I was excited. In the flight there were some young students, all going for studies in the USA.
One nice guy I met was going to Wharton to do his MBA studies there. I asked his GMAT score and he told me without any hesitation. His total score was 680, 98%ile, good for Wharton. His verbal score was high – 98%ile or around that, but surprisingly quantitative score was not that high. My quantitative score was much higher than his. But at that time I thought USA is a land of opportunity by reading Time magazine, and since I was very good, it didn’t matter if I went to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale or Wharton. So I didn’t feel jealous of his. Thought of telling him could have saved his parents money by attending cheaper schools, glad didn’t tell him that. Now must be a big shot in a rich family in Chennai(?).
Agarwala was another interesting guy. It turned out he was from Dhanbad School of Mines and was going to the same SIU-C.
He was deep sleeping when the air hostess came to give us light snacks. She didn’t want to keep it there, so I told her to take it away. After an hour Agarwala got up and got angry on me for missing out his free snack. Later we stopped at Paris airport. His agent and mine too had not issued us the meal coupon, so all but us, got meals. Agarwala was not a guy to give up so easily. He argued with the air hostess for an hour, she too was not giving up easily, and finally got $10 vouchers to use at the airport restaurant. Victory for Agarwala.
When I saw the prices there, I could afford just a few items with that there. A bowl of white rice, and a small cup of yogurt – came to about $9. No refund.
Oh ya, cheap drinks were free. In the plane. For those who were wondering about the free drinks. It has always been there.