Day 1

"Screech......screech......aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.......Dear passengers we have landed at O’Hare international airport, Chicago the temperature outside is 88 F, thank you for traveling in AIR INDIA." said the Pilot in the most unemotional tone, if you did not know English you would have thought some one passed away.

Om: "Excuse me....sorry....coming through....."

Om lands in Chicago, where he got an admit from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), this being the first time leaving home to realize the "American Dream", he thought he will be experiencing the feelings people often mention. But soon he realizes that just he always thought, it was another over rated emotion, slowly coming to his senses he starts looking for the luggage.

CULTURE – So far yet not so far.....

He realizes the lack of the eternal life blood of an Indian airport - 'chaos', out of no where he sees his bags approaching in the carousal. After getting them on the cart, he starts moving through the blank faces of strangers. Om begins to comprehend that the faces that looked so enticing on the TV, look very normal and lackluster.

Moving through the collosal hall ways, scantily populated, he begins to think if the place is in a curfew. As he approaches the end of the hallway, the silence is slowly engulfed by a soothing saxophone from a poorly dressed man with a hat containing a few coins in it, in a flash he remembers the streets back home and the similarity of the situation.Some things never seem to change......

As he moves on the saxophone slowly breaks into beeps and clicks, this unmistakable sound was from the immigration department. As he makes his way through, he starts to get the first hand taste of the famous American blandness, the stereotyped appearance, the similarity down to the point of the width of the smile was down right - scary.

"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to place your left index finger on the screen.......now your right......." a cynical smile comes across Om's face thinking, will he even notice if, I do it the other way around. He looks for the IGSA people coming to pick him up, finally finds them, realizes that they seem to be segregated in 2 groups. Once all the expected students arrive, as he opens the exit doors of the airport he is greeted with a rather hot breeze from outside. He is then "packed and shipped" off to the temporary accommodation......

People – A dog is a dog is a dog…..

As he tries to get in grips with the fact that he will now not have the luxury of driving off when ever he wants to

"Wassup.....did you call India?",

Om: "No, yaar I did not" [No of course not, you moron, its only 2 AM in the morning there.]

"Well couple of other people will be joining you shortly, Ogo and Family man"

These 2 were incidentally a part of the 4 men team, along with Om was doomed to stay with.

As the night reluctantly approaches 9 PM, Om begins to wonder if this was a plot by the Americans to have more work hours, as he is interrupted by the same senior,

"hey come on in I will show you something"

"This is a shower curtain"

Om: "I see" [appalled at the seniors poor understanding of Om's mental faculties]

As the senior explains the miracle of the shower curtain and its purpose, Om begins to think how quickly people tend to forget how full of crap they are.

As he heads into a deep slumber, Om performs his habitual check,

• Getting an admit in one of the Good colleges - Check
• Crossing 16000 miles and landing in US – Check
• Coming to temporary accommodation – Check
• Realizing that people continue to remain idiots irrespective of the degree they attain…………………

- CHECK

As the sun sets over the Horizon in the "new motherland", as he begins to doze off he begins to wonder, if this was all just a dream, and will he soon wake up to the sound of his mother cooking breakfast and, dad scolding that he is getting late for the college…………