Samarth’s Travel Page

LIVE FREE OR DIE!!!!!!!!!!!

20th of May, Monday – A hasty return journey from Tulsa did not leave much time for me to think and pack my backpack properly. So, packed whatever I could manage to lay my hands on and the next day, we (Myself and Manasi) boarded the flight from Lambert International Airport, St. Louis. We had a connecting flight from Philadelphia. So, the first plane was from St. Louis to Philly. This flight was a nightmare . In the sense, it was even worse than out State transport buses, which take us to the nooks and corners of Maharashtra. It had an approximate capacity of around 40 people, seats were of the quality of any normal Fiat’s seats , and of course it gave us the lifetime experience of wobbling of an aircraft, once it goes into an air bubble. It actually, never seemed to come out of that. AND, all of a sudden, an acute pain started off in my stomach……I had absolutely no idea as to why and how this uninvited guest is paying me a visit, that too right at the start of the trip? Took them to be gases, but realized later on that it was much more than that . Touched Philly, which comes in the Eastern Time zone. So, they were ahead of us by an hour. I did not know that the times on the tickets are according to the respective time zones. I was relaxed, but it was Manasi who forced me to run for the B9 terminal to board the next flight. And she was correct; we barely managed to board the flight. It was indeed a good decision because the B terminals had to be reached by the internal airport shuttle service. The pain had only increased to quite an unbearable extent. I did not know what to do, or what to take. But, as usual, continued with my usual habit of consuming everything that the flight attendants have to offer. Safely reached Boston at around 4.30 pm. Called up Chaitya (my cousin) and Mugdha (His Fiancee). 20th – was the day of her last exam, so they were on their way to the airport. They picked us up, and after an hour and a half’s drive, guess what was the first destination on this trip – Yes, it was Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, NH. On the way, Mugdha’s recollection of the symptoms before her Appendicitis operation in the last semester (at the same hospital) made me a little nervous. So, there we were, in the Emergency department of this hospital. LUCKILY, I had taken my insurance card from the IA office in my university a day before leaving (I had nothing during my Texas trip), which proved a very helpful and appropriate decision. Both the doctors as well as the nurses were stunned to see me as a patient, who comes straight from a place in mid-west to this hospital in northeast. The wait of around one and a half hour strictly contradicted the name given to the department as “Emergency Department”. We joked about how a doctor would come running once a patient dies in the waiting room, for a doctor to come and attend to him. Now, you know what, these guys actually made me wear a kind of a frock/gown. It felt so pathetic , that if I had gone out like that, anybody would have taken me as a guy who is interested in cross-dressing. So, with the stomach growling with hunger, and a list of things of “not permitted to eat”, we left the hospital for chaitya’a house. Dumped our stuff at his place, then went out or dinner. Had to choose a place very carefully, because of my health concerns. I hated that, but after thinking over, went to Bickford’s in Portsmouth and had Burgers. Had not had anything since morning. So, went home after the dinner and slept off……………..

21st of May, Tuesday – Got up late, as usual (you will know later why it was so usual), Mugdha had prepared lunch. After that, went on a scenic drive, which is along the coast and goes to Rye and Hampton beaches, two of the famous beaches of this part. The picture of Mugdha and Manasi in the soft glow of car’s headlight was taken at Hampton beach. Went to the nearest videocassette shop and rented out 8 cassettes for the whole week . Decided on Olive Garden (An amazing Italian Restaurant) to go and have dinner, but it was closed . So, went to Applebee’s and had a nice time there. Chaitya, Mugdha and I had beer, and manasi, as usual had wine (her favorite – White Zinfandel). The waiter was very friendly, and chatted with us while serving us. On the TV above us, a match was going on between Boston Celtics and some other team. So, all the people over there were enthusiastically watching the match. The steak at Applebee’s was out of this world, and the brownie fudge sundae was out of – out of this world……..hahaha (Please bear with the P.J’s, as they come along)

