We together!

When I reached mumbai, I got a mail from fawdi that she wanted to talk and asked me if she could call me. I asked her to call on my landline.
"My project got scrapped"
"So are you coming back?"
"No I am assigned to go for a training"
"Training for what?"
"Another tool and after that another project"
"Which tool and what project"
" and a project in houston!"
I Could not believe my luck. She was to get trained in Palo Alto on a tool and then travel to houston to MY PROJECT!!

I reached Houston on a sunday and the story repeated. I lost my baggage. It came after 3 days. And after a week, came fawdi. We have been together ever since in Houston. Until my emergency exit due to Visa issues.

On a side note, I dont know why my onsite trips end in a disaster. Swiss trip, had a arrest warrant against me, Charlotte, came back with TB, Houston, became an illegal immigrant!

My Onsite planned

Days seemed to crawl as I was waiting for fawdi to come back. On the other hand I my onsite prospect was getting stronger. I went and talked to our resource manager here to see if she can put both of us together. She assured us of all the help she could do.

One day I got a mail from my DM telling me about an onsite opportunity as a Business Consultant in Houston. Sathish Rajagopalan, an old punter was also in the same account. That was a nice role and a nice location too. Meanwhile fawdi was also allocated another project in Chicago. That project was suppossed to move to Houston in some time

Fawdi started training for that project and I started preparation for my assignment. Fawdi had plans of coming down to houston as one of her former roommates, Anu, was also there. I left for Mumbai and was planning to go to Houston from there

Fawdis dad agrees!

After a month long vacation and trying my level best to convince fawdi I joined back in Bangalore. I was still talking to fawdi and trying to convince her that we will be together soon. She felt otherwise. My project was getting over and I had a chance of going onsite.

One morning, she called me and said that her dad had asked her to call, and she thought perhaps he had finalised something. I told her to call me back with whatever her dad says. She did. She was not able to speak properly
"He said yes!!"
"What?"
"He said yes, anu!"
"What yes?"
"He said yes to us!"
"Calm down fawdi. I am not able understand what you are saying"
"Anu..." (sob.. sob..) "Anu..."
"Dont cry fawdi, tell me what happenned"
"Anu, I talked with dad. He said if this is what you want. So it be! We will get you married!"
I froze!
"Anu... Anu.. Are you there? I am not able to control my happiness"
Still frozen
"He said, I liked Anand, but my only issue was how will I adjust and how will they tell the relatives. But if this is what I wanted, then he is ready to get us married"
I still dont remember what I said to fawdi that day, But it seemed like I was floating in a sea of happiness

Fawdi goes back onsite

Meanwhile, Fawdis project in phoenix had another requirement and fawdi travelled back. That atleast gave me time to talk to her. My health kept getting worse. Finally I decided to take a month long leave and concentrate on getting my health back on track. I took a long leave and went to Mumbai. Fawdi still did not think that we had a future together. Deep down she knew.. we were made for each other

Fawdi looses hope

After I came back to india, I went on a week long leave to Mumbai and fawdi travelled to Mangalore. I had another surgery done there and removed the swelling. Started the course for TB medicines. When I joined back Bangalore, Fawdi was already in Mangalore. She was finding it more and more difficult to talk to her parents now. She still had proposals going on.

One weekend she travelled home. Had a long, hot talk with her parents. Finally she could not take it any more. She agreed to do whatever her dad wanted. I was waiting for her to come back and tell me what happenned. She came back and told me that everything is over between us and that she is going to marry whomever her dad asks her to. I had little choice left but to accept this fact.

Proposals had started to come in full swing again. We hardly talked, I felt betrayed. Felt like I had no reason to live. I still had hope that I would convince her and her parents. But luck and my health were against me.

Back in India

Fawdi went back to Phoenix. Her project was getting over and she was to fly back to India for some time. I joined back office after a week of rest. The pain was still there, but I could manage with antibiotics. After some days the swelling came back! The tissue culture results had still some time to come. I sent the CT reports to my doctor in India.

