Stereotypes still exist..

My flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia was quite comfortable since I did not have any one sitting next to me . So, naturally I lifted all the side handles and made a comfy air-bed(if the term makes sense) for myself. I guess the air hostess did not like this , she kept coming to my seat and told me like umpteen number of times to place my bag properly under my seat, it was too big to go in the overhead storage or under the airplane seat and I used to get up tell her "sure ma'am" and go back to my comatose state.After a while, she gave up.

I had a connecting flight to catch from Philadelphia to my final destination Atlanta. I reached 30 min's before the departure . Once I reached my boarding gate well ahead of time I sat down and took my laptop out and just when I booted my laptop , my batteries drained out in 5 mins.I could not find a plug point to recharge my laptop, I guess this is the case with most of the airports in US including no free net acess ;-) .So I had nothing else to do .I was just looking around and I noticed a guy with a beard. He distinctively looked like a Muslim. He reminded me of my school friends and friends I had in college(My friends did not have beard in school, they were Muslim's, ). He was well attired and composed .Probably working as a Software Engineer .I thought how lucky he is to work in the US . Must be having a good job and a great life.

Once I boarded my flight ,this gentleman was sitting two rows ahead of me. I was skimming thought the in flight magazine when a lady in her mid 30's who was crossing my row said to her husband in a very loud and apparent tone "There is a Muslim in the flight". The Muslim gentleman would have felt really insulted. Why she had to be so rude . What was his fault .Just because a small faction of people who share his faith( not entirely, though) have decided to tread the wrong path is not reason enough to hurt a person so blatantly.

I wish people should learn to deal with their insecurities appropriately and learn to respect other religions and faith. It is wrong to hurt or humiliate someone for what so ever reason.

I wish people could rise above all these petty thing's and treat everyone the way they want to be treated themselves.

Excess baggage ,No problemo!!!!!!!

What's with all the Airlines putting up restrictions on the number of baggages on could carry .The new rule requires all passengers to pay $25 on their second checking baggage as long as it confirms to a maximum weight of 50 pounds. In fact, now all major airlines in the US impose a fine of $50 if any of your check in baggage exceeds 50 pounds(23 Kgs) and $100 if it exceeds 70 pounds.
Amazing, the things they come out with to make a few extra $$$$ and if you ask anyone why do you subject the airline passengers to this, phat comes the reply "rising fuel prices".

Well I do not wish to comment on that . I just wanted to share my experience of carrying excess baggage without paying for it. I checked in my baggage after weighing both of them and making sure that it is not exceeding 50 pound, for the reassurance of my airline pilot (that's wat the ground staff would say anyways).

Instead of sending my checked in baggage through the conveyor belts at the check in counter itself I was told to take my baggage all by myself and drop it at the end of the floor where the ground staff would pick up my baggage and send it through the conveyor belts.

Now my "mallu" brain went on overdrive mode and started scanning the vicinity for any ground staff looking at me. As luck would have it, no one was around . So, I along with two of my buddies(Ajoy Naveen and Umesh) stuffed my baggage with some extra things including books(that is minimum a of 10 pounds) which I was planning to carry as part of my Cabin luggage. The airline just allowed me 2 cabin baggage and I had four ;-). I had to leave one cabin baggage behind and that was my sleeping bag.

This हेरा -फेरी (golmaal) is possible only if you are traveling by a particular airways which I would be glad to share with my friends

Leaving Pittsburgh

Today's is the last day I am going to be in Pittsburgh.I am going through a mixed bag of emotions, my student life is coming to an end .Am I feeling happy being relived of all those assignment, project work so on??I do not know, I am still feeling a little dazed .

Am I looking forward to a new life ,a life of my own , being independent, working in a IT company ?... hmmm that at least sounds positive to me

Surprisingly I am am not feeling sad at leaving Pittsburgh,apart from being aware of the fact that I am going far away from some of my very good friends.But in this IT age, long distances do not mean anything.

The reason I am not going to miss Pittsburgh apart from the fact that it is a very morose place for student's would be that I had a long struggling period to get my job. In this period I found new friends and lost trust on some of my friends whom I thought I could count on, but as they say "In life everything balances out" , I was delighted at having found some very good and trustworthy friends.Ironically I got close to one of my dear friends after a very bad fight.

My most memorable day's in Pittsburgh would be the period where in I stayed with my friend's in their house for doing my project. Right from my "Ultra heavy" milk consumption to my cooking fiasco, where the kitchen almost caught fire and all I was trying to do was to make Maggi (bought from Indian Store) , I still wonder , how the hell that happened??. Then how can I forget the way my friends almost rolled on the floor with laughter when I was cooking (trying to ) and asked for BLACK DOTS , I could not remember the name of mustard seeds so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

I was really happy talking , sharing and fighting with these three guy's . Well , it is said "all good thing's in life must come to an end", and with my Master's coming to end and all of us relocating to different parts of the US to pursue our professional goals, did exactly that. Well that's life.A big change in me was that finally I started listening to my friends.I guess that has made me may be a little more patient and willing to hear out things .

I believe the reason for my disappointment was my high expectations from people whom I assumed to be my good friends.I failed to judge people.

I have learnt a lesson.I must treasure my friends. I can learn from them and their experiences .The only way to be happy is to be independent and be self reliant .