22nd of May, Wednesday – Had the “China Buffet” experience (which we had heard from Mugdha time and again). It was good, and had quite a lot of dishes (more than our Great wall at Rolla). Tried to taste everything, but, unfortunately, couldn’t do it (Pet ne Akhri mein saath chod diya). We had planned to go to a nearby dock, named Strawberry bank. This place was also very beautiful. There were benches in the garden nearby to just sit and enjoy the view. Mugdha confessed, “When we feel very romantic, we come here.” It was indeed a place that romantic. The most surprising thing to all of us was the rate at which we were seeing BMW’s here and there, parked everywhere. The way we see Maruti 800 in India, BMW’s were everywhere. We almost saw around 30/40 BMW’s in that span of 45 minutes or 1 hour. Roamed around in Portsmouth’s downtown for some time, and then left the place for the “Margarita’s”, a very well known restaurant over there. Had to wait for a long time outside the restaurant, because of the Wednesday night. On Wednesdays, they serve one dish free with one, if you have a student Id card with you. It was obviously famous for, yes, you guessed it right – “Margaritas”. The cuisine was Mexican, but that was after a round of the Margaritas. All of us had exquisite Margaritas, green, pink and blue colored. Manasi’s was blue colored. It was a mix of 7 different drinks. It was fun to drink it through the salted rim, and immediately sucking on a piece of lemon after a sip. Tasted really nice. Now was the time for the main course. I took a shrimp dinner, and Manasi took a chicken enchilada. Fate was playing a funny game with me through out the trip, whichever dish I used to take, was ALWAYS highly insufficient, and the one that Manasi ordered was 2 (or probably 3) much for her. So, ultimately, after finishing off with mine, naturally, I used to be out there to help Manasi. After all that is my duty, right? So, had a heartfelt dinner (I always have that) and left for home. Chaitya and Mugdha had some work in IOL, the place where they work. So, I had to stay on with manasi in the parking while they finished off their work (10 minutes or so). But I realized later that I had the time of my life in those 10 minutes. She had such a wide range of topics to talk and chat on. To be brief, Sachin Tendulkar’s batting in a particular match, his performance, Shabnam’s (a friend of ours in Pune) song in a party, Bachhan’s dance in Sharaabi. I also gave her all the support from my side, but I just couldn’t help laughing. She was not at all in the state to realize that I was laughing. So, in this manner, saw Manasi out for the second time in front of me (The first time was on our first Valentine’s day here in US of A) . She also is pretty casual about that, because she knows for certain that there is somebody to take care of me. Told chaitya and mugdha about this, went home and slept quietly.

23rd of May, Thursday – As usual, saw 12 in the clock the first time I opened my eyes. Lazily got up, freshened up. Straight away had our lunch , and went out for seeing Winnipesaukee Lake, a beautiful lake in New Hampshire. Further down the lake is Alton bay. There were all sorts of boats in the lakes, motorboats, pedal boats. Decided to go for boating. But, whichever boat shop we went to, were sellers only. So, ultimately, found a place, which rented out boats, but reached at a time when they had closed out the rentals. So, could not go boating in the lake . But the lake was very scenic, and the drive too was very nice. So, enjoyed in general, on a sand beach nearby, where Manasi tried constructing a fort in sand, but there was not much time so went straight to Deepak’s place (a friend of chaitya’s). He had arranged a barbeque at his place. Bought burger buns, sausages, chicken patties as well as soda on way and then what – Hunger struck again. So, a sumptuous barbequed food along with potato salad and soda was the dinner for the day. Deepak’s ex-girlfriend took the lead in being the hostess, and, in fact, played a good hostess. His place was right in the middle of woods, where he was staying as a paying guest at an American couple’s house. They were very learned people, had a good collection of books, ranging from history and science to fiction. They had a biography on Albert Einstein, which definitely would have been a pleasure to read, but I knew it was not possible. So, it was again good night to all after the barbeque, and we were on our next job – to look out for a cheap motel in Maine, or somewhere nearby Acadia National Park. Went to IOL (Inter-operability Lab) and started the search . Looked at quite a few, called a lot of them, but they were pretty expensive. But, finally we hooked on a “Belle Isle Motel”, which had the lowest rates to offer. So, called them up, and booked the room for 2 nights, Friday and Saturday. Now as the work was done, went home and crashed on the beds.

