Time: Dec 26-27 2010
Place: Chennai
Company: Wife and daughter
Highlights: 3rd time in Chennai in 2010! And all pertaining to US Consulate. Chennai weather in winter was comparable to Bangalore weather. This time took the aerial route. 40 mins actual travel time but couple of hours for the paraphernalia! Paavani wailed during take-off but thankfully slept within 5 minutes.
But she cried and fussed a lot all through the Chennai stay (made us sleep only 3 hrs) making the trip slightly chaotic. However, she slept like an angel for the crucial period of 4 hours - 2 of which were spent inside the consulate. I had to wait outside while Gouri tried to manage the show inside - carrying the important documents and the baby! Needless to say, it was tough on her. Added to the woes was my mistake in not sending all docs with her and also her counter number never came due to a technical glitch during shift change and she had a hard time convincing folks.
For the first time, I stood outside the consulate waiting for 2 hrs. There was a time when I felt I was putting my wife and daughter to too much trouble because of me and my job requirement. I even felt that I should have said no. Finally she came out successful, tired but victorious!
We got back to the saidapet guest house, had lunch, took slight rest and headed back to the airport. Paavani's wails had reduced but was always lying in the undercurrent. The journey to Bangalore was uneventful but the journey from BIAL to home was terrible. Traffic and Paavani's uneasiness had reached its peak and we wished fervently to reach as fast as possible.
Thankfully, all's well that ends well. First time in airplane for Paavani! Within 3 months, she has now traveled in 2 AC train and flown in airplane twice! She has even visited 2 Indian Metro cities! Boy, what a start! :-)
