Considering the amount of packing and unpacking I have been doing since the last two years, I think I should get into the movers n packers business. I have heard there's a lot of money in there :).
I love visiting new places, distant wonders, far-off foreign lands but I HATE travelling, and thus here are chronicled the woes of my travel on one of the longest routes in the world - almost 24 hours: Chicago - Frankfurt - Mumbai - Chennai; Carrier: Air India. (All times given in CST for accurate calculations ;))

And though our travel starts only at 1655 hrs on Dec 13 at Chicago ORD, here's a must-read prologue:
The journey of 24 hours - 8574 miles begins at least one week before when packing is commenced with the first suitcase. Packing, weighing, unpacking, weighing, repacking, weighing! God, how much do clothes weigh? I cannot travel light. I don't have my husband's uncanny skill of throwing everything, consolidating the bare necessities and moving on. I am emotionally attached to most of my belongings - clothes, shoes, accessories, small presents, cards, photographs, favourite mugs and the list goes one....so isn't it inhuman to ask me to pack almost two years of our lives - memories, paraphernalia et al - into four measly suitcases of 23 kgs each and two inconspicuous handbags!
Without any other option, I set out on the herculean task of packing and trashing. My husband performed the last riots of a lot of my beloved possessions and after some sulking I too reconciled to the inevitable. Curse be on those that restrict luggage across cultures and countries - what a barrier!

The travelogue:
13 Dec
0900 hrs - Schaumburg, IL: Last minute packing, weighing, cleaning the house
1030 hrs - Denny's at Schaumburg, IL: A very hearty breakfast
1200 hrs - Schaumburg, IL: Anxious rest
1400 hrs - Schaumburg, IL: Last good byes to all
1500 hrs - Schaumburg, IL: Cab arrives (we had kept ice creams in the freezer to have at the end but that never happened thanks to all the heebie-jeebbies - somebody in the leasing office had a treat that day!)
1530 hrs - Schaumburg, IL:House keys handed over to the Leasing Office
1615 hrs - ORD Airport at Chicago, IL: Lined up at the Air India check in-counter (fingers crossed that the rude european officers on duty let pass the extra 2-3 kgs!)
1630 hrs - ORD Airport at Chicago, IL: All security check-in formalities completed and begins the long boring wait for the flight.
1800 hrs - ORD Airport at Chicago, IL: Boarding delayed by 30 minutes cause the baggage belt had broken! It has to be Air India...
1900 hrs - Seated in the flight - cramped economy seats - the only saving grace it's one of those Boeing 777's
2000 hrs - Somewhere on the east coast: hot bland indian vegetarian food

14 Dec
0000 hrs - Somewhere in Europe: Stiff neck (already!!!) but lots of choices for entertainment - classic movies to the more recent ones...music, TV shows...
0315 hrs - Frankfurt, Germany: Sleepy, groggy. Jolted back to my senses when I realized I had lost the transit pass somewhere. Had to some sweet and sad smiling to the German officers (one of them was amazingly good looking) and guess what the chauvinistic gentlemen bowed and smiled back and didn't create any trouble. Thank god for godly men!
0515 hrs - Back on the flight
0700 hrs - I forget what was served - lunch or breakfast, hot or cold - I don't know. I was sick with boredom and Vish did little to help matters. He just doesn't talk. How much can I keep on talking :(.
Till this time we had been dislocated from our seats atleast four times by the guy occupying the windows seat. I hate the aisle and middle seats precisely for this reason. How many times does the guy need to releive himself...good lord!
1130 hrs - Mumbai Airport: Under construction, hot, dirty, congested and stinking. Welcome to India!
1500 hrs - Mumbai Airport: 30 minutes after boarding time no announcement of the flight. Airport officials busy managing a group of Hajis en route to Bangalore from the Middle East.
1600 hrs - Finally we get to board the flight to Chennai...the last stretch!
1830 hrs - Arrive in Chennai (Local time: 6:30 AM - 15 Dec). We lose 12 hours...what the heck!

Epilogue
Both of us are still battling with the changed environment, the body is taking time to reset to the new time zone, the olfunctory organ is getting used to the smells, the ears are trying their best to tune to the increased noise levels but the heart instantly filled with joy and warmed up at the sight of home. Nothing in the world feels like being at home :)!

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The world watched in stunned silence as the financial capital of India blazed in the fire of extreme terrorism for more than 50 hours. Images of the Taj Mahal palace inferno, open firing on the streets of amchi Mumbai, terrified hostages being evacuated from Trident, NSG commandos entering Nariman house and the bodies of the deceased being recovered were flashed on national and international news channels 24x7.

What should we call Mumbai’s 9/11? A slap on the face of the Indian government, a ruthless threat to national integrity, an unprecedented attack on the world’s largest democracy – none of these phrases capture the brutality with which the massacre was carried out or the anger and anguish that the citizens of the country feel.

I think, more than the actual incident that occurred, what pains is that this was not the first time nor was it without warning. A country of more than a billion people was not prepared to combat 10 trained militants.
As we witness the funerals of the great officers of Mumbai Police and the Indian Armed Forces personnel, as our hearts go out to the orphaned kids and the families devastated, as our eyes dampen with tears watching the heroism of the “aam aadmi (the common man)”, as we clench our fists in rage at the guts of the terrorists, and as we turn our wrath on the total failure of our intelligence services, we, the citizens of India, feel cheated, let down, bruised, hurt, broken.

And if external threats were not enough, our politicians make sure we remain divided internally. Delhi blasts, Gujarat riots, Hyderabad explosions, Mumbai bombings are all opportunities to play the blame game and score brownie points against each other.
A simple gesture like opposition parties and the UPA making a joint statement or putting up a joint front against the single largest and gravest issue facing the country could not be shown.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh makes his most unconvincing speech ever in the feeblest voice possible; the President, Pratibha Patil heads to Indonesia for a “meeting”, wonder what could be more pressing a subject than that of national security; the leader of the ruling party, Sonia Gandhi takes almost three days to prepare her speech; the leader of opposition, L.K. Advani sacrifices a couple of hours from his busy election campaigning to sling some mud on the government; the self-proclaimed messiah of Maharashtrians, Raj Thackeray goes underground; the Chief Minister of Mumbai, Vilasrao Deshmukh takes this opportunity to transform the ruins of the Taj to a tourism package; and finally the deputy chief minister pulls the final straw with his famous quotable quote, “Such small things happen in big cities”. This is our leadership! What a contrast to how the US reacted to 9/11 or UK to its terror attacks.

I don’t know how many noticed but there is a crushing irony about the date - 26th November. India adopted its constitution on precisely that date back in 1949. I present here the preamble just as a reminder to our leaders that what we are asking for is not a privilege. Our security is our constitutional right and every time it is violated, the ruling government should be taken to court.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual
and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twentysixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS
CONSTITUTION.

Five days from 11/26/08, and 59 years and 5 days from 11/26/1949 - we are still awaiting a decisive action plan on combating terrorism from the front runners of this country. We are still not sure whether such an intelligence failure will happen again or not. We are terrorized with the Deccan Mujahideen threat of a repeat of Mumbai in Delhi. We are free but our freedom is fettered. Our wounds refuse to heal.

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