I meant to write this a couple of nights ago, when I got back from the airport after seeing Mohsin off. To Yale. From all-new swanky T-3 terminal. (Which btw, if you are just receiving or seeing someone off, is quite sucky. No coffee shop. No place to sit and eat, and bid tearful farewells. Or tearful "welcome back!! we missed you!"s. No loos even!! You need to go to the damn PARKING LOT to find a restroom!! ick). Anyway, I got lazy. And was tired. So didn't. And since I'm on a writing roll, I thought I might as well write this one right now.
So. Leaving. Going to phoren. Abraad. Pardes. Leaving apna des. On Jet plane. You get the gist. After comparing Mohsin's sedate, sweet, sad farewell, to my rather dramatic byebye a little under a year ago, [ I know, all I do is write about myself. Hence have added the "all about ME ME ME" to the blog description :P] I have decided that farewells must necessarily have a little bit of that filmy drama, you know. So that it can actually sink in. Mine had all that, and MORE. The freak thunderstorm. Taking 4 and a half hours to reach the airport. Traffic Jams. Stuck for 2 hours at one place not moving at ALL. Frantically trying to call the Inlaks person who booked my ticket. Without having his number on phone. Giving e-mail password to Kakul, and making her sift through my cluttered inbox to find said number. Finally getting in touch with said person. Him telling me to get out of the car (WITH my seriously excess baggage btw), and WALK to the nearest metro to get to the airport (even though there was no metro connection to the airport). And thinking WTF?? Is this guy for real??? Calling my friends (who btw, were ALREADY at the airport waiting for me) to find out what's the delay-because-of-freak-thunderstorm scene. Trying to get in touch with the airline. Dad on the phone with travel agent(s), trying to block ticket on the next flight out. Reaching airport 15 minutes before flight departure time. Knowing I'd miss it. Actually, hoping I'd miss it. So that I could atleast get a proper goodbye in the 5 hours before next flight to NY.
And THEN. Actually being able to catch that flight. No payment for excess baggage coz there was no TIME. Begging to be able to step out for 2 minutes to say goodbye. The sudden tears. (Before that I had been too worried about catching the flight to actually think about the actual leaving). Rushing out of the airport despite "sikorty" protests. Last quick (non)hugs. Last quickly whispered words. Lots of tears. Being whisked through security check. No chance for duty-free. Finally on plane. On phone. And bawling and bawling and BAWLING. Seat belt on. Phone switched off. Bawling- turned-to-silent-streaming-tears-and-occasional hiccups. Taxi. Take off. And sleep.
Filmy, na? Mohsin's byebye, in large part because of the absolute HORROR that was mine, I think, was very VERY well planned. We reached the airport with over 4 hours to spare. (ofcourse I had my hysterical waiting-at-Chirag-Dilli-Flyover-for-Mohsin-and-Sid-to-pick-me-up-on-the-way, moment, but that's a different story). Found Manav, Roy and Rats already there waiting for us. Had time to have a "find bathroom" adventure. No coffee though. But that's the damn AIRPORT'S fault!!! No coffee shops!!!! Time for Mohsin's last byebye words to each of us. Special bye-byes. The boys wheeling his luggage to the entry gate. Waiting by the entry barrier thing till he checked in. THEN finally leaving. Had time to be sad, and to smile and to laugh with him. Had time to discuss the "sinking in" process with Sid. Anyway, the point being that that farewell was sweet. And nice. And complete--in that there was nothing left unsaid etc etc. You know. The way farewells are meant to be I suppose.
So well. Once we got the call that he was safely on the way to security check, we stuffed ourselves into Manav's car, and went home. Thinking of finding something to eat. But it didn't quite sink in. His leaving, that is. It didn't sink in, until the next day, when I got back from work, and almost called his Delhi phone to make dinner plans. The minute I was on that plane last August, the leaving hysteria had made a nice comfy home in my stomach. But maybe that's because this time around, I wasn't the one on that Jet Plane Leaving. So dramatic good-bye or not, maybe it sinks in immediately for the one leaving, but not for the ones left. So I suppose what I said in the beginning about dramatic farewells isn't quite correct. Each farewell has its own special story. I liked mine since it was so...different. But a normal, proper farewell would have been nice too. Like Mohsin's. Sid's is next. I wonder how that will turn out. Will find out two weeks from now :) So byebye Mohsin and Sid. Hope you have an awesome AWESOME year(s) [two for Sid] :) We will miss you.
