Why would i not ? I was sitting in the business class of the Air Emirates, when i booked an economy class ticket, and was with an Arab Gentleman on my left, a very frighteningly posh woman of around 30 with a 7 year old son sporting "I know all about you" evil smile on my right. His endless demands and her harsh chidings(which would have shut me up like a frog faced by a snake, had no effect on him) were getting on my already "freshly out-of-India-To-US" nerves. But i pulled myself together and tried hard not to freak out.
I was silently observing the kid because, i did not want anybody to know this was my first flight, and he seemed to be the easiest quarry around to help enlighten me using the flights facilities. This was also because i realised i could not observe the mother without sending the wrong message, or scrutinize the arab without expecting to encounter a blood curdling yell like "Saale dekh kya raha hai".
But the kid proved more of a challenge than i expected him to be. He pulled the headphones out from mid-air and started playing a videogame. I was sitting there like a rabbit on which the magician has pulled a trick on. So i gave up, followed suit, and fell asleep, just like the Arab.
I reached Dubai eventlessly, and as soon as i set foot in the magnificient Dubai Airport i was herded down to another terminal where my next flight was set to take off from. I was righteously indignant of the delay of my flight to Dubai that deprived me of the wonderful sights to behold. No, I should be honest, to be deprived of the colorful melee of the pretty airhostesses walking around in their so very sleek looking uniforms. Nevertheless i did not lose sight of my destination and hurried towards the terminal i was directed to.
After I boarded the connecting flight to JFK, I finally felt at home in the economy section and was extremely and stupidly happy to find that my neighbour was a pretty helpful guy( a pakistani) and he helped me find and gather everything i needed(my nerves included). After a gruelling 12 hour ride and 3 bollywoood, 2 hollywood movies later, with fits of sleep in between i was asked to put my seatbelt on and learnt that i was about to step in the US of A. I was frantically and very hopefully searching for any sign of familiarity(I was looking for the statue of liberty) from all the movies on Newyork i watched, hoping to find that anchor which would help me relate to America in the minutest way possible, until in the end failing to do so.
I honestly felt lost. Here i was, waiting in line for the security check at the JFK airport, all of a sudden realizing that home was half the world around, 18 hours distant, and atleast a 50,000 rs costlier.
Wearily, I moved along the line, taking a little respite from a kid dancing hip-hop style. I was at the security check point very soon and the security directed me to a room with a lot of chairs in two rows as i entered, and i breathed in relief when i saw a group of people sitting there just like me.
At the far end of the room was a platform, high and shielded by glass (bulletproof, I assumed ). There were officers behind the high tables checking passports. I took to chewing my nails(as is my habit when i think furiously or am tensed), which stood upto their duty and served me faithfully. A name was called forth and it took me a good 10 seconds to realize it was my name.
The Guard was a bit pissed off by my late response.
G: "Are you Mr. Vidyaranya Gujju?"
Me: "YES"
G: "Is this your first visit to the US?"
ME: "YES"
At this point of time, i was trying to keep my responses to the minimal acceptable level, because i was desperately trying to keep away the panic from keeping into my voice. The guard was not one to back down, though.
G: "And what are you doing here in the US?"
Me: " Ummmm..... I wanted to do MS in Rochester Institute of Technology"
Now came the trickiest question of all
G : " Why did you not take a connecting flight and go to Rochester directly?"
I waited for a moment. I dont recall who, but i would have gladly traded anything to put a bullet in the head of that bastard who told me that i should not tell anybody(especially the officers) i have relatives in the US. I was painted a picture that if i did so, i would immediately be categorised as an immigrant and deported back to India. I took this seriously in all my naivete and so was thoroughly against the idea of tellin the guard that one of my relatives was supposed to come pick me up in the JFK airport. So i told him,
" I did not get a reservation to Roc(rochester) directly, so i decided to take a bus from here to ROC."
The guard gave me a horrendous version of " Are you kidding me?" look , mainly because the heavy indian accent seemed to blow him off and said" say that again..."
And so i did.
This time he looked at me , my passport held in his hands, my I20, and the whole room all at once and his expression changed to an even more frightening " Do you think I am an Idiot?" mode . When he spoke, his voice was thick " What you say does not make sense." He turned to his fellow officer and said, " He says he did not get a reservation to Rochester, but the ticket says he could have. This is not making any sense".
By now all my alarm bells started ringing in high alert. All my emergency detecting antennae started twitching furiously.
He turned to me, " You are not making any sense", he threw my passport along with the I20 towards me and said " YOU ARE DONE"
This to me sounded like an apocalypse's prediction of certain torture and deportation. So i gathered a bit of my all over guts and said " I do not understand"
He replied " YOU ARE ALL SET. GO NOW"
I was in the feeling that my years of reading English novels would have somehow prepared me for this confrontation. As it turned out, i was completely wrong. When he said " You are done" i literally and truly translated it to " tera kaam ho gaya" or " nee pani ayyipoyindi." By now i was prepared to be escorted by a bunch of officers to a dark cellar with no light or windows and to be put through an endless barrage of questions.
But nobody appeared out of the shadows. It took me another 10 seconds to realize no one was going to. So, slowly and unsteadily i stepped back and started walking out of the room, expecting a hand on the shoulder anytime. None came. I went ahead, reassuring myself that i would not have made it out of the room if i were to be deported. So, slowly i kept on walking as if my very survival somehow depended on the fact that i was still walking, until i reached my luggage, found all three of the suitcases and managed to get them into a trolley, then made my way out onto the huge waiting lounge in the airport.
I decided to wait for the person who promised to pick me up at the airport. So i decided to call him up. I asked a security officer to look after my luggage, for which i was sternly admonished to not leave my luggage with anybody at all. So i trudged along with it and managed to secure a seat. Then i bought a calling card and tried to call my pick up hero.
I expected to hear a male voice,but was greeted by an extremely courteous female . She asked me to leave a message. I realized that the phone was switched off. By the time i was able to reach my cousin, which was an hour and a half later, my nails were reduced to extremely tiny invisible things and extremely painful too. To my complete relief, he picked up his call and told me that he should be there to pick me up in about an hour. He came eventually, in about two and guided me all the way out of the airport, onto the subway and then onto a waiting bus at the newyork port authority bus terminal. I left for rochester with an extremely zealous and friendly English Man by my side and slept preparing myself for the events unknown............
