Innsbruck stories - Pre-Journey Jitters

How does a little bird feel, when it launches into its maiden flight? I guess it feels the same way, you feel the first time you decide to take a stroll. A step into the unknown; fearful but exciting. I just wish to pen down a few thoughts on how i lost my religion.It is said that a brahmin loses his religion, once he crosses the sea. I lost mine in Feb 2003. Not that it was anywhere in my list of concerns. With a couple of hundered euros in my pocket, i set out. Like Bilbo says,

It's a dangerous business, totti, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to

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Nope.Very lil relevance to what i was thinking at that time. Neither had i read LOTR by that time. I also knew where my feet were gonna take me.Unless, of course, i board the wrong flight. Before you launch into your sniggering, smart-ass comments on how can you board the wrong flight and such slightly annoying but pertinent questions, i just say,"It was my first goddamm flight.I am entitled to a few mistakes". The variety of mistakes one can accomplish in such cases is another story.

A couple of months earlier, i think we got an acceptance email from a conference. This was my first paper in any conference, of any sorts. And, i thought end of story. Happy ending, paper accepted blah blah..blah blah..blah blablah. The good thing was that the conference was to be held in Innsbruck, Austria. A few disturbing hurdles, though. 560 dollars, just for the conference registration is no pennies and dimes.If it seems a huge amount now, i cannot imagine how preposterous it looked then. Even before the battle begun, the war was over. The sun had set. The leaves had fallen.The wind had blown. My eyes were closed.The class was over. One tends to overdo the effect, but you get the picture. And as always, things begin to look up when they can't get any more hopeless. A great deal of effort from the part of the IITM alumni provided with the much required impetus.And, i begin the march towards the great capital city of India. New Delhi.

List of Concerns

1. Catch the train to New Delhi not the one FROM ND
2. Don't get conned in New Delhi
3. Find the right air port in ND, the international one
4. Board the right flight.
5. Be prepared for the Cold; Have vicks handy.
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1E100 Don't lose your religion