I could have been on a plane to New York when I was writing this. I could so easily pretend to be the busy plane-hopping globe-trotter who has a real chance to catch up with his life only on an aeroplane – an image that I would love to have (for reasons best known to people who claim that I do). I could do all this and more if it weren’t for the almost dead battery on my super-cool Thinkpad.
What makes things ironic is that there was a time when I actually got to do something like that. And that was when I was working for Ximian out of Cochin (in Kerala, India). Since I did an awful lot of travelling back then – sightseeing around the beautiful state of Kerala, personal trips to Madras, Bombay, Hyderabad and one business trip to Bangalore to give talks at Linux Bangalore 2001 – I spent a good length of time on trains. And while on the train that I would sit and process all my email, hack on some new features in the Mono C# compiler and other such things which invariably drew a lot of attention from people sitting around me in the air-conditioned 3-tier coach. Now that I think about it, that was indeed a different kind of feeling – hacking on the Indian Railways! A truly unique experience 
Anyway so that was also when, thanks to my spare Thinkpad battery, I would get close to 5 hours of charge on the train – enough to get quite a bit of work done. Nowadays, 30 minutes is more like it
But as they say, everything is a blessing in disguise. Thanks to the abysmal quality of my battery’s life, I now spend every flight I am on catching up with all the TIME magazine issues that I am behind on This last weekend saw me consume 4 TIME issues on 2 flights – and saw me considerably wiser on everything from Howard Dean’s leaving his Democrat competitors in the dust to the latest research on eating smarter. TIME is amazing in that sense – you just need to read that one issue a week to learn about everything of consequence that transpired in America (and to a lesser extent, the world) that past week.
So anyway, there I was on the flight to New York thinking about all that had been happening in my life and about how it had been so long since I did the act of stopping and documenting my thoughts as my life went along – otherwise known as the act of writing my blog.
I thought about my thesis defense that morning at 8 am. It had all passed so quickly – 1 and a half hours flew and my hand was being shaken by my committee members congratulating me on successfully defending my thesis. It was definitely a big relief to see it all done.
I happened to turn to my right and noticed a youngish looking chap who was too fat to possibly fit in the tiny seat he was occupying. Fortunately for him, there was nobody else in that row. He was looking intently at my computer when I looked up at him.
“That’s a really nice laptop you have there,” he said.
“Oh thanks – it is pretty sleek. I like it very much,” I replied.
And that’s how it started. Seemingly innocuous little conversation. Before I knew it, the guy was talking about how his father was a really, really rich man and that he usually flew in a private jet and that the only reason he was on a commercial plane today was because his father was using it to travel to Japan! I didn’t think a private jet could travel that far but I didn’t bother him.
“You know, I just love singing,” he started again after a few seconds of silence. Not long enough for me to arm myself with a TIME magazine issue.
“Oh really ? What kind of singing do you do ?” I ventured.
“I am into R&B, you know. Like, Kci and Jojo, Boyz II Men, you know what I am saying ? My favourite song of Kci and Jojo is All My Life and it goes …”
Woah, he started singing! And boy, does he sing horribly. I tried to rescue my fellow passengers.
“Oh yeah, I know that song,” I cut in. “That’s a really good one.”
“Yeah, it’s like totally cool. And do you know this other song ? It goes … ”
And there he started again. And this time I had no idea what song was emanating from his vocal chords.
“Is it by Boyz II Men ?” I tried desperately.
“No, this one is by Kci and Jojo too. I actually practised this song hard and sang it for my mother for her birthday, you know. I was like, Mom, I practised this song for you for a long time and I want you to listen to this …”
Oh no, I thought to myself. There he goes again.
” (stops singing) And then my Mom, you know, she had like tears in her eyes and she hugged me and kissed me and all that. I was really happy.”
“Interesting,” I muttered.
“Oh you know, I am going to even make a CD sometime. My cousin, like, has this recording studio and all that. He even has … ”
Oh great. This chap is going to make a CD now ? Perhaps I should ask him why he isn’t on American Idol! Thankfully, he became quite occupied with trying to find the best position to sit in and I seized the opportunity to start reading my TIME issue.
So I got into New York’s JFK right on time and began making my way to Somerville in NJ. There’s always that terrific feeling in me when I go back to New York. The city reminds me of Bombay very much. All the teeming people, the noise, the diversity in every corner, the fast-paced action lifestyle. Although I always told myself that I wouldn’t want to live in such a city, I have to admit that it was probably not true. I would love to live in New York as long as I was paid a lot of money!
My interview was all day on Friday. In the evening, I made my way to Trenton, NJ, where I was to meet up with Udaya, who was going to come there by the Regional Rail from Philly. It was terrific to see her again although we only had time for dinner before it was time to head back.
On the flight back to St. Louis, I began thinking about how life would be once I graduated and got myself a job. And that is when it really hit me. I would have to leave Wash U for good and leave St. Louis and all my friends. For whatever reason, I have grown pretty attached to St. Louis and so many things that I associate with life in America are based on my experiences here. I wonder how they will change as I live in different parts of the country.
It is only at a time like this that you think about all the things you should have done but didn’t have a chance to do. And I think I am going to do just that!
[Calvin and Hobbes © 2003 Universal Press Syndicate]
