It was not until a couple of days before my flight that I realised I was going so far away from home, and many a times I felt like chucking it all and going back, but I was at a point of no return and decided that I should go ahead with what I was planning from more than 3 years.
Even after maintaining all the lists and packing my stuff in advance there were things coming up every now and then and before I could know it was the afternoon of Saturday the 2nd. Before leaving for the airport I decided to take a short nap. I reached the airport at around 7, met with rubal and karan, bid good bye to my family and went inside at 8.Although we reached there 3 and half hour in advance but still couldn't manage to find adjacent seats for the three of us.
Checked in the bags and cleared the customs, and here I was ready to embark on the journey.
We boarded the plane at around 10 30 and fortunately managed to find adjacent seats once inside the plane. The flight to Chicago was a long tiring one, and for the whole duration of the journey i kept checking the small screen in front of me to know how much time was left for deplaning. We three chatted for a while and then I started checking out the screen, There were movies, songs, TV shows and Kidstuff, after a while I settled for Peace Music. Dinner arrived after about an hour of take off, obviously I opted for Indian Veg and the quality was a harbinger of the kind of food i'll be getting in the US. The Airhostesses at American Airlines were hot, or at least as hot as one can be when on the wrong side of forty. Period. As I had already taken an afternoon nap, I wasn't feeling that sleepy so I decided to check what everybody else was doing.
The gentleman next to me was a software engineer from Cognizant and was going to Florida ,Just behind me on the isle was an oversized kid reading some novel. Most of the people were dozing off, trying hard to fit in their quilt. Its a cascading effect that when everyone around you is sleeping , you also tend to feel sleepy, so I decided to sleep too, checked the screen
we were flying somewhere over North Pakistan.
I woke up 2 hours later, people were still sleeping and I decided to watch a movie, picked up "What happened at Las Vegas", this cycle of sleeping, waking, watching movies ,listening to songs continued and a snack and a breakfast later we were hovering over Chicago, The night view of Chicago from the window was breathtaking and it looked like a Diwali night celebration of lights. Soon we landed at the O'Hare Airport at Chicago and before long we cleared the Immigartion and the customs. The Airport was huge and we had to take a train, to reach the Domestic Airport. Our next flight to St. Louis was 3 hours later so we decided to rest and soak in all the change slowly. Everything had become so different in a span of some 15 hours.We boarded our next plane at 8 in the morning, and soon after I started feeling airsick, luckily it was a short flight and we landed at St. Louis in an hour. It took us a while to figure out the baggage carousel, found it finally and took our luggage. We had contacted the India Association at the university in advance and they had a shuttle ready for us. The final part of the journey started, US was so different from India. we travelled the last 100 miles to Rolla in about an hour and half, although tired it felt good to finally be at the destination.
That was the journey, I'll be back with my first few days in Rolla in some time.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Last Day at CSC
For the last day I decided to go to office a little earlier than usual and I was there by 9. A lot of new joinees were pouring in since morning and here I was running here and there to complete the formalities for the last day ,winding up things at office. "Winding up things at Office", much easier said than done.Not that its difficult to get things done at CSC, but because it also meant saying good bye to friends.
One standout thing which each of us will remember were the tea breaks. The tea breaks were not anything less than an occasion, often spanning close to an hour and two tea breaks in a day meant 20% of a weekday spent discussing something not even remotely connected to work. The topics of discussion ranging from management to appraisal, from needles to noodles, but never ever coming close to work. Senseless jokes and endless laughter were the order of the time. Neelam's PJs, Shelly's smile, Manish's wit, Nidhi's blunders, Pawan's photoshoots, Aman's blabbering and Balli's english made those 2 hours the highlight of each day, and its difficult to digest that I'll no longer be there in the breakaway. The lunch get togather and the chat meeting before lunch meant another hour of fun with friends and Office seemed more like college. Last six months at CSC have been one of the most memorable and fun time of my life, exactly opposite of what one would think of working in an MNC.
Most part of the last working day as I had thought was spent in running for exit formalities, but the farewell at the end of the day was a pleasent surprise, so much so that I couldn't think of anything to speak, although I wanted to. The farewell was warm and as good as any I have ever recieved, which was followed by the usual photoshoot. And here it was, my last day at csc coming to an end, the day for which I was waiting for so long, I now wanted it to last a little longer, so that I could gather as many memories in my mind as I can.
It dawned to me that I maybe seeing some of my friends for the last time, but such is life. I don't know when will I get a chance to meet you people again,but all of you have been special and I'll miss all you people. Cheers for the time we spent togather.
