Chapter 5 : 10th May 2017

10th May 2017

A week later

Days passed as usual. One of my colleague (Vivek Kumar) who was also my ex team lead, returned from US for one-month vacation. He came to office with chocolates. He got his H1B visa on lottery in his second attempt and went onsite a year before. US-return people generally visit office for two reasons. First reason is to meet the immigration team to talk about their return travel to US, passport renewal etc. The other reason is to meet their friends and colleagues. Normally friends/colleagues in India will ask their onsite friends to bring electronic items like Laptop, mobile phones, head set, ear phone, Bluetooth set etc. since these items are available at a cheaper price.

Along with my teammates, I also expected US chocolates whenever a colleague returns from onsite. I greeted him as soon as I saw him. He greeted me back.

I asked him “How are you and your family?”

“They are good. What happened to you? Your appearance has changed with bold moustache and you look a little slim as well. Are you fine?”

“My life is going as usual. How is your onsite work going on?

“Everyone used to think work onsite is easy. But it is not like that. It is hectic to work there. I wish everybody will go to US and then find how difficult it is to work there.”

I was shocked by his statements.

“Cool bro. When are you going back to US?”

“Three weeks later. Came here to meet the immigration team.”

“If it is that hectic to work there, then why are you going back there.”

Now he looked shocked.

I continued the conversation “We have done hectic work in offshore as well. The reason behind our onsite is to earn more money. If we were able to save 2000 dollars in a month, we could send that money to our family members which is almost equal to 1.2 Lakhs every month. You might be having a plan to buy a 3 BHK flat here. I am not scared to do hectic work. I wanted H1B to get rid of my educational loan, home loan, loan availed for sister’s marriage etc. I don’t want to waste your precious time. Wish you a happy journey.”

He was flabbergasted but with a smile I delivered the last line “Wish you a happy journey” in front of him and moved to my cubicle. I unlocked my desktop and started smiling after reading the mail which I received 3 minutes before.

The mail was from “Immigration Team with the subject line “Document Expiration Notification May 16, 2017” and with message as

“Dear John,

You are receiving this advance alert notification from your

Immigration Team because one or more of your immigration documents are about to expire.

For more details, please refer to the table given below. Please Contact your case manager to take necessary action”

I opened my Passport document and found it was issued on 13th –Nov-2007. The expiry date of it is 12th Nov-2017. All the pages in my passport were blank which indicates that I had not travelled to any foreign countries in the last 9 plus years, but the truth was I had not travelled to any foreign countries in my entire life. I wondered whether will I travel to US within next six months before my passport expires.

I received another mail from my teammates with subject line as “Onsite chocolates from Vivekkumar available at my seat. First come first get. Take it at the earliest“. When I turned around most of my teamates surrounded the cubicle and each one of them were struggling to get more chocolates from the packet. Most of them had around 10 to 15 chocolates in their hand while others were returning to their seats empty handed. Few of them shared their chocolates with others who did not get any.

I used to me one among of those who used to try take as many chocolates as I could for the past seven years. Now I needed a change. I made a decision that I wouldn’t eat any choclates from onsite people until I brought the chocolates. If anyone asked me, I would say “I am on diet.”

I drafted a mail to two of my senior members who were heading the Emerging Leaders Team around 8 pm.

“Hi Varghese/Sumeetha,

I almost took a month to think about going out of the Emerging Leader Team temporarily. I was part of the team for the past 6 years which taught me to learn leadership skills, mingle with new faces and share my views in front of many people. The events like Retail Family Day, Kids Fest, Retail Buzz R, Sports Day, Lumeire (Short Film Contest), Myriad (Ad contest), family day, Onam celebration etc. gave me a lot of visibility and confidence.

Meanwhile, I was also behind my H1B visa for the past 5 years. Every time I am not selected in lot system. This time they have not processed my Visa since I don’t have any skills other than knowledge in AS400, Manual Testing. So I am planning to spend more time in learning new automation tools/external certification. I am also part of Toastmaster team. It will be very difficult for me to focus on EL team nowl.

It would be great if we are able to choose a new member in Emerging Leader team. I would be available in the team till June 15th 2017.

All iz Well

John Peter”

I clicked the send button, shut down my system and returned home.