And the day and everything on either side of it is still very fresh in my heart:
The burst of activity at home as I suddenly left for the US carrying dreams of doing exciting research in computer science, the commotion on the morning of my travel after spending one last night in my favorite room as my best friend and I packed my bags with tears all night, and in the commotion leaving my future brother-in-law's brother (who had come from Chennai to bid me farewell) locked inside the house as we headed to the airport only to be rediscovered when the farewell party returned home; Spending 4 hours in Mumbai airport waiting for my cousin who was going to show up "any moment", and then being coaxed into going with him to Andheri to have one last Karnataka meal before leaving the country; And then finally leaving the country a little past midnight with a heavy heart. Little did I know that it was going to be another 4.5 years before I would see my home again.
And little did I know that Chicago would eventually become the place I call home. And that I would eventually give up the passport bearing the above stamps. And that, 15 years later, I would be writing this post on this blog.
