After having told you about the days before I was to leave for onsite in US, I now cover few days of my life where I tell you how an employee undergoes the deputation process typically in the IT industry and then my first-time travel in a flight – that too one of them being a long one.
After having cleared the interview at the US Consulate, I got a L1 Blanket visa stamped on my passport. My project manager SG started the deputation process soon and there was an instruction sheet provided to me which detailed each and every step that I had to complete – by looking at this sheet, I wondered about this deputation as being some work in a Government office where you had to get so many permissions and forms filled up. But I was told that deputation on L1 visa was some kind of transfer for which these formalities were required since it was similar to me leaving Syntel India Ltd and joining the parent company Syntel in US for that much period. On the company’s intranet, when filling up a form, I filled up the duration as 4 months and then submitted it. I still have the acknowledgement number on my cell phone which I had received then under the name of ODM form number – saved it for my memory in case it was required later on in those days.
Then, when submitting travel arrangement plans and for flight details, SG sat next to me and modified the return date such that my onsite period now extended to 5 months instead of the earlier 4 months. I was surprised and asked SG why the extension and discrepancy with the earlier form but SG convinced me that it’s not a problem and its fine – besides, 1 more month at onsite would not harm me. So, there I was – initially planned for onsite work of 4 months which now became 5 months. SG even booked Aisle seats for me instead of my preference of Window seats saying it was better there. When your boss says something is better, how can you argue when he has been there, done that and you haven’t? Also, the food preference he selected was VEG saying that there was no guarantee of what exactly would be served under NON-VEG.
My travel plan was simpler as compared to the others who went onsite during that time period. People usually took 3 flights to go to onsite in US – from Indian location to some intermediate European location, then from that European location to some other US location and then finally to their designated onsite location.
But for me, I had 2 flights only – both of them being British Airways flights (BA). I was excited about travelling by BA at that time as I considered it as a quite nice airline. These days, the condition is the opposite for BA. My flight was from Mumbai to London starting at 2:50 am in Mumbai and arriving at 6:00 am in London. Afterwards, I had to spend almost 7.5 hours in London as my next flight was going to depart at 1:30 pm from London and reach Phoenix in the evening at 6:30 pm.
I was checking the baggage weight limits and restrictions on the number of bags for Cargo and for Cabin on BA’s website. Plus, earlier in that time period, there had been a terrorist attack plotted on Heathrow Airport which was unsuccessful as explosives had been seized by the authorities and these were in liquid form. So, afterwards, there was a clear ban on liquid form contents in your baggage. No gels, shampoos, sprays, creams – nothing. It did not concern much for me as I was anyways not going to carry any of these but I heard that the women travelers were quite annoyed by this ban during that time.
Regarding the weight limits also, there was confusion as SG addressed me and told me it was 18 kg per cargo bag. I tried to find it on the BA website but could not locate it. I asked people but no help. So, I told my parents to get cargo bags accordingly – not too bulky. Later on, I realized my mistake when I was in Phoenix that the weight limit was not 18 kg, but 32 kg. I was angry on knowing this yet helpless as by now, it was too late to do anything about my bags.
When the deputation process started, I was busy in getting clearance from various departments like Finance, Library, GFT, Payroll, Admin, HR, etc. This was a time-consuming task and it usually starts either on the same day when you are supposed to travel or 1 day earlier. So, you have to literally go all around the different places where these departments are located and wait for them to sign and clear you. It can be quite time consuming and frustrating at times as people are either busy in their work or absent from their seat at that same time when you enter. Then, there is a guy who comes during the late afternoon time who gives you some advance foreign currency (in my case, US Dollars) as compensation for first 15 days travel and accommodation assistance. Getting to meet this guy is also a tricky thing as you need to keep a track of when exactly he comes to the office.
Then, there is a counseling session on a 1-to-1 basis with someone in the HR-ODC department (if I remember the name right). They counsel you on how to take care when travelling, what documents are needed to be carried, etc. I had a shorter version of this discussion as it was at such a time when I was in a hurry to leave office and go home to prepare for my flight on that same night. It was around 6:30 pm on the same day that I saw for barely 5 minutes and listened to the lady who was counseling. I got the US Dollars by 5:30 pm. My final clearance came from HR at around 7:30 pm on the same day and here I was – my 7:30 pm Dadar bus missed on the day when I was supposed to go onsite by the flight at around 3 am that night, tired at the end of a working day (it was a Monday night) and having to go myself now to Andheri railway station and reach home in time.
