Truck's own country

Before coming over to the US, I read that here "Bigger is better"... I don't know what all they meant; but at least one look at the surroundings will tell you that the travel kit was spot on...

Almost everyone has an automobile here (I refuse to say cars); necessitated by the fact that public transport is a word that is quite unheard of in these parts... they come in all sizes... ranging from XL to XXXXL... You see; bigger is better. There are a host of SUVs around and then there are the trucks; monster utility kind of pick-ups. And yeah! People even drive these to office. That pic there. You see what I mean? It sounds even wierder on this day, a day google has gone black as a message to conserve energy.

Anyway... another thing out here is everyone's preference for automatic gears. It is difficult to find manual transmissions out here. I personally feel that automatics take half the fun out of driving. I mean, you should be able to shift down & rev a bit if you want. But then, it is a matter of perception.

Okay!! Where am I? I think I've lost it. Time to stop this blog then. I have no clue where this one is going. :)

Bangaloreil ninnu Wichita vare - Oru Yaatra kurippu

Bangalore - Wichita - A travel diary...

I started from Bangalore at around 6:15pm IST on 15th March... my gud ol' roomie for 3 yrs Jp came along... it looked like Bangalore was sad that I was going to be away for some time, for it wept... malayalathil paranjaal potti potti karanju.... errr... wat I meant was that it rained like mad with lightning & thunder (one of which flashed right in front of our cab)... The roads were flooded... & traffic was slow moving.... cars, buses and scooters are adapted to moving around in land after all... anyway, I reached the airport at around 8:00pm... I, dressed in full formals (save a tie), stepped out on to the torrential rain... a small look around; and my brilliant eyes spotted a shortcut to the terminal building... I moved that way and carefully stepped into a huge puddle of water... (so much for the "formal" dressing)... & then discovered that the "shorcut" was barricaded... i stepped out from that puddle of water and stepped into another.. (there was a small bund like embankment to separate the 2 puddles, u see) ... anyway, I waded my way into the shelter of the building... Jp had taken my huge baggages... he looked very much like a porter dressed in his khaki colour shorts.. :D

I bade Jp god bye & checked in & was informed that my Jet Airways flight would be 30 mts late... However, they managed to beat their target... The flight took off about an hour late!!! Good thing; for that reduced my idling time in Mumbai...

The plane was a 737...

I remember someone telling me not to think that I was a stress engineer... I did exactly that... I encourage all my fellow engineers around not to think of stress & stuff when in a plane.. it's scary...

The first thing that I noticed in the plane was a repair plate near the empennage... Heck!!! & then I go in... I see the frames in the walls (well.. not exactly frames, but u can make out where the frame stations are)... it's rather scary to think about stress distribuion and failure modes sitting in a flying plane... Thankfully, the airhostesses came to rescue... No!! They didn't really say that the Margins of Safety are fine... They just appeared in the cabin... Good enough!!! ;)

Mumbai... Chathrapathi Shivaji International Airport... Chathrapajiyude airpot... Shivajiyude airport... gathakaalasmrithikaLil shivajude virayaarnna sangeetham keLkkaam ("Athiridee" paattu Shivaji virachu kondu paadukayaayirunnu)... "V" :D ..(Refer Note) ... I go my baggage... & collected my coupon for the bus that carries us to International terminal (Terminal 1 of Chathrapathi Shivaji International Airport is a Domestic Terminal)... That coupon is the most useless piece of paper I have ever come across... I would even say that it's more useless than Malayala Manorama & Deshabhimani put together... The guy at the counter said that the coupon number would be called.. and an airport bus will ply me to the international terminal... Heck!!! I doubt he has called the coupon number even now!!! & then there was a superb Plasma TV that showed information on when the next bus was supposed to show up... it said 0:00 hrs... I waited ... & waited & waited... a guy was heard remarking that last time he came there, it still showed 0:00 hrs... So, I along with I am sure many others are waiting for 0:00... The bus arrived at 2:00am... The Plasma TV still showed Next bus at 0:00am... So much for all the fancy stuff....

Mumbai - Dubai.... I boarded my Emirates flight to Dubai... 4.5 hrs, I think... Emirates was good!!! A Boeing 777-200... Much bigger than the 737... 777-200 economy was 3+3+3; while 737 was 3+3... A TV for every seat... I passed my time listening to Malayalam & Tamil songs on the plane audio system... I am also pleased to inform you that airhostesses onboard Emirates do not wear black Purdahs that cover them from head to toe... J

Arrived at Dubai at 6:00am Dubai time in heavy fog... The first thing that I saw as I disembarked from the flight was that the 777-200 has a Rolls Royce Engine... the 2nd thing I noticed was a Merc S class... & the third thing I noticed was or rather were the swanky looking buses... One of those swanky buses took me to the terminal... I condescened to allow the other passengers too to join me in the swanky bus... so, we all went to the terminal building...

Man!!! What a terminal!!!!!!! The terminal building was huge.. I'm sure it is atleast 1 km long... it took me a good fifteen minutes to walk all the way... well.. I am not too sure about how much time it took me to walk the length of the terminal from where I arrived to where I had to depart... which was at the other end, btw...

& then ofcourse were the famous duty free shops... who cares about the damn shops... There was a Porsche 911 Carrera & a Bentley Continental out there!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeeee!!!

anyway, did my check in for the next flight... & waited... on a side note... I also saw an S-class limo while I was gazing out of the window there...

The next flight was again an Emirates… a Boeing 777-200LR (LR stands for long range)… & it was a long range flight… the flight was about 16 hours…. To Houston….

The flight took of late thanks in part to the plane waiting for some passengers from connecting flights & then waiting for the backlog of flights to clear… It was all thanks to the fog…Anyway, I made myself comfy in the flight… I had only 2 objectives… eat well & sleep well… I must say at this point that I have been able to successfully accomplish both tasks well beyond expectation…

The plane… Flying emirates is good… the service was very good (pls note that I have no points of reference to compare with)…anyway… there was in-flight entertainment… TV… music.. forward & dwn cameras… flight data… all the stuff… I used something else best… the seat… to have a sound sleep (No. I didn’t snore… “K”).. J The crew were also kind enough to offer me something to eat every time I woke up… Watched 2 movies; 1 Malayalam & Chak de in between when I got tired of sleeping…

Another thing worth note was when I flew over Iceland… They certainly didn’t name that place that way without reason… So, I saw snow for the first time in my life.. Along the way, we touch ed a max speed of 0.83 Mach.. & reached 35000ft, I think…

Anyway.. reached Houston late by more than 2 hrs, thanks to delay in departure… & promptly missed the connecting flight to Wichita.. btw, from what I saw, Houston seems to be a very small city…

Houston was pretty uneventful… except for the fact that I almost had to jump on to the plane…The pilot took the plane at some crazy angles…

Yeah!! I am getting bored by now after writing such a long one… L So lemme wind up…

Wichita… reached at 11:30pm… was pretty cold… atleast for me… a couple of friends came & picked me up…

Well.. that’s it.. that was my journey…Phew!!!!!