P.S : Special thanks to Shelly and Neelam
One standout thing which each of us will remember were the tea breaks. The tea breaks were not anything less than an occasion, often spanning close to an hour and two tea breaks in a day meant 20% of a weekday spent discussing something not even remotely connected to work. The topics of discussion ranging from management to appraisal, from needles to noodles, but never ever coming close to work. Senseless jokes and endless laughter were the order of the time. Neelam's PJs, Shelly's smile, Manish's wit, Nidhi's blunders, Pawan's photoshoots, Aman's blabbering and Balli's english made those 2 hours the highlight of each day, and its difficult to digest that I'll no longer be there in the breakaway. The lunch get togather and the chat meeting before lunch meant another hour of fun with friends and Office seemed more like college. Last six months at CSC have been one of the most memorable and fun time of my life, exactly opposite of what one would think of working in an MNC.
Most part of the last working day as I had thought was spent in running for exit formalities, but the farewell at the end of the day was a pleasent surprise, so much so that I couldn't think of anything to speak, although I wanted to. The farewell was warm and as good as any I have ever recieved, which was followed by the usual photoshoot. And here it was, my last day at csc coming to an end, the day for which I was waiting for so long, I now wanted it to last a little longer, so that I could gather as many memories in my mind as I can.
It dawned to me that I maybe seeing some of my friends for the last time, but such is life. I don't know when will I get a chance to meet you people again,but all of you have been special and I'll miss all you people. Cheers for the time we spent togather.
P.S : Special thanks to Shelly and Neelam
For the last day I decided to go to office a little earlier than usual and I was there by 9. A lot of new joinees were pouring in since morning and here I was running here and there to complete the formalities for the last day ,winding up things at office. "Winding up things at Office", much easier said than done.Not that its difficult to get things done at CSC, but because it also meant saying good bye to friends.
One standout thing which each of us will remember were the tea breaks. The tea breaks were not anything less than an occasion, often spanning close to an hour and two tea breaks in a day meant 20% of a weekday spent discussing something not even remotely connected to work. The topics of discussion ranging from management to appraisal, from needles to noodles, but never ever coming close to work. Senseless jokes and endless laughter were the order of the time. Neelam's PJs, Shelly's smile, Manish's wit, Nidhi's blunders, Pawan's photoshoots, Aman's blabbering and Balli's english made those 2 hours the highlight of each day, and its difficult to digest that I'll no longer be there in the breakaway. The lunch get togather and the chat meeting before lunch meant another hour of fun with friends and Office seemed more like college. Last six months at CSC have been one of the most memorable and fun time of my life, exactly opposite of what one would think of working in an MNC.
Most part of the last working day as I had thought was spent in running for exit formalities, but the farewell at the end of the day was a pleasent surprise, so much so that I couldn't think of anything to speak, although I wanted to. The farewell was warm and as good as any I have ever recieved, which was followed by the usual photoshoot. And here it was, my last day at csc coming to an end, the day for which I was waiting for so long, I now wanted it to last a little longer, so that I could gather as many memories in my mind as I can.
It dawned to me that I maybe seeing some of my friends for the last time, but such is life. I don't know when will I get a chance to meet you people again,
but all of you have been special and I'll miss all you people. Cheers for the time we spent togather.
P.S : Special thanks to Shelly and Neelam
One standout thing which each of us will remember were the tea breaks. The tea breaks were not anything less than an occasion, often spanning close to an hour and two tea breaks in a day meant 20% of a weekday spent discussing something not even remotely connected to work. The topics of discussion ranging from management to appraisal, from needles to noodles, but never ever coming close to work. Senseless jokes and endless laughter were the order of the time. Neelam's PJs, Shelly's smile, Manish's wit, Nidhi's blunders, Pawan's photoshoots, Aman's blabbering and Balli's english made those 2 hours the highlight of each day, and its difficult to digest that I'll no longer be there in the breakaway. The lunch get togather and the chat meeting before lunch meant another hour of fun with friends and Office seemed more like college. Last six months at CSC have been one of the most memorable and fun time of my life, exactly opposite of what one would think of working in an MNC.
Most part of the last working day as I had thought was spent in running for exit formalities, but the farewell at the end of the day was a pleasent surprise, so much so that I couldn't think of anything to speak, although I wanted to. The farewell was warm and as good as any I have ever recieved, which was followed by the usual photoshoot. And here it was, my last day at csc coming to an end, the day for which I was waiting for so long, I now wanted it to last a little longer, so that I could gather as many memories in my mind as I can.
It dawned to me that I maybe seeing some of my friends for the last time, but such is life. I don't know when will I get a chance to meet you people again,
but all of you have been special and I'll miss all you people. Cheers for the time we spent togather.
P.S : Special thanks to Shelly and Neelam
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