May 22 was here and so was our United Airlines direct flight from Newark to Mumbai. The same feeling that had pervaded my life for the past few months took place in a heightened form during our car ride to the airport. The smell of cow dung was all too tempting. Adventure was coming.

The flight was a pleasant surprise. Firstly because the security line was short and my VISA that was misprinted because of the incompetency of the Indian Consulate in NYC was taken without question. Thank God, I thought it was fake or something. Secondly because the food was actually amazing. Air India serves dog food in comparison. And the orange juice too, which I always managed to spill on the brillo pad of a blanket provided. Contrastingly, United food was authentic Indian food, providing its fair share of heart burn and tearing - the only way food should be. Only upon entering the plane and seeing a sea of brown and black, with piercing eye contact did I realize that here we were.

For the first few hours, I slept like a baby, as usual. By the time I woke up, we were above London, so I popped a NyQuil and smoothed the rest of the trip out with a chemically induced and delightful coma.

We finally reached the airport and were promptly picked up by Swapnil, my cousin-in-law's driver. As we drove through the city night out of the concrete canopy of an airport, palm trees led the way like a modern yellow brick road and equally cheesy.

The apartment was a beautiful cream-colored stucco bungalo-type. We went up the elevator and rang the door bell. It only occured to us then - would this be weird? We had never met Swapnil since his marriage with Tinu. Luckily there wasn't much time for doubt as he quickly opened the dark mahogany door with a big smile.

We made introductions and sat in his minimalistic, buddhist styled chairs. We discussed our flight, upcoming week plans, cell phone arrangements (much more complex and inefficient than I could have imagined), driving options, and other small things. The awkwardness that I had not even given thought to was not present at all! I felt extremely comfortable and welcomed, as did my mother. But, I couldn't shake this feeling. There was an empty pit in my stomach; of fear, of the unkown, of oh-my-god-I'm-living-somewhere-that-doesn't-have-central-air-conditioning-and-it's-ruining-my-mood-I-am-such-a-brat-but-I-cannot-help-it.

After declining some poha, we decided to go to bed and get ready for our day of apartment hunting.

We rested easy that night despite the cloud of uncertainty. Here it was.