Boston Trip

Recently I got a chance to visit Boston (MA). It was a business tour and my stay was going to be for a month. The purpose of the visit was requirement gathering and so was very crucial. To accompany me on the trip was my Project Manager.

This wasn’t my first trip to US. I had been to New York City just a year back. The NYC is a energetic place. It was just as I had imagined. Needless to say, that happened to be a wonderful trip.

However this time the experience was totally different. The hard luck began right from the day (to be precise it was a night) of flight. In Mumbai the flight was delayed by 3 hours due to rain showers. I had not slept for more than 24 hours since the last night’s sleep. And for two days all my energy had been invested in the packing. I was just wishing for the plane to take off as soon as possible. Finally at 10am the plane took us off the ground.

Since it was a day time by then, I could see the top view of My Own Mumbai (which I had missed in the last trip although I saw the lovely sights of London and New York). In couple of hours the plane crossed the India border and I was sound asleep. But after the first catnap, I managed to sleep hardly for 4-5 hours.

After this 21 hours’ of stressful journey we were on the Newark Airport (New Jersey) from where we had a next flight to Boston. But due to the delayed flight from India we had already missed the flight. This meant additional waiting time. We rushed to Air India helpdesk and inquired for another flight. And this time it was not a question of two or three hours but whole ELVEN hours…huuh…The great merciful Air India staff made an arrangement in a hotel for all the passengers who missed their connecting flights. Feeling grateful to the Air India we reached the THREE star hotel ……and what a surprise…..we came to know that the arrangements were made WITHOUT CHECKING THE AVAILABILITY OF ROOMS. (Only Air India can do such things!).

We returned to the airport thinking of ways to kill time. During all this chaos one Indian guy joined us…(he must have thought on the strange land Ek Se Bhale Do aur Do se Bhale Teen). Our next quest was for food. Luckily we found a BurgerKing outlet open even in the midnight. (For those who are not familiar with the US culture let me clarify that most of the shops close after 7 or 8pm sharp.) After feeling stomach-full we finally headed to the Terminal A (from where we had to fly next morning). I was very irritated by then because of the lack of proper rest. Finding it hard to sit idle, I and the other guy decided to walk around the terminal. And there I was….wandering around two hours after midnight with a stranger on the alien land!

Ultimately it struck 6 am and our flight took off from Newark for Boston. Within an hour we were on the Logan Airport of Boston. And as if we had not had enough, we realized that our baggage was missing. After completing all the necessary formalities we headed for our hotel.

Fortunately the hotel did not turn out to be a bad encounter. It was one of the Marriot chains of motels. The same day we were supposed to visit the client office. (My PM had to wear same clothes for one more day because of the missing baggage.) The office colleague came to escort us to client office. The pleasant weather helped me to forget the fatigue of journey to certain extent. But considering our psychological conditions we were given a day off.

But it was useless to go to hotel. In order to avoid the jet lag we had to keep ourselves awake till the night. We decided to hang around in the city. I love traveling and sight-seeing. But this march on the streets of a Boston city was not helping me in any way. I was completely exhausted and needed a nap very badly and madly too. Just sit down (anywhere! I mean it) for a minute and I would start having the forty winks. Somehow we managed to keep each other up till the dinner. The loooooooooooooong day had ended finally at 9 pm.

Second day onwards our regular timetable started. The misfortune was not yet over for me. I received my baggage after two days but with a bad news. One of the bags was broken. (With this broken handle I had to march during the return journey.) Alas! Later I was told that the Airlines could reimburse for the broken luggage but it was too late. Never mind…I will not forget this in my future trips.

The weather was cool and very pleasing for the weeks later. One noticeable thing about the weather out there is that one does not feel tired even after a day’s hard work unlike in India.

In addition to this, I observed many strange (strange to me) things about the place. Firstly, I never imagined US to be such a quiet place. We were staying in a suburb called Dedham, which is some 25 miles away from the Boston city. The population was not even half of that of any suburb in Mumbai. The next person will be walking at least 50 feet ahead of you. The situation is not so different in the city. The trains form a major part of public transport in Massachusetts Bay. Despite this, the schedule for the trains is so infrequent; even during the peak hours the frequency is 20 minutes minimum. And the transportation is also very expensive. The reason could be the low magnitude of population. This is very drastic in comparison with Mumbai or NYC for that matter. Besides this in Boston (or many such places) to live on, one must have a vehicle. Even a bicycle will do, but you cannot simply rely on public transport. Otherwise you need to have huge leg-power.

It was our fortune that in the second week we met some Indians who were staying in the same hotel for couple of months. Finding a Desi company in the deserted (again this is a relative term) place had solved most of our problems. The major problem being the food; Being a vegetarian I had to try hard for my survival. These Desi people gave us a lift – both in a literal and a metaphorical sense. Yeah, because they had their own car ;) and from time to time these cars were laden with our groceries.

On one of the weekend we went to Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls – World’s greatest falls made of three falls namely - American (Rainbow) Falls, Bridal Veil Falls which are located in USA, and Canadian/Horseshoe Falls which are located in Canada. It is said that the water flowing from the Niagara River is almost 99.99% pure.

I would not mind going to such fabulous place time and again. However the only mistake we did was the Chinese Tour we had taken. Whatever little communications we had with the female guide taught us that to express in Chinese (or Cantonese) one just have to know moving his hands in all directions. But so much of the association of this Chin-Chan-Choo took its toll on me and that sound was echoing in my ears for next two days.

But….but….but….there was a black spot on this fantastic trip too…the engine of our bus caught a fire. We had to sit on the freeway, in the chilled windy night, totally helpless for nearly two hours. (The 911 service was also of not much help; the stupid guy made us travel in the same bus till the nearest Exit which was minimum 20 miles away.). The relief came only when another bus came for pick up. We all had seen a new life. The next day we all took an oath that in future we would train ourselves to check an Emergency Exit of every vehicle that we are riding and most importantly we would try to avoid any vehicle having anything like ‘337’ in its number…Precaution is always better than the Emergency Exit!

Weekdays were coming and passing by very fast, and we were submerged in the work. Only weekends were for us and we utilized those to the fullest. On the following weekend was Navratri. We heard about the Dandiya to be held in Hartford and reached there. Heavy rains were there too to challenge our enthusiasm but we were not shattered.

But I think it must have been a Rahukaal when I started my journey from India. There was not a single day when I had nothing to be occupied. One day my cooking attempt broke out a fire alarm. (Then on I cut down on the usage of oil in my food.) Once while shopping in the Factory Outlets I lost my watch. Being very overprotective about my belongings I was not able to get away with the thought of my watch. Coincidently the other guy who had given us a lift(!) again came to my help. He had taken some funny photographs in those shops where I could track where I must have lost my watch. But it took me two days to realize this and there was no hope of getting the watch back by then. Yet I called up in those shops and to my surprise, got a positive response from one. That’s America!

Well, so after these Kuch (Kuch nahi Bahot Kuch) Khatte and Kuch Meethe experiences, I returned to India. The one month’s stay had been a fun and little chaos at the same time. But if it is meant to happen it will happen, otherwise not! (That’s why I came back after a rendezvous with Death.) Now I am here, back to my home with my family. Work had started from the Day One after the comeback. Sometimes I simply feel amazing that in childhood I could not even say the word Massachusetts properly and now I had actually been there, and seen it. In Marathi we say "Yaachi Dehi Yaachi Dola" meaning “unexpectedly in the same life”!