It was a pleasure to think of travelling alone with my first baby. I was going to spend, for the first time, 24 hours with my baby all alone - I was bringing her from India to New Jersey. She was 3 months old. It was my first travel to USA. It was her first flight ever...It was the first time we both were just to ourselves - sans the grandparents/relatives and friends...I was nervous on one side, excited on the other. Nervous because - with the first baby, you never know the exhaustive list of reasons for a baby crying. I was used to the naattu marandhu (home remedies) for all her tiny aches and pains, mostly cured by my mom. What if she had an acute tummy pain (for all the food that went to her as an exclusive breast fed baby !! )....what if she got scared of looking at people of different shapes, sizes and form....what if she thought I am abducting her into some unknown land?? What if I fall into some wrong company and never reach my husband? How could I eat my food with the baby on my lap? How could I use the restroom for all its purposes? So many questions...
There was also this uncertainty of whether the things that we are used to in India, would be available here in NJ. To combat this, I packed an extra baggage (other than the allowed limit of 3) with puli, arisi, paruppu, dresses for the baby (that could be worn after two years also - as though kids in the US never get to wear quality dresses !! ) and a lot of unbelievably petty things like a liquid handwash soap and dishwashing soap and scrub, not knowing that we get much better quality stuff here. I paid around Rs. 10,000 for the extra stuff and finally the check-in was over.
Somewhere from the website of British airways, we got to know that an umbrella stroller was allowed till the aircraft and that it will be given to me while coming out of the plane (during the break at London). How on earth was I supposed to know the difference between a normal stroller and an umbrella stroller?? !! Stroller itself was new to me..We were used to calling it a 'pram'. Never having had a chance to stroll with my nephews/nieces before, both the terminologies and the usages were new to me. So, we just went ahead and purchased a pram for Rs. 5000, the day before taking off. To my surprise, the officer at the gate politely folded the stroller and took it away citing that it was bulky and that only an 'umbrella stroller' would be allowed to carry with. Later, after landing in the US, I learnt about it and realized that my three month old would not have been comfortable in an umbrella stroller anyway..it would best suit children over 6 months old with proper head stability.
There I began, carrying her on my shoulder and a back pack with all her diapers and stuff. Did I say she was new to diapers??Yes. In India, she was always on cloth nappies, specially laundered by her grandfather for her in two nice rounds of water mixed with Dettol. So, diapers and wipes was something new, for her and for me. With all this, we got onto the aircraft. As always, the bassinet seats are immediately next to the toilet area on the aircraft. I was so happy to see the bassinet attached after we took off. I thought all I needed to do was to feed her and put her to bed in the bassinet, and watch movies and sleep merrily till reaching London. Not a single thing would go as planned. As soon as I put the baby in the bassinet, somebody had flushed the toilet after use. The noise was so heavy (vacuum flushing is noisier being close to the bassinet) that the baby refused to be put down on the bassinet one more time. So, I carried her all through on my lap and arms and breastfeeding her on and off. That was another embarassment. The 4 seater space had 3 men around me and I was the only woman feeding the baby. I was so furious at that time with the pediatrician who refused to recommend me giving bottle to my baby. It was such an embarassment. All the while, the baby slept through the first flight till London. My parents, in laws and relatives were relieved to hear about my safe arrival at London.
I had about two and a half hours transiting in London. I had to go through security check which I did and was waiting to board the connecting flight. I decided to use the washroom. The stroller was not with me..neither was anybody else with me. London airports do not have changing tables in the wash rooms. They have separate rooms for changing babies. So, I could not just put her on the changing table and finish my work. What would I do??? I went into the 'reserved for people with disabilities' restroom which was bigger. I spread out a towel, put my daughter down there and finished my work and we were ready in time to board the next flight. The worse is yet to come !
The person who sat next to me in the connecting flight, looked to be a student - a boy of around 20 with long hair and scary eyes which seemed he had not slept for ages.. I was myself scared of him. My baby started whining and later turned into crying - to a full two hours - which I had never seen in the three months with her before. I was worried if anybody would get me off the flight (crazy as it sounds, nothing logical came to my mind)...I was more importantly worried about the person next to me.. He turned out to be very friendly, just smiled, plugged in some ear phones and went into his own world saying 'It happens with babies'..Those were the most comforting words to me at that crucial moment. I started walking with the baby throughout the length of the plane, to hear everybody unanimously say 'Oh ! such a tiny baby'...with guilt of whether I was starving my baby, I finally settled in my seat after she stopped and agreed to have a feeding and sleep, which happened as that.
Finally, we landed in NJ. The immigration queue was a mile long and to my surprise, there was no special preference for people travelling with babies (unlike in India)...I was in the line for about two hours with my baby, hand luggage and the papers needed all in my hands. Vexed, frustrated, tired, stinking from head to toe, I met my husband waiting at the end of this journey who brought me home to a great feast which he had handcooked specially - Semiya payasam, potato fry, onion vatha kozhambu, rasam and thayir saadham. After that ordeal, the food was the best thing that happened to me :))
The stroller (!!) reached the next day after a big round of follow up.
