NY Blitz

I was still in India. I had accepted a position in NY, and was winding down my operations in Delhi, when I got the call.

"We need you to come to NY for a meeting. " "How many days should I plan on ?" "Just 1". And just like that I joined the ranks of the people that spend 20 hours travelling to a place to spend just 20 hours in another place, and travel another 20 to return home.

Fortunately for me - flight schedules beign what they are , I was scheduled to spend 2 nights in NY.

I took the non-stop from Delhi to Chicago - hoping to be in NY by 9am. The flight was late - very late - I reached NY at 1:30pm. Quick shower, and I rushed to the office to be briefed on the morning's meeting.

Delhi had been burning - about 120 degrees. New York was a perfect 72.

I had a leisurely dinner at a peaceful little Italian restaurant - no crowds, no hustle - a stark contrast to Gurgaon.

Next morning it was raining hard - now who would have expected rain...I bought an umbrella on the street and continued on to the client meeting - at 1 NY Plaza. A gorgeous building that had views of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island Ferry and NJ all from the 1 room.

Meeting went well. We finished our post mortem.

And I returned to the hotel around 3pm - I had to buy a wallet for my niece. That was the only remaining errand before I caught the flight out the next morning.

In my room, I sat on the bed - just for a minute - when I woke up it was 2am and everything around was closed.

I was also starving.

I waited till 6am and walked over to Ellen's Stardust diner - opens at 8 for breakfast !!!! so I walked around - I saw people lining up to get into the studios of the various morning shows - the city was slowly coming awake.

Finally found a diner that would serve me breakfast - was done by 7am. 2 hours to go before i had to leave... I walked, I shopped. it started to rain. None of the hawkers were going to show up today. So I returned to my room at 8am and napped for an hour.

Back to the airport and to Delhi. 44 hours after I had arrived in the city on my NY Blitz - refreshed, energized and ready to return.

Just When You Thought it Was Getting Better ....!

Can't resist this one guys. I had an absolutely harrowing time at Indira Gandhi International this time.. Maybe I should rename this blog IGI Log - might get more hits that way..........

But just when I thought the Delhi airport was showing signs of getting better - it slipped way back into the 18th century. I was headed for a 2 day trip to NY (sounds good doesn't it ? actually it is kinda insane). And I had my ticket all booked on American Airlines - so what if it only took 2 days to get it right ......

I got to the airport around 9:15 - minor congestion around the terminal... got in easy enough.. .in and out of the baggage screening and was #2 in line at the AA First Class Check-In Counter. I did not have a first class ticket but hope abounds.

10 mins later the pretty woman told us that it would take a little more time to check us in. The computers were down... Computers are down! Who the hell runs your computers - but I only muttered that to myself.. we have a long relationship with American Airlines, and it is possible one of my colleagues in another country runs them.. So I stood there patiently watching the line grow longer and longer - shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

90 mins later I was handed a scrap of handwritten boarding pass (which even the immigration officer laughed at)... and manually checked in. Forget about upgrade, I did not even have a seat assignment. There were another 300 people needing to be manually checked in after me.

So I quietly walked into immigration and told the guy to stop laughing it really was a boarding pass. I went through security no lines. And I was looking for my gate .

I was in no mood to talk to strangers, forget about friends - dressed as I was in my worst shabby plane clothes when I hear someone call out my name.. Turn around a colleague who had separated from the company a year ago. We sit down we talk, his flight is called he goes.

I continue to the AA gate where it is freezing cold - thank god I have my handy red shawl. I cover myself up in it and go to sleep. 3 hours later they board the flight - and yes I got upgraded.

What was amazing was that no one complained. The only time there were some protests was when they invited the kids to board and as soon as they got to the front of the line, they told them to stay there while the fat cats in first class boarded). That was when people started to yell at the crew... Amazing - was this Delhi ? or as the AA commercial says we were already home.