May 8, 1999. It was a glorious Saturday, summer was in the process of re-introducing itself to the local residents, around 11:00 am my flight (operated by Thai Airlines) landed in San Francisco, California. 24 years after my original entry to the world, I was born again. There was no customary fanfare or crying associated with births, instead there was calm, caution and the most unlikely emotion of fear. I was already a Sagittarius and this made me part Taurus, a Zodiac sign that will soon change my life forever.
Growing up in a middle class family in India, flying was a mode of transportation strictly applicable for the wealthy, so there were a lot of firsts in those 24 hours of travel, glass ceilings broken if you will, that I experienced and endured, plane ride being the most prominent. The boy from New Delhi had now made it to the land of opportunity via Chinese Taipei and Bangkok.
"Sawadee Kha", that's Hello in Thai said by a woman, that was the first phrase I heard as I entered the cabin, beautiful (aren't they all) flight attendants welcomed everyone aboard, till date that's the only Thai I can speak, there was no conscious effort on my part to memorize the phrase, I probably registered it permanently in my brain in a state of shock and awe and it just stuck.
There was no preparation on my part on how to travel as I was a headless chicken for the past 2 days making sure paperwork/currency was in order, finishing up my work assignments and meeting family and friends, how I escaped a nervous breakdown is still a mystery. I remember vividly after I said goodbyes to my teary-eyed Entourage at the Airport, I had to sit down and take it all in, I was operating solely on Adrenaline until that point. As I gathered myself and went up to the counter and had the conversation with the airline personnel, I realized it was happening.
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