Day One

As mentioned in the previous post, after Kearny managarachi anbudan azhazhified me I was all set to get started in this super busy city. When we took the test-travel to get me accustomed with my route, he was at the edge of his seat giving me tips and clues to identify my stop and routes. I was in Lallallalalllalala mode, starring outside the window like a pakka tourist smiling at everything and everyone. On eve of the D-day – ‘what comes before metropark?’ Me- “Rewah…Renault…Raleigh…Something with Ra… “. To top it, we were watching the scene from Dharmathin Thalaivar where Rajini absent mindedly enters to a different house assuming it is his. Mister read my mindvoice and remarked -‘ I’m worried that you would go to someother 204 apartment and try opening the door. Should I take few hours off and travel with you?’ I replied with over-confidence, ‘Dude, I’m from Chennai. I’ve travelled 1.5 hrs one way to office. This travel is Sappa-Matter Salt-Water to me. ‘

D-Day

As I was wearing my shoes, mister tried giving me revising my stop names and clues to identify like the last-minute-exam-reading . I was trying to barge my giant feet into my tiny Cinderella shoes. That’s when mister pointed out in total shock – ” You are wearing the shoes ulta” Total facepalm! Ahem, after the hiccup , I buckled up (adade! ) and after bidding bye, added a punchline -‘Hey where would the shuttle be ?’ Seeing his shocked expression, I quickly added ‘I was asking which is the easy way- stairs or elevator’. Ussss habba…Epdi ellam samalikka vendiyadha irukku.

“Vanga Nanbargale, ellarum onna polam…Muyarchi thiruvinai aakum muyandral saadhikka mudiyum”

So this is my Dora-route- Shuttle->Path train (=metro)->Nj Transit (Tambaram local)->shuttle to office. Read it in the same Tamil- Dora tone with ‘Vaanga nanbargale song’ (Refer above for lyrics bit-u) as I skipped aka ran with my backpack (yes we have backpack and map). Somehow I got into the shuttle at my community without major mishap.. A voice echoed in my head – Level 1 completed and I victoriously looked around with a smile hoping for a standing ovation. I settled in my window seat still with my victorious-smile intact. Immediately I got a seat partner who looked like what Sid-Sriram must have looked had he been a Pakistani cricketer. He would hereby be referred to as Mohammad Yousuf Sid Sriram. Here we go, the first lap of our Dora route. It lasted for 15 minutes and we got dropped at the station. Brisk walk and 2nd right (Do not follow the crowd- My husband’s voice echoed in my ears). I went to the station and noticed that I’m the only person excluding the homeless guy who had been there like throughout night. I checked the board again and triple confirmed that I am in the right station.

Let me fast forward the next two trains quickly. I got into the train and in a koyambedu-like-station, took a wrong turn and then took an about-turn, traced my path reaching my platform…Tadaa . Next train was pretty fine except that the test-train with mister showed next upcoming station but this one didn’t. The moment I realized it, I became Anniyan- Ambi and looked around profusely for a TTR. 1 stop went…Ahaa…Pochha..No sign of TTR and finally the Kadaval-irukan-Kumar-moment. My low budget mind graphics made our African-American-TTR with punching machine to be Vishnu with chakra . The Aabathbandhava TTR quickly said- ‘Not this one. The one after this one’ Idhukku second stop nu solirkalame.

I skipped the last lap and took uber as I didn’t know about the shuttle stop. I’ll cover it in the return journey.

I somehow reached office without getting lost and informed all my near and dear ones about my safe-arrival. ‘Reached office’ was circulated widely in whatsapp that day. So this office is a common building for many clients and my client occupies just 1.5 floors. As soon as I entered the floor, it felt like I was in some hospital or a hotel. There was a reception desk to prove my doubt with a guy in crisp-suit and a smile bigger than my victorious smile asking ‘Hello. Welcome to metropark office. How can I help you?” I was a little stunned and stammered that it was my first day here. ‘Not to worry. We are here to help. I’ll pull up your seat number and then show you your desk’. As I was evaluating his prospects in Vaasan eye care, he returned with the same smile, ‘Let me show you your seat. This way’ and took me to a direction.(again didn’t register as my mind was pre-occupied with Vaasan eye care). He took me to an empty desk and asked me to get settled while he could print my name-tag. Everything looked cool except that my desk was so high..more like a standing desk while everyone around was sitting. While I tried jumping, pressing and in-short did load testing and stress testing on the desk, the Vaasan Eye care representative returned with my name tag and the same smile. He responded to my concern with his tagline ‘Let me help you and clicked a button’ Sooooiiiiiiiiiiiin the table went down. Avlodhana…Idhu theriyama poche! Vaasan eye care guy left me after repeating his tagline for 1 final time. After I sat, settled and was ready…. I forgot 1 most important thing… ChooChoo. Yes, suddenly tank was fast filling and my GPS was trying to scan the nearest location that took me 3 rounds around the same floor from different directions. After losing and finding my ways like a million times, finally it was time to leave. Now I enquired the Vaasan eye care guy about the shuttle and went down to the spot.

I located a black mini-van (exactly the one kidnappers use) and went around 3 times(pradhakshinams) and still couldn’t find the door to enter. Finally, Aunt Anne (I don’t know her real name?’ in the driver seat asked me – Are you looking for something sweety? I sounded like a lost puppy- ‘I want to get in but couldn’t find the door’ and blinked at her. She got down and opened the door for me that I swear had camouflaged like some Jamesbond Van to prevent intruders. I got to the station, bid her a bye. Fast forward- The shuttle to my community. First day I missed it as I lost my way inside the parking lot and mister had to come to find me 😛 Second day was better, the shuttle got lost 😀

I stood at the shuttle stop exactly like how mister showed me but no trace of shuttle. My community is like Arun Excello, there are so many branches that they use north, south, west, east, directionless to identify different locations. Mister’s instruction was clearly ‘LOOK FOR WEST. DO NOT GET INTO ANYTHING ELSE.(Remember that Rajini scene?)’ I was very cautious and looked intently at the name boards in every shuttle. This had just Vermella, no east, west, south etc. I declared it is not mine and looked away. I noticed Mohammad Yousuf Sid Sriram getting in. I smirked in my head that he was about to do a Dharmathin Thalaivar Rajini today, I wanted to stop him like thambii poidadhaaaaa with my hand waving. That’s when I noticed that the driver looked familiar and my bulb lighted up. I asked her just as she was ready to close the door ‘Is it Vermella West?’ You must have guessed the answer by now 😛

And everyone lived happily ever after.

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