Infinite Improbability in Key West : Dil Chahta Hai

In all computer Science courses, there is a question that everybody faces at some point of time. “What is the difference between data and information?” One of the answers and a rather accurate one is – 362436 is data; 36-24-36 is information. However, you would actually find this informaton even more relevant after I tell you, that the maximum instances of this information may be found at South Beach, Miami.

Majhi, Harkaran arrived at Tampa on Thursday night in an Enterprise rented compact. Shetty who arrived in the same flight could’nt find a compact, and instead rented a Chrysler Sebring, convertible. Majhi and Karan intended to stay at Tampa and visit all the beaches for their spring break while I and another gentleman who goes by the name Koesler Kodikarra were to accompany Shetty off to a fly-by tour of Miami and Key West.

Koesler Kodikarra is from Sri Lanka; he bulges out at the center (tyre tummy), wears blue tinted shades, speaks in an ascent which is more Americanized than American English ascent and chooses to use “man” after every two words. In addition to this Kayyyyesler Kodikarra mannnnnnn, drives meaaannn in the maust mannnn awessssssssome fashion mannnn where mannnn he jusssttt scares mannn the hell mannnn out of all inhabitants mannn of the road mannnn.

We started late in the night on Friday and reached Miami after a 4 hours drive. I had never been on a road trip before but unless you do one, it doesn’t make too much sense of the American way of life. The lifelines, the Interstates and the cars just criss-crossing across the country on them. The exits, the food exits, the gas exits and all of them make a lot more sense after you’ve been on a road trip.

If you have sufficient gas, then you are more than likely to take a food exit. You would buy some food off a “drive thru” at one of the popular chains – Burger King, Mcdonalds, Subway etc and the burger combo that you buy will come with a huge glass of Pepsi or Coke or some “soda” as Koesler man refers to them. You’d be back on the Interstate rushing again towards your destination and after about 45 – 60 minutes; you would start looking again for a gas exit or a food exit. The reason –“Soda” proposes, man disposes!! Or atleast has the urge to dispose, a rather vehement urge I must add. The urge turns into an urgency if you are at some Interstate which has a lot of exits, none of which are gas exits or food exits. This was the case around the later part of our journey and it was more than 32 miles that we finally did find the rest room!

The journey was otherwise rather uneventful and we had none of those instances that strengthen your belief in god. There have been several in my life and lot many followed in this journey too – the part where Koesler man took over the reigns of the Sebring. I have always wondered if creating such instances is an act of god or the devil. I mean when Koesler drove, all of us had god’s name on our tongues, while all others who were on the road following our car, were swearing in theirs.

We checked into Wellesley Inn for our night’s stay. Slept close to 4 hours before Shetty woke us all up and we were all on our way towards Key West. For the uninformed, Key West is essentially a group of islands connected by bridges and this goes on till the very last island known as Key West. Each of these islands go by the name Key * and the bridges that connect them give you a rather scenic view while you drive on them. I don’t suppose there is a better way to enjoy the bridges than just riding on them on a slight chilly sunny morning with the wind gushing in your hair and the whole view passing infront of you. It would have seemed a lot more moviesh if somebody would have captured it from a helicopter and presented it with a Dil Chahtha Hai song playing in the back ground. The magic and modalities of traveling in a convertible is the topic of another blog entry but the essence of the last 7 statements is – the ride on those bridges was brilliant.

Key West on its own doesn’t have too much to offer, unless you are an avid water-sports freak. There is a gamut of water sports that you can do there. Water skiing, Water scooter, para-sailing, snorkeling etc. There is a tour which starts at 10:00 am and ends at 4:00 pm and allows you to do all of this. I couldn’t do that one coz we reached Key West around 12:30 pm but I generally went about the place and saw the beach etc. Tried Key Lime Pie – a not so delicious but, a pretty well known delicacy associated with the place.

We returned to Miami later that evening (reached around 1:00 am) and 5 hours later it was a jumping Koesler and a fatigued Shetty who walked out of the Inn with me for a day out in Miami.

Thats in the next blog...