travelogue of Sarada Ramani
It has been a long while ago that I had come to this blogspot to create a post and enjoy (!) myself as an Author....
The year 2018 has been quite an year of activities for me.
Starting the year with travel as has been my vogue for the last 2 decades was the first thing that I started planning for. It was very significant travel for me to do as It was the 21st year of Flying to United States. Recalling my first travel in the month of May 1998 I had lot of laughs of starting from the scene at the Madras airport.
- how having got an upgrade for my very first international travel from India to US through Singapore gave me enough tension as I didn't know about the upgrade and was standing in the long winding economy queue and when I went to the counter and gave the travel book which contained the leaf for the travel for the sector from madras to Singapore - the lady couldn't find the reservation of mine at all. During that time it was paper ticket and for each flight you take you need to have a tear able coupon portion which needs to be exchanged for the boarding pass. She made me wait very very anxiously as this was the first visit to the client place for the upcoming software development contract that I had signed and there were enough firsts for me to handle
What a journey it was.
Finally the airline representative after running from one counter to another found out that it was a business class seat for me for the first sector and accordingly the boarding pass was issued. I didn't know about the lounge nor about the priority boarding etc. So boarded the plane as one of the last few passenger to board having stood in the long line of travelers to board. When the air-hostess asked what I wanted to have as a welcome drink was worried about what would be charge for it etc....
In between the immigration and boarding - for the security check had dropped the briefcase into the machine and the handle was of inferior quality that the black coating become liquidish and this was another worry that got added up of how do I go back and tell the family that I didnt purposefully spoil the new briefcase.... While struggling to put the heavy briefcase in the overhead bin, the air hostess came to help me put it up and to my embarrassment along with my hands her hands also became sticky with the black tar from the melted handle. Till my deboarding I simply couldn't see her eye to eye due this embarrassment.
Thus began my Professional business journey
The first day in office saw me struggling with a lot of things
The year 2018 has been quite an year of activities for me.
Starting the year with travel as has been my vogue for the last 2 decades was the first thing that I started planning for. It was very significant travel for me to do as It was the 21st year of Flying to United States. Recalling my first travel in the month of May 1998 I had lot of laughs of starting from the scene at the Madras airport.
- how having got an upgrade for my very first international travel from India to US through Singapore gave me enough tension as I didn't know about the upgrade and was standing in the long winding economy queue and when I went to the counter and gave the travel book which contained the leaf for the travel for the sector from madras to Singapore - the lady couldn't find the reservation of mine at all. During that time it was paper ticket and for each flight you take you need to have a tear able coupon portion which needs to be exchanged for the boarding pass. She made me wait very very anxiously as this was the first visit to the client place for the upcoming software development contract that I had signed and there were enough firsts for me to handle
- right from boarding a plane alone for the first time
- doing the immigration,
- but first and foremost arranging for foreign currency of 500 $ when Rupee was at 38.00 per dollar ( we were financially struggling and it was do or die situation for us). In fact to apply for the visa itself the money had to arranged as as short term loan.
- doing all arrangements at home for taking care of my 2 daughters - my younger daughter was just 8 years then.
- trying to figure out what and how many saree to take - having heard that daily washing is not possible at home and you need to go out to do your laundry (whatever it meant)
- trying to brush up my little knowledge on technology Visual Foxpro ( my handbaggage contained a big VFP book weighing more than a kg(!!!)
- preparing mentally to go the client place and interact with them, understand what would be needed as a business head to be accomplished
Ramani advised me to carry a brief case as he felt that as a business woman I need to present myself professionally. So the hand baggage was a heavy briefcase filled with technical book, notebook other papers, etc. apart from another small leather brief case containing my passport, flight ticket and the large amount of 500 $ US currency in cash.
What a journey it was.
Finally the airline representative after running from one counter to another found out that it was a business class seat for me for the first sector and accordingly the boarding pass was issued. I didn't know about the lounge nor about the priority boarding etc. So boarded the plane as one of the last few passenger to board having stood in the long line of travelers to board. When the air-hostess asked what I wanted to have as a welcome drink was worried about what would be charge for it etc....
In between the immigration and boarding - for the security check had dropped the briefcase into the machine and the handle was of inferior quality that the black coating become liquidish and this was another worry that got added up of how do I go back and tell the family that I didnt purposefully spoil the new briefcase.... While struggling to put the heavy briefcase in the overhead bin, the air hostess came to help me put it up and to my embarrassment along with my hands her hands also became sticky with the black tar from the melted handle. Till my deboarding I simply couldn't see her eye to eye due this embarrassment.
Thus began my Professional business journey
The first day in office saw me struggling with a lot of things
- walking into a new office setup with no idea of what to expect and filled with anxiety about myself, my business contract, my technical knowledge, my family back home etc.
- trying to remember the names of the people whom I am supposed to meet
- When getting introduced to each person trying to remember all their names as well as trying to understand what they were saying ( of course it is English which I can speak very fluently but the accent of each and everyone of them was so different finally I became a zombie with a fixed smile and out held hand shaking everyone's hand( going from Tamil Nadu - shaking hands with every other person itself was Big First of course)
- When I was taken for lunch by the Vice President accompanied by the Director Product Development and Project Manager of the product mercifully they also invited my brother who was working in that company to enable me to have a easy time.
- The lunch was a disaster for me though the buffet did contain those items that are familiar to me as they were considerate to take me to the Indian Restaurant, but couldnt honestly understand what each one was talking. After trying to strike a conversation with me and not succeeding they started talking about the company the product etc and everything was going over the top of my head as I was busy trying to emulate them in eating using the fork and spoon to eat the rubbery naan etc. I was extremely busy trying to avoid the Meendum Kokila scene of how Sridevi will tackle a potato with the fork and it would jump into someone' s plate. The same 3 people who took me to lunch on my very first working day in US are the best of my friends - who were part of the family present during the wedding of my daughters.
- Finally coming back to office I was instructed about how to get into the machine and log on to their development environment and undertake the tour of the product.
- But what I could do was log in into the environment trying to recall and remember the product info given in the morning and get a feel of the product
- In the 2 weeks I was in the client place one thing happened very regularly that of me falling asleep around 2.00 pm in the office itself due to jet lag. So at 4.00 or 4.30 pm when it was time to pack up somebody would come and wake me up ( as everyone could understand the jetlag and its consequences)
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