Ok! This is going to be the last trip of 2017, I promise!
After enjoying a week or so with my family at my uncle’s place in Vapi, Gujrat, I had to face the reality and carry on with my life in the US.
This time, I was flying to JFK, New York from Mumbai airport. I intentionally booked a return ticket to New York as I wanted to meet Shlok & Nidhi before heading to Michigan. Shlok was in town for a couple days and Nidhi also had some free time, so I didn’t want to miss this chance to meet two of my closest friends at UConn and spend some quality time with them.
I am the kind of person, who doesn’t have any issues sleeping on long flights. As soon as my flight took off from Mumbai airport, I feel asleep as it was 12AM in India and it worked in my favor. I only woke up when the air hostess brought some food and drinks for me before landing in some Middle East country to refuel.
I didn’t know this stop existed in my route to New York, so it was a surprise for me. Fortunately, I had all the documents with me in my carry on bag and could go through the immigration at the airport.
Once the stop was over, we boarded the my New York bound flight and I was looking forward to my immigration at New York. Even though I had done immigration a couple times before this, I still had some nervousness going through it; But, instead of thinking of that, I tried enjoying my flight and have some comfort while doing so.
The New York flight went without a hiccup and I had a nice time taking frequent naps between my meals. Before I knew, it was time to land in the city that never sleeps.
Shlok was gracious enough to pick me up from the airport and his extended family members were kind enough to allow me to stay at their place for a couple nights.
Before this, I didn’t know Shlok had an extended family here in New York and was interacting with them for the first time. I had a great time to get to know them and find out how the first generation of Indian Americans live. We talked so many things and they pulled my legs a bit. I didn’t mind it as their house felt like home and they were terrific hosts.
After spending a night or two, it was time to head to Hartford, where our friend, Nidhi, was waiting for us. I had been waiting for this meeting and was looking forward to having some good time. Whenever I visit Hartford, I make a point to visit some of my close friends there, with whom I developed the relationships when I was there and who has become like a family in the last year or so.
It was fun to meet everyone and have some good time. As I had a couple days before resuming work, I made sure to hang out with everyone before continuing my solo road trip to Michigan. In the evening, we dropped Nidhi off at her aunt’s place in Long Island and then headed to Shlok’s uncle’s place to spend the night. The next day, I was supposed to leave for Michigan. It was the first time I was going to drive for such a long time and in a winter weather. I was nervous, but Shlok helped me calm down and told me a couple things to look for while driving this long.
The drive was going to be 12 hours long and I was worried since it was a thick winter time, with possible snow storm in between. Good thing that I had an SUV rented out to me, which helped a lot navigating through many difficult turns.
Asmita bhabhi was kind enough to pack a Chicken Biryani for me for the road. I remember stopping somewhere in Pennsylvania to have it and loved every single bite of it.
During the later part of this long drive, I was confronted by a locomotive who was in the left most lane. I was driving in the middle lane. As the roads were still full of ice and snow, as soon as the locomotive passed me on my left, it pushed all the snow from the road on my SUV. It caused the snow to cover my car entirely and I couldn’t see anything for literally 20 seconds. Thankfully, I could think on my feet quickly and didn’t panic. I just kept driving, assuming that there was no one in front of me and started the wipers. The wipers started going left to right slowly as the weight of the snow and ice made it difficult for the wipers to move in their natural direction.
Anyway, after a good frantic 25 seconds later, I could see the entire road clearly and fortunately, didn’t cause any accident for myself and anyone. I just learnt an important lesson that day to look for the big vehicle and change lanes if possible.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. It started getting dark slowly and I could see outside scenes changing from morning time to the sunset. I was worried about driving in the dark, I didn’t need to drive for long in the dark, as I reached the Detroit Airport at around 7PM.
The one thing I loved about Shlok was that he was constantly checking my location through WhatsApp and sending some quick texts so that I paid attention to the road and reached home safely. It was a small gesture, but really struck the cord with me.
As I returned my rental vehicle, my roommate Ravi picked me up from the airport, and I couldn’t wait to retire for the day. It was one of those days that I slept peacefully, like a baby!
What a way to end 2017!
2018, here I come!
stochasticity 