Girl, Plane and Spirituality

My visit to my friends place in Chicago brought me new perspectives to my approach of relationships.

This is not the best time for me to write about my Chicago trip as i just flunked an interview. I should have known well before the interview started that i wasn't qualified enough for that position. I am sure one would end up in embarrassment if he tries something out like this without any real stuff. Well neither getting embarrassed nor taking such shots are new to me, So i am moving on and am going to write about this trip.

Naga and I thought of visiting my friend in chicago as it's been a while since we met. Naga dropped out because of some personal reasons. So i ended up spending three days all by myself with my friends family. We did nothing but eating and lazing in the couch chatting and watching movies. We went to the car show on saturday and as usual both of us got quickly bored looking at all the beautiful cars. Well then is that all i am going to write about?

I think i can come up with something... Here we go..

I met this girl near the pretzel shop in laguardia. I didn't speak to her but i was quietly ogling at her. She was eating the pretzel phili style with mustard on it. A normal New yorker would despise this blasphemous act of spoiling the culinary magic called 'pretzel'. Anyway i slowly moved towards her to have a friendly conversation which most of friends would call 'kadalai'.

I said hi to her and asked if she is from 'Phili'. I felt like a stupid when i asked that question to her as my only reason for asking such a lame question is because of the mustard that she added. She replied in negative. So i told her why i asked that question. She smiled and said that she is from Chicago. Honestly man all i know about chicago is the deep dish pizza and my friend lives there. Although i have read about the Mafia's in today's world in some of the books i figured out that it would be an uninteresting topic that you can bring up to a girl. So i said 'oh, the place of deep dish pizza'. She smiled and now she got the que that i am trying to indulge in a conversation. She asked if i am chef in a sarcastic way and gave a wry smile. My ego didn't let me take that so i said "well if you want to call me that i am fine with that even though my friends call me food lover". Both of us exchanged smile for that and she said the flight has been delayed because of the traffic today. I didn't waste a second to ask her if she cared for a drink. She said why not. So we walk to the Irish pub in the airport. She asked for a Guinness and i ordered a smith wick's. I kinda like the red ale i said. So she goes do they drink beer in India, she asked me as if i am the first Indian she ever met in her life. Had it been a guy i would have given a rude, snobbish answer with an attitude but i couldn't say no to her. I started explaining about different drinks that Indians like and so on trying to show her how smart ass i am. After a long answer for her short question, i asked her if she is Irish. Like all the Americans she said my mothers side is polish and east European and father's side is Irish, Scottish and so on. I cared for less but still pretended to be interested. I noticed that she had an amgen bag, so i asked if she is a doctor? For the first time my guess about her was partially correct as she told me that she is a clinical toxicologist. I had a great sigh or relief as i didn't want her to think that i am making up so many things just to keep the conversation going.

Now, i really got interested in what she did and i guess she understood my sincerity and started explaining me what she does and where she studied and one hour later somehow our topic came to number of times she has seen people dying on her. It was quite interesting when she brought up that topic because that's one of the topics that i discuss often with my brother. My brother and i are always fascinated at the impact of seeing one's death. It reminds us of the mortality of creatures and helps us to remain sane and rationalise many things that we otherwise would be very disappointed at. I asked her what she felt about it and how did her personality and outlook toward life changed. She thought to herself for a while and then she slowly continued, 'Many times, i see people almost in a dead state, we try to bring them back to life, sometime you get upset for few hours if you see small babies die, aside that, i take it more like another dead person that's all'. I asked her if she is able to apply the same logic to her near and dear too?. She was quite for a second, i quickly apologized for my stupid question and started to explain her why i asked that question. She stopped me with her answer, 'Yes, i think i do', ' I think i can take even my near and dears death in that way' she said. I was startled at her answer. I know the next question that i am going to ask her will show if she is really faking the answer or she is truly speaking her heart. If she gets furious then i thought i would conclude that she is faking or otherwise. I decided to go on anyway and asked her 'Why then marriage or any other stuff that you everyday is even necessary?'. She smiled and asked, 'why not?. I said, 'Well it doesn't add up, you are impartial even to death then why to do something to enjoy or suffer?'. She took a while to understand what i meant to ask and then she said, 'Well thinking philosophically i would agree but see it this way, its more of work that you do and everything is just an action. The outcome is unnecessary to explore'. Her answer surprised and shocked me pleasantly. The girl who is far west in her thoughts and beliefs yet speaks Vedanta. I asked her if she is familiar with eastern philosophies. She had no clue about it.

I figured that we already spoke enough heavy topics, so i thought i will get back to my kadalai. I went on to talk about her interests and she was explaining me about white sox and the cubs rivalry and how she went to watch a Bear's game on a snow day and so on. When we landed in midway. She asked me where i was going, i said to the downtown Chicago and i had no clue of where my friend lived. I spoke to my friend and got the train station where i had to get down and coincidental she was going to the downtown too. We both continued our conversation and she was showing the all the places from the train and explaining me like a tour guide. When time came to bid good bye, i said 'Have a nice life'. She smiled and wrote down her phone number for me. :).