A Federal Agent to pick me up??? In a special car??
My mind tried to reason it out. After all I was at a wrong place in the airport. Was nicely coloured for an Asian and besides, we were nearing 9/11. Naturally, the airport authorities would be cautious.
I had disembarked at the Paris airport from AirFrance. Had to reach Terminal 2E for the conecting flight to Atlanta. The friendly airport staff had directed me to a bus that would chart me to Terminal 2E. After deboarding, I walked up to one of the women at the Terminal counter. "Could you please let me know if I am at the right place?" No harm in rechecking.
One look at the ticket and " No, Ma'm. You are at the wrong terminal." I tried to appear calm. "So, how do I reach there?" She stared at me for some time. No smile. No look of hostility either. Spoke to me in French. "English please". She picked up the phone, dialed a number and spoke quickly in French. "Please wait there madame. A Federal Agent will be here and he will take you in a special car. Please sit there and I will call you when he comes."
My heart sank. I could have cried out aloud. What could they do? They wouldnt arrest me for having come to the wrong terminal?!! But then, why a Federal Agent??
Ever noticed - Fear something, and things usually do go wrong. From the day I had known that I had to travel, I was paralysed with fear. Fear of the unknown. I didnt know what I was afraid of, but I was scared. And scared like hell. I knew I would be shitting bricks at Mumbai -my ticket was Chennai-Mumbai-Paris-Atlanta. The more I thought of killing time at Mumbai, the more I got disturbed. I knew it was abnormal - maybe I needed to see a shrink. For, would anyone lose sleep on "such a trivial issue", as someone stated! Not only had I lost sleep, but had also lost everything inside of me as the thought of travelling to Atlanta had made me retch.
The Federal Agent came with his special car, took me to the right terminal and wished me a good journey ahead. Even as I sat on the plane to Atlanta, my mind had begun to weave another fear knot. This time, I checked into the Atlanta hotel without my fear charting the path for me.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Inevitable Travel
I had asked to be placed onsite when my first employer had asked me to join back. There was an ulterior motive to it though.
The first time I was offered an onsite posting was when I had joined back office after a serious bout of illness. In my first meeting with members of the onsite team after joining back, the Sr. PM onsite seemed thrilled, her excitement seemed palpable and for reasons I got to know soon. She popped up the question "Welcome aboard Vrinda. When are u travelling to US? You need to work from onsite." Boy o Boy. Did I get nervous or what?? I had put the speaker phone on mute and exclaimed to my boss and my colleague, who were moderating this "Introduction" call - "Go onsite?? What!!?? No way!"
My boss was kind. She attributed it to me being back from my illness, hospital and stuff. I did the same.
Months passed by. I was managing another project. I had also been thinking of moving out of my current work place. My boss had resigned and I had a new boss. This time around I was the moderator of an "Introduction" call to introduce my new boss to the client. My client wanted to meet us - we were invited to travel to Finland. My new boss said - "But of course, me, Vrinda and the Business Head will travel. We can decide on the dates." I put in my papers. It was attributed to my getting a "good" offer. I attributed it to that too.
I joined my 2nd place of work - another city but within India. My ex-employers got in touch with me. They wanted me to join back. I said "I would only want onsite work." They didnt offer me that. They attributed my not joining them back to thier refusal of an onsite offer. I did the same.
Work was madly hectic at my new work place. I knew I had to move if I wanted a work life balance. And I moved again. 3rd place in one year. It was going to spoil my CV!! Another city still in India. My 2nd place of work contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in a job onsite. They were certain I would take it. In a knee-jerk reaction, I replied "No". There were no more attributions to make. I was firm and clear.
My work place offered onsite placements - not once but thrice over. I steadfastly refused. And then came a situation when travel looked unavoidable.
The ineveitable had to happen. It happened. This I attributed to fate.
The first time I was offered an onsite posting was when I had joined back office after a serious bout of illness. In my first meeting with members of the onsite team after joining back, the Sr. PM onsite seemed thrilled, her excitement seemed palpable and for reasons I got to know soon. She popped up the question "Welcome aboard Vrinda. When are u travelling to US? You need to work from onsite." Boy o Boy. Did I get nervous or what?? I had put the speaker phone on mute and exclaimed to my boss and my colleague, who were moderating this "Introduction" call - "Go onsite?? What!!?? No way!"
My boss was kind. She attributed it to me being back from my illness, hospital and stuff. I did the same.
Months passed by. I was managing another project. I had also been thinking of moving out of my current work place. My boss had resigned and I had a new boss. This time around I was the moderator of an "Introduction" call to introduce my new boss to the client. My client wanted to meet us - we were invited to travel to Finland. My new boss said - "But of course, me, Vrinda and the Business Head will travel. We can decide on the dates." I put in my papers. It was attributed to my getting a "good" offer. I attributed it to that too.
I joined my 2nd place of work - another city but within India. My ex-employers got in touch with me. They wanted me to join back. I said "I would only want onsite work." They didnt offer me that. They attributed my not joining them back to thier refusal of an onsite offer. I did the same.
Work was madly hectic at my new work place. I knew I had to move if I wanted a work life balance. And I moved again. 3rd place in one year. It was going to spoil my CV!! Another city still in India. My 2nd place of work contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in a job onsite. They were certain I would take it. In a knee-jerk reaction, I replied "No". There were no more attributions to make. I was firm and clear.
My work place offered onsite placements - not once but thrice over. I steadfastly refused. And then came a situation when travel looked unavoidable.
The ineveitable had to happen. It happened. This I attributed to fate.
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