At the Charlotte Airport - I

This post is more about how and why we were at the Charlotte airport (also why long enough that I could seek it as an oppurtunity to blog). This will be followed by the post which actually is the blog I scribbled while at the airport.

My friend S was at NJ this week and since it was a long weekend and since we have a couple of close friends there, we thought it to be a good idea that I travel and spend the weekend there. So, I landed up in NJ Friday morning. We had a blast with our friends the whole weekend. I want to specifically mention that the friend's apartment we stayed at is on the 29th floor of a building located on the water front of river Hudson. So the view of the New York city across the waters is just breathtaking. You would be paying at least a $1000/- a day if you booked a hotel to get such a view. (I have posted a couple of pictures of the view I clicked last night, the first is a little hazy).


Anyways, after all the fun we had, we headed back to the Newark airport around 1:45pm. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 2:55pm. There was a 1 hour break at Charlotte where we would take the connecting flight at 5:45pm to Raleigh Durham Airport. Well, that was how a simple day would have been. But a simple day it did not have to be. So, just to make our lives interesting, our first flight got delayed by 35 minutes. Well, only as true as it was told to us. When we did board the plane by 3:30 pm and the pilot announced that we are soon going to fly, I had my doubts. And then the soon was understood when we saw 9 planes standing ahead of us waiting to take off. So it would be another some minutes before we would be in the air. The flight eventually departed at 4:45pm. Thankfully it was a short flight. As the plane prepared to land, the airhostess made an announcement informing about all the gates/terminals for the connecting flights. Ours was gate B12. Or that was what I heard.

S heard D12. So, we had a flight in 10 minutes from Charlotte and we werent together on the departure gate. Big deal, we should be able to figure that out, I assured myself. But I could already feel the butterflies in my stomach. In fact, they were growing by the number. Since I wanted to practice being calm, I tried to remember all good sayings of Stephen Covey, Gandhi, Buddha. However, as soon as we landed (and before we got off the plane) what I heard freed me of all my worries. Why you must ask? Because the Murphy's law won again. Just before our flight was about to land at about 5:33pm the airhostess made another announcement "All connecting flights through 5:45pm have departed". All my mind thought at that moment was "?@#!@#!". God solves your hassles in strange ways.

Anyways, thankfully there was another flight to RDU later in the evening (7:40pm) and happily we did manage to get the tickets for it. Of course, the seats were neither Window nor Aisle and we werent going to sit together. At least we dint had to stay the night in Charlotte was what we tried to focus on. So kinda hassle-free in some way, isnt it? Now we had a couple of hours to kill. I always love this idleness. We could do some fly-beating, yawning, watching, eating, waiting and cursing and many other things. Since I wanted to be proactive, I chose to blog (Blogging is proactive for those who do not know). I picked up a piece of paper lying in my handbag and started scribbling with a green pilot pen.

Teaday

The sunlight is bright and warm outside. It's rays twine through the branches of the maple tree in front of the house and then slowly peep through my window. I am reminded of the childhood fairy tales of walking through the woods, with sunlight peeping through the trees with a little stream running close by. I feel too tempted to pull out a charpai (the Hindi of "Cot") and sleep in the sun, which is not possible both due to lack of "charpai" as well as "sleepiness" (slept like a log last night.. in fact, I think I am becoming a log).

'just had my tea and am on a high! Tea does that to me- it brings that happy-to-do-anything smile to my face, ecstasy to my life. Tea is enchanting, fulfilling and nirvanic, tea is healing and heavenly; simply, tea is the zing thing! . For those who haven't been introduced to the "tradition of tea", you are missing something!

At the Charlotte Airport

A lady wearing blue jeans and a pale yellow jacket walks across the Food court area. She is carrying a black background, white polka-dotted handbag on her side. She heads straight for McDonalds and stands in line to place her order. So, that is her favorite amongst all of Pizza Hut, Subway, Quiznos etc. Her standard fall back option. Mine would be Quiznos. (Any guesses why? Because I can expect a decent vegetarian meal from it). Another woman joins the line soon. This time its a a blue shirt over embroidered jeans. Good taste I think. After spending a few hours of shopping in New York over the weekend, my fashion buds are certainly excited. I can see myself taking special interest in watching what people wear, specifically women. I remember we used to do this often as a pastime during our college days, it was a lot of fun. Another woman just crosses my table. She is carrying a multi-colored Jaipuri printed bag. With blue and brown as the foundation colors on the bag, I notice that she wears a coffee colored skirt and a light cream top alongwith it. Everything matches so well. Would she wear any other dress while carrying that bag? Or is she one of those who have a matching bag and a sandal for every dress they own. I see that she also wears a white pearl necklace. Definitely fashion conscious, this woman, I think.

Amidst all this, I hear the siren of a moving cart. There are two old ladies and one young woman sitting on it along with a lady driver. They have a smile on their faces. A smile as if they are I class travellers in a train. Other class people have to walk on their own feet carrying their luggage. They would also give them way as the cart moves across. All the driver needs to do is blow the siren constantly. In another cart, there is another old family with a small child and a bunny (a person impersonating a bunny). The bunny smiles to everyone nodding and shaking his head. Some people smile when they look at him. Everyone knows its not a real bunny. But some smile. I would too if I was in its line of sight. I am not. A question arises in my mind. Why doesnt everyone smile when they see a bunny?

A guy comes and parks a cart close to other carts and takes out his 25 cent reward from the machine. I think some thing at the moment. I then start reminiscing about how Tom Hanks earns his money in the movie Terminal (its a must watch). I calculate, 25 cents * 10 (carts) = 2.5 dollars. So, you can at least get one burger a day if you can get hold of ten empty carts and park them here. Then I go a step ahead and calculate 25 cents * 20 (carts) = 5 dollars. So if he can manage 20 carts then he should be able to get food twice a day. How difficult would it be to manage getting 20 carts in a day, my mind prods. Somehow, I want to be settled that it is not difficult to do that. I want to be settled that someone doing this can easily manage to have food at least twice a day. If he remains hungry, it would be sad.

By now, I feel a slight pain in my wrist. I realize I am not using any hard board or support for the paper. I am scribbling uncomfortably on my lap and my hand posture is not good. Deciding to take a break, while I take a short glance around exercising my wrist, I see people looking at me suspiciously. They seem puzzled about what this woman is upto - looking around and scribbling something constantly. My neighbour even sneaks a peek into my writing but I am sure at the speed with which I scribble, my handwriting is so illegible, that she would only worsen the suspense for herself. For a moment, I feel like a criminal. I try to look normal and make a casual conversation with someone. I am not insane or prodding into your lives is the message I want to get across. Finally, I choose to stop writing.