Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Four Times:

Please don’t be frustrated, I have always kept my content to my topic-headings… so this isn’t going to be vague either. But again it proves how good I am NOT in math. I directly came to fourth, I bet you guys were waiting for third (I bet you were, I am still not sure what do I think myself as a writer or blogger. But it feels good to write like that, hehehe!!). Actually this is not a planned blog (wow!! So people like me are planning blogs now, sounds funny huh...), however something just happened and I had to write…

I was kind of busy today, so I didn’t get time to go out for lunch. I hadn’t eaten anything in breakfast too, as usual (trust me, not eating breakfast & specially lunch in time, makes you feel n sound like you are really busy!!). So I was feeling hungry like anything, very-very hungry. We have a small but nice (hopefully, I haven’t seen it yet.. just assuming) cafeteria in office and I went there. But as luck wanted, it was closed too. 16 hours of not eating anything just feels amazing!!

So I decided to get something from the office vending machine (for the people who may not know by any chance, you have to put money in a vending machine & you can buy some stupid snacks kinda stuff). I thought of buying Trail-Mix (nuts & chocolate) which was for $1. I put the bill in to buy it but the machine didn’t accept it, it was not working. These are the times we realize that we may have as much money as possible but sometimes, it feels useless (trust me, i don't mean useless to me. I am just talking of people in general... I never feel money is less important).

So, I went to another floor’s vending machine to try my luck. I put my money in and it’s accepted, the machine was working!! Then I select code ‘150’ to buy my trail-mix, the line of trail mix in vending machine moves forward and I am waiting for my delicious trail mix packet to drop (I was hungry to eat the vending machine itself this time). And…

Yeah, the news is the packet didn’t drop. Yes, the packet didn’t DROP!!!

The machine took my dollar bill & the packet didn’t drop. But I was not giving up so easily, I thought maybe it got stuck. So this time if I put another dollar in, then 2 packets would drop. And after all I am still very hungry and I haven’t got anything to eat. So I put another dollar bill in machine, line moves forward and the packet drops. But…

Just one packet has dropped, Just ONE!!!

The machine is not giving up my first dollar’s pack, it still seems stuck. I was still hopeful of getting it, so I decided to put one more dollar in. It’s always worth to try thrice, you can’t rely on just trying twice. And anyways, I am hungry so I can eat 2-3 packets. So I put another dollar bill in to get my 2 packets of trail mix, and now…

Only one packet drops again, AGAIN!!!

What the hell is happening in this world? Even machine’s are cheating on us (I guess the time of machines ruling the world like Terminator movies is coming true. Movies are not always fantasy, this is how it starts… on a vending machine). I could clearly see my packet still hanging on the verge, but every time it does not falls somehow. Ohh my God!!! Why are you doing this to me?? These are the times when we remember god and our faith tries to become stronger in him. So I thought of finally trying in the name of god. After all I had just tried twice… the 1st one was not a try, I was just getting my food. Attempts after those were tries, so I still have one more chance. (This is how we try to fool ourselves with stupid reasoning when we want to do something. And all this thought just comes in a split second. Our mind really works fast, specially to fool ourselves)

So I put another dollar bill in, being very positive that god’s not going to let me down. I’ll have 4 trail mix packs, out of which I’ll eat 2 and keep 2 for future when I have similar situation (see a dollar and a trail mix packs are making my future plans now, either it’s the hunger making me mad or this futuristic ruler machine is controlling my mind). This was like the Judgment Day, and guess what…

One packet drops, yeah just one packet. HUH!!!

Same as all the times, only one packet dropped and one packet was still hanging down not ready to fall. It was smiling at me, actually laughing at me. Infact the whole vending machine was laughing at me. You know what, the whole cafeteria was laughing at me!! There is no place for honest people in this world! God doesn’t listens to us poor people, he just listens to ‘I don’t know who’. (I know it's getting crazy, but this how I really felt for that sad moment... no comments on this) Some lucky bastard gonna get 2 pack out of my money and he’ll laugh his way back! He’ll be rich & happy and I am poor & wretched! And suddenly my hunger was disappeared, totally gone. Ohh My God!!!

