Chapter 2 : 6th April 2017

Six days later…. 6th April 2017

“Wake up my son, its 4:00 am.”

“Eh! Oh, Okay papa”

I managed to open my eyes and check the time in mobile. It was 3:57 am. I took hand full of pedigree and gave to Tommy, the pet dog. I had a hot bath, wore my favorite sky green color shirt, black pant and took the grey color tie in my hand.

My mom offered a cup of tea to me,

“Can you take two more days leave?”

I was happy since my mom did not ask usual set of questions like:

“Did you get any salary hike?”

“When will you be travelling to US?”

“Are you attending interview for a job change?”

“Do you have any girlfriend there?”

“No mom, I may get a new project today. So, I need to go.”

After having tea, my dad dropped me to the bus stand. I got into the bus. My dad waved at me as soon as the bus started. I took the earphone from my pocket, started listening to 1960 Tamil melodies songs stored in the mobile. I reached Trivandrum bus stand around 7:47 am.

I called my friend Chitra who also got selected in H1B lot last year along with Rajesh.

“At what time, will you start from your home to office?”

“Around 9:30 am”

“Can you pick me along with you?”

“Sure.”

I did not know why I called her. I could have reached office by 8:30am if I would have caught the bus now. I went inside a Restaurant named “Indian Café House”, which is located near the bus stand.

“What do you want sir?”

“Appam Egg curry.”

“Ok Sir, it will take 15 minutes to deliver your order.”

“It’s okay. I can wait”

I started thinking how they selected the 11 people out of 50. It was not selected based on experience. Even if it was based on technology, I would have been selected since I had an experience in AS400 for 3 years and testing in 4 years.

Is it based on Project Managers?

There is total of 8 project managers who were reporting under one account manager in my account. Probably the HR management team pressurized the account manager to select only 11 people out of 50. Then account manager might have asked the project managers to select one or two persons from their team.

“Your order Sir” the waiter intervened.

I ate the appam dipping it in the egg curry. I thought that I cracked the puzzle how 11 people got selected in the 50 members group. I found a full boiled egg in my plate. I took it and put it into my mouth. Again, I started thinking that Ricky might have had the chance to select only one person from his team. And he had chosen Bindu instead of me. I was happy that he selected her. She and I were trying hard to get H1B for the past 4 years. But we didn’t have luck in those years. She was also a very good performer in my account.

I finished my breakfast around 8:50 am. Almost 40 minutes more for my friend to pick me from the bus stand. I started walking towards the Tea-shop and ordered a tea. Each sip of the tea made me think differently

“Do I need to put paper (resignation)?”

“Should I leave the account?”

“Will they process my H1B visa next year?”

“Can I direct a new short film or act in few offers which I got earlier?”

“Do I need to invest in anything like shares, gold or land?”

I saw my friend Chitra reaching the bus stand around 9:20 am. I waved at her and got into the car.

“Hi, after a long time you are coming with me in car.”

“Yes, thought of going to office little late today.”

“Hmm! So, you are telling me that I go to office late”

“No yaar(friend), you go to office on time, but I always go to office by 8 am instead of 9 am and return around 10 pm daily”

“You are concerned that they did not process your Visa”

“Yes”

“Why are you not trying to work with UK clients? You may get visa easily”

“Hmmm, need to check. When are you planning to travel to the US?”

“Now only few projects are available with our company due to ramp down. It is very difficult to get onsite opportunity. Even Ramesh is travelling to US as a Business Analyst and not as senior software engineer.”

“Hmmm. He told me as well”

We reached the office. As soon as she parked her car, we took the lift and went towards our respective seats. Few minutes later, I went to the restroom to freshen up. I splashed my face with the tap water in front of the mirror. I saw my account manager, Mohan Babu, behind me. My reporting manager Ricky reports to him.

“So, how was your weekend?”

“It went well”

“Did your short film “The envelope” get any award?”

“No, the event date got postponed to next week.”

“Ah! Okay, See you later then.”

After taking few steps, a question popped in my mind “Why did he ask about my short film?”

Few more questions strike me

Is he really interested in my short film?