He suspected TB and asked me to get a test done. The results came negative I was getted scared of what this is and was planning to go back to India if the medicines did not show results. After 8 weeks the results confirmed the fears. I had Tuberculosis of the Lymph nodes. I had to travel back on a very short notice. Coincidently I and fawdi travelled back on the same day, April 22, My birthday :), and reached Bangalore with 10 mins difference.

Lump in the neck

When I was in mangalore before going for Preetis marriage, I had a swelling on my neck. The local doc gave me some antibiotics and it subsided. After reaching Charlotte, the swelling came back. This time it was bigger and more painful. I went to the doc there after coming back from Phoenix. He asked me to get a CT scan done. He could not make out much from that. So he asked me to get it removed. This would mean a big cut on the neck and atleast a week long bed rest. He asked if I had a family here. Though I had lots of friends there, I needed to have someone who would be there with me for the whole day. I initially planned to go back to India and get it done there. Fawdi was the only one whom I could look to in the US.

Fawdi managed to take some leaves and came to charlotte for my operation. All my friends, Arun, Harsh, Sandy, Meghana, Sriram and the ever helpful Gopal, helped me a lot during this time. Fawdi stayed with Meghana. On the day of the operation, fawdi looked more tense than me. Dont remember much of that day as I was on anasthesia and was drowsy. Gopal took me back home and fawdi took good care of me in the next 5 days. She also talked to my parents at home and assured them that everything was fine. This was when the Orange went to green at my place

The surgeon took out the swollen tissue and gave that for culture to check the cause.

Me Goes onsite!!

Sometime in november, my PM told me about an opportunity in US for long term, the role was that of a project manager. Preetis marriage was on December 14th and I did not want to travel before that. So it was decided that I will take a leave for the marriage and travel onsite after that directly from Mumbai. When I was in mumbai, I got a mail from a colleague who was also going with me that the project start was delayed. Fawdi was upset and I had a tough time making her stop crying. I had to go back to Mangalore. After reaching back, I was asked to travel to Bangalore for another 2 weeks for training. Travel was getting delayed and fawdi was getting more and more impatient.

Finally, the project start date was fixed and so was my travel date. I had got a long itinerary via Colombo-London-Washington-Charlotte. I did not tell fawdi that I was travelling that weekend. :) Had my roaming activated, fawdi called me when I was in colombo. Told her that I am at friends house and will call later. She got angry and disconnected. I finally called her up from london and told her that I was on my way to US. She immediately booked tickets for me to Phoenix for the next weekend. My college mate Rajkumar was also in Phoenix

Visit to Phoenix

Me and Arun landed in Charlotte after a long journey to find that our luggage did not come through. Our manager there, Gopal, took us to Costco and got some clothes for us. We had not much of work for the first week. We met the Client Manager there and instantly knew that this is not going to be easy assignment. I was waiting for friday, to meet my dear fawdi. I had informed Raj that I was coming

My flight was early morning, I took a cab and reach airport. After 6 hours I reached Phoenix airport. There, after 6 long months, I saw fawdi. I will never forget the expression on her face as I saw her as going down the escalator. We took a cab and went to her place. She made some food for us and we talked for till evening. Raj came in the evening and I went to his place. Had a good time with Raj remembering all the old pranks we played and the happy days in college

I came back to Fawdis place in the morning and went out shopping. I got her a laptop and some other things. We roamed around in her apartment complex. The most difficult part was the "bye" that I had to say in the evening. I saw her looking at my cab from the gate as I went to the airport

Missing fawdi

Fawdi went onsite in July. I was still in mangalore and was missing fawdi so much. We used to have calls daily. I used to get up early in the morning, just in time when fawdi reached home and then talk on messenger. Already had a laptop, got a webcam and headphone mic and also a broadband connection. fawdis project was bad and she had a lots of work, she also used to cry a lot over the phone. Every place in Mangalore reminded me of the time we spent there and I was missing her a lot. I asked my project manager to see if I can get an onsite. He asked me to wait for a right kind of role. He would inform me of every new opportunity and I used to get into learning a new tool only to learn that the project has been postponed. This went on for some months. Meanwhile fawdi finished her project in Chicago and joined Phoenix, Arizona for another project

Fawdi goes onsite

Fawdi received her passport in some days. And got her tickets booked too. I planned a trip to Bangalore to see her off. Her dad was also coming there. Her flight was from Bangalore-Delhi-London-Chicago. She had to leave for delhi in the evening at 7. Also had some shopping to do. I reached Bangalore in the morning. Her dad had not reached till then. I helped her pack and made a list of things that we needed to buy. Her dad came around 11 and took a room in the city. We went to collect forex for fawdi and met her dad there. He was surprised to find me there. Fawdi formally introduced me. No smile..