But, I remember I was hungry… so I decided to eat. Trail mix was good, I ate 2 packs. Kept one for future (I am poor by a dollar, future planning is more important now). My four attempts to get my right, didn’t work. Righteousness doesn’t work. But whatever… this was the story of four times. I can still guess what all might have come in to your mind when I said ‘four times’, but this was it. Only the ones of you who have been through this pain can understand the ache in my heart.

So friends, hoping to write my planned blog soon which should not be such an emotional and heart breaking story. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!

(FYI… while I am writing this there is a terrible rain & thunder storm outside. Weather was partly cloudy in the day but it suddenly has become stormy in the evening. My friend just told me that this is how Kansas weather is, unpredicatble at these times. If we hear the danger siren which indicates hurricane/tornado might hit, we should run and hide in bathtub as we do not have basement to hide. Sounds frightening... hopefully we all will be safe and everything should be fine...

And at the same time... I would like to take this opprtunity to express my grief and sorrow for the people and families struck with natural calamities all over the world. Some things are really out of our control and all we can do is to just support each other and try to make this world a happier place to live. God Bless All!!! )

Monday, June 02, 2008

Second Time...

I guess I am just too easy at selecting headings, writing whatever I feel like. Or may be I am too mathematical, first second, third… nth, lol. But my friends who know me well, they know how distant I am from math; it has always been the scariest monster to me unless its math related to the money or the girls (see, sometimes I do speak truth!!).

But what do I mean by second time… It’s the second time I am writing my blog (I mean I am writing my second blog here). But do you know what… there is another important second time for me here. It’s the second time I am in US; I mean I am in US again from May 25, 2008. I just came back from US to India after 1 year in April end, and with in a month I got a call to go back to US. Sounds great eh… not to everyone though.

My parents are not very happy, I think. All the parent’s are like that I guess, they love there kids so much, always. I don’t know from where, but there heart is filled with love and affection for there children. My parents love me a lot, just a lot and of course I love them a lot too. Although I love them most in the whole world, but I can’t ever be sure if I can ever love her as much as they love me. That’s the kind of love parents have. My mom was still getting as sad & emotional at the airport, as she was the first time I left last year. So few things remain the same even the second time it seems (Atlast this paragraph got over; I was feeling like going through a Karan Johar script, too emotional... huh!!!).

Anyways… this time I am in Kansas City, in Kansas. It’s a city/state at the centre of US. Flight to here was very-very long. 9 hrs flight form India to London, then after 4 hrs stay in London Airport 8 hrs flight to Chicago and 3 hour stay at Chicago airport 1.5 hrs flight to Kannas. I was mostly sleeping or watching movies (I saw ‘Bombay to Bangkok’ which was pretty nice & Jumper which was okay). And yeah, the 4 hour wait at London made me poorer with $200, I bought a Ray-Ban sunglasses. My passion with glasses is taking its toll it seems, why do they have these beautiful but expensive ‘duty-free’ shops at the airport… huh!! (trust me, I m not really happy for this purchase of mine… the girl at Sunglass Hut robbed me. Yeah you are right; I also guess it all happened because of that pretty salesgirl... girl math screwed my money math!!!)

British Airways service is always decent, the food the seats, all seem nice to me; apart from the fact that they have some stupid baggage restrictions (yeah, they were questioning my little big hand-baggage, why should they question when I am carrying my bag in my hand... lol. I mean as long as I can lift it and fit it in the overhead bin they shouldn't be giving me eyes). The experience with Korean Airlines last time was also nice, they have an amazing selection of entertainment where you can select the movies you like and play them when you want; unlike BA where you only have to watch what they play. But the food was terrible, I mean all they were serving was just beef & pork, no other non-veg or veg option… just ridiculous!!

I reached in Kansas City and collected my bags, to find out that TSA (Transport Security Administration of USA) did an open check on both my checked in bags which were transferred to AA from BA in Chicago. I appreciate the security concerns but you are not supposed to damage my baggage or luggage. They tore one of the bags and disarrayed the stuff inside causing damage to my luggage too. I hate that, so irresponsible & stupid (I thought of complaining but haven’t done it yet. You always should). But anyways, I collected my luggage in KC and took a cab to my hotel.

Anyways, this was more like a diary entry… nothing interesting, huh!! Sometimes, the second time may not be as good as first time. So wait for the next time, I’ll try to write more soon (like everyone is just waiting for me to write something, haha!!). Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!