In Chennai on August 15th...shhhhhhhhh

This is how it all started...N and I planned a visit to Chennai to surprize my folks! As soon as my parents left for India last July, this thought had been lingering in my mind. I applied for my India visa (darn it...I need a visa to visit India now that I'm a US vaasi) and got it within a couple of weeks. I booked my tickets on Emirates soon after that hoping I could spend some time with our friends at Dubai. You could tell I was on a secret mission here and I didn't breathe a word about it to my folks even though I talked to them every single day since they left to Chennai maanagaram. At this point I am so used to talking to them atleast twice a day that I knew they would smell something fishy if I did not pick up the fone during my transit. So I cooked up a story that we will be going on a beach vacation after my trip to Dallas and won't have cell phone coverage there (That said, I doubt T-Mo will work there...M will kill me if he reads this ;-)) and so I'm leaving my cell fone behind and will call Wednesday morning when I'm back. The only person in Madras who I kept posted about the trip was my sweet friend, R and he offered to pick me at the airport.

After a looooooooooooooooong transit (btw, JFK sucks!!! but Emirates is awesome) I arrived in Chennai on India's 60th Independence Day (my heart pounded as we were nearing touch-down...a surprize trip to Madras...wow the feeling is quite inexplicable!) For the first time, I stood in the Foreign traveller queue to clear immigration and got past the officer in a jiffy! My baggage took forever to arrive but when it finally did, N and I walked out and there was R's beaming face! We loaded his car up with my pottis and started driving towards Adyar. I had a hard time figuring out where I was at any given point...too much construction going on these days..bridges all over in the city that has undergone a tremendous change since my rettai pinnal days. Anyways, as we drew nearer to Gandhinagar, my excitement had reached its epitome and we finally got out of the car. Ranganathan, our watchman for over 2 decades now was stunned to see me as I zoomed past him to get to the 4th block. I had instructed N to go ring the doorbell at home whilst I wait downstairs, to which she gleefully agreed. We zipped past Meenakshi Mami on the 1st floor and she was shell-shocked to see me. I mumbled to her that its a surprize for my folks and she had this look on her face that suggested that I must be insane! Anyways, R and N went up together and knocked on the door. In the meantime, R had called my parents on our way back from the airport saying he'd stop by in a few to say hi to my parents (this was to ensure that they were actually there at home that morning...else they would've surprized me :o)). Amma opened the door and N just ran across the hall. Amma presumed that it must be R's sister's daughter and hardly noticed her. And then R goes..."Do you see who's here"? And my mom is dumb-founded for a moment and exclaims "Idhu en pethiya....idhu en pethiya" several times and literally cries when she sees me slowly walking in thru the door and puts 2+2 together :) Appa on the other hand just stands there and stares at both of us! OMG! Its hard to capture that moment but that was the moment I was waiting for (while Dr. R was standing by for a medical emergency after seeing my mom react!). My mom kept saying that this was absolutely incredible and was quite lost for a while. For me, it was an ecstatic moment as well!! A simmering thought, spiced with a pint of "pre-stories", seasoned with a hint of passion (to execute my mission) and served to perfection!