Exhausted and dragging my feet to my home, I reached there at around 9:10 pm. By then, my Mom had packed 95% of my stuff in the bags and only few documents were pending which I was having with me whose photocopies I had taken when on my way to home. So, when I reached home, I freshened up first and had a peaceful dinner. Then, my Mom briefed me about what all contents were there in each bag so that I know exactly what thing is where. I had carried sweets in the bags which I had to distribute to my onshore project manager PK and client directors, Syntel directors and others out there. Then, I filled up my documents’ folder and finalized my bags. I was ready to leave by 11 pm. My aunt (Dad’s elder sister) had come to accompany us to the airport. So, it was my parents, my aunt and my younger brother who came to the airport.
We reached the airport by 11:50 pm, nearly 3 hours from the scheduled departure time of my flight. At that time, I failed to understand why do people come so soon for a flight and why does it take 2 hours or more for people to go through the airport clearance procedure and finally end up in their flight. Can’t this entire process be made faster so that people can come 1 hour earlier and have a relaxed clearance process. I did not ponder much over this as I had to fetch a trolley soon and get my luggage onto it.
First time I was travelling by flight and so, I did not know anything on how to proceed and what all needs to be done. My aunt had told me some things due to her son and daughter having travelled a lot internationally, so that was little helpful. But I also kept on asking the airport employees around in Marathi. I got a lot of useful information from them having shown them I’m a Maharashtrian, this works in your favor in Mumbai when you have to talk to these guys, or the traffic cops, he he he…
Having collected my boarding pass and my cargo luggage dispatched by BA people, I was going for clearance of cabin luggage. My cabin bag was having right dimensions and almost fit in. So, there wasn’t any problem there. My parents, aunt and brother by then had taken some tickets which enabled them to enter the airport terminal and see me from a fixed area. I was not aware of this as I proceeded to the Immigration counter. Here too, my Marathi helped me as the Immigration officer asked only a few routine questions before clearing me. I had to then proceed to one level downstairs for security clearance which was the last thing to be done before boarding the flight.
At that time, I was not aware that once you get security clearance, you cannot go upstairs and meet your family members. So, after having my security clearance, when I asked those people, they told me that if I go back upstairs, I will have to do another clearance. I was bit disappointed as I could not say a final word of goodbye to my family members in person. So, when I saw a PCO there, I immediately called them and told them about the situation and told them to go back home now as it was too late being already 1:15 am. They left having wished me on the phone and so, I was there now – in the waiting lounge with still over 90 minutes to go for my flight.
The time spent in the waiting lounge was boring as I was yawning and keeping my eye on the clock in between to ensure I did not fall asleep. There was an announcement that the flight was delayed by ½ hour and so, the departure time was now 3:20 am. Oh God, what a time to leave Mumbai – in the middle of my dreamy sleep at such an unearthly time like 3:20 am. The boarding call for the flight came at 2:45 am and I proceeded towards the flight. I came inside the flight through a tunnel and reached my seat soon. After having kept my cabin bag above in the compartment, I sat down looking around and observing the people. After some time, I buckled my seat belt and experienced the moment of a lifetime when our flight started the TAKEOFF. It was a nervous yet exciting experience for me as I felt the flight going off in the sky at an incline. Amazing feeling!
I could see the Mumbai streetlights down there from whatever view I got of the window. An Indian student was seated next to me who later introduced himself; he was going to UK for further studies. I had a brief talk with him few times during the entire flight.
The Mumbai-London flight takes around 8 or 8.5 hours and you see a lot of Indians on this flight, which is the first visible proof for me that UK is swarmed with lots of Asians by now. Breakfast came at around 4:15 am and I was not in a mood to have it, but still ate something brought as I had heard about the diet that these airlines designed for the travelers according to the flight schedule so that the travelers feel fresh and their jet lag gets minimized. The flight was nice where I had got some periods of sleep, interlaced with watching some movie on the screen in front of me, reading some magazines, eating whatever food was brought.
I reached London early morning and it was a dull morning with not much sunlight. I had heard that this is typical climate in London on many days of the year plus I was traveling in November. I came out of the flight and straight onto Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport. It was huge and attractive with so many bright-lighted shops, a mix of people walking around and nicely built good-looking interiors. First time in my life I was out of India and saw this amazing, dazzling terminal. How come we didn’t have such wonderful terminals in India at that time?
