Getting Normal

Thats my nephew. He came to receive me at the airport, except that he's grown much taller now.  I took that pic in Vellore, when there were no digital cameras. I put my shirt on him, slung my bag on him and accessorized him as a village preacher. He is now studying to  be a doctor!

At that point in time, when my nephew came to receive me, I lost track of how many hours I traveled. In between, at an unearthly hour, there was a three hour lay-over at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. Finally when I arrived at New York, the immigration officials weren't there. So we all had to wait inside the claustrophobic plane for another 45 mins. Phew! when we did get out, there was a cheer and clapping. Then we were herded around. I had to stand in a long snaking queue for 3 hrs. We had only each other's faces to look at - there were expressionless Mongoloids, uppity Caucasoids, grunting Neanderthaloids, ancestral Australopithecoids, Rhomboids, Ovoids, Geoids, Androids and people of all shapes colors and sizes in the queue. By this time my feet were smelling, my nose was running and body was functioning anti-clockwise. I wish old Moses was there, so that he could tell Pharoah and his officials -- "Let my people go!"

Anyway, eventually, I did get home. After a quick bite, a hot shower and some rapid emails I stretched myself for some forty winks before I took a solid dinner. I had no idea of what happened. Nor even any memory of how it happened. I missed dinner-time. My kind nephew let me sleep beyond wink forty one. Jet-lagged, immigration-ragged and energy-sagged as I was, I went comatose only to wake up at 1.00 am! or was it 1.00 pm? I dragged myself to the kitchen, groped thru the fridge and found something to silence my muttering stomach before burying myself again into the quilts. Then I woke up at 6.30 am. Or was it 6.30 pm? I made some tea and woke up my groggy nephew only to ask him, "Is it morning or evening?" He opened his sleep laden thick eyelids, winced at me and, by pure reflex, grunted, "Morning." He had no idea what the question was, nor the answer he gave. But it satisfied me psychologically, and I was too tired to interpret body language. Thus I began my stay in New York with a semblance of normalcy.