“Good morning ladies and gentleman. On behalf of the captain and crew of the Frontier flight to Denver, I welcome you on board. We are now ready to take off and if Denver was NOT on your travel plans, it IS now!” the announcement from the jovial flight purser brought a wave of laughter inside the plane and set the mood for our trip to Colorado.
He continued with announcements like “just in case your flight turns out to be a cruise, the life jackets are under your seat” and “Our crew will be coming with the garbage bags one last time. In case you need to discard anything please do. I express our inability to accept ex spouses.”
There is a time difference of two hours between Detroit - Michigan and Denver - Colorado and so, having left Detroit at 6.30 AM and flying three hours, we landed at Denver at half past seven local time on the morning of 17th June.
About to land at Denver
My friend Dattatreya and his son Madhur were at the airport and Datta took charge of us. The trip to Colorado was one I was very much looking forward to, not so much because of the well known natural beauty of the state, but because of the presence of Datta. I have nothing against Colorado’s natural beauty. I only want to convey that had Datta not been there, we would not have visited Colorado even if it was twice as beautiful.
When I first met Datta, I was in second standard and he was in fifth. Both of us were residing in Shantinagar, Bangalore and attended the same school in Wilson Gardens, about four kilometers away. We walked to school together everyday. If I remember right, from the day we first met, there is not a single day that we have not seen each other till the time Datta joined DRDO in New Delhi after his Phd, and I left Bangalore to join the health services in Goa. Excepting of course the time he was in the IIT and IISc hostels. He was equally friendly with my brother and we spent hours and hours cycling, walking and chatting. I cherish every moment of his company. After a year with the DRDO, he went to the US on a research fellowship and subsequently settled in the University of Texas as a faculty member and recently he had shifted to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was the first of my acquaintances to have settled in the US and I was looking forward to meeting him there all these years.
We had our breakfast in Datta’s van and went around the city of Denver. We visited the Capitol building
and after driving around the city for a while, Datta headed towards the mountains. He wanted us to have a glimpse of the beautiful slopes of the Rocky mountain range
and was also eager to show us some wild buffalos which inhabit the mountains. He is a meticulous planner, but this time he had forgotten to convey his eagerness to the buffalos and they did not show up. Datta was disappointed but the mountain ranges minus buffalos were still very beautiful and after driving along the slopes for about an hour we headed home.
Colorado springs is about seventy miles from Denver. Datta’s wife Rama was awaiting us with the lunch ready and we were ready for lunch. A visit to the nearby Manitou cliff dwellings, and Garden of gods had been planned for the evening but we had time for a small nap (for which I have got addicted after getting the ‘retired’ tag) before we started on our sight seeing.
He continued with announcements like “just in case your flight turns out to be a cruise, the life jackets are under your seat” and “Our crew will be coming with the garbage bags one last time. In case you need to discard anything please do. I express our inability to accept ex spouses.”
There is a time difference of two hours between Detroit - Michigan and Denver - Colorado and so, having left Detroit at 6.30 AM and flying three hours, we landed at Denver at half past seven local time on the morning of 17th June.
About to land at Denver
My friend Dattatreya and his son Madhur were at the airport and Datta took charge of us. The trip to Colorado was one I was very much looking forward to, not so much because of the well known natural beauty of the state, but because of the presence of Datta. I have nothing against Colorado’s natural beauty. I only want to convey that had Datta not been there, we would not have visited Colorado even if it was twice as beautiful.
When I first met Datta, I was in second standard and he was in fifth. Both of us were residing in Shantinagar, Bangalore and attended the same school in Wilson Gardens, about four kilometers away. We walked to school together everyday. If I remember right, from the day we first met, there is not a single day that we have not seen each other till the time Datta joined DRDO in New Delhi after his Phd, and I left Bangalore to join the health services in Goa. Excepting of course the time he was in the IIT and IISc hostels. He was equally friendly with my brother and we spent hours and hours cycling, walking and chatting. I cherish every moment of his company. After a year with the DRDO, he went to the US on a research fellowship and subsequently settled in the University of Texas as a faculty member and recently he had shifted to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was the first of my acquaintances to have settled in the US and I was looking forward to meeting him there all these years.
We had our breakfast in Datta’s van and went around the city of Denver. We visited the Capitol building
and after driving around the city for a while, Datta headed towards the mountains. He wanted us to have a glimpse of the beautiful slopes of the Rocky mountain range
and was also eager to show us some wild buffalos which inhabit the mountains. He is a meticulous planner, but this time he had forgotten to convey his eagerness to the buffalos and they did not show up. Datta was disappointed but the mountain ranges minus buffalos were still very beautiful and after driving along the slopes for about an hour we headed home.
Colorado springs is about seventy miles from Denver. Datta’s wife Rama was awaiting us with the lunch ready and we were ready for lunch. A visit to the nearby Manitou cliff dwellings, and Garden of gods had been planned for the evening but we had time for a small nap (for which I have got addicted after getting the ‘retired’ tag) before we started on our sight seeing.
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