreign land, isn't it? Definitely!! This being my second trip to US, the excitement had lil' bit waned. Hey but I was coming on a Christmas eve and that was exciting. The trip was from Mum - JFK (NYC) - Atlanta - Phoenix. Mumbai to JFK was little bit boring. I mean if you have to sit in a cramped space for more than 12 hours, it does get boring, doesn't it? So I was looking forward to landing in Atlanta and there I was. Boy the airport there is huge. And you know what? They have smokin lounges there which are really really spacious and cool! These lounges are good way of observing people. So there I was having a fag and one guy started a casual conversation. He too was working on holidays which is very boring and he had all sympathies with me!! We have a prejudice that it is difficult to start a conversation with strangers in foreign land. But I think the otherwise. Yes, Americans are bit private people and like to keep to themselves, but then one does bump into people with whom you really can have a good casual conversation. Phoenix where are thou??
Ahoy Phoenix!!
I landed at 7pm in Phoenix. The stewards in the plane were in a Christmas mood and were dressed accordingly.I came out of the airport and was looking for a cab and there I was greeted by a airport guy, Steve. He helped me book a cab. Well, he stressed, its always good to have a map, which he had! This being a holiday season, there were not many cabs in service so I had to pass some time with Steve. He was one jolly person, a little bit disenchanted with the commercialization of Christmas these days. He had a very valid point that Christmas, it seems, is losing its spiritual meaning. Some time later we were joined by an elderly couple. Now Steve was really into talking mood. He was talking on all topics he could think of: the elections, Iraq War, Bush, Hillary, China, raising kids, how the country is not as free as it seems ..whew. In those 20 minutes I could peek into the psyche of an average American. The conversation was nice and then my cab arrived. So I bid them good-bye and then started the journey with all the memories of the travel and in anticipation of more!
