Once upon a time in Kentucky

The last time NJ and I worked out a trip together, we got stranded for 2 days in a snowstorm, almost got arrested while consipiring to rob a Family Dollar store, missed our bus back to Chicago, took a taxi to outrun the bus and board it in Cincinatti. Wonder whats going to happen next month..

It happened December 2004. I was tormented with excess work and took a break to visit family in Chicago. It transpired to me that SS lived pretty close by and it would be a great time to drop by her place. I roped in NJ and a plan was made.

I missed my flight to Chicago on saturday evening, thanks to my last minute shopping spree. Dad used to say I never learn. He's the kind who reaches the station an hour before a train departs, and here I was, trying to catch a flight fifteen minutes before it took off. His laughter still rings in my ears.



I rescheduled my flight for sunday morning and spent a day and a half with my cousins. I met NJ on monday evening at Union Station to take a greyhound bus to Lexington, KY. We were supposed to get back on thursday and I was flying back to Ruston on saturday. We reached Lexington on a cold tuesday morning and had a wonderful time with SS, who was getting ready for a short vacation to India. Come wednesday night and we were ready to head back to the windy city. SS, who had borrowed her friends car, drove us to the bus station and we were stationed in the parking lot of a mall, waiting for the bus to arrive.It was cold and we decided to wait in the car itself. Barely 15 minutes had passed,we heard sirens and two police cars pull behind us. I panicked and got out of the car, only to get back in when a voice bellowed through the loudspeaker " GET BACK INTO THE CAR AND DO NOT GET OUT UNTIL WE SAY SO..". Yeah whatever.



Here we were, inside the car clueless about what was going on. SS had another problem , the car was not hers. Two policemen walk towards us. SS rolled down the window and we were bombarded with a zillion questions. Apparently, the family dollar outlet in the mall noticed us in the parking lot and realised we were there for quite a while. The paranoid owners telephoned the cops thinking we were waiting to rob them ( Family dollar of all places). We had to show the cops our bus tickets and IDs for him to believe us. Actually he dint, one of the cars left while the other waited till we boarded onto the bus. We did not board the bus eventually, because of a snowstorm in Ohio and Indiana. All roads leading out out of Indianapolis were blocked and there was no way of us reaching Cincinatti, leave alone Indianapolis and Chicago. Here we were, in Lexington, toubling SS who hadnt even commenced her packing. The following day was spent at home looking at each others faces.



We found out that there was a bus leaving for Chicago on Friday morning though. SS dropped us off at the bus station a little earlier, and since we had some time on hand, we walked across to walmart to grab something to eat and buy a discman. As we come out, the Chicago greyhound bus departs right in front of our eyes. I had to be on that bus as the next one was only in the night and I had to catch a flight out of Chicago the following morning at 6. We knew that the bus had a stopover at Cincinatti. We pooled all the money we got, rented a taxi,scared the wits out of SS, made the driver break every speed limit on the ice covered interstate, and boarded that bus five minutes before its departure. We made it to Chicago that evening at around 6. Everyone was happy, NJ got home safely and SS successfully completed her packing. I almost missed my morning flight, but thats another story.
A jinxed trip? No way. I got to spend quality time with two of my most favorite people in the world, missed buses, endured snow storms and house arrests and had a whale of a time.Thats all I wanted.
(I still dont regret buying that discman for altogether different reasons.)

P.S: To all who stumble upon this page and spend a couple of minutes perusing it. Please let me know what you think, it does wonders.

P.P.S: I dedicate this post to my co-accuseds. This wouldnt have happened without you two. I still miss the Karagatta "car" though. Thanks for one hell of a ride.


DPK