So. Leaving. Going to phoren. Abraad. Pardes. Leaving apna des. On Jet plane. You get the gist. After comparing Mohsin's sedate, sweet, sad farewell, to my rather dramatic byebye a little under a year ago, [ I know, all I do is write about myself. Hence have added the "all about ME ME ME" to the blog description :P] I have decided that farewells must necessarily have a little bit of that filmy drama, you know. So that it can actually sink in. Mine had all that, and MORE. The freak thunderstorm. Taking 4 and a half hours to reach the airport. Traffic Jams. Stuck for 2 hours at one place not moving at ALL. Frantically trying to call the Inlaks person who booked my ticket. Without having his number on phone. Giving e-mail password to Kakul, and making her sift through my cluttered inbox to find said number. Finally getting in touch with said person. Him telling me to get out of the car (WITH my seriously excess baggage btw), and WALK to the nearest metro to get to the airport (even though there was no metro connection to the airport). And thinking WTF?? Is this guy for real??? Calling my friends (who btw, were ALREADY at the airport waiting for me) to find out what's the delay-because-of-freak-thunderstorm scene. Trying to get in touch with the airline. Dad on the phone with travel agent(s), trying to block ticket on the next flight out. Reaching airport 15 minutes before flight departure time. Knowing I'd miss it. Actually, hoping I'd miss it. So that I could atleast get a proper goodbye in the 5 hours before next flight to NY.
And THEN. Actually being able to catch that flight. No payment for excess baggage coz there was no TIME. Begging to be able to step out for 2 minutes to say goodbye. The sudden tears. (Before that I had been too worried about catching the flight to actually think about the actual leaving). Rushing out of the airport despite "sikorty" protests. Last quick (non)hugs. Last quickly whispered words. Lots of tears. Being whisked through security check. No chance for duty-free. Finally on plane. On phone. And bawling and bawling and BAWLING. Seat belt on. Phone switched off. Bawling- turned-to-silent-streaming-tears-and-occasional hiccups. Taxi. Take off. And sleep.
Filmy, na? Mohsin's byebye, in large part because of the absolute HORROR that was mine, I think, was very VERY well planned. We reached the airport with over 4 hours to spare. (ofcourse I had my hysterical waiting-at-Chirag-Dilli-Flyover-for-Mohsin-and-Sid-to-pick-me-up-on-the-way, moment, but that's a different story). Found Manav, Roy and Rats already there waiting for us. Had time to have a "find bathroom" adventure. No coffee though. But that's the damn AIRPORT'S fault!!! No coffee shops!!!! Time for Mohsin's last byebye words to each of us. Special bye-byes. The boys wheeling his luggage to the entry gate. Waiting by the entry barrier thing till he checked in. THEN finally leaving. Had time to be sad, and to smile and to laugh with him. Had time to discuss the "sinking in" process with Sid. Anyway, the point being that that farewell was sweet. And nice. And complete--in that there was nothing left unsaid etc etc. You know. The way farewells are meant to be I suppose.
So well. Once we got the call that he was safely on the way to security check, we stuffed ourselves into Manav's car, and went home. Thinking of finding something to eat. But it didn't quite sink in. His leaving, that is. It didn't sink in, until the next day, when I got back from work, and almost called his Delhi phone to make dinner plans. The minute I was on that plane last August, the leaving hysteria had made a nice comfy home in my stomach. But maybe that's because this time around, I wasn't the one on that Jet Plane Leaving. So dramatic good-bye or not, maybe it sinks in immediately for the one leaving, but not for the ones left. So I suppose what I said in the beginning about dramatic farewells isn't quite correct. Each farewell has its own special story. I liked mine since it was so...different. But a normal, proper farewell would have been nice too. Like Mohsin's. Sid's is next. I wonder how that will turn out. Will find out two weeks from now :) So byebye Mohsin and Sid. Hope you have an awesome AWESOME year(s) [two for Sid] :) We will miss you.