We had some lunch and then went out for shopping. I was leading in all the things and it seems it irriated him a lot. But I did not mind that, we took some things and came back to the guest house, packed the bags and left for airport. Both of us saw fawdi going into the securiy check. I told her dad that she would be fine and I would let him know once she reaches.

I tried talking to him many times during the day (in english of course :)) but he would always end up in malayalam. Finally when going back, I went with him to the hotel and dropped him to his bus. He thanked me for all the help.

Fawdi meets my parents

Fawdi returned to her desk after lunch. And she was so happy. Everyone was expecting her to be gone. People who knew about us, thought I did something. Otherwise how is it possible that after 6 months of stamping no one noticed that it was an H4? No one but me? Fawdis parents went back the same day. Her PM, Rachna, called her up to check what was the issue. What surprised her PM was how was I involved in all this. Since Rachna knew me well (she was my first PM) fawdi told her the entire thing. As soon as fawdi told me this, I was sure Rachna would call me. And she did :) Blasted me for not telling her this.

Now we had some more time. It would take atleast a month for the passport to be restamped and fawdi has to travel. She was asked to travel to Bangalore meanwhile.

During this time I planned my parents and sisters trip to mangalore. I arranged a trip to some places nearby. Told my dad about fawdi. His reaction was cautious. I asked fawdi to come down during that weekend.

It was a nice trip. My parents, Preeti, Fawdi and me roamed around for 2 days around Mangalore and had a good time. They liked fawdi, only thing aai said was that "She is not smart enough for you". Dad said she found her intelligent (Fawdi is still proud of that :)) Preeti liked her. So it was an Orange signal from their side. Not exactlty green

Fawdis unsuccessful attempt

As the day of fawdis travel grew near, I became more and more restless, we were talking less now. She was travelling to Chicago on a Friday. Her parents were coming to drop her to the airport. I asked fawdi if I should meet her dad. She said, try your luck. I thought, it was better that I did not try any stunts. Her dad anyways knows about me. I helped fawdi get her documents. Get the laptop, secure ID. pack her bags. And was all set to say her the final good bye. But luck had something else in mind :)
Her parents arrived a day before her travel. She had all her bags packed. She asked her dad if I can have lunch with them. He said, its okay if he is coming only as a friend. I did not go (Now I think I should have gone). Her mom asked if I can come to the airport, as I was the only person she knew who had been onsite. I agreed. I went to her room to see whats going on. Her dad was not at home, nor were her roommates. I talked to her mom and assured her that everything was fine. She had all the docs in place and was all set. I asked fawdi to get a copy of her docs to her mom. She did not have one. I took the docs and went to make a copy
When making a copy, I saw the Visa stamped on her passport. It was an H4!! I could not believe it! I went straight to the Visa department and showed them the Visa telling them that this is an H4 instead of H1. The Visa guy promptly called fawdi and asked her to cancel the trip. He also mailed her project managers copying me that the trip had to be aborted.
With a BIG Smile on my face I went back to fawdis room. Her mom and dad and all her friends were there. Her taxi had come and she was waiting for the docs when the call came. I went to her, gave her the docs and promptly returned to my desk

Fawdi comes back to Mangalore.

We talked on this a lot when fawdi was in Pune. Finally we could not take it any more. She was suppossed to travel onsite in a week. We were both praying to have some more time together. And god does listen to fawdi. Her trip gor postponed for some time. Fawdi gave me the news on a mail (I still have that one ;)) Fawdi travelled back that weekend. I received her at the Kottara chowki. Almost gave her a hug. We went to the beach over the weekend and talked on what to do. There was no way fawdis dad would agree. And I had not even tested the waters at my home. We did not want to do that without parents blessings. It would be anything but easy. There was an easy way out. Fawdi was going onsite anyways in 2 weeks. We could just end it there. No more contacts with each other, no issues with parents and we would soon forget about each other. It would pain.. a lot, but then we did not see any support from any on her side. But forgeting about each other.. Was it so simple?

