Yudhi [# A Love Story - Completed]

Yudhi - Part 1

Yudhi

The early morning fog was slowly rising up, clearing the morning air. Yudhi was peering through the window to catch a glimpse of the new country he was entering. He was excited. This was a big change for him and he was eagerly looking forward to it. He was amazed at the greenery below. The country he was moving to was vast with rolling green farmlands. As he watched down, from high up in the sky, the green lands slowly disappeared and huge buildings started filling his view. He could feel the chill, as he watched for the first time, the New York skyline. He was amazed, how soon the greenery was replaced with the concrete jungle, but it was beautiful. There was nothing to compare back home in India, actually in the entire world, he thought.

He felt very lucky to be coming to United States and had dreams like other immigrants, before him, who entered the country with nothing but dreams and made it their home. He became suddenly aware of the announcement over the speakers, announcing the entry into US and that the plane will soon be landing at Newark International airport. He couldn't take his eyes off the ground below, but at the same time started worrying about the immigration process, he was going to face soon.

The plane landed with a big thud at Newark Liberty International airport and raced towards the end of the runway. All the passengers were trying to get to their hand luggage, even as the pilot was asking everyone to remain seated, till the plane reaches the gate and to a complete stop. Yudhi watched in amusement, the manner in which other passengers rose from their seats and started pulling their luggage, from overhead racks, without concern for other passengers. He couldn't believe that the same people were sitting idle for the last sixteen hours and just as the signal turned green they went from zero to sixty miles in 2 seconds. Everyone wanted to get out of the plane, and get back into the rat race outside. He felt, people were forced to take rest for sixteen hours and now cannot wait to get back into action.

Yudhi was not in a hurry to deplane as had few hours before his next flight to San Francisco. He was happy with the journey and the much needed rest he got. Although, he could have done lot better with someone charming as his seat partner, but had to do with an elderly lady, who needed help with filling her immigration forms. He promised her family to take care of her, as she was travelling alone. Also the last 15 days, was a nightmare to him, as he was getting ready for this trip with shopping, friends, family and parties. He was happy that he was able to get some much needed sleep.

Yudhi removed his hand baggage from the overhead bin, after helping out the old woman move out with her luggage. He hit the rest rooms before immigration, to freshen up, as he wanted to make sure he was alert while going through the immigration process. He was aware of all the scary stories, he heard from friends and newspapers, regarding the immigration process and how people get arrested or detained, in case of any issue with their papers or because of just plain stupid answers to simple questions.

He made it to the queue armed with the immigration forms and passport and could feel the tension building within him. This could really make or break his career and he started wondering what he would do, if he was arrested or rejected and sent back home. When his chance finally came, slowly he stepped in front of the officer and presented his papers. The officer enquired regarding the purpose of his visit and took his finger prints. Then she smiled at him

"Welcome to United States and Good Luck!!!."

Yudhi couldn't believe himself, he stepped out of the immigration counter and wondered what the heck, amazed at the way he was treated, felt confident about himself and fell in love with US of A, as millions before him who came with nothing but dreams.

He collected rest of his luggage and started moving towards terminal 'C' for second leg of his journey. He figured out the way to monorail, connecting all terminals and took the escalator to the monorail station. After reaching terminal 'C', he went to the Continental desk and got the boarding pass to his flight to San Francisco.