If "sunk in" is a feeling of being exactly what it literally means.. then I haven't been the object of anything sinking in yet. The only place i sank in was when the pilot of Air France flight AF201 made such a beautiful or gross (take your pick) dip when he took off from Chennai International airport. Air France - doesnt it remind you of the french air, french babes and french wine? No. It makes you realise that you're in cramped seats with no leg space whatsoever...took me back to the good ol' days during ayudha poojai when all the buses would be full, but no matter what, you could always depend on the Rs.105/- bus at 1130 hrs IST(Indian Stretchable Time)... Ah.. Air France..the state transport bus which could even fly overseas....what joy! Its a pity.. the air hostesses didnt look all that great.. bu they had zees francais accent zat seemz so delctable zhyou could zhus eas ees aap! one air hostess looked ok though..reminded me of greta garbo. Food was nice...if one lived on another planet! AND WHERE CAN I GET SOME GOOD COFFEE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!?????? All some single serving whatever. Pa! Kadavulae!!! And it continues till terminal 2E of the Charles De Gaulle airport, paouieee or whatever crap. 12 euros for a plastic tumbler full of hot water, a digene-syrup like cap full of decoction and a sligthly bigger than digene-syrup like cup of tea. 5 euros for something universally called "CHICKEN!!!" in a thick french accent thats served cold and inside something which looked like green grass and bun. After gulping down the 12 euros.. (God! thats the equivalent of lifetime membership at Sri Annai Abirami Restaurant opposite college at Trichy.) time to head to the place where i go on to the plane. Somehow the flight from Paris to Philadelphia seemed so much more comfortable...there was more leg space....and the air hostesses looked cuter. And they talk about "international standards". Yea. Right! My Gall bladder international standards. International double standards is what it is. The Coffee crisis continues here as well. I arrive at phili and after all the customs and "5 years!! Woo! Enjoy!" from the Department of Homeland Security officer, I enter a hall...later to find out that its the Interational arrivals hall. I saw those words... the words which resonate in many a mind in this strange land. The "pursuit of happiness"... happiness.. it just seemed so temporary.. so "in the moment" unlike its divine cousin Joy. Now thats a word... i wonder why the founding fathers didnt use that word.. "pursuit of joy"... seems nice...but i guess it lacks the ring its contemporary has. My aunt picks me up.. wow! what an accent! and everyone says "hello"... odd..
Post-jetlag, post-XBOX 360ing (which rocks bigtime btw) and post-midnight-pizza-exploring, i receive news that i have to be in my university (UMBC. Go Retreivers!!!! And yea.. also Ericcson pasangalaa. Go wherever you have to..!!(?)) And so I decide to take a bus...and of the buses..the most popular: Greyhound Bus service Inc. It was good.. till about someplace called whitemarsh on the outskirts of Baltimore..where the Bus gets a flat tire nee puncture(thats so Indian. I love you Indian Yinglisss). And i witness a most breath-taking phenomenon (literally) ... roughly about 50% of the passengers get out for a smoke!!! grandmas, grandpas, even babies..! (nah! kidding)... but they were all out and all lit up!.. God! what a sight. And i thought Indians were bad! After about over an hour, another greyhound bus stops by.. the driver says he'll drop us at Baltimore Downtown after his stop at the travel plaza. He drops us at the travel plaza and says that some 7.25 bus will come. I was supposed to be at Baltimore downtown by 5.40 in the original plan. Come 8 o' clock and there's still no "7.25 bus"... Greyhound... aamaa.. naai thaaan. Naai oda paeru vechhaa.. idhaan avurudhu company oda lachhanathukku. "Your bus hasn't come yet, jus go sit down and it'll be here." yells the driver. The girl in the red sweater does as she's told. "Are you new to the states?" i ask, "Yeus" ... i'm thinking.. some east european country. "where are you from?" "oh i'm from hungary" "oh. ok, i'm from india and even am new to the states." its odd how strangers in similar circumstances can relate on the remotest of reasons. Although i'd like to give her company...college was beckoning.. the guardian angel aka Porchelvan alias "ports" came thanks to his GPS...awesome piece of engineering. I reach ajoothan's place where i'll be temping (US university lingo for "temporarily staying") Ajooth is a surreal character... for lack of a better word. Imagine an intelligent 2 dimensional figure with an uncanny ability to deliver mokkais at an amazing rate. Ajooth is the exponential fit to that 2-dimensional model. And here I was to temp with him in a strange land. My independence in a strange land. My first independence day out of my country. Love you India. Miss you loads.
In his poem based on the fifth "O antiphon" - O Oriens , Guite plays on the word "Dayspring" as having the sense of "light" and "water". This is quite striking. Dayspring has always been one of my favorite words in the bible that refer to Christ. Guite's play on Dayspring is one that refers to essence or maybe form or maybe a state of being - "the eternal Prima Vera". Dayspring is something we can't see fully now but we will see it at our "waking" - Guite seems to be calling attention to an inversion of reality before and after death. Although we seem to be "alive" and "awake" this side of death, and death seems to be "sleep", in another sense, the other side of death is where we shall be fully "awake" when we shall be able to see Dayspring clearly because this very Dayspring has overcome death and it's darkness. This is not to say that the darkness we face on th
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