The story.. Part 15

That night I got a message from fawdi... after some more messages.. We both knew what was left unsaid all this while.. we were in love :)...
That was a strange feeling, as happy as I was, I was also tensed now. Will she come back? How will the families react? will her dad get her married to someone else?
After she reached home, fawdi told her dad. The reaction was almost as expected. Marrying a non-mallu? out of question.. we could not talk to each other for some time. I was even thinking that fawdi might not return back to work at all. I would not see her again.
She went to pune from there. That gave us some more time to talk. And to think about what to do..

The story.. Part 14

We grabbed some food at a Kairali, a mallu restaurant near the railway station, and rushed to get the tickets. The train was already on the platform. The ladies coach was at the end. We walked at towards the coach. We got in and put her bags on a top berth. The thought that this is probably the last time I would see her came to my mind. My eyes became watery.. I told her I will go and get a bottle of water and went out. When I came back she was looking out of the window. I gave her the bottle and she starting playing with it.
No words..Then she looked up to me.. watery eyes..
still no words.. we were just looking at each other..
After sometime, we were both crying looking at each other.
"You go up on the berth and sleep there till your station comes"
"mmmm" she said.
"Okay I will go now, good night. Have a safe journey. Send me an sms when you reach there. Let me know if you need anything in the Pune.. And here is someone to take care of you" I handed chotu to her.
The whistle blew and train started moving. I said a final good bye, she said nothing. She looked out of the window till she could no longer see me. I looked at the train till it was out of sight.Thoughts in my mind, finally I had lost her. Now she would be not be returning back to mangalore. I took an auto and went back home.. This was the end of our friendship..

The story.. Part 13

After that day, the conversations between us were very less.. One friday I was busy in the call the whole morning, did not have food till around 3. She came to my desk.. ordered me to go to the canteen and have food. I told her that I am not going to have that.. She just pulled me out to the canteen. As it was late afternoon and time for snacks yet, there was no one there. We sat on table, she got me a burger to eat. There was an uneasy silence. Finally, she spoke. She had got a mail from another manager that she had to go to Pune for a training and then to onsite directly from there for around an year. So she would be leaving on the saturday for home and then go to pune and will not be coming back to mangalore..I did not know how to react, told her that she should go on that day itself as she would then have more time to spend with her family. "I wont get reservation now" she said. "You can get a ticket in the unreserved coach, there is one for ladies only. Considering that you would be gone for quite some time now, guess you can take that much risk" I replied.
"But I will have to pack and all"
"Just put your things in the bags and go, you can pack once you reach there"
"Will you come to drop me?" she asked, not looking at me.
"I wont, I am very bad at saying byes" I realised the fact that I wont be seeing her again probably after today. I had a lump in my throat, could not talk more, finished my burger.
"So you put a request for your travel now and go home, I will collect the tickets for you""Okay", still not looking at me. I met her around 8 in front of the office. She had 2 big bags. We put the bags in an auto and went to the railway station. Could not leave her alone..

Got a car!

