The Hummer
Starting in the reverse chronological order of the events, I start off with the latest and a big addition to my living in America.
3:25pm, May19 2006 (Pittsburgh Internation Airport): My mobile rang suddenly when I was waiting for my delayed flight to Washington DC to arrive. I was on my way to DC and had already intimated my manager that I would be arriving late, so that he may leave the keys of the hut (the corporate housing that I was being provided, it was a joke actually why these guys called it a hut in place of palace) in office. It was one of my managers calling again. I answered the call and he told me the location where I would find the keys. Then came the question,"How will you commute to the hut?". Taxi, of course. What else does he expect? "Alright, I am also leaving keys of the corporate car, it would be standing in the parking lot. Have a great weekend buddy!!". He hung up. I did not know what to say.
For a person whose father used to feel scared sitting besides him in India, lest something should happen, I did not have an American driving license. Though I had an Internation Driving Permit, I had never driven on American roads. My closest friends at INI would not let me touch their cars. Anyways, I had to think about it when I reached there. Fly.
5:45 pm: I was standing in the parking lot, not knowing which car was it. I tried pressing the autolock keys to see which car beeps. I could hear some car beep at a distance. Rather than banging my head on it, I called my manager while walking towards the direction from where the beeping sound came. As I spoke to him, I could not believe my eyes. The other side of the phone shouted, " Its a HUMMER. The BIG one!!". I hung up and loaded my luggage into the truck. I was sitting for another 20 minutes trying to figure out what were the control mechanisms with the car. I called up Eric to ask how to disable the hand brake, but it was more a call in joy rather than being one wanting for help.
6:20 pm: I pushed the accelerator for the first time. Keep to the right. Right. Right!! I cried to myself. I was reading a map to the hut, keeping onto the right, watching other zip by and slow enough not to over run an ant with the Hummer. As I entered into the parking lot of the hut complex, playing children stood upto see who was this coming in? As I parked my car and came out, I called up Nick and Eric. Both of them did not believe I had a Hummer from the company. Now what does one do with that?
10:25 pm: Mike, Mao and I went to Giant to buy some Grocery in the Hummer. It was great fun as no car would drive for long infront of the Hummer. Nobody has parked besides 'my car' after one week of driving. We went on a drive on the freeway for about 15 minutes. After we came back home, I felt I had reached some kind of a milestone. The mis trust shown by my friends in my driving, and by others, had been wiped clean.
I drove to Maryland to my aunt's place this last friday for the memorial day weekend, a drive of about 60 miles. It feels great to see raised eye brows on the road. It feels great to drive a HUMMER.
3:25pm, May19 2006 (Pittsburgh Internation Airport): My mobile rang suddenly when I was waiting for my delayed flight to Washington DC to arrive. I was on my way to DC and had already intimated my manager that I would be arriving late, so that he may leave the keys of the hut (the corporate housing that I was being provided, it was a joke actually why these guys called it a hut in place of palace) in office. It was one of my managers calling again. I answered the call and he told me the location where I would find the keys. Then came the question,"How will you commute to the hut?". Taxi, of course. What else does he expect? "Alright, I am also leaving keys of the corporate car, it would be standing in the parking lot. Have a great weekend buddy!!". He hung up. I did not know what to say.
For a person whose father used to feel scared sitting besides him in India, lest something should happen, I did not have an American driving license. Though I had an Internation Driving Permit, I had never driven on American roads. My closest friends at INI would not let me touch their cars. Anyways, I had to think about it when I reached there. Fly.
5:45 pm: I was standing in the parking lot, not knowing which car was it. I tried pressing the autolock keys to see which car beeps. I could hear some car beep at a distance. Rather than banging my head on it, I called my manager while walking towards the direction from where the beeping sound came. As I spoke to him, I could not believe my eyes. The other side of the phone shouted, " Its a HUMMER. The BIG one!!". I hung up and loaded my luggage into the truck. I was sitting for another 20 minutes trying to figure out what were the control mechanisms with the car. I called up Eric to ask how to disable the hand brake, but it was more a call in joy rather than being one wanting for help.
6:20 pm: I pushed the accelerator for the first time. Keep to the right. Right. Right!! I cried to myself. I was reading a map to the hut, keeping onto the right, watching other zip by and slow enough not to over run an ant with the Hummer. As I entered into the parking lot of the hut complex, playing children stood upto see who was this coming in? As I parked my car and came out, I called up Nick and Eric. Both of them did not believe I had a Hummer from the company. Now what does one do with that?
10:25 pm: Mike, Mao and I went to Giant to buy some Grocery in the Hummer. It was great fun as no car would drive for long infront of the Hummer. Nobody has parked besides 'my car' after one week of driving. We went on a drive on the freeway for about 15 minutes. After we came back home, I felt I had reached some kind of a milestone. The mis trust shown by my friends in my driving, and by others, had been wiped clean.
I drove to Maryland to my aunt's place this last friday for the memorial day weekend, a drive of about 60 miles. It feels great to see raised eye brows on the road. It feels great to drive a HUMMER.
posted by Ujjwal at 5/29/2006 06:07:00 PM
1 Comments:
I ENVY YOU... nothing else would have quite been able to express my emotions on this post of yours... Cheers to good life!!!
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