On the 7th of March’2000 Rahul and Moksha made their first Trans-Atlantic journey. It was a long flight from Singapore to San Francisco; 18 hours to be exact. The jet lag which was inevitable was just sinking in which till this point of time had been kept at bay by the sheer excitement and feeling of being in a foreign land.
Deprived of smoking for those several hours Rahul went to the smoking lounge just outside the sliding doors of the waiting area. A long drag at the Wills Navy Cut cigarette, which Rahul specially brought from India, relaxed him; the urge for the nicotine pacifier was indeed required.
The chill outside made Rahul shiver a bit. It was drizzling and the gush of the cold wind hitting his face was making him a bit uncomfortable. He was about to stub the cigarette on the floor when he realized that a steel ashtray was right beside one of the cylindrical pillar that supported the massive structure under which he was standing.
As advised by his father Rahul very dutifully went to the phone booth to call his aunt from the airport. Till then everything was fine but the complication started when Rahul had to decide whether to make a collect call or spend the dime or was it a penny that he had to use. After a bit of deliberation he looked at the instruction on the big yellow phone and made his first call in the United States of America. Back in India he was quite familiar with the way trunk calls could be made, call the operator provide the number get a token, disconnect and just wait for the call, which at times would take hours. But never had he made a collect call. As per the instruction he dialed “1-800” then was a bit taken aback by the “COLLECT” part of it when he realized it was “265-5328”. When he was prompted for his aunt’s number slowly he punched the number looking at the small diary that his father had given him, which in fact had all the telephone numbers that his father ever had, followed by his name, which he pronounced loud and clear. After a brief pause the line came alive.
“Hello, Raju?” it was his aunt. His face lit up; it was comforting to know that somewhere in this faraway land, there was someone who he could call. All though she addressed him by his “Dak naam” or the name by which you are known by your close relatives, but never the less she remembered.
“Yes, Pishi” Rahul replied.
“When did you arrive?” His aunt asked.
“Just sometime back” Rahul promptly replied.
“Do you want me to pick you up from the airport?” She offered.
“No, that’s alright, we are taking a bus to Sunnyvale, you need not worry” Rahul assured her.
“OK, then let me know if you need any help” “I will…” Rahul continued.
After about a minute he placed the receiver back and walked back with an added sense of achievement to where Moksha sat carefully watching over their luggage. He had just successfully accomplished his first task.
Just to be sure that he was comfortable handling the currency of the land. He made his way slowly to a counter where a transparent glass case displayed a range of items. With a quick glance he decided to buy a packet of cigarette ; Marlboro, the red and white packet reminded him of those books that he voraciously read when he was in school. Harold Robbins was it? He couldn’t remember but in any case he walked up to the guy across the counter.
“A packet of Marlboro, please”
“That would be $5 ” the guy announced handing him the packet.
Rahul, didn’t have any change. The company that had sent him on a L1 visa had paid him about $200 and another $200 which his father had given him, saved from his only visit to Europe. He pulled out a $100 bill which was neatly stacked in his wallet and handed it over.
The guy looked back at Rahul and said “Very few people carry $100 bills around here” and asked “Just arrived?”
Rahul nodded and watched the guy turn the $100 bill few times as if he was making sure that it wasn’t counterfeit money. Finally he returned him the change. While counting the money did Rahul realize that he had just spent about Rs.225 for a packet of cigarette? Back in India he could buy 15 packets of Wills Navy Cut!!
Later he would learn, that never convert your money to Rupees and avoid carrying $100 bills. But in any case he felt good to have accomplished another task; spend money.