24th May, Friday – Chaitya had his meeting with his advisor in the morning. We had decided to go to Maine (Acadia National Park) and we were going to start after his meeting. Obviously did not leave immediately after the meeting (you know, we have to follow ISD – Indian standard time), but left soon. I booked the motel before leaving itself, just to make sure that it does not get occupied during the weekend. Finally, off we were to Maine, one of the most beautiful states of this country. Hit I-95 till Portland. We decided to take 1N (a more scenic route ) till Acadia. But the route had too many signals on it, as it passed through a lot of towns. So, took to I-95 again . We went on this interstate till Bath, an extremely beautiful town on way. From here onwards, switched over to 1N again to gulp down all the beauty this route had to offer. Took a halt at a gas station + subway at Wiscasset. Continued on 1N for the rest of our journey. Camden was another beautiful town, nestled between Camden Hills State Park on one side and sea on the other side. It has all its houses on the seacoast, with sprawling lawns in the front of each house. I even photographed a house in Camden . Reached Belle Isle Motel at around 8.30 pm, got freshened up and went out for dinner. Now, as it was so late (according to American Standards), there was no restaurant that was open at that time of night. Luckily, we found a place called “The Chart Room”. Now, this was an expensive restaurant , a really expensive restaurant. Instead of having individual drinks, we planned to order a full bottle of wine. After introducing Manasi as the connoisseur of wines , and after her approval, we went ahead with the wine and the main course. Chaitya had the famous Maine Lobster. Nobody of us knew as to how to go about eating this 1 and a quarter pound LOBSTER in front of us. Got a bit relaxed when the waitress agreed to help chaitya with that. The method by which one has to break the legs/arms, and carve out the flesh, dip it in butter, and THEN eat it, was kind of interesting. The problem was that it took a lot of time. We were over with our food for a long time, but the lobster was making chaitya struggle hard, very hard. The tail section of the lobster had already grown cold when chaitya reached it. So, it was felt nothing but eating a blob of rubber………..not good. After having the most expensive dinner of our lifetime ( I wont tell you how much) , all four of us went and hit the bed.

25th May, Saturday – Time to go out and explore the whole of Bar Harbor. Went to the downtown, did some shopping and were on the lookout for a “Papa Johns” or a “Hardees” or something like that. But later we realized that the tourism of Bar Harbor had not allowed any of the fast food chains to set up their branches there. So, that means, we would be having anything and everything in a restaurant……………Whoosh………THAT is going to cost us SOME money, right?? Luckily found a local “Subs & Pastas” shop, and went inside. The chicken subs, which chaitya and manasi took was tasteless. I had a plateful of Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti. As usual, I liked every bite I had. Then, considering the time, the first thing we did was booked the Kayak tour for the next day. WOW – We were going to go for deep sea kayaking the next day . But what for now? – Thought of another adventurous and exciting thing – Scenic flights . There were these two clubs in Maine, which operated at the Bar Harbor airport. They had scenic flights, from which you could see the whole of Acadia from a bird’s eyes view. The first club was the one, which had flights in a glider. But, it was very, very expensive. The lowest one was $79 per person. This included a flight at the height of 4500 ft above sea level. So, we decided against it and went to the second one. This was a more reasonable one. It had flights categorized according to their method. The minutes in air were directly proportional to the cost of the flight. So, we all had a choice between flight A, B, C, D, E, F and G. They had a powered aircraft. So, we (I and Manasi) chose flight D. Chaitya and Mugdha chose to take flight C. It was one of the most beautiful things to see the whole of Acadia from a height of around 2800 feet above sea level . There were loads of things to be seen. The southwest harbor and the northwest harbor of the Acadia were to be seen. He sand beach was seen from top. This was the only sand beach in an area extending over approximately 10,000 square miles of coastline. Rockefeller Island, a privately owned island was also very beautiful. Mt. Cadillac was also visible. The whole area was very beautiful from top. Manasi felt a little sick while landing. Immediately, the sick bag was thrusted into her hand by me. After our flight, it was chaitya’s turn to “charter the plane” .They went for a longer duration flight. We roamed around till they came back. Then, decided to go on the park loop drive, a drive around Acadia. The 27 mile-long scenic drive known as the Park Loop Drive offers a spectacular sampler of the island’s coast and interior. It officially begins at the Visitor Center in Hulls Cove, but it may be entered at many points along its course. But, most of its length is one way . Although you can drive the complete circuit in just over 1 hour, to really enjoy it, one has to have more time – 3 hours or more. There are parking areas near breathtaking overlooks, which encourage you to linger longer than you expect. The scenery of moonlit sky, with its reflection on water, was one of the most pleasing and serene sights to see. The sea, smooth but, yet calm and placid again made me realize the beauty as well as immenseness of nature, in its untouched state . The sand beach was good, and the thunder hole was also good. It was, kind of scary. This place is formed by the continuous erosion of the rock by water, and at the time of high tide, the water, with full force, splashes against the rock in this eroded hole and produces a thunderous noise. That’s precisely the reason why it is called TheThunder hole. It was already pretty late, so went to the “oddly named” restaurant called “Rupununi” in downtown Bar Harbor. And guess what they had for appetizers? Our very own Samosas!!!. In a fit of enthusiasm, we all ordered Samosas with tequila shots. The size of those 2 samosas was a bit 2, no 4(double) much. Ultimately we all had to take them in “to go” boxes. Manasi had banana Split, a sweet cocktail. Then, we persuaded her to take give us all company in gulping tequila shot down the throat. “CHEERS” and the shots went down, followed by lemon and salt. It was good man….. Manasi’s and mugdha’s Honey Barbequed chicken also had the fate of going back in the “to go” boxes. Manasi madam again provided us with some entertainment. This time, it was Sachin tendulkar, but the inclination of the floor of the restaurant. Hahahaha. A little dispute on the EXACT inclination of the floor, and off we were back to the motel. Hic…GOODNIGHT….Hic…

