After 4 hours of break at the London Heathrow Airport, I had to take a connection to Philadelphia, PA. I called my home, said that the trip was so far so good!!?? and went out in a hunt for a few smokes. Longer the flight, greater the chances that you will quit smoking. The nicotine craving in me was driving me mad. I went over to a shop in the airport and asked the Indo-English shop-girl for a pack of smokes, which she gave. There were 2 girls in the shop at that time and I was the only customer. They started smiling and giggling the moment I went over there. Till I finished shopping, they were busy, looking at each other and giggling. And, finally, the other one came up to me and sheepishly asked me, “First time out of India?” “Yeah!” “must be a long flight and tiresome” “yeah” “where are you headed?” “Philadelphia!!” “hmmm…” after a few seconds she came close to my ears…and I can get the fresh fragrance of her perfume, it was intoxicating. She whispered, “Your fly is open..zip it up!” “oh Shit!! thanks. So this was what made you girls giggle huh??” All I got was a kinky smile from both. Damn! I zipped up and left for my airport hiking.
Airport was nice, huge, very huge. All I did was loitering, up and down the entire lounge. Looking at the various models of the same species – Homo Sapiens. Many Indians there, mostly working than travelling. Finally, the call came, for the boarding of the BA flight to Philadelphia.
Oh Man! What a contrast. The flight from India to London was more of an Indian Flight, but this one from London to PHL was a complete change. All airhostesses where white. And the ease with which they move in the flight, or the way they pulled themselves, hmm awesome. There was one lady, associated with my part of the flight. She was young and nice, but she was lot experienced. I told her in the start only, that, “most of the time, I will be sleeping, so wake me up only if necessary. For the meal keep it with you, if I wake up and I am hungry, I will stop by the galley.” And she said was, “Fine no problem. Ask me if you need anything else”.
I dint remember when I slept, I was tired. I woke up after 5 hrs, and noticed that the cabin was dark and everyone were sleeping. I went right back to my bed. The same airhostess woke me up. “Did you have a nice Sleep? You must have been tired. Now you look fresh.”, just with those nice words, I was really feeling fresh. She added, “It is almost time for us to land, could you sit up?”. That’s when the elephant in my stomach got up. I asked her, “can I eat now?”. She was thinking something for a minute and told me, “Yes! Can I get your meal now. But, you should finish it quickly. We are only 30 Minutes away from PHL.” “That’s Okay, I will come to the Galley” to her surprise I finished it in 10, the entire meal, including the coffee.
Here I am finally in PHL, crossed the port of entry, where that officer was looking at me like an Einstein for the fact that I am working for Big Blue. I came out of the airport, and due to lack of time, I could not plan my trip to York from PHL airport. I asked the tourist counter at the airport, “how can I go to York?” she looked at the map and told me to take a greyhound bus from the PHL city center. And I asked, “how do I go to the city center and the greyhound bus station” She smiled at me and told “the train station is right across the street, you can board a train to the city center and you can find the bus station right across the street” “thank you” Here starts my unplanned trip on the road to El Dorado, with a cabin bag and 2 big suitcases.
At the city center, I climbed the flight of stairs to the road from the basement, train station. It was like climbing the Himalayas! with the 2 dead weights that I had with me. I went out, saw that the bus station was right opposite, crossed the road. One black taxi driver was standing there, exactly like our auto guys, to get hold of savaari. He came to me and asked, “Where do you want to go?”. I was taken aback. One of the advices that I got in India before going was, “don’t talk to blacks, they are thieves and murderers.” With adrenaline rushing, I managed to talk to him, “I am going to York, in the bus.” He offered me a taxi ride, and asked for a $200. He seemed to be a nice guy. I bargained for a $100. He was first startled to see someone bargaining but later he was cool with that, and I took a chance. It was Sunday and I did not know that there was no bus to York on Sundays. He pointed that out, from the bus timing pamphlet that the airport lady gave me.
I boarded the taxi in the front seat. At that time I wasn’t aware that the taxi is ride is always on the back seat. We started talking, and we were talking all the way to York. He asked me about computers and told me about his no school life, his wife and kids, and how he managed to get 2 kids to high school to study computers and 1 to a medical school. We had 2-3 breaks in between at some gas station, and he’d always buy a lot to eat. Of the entire 2hr drive, 1 hr 40 minutes he was eating something, and the rest 20 minutes, he was drinking Pepsi.
Finally, after reaching my hotel, he was telling that he did not know that it is this far, so could you give me $150. I was happy that I finally came to York, that being Sunday(no bus day) and taking a cab ride with a black guy. I gave him 150 that he asked for and tipped him a 20. He was happy, and wished me good luck before he left. Oh Yeah! I needed that for the rest of my US stay.
A few things that I learned from this first ride, first, the sun does not set till 9 pm in summers, second, black people are not bad people not the way world talks about them, third, Americans do have a culture to have a family and to live for their loved ones, its just different from Indian, finally, always take a map in the US if you are going on a road trip, this was supposed to be a 45 minute ride, but neither of us had a map.
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