22 March
2013
21 March
2013
Oat meal!!
Another 5K in really humid Mumbai. Sitting at the breakfast table, I was wondering why oat meal in India tastes so much better than in US. Then I noticed the plate of Jilebi, aloo paratha with Chana dal and achar and the masala dosa surrounding it at my table 🙂
I know what my Indian friends in US are thinking – “You pig! You deserve to run aimlessly” 🙂
In my mind I am telling them “suit yourself” as I dig deeper into the two rasamalais 🙂
20 March
2013
Run in Bombay!!
Twenty years back in this city, I used to run in the morning so as to not miss the train to Andheri. I used to run to the Borivali bus depot not to miss the early BEST bus to Kandivali. Those were purposeful runs.
This morning, in the same city, I ran without any general purpose for 5K. Shaved off a minute a mile due to the flat terrain.
And as I did that, I twice almost ran into people running from cross streets. No doubt they were trying to catch a train or bus 🙂
19 March
2013
Flight to India
That is one heck of a way to get to India. First, back in Atlanta, as I was trying to finish off the last few calls before they close the doors of the plane – hailstorms hit the airport. Hail hitting your plane when you are sitting inside sounds far worse than when you gift your 10 year old nephew his first set of drums (presumably to exact some kind of revenge on your brother) 🙂
Of course, we had to wait for a couple of hours for the State Farm guy to show up – or whoever it is that shows up to check hail damage for planes. Yes, there is such a thing. I have half a mind to write to Delta that they could have easily saved all of us 15 minutes by switching to GEICO! 🙂
Finally we took off with no chance to make my connection flight in Amsterdam. I took a zen like attitude – whatever happens will happen. Worst case scenario, I will stay in Amsterdam for a day and go the next day. There are worse things that can happen. For example, Delta could have been with Allstate 🙂
Fortunately, the flight picked up speed and we made up some time. Just enough that I realized I had a shot at making the connection. Which I did. By a few minutes! And that is when it dawned on me that my luggage may not have been that lucky 🙁 Nothing shatters zen-ness like the the prospect of being in a hotel with no extra set of clothes and a few customers to meet that day!!!
So, here I am in my long flight from Europe to India wondering what is in store. Delta tried to make it up by giving me three gulabjamuns in my meal. Why the odd number three, I will never understand. At this point, I had the proverbial angel and devil duking it out on my either shoulder. “Too much sugar”.. “So what? it is India”.. they went on and on 🙂
Finally, I gave in and bit into my first gulabjamun. It was so hard thatI barely left a bite mark!! And that is when I realized that Delta’s gulabjamuns beat paper and scissors 🙂
And that brings me to where I am now. Slowly descending into the Indian sub continent. Not knowing what I am going to wear tomorrow morning for my run. And a couple of teeth that are sore 🙂 Zen, shmen, my left foot 🙂
6 March
2013
Oops!
6 March
2013
Let the adventure begin!
Forty eight hours of adventure begins. Decided to brave the winter storm and stick to my original travel plan – Philly, Richmond, DC in three days.
Philly was uneventful. Rest of it promises to be fun. The storms have picked up now. Pretty strong wind. Snow starting. Tried to get out early and switched to an earlier flight. They promptly delayed it by an hour.
Puddle jumper in strong winds taking off and landing in snow. Ought to be exciting. Not!!
23 January
2013
R&R
23 January
2013
South Florida
4 January
2013
Now the last leg…
Wow! That was a pleasant surprise. Got down at DC and then immigration took all of 2 minutes. Customs was 0 minutes. Delta lady insisted that she will ensure I can catch the earlier flight. There was NO ONE at TSA Pre other than me – even the bored TSA ladies started small talk with me. Reached the terminal and Delta was yelling my name – walked into the earlier flight and they closed the door. And they were holding a first class set for me!! That reduces the thirty four hour trip to thirty two. However, only when I have had that first sip of Starbucks tall extra hot nonfat latte at Atlanta airport, will this trip be officially over for me 🙂
3 January
2013
Onto second leg…
In the larger scheme of things, if The Lord intended us to fly, He would have certainly made it easier for us to make connections! 🙂 Made it to the flight to DC from Dubai. Of course, the prospect of sitting in a metal tube for 13 hours with little ability to step out and catch some fresh air makes me wonder if it was worth making the connection to begin with 🙂