26th May, Sunday – Last night’s hangover was not at all that much, but, as usual, we got up late. Had to reach the kayaking shop at 840 a m., but reached at around 9 am. Everybody was waiting for the distinguished members of that lot (obviously four of us, who else?). So, off we were to this spot called pretty marsh, on the other side of the island. The route started from there. It was an approximately 5/6 mile route. The breeze was so damn cold that for a second after all of us got out of the bus, we almost froze. But, it was ok after some time. The instructions given to us in a span of 3 to 4 minutes (including what to do when your kayak overturns) seemed very less (actually nothing) when we saw the daunting sea, in front of us. Somehow, we swallowed the Crashest of course given to us, looked at each other (and in a way gave confidence to each other by nodding helplessly) It was surely frightening, to go kayaking right in the sea, with depths to the order of 200 feet or so. We are also only a few inches from the water, that’s it. But, now, as we had voluntarily come, we listened and tried to absorb as much as we can from the instructor. His name was Otto. We (I and Manasi) decided that I take the back seat in the kayak, from where one steers the kayak, in whichever direction you want. It took a while for us to get the knack of steering and paddling at the same time. For around the first 20 minutes, we were circling in the sea, around a spot, as if we were offering “pradikshana” to something, some unknown deity, not to be seen in water. But, after some time, we were on way towards the right track. BON VOYAGE, I shouted out and enthusiastically started paddling. Manasi was helping out in whatever way she could, and I was giving direction to the kayak. Instead of repeatedly telling manasi to shout out “left or right”, she kept to her own jargon – “Samarth, DIRECTION, DIRECTION…………….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It was my job to see which direction did madam exactly mean. We went through many islands, past lots of rocky beaches and shores. It was fun, but suddenly, I lost control and the paddles, on which my feet set, slipped away from my feet. For a moment, it was like – “ SHIT, what now, because for setting them again, one had to lift the kayaking skirt (lifting the skirt and all………….this might sound funny to you, while reading this on your PC’s, but there, at that time, it was not, and besides all that, I had a track under my skirt………so my USA (Under Skirt Area ) was not exposed……….hahahahaha), which one has to wear before sitting in the kayak. But soon, the instructor came religiously and helped me with the paddles . I also tried to click as many good pictures as possible, with my good ol’ Pentax, which was NOT a waterproof camera. This was the camera , which had been with me right from Khardung-la Pass (At 18.380 feet – the highest motorable road in the world, Ladakh) to Mt. Thelu (19,750 feet above sea level) to this place, right in the middle of sea, not even an inch above sea level. Luckily got a few pictures, clicked chaitya and mugdha pooling their efforts in the new sport. The instructor made us “pull-over” to take a halt at one of the places (rocky shores), but a lady there did not allow us to spend even 5 minutes there. So, all we did was a stint of getting down from the kayak, and then boarding it again, to go into the sea again. Manasi’s hands started aching after some time, so I steered as well as paddled. But this was for a short period, because Manasi was all the more excited about this whole kayaking stuff. We saw sea seals peeping at us from a distance. Otto said, “They might come and overturn your kayak. ” Automatically, everyone started avoiding that region, and took a sort of a longer route, but nobody was repenting for that. After giving sufficient exercise to our shoulders and arms, we finally came to the finish of the course. It was FUN…………loads of FUN……… we enjoyed every bit of it, the thrill, the excitement, everything………… the ride back to the kayak shop was kind of relaxing, after such strain. After desperately looking for a reasonable restaurant, finally found one. All of us were very hungry, so stuffed pizzas were followed by pastas (2 main courses)and desserts. Then, decided to go on the park loop drive again and up to Mt.Cadillac. There is both a motorable road as well as a trail up to the top of Mt. Cadillac. I thought that the hillock should not be given the suffix “Mt.”, as generally is associated with huge mountains and peaks (Mt. Everest, Mt. Thalaysagar, Mt. Shivling and so on and so forth). It was very windy out there; nothing could be seen because clouds had taken complete charge of the atmosphere. So, stopped there for a while, and then descended and started heading towards New Hampshire , our trip to Maine had come to an end . It was already dark, Manasi’s arms were aching like hell, and we did not have a booking for Sunday night at the motel. So, we decided to head back towards New Hampshire. On the way down, visited Jordan Pond, and I bought 2 caps, one for manasi, and one for my Advisor, because he suggested this place to me. He liked the cap very much. The return journey started. Everything was going on well, I took to driving after some time, as chaitya had to relax a bit. It had been an hour or so of my driving, when I saw fumes coming out of the car. I thought something must have happened to the radiator, as this is a common problem in India. So, had to pull over on the interstate. The radiator had developed a crack and it was leaking. We were approximately 50 miles away from Dover, the place where chaitya and mugdha stay. The AAA insurance card came very handy at that moment. Chaitanya had a card which had a facility of towing the car for a distance of 3 miles for free, and after that a charge of $2.50 per mile. But, fortunately I had an insurance, which provided 100 miles of free towing . But, again a problem – the AAA guy was going to take only 2 people with him. So, Chaitanya and Manasi went with him, and both of us, in a taxi, went to the nearby town, decided to spend the 2 or so odd hours sitting in Dunkin’ Donuts, as it stays open 24 hrs. Chaitanya came in one of his friend’s cars, a Honda without power steering. All of a sudden, I realized while driving as to how much I had got used to power steering. Reached home, pretty late, and the tired souls went to sleep……………………….