I had to spend half the day on the Terminal as my next BA flight to Phoenix was in the afternoon. So, I thought of resting in the nice, comfortable Multi-Faith prayer room which was a nice waiting lounge too. I called up my home in Mumbai and told them I had reached London and my flight was hassle-free. For calling them and spending some amount on the Terminal, I converted 10 US Dollars at the American Express counter (nice coincidence of my client itself here) and received 3.33 Sterling Pounds. I slept for few hours nicely on the cozy seats and afterwards, when I woke up, I was feeling bit hungry and so walked around to see if I can buy something lighter to eat like snacks. It was very hard to find something of this sort as most of the restaurants there served full traditional, British breakfast of bacon and eggs, which I was not too keen on having. Luckily, after some time, I found a small store where I brought a large bottle of water, a packet of ‘Rock Salt Potato Chips’ and 2 tubes of Polo for spending the entire remaining amount, including the change in pennies.
Around 1 pm, the boarding call came for my flight on the same terminal and I proceeded towards the gate. The London-Phoenix flight takes 12 hours or so and obviously you don’t see much Asians around, forget any large number of Europeans travelling to Phoenix when there are places like New York, Los Angeles to tour.
This was a much longer flight and it had a few empty seats as compared to the fully booked Mumbai-London flight. I watched a few movies which I had missed out from the early school days and during my college days or times at Syntel. In between, I slept whenever I felt the need to take a break and rest. I had the proper food which came without wasting much and so my diet on the flight was going perfectly as planned. The flight being longer and no one to talk to, I was getting little bored at the end of the flight. At that time, every one of us received a form which we had to fill up as we were going to enter into US territory which requires us to mention some details on yourself, your luggage, etc.
On landing in Phoenix in the evening at around 6:30 pm on Tuesday, I came out on the Terminal and walked around to get my luggage and complete the clearance. Phoenix was my Port of Entry (POE) in US and so, there is a I-94 slip that you have to get done at the POE which describes the entry date, duration for which you can legally stay in the US, etc.
After getting into the terminal, I looked out for a phone booth to call up VD, one of my project managers who was onsite and was accompanying the boss, PK to pick me up at the airport. Phoenix’s airport was worth of praise for a city of its magnitude – the name being Sky Harbor International Airport. I found a phone booth, just as I was about to dial the number, someone tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned back and was surprised to see VD behind me. PK was standing a little farther behind VD. Both of them welcomed me to Phoenix and they carried along my cargo bags. I followed them to an elevator and then into a parking lot where PK opened his car trunk and we loaded my bags into it. VD and PK took the front seats while I was sitting in the back seat. It was already sunset and it was getting dark. PK drove the car swiftly and they both asked me about my journey and if I had any jet lag.
To my amazement, I didn’t have any jet lag despite spending around 20-22 hours in air in those 2 flights. I have been surprised till date on how I did not have any jet lag at that time when I had heard that it was so common for people to get jet lag.
After discussing few, general travel related things with VD and PK and in between observing the nice roads and smaller buildings around, we reached a society (they call it as Apartment in US) which had around 30 buildings, each having 1 or some of 2 floors plus a ground floor). PK stopped the car in front of one of the buildings and we unloaded my bags. VD climbed up the stairs which was like a ladder, carrying one bag and rang a doorbell. I followed PK as each one of us carried one bag. I entered a room where there were few guys staying whom I had seen in the Mumbai office in Syntel, they belonged to different teams from ours. I saw a familiar face, SK who was from my team and he had already been to Phoenix from the past 3 weeks. They welcomed me in the room and I sat down on the couch, drinking a glassful of cold water. I was glad to see that atleast SK was living in this room – one familiar face is better to live with than none. Little did I know that over time, my friendship with SK would grow so strong that I would cherish it till date.
I end the post now having recollected as much as I could. The next post will cover my initial days in the American Express office in Phoenix, life in US on how its hell lot of different from that in India, how I met new people and gauged their nature and how to be more responsible when working at onsite.
If you feel that I’ve missed out on anything in this post, kindly provide your feedback and I’ll make sure I’ll write it in my next post.
Signing off now. See ya, friends!