Or

As a manager, is he checking whether I am fine though he could not help in processing the Visa?

I switched ON my system. I didn’t have any task mail since my project was over, I was in talent pool/ bench.

Ricky approached me and asked, “How was your vacation?”

“It was okay”

He notified me that I might be allocated to the new project within the account soon. I told him that I would be on leave from April 12th to 17th for celebrating Tamil New Year and Easter.

“Its fine. Since you are in account pool. You might need to work as a buffer/backup resource.

“Okay.”

Meanwhile, I was updating my resume in naukri.com and was checking with my colleagues “Is there any job vacancy in countries like UK, Mexico, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand?”

“No, Not now. Will let you know if there are any opportunities.”

Usually, when an IT guy thinks he is alone, he either smokes or has tea. I went to the pantry. I met my friend Rincy Lawrence whose H1B was not processed.

I asked, “How is your work going on?”

“Going ok. I heard that they did not process your visa. So, what are your plans?”

“Not sure what to do. I’m trying to find vacancy in any UK account.”

We took our tea from the machine and sat on the chair near the table in the pantry. Meanwhile, another friend of ours named Sandeep whose visa was also not processed joined us.

“Hi Rincy and John! What a disaster, all 3 of us have more than 7 years of experience but none of our visas were processed”

Rincy replied “Since you both belong to QA (testing) team,

your visas were not processed. They told me a different reason for me.”

I was curious now “What is the reason for you?”

“Well, I joined the company a year back. As per the organization policy, I am not eligible to get visa”

Sandeep was also interested “Who told you this?”

“I enquired with our account manager Mohan two days back.”

She started narrating the conversation which happened 2 days before with Mohan.

“Rincy, I don’t know how to say but it is really bad news. Not only bad news for you but for us well. This time our organization is not planning to process your H1B since you joined the company a year before.

“Mohan, do you remember what I asked when you interviewed me?”

“I still remember. Since your husband is working in US, you need H1B. That was the only reason you joined our company. “

“You promised me that you would definitely process my Visa. I joined the company only by trusting your words.”

“Yeah. I had promised you but what is happening now is beyond my power. Please try to understand it. I really don’t know what I can do here.”

“Could you please release me from the account? Else I am planning to resign.”

“If you really need release, then I will talk to your manager and let you know in 3 days. Hope everything will be fine within these days. I can definitely promise you that I will be putting maximum effort in processing your visa next year.”

Present day:

She continued “After the incident I left the cubicle and didn’t meet him again.”

“Oho, it’s okay. Not sure whom we need to trust.”

“Are you still in account or got released? “

“No John, I might be getting released next week after the delivery of my project.”

“Any other plans after getting released?”

“No plans yet. If you know any vacancy for me in any UK accounts. Let me know”

“Sure.”

“Don’t worry, I will also let you know if there are any openings.

“Thanks “

Sandeep turned towards me “I already asked you to learn Selenium (automation testing) along with me. Currently, no companies are ready to hire experienced manual tester unless he knows automation.”

“You know why I didn’t join you? After office hours, I was quite busy with Emerging Leader, Toastmaster and account POC activities. As a leader of Emerging Leader team, I am responsible to organize multiple events. I have almost paid Rs.7000 in toastmaster club for improving my communication and to eliminate my stage fear. I spend around 3 to 4 weeks for delivering a speech. I also give money to my parents regularly. I was not able to find enough time and money for attending the session with you.”

“Yes, I know that. I am damn sure that our visas won’t be processed for next year as well. It is good to switch the company now itself. For switching, they ask for automation experience. Better learn it at the earliest.”

“Sure, I will learn it at the earliest. Let me make myself free from other activities first.”

“How are you able to find time while directing or acting in short films?”

“That is the only work which makes me happy. Without that I may become mad.”

After finishing tea, we went to our respective seats. I worked as a buffer resource for next 3 weeks. Rohith had been released from the account since our account could only hold one buffer resource for the project. He started searching for the job opportunities in other accounts as well as other companies. Meanwhile he joined the selenium course externally which is worth 10,000INR.