First of all, apologies to everyone for not having posted an entry in the month of June. Just could not find time for it and hence I have thought of entering 2 posts for the month of July. The last post described the days before I was to leave for onsite and how I went through the deputation process and then flight travel.
Now, I start with the work life when being in front of the client as privileged as American Express. The entire complex of buildings and infrastructure at American Express was commendable. Work life was located in a shared cubicle with few Syntel colleagues from other teams and some other vendors’ work partners like IBM. PK’s cubicle was straight in front of our cubicle and so he was easily accessible. SK and I used to walk from Pillars to Sonterra in the cold mornings so that we go to office with PK in his car. When coming back, we used to alternate between various people for going back home (yes, that was our kind of home now for us).
The first week was a short one as I landed in US during the week which had a 4 day long Thanksgiving weekend. I didn’t know much about Thanksgiving celebrated in US but out here it was a big deal. People shopped like crazy during this time as they could things for a really less price – it was the season of Megadiscounts and Rebates. This concept fascinated me a lot and I had a unique experience of shopping for Thanksgiving. Although I was not keen to do any shopping for myself, but I survived the night without sleeping for more than 2 hours so that we could maintain our position in a long queue outside a superstore chain. I saw people standing in a queue for the entire night, say from midnight to 5 am when the store used to open especially during Thanksgiving. I saw people shopping like crazy, waiting in the cold night outside and bringing their comforters, coffee mugs, some of them even carrying a tent to sleep on the pavement outside the store.
American clients were a delight to work with – professional yet approachable and friendly. They lived a work life where they worked simply 8 hours a day. – either 7 to 3 or 9 to 5. I learnt a lot about how they look at things with a different perspective. They balance their work life well and it is nice to see that. We wish we could manage this in our lives too – its not difficult, just that we do not stop a moment and look on what’s going on in our life.
Work was going good with regular meetings with clients in which we reported the status of our work in the week. Knowledge was abundantly available when interacting with clients, PK and VD. These guys had spent many years learning the business and were masters in their own. SK was the guy with whom I shared many light-hearted, funny moments. We had developed a nice friendship during my entire time out there.
Grocery shopping was something I learnt from the nearby FRY’s Supermarket. Weekly shopping for us roomies ran into a bill of $100 each week. But the layout and design of the supermarket was so beautiful that shopping was actually enjoyable even for guys.
Circumstances in your life make you who you are. They say life is the greatest teacher of them all. I learnt the art of cooking when I was in US – yes I would call it an “Art” rather than “Science” as I thoroughly enjoyed cooking food – for me as well as for roomies, friends, etc. Prior to living in US, I knew only how to make tea but here I learned to cook food like Vegetables, Chicken, Prawns, Rice, Dal, etc. We never made Chapatis but instead used a substitute named Tortillas which were similar.
The greatest compliment I got for my cooking skills did come from SK himself. I had prepared Aloo Mutter and after eating it, SK told me that today this Aloo Mutter reminded him of his mother’s cooking. What music to my ears – when a close friend says this, that you could remind him of his mother through preparing food for him, that sums it up. A defining moment in my life captured here! Thank you SK.
We travelled a lot during my 6 months there. Places included Sedona, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Apache Trail, Fountain Hills, Lake Pleasant and Phoenix Zoo – to name a few. SK was with me on almost all of these trips and we clicked photos like anything. I had bought a new Canon digital camera and I was in awe of it – constantly using it for any trivial scene or place to capture it. Sedona was a beautiful, colorful place to have a nice weekend. Las Vegas is America’s playground and I’m quite sure all you people know what kind of experiences you can get there. Flagstaff is where I tried my hand at Skiing and it was a tiring, yet enjoyable experience. Los Angeles was simply amazing with trips to Universal Studios and other places – easily one of my highlights. Washington DC was a very cool place with plenty of greenery around and Baltimore Harbor and Maryland Science Centre were really cool places to hang out. Apache Trail was a Roadies kind of experience with it being a really perilous road to travel and yet enjoy the scenery and the valley around. Phoenix Zoo was a long 1-day experience but really nice to see the wildlife around – impressively maintained by Phoenix City as compared to our Mumbai’s Byculla Zoo.
I made new friends there and had fond memories of sharing some cherished moments with them. Quite a rewarding experience. I met new people with whom we had our differences (SK and I) but we learnt from this experience too on how to handle such situations.
In January 2007, we both setup our new home which we called GMAPS House along with a third team mates named SM. It was a 2 BHK in Pillars and 1 more team mate named AV was expected to join us soon. The process of buying things for your new place and making it look like home is another experience which I would not have learnt if I had stayed in India during that time period. This place had a special place in my heart as I now knew what it is like to create your own home, put each thing in its right place and look at the final product and be proud of how you made your home.
I end the post now having recalled as much as I could. The next post will touch upon my last few days in US and the return journey to our beloved motherland India. 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!
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