There was also this uncertainty of whether the things that we are used to in India, would be available here in NJ. To combat this, I packed an extra baggage (other than the allowed limit of 3) with puli, arisi, paruppu, dresses for the baby (that could be worn after two years also - as though kids in the US never get to wear quality dresses !! ) and a lot of unbelievably petty things like a liquid handwash soap and dishwashing soap and scrub, not knowing that we get much better quality stuff here. I paid around Rs. 10,000 for the extra stuff and finally the check-in was over.
Somewhere from the website of British airways, we got to know that an umbrella stroller was allowed till the aircraft and that it will be given to me while coming out of the plane (during the break at London). How on earth was I supposed to know the difference between a normal stroller and an umbrella stroller?? !! Stroller itself was new to me..We were used to calling it a 'pram'. Never having had a chance to stroll with my nephews/nieces before, both the terminologies and the usages were new to me. So, we just went ahead and purchased a pram for Rs. 5000, the day before taking off. To my surprise, the officer at the gate politely folded the stroller and took it away citing that it was bulky and that only an 'umbrella stroller' would be allowed to carry with. Later, after landing in the US, I learnt about it and realized that my three month old would not have been comfortable in an umbrella stroller anyway..it would best suit children over 6 months old with proper head stability.
There I began, carrying her on my shoulder and a back pack with all her diapers and stuff. Did I say she was new to diapers??Yes. In India, she was always on cloth nappies, specially laundered by her grandfather for her in two nice rounds of water mixed with Dettol. So, diapers and wipes was something new, for her and for me. With all this, we got onto the aircraft. As always, the bassinet seats are immediately next to the toilet area on the aircraft. I was so happy to see the bassinet attached after we took off. I thought all I needed to do was to feed her and put her to bed in the bassinet, and watch movies and sleep merrily till reaching London. Not a single thing would go as planned. As soon as I put the baby in the bassinet, somebody had flushed the toilet after use. The noise was so heavy (vacuum flushing is noisier being close to the bassinet) that the baby refused to be put down on the bassinet one more time. So, I carried her all through on my lap and arms and breastfeeding her on and off. That was another embarassment. The 4 seater space had 3 men around me and I was the only woman feeding the baby. I was so furious at that time with the pediatrician who refused to recommend me giving bottle to my baby. It was such an embarassment. All the while, the baby slept through the first flight till London. My parents, in laws and relatives were relieved to hear about my safe arrival at London.
I had about two and a half hours transiting in London. I had to go through security check which I did and was waiting to board the connecting flight. I decided to use the washroom. The stroller was not with me..neither was anybody else with me. London airports do not have changing tables in the wash rooms. They have separate rooms for changing babies. So, I could not just put her on the changing table and finish my work. What would I do??? I went into the 'reserved for people with disabilities' restroom which was bigger. I spread out a towel, put my daughter down there and finished my work and we were ready in time to board the next flight. The worse is yet to come !
The person who sat next to me in the connecting flight, looked to be a student - a boy of around 20 with long hair and scary eyes which seemed he had not slept for ages.. I was myself scared of him. My baby started whining and later turned into crying - to a full two hours - which I had never seen in the three months with her before. I was worried if anybody would get me off the flight (crazy as it sounds, nothing logical came to my mind)...I was more importantly worried about the person next to me.. He turned out to be very friendly, just smiled, plugged in some ear phones and went into his own world saying 'It happens with babies'..Those were the most comforting words to me at that crucial moment. I started walking with the baby throughout the length of the plane, to hear everybody unanimously say 'Oh ! such a tiny baby'...with guilt of whether I was starving my baby, I finally settled in my seat after she stopped and agreed to have a feeding and sleep, which happened as that.
Finally, we landed in NJ. The immigration queue was a mile long and to my surprise, there was no special preference for people travelling with babies (unlike in India)...I was in the line for about two hours with my baby, hand luggage and the papers needed all in my hands. Vexed, frustrated, tired, stinking from head to toe, I met my husband waiting at the end of this journey who brought me home to a great feast which he had handcooked specially - Semiya payasam, potato fry, onion vatha kozhambu, rasam and thayir saadham. After that ordeal, the food was the best thing that happened to me :))
The stroller (!!) reached the next day after a big round of follow up.
excellent. very good memory. cogency is always there. as i told you already, send such pieces to newspapers and they wd b glad to pubkish them. tomorrow, i will send u one such piece, which is full if humour. keep it up. very well done - knk
ReplyDeleteThanks. Waiting to read the piece of writing that you will send tomorrow :))
DeleteVery nicely written. Rumba kasha pattuttiye? Pavam née.
ReplyDelete