27th May, Monday – We all got up late, almost at lunchtime. Mugdha had prepared lunch for everybody. Had lunch, and at around 2 pm, started out for site seeing in New Hampshire. The famous places in New Hampshire included the old man of the mountain, the Franconia notch, Mt. Washington and quite a lot of places. But, as we had started out late, the Franconia notch was closed, but we could go and see the “Old Man of the Mountain”. This is a face, which, they say, got formed in a crude form by erosion of one side of the massive Boise rock. Then, for it to look more prominent and lively, people carved it. And necessary precaution has also been taken that rocks don’t fall from the face and also on the face from above. We could not see anything else that day, as it had already become very late. So, on the return journey, took a food exit and as usual (for me) “Burger King” Zindabad. It took a double whopper with cheese and a King Supreme to satisfy “mere pet ki aag”. The return journey in Deepak’s Isuzu SUV was good. I drove a SUV for the first time in my life. It felt as if I am the pilot of a plane, because my car in Rolla is at a very low level. As Burger King was not sufficient for any of the remaining three people, Mugdha prepared “Kacchhi Dabeli” after we returned. After a little bit of “no, no”, I also succumbed to the aroma of the Dabeli. And I ended up having 2 of them. This was followed by a movie session, after which all of us were dead sleepy…….So, haha, I shouldn’t say……..ya, we went to sleep, Obviously………

28th May, Tuesday – This day was nothing but Relax-Singh; at home…………..Mugdha and Chaitanya had already left for their jobs, as they were going to start on this day. Now onwards they were going to busy from 9 to 5 in the evenings. Mugdha had already prepared lunch before going; we did the job of finishing it up. I actually got a chance to see my emails, after a looong time. All the mailboxes were more than flooded. No mail was being sent, no mail was coming in inbox, and it was in a pathetic state. Manasi madam played “The last of the Mohicans”, a nice movie, which has won an Oscar for best music. These people came at 5.30, and then did some time pass. Chatted for quite some time. Then decided to go to Olive garden, the Italian restaurant chain all over US. The pastas were very good, mine was nothing great (quality as well as QUANTITY wise). Manasi had taken Alfredo sauce over chicken and fettuccini. As usual, madam retired after some time and the plate came to me, which I delightfully finished off. Desserts followed, Tiramisu, was the obvious choice of everyone. The atmosphere at night supported us in dozing off in the car itself. So, when did we reach back, when did we get out and when did we sleep, we don’t remember………….

