Thursday, August 16, 2007

After a long time!

Hey everyone! Sorry for being away from this site for such a long time. I was back home in Nepal and I just came back yesterday. Right now, I am desperately fighting my jet lag and trying to stay awake in my orientation-leader-training-sessions.

My trip from Nepal to Hamilton has always been exciting, for some reason. And as you might have guessed, I have a story again.

My journey started off with a blast. The flight was overbooked. But thanks to the airport staffs I knew in Kathmandu, I was able to secure the best economy-class seat for myself. However, my excitement quickly disappeared when I realized that the guy who sat next to me had the habit of slurping his drinks. And he kept on taking drinks one after another. God that was irritating! But that was a minor case in front of what I had to hear at the arrivals. Apparently, due to some technical problems, the staffs in Kathmandu had to take 1500kg (approx. 3300 lbs, for Americans) of luggage out of the plane. But the staffs in Delhi told us that it would arrive in the very next flight in the evening and that it would be delivered to our address within 12 hrs. I made the mistake of blindly trusting them, and so, after leaving my contact details, I went out of the airport to find Maity, who had been waiting for me for 2 hrs.

Not surprisingly, I didn't get my luggage that day. Tried calling them several times, but in vain. The next day when I got hold of one of the employees, he thought I am an American and tried to talk to me in an American accent. Phrases like 'Yeah, man, see ya!' and 'No probs, man!' were commonly used. It was a nice try but it sounded odd after hearing an Indian accent first and besides, I don't think it was supposed to be such an informal conversation anyway.

The following days of my journey also had something interesting lined up for me. London Heathrow welcomed me with one of the longest queues at the Immigration. Spent almost four full hours standing there. The day after, the Virgin Atlantic staffs there decided to charge me for carrying 1 kg of extra weight. I could do nothing but pay. The flight to JFK wasn't really smooth either. Frequent turbulence hits kept us awake. The best incident took place right before we landed at JFK. An air hostess was taking a glass of water to the passenger behind me. Just when she was about to pass me, the plane hit a major turbulence. And before I could react to the shock, I realized that I had to deal with another shock first. And this is not something I have ever heard or seen in real life or even in movies. She had lost her balance due to the turbulence and had literally landed on my laps. And before even trying to get up, she started giggling. Soon, the whole cabin burst into laughter. Her face was red. I must say that was an awkward moment. But I am happy that it was a cute young brunette and not a big fat guy. This incident reminded me of the Indian chewing gum ad I watched when in Nepal. I am sure many of you guys know what I am talking about.

Well! apart from that, nothing was really exciting. Came back and now I am trying to settle back at Hamilton after one full year's gap. Everything seems weird now.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Great Scott!

My much anticipated (well...maybe) first post. I thought I'd share a couple cartoons that I found on the Internets.


Since some American schools are now teaching Intelligent Design, perhaps we should explore contrasting theories in the other sciences too...
Your unborn child wants a philosopher's stone for Christmas.

Founding Fathers vs. Fox News - Round 1: Separation of Church and State

You can find more cartoons here.