I finally did it. After weeks of searching, i finally got a car. Okay.. some flashback now.
I wanted to get a driving license here in Houston. I already have a license back in India, but have never actually driven here. Binoy gave me a small hands-on when he was here on the new year weekend. I thought.. Thats not scary! Already had cleared the written test. So took some classes. Then took a car on rent for 2 weekends and practiced.. a lot. Then went for the road test.
Woke up at 4 in the morning and went to the DPS office. got an appointment for 3 in the afternoon. was so tensed.. failed miserably. Hit the back pole :(
Then took a car on rent again. Fawdi ensured that I did enough of the practice for the parallel parking. This time passed the test. Then started the search for the car. Searched the length and breadth of houston. almost every website and every dealer. Just did not get the right one. wanted a car with good resale value. A honda or toyota or a nissan. If the price is perfect, the mileage was more. or the condition was worse. Was finally going to call off last weekend...
But last friday, got a mail from one of the dealers i had visited. He had a Toyota corolla 2000 model just fitting my specifications. He had got it just that morning. So rushed to him. Saw the car. Liked it.. I wanted it.. Then looked at the price... a little on the higher side. I was sure I had that money in the bank. But..
I had paid a check for my rent some days back. It was not yet posted. there was all possibility that if I gave a check it would bounce. The dealer said he could not take check from Fawdi as she did not have a credit history... thought.. I am done here.. but that was not to happen :)
Some time back I had sent an auto pay for my credit card. Forgot all about it, until the payment kicked off and I had a negative balance in my credit card account. It was exactly the same amount I would fall short if the rent checked was cashed. :)
Transferred some money online from credit card to the Checking account. They charged some 4% fees for that. But I could get my car at that moment itself.Went next day with Fawdi and Anu and got the car...

Holidays and new year : Part 2

Some buggers , 4 precisely, came down here on the new year weekend. Kannan from St Louis, Binoy and Sandeep from Greensboro and Sundaram from Washington DC landed here on 29th Dec. And what a landing it was! Sundaram was the first to land. I asked him to wait for the other guys and come with them. It is a long and expensive journey from the airport and binoy was renting a car anyways. But that adventurous spirit in Sundar overtook his brains and he started from there in a shuttle. That took 3 hours for a 40 mins journey.. The shuttle took him on a "Houston Darshan" in the night.
Next to land were the Syngenta Duo, Binoy and Sandeep. Their flight was about an hour late due to bad weather. Binoy was waiting and waiting for the "Mexican" at the airport in a hope that he will land in another half an hour.. but the "Mexican" did not land that night. Finally at 11.30 Binoy took his rental car with a faithful GPS and started for my house. reached safely in around an hour..
Kannan was missing! He was suppossed to land around 1/2 an hour after Binoy. His flight was delayed.. But... for how long.. minutes passed into hours and we were still waiting for kannan to land in Houston... The whole night kannan did not turn up.. What happenned?

Holidays and new year : Part 1

With the holidays over I am all refreshed for the work coming up in the new year. And I do have a lot of it! Holidays were a lot of fun. Starting from the Christmas holidays in Las Vegas and then the Grand Canyon, we ended the holiday season seeing off friends coming to Houston for the new year.
The LV trip started with a bit of skepticism after our experience at the San Antonio Trip on the thanksgiving weekend. (I Love Americans for the way in which they arrange the holidays with the weekends :)) In LV you can see the money that Americans spend (and splurge). It has a million casinos spread over "The Strip" and the "Old Las Vegas" or downtown. Majestic Buildings where you can spend days just looking at each one of them. Each one of them has a theme: Paris, New York New York, Luxor (Egyptian Theme), Ceasers Palace, Fashion Show, Treasure Island, Mirage and the list goes on. We spend a day in LV going to some of the casinos. We went for a ride on the worlds highest ride, Big Shot and the XScreame. These rides are on top of a tower 1149 Feet in height in the open air. (Have a look at http://www.stratospherehotel.com/las_vegas_stratosphere_ride.html) The XScream ride puts you over the edge of the tower with nothing between you and the ground below and the Big Shot throws you up with a force of 4 G and lets you have a free fall. Screamed till my stomach and throat was paining :)
The next day we went to Grand Canyon. It was soooooo Chilling there. People says its majestic, and mysterious. I didnt think it was so big a deal. As the bus driver put it : Its just a hole in the ground. Think of it : A mighty river running for hundreds of years created this. Another theory (which I would like to believe) is that this was done by aliens mining for Uranium. Local people support this saying that this place is near the Area 51( known for the mysterious UFO sightings) and the Uranium Mines. We could not get the sunrise or the sunset there (Stupid timings of the bus!) but had a great time there.
The next day was again at the Strip taking photos and visiting casinos. It was a warm sunny day. We roamed around for the whole day and then saw the magic show "XTREME MAGIC". Most of the show was for kids, though some of it was interesting. Then packed our bags and flew off to Houston.. Expecting a lot from the week to come..