29th May, Wednesday – Our plan to go to the Franconia notch failed when Manasi started preparing bhindi ki sabji. Saw “Dil to pagal hai” while having our lunch. Manasi had made such tasty sabji that it forced me to finish whatever she had prepared. The whole afternoon went in laziness, and chaitya and mugdha returned in the evening. They had planned for a dinner at a place called “Punjab” in Boston. According to them, it was the best place in that area for an Indian Cuisine. The drive to Punjab was one and a half hour from our place. But it was worth it. I bet!!!. Starters of Chicken Tikka (one plate for each) were followed by garam garam naan and Chicken, paneer, duck (Actually, I did not like it that much) and whatever we could think we could order and finish………we did finish everything……. we never believed in wasting food ……The cooking out here in this restaurant was ACTUALLY done in a Tandoor, not found in any other Indian Cuisine restaurant……Then, an hours and a half’s drive back and again a BIG CRASH on the bed……………..

30th May, Thursday – After a lot of planning we set out in chaitya’s car for the Franconia notch and Mt. Washington, at 2.30 pm. The notch was going to get closed at 5.00 pm. Made it in time . The notch is also called “The Flume”. The flume is a natural gorge extending 800 feet at the base of Mt. Liberty. It is made of granite rock and these walls rise to a height of 70-90 feet and vary in width from 12 to 20 feet. The flume was discovered by a 93 old “Aunt” Jess Guernsey. She accidentally came across it while fishing. At that time a huge boulder hung suspended between the walls. It was 10 feet high and 12 feet long. In 1883, a huge rainstorm swept the boulder down . This storm formed two beautiful waterfalls, table rock cascades and avalanche falls. As we walked through the area, we noticed some very large boulders, weighing over 300 tons. During the glacial period over 25000 years ago, a great ice sheet more than a mile thick moved over this area. The mass of ice was powerful enough to move both large and small boulders. As the ice sheet retreated, these boulders were left behind. They are called glacial erratics. We also came across a phenomenon called “something I don’t remember”, which was a combination of Algae and Fungus, which gets formed over a period of thousands of years. Then there is a picturesque covered bridge, which is one of the oldest in the state. It has been erected in the 1800’s. Such bridges are often called “Kissing Bridges” , because of the darkness and privacy they provided (No testing or experimentation was done ). This one was built to cross the scenic Pemigewasset River, which means “swift or rapid current” in the Abnacki language. So, after having a walk through the Flume, we started off on our return journey. Hunger provoked us to take an exit and hunt for some place to eat. It was purely coincidental that we took the same exit we had taken on this road before. I enjoyed Burger King and Manasi had a bagel from Dunkin’ Donuts. The return journey was a good one, as usual. The beautiful sunset’s soft glow of light swept across on the slopes of the hills by the side of the highway. And it felt as if the greenery is never ending……….just going on and on and on…….. Reached home, had some dinner, packed for the next day’s flight back and went to sleep for the last night in New Hampshire, our last night of the trip……………

31st May, Friday – Chaitanya and Mugdha had their work, Friday being a workday. They tried to make it possible to come and drop us at the airport, but it was just not possible. So, they suggested us a shuttle service, which drops you to the airport. It starts off at a distance of 12 miles or so from their place. Went there, bought the tickets, and off we were to Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, the place where we had landed 10 days ago………………..

The days just flew past us……………we did not even realize the passing away of each day………it was as if somebody had circled a magic wand in the air, and we were in this beautiful place………..the magic wand again, and now we were heading back to our respective places………to our respective daily routines…………..back to square one…………….
As the plane took off, my mind drifted towards the list of things to take care of……….once I reach Rolla.
The meetings with professors, the financial aid scenario in summer, the on-campus job somebody promised me, the credit card bills, dropping Manasi back to Tulsa, the cooking turns, the research, the dull atmosphere in the summer, and the list went on and on and on…………………….
I thought, GOD, so much to think of, so much to do now………………….Help me in everything……….
Down there, I could see the beautiful city of Boston……………

Adios, Boston………