Prachi's post from July 27, 2006

I can’t believe its one full year that we have left the US. It struck me
only last night that last year on the same day we left the US for good.
Sometimes it feels like yesterday and at other times it feels like ages
ago!!! I distinctly remember the day of our departure. We came back late
after dinner from Sangeeta’s place. Sudhaker and Bhumika had come over
to say good-bye, malini had also called. We had already vacuumed and
shampooed the place. After putting Prarthna to bed I worked some more on
my computer, one last time to get some more data for my paper then we
finally went to bed. We got up early the next day and Prankul went to
the post office to ship our cell phone no 302-354-0830. We still had our
good old number 302-731-4275, it took me quite a while to register that
it is not our number anymore. We quickly took a shower and cleaned the
bathroom (the one attached to the master bedroom, it reminds me I was so
excited about having a place with two bathrooms) and removed the curtain
and put everything in the trash and got it ready to be thrown in the
bigger trash alongwith the quilts that we had used the last night and
Prarthna’s and my clothes that we were wearing the last night. We then
had breakfast together with Prankul and again cleant up everything and
threw the cups and plates we used. We also packed my computer to be
dropped off at Murray Johnston’s office. We then set out in the rental
van, dropped the keys at the rental office, here I would like to point
how blessed we were that things worked out at just the right time, and
our lease was ending on July 31 and the cell phone that Prankul had
shipped in the morning also finished its monthly cycle on the 27 so God
had timed things perfectly for us. We then left for the campus, on our
way we called Lis one last time before driving in front of their hoem to
say good-bye. On the campus Prankul went and returned the PC. We also
met Sudhaker and Roger briefly. Missy stopped by at the Main street
parking to give Prarthna a dress and a jigsaw of American states!!!
Prarthna wore the same dress as we landed in New Delhi!!! We then headed
towards the I-95 highway, on the way Prankul decided that we should get
some Travel card like Eric and Lis got when they went to Central America
and we decided to stop at AAA. At first we decided against it as they
were asking for a high fee but on second thoughts we decided to get it.
We could get the card for lesser money than we had hoped for as there
was a limit on what we could withdraw!! Again I think we were blessed as
this was the worst decision made and that card has mostly cost us a lot
of fees!!! It was nice as all of us could use their rest room!! We
finally started off on I-95 one last time from our home !! Prarthna fell
asleep soon. I called Ushi but could not talk with her and left a
message for Dr Wexler. We were fortunate in not hitting any trafficka nd
making good time to the airport. Prarthna was sleeping all the time;
which was another blessing !! I wanted to have lunch before getting to
the airport; but Prankul thought it was better to check in so we went
directly to the airport!!! I was standing in the queue with Prarthna
while Prankul went someehere(I don’t remember what did he wanted to
check then), when I reached for check in the agent smiled and told me
that you cannot go, at first I thought she was joking but she had no
reason to . I was told that the flight was cancelled due to floods!!
Which sounded so absurd. We were so lost at that time. Prankul said we
should go home and come the next day to realize that there was no home
anymore and that we had a rental car to be returned at the airport. I
felt so bad that we never had a single problem while traveling then why
this time when we have a little baby and have little options and a lot
of stuff. I then told him in the worst case we could stay a day or two
with Tanu and Rajul. Prankul was totally panicked. To our great relief
Rajul came there soon. We told him the entire story and then left his
cell phone number with the Alitalia agent and left for the parking lot
to pick up and return the car and go to his place. By the time we
reached the parking lot we had a call from Alitalia saying that we could
board the flight the same day, which was great. We then returned the
rental car and ran to the airport. We finally checked in and reached the
boarding area. Prankul brought us sandwiches as we were starving!!! In
the boarding queue we realized that Prarthna’s passport was missing. I
was shocked as we had our I-64 stamped and could not stay back and she
could not go with us without a passport. Thanks to God a co-passenger
then picked up her passport from the floor and gave us.

We finally boarded to flight which didn’t take off for another two hours
first due to congestion on the airport and then due to some technical
problem. As expected we reached the Milan airport just two minutes
before the scheduled departure time of our connecting flight. We still
ran to check the status but were told that the flight has taken off. In
a few minutes couple other Indians who were booked on the same flight
gathered around us. We were lucky to have within us a guy whose friend
was on the delhi flight and who told that the flight had not taken off
and that they were still on land. We then talked to the agents who
arranged for us to board the flight immediately. It was so difficult to
be running with a sleeping baby and two pieces of luggage. The
co-passengers were nice and co-operating at that time and took the
luggage from me, which was a great help then. Since we were amongst the
last to board we had to sit separately. The flight was not very eventful
other than Prarthna going around and meeting people.