Fears and first impressions...in USA...final part.

When the flight finally touched down in USA....there was no special feeling, no great excitement, but yes a fear that I might be denied entry in customs based on anything. But it didn't turn out that way at all. When the immigration officer scanned my fingerprints, the only thing he said was "they are a bit dry".... which meant they were not getting scanned properly. Going on to collect my luggage, the next fear was they would have been lost in transit, they would have been shipped to some other plane ......worse, they would have split right down the middle.
Even when after the last baggage had landed and there was no sight of mine I realised I probably must go to lost baggage. But an attendant pointed out that luggages from SQ12 had been coming on another conveyor belt on the right as well. There, carefully picked from the belt and kept aside with a number of others, were my two suitcases. Thanks to Samsonite and I can say they are worth every penny (paise :)) you pay for them, except for some scratches......they hardly seemed to have made such a long journey right across oceans.
From there, just a submit of the customs form where they did not even see what declarations I had made or not made.....to the baggage checkin where they checked in my bags for Tucson and directed me to the domestic terminal.
Fears again...it was only 3:30 p.m local time.... what would I do till 8:30 in the night. I first found my way out and to my surprise found myself standing on an underground highway or broad road (it seemed like an Indian highway to me). There was a flyover on top....the flyovers were works of art ...twining and interwining and again untwisting .... they were amazing.
LA .... skyscrapers in the distance...clean roads and all Mercs, air conditioned volvo buses zooming by. My first impression of USA .....was not bad. The domestic airport was a bus journey away.... its supposed to be so huge you need buses to travel internally. Terminal number 7, I checked in , got my ticket. Then went in for security check. There, they had put some SSSS (quad s) category on my ticket which meant extra searching. I was rattled by the discrimination...I found another Indian lady behind me subjected to the same thing.
After that, I made my way to gate eighty something and there were open windows on one side from where the entire terminal was visible. There were boarding gates ....80 - 85 or more and in front of each were lounge areas. I sat before mine , roamed around a bit to see the shops .... pizzas, mc donalds, coffee, ..... and promptly fell asleep on my hand baggage. I was even dreaming .......but I kept waking up and checking to see if there were suspicious people around. I thought the time would never come for boarding, there would be announcements and the lounge would empty out and then fill again with passengers for the next flight.
Finally 8:30 and I boarded the UA6558 which was to take me to Tucson. It was one of the cosiest flights I ever saw...a very small one and you had to bend so as not to hit the ceiling. But the plane was full of old people who stay in Tucson and my companion was one such lady who was back from California, having attended her grand-daughter's wedding. Even in the lounge there had been an old couple who had been returning to their home in Tucson. The old man kept forgetting where they were heading, and the old lady would keep reminding him. The compassion and companionship between them was amazing to watch and feel. They would hold hands and pat each other's palm from time to time.....and this relationship here is something which I find most touching here.

The weather was bad, andthe plane had to take a detour...the pilot kept pointing out the thunder storm, we could see the lightning in the sky. And something more that could be seen was more planes in the sky. This was the first time I saw another plane flying while being airborne .......it seemed like traffic in the air.
Then the plane touched down with a loud bump and jerk and we were taxiing slowly into the terminal. I moved to the gates where my room-mate to be Savitha, met me....I was wondering if they would have reached. We both got my luggage which followed on each other's heels. We loaded the baggage in an indian guy's car who had come with her and drove off towards what was to be my room and my home or house :).
The roads were deserted but wide and every lane had a sign on the right saying "This lane mist turn right". We crossed hotels ...large taj like ones only near the airport. After he drove into the garage of the apartments I would be staying at, we tugged and heaved my 64 kgs of luggage up a flight of steps into our house on the first floor of University Gardens apartments, #206. I met my room-mate Shalini, fed myself on some left-over rice and dal......and got upset becoz I could not contact my parents at home or office...
It was 10:30 p.m local time, 11.00 a.m at home. I tucked myself up in bed and went into a dreamless sleep. Except that the night was punctuated by the roar of the winds outside and shutters fluttering in the wind, and I kept waking up all night. But the next day would be a new day...and my first day in Tucson.

p.s: Happy Independence Day to home. Its 3:00 in the morning there at your place and you all are still sleeping so I guess I turn out to be the most patriotic of all. :)