Philly.. the adventures.

The last two weeks have been like a suzhal kaatru... crazy busy. But like our friends say there is no excuse for it. Some interesting happenings in Philadelphia (philly for short) in the city of brotherly love (that is the meaning of the word) to me are worth mentioning. I was staying in a hotel that was offering free shuttle to the airport. Since the conference was in the middle of the city where parking is a nightmare I decided to park the car at the airport and take the SEPTA (which is the public transportation train) into the city. So in the evening after I was done at the conference at 9:30 p.m. I took the train to the airport and called the hotel to give me a ride. It was already 10:15 p.m and I was waiting outside the arrival area. Well the shuttle didn't come by for another hour. All this time there are vans passing by with some makkal that have the same niram as myself. Karruppu makkal always think I am one of them which is great because I feel safe. But soon some of the vans decided to stop and ask me if I wanted a ride. This was starting to become nerve racking night. I don't know what to say if I should be flattered that people are interested or if I should be scared of being kidnapped!! Whatever the case I decided to play it cool and unlike our desam one can't pretend to take the slipper out and slap anyone for fear of being as I stated earlier kidnapping and other consequences. Well finally the shuttle shows up around 11:15 p.m. and all this time I am trying to appear calm, cool and collected. I get into the shuttle and I am finally letting a sigh of relief when the shuttle stops. I am wondering what is going on. The driver meanwhile is texting to the hotel, at least that is what it seemed like and then eventually gets the van going. Well we get on the main interstate and 5 miles later we get off the exit to go to the hotel. Once the van gets off the exit and pulls into the main road it stalls AGAIN! By now I am convinced that the driver is trying to text his cronies so they can pull some sort of major kidnapping. But then the sane part of me said, NO keep it cool and calm. Since we are stuck at the traffic light at an intersection we were blocking traffic but there were no cars at that time since it was after 11 p.m. Since the van was power operated one could not even put it in neutral and push it out of the road. After 11:45 p.m. it finally started back up again and I reached my hotel. That was quite the adventure. The next day morning I got out of the hotel and decided to not take the shuttle but drive the car to the airport, park and take the public transportation. Well the car decided to stall now for the first time, once again at the traffic light!! But I started it back up again, gave it full throttle, floored the gas pedal and made it to the airport. I made it to the conference and decided to come back early and check the car out but it was fine and the rest of my trip was OK. But it is nerve racking to be in such states. Once again these things get you closer to God!!
Gujili